#I can explain everything going on here the problem is that I don’t wanna spam everyone

[beigetiger]

First time making a comic! I drew a scene of Maezeore killing @vividvermilion’s character Jason. Using a sort of scratchy noir style for this one because I thought it fit with the vibe.

[verymuchimmortalcat]

As You Were Once

For Bio Dad Bruce Wayne Month Day 14: De-aged

ao3

@maribat-bdbwm

Marinette was waiting at the airport for her dad, Cass, Damian, Tim and Steph. Lucius had said that there were some important things to handle in the Paris branch of WE and had insisted upon Bruce dealing with it himself. Then the others wanted to join him, leaving Dick as Batman for the week, Signal, Red Hood, Oracle and the Birds of prey to protect Gotham. Alfred had decided to go on a vacation when most of the Manor's occupants were coming to Paris and Duke would be staying with Jason for the next week. 

The five of them had promised that they wouldn't interfere in case of an akuma attack. Though Marinette was sure that they weren't going to sit back if they decided their help was needed. But hopefully they wouldn't deal with anything too severe this week. 

She waves as she spots her siblings, all of them with the exception of Steph trying not to draw attention to themselves. 

“B’s still getting everything sorted at customs and immigration,” Tim informs her once she’s finished hugging all of them.

She frowns, “was there a problem with something?”

“He’s keeping up his cover,” Damian states.

“He’s being unnaturally friendly to someone he hasn’t done a background check on,” Steph says.

“It was starting to get creepy,” Cass adds.

Marinette probably would have run away too. Galas were one thing, everyone there had been through an extensive background check but the whole Brucie Wayne act in front of people he knew absolutely nothing about was a completely different level of strange.

Their conversation turns to everything she’s missed since their last conversation. She gets a very detailed update on Damian’s pets 

They weren't waiting long before they were joined by B. Though he had to leave almost immediately to WE apparently whatever he had come for had been more urgent than they had realised. 

Once her dad is gone the five of them head to the bakery, while there wasn't space for everyone to stay at the bakery, all of them had wanted to spend time with the Dupain-Chengs. 

.oOo.

They're all at the bakery when the screaming starts. All of them immediately jump up but before any of them can join her she stops them and tells them to cover for her. Tom and Sabine don't know her identity and her siblings can't risk theirs over what’s probably a simple akuma attack. 

Promising them she'll call if she needs help she transforms and heads in the direction of the akuma. Adrien's already there but the others aren't supposed to transform unless needed. It's pretty close to WE. Marinette hopes her father actually remembered his promise and didn't become a target. 

She stops to rescue a larger number of children then she'd normally have to. Why are there so many children outside during an akuma attack?

It's only when she stops in front of a boy who appears to be about seven who looks exactly like the photos Alfred has of her father at that age does she figure out what the akuma's powers are. 

De aging. 

Marinette asks him anyway, there is always the possibility that a random Parisian child looks exactly like a seven-year-old version of her father.

It is not a random Parisian child. Marinette is the holder of the miraculous of good luck, you really would think she’d have better luck.

She crouches down so that she’s at his eye level, “I’m going to take you somewhere safe. Is that ok with you?”

He looks unsure but he nods. Picking him up, she swings back to the bakery as fast as possible. She calls Nino, Alya and Kagami and tells them there's a family emergency and to take care of the akuma and to bring it to her so she could purify it. 

Landing in an alleyway near the bakery, she de-transforms. She doesn't bother with telling him to keep her identity a secret. He already knows in the future and he's definitely not going to talk to someone who doesn't already know who she is.  

Holding his hand she leads him to the bakery. She tells Damian to get the others up and takes her dad (wow, is it strange to think of an approximately seven year old as her dad) to the living room.

She tells Tikki to give tiny Bruce something to occupy his time while she and her siblings figure something out. As they all join her upstairs, she sees as each of them realise what's happened and go from shock to laughter. 

"He doesn't remember anything. The others are taking care of the akuma. Figured you’d need help taking care of him," she says before Tim can ask. 

"Hasn't happened yet," Cass states. 

The laughter from a few seconds ago is gone. They all know what she's talking about. This Bruce Wayne hasn't lost his parents. 

This Bruce Wayne also seems to be glaring at them, he also looks scared. She can’t blame him, he wasn’t offered much of an explanation before she brought him here.

"Where are my parents?” he demands, “The girl who brought me here obviously seems to be some kind of superhero. Who are the rest of you?"

None of them look shocked that he knows that she’s Ladybug but none of them are dwelling on that. He asked for his parents what could they even tell him? They obviously can't tell him his parents are dead but they also know it wouldn't be fair to lie to him. 

"Would you like to talk to Alfred?" Tim asks suddenly. They all sigh in relief when he nods. 

Marinette calls Alfred but doesn't hand the phone to tiny Bruce immediately, it would definitely be more painful for Alfred than any of them to deal with him in this state. 

As soon as he picks up, Marinette starts speaking, "there was an akuma and dad became small and he's asking for his parents and we offered to call you instead."

Alfred being Alfred remains calm and asks her to hand the phone to tiny Bruce. All of them are staring at him as he talks to Alfred over the phone. Even though they can hear only one side of the conversation, tiny Bruce seems to calm down. 

Once he ends the call, he hands the phone back to her and says, "Alfred says that some kind of magic made me small and that all of you are very important to me when I become big."

"You're strangely adorable," Steph says. 

He frowns at that and he’s never before looked more like Damian.

“So, what do you like to do when you're bored?” Marinette asks, bending down in front of him and they all watch as one of the world’s greatest heroes rambles on about something his mom showed him last week.

.oOo.

This is the most they’ve ever heard Bruce talk about his parents and Alfred. They’re all listening intently about the woman who was their grandmother right now. Neither of them want to ask for more information. It wouldn't make sense to not know his parents if they were close to him. Alfred mentioned once that Marinette looks startlingly similar to Martha Wayne, Tim wonders if B’s picked up on it yet. Even if he has, Tim supposes, there wouldn’t be any reason for him to dwell on it as far as the Bruce in front of them is concerned his parents are alive and well.

They’ve all snuck pictures of him talking animatedly, he’s too carefree to notice, has no reason not to be. He’s already sent a few to Alfred and the others and immediately switched off notifications. Marinette and Damian do it too when their phones start blowing up, Steph’s just ignoring it and still taking photos and Cass is spamming them back. 

He goes back to watching Bruce talk without the weight he’s been carrying in all the time Tim’s known him.

.oOo.

It's strange, Cass thinks, to see him like this. The closest he's ever been to this relaxed is when all of them are at the manor for something other than a gala or bat business. 

She's alternating between listening to Bruce and tormenting her brothers who stayed back in Gotham. She’s sure if patrol wasn’t starting soon, they would’ve been here already for varying reasons.

She wonders if he’ll remember any of this when he comes back to normal, she’ll have to ask Marinette.

.oOo.

They moved to Marinette’s room in case the Dupain-Chengs check on them. Father’s taking a break from talking and is going through Marinette’s designs, Stephanie and Cassandra are with him. Drake seems to have taken on the responsibility of tormenting the others remaining in Gotham or he’s just texting his boyfriend, Damian doesn’t want to know.

He’s watching as the three of them go through Marinette’s designs, and watches as she gets progressively more flustered as they bury her in compliments, well mostly Stephanie, Cassandra and Father aren’t as vocal but it’s also the most he’s heard Father compliment someone sincerely.

It’s strange to think of the child in front of him as his father. He smiles a lot more and even laughed several times.

And then Stephanie mentions that Damian draws and Father’s asking him if he could look at his drawings. Damian offers him a small smile and unlocks his phone and shows him the recent painting of Titus, Alfred, Ace and Jerry and watches as his Father analyses the whole painting.

Maybe the child in front of him is not the father he’s gotten to know but it is nice to see him all the same.

.oOo.

Marinette’s starting to get worried. It’s been an hour and the others haven’t returned with the Akuma yet. They can’t keep tiny Bruce occupied forever. She’s considering transforming and checking it out when Tim pokes his head out from where he’s sitting on her bed and says, “hey Mari, delivery for you.”

Alya’s standing next to him with the akuma in a jar, looking confused. Marinette sighs, explaining this is going to be interesting.

She climbs up and heads to the balcony before transforming. Alya hands her the jar and Marinette purifies the akuma, calls for her lucky charm and throws it up in the air.

“So…” Alya starts, “wanna explain what that was about?” 

“Family emergency. I’ll tell you about it later. Bye!” and then Marinette’s back in her room. Her siblings seem to be panicking and her dad’s not there. The Miraculous Ladybug should have taken him back to where he was. He’s probably standing in the middle of the street completely disoriented.

Detransforming she joins their discussion, or more accurately panicked argument, to let them know what happened. They’re all on their way to the Paris branch of WE in a few minutes. She’s sure one of the employees is bound to have found him and explained things to him but they’re still going just in case.

He’s attacked by hugs when they find him in the lobby of the building, he looks confused as to why but none of them offer any explanation. Steph’s the first one to pull away when her phone starts ringing.

“Shit. We forgot to tell Alfred everything’s fine again.”

Letting go of her dad, she checks her phone and there at the very top of her notifications is a missed call from Alfred. Just one, he’s not anything like the rest of the family as proven by the hundred notifications below that. Steph’s already picked up the call and handed it to B. Marinette sends Dick a message to let him know that everything’s back to normal and to please not come to Paris once patrol’s done.

There are people staring at them, which isn’t surprising but makes her uncomfortable all the same and she knows the rest of them probably feel the same, though Tim might've gotten used to it. They watch in silence as B finishes talking to Alfred and hands Steph’s phone back to her.

He looks over the bunch of them and asks, “did you have something to tell me?”

It feels like forever that they stand awkwardly looking at him before Marinette says, “nope! Nothing important,” and drags her siblings out of the building and back to the bakery. They can talk to him later and Damian’s yawning on their way back. It’s been one hell of a first day in Paris for them, she can’t wait for the rest of the week.

[datleggy]

Let’s take “birth day” literally and have pregnant Buck go into labor someplace really dumb and/or inconvenient.

It's the hormones, Buck would like to say in his defense, but honestly, the omega would have done it even if he weren't nearly nine months pregnant....

The doctor's told him some light exercise will help, even with his due date being so close now, and so after picking Christopher up from school they'd decided to take a nice stroll in the park.

And it would have been nice if some asshole hadn't put his hands on his kid on the goddamn playground of all places! One minute Buck had been struggling to get up off the bench to see why it looked as though Christopher was in a seemingly heated argument over something or the other, with another little boy around his age, and the next said boy's mother was shoving Christopher away with a sharply pointed nail, poking at his shoulder and shouting obscenities.

And Buck was there in a flash, putting himself between Christopher and the woman and telling her to back off. "You don't touch someone else's kid like that, lady. If you have a problem, you come find me."

The woman looks flustered for a moment before raising her voice again, yelling about how she had barely even touched the eight year old, and about how maybe he shouldn't bring his son around other kids if he couldn't learn to play nice. "If you taught that boy some manners we wouldn't even be here right now!"

Buck knows he should have let it go, knows they were causing a huge and unnecessary scene, and this? This next part he totally blames on the hormones. "If your parents had taught you some manners and common sense we wouldn't be here right now!"

And that had only served to escalate the situation to the point where police had actually been called and arrived on the scene--and apparently the woman had been very convincing when she'd burst into tears and told the cops that Buck had threatened her with violence.

Which is how Buck ends up in a jailcell on a sunny Friday afternoon, waiting for Eddie to come and bail him out and worrying frantically about Christopher, who last he saw, as they'd cuffed him and put him into the back of their vehicle, was currently in the custody of a child services worker.

Buck puts his head in his hands and groans, beyond stressed. Not only is this humiliating as all hell, but his alpha is probably going to kill him for letting this shit happen. He should have ignored the woman and walked away with Christopher in tow. Instead, he'd made it worse and gotten arrested for an assault he hadn't even committed. "Jesus Christ."

"Buckley? Evan Buckley?" An officer calls out; he's older, maybe mid fifties, with a faint Southern drawl.

Buck raises his head. He'd only called Eddie fifteen minutes ago, was he really here that quickly? "Uh, yeah, that's me." he says.

"You're free to go; luckily a bunch of witnesses came forward with the same story--you weren't the aggressor here, son. Now c'mon, your kid's waiting for you right outside."

"Oh thank God." he breaths out, immeasurably relieved. But when he attempts to stand up Buck lets out a hiss and doubles over, face contorting in pain.

The officers eyes go wide and he rushes to open the cell, which is nearly empty, thankfully, except for Buck and a slumbering man in the corner, arrested that morning for public intoxication. "Whoa, whoa," the man's eyes go even wider, if possible, when he realizes what's happening. "Shoot, I think your water just broke, young man."

Buck shakes his head, even though the proof is on the bench and soaking his jeans through and through. He whines as the contraction continues, huffing and puffing. "H-hospital. Please." He pleads.

There is no way he's having this baby while still technically in custody at a police station. Hell, they're in a jailcell, for shit's sake. He'd rather give birth like a total cliché and in the back of a yellow taxi!

"I'm gonna have 'em call you an ambulance, but let's get you outta here first." the officer tries to help Buck stand but another contraction hits, this one harder and more agonizing than the last and Buck cries out, his knees buckling under him.

The officer manages to hold him aloft just long enough to reposition him on the floor as Buck pants and tries not to lose it. The contractions are way too close...

The officer radios his men and calls for help. "Need help in the holding cell on floor 2B, we've got a custodial here who's gone into labor. Urgent request for help in holding cell 2B."

Buck can't help but let out a sob--it's even worse than he'd imagined--he's going to end up giving birth inside a jailcell five feet away from some guy who smells like tequila and regret. Alone.

"What the hell is going on in--Buck?!"

Buck sniffles as he turns his head towards the door, where Athena is standing, mouth agape at the chaotic scene before her. "Athena!" he cries, reaching out for her, needy as can be and not giving a damn.

Athena doesn't waste any time, dropping to her knees beside him, letting him rest his head on her lap. She sooths back his curly locks, now sweaty, and look at the officer, asking sharply, "What happened?"

"He was being released when he went into labor--must be from the stress of the situation. Tried to get him up, but that baby's comin' and soon." he informs her, grimacing when Buck whines in pain as another contraction follows his statement, as if to prove the mans words true.

"Eddie," Buck clenches his teeth, tries to stifle another groans. "Need Eddie."

"He's right outside," Athena tells him, reassuringly. She nods at the officer. "Reyes, get me Eddie Diaz, he's a medic and he should be waiting down on the first floor for us. Hurry!"

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

Eddie's at the grocery store picking stuff up for dinner tonight when he gets the unexpected call. He almost doesn't answer it, when he sees it's from an unfamiliar number, thinking it's spam, but something nags at him to take the call.

"Hello?"

"Hey..."

It's Buck. And he sounds upset.

"Buck? What's going on? Everything alright? Who's phone are you using?"

He can hear Buck gulp from the other end of the line. "I've been arrested. I need you to come bail me out and get Christopher out of police custody." he says, all in one rushed statement, like he'd ripping off a band aid.

"Wha--I'm sorry, what? Did you say you're in jail? And Christopher's with the police? What the hell is going on?" Eddie's not proud of the way he raises his voice, especially not in the fruit aisle, where a mother with her toddler gives him a dirty look on her way past, but he's so shocked and panicked he can't stop himself from blurting out, "Buck, what the fuck happened? You were picking Christopher up from school today! Where does jail fit into this?!"

"Eddie, I'm sorry." Buck sighs. "I swear I'll explain everything when you get here, but I don't have a lot of time left on this call and I'm kind of freaking out right now. Please, can you just--"

"Of course, yeah, sorry, I'm on my way, give me like twenty minutes, ok? I'm across town."

"Thank you." the line cuts off abruptly and Eddie's left to ponder what could possibly have happened to have led up to his almost nine months pregnant husband being arrested as he abandons his cart and runs out into the parking lot.

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

Eddie nearly gets arrested himself, with the way he's speeding down the highway before turning onto the main road and parking right in front of the station, where only police vehicles are allowed.

The alpha finds his kid with a social worker, happily munching on a donut. “Chris!?” Eddie runs over and engulfs his son in a suffocating hug. “Are you ok? What happened?” 

Christopher pulls away slightly, nodding. “I’m ok. Bucky got in trouble ‘cause the lady at the park lied. Officer Reyes said he’s gonna bring him out soon.” 

The social worker explains the whole story to Eddie, “Thankfully there were a lot of witnesses who corroborated the events. Your husband should be out in a few minutes; it was all just an awful misunderstanding. The woman at the park is in custody right now for giving the police a false accusation and wasting everybody’s time.”  

Eddie’s shoulders slump in relief and he practically falls into a chair nearby, pulling Christopher onto his lap and holding him tight around the middle. “Is he ok? Buck is pregnant. He’s due in two weeks.” 

The social worker gives him a sympathetic look. “I’m sure he’s in good hands. Officer Reyes will have him out here in a couple of minutes.” 

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

After a couple of minutes turns to five, turns to ten, Eddie starts to get angsty. Which is why it’s a good thing, when he happens to spot Athena rounding the corner and into the station. He calls over to her and she furrows her brows in concern before making her way across to them. 

“Eddie? Christopher? What’s going on?” 

“It’s a long story.” Eddie sighs, “But Buck is being held in a cell right now, they said an officer Reyes was supposed to bring him down here, that he was free to go, but that was forever ago,” he exaggerates. “Can you please find out what’s taking so long?” 

“Of course.” 

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

Buck sobs openly when his alpha enters the room, “Eddie!” he calls out desperately. 

Athena holds Buck close and looks up. “He’s in labor. Contractions are less than a minute apart. He needs to start pushing.” 

Eddie doesn’t hesitate, though his brain feels like it’s about to short circuit if even one more insane thing happens within these twenty four hours. He drops between Buck’s knees and reaches out to squeeze his hand. “Hey, I’m here, I’m here, you’ve got this, ok? Cause I’ve got you.” 

“I’m scared.” Buck admits, tears sliding down face, and he’s shaking like a leaf, terrified that something will go wrong. “I don’t--” he groans pitifully against another contraction. “Don’t wanna have her in here.” 

“I know baby, I know, but she’s coming now, Buck. She’s not gonna wait for us to make it to a hospital. She’s impatient,” Eddie kisses his hand, squeezing again, comfortingly. “Just like you.” 

Buck huffs. “No, like you. Y-you never wait for your soup to cool down.” 

“My Tia’s sopa is worth the burnt tongue.” Eddie plays along, trying to distract him from the pain. “Baby, I need you to push, ok? I know this isn’t how we pictured any of this, but it’s time.” 

Buck nods through the tears and steels himself. 

“Good, good, now push, c’mon, you can do this. I’m right here.” 

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

“You look handsome in your mugshot.” Eddie tells Buck, staring at the photo he asked Athena to send him on his phone.

Buck glares at the alpha. “Funny.” 

Eddie leans down to kiss the frown off his face. “Sorry, too soon?” 

Buck turns the other way in bed with an annoyed huff. “You’re on baby night duty for the rest of the week.” he shuts the lamp light off and then the room is dim with just the moon peaking in through their blinds. 

“Hey,” Eddie sits up, tilting his head. It’s been over a month since the incident, and sure, it hadn’t been pleasant, but Buck and their baby had made it through just fine, health intact, and in the hospital Buck hadn’t seemed too phased after the ordeal, mostly content with Christopher and the baby curled up against and on him. “That was a stupid joke, I’m sorry.” 

Buck gulps. He’s being way too sensitive about this. Everything turned out alright and shortly after the whole thing had passed Chimney had even teased him that of course only Buck would have bad enough luck to end up giving birth in a holding cell. And Buck had laughed it off. 

Mostly because he’d been relieved. 

And then of course with the new baby the last month has been a whirlwind of constant activity, of making sure all her needs are met, of making sure Christopher’s not feeling neglected, of debating on when he should start thinking about going back to work and--

Eddie’s heart leaps when he hears Buck’s sharp intake of breath. “Buck?” 

Buck sits up now, too, swiping miserably at the tears that suddenly won’t stop falling. “Sorry, I--ignore me. I didn’t--” he sniffles. “I haven’t really thought about that day since--everything’s been so busy with--you know?--and--” he cuts himself off with a choked off sob. “It’s the hormones.” 

It’s been four weeks now and his hormones from the pregnancy are still driving him every which way and he feels ridiculous right now, crying over something he should have processed a month ago already. 

Eddie wraps his arms around Buck and pulls him between his legs and against his chest. “Let it out.” he says. “I’m here. I’ve got you.” 

Buck curls into Eddie and releases all emotion he hadn’t realized he’d been keeping all pent up inside. The fear, the anguish--Buck lets himself be held, coddled, loved. 

It feels good. 

After he’s cried for what feels like ages Buck rests the side of his head on Eddie’s shoulder and exhales. “You know Christopher wanted to name her Tuubee?” he murmurs. 

Eddie, who’s rubbing up and down his husbands back, pauses a moment. “’Tuubee’?” he repeats. 

Buck half smirks against his shoulder. “Two B. The cell where she was born.”

.

[thefactsofthematter]

hi bestie <3 you said send in some requests, so i'm suggesting:

javid with, "it's not okay! you're not fine!"?

i hope you have a good day !!!

hi bestie <333 i had so much fun with this, i haven't done a short little fic in ages!! here's a 2.7k javid fic - a college au and a classic (emotional) hurt/comfort type deal, heavy on the comfort ;)

-

"Wanna come for dinner at my parents' house tonight?"

Davey is laying on Jack's couch after his last class of the day, since Jack's apartment is just off campus, and it's a ridiculously convenient place to go nap after a long day of school. He honestly spends more time here than at his own apartment that he shares with his sister, a short train ride away.

"I'd love to," Jack replies, his gaze still glued to his computer screen, "but I totally forgot I have an art history paper due at midnight, analyzing a painting, and I haven't started. It needs to be ten pages, and I don't even have an outline. I'm gonna sit here and write until my eyeballs fall out."

Davey laughs softly.

"That sucks. Do you at least have some research done?"

Jack turns to him with completely dead eyes.

"Not a single academic source."

Davey glances at the clock. Jack has seven hours to pull this off, which is doable, but... intense. It would've been a lot easier to spread it out over a few afternoons, and it'll be a painful squeeze to get ten comprehensible pages of writing done tonight. Jack can write decently fast, but his spelling and grammar are atrocious, so he'll have to factor in editing time too. Davey is not envious of these circumstances in the slightest.

"Shit. Good luck. That sounds awful, but I'm rooting for you. What's your prof's late assignment policy?"

Jack, entirely beaten down, leans forward to rest his forehead on his keyboard.

"He won't accept them past the due date without a good reason... which I don't have. I'm just an idiot and forgot to put it in my planner— thank god Romeo texted me today to ask if I was done."

Davey pushes himself up and walks over to where Jack is sitting at his little dining table, under the constantly-flickering fluorescent bulb. He wraps his arms around Jack's shoulders and kisses the back of his neck.

"You got this. I'll come back here after dinner and bring you leftovers, okay? My mom's gonna be sad you couldn't make it, so she'll totally pack up a plate for you."

"You don't have to come all the way here," Jack sighs. "Your place is closer to your parents, and this is out of your way— you have work in the morning anyways, so you should go home and go to bed. I'll be fine, I'll probably write faster alone anyways."

Davey kisses him again, this time leaning around to plant one on his cheek.

"If you're sure." Jack's plan is probably the smart move, since Davey's shifts at his stupid coffee shop job start ridiculously early, and coming here would mean staying up with Jack until he finishes, probably distracting him. "In that case, I'll see you tomorrow after work, and I'll bring the food then... keep me posted about the paper, text me when you finish. And make sure you eat something."

Jack turns back to look at him with a strained, stressed attempt at a smile.

"For sure. Go have a nice time with your family, and tell everyone I say hi."

-

"Aba, you're doing it wrong. You have to use your left arm."

It's getting late in the evening, dinner has been eaten, and Les is trying to coordinate the family to make a TikTok with him. It's not exactly going well.

"My left or your left?"

"It doesn't matter, we have the same left!"

Davey has thankfully been placed in the back row, both because he's tall and lanky, and because he's so uncoordinated that Mom used to make you wear one of those leash backpacks as a kid to keep you from wandering into traffic... which is true, but Davey isn't sure why Les even knows about that. He certainly wasn't around yet when that was the case, so he probably heard it from Sarah.

While Les tries once again to explain how this little dance is supposed to work, Davey's phone starts to buzz in his pocket. It's probably a spam call, but he's not particularly invested in the dance lesson so he pulls it out to check.

Incoming call: cowboy babyy 💖🤠

Davey frowns. Jack never calls him. It's always texts or voice memos, since he's got some kind of weird aversion to talking on the phone. If he's calling, it must be important.

"Hi babe," he says, pressing his phone to his ear and walking off to his old bedroom to get some quiet, while Les shouts at him in the background for not taking this seriously. "How's the homework going?"

Jack is quiet for a second too long as Davey toes the door shut.

"...Not great. I'm really frustrated." He pauses and sniffles a little, sounding almost like he's holding back tears. "I don't know why I called you while you're having a good time with your family, though. I shouldn't be bugging you."

"Hey," Davey breathes, "you're not bugging me at all, sweetheart. Is the paper not going well?"

"I just... I'm so bad at writing, and I don't know what I'm talking about, and I have no idea how I'm gonna get this done in time." His voice is shaking, and it's breaking Davey's heart a little. "I'm being dramatic, though. I just need to keep working on it."

Davey sits down on the edge of what's now a guest bed, his old outer space-themed comforter replaced with something more neutral.

"You're not dramatic, it's okay to be upset. Do you want me to come over and help?"

Jack's breath hitches softly, and it confirms that he's almost definitely crying.

"You don't have to, you're busy with your folks. I'm sorry for calling." He shudders a little as he must try to take a deep breath. "It's okay... I'm fine."

Davey sighs, almost exasperated with Jack's self-sacrificial sense of pride. He'll never ask for anything for himself, not wanting anyone to go out of their way for him, even when he seems to be having a panic attack of sorts.

"It's not okay; you're clearly not fine, Jackie," he replies. "We already ate, and I'm not busy. If you want me to come over, I'll be there... do you?"

Jack is quiet for a moment again, taking a deep, shaky breath.

"Yeah. I do."

Davey nods, though Jack can't see him.

"Okay. I want you to take a little break from writing until I get there, alright? Change into your pyjamas and have a glass of water. Try to relax a little."

"Okay... thanks Davey."

The call ends, and Davey rejoins his family while tucking his phone away in his pocket.

"I have to go." He kisses his mother on the head as he walks by. "Thanks for dinner, Ima."

"Is everything okay?" she asks, catching him gently by the elbow before he can get too far.

"Yeah..." he sighs. "Jack's just having a hard time with homework, I'm gonna go help him out."

His father ruffles his hair and gives him a quick hug.

"You're a good boy, David. Take him those leftovers— your mother's cooking can fix anything."

"For sure. I'll see you guys next weekend, and I'll try to bring Jack along then."

He waves goodbye to Sarah and Les, grabs the dish of food, and then sets off on a speed-walk to the nearest subway station.

-

Jack is sitting on the couch when he arrives, his knees pulled to his chest, looking very soft and cozy in pyjama pants and one of Davey's old hoodies from some baseball tournament. He's staring into space, and he hardly even moves to acknowledge Davey's presence when he walks in.

"Hey darling." Davey leaves the dish of food on the counter and crouches down in front of Jack to try and catch his eye-line. He carefully takes Jack's hands in his own. "Hanging in there?"

Jack finally looks at him and nods, but as he blinks, more tears slip out and roll down his cheeks.

"I'm only done two pages," he mumbles, practically whispering. "I don't know why it's so hard, but I just can't do it."

"Oh, Jackie..." Davey reaches up to wipe Jack's tears, cupping his face gently with both hands. "Hey, you still have three hours, right?" Jack nods. "That's lots of time. We're gonna figure this out... let's just sit here and calm down a little first. It's gonna be okay."

He climbs up onto the couch to pull Jack into a hug, and the moment he's settled, Jack wraps his arms around him and breaks, sobbing into his shoulder. Davey cards his fingers through his hair and rubs his back; he's never seen Jack this distraught, especially not over homework. There's a good chance the problem runs a lot deeper, and stressing over an assignment was simply the last straw.

"You're alright," Davey continues, since talking is what he does best, even in moments like this. Jack is shaking with the force of his tears, breathing so hard Davey worries he might hyperventilate. "Listen, it's just one assignment, my love... if you get a bad grade, or if we don't finish in time, we can deal with that. We'll hand in whatever we finish tonight, so at least you won't get a zero. Worst case scenario, you retake this class in the spring... even that doesn't sound so bad, does it? I know you could handle it, if that's what happens."

Jack nods a little, but his tears don't stop.

"I'm so tired of being stupid," he hiccups, after a long while. "I keep getting distracted, and I can't word things right, and I spell everything wrong, and- and maybe I should just drop out, because I'm clearly not meant to be doing this."

"Baby..." Davey sighs, giving him a gentle kiss on the temple. "You're so intelligent, Jack. You're almost done your degree— after this term, you've only got one year left, and it's not like you do poorly in your classes, is it? Even when it's something hard for you, like writing, you always do well when you put in the work. What did you get on your sociology paper a couple weeks ago?"

"Ninety percent," Jack mumbles, muffled by the way he's speaking into Davey's shoulder. "But I spent so long on it, and you edited it for me. I'm gonna fail this one. I can't do it in one night, and I can't write papers without your help."

"Well, I'm here to help now, aren't I?" He rests his hand midway through brushing it through Jack's hair and scratches his scalp gently, which makes Jack shiver and laugh quietly through his tears. "Right? And you can write, darling— all I do is fix up the spelling and grammar for you. The ideas and words are all you, just like when you give presentations and knock it out of the park every time. I sure can't do that."

Jack finally looks up at him.

"Yes you can. You get nervous beforehand, but when you do a presentation, it's always really good."

Davey smiles at him, now that they're actually looking at each other.

"It's hard for me, though. Just like writing is for you— but with lots of effort, you're really good at it. See my point?"

Slowly, a small smile spreads across Jack's teary-eyed face, and he nods. Davey feels rather accomplished with this development.

"I guess so." He wipes at his eyes and sighs. "Sorry about this. I'm such a mess."

"No apologies. I don't blame you for getting overwhelmed— you're in a tough spot here." He pulls Jack in for a quick kiss, which they both smile into. "I brought you dinner. Go heat it up when you're ready; I'll look over what you've written so far and see if I can come up with some more ideas to add on. We're gonna work together on it, okay? What painting did you choose?"

"The Martyrdom of Saint Matthew by Caravaggio," Jack sighs, looking almost forlornly at his computer on the table. "I have a lot to say about it, and lots of good stuff in my notes, but I just can't put it into paragraphs and sentences that make sense."

Davey nods, watching Jack as he stands up to go put the leftovers from Davey's family in the microwave.

"Well, I don't know anything about paintings, but if you talk me through it, I can help you put the actual paper together." He pauses as an idea dawns on him. "I'm gonna email your professor and ask about an extension— it might be a shot in the dark, but we should at least try. The worst he can do is say no."

"Sure," Jack replies from the kitchen, his voice still shaky. "He's a total hardass, though. Fingers crossed for a miracle."

Davey sits at the table, opens up Jack's email, and starts a draft.

Hi Professor Diaz,

Apologies for the short notice, but I'm wondering if it would be possible to have an extension on the analysis assignment, even if it's just by a few hours. I unfortunately mixed up some due dates in my planner, and I thought I had an extra week for this assignment; I only realized the mistake today, so I'm currently scrambling to get it done in time.

Would it be at all possible to turn it in a few hours late, just to have a bit more time to finish it up? I would really appreciate any amount of time you're willing to give me.

Thank you in advance for your understanding, Jack Kelly

He shrugs, sends it, and sincerely hopes a little professionalism and a decent (if slightly fabricated to make Jack look less forgetful) excuse will go a long way.

-

It's quarter to eleven, the paper is now five-and-a-half pages long, and Jack isn't crying anymore. He's in the zone, talking aloud about the painting while Davey helps him get his vague ideas into concrete sentences, and they're on track to have at least seven or eight pages by the time midnight rolls around— it might not get full marks, but it'll be better than nothing.

Jack's computer dings with the sound of a new email while they're taking a two-minute break— something they've interspersed every half hour, since Jack's focus is best in shorter bouts. He's in the middle of walking laps around the apartment to get his energy out and annoy his downstairs neighbours, but he scrambles back to the computer at the noise.

"We got a reply!" he shouts.

Davey is over on the couch, and he watches Jack's face closely as he opens the email. So far, so good... and then he slumps down in his chair in a show of what could either be defeat or relief. Davey can't quite tell, so he jumps up to go read it for himself.

Sure. Email it by 11:59pm tomorrow.

Sent from my iPhone

"Yes!" Davey shouts, grabbing Jack by the shoulders. "I told you it was worth a shot!"

Jack laughs, and then reaches up to pull Davey down for a kiss.

"You're the best, Jacobs. A fucking lifesaver." He rubs at his eyes, and then pushes his computer away, across the table. "I'll deal with this tomorrow. Let's just go to bed— you still have to be up early."

Right. Davey has a dreaded Saturday morning opening shift tomorrow— they open at five, and he has to be there well in advance to get set up, so he's got no chance at getting more than a few hours of sleep. He's going to be dead on his feet in the morning, probably fuck up a few coffee orders, but it'll be worth it to have helped Jack through tonight.

Poor Jack seems completely exhausted— as anyone would be after crying so hard earlier— so collapsing into bed after washing up quickly is an utter relief. Davey, despite being tall and long-limbed, greatly enjoys being the little spoon and Jack is happy to indulge him, so they curl into the familiar position.

"Thank you for everything tonight," Jack whispers, practically into Davey's ear. "I love you so much."

Davey smiles as his eyes fall shut, and he kisses Jack's knuckles softly, where his arm is wrapped around him.

"Any time, darling. I love you too."

[arhvste]

can i maybe request some comfort hq’s w any of your favorite boys (but maybe throw in some oikawa) when their s/o doesn’t get invited to hang out w her friends but like all her friends are hanging out and they didn’t invite her so she just has to watch them all have fun on social media and stuff? totally not speaking from experience haha.. take your time if you’re busy! i love your writing so much 🥺✨💘💖

hi bby i love u a lot <3 ✨🐉🦋

-

OIKAWA, BOKUTO AND TSUKISHIMA COMFORTING LEFT OUT S/O

-

OIKAWA

you’re minding your own business at home in your room scrolling through instagram when your heart sinks 

you see your friends have posted group photo they took today when they went out and failed to invite you

you felt silly being bothered by it but you couldn’t hep it 

friends are meant to invite each other out not leave individual members out

while you’re staring at the picture, you’re interrupted by a facetime call from your boyfriend

you answer and see his smiling face on your screen

“hi y/n-chan i- wHATS WRONG?!”

he sees you’re not smiling back and he immediately knows somethings up

“its nothing tooru, don’t worry”

you give him a little reassuring smile and he frowns a little 

so anyway you guys go about your call just talking as normal and you casually mention that your friends hung out without you

you can’t actually see oikawa’s face because he has you on pause and kept muting and unmuting by what you assumed was accident

rude

but you just assume he’s on his daily run because you can hear him doing so

you carry on telling him about how you’d been left out and just talking about it made you tear up a little

“i know it’s stupid, but i can't help but feel annoyed.”

as you’re explaining to tooru you hear a knock at your door

muttering a quick “hang on” to your boyfriend you go downstairs to see who’s at your door

you open the door to reveal your panting boyfriend with a bag containing, one of his favourite hoodies you like to borrow, his laptop, another bag of take out food and a bunch of sunflowers gripped under his arm

“sorry i took so long y/n-chan”

“tooru? what's all this?”

“as if im gonna let my pretty girl feel upset all by herself, come here”

he pulls you in for a tight hug and you let him inside where he unpacks the contents in the bags 

the fact he did all of this for you make you want to tear up again

and you do just that

he pulls you back into his chest and wraps his arms around you 

“what did i do to deserve you?”

“i should be asking you.”

you guys eat your take out, oikawa has a shower because he was lowkey sweating with all that running about, you pull on the jumper he brought round for you (he only took it back in the first place because you mentioned his smell wasn't as strong on it anymore)

you watch a few films before you both start to just lay there and cuddle

“come on, lets take cute photos!”

“why?”

“so we can show your stupid friends that you don’t need to be with them when you have me”

you guys take some immaculate pictures and upload them to your insta story where a ton of people are swiping up compliment how cute you both are

including a few of your friends who swooned over your boyfriend saying how they wished they had a boyfriend like tooru

oikawa looked at their messages and sneered

“ignore them it’ll piss them off”

he is so petty

but so are you fdshfghu

he’ll stay over for the night because he refuses to leave you until you’re totally over it

best boyfie

63/10 experience would die for this boy 😼

-

BOKUTO 

bokuto is actually the one who points out that your friends are hanging out without you

you two have just left grabbing breakfast together when he sees your group walking and laughing together across the street

“hey y/n? aren't they your friends?”

“huh?”

you turn to look and you wish you hadn't 

bokuto saw the drop in your face and suddenly felt sad too

“do you want me to say something?”

“don’t worry kou, it’s nothing”

you give him a weak smile and pull him back to your house

the walk back is quiet which is unusual for the two of you as usually you two never stop talking to each other 

when you get back home you turn away from your boyfriend and wipe a few stray tears that you’d been holding back the whole time

bokuto notices and grabs you shoulder and turns you to face him

“oh y/n please don’t cry! shall we make a blanket fort? do you want to go out somewhere? shall i get akaashi to come over and we can plot muder against your friends?”

the boy isn’t used to seeing you upset

he’s used to seeing you so happy and cheerful around him because he always does his best to make sure you’re comfortable 

you laugh dryly and smile at him

“no baby it’s fine, i just need to let it all out and i’ll be good”

he pulls you and and wraps his big arms around you as your sobs grow louder into his chest

“k-kou am i stupid for feeling like this? it’s not even that serious i just feel kinda betrayed they didn't even ask me you know? like this isn't even the first time -i”

you look up when you feel chest chest move and you sees HE’S got tears falling down his face too

“kou!! i know why i’m crying but why are YOU crying?”

“i-i don't know?? seeing you cry makes me cry??”

the two of you are laughing and sobbing together you forget why you were even sad in the first place

he picks you up bridal style and carried you over to the couch where the two of you proceed to just cuddle and enjoy each other’s presence

“hey, y/n you should hang with me and akaashi at lunch if you want”

“maybe...”

“come onnnn, if your so-called ‘friends’ don’t wanna hang with you, we most certainly do!”

he’s giving you his big toothy grin you can't say no to

“okay kou, i’ll start spending my lunches with you”

he doesn't even hide the fact he's excited lmao

“yES!! we get to spend even more time together now and everyones gonna see how cute we are together!”

bokuto just wants to make sure that wherever you are, he can make you smile and forget about all the bad things 

so the fact you agree to spend your lunchtimes with him makes him ecstatic now that he knows he can make it his mission everyday to make you smile more

he won't ever leave you alone when you’re sad so you spend the rest of your day playing on your switch and making tiktoks together

because bokuto will always want you to feel like you’re having fun with him because it’s your smile that first caught his attention before you started dating 

-

TSUKISHIMA

you and tsuki are at his house in his room together

both of you are going through your phones until your group chat starts spamming with photos and videos 

your notifications are going off like crazy and its driving tsukishima mental

“since when were you popular?”

you glare at him as you open the messages and your face drops 

your supposed friends were all sending videos and photos of each other into your group chat

they had all gone out and hadn't mentioned it to you

tsukishima glanced over to your phone and watched as you mindlessly tapped through the never ending stream of content 

“i don’t know why you surround yourself with such loser’s y/n, i’d be embarrassed to send videos of my friends screaming like babies”

this made you smile ever so slightly

you’re not a mean person

but there's something about tsukishima’s snarky comments which make you feel better about the situation

tsuki has obviously noticed you were bothered about not being invited but he won't tell you he knows because it may trigger you to get upset

instead he pulls your back into his chest as the two of you lay in his bed together as he rests one of his arms on your side and the other over your shoulder

instead of being overly comforting, tsuki will encourage you to tap through the group chat but he’ll make a snarky comments for each picture or video

“ew she really left the house with confidence looking like that?”

“why has the girl on the right done her make up like that? did they go out for a day at the circus or something?”

“you can see the people in the background literally cringing, i can feel the second hand embarrassment through the screen”

the two of you sit there for a while laughing and making snide comments 

tuski’s are way worse than yours because he literally doesn't know how to stop 

after you finish tapping through everything, you set your phone down and smile at your boyfriend 

“hey, thanks for that”

“for what? being myself”

“for making me laugh you idiot”

“i was being honest but okay then”

you’ll just lay there together in a comforting silence

“you know... you’re too good for them anyway, ditch them”

you hesitated before answering

“but, they're my friends? i can't just ditch them out of nowhere”

“they had no problem doing it to you”

harsh words 

but he’s right

they didn't have a problem ditching you so maybe tsuki was right

“i don't mind doing a bit of charity work and letting you be with me at school”

“oh? how considerate of my boyfriend, the one who’s meant to love and be there for me unconditionally! you’re too kind!”

you both snicker at this before he presses a soft kiss to the top of your head

“go on, leave the group chat... if you’re bad 😈”

he gets lowkey excited watching you leave it he’s got a stupid little evil smirk 

tsuki may seem like he enjoys conflict and malicious behaviour 

but really he just wants to make sure you’re kept away from people who clearly don't value or deserve you

‘their loss’ he thinks to himself as he pulls you closer

[the-blind-geisha]

im sorry you weren't treated well in some fandoms. I hope that the next season of Overlord comes out to refresh you!! 👐

I'm sorry this sat in my inbox for a time, anon. I... really wasn't sure how to answer it, but I dunno. I guess reaching my wit's end here, I'll speak out a bit.

I also kinda hate I've been encouraged (both by myself and others) to be quiet, but no. Drama shouldn't be silenced if you're the one being directly/ indirectly harassed and stalked.

This is... this is intense. I've never known someone to be this insane before and then have people support said person thinking 'she's a good person deep down'. Yeah, manipulative people are like that. They say and do things to make you believe they don't have a gun ready to shoot and kill somebody that isn't flattering them.

Ignore the stuff below if you don't want drama, but I will eventually post screenshots of all the info I have with timestamps and all anybody needs to see my side of the story in a public google docs.

But please, do NOT go out of your way to flame and harass this person. Just leave them alone. Seriously. That's not what I'm trying to get across with this. This person just wants an engorged ego, and it shows. I'm just explaining my side, because--fuck man. It hurts enough. I've done nothing to you, but you still wanna be this creepy...

For those who don't know or weren't made aware: I was (and still am at times) being stalked by someone who got very, very angry that I wrote a story similar in concepts but vastly different in delivery than their fic. They made it a point in their older fic to spit on anybody who dared write characters a certain way (the loving/powerful Supreme Being was oh so cliché and dumb in her eyes), and then when I came along to basically be identical to her in how I enjoyed writing Demiurge with a human character, I was somehow 'stealing' from her.

That person is—well—I cannot say directly, but you can look in Contract's Chapter 4 reviews to see everything you need to. (And I have that all screenshot on my hard drive as well as her 'bad past' she insisted I deleted because of 'anon hate' she got, so yeah.)

Flames erupted and accusations... all while she was pretending to be my friend and on my side on Tumblr.

It was abhorrent. I was new, dipping my toes into the fandom only to have my first Overlord fic be attacked by her and then have my Amnesia fic have her glare at and say it was a 'spite-fic' (because...only her character can have amnesia/memory problems, I guess??) Which... I have screenshots of my Amnesia fic's origins dating years back when I was very into the game Amnesia: A Dark Decent—Lilyodin's name included—to where she didn't even have her fic(s) posted. 2014, if you want to know the exact year. Hell, Contract's earliest conception is marked on Instagram where I began my comic Dancing with the Devil. Her fic came out in early February 2020 if I remember right. She claims to have begun it on another site, but never tells anybody what that site is called, because… lies. And even then, how would I steal from her when I don’t know where the hell that fic is located to begin with?

She can claim it wasn't her, but the irony is she eventually unbookmarked Contract and, shortly after, I got another flame. The moment I made a vague threat towards her on my Tumblr, she blocked me, ran and tried to approach people she thought could protect her from my more outspoken behavior. When she did this, all flames stopped. (Though, glad to know all I have to do is mark flames as spam, and AO3 deals with it).

She rewrote her story into a ‘reader insert’ though, really, it was her OC Lilith, and then made 40 dummies to boost her numbers. Some of them were ironically made with specific likes around times I was reblogging or answering a specific ask about something on my Tumblr to show she was block circumventing and spying on me. The icing on the cake was her taking anons on my fics and using their usernames on her new fic story to boost her comments and pretend she had my anons. Whenever I would update Contract, I was told she was updating on top of me shortly after—always. I was told by friends she seemed to do this late last year (2020), but I chose to ignore it till earlier 2021 where I caught her doing it... twice (and besides, she confessed that’s what she was doing to a person between us so yeah–she cannot lie her way out of that one). Even as we're now in two different fandoms, she still goes out of her way to unironically update about the times I do, because we (of course) share the same tags. The girl is just... something else. She can claim that's me being paranoid, but given how often she goes out of her way to 'magically do (X) thing' like I do, yeah... how can I NOT be and how can I trust her?

What further made me almost hit the 'fuck you, I'm calling you out’ post was when I wrote to my original Naga story where I put Zul'te. She saw some of the tags, saw the insane boost in kudos and bookmarks, how shocked I was people loved it in one chapter, and she took some of the tags to mirror them. Honestly, she was confused and furious I somehow got tag surfers where Contract was concerned. Seriously, I would say 80% of my readers on Contract aren't Overlord fans, so she tried to mimic what I did to gain that attention too.

All she wants is people's love and support. Nothing else. Her actions there show this. It was... gross. Whatever she can do to try and stay near me like a damn shadow and try to boost her numbers and flatter her ego, she'll do it. (Hell, she's still doing it apparently).

She was warned she's not safe from me—that I do literally have a whole folder full of her nonsense to show my side of the story. From the indirect accusation of me 'stealing from her' before I got the anon accusation on my fic, to her updating on top of me, her dummies, her crappy comments before we told her that wasn't cool to say about people (sad we gotta smack her hand and tell her 'no' before she realizes something isn't cool to do...), the aggressive things she said to the prior writers she tried to chase out, to her tags added to reflect mine, the works.

That was the only thing that has kept her at bay...but only for a few months, and then she was back on her shit, apparently. And, sad to say? That folder is never getting destroyed. She can pray my PC has a malfunction but I got a backup hard drive with those screenshots. It's never going away.

With all of this? I hope to the gods she gets better. I don't know what's going on in her life, but a lot of what she says she is about—I found it all to be fake. She made the trails all too easy. She's not as clever as she thinks she is.

But by god... I want her to just move on and away from me already. I know her constantly mimicking the things I say and do are her trying to take back whatever power she thinks I stole from her, but I stole nothing. If I was inspired by someone or something, I sure as hell am going to tell people. I'm not ashamed of that.

Even in the new fandom she's apart of? I was made aware of that she basically copied my other Tumblr name for a fic of hers... only changing one word, and that's... yeah. Creepy as fuck.

But because of all of this, it made writing to Overlord (Contract and Amnesia especially) very hard. I feel like if I deleted them, she'd be happy and fuck off all ready. But no. I'm never going to give her what she wants.

She's psychopathic, and I don't know why people defend her but. Eh. Whatever.

I've been doing my best not to let her chase me out of what I love doing. That's for damn sure.

I will still write and enjoy Overlord. That'll never stop.

[fizzingwizard]

Go ahead y’all ask me how I am... do it, I DARE you... after Digimon Adventure: episode 50 - the 1999 equivalent of which, I feel compelled to mention, was “Jou’s Battle,” when Taichi strategically splits his group apart with the goal of gathering the whole team for the final confrontation - I think my emotional state can best be described like this:

meme so funny haha

but the truth is I’m very sad. I just can’t with this show anymore. I don’t know if I’ll continue to review future episodes. Actually, as I was watching this one, I thought it was the final episode, even though I knew there were supposed to be more and it hadn’t been hyped as the finale at all. I just thought, “What else can they do after this? It seems like the kind of ending this shitshow would get. At least it will be a relief to not watch it every week anymore.”

However, let’s be clear that this is NOT the finale. I’m gonna watch till the very end, but idk if I have it in me even to make these depressing little reviews. At first it was fun, then it was meh... I held out and the show got fun again, but the last month or so have been such a drag. And this week’s episode is just the final straw. So we’ll see.

Anyway real episode review below the cut. Warning: I hated everything except for Taichi’s face so it’s mostly caps of him.

Pic of the day:

“At this rate... I’m gonna request a transfer to Boruto...” /Sanpei Yuuko joke

More below

Last week big bad Millenniumon appeared to be resurrected. Here he is.

Totally lacking a clear motivation other than “destroy the world...” Even in appearance, ALL of Devimon’s evolutions mid-season were WAY scarier.

Turns out Taichi and Agumon have faceplanted on this hunk of rock, which immediately breaks off and sends them catapulting earthward.

Wind noise what? Taichi and Agumon encourage each other while freefalling.

Agumon: Hey shouldn’t we have broken every bone in our bodies by now

Taichi: I once broke my leg tripping over Hikari’s hairbrush. This is starting to seem silly.

Meanwhile the others awaken inside what Tailmon explains is a cut-off dimension created by Millenniumon, where they will eventually fall into a dreamless sleep forever and ever.

Millenniumon’s power is immense and he makes volcanos erupt. So his power is he gives the earth digital acne.

Yamato evolves MetalGarurumon and stars just attacking the walls (of... the endless void... lol). This appears to slow Millenniumon down in a total rip-off of the way cooler way Koushirou slowed Diaboromon down in Our War Game.

The Holy Digimon are inspired by Taichi’s courage to fight wheeee I didn’t realize they were having problems with that

no kidding

Taichi fights a lot and escapes certain death a lot. Even when he and WarGreymon take a head-on hit and are sent spiraling into the ocean. Still fine because THE POWER OF BELIEF

Chumbawumba: I get knocked down but I get up again you’re never gonna keep me down

WarGreymon is able to knock the black ball thingy out of Millenniumon’s mouth. This is fortunate because it’s what contains Yamato and friends and now they are able to free themselves thanks to the Holy Digimon, who randomly start acting like the Crests are important. But since we don’t know what they are *cough* they just call them “everyone’s hopes!”

Now let’s interrupt my mocking to appreciate an adorable Taichi waking up face:

Alll the d’aaaaawwwww

... Aaaand his back is broken x’DDD

The HolyDigimon have evolved to Ultimate level! More on that later. First, they divided the group in halves with them, because because. Hikari gets Taichi, Sora, and Koushirou, and Takeru gets Yamato, Jou, and Mimi.

So yes... those Ultimate evolutions... Tailmon becomes Magnadramon and Patamon becomes... GODDRAMON, GOD OF STEELY ABS

no seriously thats all I could think. Magnadramon is all soft and fluffy looking and then Goddramon is like “I HAVE SMALL HEAD HUGE BODY ABS ABS UNTIL KINGDOM COME, VERY MACHO”

He punches Millenniumon in the mouth, of course.

Millenniummon considerately starts to melt. Thank you, Millenniumon. We wouldn’t want Goddramon’s ego to get bruised.

There’s a few good attacks here - I liked Magnadramon’s Apocalypse attack - but like who even cares. The animation is so half-assed that there’s nothing really to appreciate.

Just when it seems Millenniumon’s defeated, he comes back like... this. It’s enormous. Even Koushirou’s digimon analyzer doesn’t know what it is.

Lopmon does though!

bahahaha

but wait what’s this

sparks! are they fireflies????

no they are the hopes and wishes of all the Digimon we’ve met on our journey! how lovely and inspiring! what are they saying?

hopes and wishes: I DONT WANNA DIE I DONT WANNA DIE I DONT WANNA DIE

now I shall spam Taichi looking adorable while being as cliche as an anime protagonist can get.

Good heavens, WHY. WHY WHY WHY. I looooooove Taichi (obviously) but WHY is he the one fighting here?? First it was Taichi, then it was Goddramon/Magnadramon, and now it’s... back to Taichi??? FOR WHAT REASON???

I mean the reason is, we don’t know anyone else well enough to cheer for them the way we cheer for Taichi. As cool as the Holy Digimon are meant to be, I guess the one thing the producers realized is that, uh, they’ve only spent time building up Taichi (and even that, while they’ve done a lot of it, they haven’t done it well).

Kinda cool death scene.

Our heroes wake up no worse for the wear. Millenniumon is gone. Everyone is together and happy. I’m just spamming Taichi again.

his face when Mimi gives him the corsage

Taichi: “Wtf, what is this, is this supposed to mean something??? also didn’t we see this burn to a crisp a few frames ago??”

And we end with a blue sky, which is both the most beautifully animated frame as well as the most Digimon Adventure-like scene in the entire episode -____-

So, like I said, I was all prepared for this to be the inauspicious ending, despite what I’d heard about the number of episodes. But nope, there’s more. Although I’m frustrated beyond belief, I’m somewhat relieved because this does mean there’s still potential to recover somewhat from this utter train wreck of a battle. The big problem is that Millenniumon is a TERRIBLE villain.

The other problem is that the show HASN’T been terrible the whole time. It’s been up and down a lot, but the ups were very much there, and they gave us some stuff I found pretty interesting. Like, I really wanted to know more about what the heck went down between Taichi and DoneDevimon - the fact that only Yamato has any idea about it (Takeru too but he’s a baby) hasn’t been addressed. Then there’s the connections between Devimon and Angemon, SkullKnightmon and Tailmon. Those have been addressed, technically, but they left sooo much room for more.

Then there’s things like the kids’ family situations - my guess is we’ll end up back in the human world at some point quite soon - which were hinted at back when most of the team was exiled to the human world. Really want to see that expanded on.

Mosty of all, what gave me any positive vibes about this reboot at all was the first three episodes, which were pretty good overall - did a lot of things different but still preserved what I felt was most important. We saw Koushirou coming into his own, Yamato being standoffish and slowly opening up, and Taichi being the glue that keeps things together. Those first three episodes are arguably better than the rest of the show combined. And I bet it’s no coincidence that they predate covid-19 (sort of - I mean, covid was already a thing and around, Japan just hadn’t started caring much about it yet).

Episode 4 is when we started hitting misteps, and that’s also when the show went on brief hiatus due to covid. It never got back what made those first three episodes so promising, even during the highs.

I’ll make a list of the things I liked sometime, but I suppose the main points are the ones I mentioned above, plus the arc with Ogremon, and the kids getting new evolutions not seen in 99 Adventure (well, by “kids” I mostly mean Taichi tho - but I thought it meant everyone would get them. Technically, Takeru just did.)

So yeah. I’m  so done with this show and the things is, I just love Digimon Adventure so much, it meant so much to me as a kid. I didn’t expect the same show. I think my expectations were set at a reasonable level, though I knew I had to be cautious about comparing the now and the before too much. This show just hasn’t been able to live up to 99 Adventure, but that’s not even my issue - it’s that it doesn’t live up to other current children’s cartoons either. It’s got no heart. Just think about that, Digimon has got no heart. It’s literally all about the connection between kids and their partners, kids and their friends, kids and their families, and it has no heart! That is failure. It says to me that something got confused in production - there wasn’t enough money, or there was too much staff turnover thanks to covid, etc, and people just lost sight of the story they were planning to tell.

That’s what I think happened. It can’t be fixed at this point, but I’ll still watch till the end and hope for the best. At least maybe I’ll get more Taichi pics to spam.

I probably need to rewatch 99 Adventure soon to get my soul back.

Next week, apparently the Crests will finally matter. My hope is that this whole debacle with Millenniumon is gonna turn out to have been a cover for something much bigger and less boring going on. Millenniumon didn’t even get a villain monologue. He reminded me of the way Mugendramon had been somewhat, more like a puppet than his own person. Makes me wonder if the Vademon were up to more than simply resurrecting a vanquished evil. Here’s hoping.

[snorlaxlovesme]

Walk Me Home

So I guess I wrote this fic for a SoMa week prompt last year and then didn’t post it??? I found it in my drafts and was really confused what a fully completed one-shot was doing staring back at me lmao

So. Here’s a fic for I think the “2am” prompt. Title a reference to the P!nk song, since I’m pretty sure I spammed it while writing this.

                             ____________________

“Hey. Hey!”

Maka hears Soul’s voice call out from behind her, but she doesn’t turn around. She doesn’t want to talk right now; she wants to leave.

“Jesus, why are you walking so fast? Slow down, fuck’s sake.”

The grit of the sidewalk digs painfully into the heels of her bare feet. It doesn’t slow her down, nor does it stop her. In fact, when she hears Soul’s panting from behind her, she petulantly picks up her speed until his hand is landing on her shoulder and pulling her to a stop. He tugs her around despite her best efforts to keep walking.

“Hey, you wanna tell me what the problem is? Why did you leave the party?” He doesn’t even look mad at her, just concerned, which somehow makes her just feel worse. Soul continues, “I went to go talk to Kid for a few minutes and when I came back everyone said you left. Did something happen?”

Clearly something must have happened. She knows he can see it all over her expression, in the way she bolted away from him. Hell, he can probably feel waves of it coming directly from her soul.  

But she doesn’t want to talk, so she pulls her shoulder away from his grasp and keeps walking, marching towards the direction of home, probably. She’s still a little tipsy, even though she only had a couple drinks at the party. But whoever Kid hires to bartend at the Gallows Mansion has a heavy hand when it comes to mixing drinks. Either her cocktails were stronger than normal or Maka really is the lightweight every assumes she is. She keeps walking despite her protesting feet and the way the world is swaying around her.

“So you’re just not gonna talk to me?” Soul asks, still trailing behind her. She can feel his hand come to rest on her shoulders every now and again, steadying her when she tips a bit too far in one direction, but pulling away once she’s righted herself. Protecting her while also respecting her boundaries. It’s infuriating.

Soul keeps talking to her back. “Was it something it something Black Star said? You know how Star gets when he’s drunk. He’s got no fucking boundaries.”

It’s not Black Star. It’s not anyone specifically. It’s just everyone. It’s everything. It’s nothing. She doesn’t want to explain it, because that would just be another weakness to add to the ever-growing pile.

“I can kick his ass if you want,” Soul keeps trying, knowing full-well that he could never take Black Star in a fight. The pathetic offer almost makes her smile, but she gulps it down and tries not to cry.

Soul circles around in front of her. “Look, you don’t have to tell me, but could you please stop for a sec? You’re not wearing any shoes and your feet are gonna get all fucked up. There could be glass or something.” Maka, being Maka, doesn’t give a damn about potential dangers to herself, and continues marching forward, leaving Soul to roll his eyes and pick up his pace to catch up with her again. She’s trying not to look at him, but she can see the way his eyes widen in his ‘I have an idea’ face, and two seconds later he’s transformed into a scythe in front of her, hovering a few feet off the ground beside her. His wings flap quickly and silently to keep steady beside her.

“Please?” His voice comes his weapon form, tinny and desperate.

Now Maka is the one rolling her eyes. His winged-form only rubs salt in her emotional wounds, but her feet are admittedly in a lot of pain after almost a half mile of walking on cracked concrete. She concedes and throws a leg over his handle. She grabs onto him with both hands, expecting him to whisk her away to their apartment above the buildings of Death City. Soul surprises her by hovering another foot in the air, so her feet don’t drag on the cement, but flying at the same pace she was walking.

The quiet extends before them into the night. The farther they get from the Gallows, the harder it is to hear the booming bass of the music. Soul lets Maka direct them with her soul through the residential neighborhoods and away from crowded streets. She started this walk with the intention of being alone.

But, ten times out of ten she’d rather be with Soul.

She swallows. “Do you care what people think about you?”

On a normal day he’d snark at her for finally deeming him worthy of conversation, but today he’s quiet as he thinks of what response she might be looking for. She can feel he’s trying to pick apart the meaning of this starting question, but eventually just decides to answer honestly.

“Yeah. All the time.”

It’s the truth, Maka can feel in his soul that it is, but she still doesn’t believe it. In the time that Maka has known Soul, he’s grown so much. She’s always admired the way he just lets things roll off his shoulders, not giving a shit what others think about him. Maybe he’s just been faking it, but he does a damn good job playing the Cool Guy he’s always wanted to be as a kid. He makes Maka’s version of the same kind of make-believe feel like child’s play. No one believes in her flimsy brand of confidence.  

“Do you care what people think about us?” she asks.

There’s always been something in the way people talk about the two of them. Soul, the powerful, confident demon weapon that took down Arachne and helped save the world from madness on the moon. Maka, the meister who just managed to hold on for the ride. Maybe that’s not exactly what they say, but it’s implied. In the way other students will look at him with admiration, with appreciation, and then how they look at her, like they’re surprised it was little unstable Maka Albarn who managed to produce a Death Scythe. She knows she’s weak, but do people have to throw it in her face all the time? Like she was the last person they expected to be helpful in the apocalypse?  

Even at a freaking party there are people coming up to Soul and asking him for autographs while Maka stands right next to him. Like somehow they know the exact imbalance of strength between Soul and Maka and they’re disappointed in Maka the same way she is with herself.

Just thinking about it has her unconsciously pulling Soul forward down the street a little faster. She breathes deeply. Just a few more minutes and she’ll be home.

Soul finally speaks, breaking her out of her own internal pity party.  

“No.”

Maka blinks.

No?

“Our partnership is no one’s business but ours. If people have something to say about it, whatever. I only care about one person’s opinion when it comes to our partnership. And that’s you.”

God, it’s such a simple yet complete answer. And he’s totally right, like always. She doesn’t know why she gives a shit what other people think about her and Soul. None of it matters in the end, but God, does Maka wish for once that when she thought of the word “strength” she could picture herself embodying that word instead of never measuring up. Instead of feeling guilty for somehow always thinking she’s holding Soul back.

“You know there’s nothing wrong with you, right?”

Maka’s soul spikes so suddenly in surprise that Soul comes to a halt in the middle of the street.

“I’m serious. I know you wanna be the best meister you can be, but you’re too stuck in your own head to realize how fucked I would be without you as my partner.” He quiets in a way that means he’s gathering his words, and Maka listens with bated breath.  

“You’re the smartest and bravest person I know, okay? And you’re also a reckless moron who pulls some of the craziest shit in battle that I’ve ever seen in my life. It sucks that I have to keep saying this to you, but I’ll keep reminding you until you believe it. The only reason I ever had a prayer of becoming of a Death Scythe was because you’ve been my meister. Stop thinking that you’re not good enough, because you’re better than every asshole at the party. You did something they never could and now never will be able to do.”

Maka closes her eyes for a few heartbeats, allowing this to sink in. Even now, at 2am with the sky pitch dark because of the blackened moon, it’s hard to imagine that she was involved in that fight. She helped save the world and she’s still convinced that she’s somehow not good enough. Maybe Soul’s right, and what they have could only be accomplished with the two of them together. Maybe no one else matters but her and Soul.

“Soul? Transform for me, will you?”

Without hesitation, Soul morphs back into human form, holding her now on piggyback instead of on his weapon form. The shift from being supported by his handle to hanging off his backside is so natural that Maka doesn’t even have to think about it, just adjusts her arms so they’re tighter across his shoulders. She presses her face into the side of his neck in gratitude.

“You always know what to say, you know that?”

Soul snorts and hops a little to scoot her higher up his back. “It’s easy when your soul is practically screaming at me what you’re upset about.” He starts walking again, refusing to put her down because of his stubborn insistence that she’ll hurt her feet. “So. Party sucked for you too, then?”

Now it’s Maka’s turn to snort. All of a sudden the night’s whole emo conclusion feels very overstated. She feels foolish for being so dramatic but remembers that Soul thinks she’s strong even when she’s a drama queen. Depends on her even when she gets caught up in her own head. The reminder calms her soul down considerably.

“Think I drank too much,” she says, nestling closer to his back and laying her arms heavily over his shoulders to remain balanced. “Ox said some dumb shit about me being the weaker partner and it made me sad.”

“Alcohol is a depressant,” Soul says, kind of snooty. He’s repeating what she’s told him on his Moody Drinking nights.  

“Wait a minute,” Soul says. “Did you say Ox? Who the fuck is he to talk about being a weak partner?”

“I thought you said you don’t care what anyone thinks about us.”

“Yeah, but that was before I found out it was fucking Ox Ford who was talking down to you. I could totally take his ass in fight.”

Maka laughs for the first time all night. Soul continues ranting all the way home about how he’s going to beat Ox’s face in the next time he saw him (he won’t) and Maka thinks that maybe real strength is remembering that you always have someone on your side.

[gdsplay]

I've been a BB fan since I think 2016, and rn I don't know if i can continue or not. Please help me rationalize this, but do you really think they didn't knew/support him? YB is obvious but GD's insta posts were pretty on the nose. There's also Daesung's building situation, and I know this is old but with the news of YG threatening to kill people to protect B.I., even his old accident seems shady to me... I don't know. I feel like they are some scummy men now, this really isn't an attack at you or any other VIPs I just don't get it. I wish to like them again, but with the situation rn I can't. So I wanna know how you view these situations.

I’m here to debunk some of these assumptions;

Starting with support, what support? They’ve been living in silence since military service. They barely even update their own social media. Ot5’s will over analyzes any kind of picture or post to create a deep meaning behind it in honor of Seungri. These fan’s recently just spammed TOPs Instagram over a Picasso bug picture he reposted from a professional artist/photographer. A deep meaning over a bug… you can think like ot5s and always try to interrupt to create a deep meaning, perhaps what if Seunghyun was calling him a bug? See what I mean it’s all in the head.

The five hands? Well I don’t feel anything bad about it. The members aren’t ignorant. Why should we have to forget BigBang and not value the memories? Daesung used a screenshot and blocked all five faces, he won’t just block only seungri’s. They’re not doing to be petty and repost edited photos let alone full face ot5 photos. GD is very sentimental, it’s not that he’s particularly showing a stance but more so keeping the spirit of BigBang in the lest problematic way which a hand picture from Made was a good choice, a more reassuring picture so fans know they’re not going to disband or retire as a group over Seungri with or without him. I’m pretty sure they’re not allowed to speak on any of this burning sun scandal for their own good. Even if it’s against Seungri it will cause chaos from all ends including media. I know it sounds like a good idea but you have to understand the culture over their in handling these situations is nearly similar to how us oversea people address issues. I know ot5 have been disgusting obnoxious about that post, so what? Let them, it can be their last crumb. BigBang are well aware they are now a four member group, they knew it was coming sooner or later just by all of their own quotes regarding it. Why should they announce they obvious? It’s not anyone’s fault that a group of these active fans can’t let go and move on. There’s nothing to explain to them or anyone. The popular attack of ‘contract fans’ thrown, it’s true though, bigbang would not of renewed their contracts as four members if the oath of 5-1=0. The guys would have disbanded or called quits on the band.

As far as that goes the members scolded Seungri for years about his behavior and choice of friend group or the way he treats women like objects. They’ve tried maturing him, even help him to lead him out of the off vibe of friends he befriend. His ‘hyungs’ always wondered where Seungri’s whereabouts are. He would stop hanging out with them, going out for birthdays or celebrations and even being the only member to not physically sit down and meet Taeyang’s girlfriend at the time, someone important who meant the world to Taeyang. He couldn’t even do that for his own brother, everything was business and business only. So they’ve spat that in his face multiple times and wonder why he became distant, wondering where he’s been.

They may of predicted the future but they had no idea about the secret business he was really up too and it’s very ashamed and disappointed to find that out publicly like everyone else. A stab in the back I will say.

BigBang, the hyungs, have always respected women, they’ve never expressed perverted or shady behavior with any of them. Most of GD’s personal friend group is full of women whom he is close with, many feel safe with him and trust him just like the other three. While Seungri on the other hand.. their has been some uncomfortable signs as of body language. He always always been in the running ‘jokes’ or caught too many times with his p0rn watching— more like unhealthy addiction where his personality is pervert-like.

Now don’t take my wording the wrong way I’m not trying to come off snarky at all; The problem is too many of people take what they hear and run with it. Daesungs building? Let’s talk about that, Daesung bought a building back in later 2017 was at? Somewhere around before he enlisted, he seemed to of not studied the building enough more so just a quit purchase. Since around 2005 before BigBang we’re even a thing, making Daesung a minor that building has been running secret sex services their or over a decade. Nobody knew about these acts happening. Daesung didn’t run the building or even work within this building, he was just the owner who at the time recently bought it. What I trust in Daesung is how well he handled the situation compared to Seungri. As soon as the news hit Daesung immediately reached out to the fans and expressed his shock and disappointment about the news accusing him. Right away he apologized making a statement hours after the news to reassure fans. Taking on the mature adult route, he said he will do everything he’s acquired to do to get to the bottom of this accusation. Daesung sadly got thrown under the bus and invoked since he was the owner, now he was doing his mandatory this whole time unaware as well as when he bought this building. He ha:d nothing to do with the tenants, again he onlt owned the building. That would be like an accident happening at your local store, let’s use as an example! Someone dealt with a very disrespectful employee, now is that the owner of the buildings fault or the employee that works there? What would the building owner have anything to do with that encounter, the building owner doesn’t hire the people to work in their building that’s all within management of the building who work their not the owner. Does that make better sense?

Daesung went through about a month of working with the police, Daesung was clear of all charges and he chose to not own the building anymore. At night time the tenants would run illegal activity in secret without anyone’s knowledge, it sure was bad timing but I’m glad he got cleared and quickly. It’s unfortunate he had to be dragged into the mix of that with just buying a building. Perhaps he will be more careful next timeZ. I feel he should of waited and not rush into something right before enlistment since he would be gone. These activities took place for around 14 years beforehand. There is a huge underground prostitution ring within Gangnam no one knows where all the secret hot spots are just the ones who are getting caught.

Unlike Seungri who ignored the news of burning sun first being talked about including himself, not only did he pretend that the news didn’t occur but his reply later in February at one of his solo concerts was ‘I don’t care, I like when people talk about me’ that was his bright and witty choice of phrasing to use regarding a serious scandal about to stir.. I knew then he wasn’t worth my time or support with such a gross and cocky attitude.

These assumptions many have regarding BigBang can be negative judging by what they hear and choose to believe. Which I understand if you don’t follow them you’re not going to know everything or keep up. Just like you I hope to educate and explain further deeper into these issues. This may help or not but I’m glad you came here wanting to know.

[i-need-entertainment]

Thank you @citrussweetie for the tag! Their post can be seen here~

Game Rules:

Tell me characters you self ship with...

1. The date you wish they’d take you on

2. The date they’d actually take you on

3. Your usual hangout

4. Their favorite thing about you

Washio Tatsuki:

1. I would like to go to the movies with him. To be honest, I don’t really like the movies cause I have the attention span of a small rabbit, but it just seems like it’d be better with him there. After we’d go out to eat somewhere where we could talk about the movie and him making snarky comments about the bad decisions made.

2. I think he would take me on a classic date. Like a nice dinner, and then a walk on the boardwalk (I live by water, and it has always been a dream of mine for the Haikyuu!! Boys to walk with me on the boardwalk😞) where he holds my hand and gives me his jacket when it gets cold. (lol he’s one of the few characters whose jacket would actually be big on me cause I have *shoulders*)

3. This might be weird but hEaR me OUT. Him driving (definitely not cause I can’t..) while I sit in the passengers seat, us going to get groceries or food or something like that. He would let me play whatever music I wanted (@foodacoochie you already know who we’re listening to~) and smile as I beautifully sang along.

4. The fact that i’m reliable. I’m a responsible person, I do what’s expected of me and I do the best I can! I hate letting people down, and I want to be someone people can rely on. I think he’d like that he wouldn’t have to worry about me as much because I am very independent,  I’d also be someone he could go to for his problems because I would listen.

Numai Kazuma:

1. I’d want to go on an amusement park date! For some reason when I imagined going on a date with Numai, amusement park was the first thing I thought of. I just think it’d be so cute!! I’m not a fan of crowds, but I wouldn’t feel uncomfy cause he would be there to ~protect me~😌

2. I honestly think he’d actually take me on the amusement park date! (that or I really just wanna go to six flags right now-) He seems like someone who might be a little clumsy in a relationship at first, and dates is one of those things he just has to get a hang of, so I think an amusement park is a good first/second date cause I think he’d be more comfortable. (Did that make any sense?)

3. Our usual hangout would be at one of our houses just lounging on the couch on our phones with our limbs all tangled together and eating some kind of snack, showing each other funny stuff we find and what not~

4. I think his favorite thing about me would be my character. I’m very morally inclined, and I do what’s right because it’s right, I have a strong moral compass. I think he’d like that because he hates being called a cheater for being on Nohebi, so I think he’d like that, I also can’t stand cheating/lying.

Shirabu Kenjirou:

1. I would like to go to a museum with Shirabu. I love museums, I always have. I don’t even care what it’s about, I love pretty much all subjects, but history museums are my favorite.

2. I think he’d be down for the museum date, but I think he’d choose something like one of those couples paint lessons (?). Like, you go to a one time art lesson where all the couples follow an instructor to paint a picture. idk I just think that sounds like something he’d pick, and it’d be really cute.

3. Probably him making me sit down at my desk and do my homework :p It’s not like I’m bad at school, there’s just so many better things I could be doing. So it would probably be him making me do my homework when it’s assigned, not the night before it’s due😔

4. My bluntness. I am very blunt. I have a filter, and i’m sure it’s in great condition because it’s never been used✌😙. I’m not like Ushijima blunt, I have social skills, but things have slipped before. Nonetheless, I think he’d like that i’m straightforward and to the point.

Iizuna Tsukasa:

1. I would like to go on a beach date with him! For starters, I think he’d look real nice with sunglasses on (don’t judge me, it’s 12:40 am and i’m halfway through an iced coffee, I’m not thinking my thoughts all the way through anymore), and I think it’d be a good relaxation day, to just get away from everything and spend time with each other. I do think he’d splash me, or at the very least try to throw me into the water.

2. I think he’d take me to the mall, where we’d just walk around and look at the shops. I do think he’d be one of the best Haikyuu!! Boys to take to the mall especially if you’re shopping for clothes. He’s stuck between 2 sisters, he knows how to give solid advice without falling into the ‘does this make me look fat’ trap that most boys do. He’d also carry the bags🥰 (whether he does it by will, or by force is irrelevant)

3. Us cooking together! Whether it was baking a cake at 10 pm or making dinner together, I think it’d be fun to cook with Iizuna, and a regular thing that we just did together.

4. My sense of humor. I have a very sharp wit, and that paired with my bluntness has ngl lead to some funny conversations. I think he’d appreciate it because it would let him wind down from being captain of a powerhouse school. Cause with me he gets to be himself, with no pressure to be perfect.

Kunimi Akira:

1. I’d like him to take me to a baseball game. Now, I don’t actually like sports, but for some reason I like baseball. More like I like going to baseball games, cause it’s its own experience, but he would ‘watch’ them with me and eat a bunch of the good stadium food.

2. He’d take me to a concert. I think he would do this for my birthday, cause I love music. Even if he didn’t like the singer/band, he would go just to make me happy. AND, concerts are pretty fun even if you don’t know the artist, so I think he’d enjoy it too!

3. Him laying his head on my lap as he took a nap while I wrote my stories. I think he’d be pretty chill with me simping for fictional men, cause he’s my boyfriend, and it makes me happy so he’s fine with it~ The typing would just lull him to sleep faster so he’d really be fine with it.

4. My laugh. I can’t really explain this one, I was thinking one day and I just thought he would like it. idk man, this one just made sense to me~

Tagging: I highly recommend doing this!! It was so much fun🥺 Also, you don’t have to do as many as I did, I just got carried away! (and sorry for spamming you guys with tags you don’t have to participate!! I just appreciate you guys💗 Feel free to tell me if you no longer want to be tagged I will stop)

@foodacoochie @cowninja1@fushiguroll @motoyafightclub @keijicyl @theuntamedmulti @owlnymph @aquariarose + Anyone who wants to cause it really was fun<3 **also, make a separate post cause this’ll get real long, real quick**

[mythologyfolklore]

Ares and Athena through the years - Ch. 23

Chapter twenty-three: A lesson for Athena

.

Athena's mind was reeling with questions.

Why was her father sending her to Ares' office of all places?

So many possibilities went through her head, one more absurd than the other.

When she arrived at her destination and looked inside, the office was – apart from the stacks of paperwork – minimalistic and surprisingly clean and tidy.

Ares was working through piles of papers (probably letters), signing some and stamping others.

Athena knocked at the door frame and he looked up.

“Oh hey, Daddy's Owl”, he greeted her, then returned his attention to his paper work.

For a few seconds she was agitated both at the nickname and at being ignored, but then he looked up again and frowned. “Whatcha waitin' for? Sit down. Or ya wanna stand there all day?”

Athena sighed (mostly at his way of talking) and sat opposite him.

“Why am I here?”, she asked.

Ares stamped another paper (because Athena could read upside down, she could tell, that it was a “DENIED”-stamp) and finally focussed on her.

“Okay”, he said, “So I petitioned Zeus and grandaunt Thémis to be allowed to show ya some of my work. To make sure, that bullshit like with the Romans won't happen again.”

“Why is it just some of your work?”, Athena asked. She couldn't help but be curious about this kind of work, which was so different from what she knew about Ares, and this didn't seem to suit him at all.

“Right, I'll explain.”

“This sounds really wrong”, she muttered, making him snicker.

“Eh, don't worry, Daddy's Owl. You'll live. So this is my paperwork for the day. It's sorted into several piles.”

He pointed at the stacks and elaborated: “The one in front of me is the work I still gotta do. The rest is stuff I've already finished or which isn't my responsibility. The three piles on the right are my business. On the left is stuff for the other gods that somehow ended up with me, but isn't my responsibility. I'll sort it into folders and later Hermes will come to pick 'em up and distribute them. Though when you an' I are done here, you can take yer own folder with ya.”

“And what is in that wooden box?”, Athena asked curiously and pointed at a red box, which was also on Ares' right side.

“That's where I put the confidential and/or really important stuff. Anyway, I'll start by showin' ya, where everything is. Follow my lead.”

“This feels even more wrong than 'I'll explain'.”

Ares cackled.

“Awww, it's nothin', Daddy's Owl!”, he teased and ruffed her head (Athena resisted the urge to break his hand). “Once you've got it all, I'm sure it won't last! Anyway …”

He opened a side door and gestured for her to go inside: “Ladies first.”

Athena smiled lopsidedly and entered the other room.

It was dark, but when Ares turned the lights on, there were shelves filled with files and crystals.

“The newest stuff is here in the front”, Ares started and knocked at the shelf to his left. “The latest prayers to Zeus. This is stuff that ain't top priority, but too important not to pass on to him. I always do that in the mornin', so these here are pretty new. Unless they're really urgent, I keep them here till next day. Or if I can, I answer them myself.”

Athena frowned. “You're allowed to do that?”

Ares shrugged: “Sure. As long as it ain't too major, Zeus doesn't mind. Actually, he likes havin' as little paperwork as possible.”

Athena rolled her eyes, recalling how eager Zeus had been to delegate his paperwork onto her, when Ares had gone for his world journey.

The red-eyed war god went on: “Anyway, the shelves on the right hold the mail actually directed to me. Except for the five in the back, they hold the stuff directed to grandaunt Thémis. But she always gets her mail directly, so this is work she's already taken care of. Obviously only the stuff important enough to be kept. Once a month she, Zeus and I sit together and sort out the spam. Stuff that isn't relevant and worth keeping anymore gets shredded. Otherwise everything will get cramped and cluttered and we don't need that.”

Athena nodded in acknowledgement. That was sensible so far.

Ares sighed: “Yeah, that's all in here you had to see. Back into my office.”

“Wait, what about that one over there?”

She pointed at a closet at the back of the room that was covered in locks and chains.

Whatever was in it was probably top secret, but maybe her half-brother would at least give her a hint as to what it concealed …

“You know my answer, Daddy's Owl. Now don't look so disappointed”, Ares added at seeing his half-sister's expression. “Did you seriously expect me to tell ya what's inside a locked closet? Anyway, let's go back. We got a few more things to talk about, you an' me.”

They returned to Ares' office.

In the meantime the unfinished stack on his desk had been doubled and he groaned at the sight.

“I was almost done for the morning!”, he lamented, while Athena snickered.

Her half-brother gave her a killer stare, before opening one of the drawers and picking out a few papyrus scrolls.

“These will interest ya”, he remarked and unrolled them.

Athena bent over the papyri, read them and frowned. “But … these are my letters to the Roman gods.”

“Copies of them”, Ares corrected. “They wouldn't give me the actual letters. But I didconvince them to give me these copies.”

“How and why?”

“How – ya don't wanna know. Why – because I wanted to see what exactly pissed them off about your letters. And now that I've read them, it's high time we discuss that out of character diplomatic blunder of yours.”

Athena clenched her teeth.

Why, why did Ares have to bring that up! That cursed incident that still haunted her mind and drove her to the brink of madness, whenever she thought about it too hard. The utter humiliation of making a grievous mistake and it getting fixed by … him.Not Hermes, not Apollon or Zeus, or even Poseidon, no, of all the gods dwelling on Olympos, it just had had to be-

“… Uh, Athena? Hey! Hellooo! Earth to Pallas Athena! Oi, Daddy's Owl! Snap out of it!”

She jumped, when Ares snapped his fingers in front of her face.

The god of terrible war was folding his arms and looking at her, like she had a mental problem.

“See? This is why we gotta talk about it. Because you've been butthurt about this for twenty Olympian Years and it's getting freaky! Aren't you supposed to be more wise and rational than this? Then again, a bit more than five mortal centuries ago you and my mother decided that a perfectly fine city had to fall, because one random prince didn't pick ya to be beauty queen.”

“Shut. Up.”

Thankfully, he got the hint and stopped talking.

.

Ares observed each tiny shift in Athena's facial expressions, as he waited for her to calm down.

This situation was even worse than he had thought.

Of course he had sensed the anger boiling inside her, the sombre frown that always indicated when she was thinking about that day. He was the god of rage, after all.

But he hadn't expected it to still be that hard for her!

For a moment he considered telling her to talk it out with Psykhe, but he didn't feel like getting disembowelled.

Only when he was sure, that it was safe, did he unroll one papyrus and sigh: “Alright, Athena. We're gonna do this your way. Namely, go over the whole thing, analyse it and figure out what went wrong. Whatcha say?”

Athena stared. “Alright, who the Tartaros are you and what have you done to my half-brother Ares?”

At that he couldn't help but cackle: “Sorry, Daddy's Owl, it's still me! Your big brother Ares, Destroyer of Men, Bearer of the Bronze Shield, Stormer of Cities, insatiable in war- why are you laughing?!”

(He was still proud of himself for breaking the ice.)

.

By the time they were done, Athena felt like a huge weight was off her shoulders.

For such a long time she had felt burdened by the trouble she herself had caused for her entire family, just because of a social ineptitude she hadn't been aware of.

Now she was able to laugh at herself for how silly that had been.

And also at the Roman gods for being offended by irrelevant things like the question of how different their culture was to that of the Etruscan gods, or the Hellenic cultures.

But Athena had learned her lesson: next time Ares wasn't there and Zeus was too lazy, she would just let him delegate the foreign correspondence to Hermes and observe the god of diplomacy at work. He was more familiar with those foreigners anyway.

As she left her half-brother's office with her own paperwork, she considered: Maybe I'll travel around the world one day too. Clearly it did Ares a world of good, so why shouldn't it to me? Of course, that'll have to wait, until there isn't much to do for me around here-

Her process of thought was interrupted, when Ares dashed past her and right towards their father's office.

She just had time to wonder what had happened, before the commanding voice of Zeus rang through the halls:

“DEITIES OF ALL HELLAS, ATTENTION! FOR URGENT REASONS YOUR PRESENCE IS REQUESTED IN THE OLYMPIAN ASSEMBLY HALL IMMEDIATELY!”

[defiant-firefly]

Yo! Do you have any headcanons for team interactions and such in your p5r labby au? I'm really interested in the little things of how she meshes with the other characters

I do! Though everything is likely to change cause my mind is always a muddle till I actually ya know... Get there

Labrys strikes me as the type that will love literally anything that's not related to her past so I'm gonna take that and run a bit

Haru probably has the best relationship with her since she's around the longest in this AU aside from Yoshizawa. Labrys helps her out with her gardening and stuff and Haru has the patience of a saint with her and all her questions on how plants just grow. She likes showing her all these pretty flowers and stuff and they trade tips on axe wielding and stuff. Jdkdn they walk into Iwai's and Labrys is like 'so what kinda gun ya want?' and Haru points at the most explody thing she can see like 'that one.' and the second she first uses it she has the stupidest smile on her face and now Labrys wants one too.

Morgana is the one that wisely banned Labrys from using guns. She can't aim for shit and she nearly shot his tail off once so he makes the call that she's not allowed to shoot unless everyone is at a large, safe distance. He's encouraging towards her when it comes to making infiltration tools and he likes to bounce between staying with the different members of the team rather than just one. He absolutely abuses the fact Labrys doesn't have much of an understanding on what animals need to eat and will have sushi or curry or anything he can convince her is necessary to his health. Sojiro is like 'just give him cat food?' and then turns around and gives him curry and Morgana is loving it. Labrys is always fussing over him in his cat form though and while he pretends he hates it, he adores all the attention she loves giving him.

Makoto is a fun one. As student council president, Labrys looks up to her a great deal especially at first. Makoto's arc is a bit different in this AU but she becomes Labrys' go to when it comes to questions about how the world works. The team like dragging her into their shenanigans and whenever Makoto doesn't know the song they're singing in the Monabus there's a bunch of scandalised gasps and later Labrys spams her texts with all the songs she didn't know and all the new ones they're getting into. It takes ages before Labrys starts calling her by her name instead of 'Miss President' and it kinda irritates her but she kinda gets it.

Futaba introduces Labrys to Featherman and they maybe get a showtime where they imitate Team Rocket or something with Morgana. Once they get to know eachother, they bully eachother just a little bit in good fun and Sojiro just watches when these two get started with their little bickering matches like 'ah shit here we go again'. No one ever wins it usually ends with them both laughing about whatever dumb thing the other said last. Futaba likes to joke that she fears nothing since Labrys has the ability to talk to people and she doesn't and you can't tell me Futaba isn't a bad influence. At some point she's sat there trying to get Labrys to say 'fuck' and the next they've invented a coffee called 'Cyanide' so if anyone asks what they recommend they can say 'For you? Cyanide.' Basically: these two are chaos incarnate. Do not start a prank war. Futaba the master strategist will lead them to victory.

This is turning into a long post huh? But uhh Ryuji starts singing in the Monabus and suddenly these two are best friends. She helps him with training where she can and they hang out at the arcade sometimes building a hoard of tickets to get the biggest prizes possible. Labrys kinda gravitates towards him when she's feeling a little low and his persona's natural electric abilities are to blame. They leak out into the real world a bit and charge his phone a little and stuff so when Labrys is near she gets a little boost too. Ryuji uses it as an excuse to hug her. Futaba ships it but doesn't complain when they both hug her and her wireless headphones charge back up. He's kinda protective of the team, but especially with Ann and Labrys. He will not let her live down how she forgets she could yeet a train across the whole of Shibuya whenever she asks how he forgets his homework or something. He also probably loves the short jokes.

Ann uhh... Is Ann I guess? She's one of the ones my brain struggles to visualise doing stuff honestly. Maybe they go shopping together and just try on all the silly hats and stuff they can find. I have a few ideas for things they can do but they're spoiler heavy so I'll skip over those. She also forgets about Labrys' super strength and is amazed by it every single time she effortlessly lifts something. Maybe the one to explain sexualities to Labrys? I dunno I've not messed around much with her arc yet.

Yusuke is... Uhh well he's very spoiler heavy. They're both people watchers and just like vibing in eachothers company. They're very protective of eachother but don't necessarily talk much. He does become her curry taste tester though. She's determined to make sure he doesn't go hungry just like the rest of the team is. I dunno, they're vibers. Could both probably turn into theatre kids at the drop of a hat though

Yoshizawa is a fun one. Labrys isn't exactly human and Maruki didn't account for that and her already decent knowledge of illusionary abilities so Labrys is constantly getting her name wrong until they come up with a nice nickname to use instead. It kinda freaks Yoshizawa out but she sees Labrys calling Makoto 'Miss President' for ages and assumes she just sometimes has problems with names or something but being called her dead sister's name is weird as hell. They're relationship is a bit strained at first thanks to all that but it gets better. They're constantly supporting eachother and building eachother up. They do it with the rest of the team but when they do it with eachother they can be going back and forth for a while. Everyone outside their group assumes they're together. Whether they are or not is anyone's guess at this point though. Yoshizawa can and will eat as many Big Bang Burger kids meals as it takes to get Labrys all the spaceship toys and Labrys will practice for hours the gymnastics stuff she's been taught so she can get it right the next time they hang out. They will kill you with nice words and sunny smiles and feel no remorse and Akechi wonders how the fuck he's survived in their presence for more than five minutes. They're innocent oblivious beans and they get along so well singing showtunes with Ann and Ryuji in the Monabus.

I plan to give Akechi an overhaul I've not yet worked much on yet so I'll skip on him for now. And Akira has his own arc and stuff now that I don't really wanna spoil too much but he is sucked into what the school are now calling 'The Gardening Cult' with all the others.

I spent maybe too long on this but I don't care it was fun thanks for asking buuuud ^-^

[punkscowardschampions]

Edie & Liam

aleeunayzhun: anyone else think the ‘monster’ addition was totally unnecessary and has taken away from what was a mildly intriguing ARG concept beforehand?

aleeunayzhun: 🙄 back on the trail for a new rabbithole to fall down

level26: Yeah, axed it for me

aleeunayzhun: the paranormal route can be alright if it’s done right but usually it ain’t and then it’s a cop-out, PM definitely didn’t think where they were going with this

aleeunayzhun: the ones that rely on the real world but twist it are always scarier to me, no one ever has the balls to stick with it, to not throw in some bullshit ghost jumpscares to get the idiots with

level26: creepypasta is where it ends up with barely no exceptions

aleeunayzhun: mhmm

aleeunayzhun: and no one has shanked their mate over anything on there in time

level26: got a few I’ll volunteer if the next 🐇 is more of this or promo again

aleeunayzhun: If one more shitty band thinks throwing out some binary or morse code makes them any less shit, I’ll join you

level26: dednah tfel neve t'nia ylbaborp yeht

aleeunayzhun: imij erew yeht hsiw yeht

level26: 👅💔🍆💔🎸💔

aleeunayzhun: 💔 they reckon hot groupies hang about on reddit

level26: trolls are their groupies, they can only be fuelled by edgy r/hate 🤘

aleeunayzhun: awh, r/hate is only a degree away from r/love after-all

level26: just like that, a plotline that’d be less crap than [whatever this ARG we’re slagging off is called]

aleeunayzhun: not gonna start my annoying beg promo in here quite yet but how hard was that, really

level26: us both being spam bots is still a better twist than the monster did it

aleeunayzhun: Привет, дорогая, хочешь увидеть мои сексуальные фотки? Hажмите ссылку СЕЙЧАС! [‘Hello dear, do you want to see my sexy pictures? Click the link NOW!’ And a link to god knows what lmao]

level26: NO soundcloud rapper link?! 💀 what an r/cockblock

aleeunayzhun: how’d you guess 😏

level26: my paranormal powers kicked in, clicking that link must’ve leveled me up

aleeunayzhun: advert for communism? 🤔🤫

level26: find me and my sick beats on r/motherrussia

aleeunayzhun: MK Ultra is definitely taken by about 1000 other shit DJs

aleeunayzhun: and is the poorly executed plot of several other ARGs I’ve also given up on

level26: KM Extra is my personal fave shit DJ, really doing something

aleeunayzhun: the fact I genuinely know who that is 😷😷

level26: I noclipped into his set at [somewhere she would have heard of even if she’s not been] talk about an eldritch location

aleeunayzhun: you must’ve felt like the only player in a crowd of NPCs 🧟‍♀️🧠💀🧟‍♂

level26: close enough to the review I would’ve left

aleeunayzhun: I’ll leave it

aleeunayzhun: I know the coordinates

level26: I’ll 👀 out for it

level26: you on moscow standard time or one of the other 10?

aleeunayzhun: I’m the Russian spy, I hack you, comrade

level26: ❤️ tôi cũng cam kết với chính nghĩa cộng sản ❤️ [with some link to the Communist Party of Vietnam because we’re saying we’re as committed to communism]

aleeunayzhun: [links to the Communist Party of Ireland to be like obvs we have both worked out we’re actually from here

level26: cracked the code, like, full props to KM Extra

aleeunayzhun: Only in Dubo would that shit fly

level26: they’d eat his head off outside the pale, yeah, galway’d be having none of it

aleeunayzhun: what they got but a bunch of rocks though

level26: easy pick for the murder weapon

aleeunayzhun: you’d never get far enough in the guinness factory to drown someone in a vat 💔

level26: could do if you got a job as manager and closed for essential maintenance

aleeunayzhun: 💡

aleeunayzhun: won’t do no harm to the taste

level26: iron boost if he’s bleeding heavily when he goes in

aleeunayzhun: delicious and nutritious

level26: ARG coming soon from guinness

aleeunayzhun: bastards better give credit

level26: they can have it, we’re not short of ideas

aleeunayzhun: and you ain’t heard nothing yet

aleeunayzhun: not making it that easy for the wannabe PMs with none of their own

aleeunayzhun: 🔐the real ones

level26: fair play, given enough freebies out in this thread

aleeunayzhun: 🤐

aleeunayzhun: [later on though definitely some way to contact her privately but in a way that you’ve got to work it out of course]

level26: [at least then we can switch to y’all’s names ‘cause I can’t think of a username for the life of me lol]

Edie: [You can add it later and change it, it’s fine lol]

Liam: 🔓

Edie: 1 🔑 for 1 💎

Edie: Suitably impressed

Liam: if I knew anywhere that loaded a 💎 into the gun I’d be off but what’s impressive about a swollen and green ear

Edie: Impressive, no; but good footage for the game? Absolutely

Liam: I’d do it here to have time to mess about with all the lighting and angles

Edie: you’re 🎥

Edie: not enough have actual artistic merit so fair play

Liam: but thinking about it, recording the conveyor belt of a trainee stabbing holes in screaming babies ears all day could have some merit to it, maybe I should get myself up

Edie: you can buy anything and everything from bezos

Edie: live your dreams

Liam: putting my dreams on tape would be worse than the monster reveal

Liam: cheapest jumpscares and effects

Edie: not to mention outing yourself to the whole thread, not just me

Liam: how many teachers would crawl out the woodwork if there was a mass reveal

Edie: to offer you the school’s stellar mental health services

Edie: the one nurse phoning it in

Liam: find my dad lurking on the thread too, that’d be a trip

Edie: unexpectedly wholesome

Edie: I’ll start hiding caches where my dad hides his stashes

Edie: unintentional rhyme

Liam: bars 🎼

Edie: @ KM Extra

Liam: Fachtna to his ma who thinks he’s a saint

Edie: Oof

Edie: ARG concept no. ? the horror of the Irish language

Liam: my ma would be 😱 if I went and hugged her for not doing me that wrong

Edie: not the audience we aim to 😱 really

Liam: too easy

Edie: almost as easy as your name to spell and say

Edie: you even from here 👽

Liam: wouldn’t take enough working out to set you as a test, records are basically lying about

Edie: nothing relating to school is a challenge

Liam: just getting that nurse to give a shit

Edie: if she reckons she’s 👀 it all…

Liam: front row of our intended audience

Edie: splash zone

Liam: she’s never off her phone, spy like you won’t have no problem hacking it

Edie: her nudes = actual monstrosity

Liam: dunno what Mr Doyle sees in her

Edie: yeah, he’s such a looker himself, like

Liam: his wife used to be pretty fit

Edie: don’t matter when she explains how and why people cheat

Edie: psychobabble gets ‘em off every time

Liam: if they taught psychology nobody’d be off each other or learning anything then

Edie: sounds like any other standard schoolday

Liam: that's what they’re getting up to in your class, is it

Edie: as cliche as the monster, yeah

Liam: 🔥🏫

Edie: hear hear

Edie: got to make the endless fire drills worth it one day

Liam: can’t miss me standing in line or not

Edie: then I won’t

Liam: next false alarm I pull

Edie: + 💎

Liam: + 👀

Liam: dont have to hate every cliche

Edie: not the good ones

Edie: all about how you use or misuse them

Liam: can you overuse eye contact

Edie: I can

Liam: I can make a kubrick stare work however many takes you wanna do

Edie: you don’t think I’m a one-take 🌟

Liam: I’ve not shot you

Edie: 🤯🔫

Liam: I’m not a one-take 📷📹

Edie: is that a brag for not suffering from premature ejaculation?

Liam: do you need that reassurance

Edie: I don’t know

Liam: I’ll think about other unsexy shit if your eyes start getting to me too much

Edie: Ha, yeah right

Edie: just don’t think about the 🔥

Liam: 🚒 buzzkill

Edie: 🚓 cockblock

Liam: 🚑 scene stealers

Edie: 🛸 out of here

Liam: before you can get stuck there as a 👻

Edie: Purgatory is preferable to that place forever

Liam: stay alive and it’s simple to get out of 🏫

Edie: I’ll leave my bag behind

Edie: 1st rule and only, really

Liam: don’t really need a pile of textbooks

Edie: I doubt that’s what you carry

Edie: I know I don’t

Liam: I can get more of what I do and I bet you could too

Edie: Bars

Liam: 😏

Edie: You’ve promo’d him a lot if you ain’t him

Edie: KM, like

Edie: bit sus

Liam: you said you know who he is, you know I ain’t

Liam: maybe I love him or some gay shit

Edie: none of his tracks sound like love songs

Liam: guess he don’t love me back

Edie: Oh honey

Edie: lock him in when you set the fire

Liam: he can keep spitting out those fuck yous til the end

Edie: dedication ✊

Liam: and +++ for morale

Edie: what a lad

Liam: love triangle is a cliche too far, take a deep breath or something

Edie: bit possessive

Liam: directors are dicks

Edie: and the heartbroken

Liam: yeah, couldn’t be kind to you if I wanted

Edie: I’ll survive

Edie: you’ve given me the heads up, I’ll give you the 👀

Liam: respect killing me with your 👀 and taking him for yourself

Edie: who could blame me

Liam: my ma as I’m dead, like

Edie: true

Edie: i’ll avoid her at the tescos

Liam: 🛒 dash

Edie: got a selection of my own

Edie: [picture because the random crap you would have in the barns lmao]

Liam: [a picture of one he stole at some point that’s on fire or been blown up or whatever]

Edie: 👏

Edie: what else can we 💥

Liam: got any barns you don’t use

Liam: or 🚜 stuff

Edie: loads

Edie: if you’re lucky, I’ll leave another 🔑

Liam: got another ear to put a 💎 in, luck’s gonna run out beyond it

Edie: sounds like some gay shit, you should

Liam: 👌

Liam: [pics when we’ve done this because of course we have, casually raiding either your mother or sister’s jewellery stashes here like]

Edie: Oh

Edie: actually looks kinda sick

Edie: you’re welcome then

Liam: I’ll send the footage when I’ve edited it

Edie: I look forward to it

Edie: I can’t give you any clues

Liam: what makes you think I need em

Edie: [idk how to differentiate but clearly the clue to where you live needs to be much harder to find and then decode lmao]

Liam: [awkward when he blatantly already knows where you live]

Edie: [do not even need to do the work, whoops]

Liam: [convincingly pretend you are though please]

Edie: [thank god he’s not a murderer even if he is a stalker, just giving out this info willynilly]

Liam: [not your stalker, it’s FINE]

Edie: [oh dear oh dear]

Edie: I’ll know when you work it out

Liam: yeah, I’ll show up 📷📹🌾

Liam: or send a 📦💣 if you wanna take things slow

Edie: you decide

Edie: I’ll shake all the packages extra hard

Liam: cancel the real 🐇 I thought about

Edie: animal cruelty is lamer than bed wetting

Liam: never even tipped a 🐄

Edie: they’ll appreciate it

Edie: anyway, if you did, punishment is letting them kick you in the face so you lose in the end

Liam: head injury’s a win if I get caught for the 🔥🏫 or being seen staring in your window

Edie: 😍🤤 just serial killer things

Liam: pretend I didn’t say KM’s gonna be my 1st victim

Edie: I’ll never feel special otherwise

Liam: you don’t feel special knowing I cracked your code

Edie: if anything, it makes you look smart and me not smart enough

Liam: you’re smart enough that I wanted to

Edie: I’m not going to ruin it with a cliche jumpscare now

Liam: me either, you’re smart enough too to see me coming

Edie: and you’re tall, so I hear

Liam: dunno where from, my dad’s not

Edie: he’s definitely your dad?

Edie: I may as well accuse your ma because I’m already avoiding her for the whole killing you thing

Liam: don't act like it which probably means he is

Edie: ha, real talk

Edie: I think you might be taller than mine

Edie: he’s 6’2

Liam: ha, I am

Edie: you’re the tallest person in school, possibly town

Edie: definite 👽

Liam: taking their time parking the ufo and picking me up, typical dad

Edie: did they forget ET or leave him here on purpose

Edie: he was fucking annoying

Liam: if I looked that much like a ballsack I’d understand

Edie: 😂

Edie: least you’d get to get fucked up with baby Drew Barrymore

Liam: baileys on cereal does taste sick, always down for that

Edie: yum

Edie: what do your fingers look like

Liam: [a video of his hands from lots of angles like hello]

Edie: hot

Edie: you can call me Elliot

Liam: or just call you instead of home

Edie: 😎 so smooth

Liam: what’s my ma gonna say, get back, talking to you is smarter

Edie: I’ve got time to set up the voice distorter so you’re not disappointed by the lack of crEEEEeeeEPpPPpyyyyYy vibes

Liam: and I’ll have loads of time to hear how you sound without it when I stake your house out

Edie: I’ll be sure to be loud

Edie: and not chat total inane shit with my family

Liam: you got your own room

Edie: technically not

Edie: but there are other rooms and places to crash in, when I wanna be alone

Liam: there’s my excuse to zoom in creeEEPpILY close 👀 when you’re not

Edie: very awkward and even ruder if you confused me for my sister

Edie: no one’s done that for ages

Liam: how were they ever doing it

Edie: we’re both the white ones, they just didn’t know which was which

Liam: can’t be a hard code to crack, not gonna be confusing you for anyone

Edie: good

Edie: it was pretty annoying

Edie: and I’m already your second victim as it is

Liam: partner in crime, or groupie to mine if you’re not getting actively involved, but still standing at the end

Edie: hope you’re writing some of these down

Edie: ‘cos I’m not gonna be your groupie

Edie: got my own scores to settle, own havoc to wreak

Liam: don’t need to write down I don’t want you to die, I’ll remember

Edie: it rhymed though

Edie: I’ll steal your lines then

Liam: write as many songs about me as you want, be your groupie til I get 🛸✌️

Edie: [send your music links because you ain’t]

Edie: give me a sec to do yours but pretend any of these are about you

Liam: this is you

Liam: serious

Edie: yeah

Edie: if I was gonna lie I’d have done that a few steps ago

Liam: I’m gonna lie they’re all about me

Edie: that’s what serious meant

Liam: it meant I’m impressed and you’re downplaying how smart you are

Edie: you can be my hypeman and overplay it

Liam: [does by uploading this edited ear piercing escapade with whatever song of hers we like and fits the vibe playing in it, giving her credit because we’re not a heathen and also putting on his stories that he’s listening to these tracks and hyping them how you can]

Edie: [so 😍 over this but trying to be chill somehow and somewhat even though we’re extra af anyway]

Edie: maybe I do wanna be your groupie

Edie: what do you want from me

Edie: like, I owe you and I want to give you something too, ‘cos

Edie: talking to you IS interesting

Edie: and not just because I could be talking to my ma or someone else really boring instead just ‘cos you are

Liam: [for real though her views would definitely go up cos the vibe is he knows loads of people through his sister but also through his weird vids and the raves and stuff he goes to now too so]

Liam: all I want’s to keep talking to you, for as long as you’re into it

Liam: people don’t unless we’re off our faces, like

Edie: my notifications are popping off rn

Edie: I know what you mean though, everyone’s too scared to say or do anything when they don’t have something to blame it on, like being stupid or weird or whatever the fuck actually matters

Edie: more than being bored and alone

Liam: dunno what they’re more scared of, what they wanna ask or how I’m gonna answer, least I know what the topic’ll be

Liam: every convo I have is a loop

Edie: all anyone ever cares about and knows is the headlines

Edie: as if there aren’t countless hours minutes seconds before and after the big events they all 👀 and 👂

Liam: work out sweet for you as a headliner

Edie: Getting them to talk about what I’m doing instead of whatever my parents and the rest of the fucking fam did or do is the goal

Liam: with me hyping you up, no bother, keep knocking out hits and I’ll promo em with no trace of binary or morse code

Edie: and you make films

Edie: I wasn’t sure if you were pissing about at first

Edie: every other person in that thread is an aspiring filmmaker so

Liam: did put me off for a while

Edie: Yours aren’t going to be bad Blair Witch ripoffs though

Edie: I can say that much without seeing

Edie: even the stuff you’ve sent today is dope

Liam: do you wanna see

Edie: yes

Liam: [link her cos I doubt all the weird shit is just there chilling on your insta or whatever]

Edie: [just casually watching all of this nbd]

Liam: siht ekil kool annog weiver ruoy

Liam: или, может быть, это

Edie: hoặc tôi có thể làm như thế này [‘or I could do it like this’]

Edie: si ffuts ruoy kniht i looc woh edih annaw tnod i tub

Liam: ba mhó an spraoi é a cheilt agus a lorg go pearsanta [hide and seek would be more fun in person]

Edie: If you’ve worked out where I live like you say

Edie: be fair and count to 100

Liam: you reckon you made it that easy do you

Liam: be cool if you added some 00s to that and gave me a fair chance

Edie: no, you could still be anyone

Liam: someone to be scared of, yeah I probably am

Edie: Do you want me to be scared of you

Liam: nah

Edie: Good because I’m not and I never promised I was a 🌟 so

Liam: 🤩 with or without promises

Edie: How have I never spoke to you before

Edie: so weird

Liam: I wouldn’t have known what to say to a girl like you

Edie: You seem like you’re coping fine to me

Liam: from behind a keyboard I can cope with anything

Edie: You’re not afraid of me either

Liam: not yet

Edie: What do you think I’m like?

Liam: smart, creative, nice to talk to and look at

Edie: then you’ve got nothing to be afraid of

Liam: I’ve got nothing, that’s bang on

Edie: I’m not trying to take anything from you

Edie: but I could throw those compliments back to you x 10000

Liam: you don’t like possessive, I ain’t gonna tell you what to do

Edie: I didn’t say that

Edie: you could claim better than a soundcloud DJ though

Liam: been waiting to hear that compliment specifically

Edie: 😏

Edie: You look like you’d be a fuckboy

Edie: that’s what I thought

Edie: you’re that good-looking

Liam: if I was the game’d be making you think I wasn’t, which is kinda where we are

Edie: True

Edie: so I’m that dumb or you’re that good, what are we going for?

Liam: you’re smart enough to play dumb, I don’t think I can aim for god tier puppet mastery of anyone’s emotions

Edie: I can see the appeal of that

Edie: closing you eyes to thing you don’t wanna see, to see the things you do

Edie: but mine are wide open

Liam: I ain’t mad, there’d be no appeal to yours being closed, unless you drop bars in your sleep too

Edie: you’re gonna find which window is mine and find out, yeah

Liam: wake you up before you name drop KM as it’s MY thing

Edie: that’s your man, I can respect it

Liam: exclusivity is a + for you then, I’m taking notes

Edie: I don’t really know

Edie: everyone’s lame

Liam: I’ve been there, yeah

Edie: I can’t fake enthusiasm for the sake of it

Liam: it’s a shite idea, doable or not

Edie: I don’t intend to

Edie: 🤞

Liam: can’t think why you’d have to

Edie: I won’t make you promise

Liam: what’ll you make me do

Edie: I want you to show

Edie: and be real and not just go ghost after this

Edie: but I don’t know if you will and I know you might

Liam: be a short afterlife, we don’t get american summers

Edie: we both got the capabilities, but I can promise not to stalk you if you like

Edie: if you want to stick to usernames and anonymity

Liam: not working out where you are to prove I can and a face in the window haunting wouldn’t even impress any dads lurking on the thread

Edie: Alright but I’d be more inclined to keep a secret if you asked opposed to all the dads

Liam: I wouldn’t wanna keep anything we do secret

Edie: Yeah?

Liam: if this is a scam I’m falling for everyone’ll see why and if it’s not I’m gonna document everything

Edie: I won’t ask for your credit card details even once

Edie: This is… different

Edie: isn’t it

Liam: you can have my ma’s, you’re avoiding her and the big tescos

Liam: I don’t know what this is, I wasn’t expecting you at the end of any of those links

Edie: It IS the least she could do

Edie: If I had a guess, you weren’t it

Edie: Even though you mentioned Dubo, it isn’t that small of a town

Liam: ha, how livid you’d be if I was another american coming here for the culture

Edie: not close enough to st patrick’s that I was worried

Liam: how did you feel

Edie: I thought no way it was you at first

Edie: and then I couldn’t believe it was you

Edie: and then that I should’ve known you sooner

Edie: what about you?

Liam: I still can’t believe it’s you, I would’ve tried to chat to you sooner if I knew this is how it’d go

Edie: I’m glad we are now

Edie: and I’ve not fucked it up

Liam: if the small world’s not fucked it up, you won’t

Edie: like you said, be shit if you were in America

Liam: be crap if you were anyone else from school, like you said

Edie: If it was anyone else from school

Edie: this convo would be well over by now

Liam: it’s the longest I’ve had for years

Edie: It’s all so surface level, right

Edie: fuck that

Edie: I wanna know more about you, I don’t care if I shouldn’t just say that

Liam: what do you wanna know

Edie: Hmm

Edie: Do I only get the one question?

Edie: Because I’ll think more carefully if so

Liam: nah, there’s no limit on it

Edie: Cool

Edie: so how was your day, and what were you doing just before you went on the forum?

Liam: [send her a video of some rave or whatever you were at because it’s summer bitches]

Liam: + 3-4 hours sleeping

Edie: Lucky

Edie: where’d you sleep and where’s the weirdest place you’ve got + 3-4 hours sleep before?

Liam: [send her some of the blooper-esque stuff you cut out to make it look more fun than it is, cos we know you’re usually bored]

Liam: home, I can’t 💤 in random xD places but I could call your dad short and maybe have him in a fight

Edie: that’s hot

Edie: he could’ve been there and you coulda tested that theory

Edie: but I wanna be there when you do

Liam: you’d have a shite view from the stage with lights blinding you, can’t let on how talented you are while we’re there

Edie: 😶

Edie: he’s not old so it’s not on a par with animal abuse lameness

Liam: and if I get carried away you can stop me

Edie: can I

Edie: + skill points

Liam: 🎶 works on monsters

Edie: have to find a way to get you home before the 💤 hits

Edie: so cute 🥺

Liam: mine or yours

Edie: 😳

Edie: I’ll protect you while you sleep, see if you can at mine

Liam: I can’t if you’re 👀

Edie: that might be a problem

Liam: how long can you not blink for

Edie: [send a vid of an attempt]

Liam: can I keep this

Edie: ‘course

Edie: use it if you can

Liam: when you write a song about me it’ll need a vid

Edie: I’ve started

Edie: I think by the time you find me, it’ll be done

Liam: people who don’t know you are gonna think I edited your eyes that colour

Edie: hashtag they’re real 😏

Liam: the girl who said she had an operation as a kid’s the real you

Edie: 😂

Edie: they were going rouge and I’ve repressed those memories

Liam: what were you doing before you logged on

Edie: not at a rave, sadly

Edie: I was masterminding a sabotage though, trying to anyway

Liam: don’t leave it there giving me no details

Edie: it isn’t even bad ARG plot worthy

Edie: but my sister has her gross boyfriend over and I need to ruin their fun, obviously, because they are unbearable

Edie: easiest way to do that is make them babysit the twins because there’s nothing fun about 9 year olds

Edie: so I convinced ma to go out on a date, but I still need to get my brother out the way and he’s a massive nerd who never goes anywhere so I’m stumped

Liam: we could have fun with it, gotta be a route to go down that’s not just ripping off the shining again

Liam: a nerd how, he’s on mastermind and his subject is _

Edie: 🪓 is just a prop, honest

Edie: bones, not in a cool way

Edie: History, all that old shit

Liam: [obviously find some kind of obscure af exhibit or book signing or something that he’d potentially be interested in and send her the deets because sleuthing is what you do boy]

Edie: OMG but genuinely

Edie: you are too good at this, I’ll have to keep you around

Liam: stashed with the 🪓

Edie: if you fit

Edie: He’ll actually go to this, for sure

Edie: 🐓🚫

Liam: keep what you figure’s useful and chop off the rest 🧩🧟

Edie: 😋

Edie: what an offer

Edie: and I do need to keep busy so I can’t be asked to step in

Edie: not that I’d say yes

Liam: busy like with a 🧭

Edie: go on

Liam: [god knows what scavenger hunt he’s sending you on gal that he apparently just has ready at the drop of a hat but here we are]

Edie: [live your best nerd lives]

Liam: [really hope these clues aren’t something he was gonna torment your sister with, because no thank you]

Edie: [lmao i hope it wouldn’t translate so easy ‘cos imagine]

Liam: [it definitely wouldn’t but a hardcore blag happening here regardless, I like to think you were actually coming up with this for her while you were pretending to work out her address that you already know]

Edie: [that’s a solid shout ‘cos yeah that is a thing lol]

Edie: [definitely sending you the demo of this song at the end as a prize because we’re beyond 😍 now]

Liam: [likewise even though he’s trying to downplay how 😍 he is to himself rn because it’s so weird that she’s Rio’s sister and that he actually also likes her in her own right so we’re fully !?]

Liam: [nevertheless trying to think of something creepy but cool he could send to her house so she knows he knows where it is and that we think this demo is amazing obviously, maybe it’s lots of other people’s shit musical endeavours like KM that we’ve set on fire and otherwise destroyed in creative ways like you’ve slayed the competition gal since cds and tapes are back baby idk]

Edie: [I wonder if I can find something like that to post hmm to pinterest I go]

Liam: [love the visual of you just sneakily dropping off a massive box of melted plastic without anyone seeing you]

Edie: [you’re clearly good lmao, I was thinking we could do a convo with Billie between this and the next one though]

Liam: [good idea boo, I’m up for that]

[venus-says]

Yes! Pretty Cure 5 GoGo Episodes 01-12

Roses are red, but roses are also blue.

Are you all ready for a precure overload for the next few weeks?

Yes, I'm back rewatching the previews precure series and reviewing them, and gotta be honest I'm so glad I'm back to doing these. Obviously, it would've been better if I had done the right thing and got back to doing these while Healin' Good was on hiatus and not now only 2 weeks before the show is back on TV (if the information we all have is correct), but I'm still suffering from the abstinence of my weekly precure dose anyway so this will fix the problem and give me an overdose for the next month or so.

Coming back to GoGo was a funny experience. Back in March I had watched about 10 episodes or so and I was HATING the show, I don't remember what was exactly that was making me feel that way but I seemed very aggressive in my notes, but for writing this post I decided to rewatch the episodes I had already seen, take new notes and everything, and in the second way around I liked this show WAAAAAY more. Like, if you compare my notes from March to the new ones I made this time around it's like two different people talking about two different shows.

Does this mean I think GoGo is perfect? Not really. I still have some problems, most of them were carried over from the first season, but after some more thought, the things I actually dislike are more or less related to a single character rather than the show as a whole. In fact, I think I liked these 12 episodes more than the first 12 of the first season and probably I like them more than the entire season as a whole? I think that because this is a sequel, I already know most of these characters, the dynamics they have, and the show doesn't need to take its time to explain those details to us leaving more space for them to work with the new characters for the season, also another thing that helps is that there are not many new characters outside the villains which gives the new additions to the cast even more space for them to shine.

I also like this season more on the thematic level. While on season 1 the themes were hopes and dreams, the theme for this season (at least from this starting point) is conveying/delivering your feelings which I feel works better for this cast than the theme of season 1 does, especially seeing how they really want us to buy in the romantic element for these two seasons. It is a bit on the nose, yes, after all, they have a delivery boy, a mailbox mascot, and a whole lot of letters going around, some of them even being sent by animals, but I like that. It's actually very charming seeing so many letters when we live in the era of e-mail where even e-mail is becoming "obsolete".

The plot of the season is, so far, pretty much the same. It's the Evil organization wants a Magical item related to Another world, that Magical item falls in the Precure hands, and the Evil organization starts to target them. The plot is so similar to the first season that they even have those useless little fairies that have no purpose at that all need to be collected on their transformation devices, this time around they at least have the excuse of looking for the monarchs, but still is a pretty bland part of the formula. But even taking this into consideration, as mentioned, I really liked these episodes by themselves, you know? The first episode was a really strong one, they have an episode focused on Urara that is also pretty good, and there's the one who's probably one of my favorite episodes ever where they're going to eat a cake but the cake goes missing and Komachi starts acting like a detective and they go on this very fun accusation game that later gets tied in with the villain of the episode and is just very absurd and also a lot of fun.

Another point I absolutely love for this season is the upgrade the girls got in terms of designs and powers. I love their new look, it's like they're wearing uniforms of different colors and it's just a new sleek design that in my mind really works well as bringing new air to the show. I also love how the new transformations look, much like what happened with Max Heart they got more vibrant and dynamic, and the new group roll call is also gorgeous, one of the most iconic of the franchise for sure. I also love the new attacks, especially Lemonade's, Mint's, and Aqua's that are very different from their season one attacks, I also like how despite not having an incantation/spell the animations aren't so long, they hit the sweet spot perfectly. And despite being more generic, I like the new phones they use as transformation items, if I wasn't so broke I would try to get one for myself because I really dig the design.

And speaking of powers, the action in this season has been SO GOOD??? After how much Yes relied on stock footage spam I wasn't expecting the jump in quality for the fight scenes would be this big. I don't know if they changed the art director or whoever is responsible for this part in the show in-between seasons but in these episodes, it has been awesome, the animation is very fluid, the fights are exciting, and even though the attack spam has been an element for some of them because the stock animations are shorter it doesn't feel as bad as in other seasons. It's sad that the show can't have everything so in a lot of cases whenever there's a fighting scene that is more detailed it means the other points in the episode will have drawings that are off-model (the most common thing I've noticed was Eyes in weird positions), but I think it's a fair trade.

The last part of this review will be to talk about the characters, and I'll start with where I have more problems just so we can end this up on a positive note.

So, it's not a secret my least favorite characters from the Yes cast are Coco and Nuts, and well that hate from season 1 comes back here but with some aggravating factors. Starting by the easy one, Nuts so far has been useless, if he had stayed in the Palmier Kingdom I wouldn't have made any major difference, at least not for these first 12 episodes. He's just there because the team needs a hub and for some reason, Karen can't use the storages of her family that aren't in use for herself, and that's it for Nuts.

Coco on the other hand... oh gosh. Do you know when during the first season I complained that Coco and Nuts human forms seemed like different characters than their fairy forms? So what happens with Coco here is something similar but is not really related to their form change and more with the character himself. Like, in the "prologue" in episode 1 fairy Coco is pretty much the Coco we left at the end of the last season then the butterflies appear and they have to go to the human world and getting there Coco assumes a sulky personality, thinking he alone is responsible for everything that is happening, and he starts to avoid the girls because he doesn't like that Nozomi is having to fight again, and yadda yadda yadda, and then Nozomi gives a speech to him and he's back to normal AND THERE WASN'T EVEN AN ENTIRE EPISODE OF HIM BEING LIKE THAT!!!!!!!! Like, I wouldn't like it if they had kept going on this line, but I think is much worse that they put in something that seems like it could be something deep, serious, that could bring interesting things in the future, and just drop that IN EPISODE FREAKING TWO. And then after this, he also loses his purpose, because Nozomi's infatuation(?) with him only comes up again in Episode 12 where they use it to make Nozomi feel jealous (which as we saw in the first season is a great plot, am I right?). All he does is be awfully dismissive to Milk and her letters, which yeah is in-character with what was shown in season 1 but it doesn't make it any less awful.

And probably the part of the plot I like the least is the royal drama that goes on with the Four Monarchs and Coco and Nuts. And the reason why I hate this is because when you stop to think the Monarchs are right to doubt from Coco and Nuts, but the show is obviously on their side so they wanna make the Monarchs seem like pricks that don't trust in CocoNuts despite they being such good guys. But like, they're two monarchs that rule over a kingdom, and they left their people unattended during a time of crises where the kingdom is rebuilding itself when it's pretty obvious that a certain brown squirrel could've been left behind and do the things people in power should do and lead their people. And the worst thing of all is that this could've been avoided if instead of making a shot of them looking at the Kingdom in the "prologue" they could just have them in whatever reunion they were having with the monarchs because then we could be in CocoNuts defense since in the first time they were absent from the kingdom was because everyone else had been taken and in the second time they would be in a much similar situation to the monarchs that also left their people without a leader to follow because they were under imminent attack. And I know this is a kids' show, I shouldn't be complaining about this since this is a thing kids would miss anyway, but well, I'm not a kid, I'll look at these things as an adult, and I could come up with a way to make them have the same results, without major alterations, but with a better justification for everything they were trying to do, and if even I, a nobody, can think of this, they most definitely could've come with something better.

Leaving the rants behind (just for a little bit), we have probably the most important addition to this cast, Mimino Kurumi, Milky Rose, also known as our favorite butt in the ass fairy, Milk. Speaking first about Milky Rose, I love her, I've always had, her design is great, her transformation item that doubles as a weapon is a lot of fun, and she's powerful as hell. I also like how we saw the process of Milk finding the Blue Rose seed and taking care of it as the episodes would go so it wasn't something that came out of nowhere, which I appreciate. My problems here come with how they portray Kurumi because while with the other girls she still acts the same, with Nozomi is like they reverted her character to the way she was back when she was first introduced and I don't like that. It's a cheap way to introduce a conflict that shouldn't even exist. And speaking of things that shouldn't exist, why is she keeping her identity secret anyway? Like there's no reason at all for that, is just to keep the secret vibes but even that doesn't work because while the show didn't tell our protagonists he information so they are in the dark and living the mystery, we as an audience already know Kurumi is Milk so it's a secret that it's not a secret thus it's not interesting.

But here's where the positives start to appear again because we also have Syrup's (and Mailpo) addition to the cast and I really like him. We don't have much info on him yet other than a few flashes of his past/thing he's looking to find in the Cure Rose Garden, but these episodes served to establish how he'll interact with these characters and the things he has learned with them that help in building the base for his development. Another aspect of him that I like is that he's very connected to the "delivering your feelings" theme of the show, and not just because he's a delivery boy. He's something that sees the emotional value of things and these are things he wants to protect, and judging by his actions I feel like the only way he feels so keen on this is because he probably lost something or someone important to him and that will connect with his backstory somehow, and I'm very excited to see more of him (and to know if my theory is correct too).

I wanted to have a paragraph for our heroines but not a lot changed for them, they had good character-focused episodes in this first batch but none of them actually was developing anything, at least not anything that was new so there's not a lot left to talk about them. And I kinda feel the same way about the villains, the Eternal is pretty much like a museum and I like their concept as villains, but Scorp wasn't very interesting as a general, and Bumbee became Team Rocket (which is not a bad thing) so there wasn't much out from the villains just yet for me to be able to give them any more elaborated opinions.

All in all, this was a very good set of episodes and I'm feeling that the journey with GoGo will be a good one.

So, that's it from me for now, what are your thoughts on GoGo? Are you also in the team that thinks this OP slays and it's one of the best of the franchise like I am? Did you also felt compelled to buy one of those rose-scented aroma diffusers after this show? Let me know what you think in the comments down below. Stay healthy, stay safe, never stop resisting, thank you so so much for reading until this far, and until the next time, see-ya~

[rendiggitydog]

The gang’s all here!

"Welcome every-hermit! To the annual Partner Problem event! This is our first year getting everyone to play, so welcome!" X smiled as the crowd of hermits below him cheered. "I'll explain the rules for the newbies."

"I will draw two names out of a helmet. Those two people will be fitted with curse of binding boots, which magically link the pair. These boots will force you to stay within 3 meters, or 10 feet, of each other. You will wear the boots for 24 hours, and then the spell will dissolve. Make sense?"

Heads bobbed in agreement.

"Then let's begin!" X picked up the helmet at his feet, shuffling the papers inside. "Zedaph..."

Zed jumped, excitedly looking around for who his partner might be.

"...and Welsknight!"

There were assorted congratulations as Wels and Zed found each other, grinning excitedly.

"Alright, quiet down! Next up: Tango and Iskall!"

Laugher and groans. The two pranksters high-fived, already whispering mischievously.

"Stress and Grian! False and Jevin! Scar and Python!" X rattled off the names, each greeted with excitement. "Me and Cub! Cleo and Mumbo! Impulse and Joe! Docm and biffa! Rendog and TFC! And that's everyone! Line up to get your boots, and thanks for coming out!" X glided down from his make-shift pedestal, throwing open a chest full of glowing leather boots.

The hermits filed through with their partners, pulling on their new boots and testing the limits. Slowly, the plateau emptied, everyone heading their ways for the day.

—

"Work with me here, love!" Stress laughed, trying to pull Grian away from the store window.

"Sorry! They made a new tnt, and this one is player-friendly!" Grian hopped up, beaming as he returned to Stress' side.

"We can check it out after I return Impulse's backup elytra he let me borrow. It's been a couple weeks and I need to return them!"

"What ho, and salutations!" Joe waved as he and Impulse appeared over the ridge.

"Hi Joe! Impulse! How are you doing?"

"Really well! We're taking turns picking the pass time, so it's been fine."

"We were just on our way to Impulse's home behind the sea foam." Joe gestured in the direction of Impulse's bay area.

"How delightful! Well, I just wanted to return your elytra I borrowed. Thanks again!" Stress handed over the wings, which Impulse accepted gratefully.

"I was wondering where I left those, thanks!"

"Okay, can we go look at the tnt now?" Grian shifted back and forth, glancing back at the tnt.

"Fine. As long as we can go ice mining later for my castle." Stress threw a humorous look at Joe and Impulse as Grian rushed back to the storefront. "Bye!"

"Those two must be having a ball." Joe remarked as he and Impulse calmly continued their stroll.

—

"So this is the vault, huh?" Ren gaped as TFC led him down.

"Sure is."

"Wow... It's so big..."

"Thanks, I've put a lot of time into it."

"Tin, how did you find the time to do all this?" Ren peeked through a door, taking everything in.

"I've just cracked down and worked hard, that's all." TFC pulled some stone out of a chest without slowing his walk, heading for the next room he needed to finish.

"Woah, that was slick! You didn't even stop walking, you just grabbed that stone, like Whoosh!" Ren exclaimed, swooping his hand through the air.

"Oh, you know it. This way."

The large vault narrowed to a corridor, which the two squeezed through, reaching a decent-sized room, half excavated. Tin set right to work, mining at the wall with one hand and picking up the stone with the other. The older man relaxed in his element, killing a zombie without hesitation when it crept up on him. Ren simply watched in awe at the grace. He was startled out of his trance, however, when TFC tugged on their binding boots.

"I gotta put some stuff away, come on."

Ren followed slowly. "That was crazy. Like, you were just mining, but it was like a dance! Does that make sense? We don't need to go to my base later, we can just stay here for all 24 hours! Can I help?"

Tin rubbed his temples as he tossed the last of the stone in a chest. "You can have the most important job of all."

Ren perked up. "The most important?!"

"Hold these." Tin shoved a bunch of shulker boxes into his arms.

TFC set back to work, tossing the stone into the boxes as he went. Ren didn't mind holding the stone- he was just glad to be part of the process.

"This is fantastic! Why don't we hang out more often? You're so cool Tin!" Ren babbled on in excitement over the menial labor.

"Hey Ren-" TFC quickly cut in. "If you don't talk, I'll do something cool."

Ren gasped loudly, and sealed his lips. Tin shook his head, silently laughing as he dual-wielded a second pickaxe, blowing Ren's mind.

—

Well hullo!" Cleo and Mumbo waved as they approached Scar and Python. The two were sitting in the grass outside Scar's terraforming shop, flower crowns and necklaces all around them.

"Heya! How are you two?" Scar greeted as Mumbo and Cleo sat next to them.

"Pretty good! Neither of us had a whole lot to do, so we're visiting everyone else. What are you doing?" Cleo picked at the grass.

"We've been making flower chains! Wanna learn how?" Python displayed the chain he was currently working on.

"Absolutely!"

The four hermits soaked up the sun as they weaved flower crowns, half-asleep from its warmth and sweet aroma. At some point, False and Jevin stumbled by, tears of laughter streaming down their faces.

"How's it going?" Scar giggled, already knowing the answer.

"Could be better-" False wheezed, wiping her tears. "May we-?"

Jevin and False tripped over each other and collapsed in a pile of giggles. The group talked and laughed for hours, while the sun slowly fell. The stars twinkled into sight, and they fell asleep stargazing.

—

"Alright," Tango breathed. Iskall nodded, and they slowly dipped their wings in sync. After practicing all day, they were finally coordinated enough to cause some mischief.

Two glowing dots walked the grounds outside the newest ConCorp studio- two hermits holding torches in the night.

"Cub and X?" Iskall whispered into the dark. Tango nodded, pulling out a stack of eggs.

"Ready... GO!"

Cackling loudly, Iskall and Tango pelted the ground with eggs, watching X and Cub dance away from them. One figure glanced up, spotting the pair in the air, and shook their fist dramatically.

"You're not even Poultry man!" X's voice called after them, but they were already flying away.

"Fan-frickin-tastic!" Iskall howled.

"They thought we were poultry man!" Tango slapped his leg. The wild excitement distracted him, and Tango wobbled before plummeting to the earth.

"Gah!!" Iskall spammed rockets, desperate to stay in the air. However, Tango's limp body dragged him down, and the two splashed into the water violently. The sounds of drowneds instantly lit a fire under them, and they paddled tiredly to the shore.

"Hehe, worth it." Iskall wiped his hair from his face, sand getting everywhere.

Tango panted as he collapsed on the sand. "Absolutely."

—

"Huzzah!" Zedaph triumphantly held up the blue parrot. He and Wels had been searching the jungle for hours, and this was the first bird they found. They were tired and bruised, but it was worth it.

"Did you hear that?" Wels whispered.

Zed rolled his eyes. "For the last time, Wels, it was probably an ocelot. We can sail home if you'd feel better about it?"

"Yes please!" Wels sighed in relief as they made their way to the shore. The rustle of leaves behind them made Wels jump again. "Let's go." He glanced over his shoulder as he pulled out a boat.

"SNEAK ATTACK!" Doc and Biffa lunged from the bushes, diamond swords drawn. Their armor and faces were coated with mud and leaves, their binding boots streaked with war paint. Somebody screeched (cough Zedaph) and everything happened all at once.

Suddenly, the attack was over as soon as it started. Biffa ran too far ahead of Doc, and the two tumbled into the sand at Zed's feet.

Doc looked up bashfully, his helmet falling from his head. "Fancy meeting you here.."

Zed blinked. "...Well now I don't think this is a coincidence, us meeting in the jungle like this, you crying Sneak Attack!! But okay!" Zed laughed, releasing his tension.

"I suppose our mission was a failure, then?" Biffa sighed with a grin.

"I suppose so- but you did scare Wels pretty well!" Zed patted Wels on the head, as he had fallen over in his freight.

"I told you so!!"

[yourcoolfriendwithallthecandy]

Hearthway Hollow Chef Ryker Part 2

Again, many, many thanks to @momolady​ for letting me post my bastardized version of her story because I just couldn’t help myself from changing little details into big details into remodeling the whole damn story and playing god in her universe which please don’t do, that’s very disrespectful, of course I realized it was probably disrespectful and all that after the fact and will not be repeating those transgressions in the future. But I have been saving these pics, especially that picture of “Ryker” ever since I commissioned her and I want everyone to seeeeeee. I do have fanfiction of this story, that will be coming up soon. It’s a 2.5 which basically everything that happens between chapter 2 and 3. And all these health problems in this part? Those are all real, those are all mine that I deal with on a daily basis. Enjoy. 

Hearthway Hollow Chef Ryker Part 2

“Mom, why aren’t we going?” Del whines from the passenger seat. 

“Give me a second, hun,” I grumble. I try cranking the car again but the engine just whines for a moment before shutting down. “The car isn’t behaving.” I knew I should have brought the camaro. That car had never failed me. They just don't make cars like they used to. 

I had stopped in Hearthway Hollow so Del and I could see the wolf reserve, but after breakfast this morning the car wouldn’t start at all. I take Del back inside and start searching through the phone book to find a tow service. 

“Looks like we may be stuck here for a few more days,” I tell Del. “The car is going to probably need a few repairs.”

“That’s ok. I like it here better,” Del says with a big grin. “Are we still going to be able to go see the wolves?”

I sigh and sit down with her on the couch. “I’ll try to get us there, no worries. Once the tow truck comes I’ll see if they know of any places where we can rent a car.”

“Ok,” she says with a shrug.

“You’re not upset we’ll miss the beach?” I ask her.

She shakes her head. “Not really,” she shrugs. 

“Oh? Why is that?” I ask curiously. 

“I only said that place because you seemed excited to go somewhere,” she murmurs. “I just wanted you to be happy.”

I grab her up and hug her so tight. “You’re so sweet! But this vacation was supposed to be for the both of us.”

“I like it here,” she murmurs, resting her head on my shoulder. “So is it ok if we stay here a little longer? It’s nice and you’ve already made friends here.”

“Amelie and Shahan?” I ask. I kiss her forehead. “So you like them?”

Del nods quietly. “I like Ryker too, he’s cool and he made good on his promise.” Del added. 

There’s a knock at the door and when I answer it’s Jack from the hardware store. “Oh hey,” he waves. “I thought the name sounded familiar. We’re here for the car.”

“Thank you.” I hand him over the car key. “Do you by chance any know of car rentals around here?

Jack takes out a card from his pocket. “This is the place you’ll wanna call. They’ll drive the car right over too.”

“Thank goodness,” I sigh. “I promised to take Del to the wolf reserve, and of course, the car won’t crank. I knew I should have brought the camaro, they just don't make cars like they used to."

"You have a camaro?" Jack asked excitedly. 

"67 SS, 350 with nos." I answered before I showed him a picture of it in all its emerald green glittering glory as he whistled lowly. 

"Wow, yeah you should’ve.” Jack chuckles. 

“But it doesn’t have air conditioning, I know there’s a company that makes air conditioners that can be retrofitted but I just haven’t gotten around to it.” I explained.  

“Well, isn’t that how it always is when you promise your kid something, something else breaks?” Jack chuckles. “I have your number, so as soon as we know what’s going on, I’ll give you a call.” Jack offers before he loads up my car onto the tow truck after I’ve emptied it out completely. 

I tell him goodbye before I go inside to call the number on the card. As i’m waiting for an answer, I see Ryker’s note laying on the counter. After I slept on it and thought it over, I didn’t know if I would have the courage to start messaging him, I was only going to be here a day or two and I didn’t know if I would ever get the chance to see him again after this trip. But now that it looked like I was going to be spending my vacation in Hearthway Hollow, maybe if wouldn’t be so bad to call him and hopefully get the chance to see him again. 

I make plans for a car to be dropped off at the cabin then I call Big Billy and explain the situation and agree to come in and rent the cabin for a week since I didn’t know how long it would take for the mechanic to fix it and send Ryker a quick text. ‘I’m having car issues and munchkin has decided to spend our vacation here. Any tips on how to continue to bring her out of her chicken nugget “shell” would be much appreciated.’ I text him but he doesn’t answer back and I pout at my phone. Maybe I just had my hopes up too high. 

I sit back down on the sofa while Del paints with her watercolors on the coffee table in front of the couch and watches cartoons when my phone chimes again, the chef has replied. My heart thrums excitedly to see what he’s said.

‘Who is this?’ came the response. 

I frown for a moment. ‘Zara. Zara Norris, Del’s mom. I was with Shahan and Amelie last night. I have a Michigan cell phone number, this message isn’t spam I pinky swear.’ I text back, hoping that would jog his memory. 

It’s another long moment before my phone beeps again. ‘Sorry, I work late and sleep in late. I’m not a smart morning person. Yeah of course I’ll help. More than happy to.’  And my smile blooms brighter and my heart does somersaults in my chest. 

‘I’m sorry I didn’t mean to wake you!’ I quickly apologize.

‘No worries. Did she enjoy the doggy bag I sent?’

I smile adoringly at my phone. ‘Yeah, she loved it, we both did, thank you so much, everything was awesome and delicious, it was the best meal of my life last night and then again this morning, thank you for the cheesecake too! That was the best I’ve ever had!’

‘Great. I’m gonna get coffee. Talk to you later.’

I smile to myself, wondering if I would ever get to see him again while I was still in Hearthway Hollow or if this was as close as I was gonna get. 

After a while the car was dropped off and I was given a key. I signed a few papers for the rental and gave a down payment for the first two days. As I was looking over the car and making sure I was used to the controls I saw something strange in the rearview mirror. There was something in the trees, moving around a bit. As I turned, I saw it go down the hill and onto Amelie and Shahan’s porch. It was a wolf, a massive one too. It went in through the open door and I panicked. I didn’t have Amelie’s number, nor did I know Shahan’s or where he worked. In a moment of desperation I dialed Ryker’s number.

“Hello?” he sounded confused.

“I-am-so-so-sorry-to-call-like-this! But-I-just-saw-this-wolf- walk-into-Amelie-and- Shahan’s-place! And-I-know-Amelie- is-home-alone- and-Shahan- isn’t-there- and-I don’t-know- anyone- here! What-do- I- do?! Do- I- call- 911?!” I spew out a stream of conscious thought that stringed together as one single word.

“Whoa, whoa,” Ryker started. “Calm down, a wolf?” He asks as he still sounds like he’s groggy. 

“Yes! A wolf, a huge one!” I’m nearly screaming and near a panic attack as electric shocks like lightning bolts shoot down my arms and into my hands until it feels like needles and knives are cutting into every nerve ending and down my legs making my legs spasm and into my rib cage, into the flesh in between each rib so it’s impossible to breathe until it subsides and into my face so my face twitches and twists against my will so and I cry out in pain because it’s unbearable and blinding for a moment and I’m overwhelmed. 

“I’ll be right there!” Ryker assures me before he hangs up.  

“Ok.” I spurt but he’s already hung up the phone. I give my body a moment to relax from the attack and use a breathing exercise to get me calmed down and stable as the attack stops and subsides and once I’m recovered, I attempt to dial him again but I go straight to his voicemail. “Oh crap, I’ve really done it now.” I groan and bang my head on the steering wheel. Great, now I’m a spaz. He’s going to tell me to loose his number. Way to go. 

I glance back to the cabin where Del is inside. I don’t want to leave her alone but I feel like I have to go make sure Amelie is ok. Then again, what am I going to do against a wolf of that size? As I’m trying to keep myself from panicking anymore because panic = pain for me, I see a car pull up to the house. It parks around then side where I can see it and Ryker gets out. He goes to the front door and a while later comes out the back. Amelie and Shahan are with him on the porch and they’re both as calm as can be. 

“What?” I whisper to myself. Ok, maybe I’m crazy and I’ve snapped again and I’m seeing things. 

The three of them wave up at me, but I feel so stupid I have a hard time waving back. I get a text on my phone. 

‘Mind if I come up?’ Ryker asks.

‘I feel like an idiot, are you sure?’ I answer.

‘I’ll have a look around the place, make sure there aren’t any wolves there. Just in case,’ he texts back. Is that a joke? I can’t tell. Well, time to face the music. 

I watch as he walks up the road to the cabin. He’s wearing a dark blue henley with the buttons undone, showing off the dark pelt on his chest. His hair is disheveled, looking like he combed it with his hands. It’s beautiful, whereas my hair is just ringlet curly and hella frizzy.

“Good morning,” he says with a smile. “You ok?” He asks worriedly. 

“Yeah, I’m just a spaz.” I try to downplay but he’s not buying it. “I have conversion disorder. Whenever I’m faced with any stress or anxiety or especially panic. My brain can’t process that or internalize it, it simply converts it into physical pain. I get “shocks” which feels like I’m being electrocuted and it travels all over my body, into my face, down my arms until it feels like red hot needles and knives are cutting and burning into every nerve ending I have, into my ribcage between each rib so I can’t breathe and down my legs into my feet until they feel just like my hands. It’s very painful.” I explained and Ryker just looks heartbroken to hear it.  “So yeah, thinking I saw a wolf walk into a house totally panicked me and I didn’t know Shahan was at the house! I never should have called, maybe I'm crazier than I think I am and am just seeing things.” I grumble in shame and I can’t bring myself to look him in the eye. 

“Hey, it’s ok, I would freak out too.” Ryker reassures me and closes the space between us and hugs me tight and I melt in his big strong arms and I’m pleasantly surprised when I feel so at peace and safe, like even if I was surrounded by a pack of wolves right now, I’d be ok, like nothing could ever get to me. 

“I’m just sorry it caused you pain, that’s all.” He murmured regrettably. 

“Thank you for not making fun of me.” I whimper as I continue to cling to him. 

“What? No, never! Have people made fun of you for this?” He asked his own outrage making his voice have a growl that sends a shiver down my spine but a smile bloomed on my face as he just continued to hold me. 

“Yeah, my husband, used to, he was a narcissistic asshole though. When I first got conversion, it got misdiagnosed as fibromyalgia and MS and I used to have to use a walker to get around and he would call me ‘gympopotomus’, a cross between gympy and hippopotamus.” You revealed as he took a sharp but deep breath in and held me even tighter as I could feel the hot air practicallyq come out of his ears as he buried his face in the crook of my neck and slowly released the breath as his jaw clenched. 

“He was a good and decent father to Del and he wasn’t so bad that he beat me or anything, he just wasn’t the nicest or kindest person, he struggled with sympathy and empathy.” I tried to explain. 

“And apparently being a decent human being.” Ryker huffed. 

“Yeah…” I sighed sadly before I withdrew from him which he seemed reluctant but let go of me and took a small step back to reestablish the distance between us.  

“Tell you what, just to be safe, I’ll look around while I’m here. If there’s anything suspicious, I’ll take care of it and make sure everything is..as it should be.” He reassures me and I’m relieved he’s not being sarcastic and he’s completely sincere and genuine. 

“Thanks.” My face is growing red hot as I look at him, my own smile growing bashful. Something about him just sets off all the bells and whistles for me to see him look so...normal and casual and comfortable. I follow him as he walks around the cabin, unable to take my eyes off of him again as he walks around the side where I had heard scratching the night before as he seems to start walking quicker to avoid looking at the claw marks under the window as his cheeks get rosy again before he clears his throat awkwardly, his sharp blue eyes study the ground for a moment before looking off into the woods as he rubs the back of his neck for a moment as things grow awkward again and I feel the need to break the tension. 

“So uhm...Ryker,” I chuckle. “That’s an interesting name.”

“My dad loved Star Trek,” he huffs. “So yes, I am named after that Ryker.”

“I knew it!” I gasp with a victorious smile then make myself shut up. “Sorry. I just had a gut feeling. I used to watch the show when I was younger. My uncle had every episode of every star trek on VHS and I grew up on it, Picard was of course my favorite but Ryker was a close second.” I grin. 

“And you’re a Norris? Like Chuck Norris.” He grins cheekily. 

“Yes, exactly like Chuck Norris, unfortunately not related to him. Because if I was, hey, when I did push ups, I’d push the earth down and my tears could cure cancer and venomous snakes would die if they tried to bite me.” I rattle off, remembering all the Chuck Norris jokes off the top of my head which makes Ryker bust up laughing. “So we both have famous names, that’s nice.” I  finish. “And before I was a Norris, I was a Wright girl so I grew up with being Zara Left or Zara Wrong, I don’t know if that’s better or worse.” I shrug as Ryker chuckles to that as his grin grew a little mischievous. 

“Oh I don’t think you ever stopped being the right girl.” Ryker flirts and my jaw drops and I giggle and blush like a teenager again. 

“So, Wright like the Wright brothers?” Ryker asked curiously. 

“Wright like Frank Lloyd Wright, the architect, now that one I am related to but distantly.” I answer. 

He turns to me with that same soft smile like I’m the moon again. “Believe it or not, my dad met my mom at a convention. She was working the hotel it was at and well, despite the fact he was dressed in a starfleet uniform, he managed to charm her.”

“That’s really cute actually.” We walk up onto the back porch where the sliding glass door is, the curtain still open and I can see Del through the dining room into the living room, still watching TV and painting. 

“I like to think so.” He leans over the railing.

Ryker motions to the door. “What’s Del doing?”

“Watercolor painting.” I answered. 

“Wow really?” Ryker asked, impressed. 

 “Oh yeah, Dell and I both love watercolors. I bought her a Paul Ruben’s set which are professional watercolors, she has her regular palate and her glitter palate so she’s good.” I explained as I gestured to show him about the size of it as I lean over the railing next to him so we're almost shoulder to shoulder as we look out over the woods.  “The only thing she’ll run out of is the watercolor paper. I suppose I’ll have to go shopping for more supplies.” I smile up at him. “That’s why I asked you for the food help.”

“How long you here for then?” He asks as he turns around, leaning back on the railing with his hands on it, making his broad chest and shoulders jut out and my eyes rake down him again as my mouth goes dry as I realize he’s asked me a question I should be answering as I once again mirror his body language by turning around and leaning back on the railing but I loosely cross my arms over my belly a little self consciously. 

“Uhm-” I try to collect my thoughts. “Honestly I don’t know. I haven’t heard from the mechanic yet. It could be a day or two or a week if the car is salvageable and if it isn’t I’ll just have my parents drive my other car down and I’ll finish my vacation in that but it doesn’t have air conditioning. So I don’t know.” I shrug. “Granted if I have to I’ll just spend my whole vacation here and I told my parents and my inlaws I’d be two to three weeks.” I amend. 

“Oh,” he blinks before his grin grows into a full blown smile. “That’s plenty of time, we can find a way to work something out, I’m sure.” He offers and my heart is back to a hummingbird pace. 

“Del likes it here, so I think we’ll find a way to pass the time.” A smile spreads across my face. “Just gotta research the town a bit and see what we can get into here.”

“Well Hearthway has lots to do. There’s the big park, I’m sure Del would like that. There’s South Paw lake you can take her to and go swimming or the community pool if you prefer, there’s trails galore you could go hiking, there’s a place that has horses and horse back riding lessons you could ride and take on the trails. There’s going to be day camp for kids coming up really soon, Billy and his family started it a few years back. Kids go there and get to do crafts and all sorts of stuff. I’m sure if you asked Billy he’d let Del join in.” Ryker offers. 

“Really?” I gasp. “She would love that!”

“I’m sure you could find ways to preoccupy yourself with other stuff too.” Ryker’s words has my insides feeling like pudding. 

“Yeah well,” I chuckle softly. “I’ve been trying to do that for a year now.”

Ryker furrows his brow and tilts his head. “A year?” Ryker repeats. 

I open my mouth as I try to decide what excuse to give. I then sigh and shake my head, deciding I would be blunt about it. “Michael, my husband and Del’s father- had his heart attack almost a year ago and passed away and it’s been a bit of a challenge to figure out what to do with myself, I quit my dayjob and completely focused on Del and getting her through this while I try to figure out how to get myself through it too.” I bite down on my cheek as I see the expression that washes over his face and I can see he has several things going on at once in his mind and I give him a moment to try to ask me something but he can’t seem to settle on anything. “But Del and I are fine, we go to therapy regularly, we’re both artists and we both like working with watercolors, acrylics and clay as our creative outlets and thankfully Michael thought ahead and planned ahead and had life insurance policies at work and then had a private one too so financially we’re fine, we’re not destitute or anything and every day it gets a little easier. But it’s best that we find ways to move on and heal. That’s what this whole vacation was about. I wanted to show Del we could move on, move forward and embrace something new without feeling like we’ve abandoned the old,  that as long as we had each other, we’d be ok, and we are.” I assured him. 

“You’re so young, I can’t imagine,” he whispers. “I’m so sorry, Zara.”

I shake my head. “It’s ok, really.” I then laugh. “I’m not all that young. I’m 33. I was 19 when I married Michael and I was 25 when I had her and that was after three years of trying too.” I explained as Ryker blinked in surprise before he just had this warm reassuring smile that makes me feel like I’m melting again. 

“Well, if you need anything while you’re here, you have my number, don’t be afraid to use it.” He runs his fingers through his thick hair. “Oh but, the food,” he chuckles. “So, are you a good cook?” He asks curiously.  

“Well I’m no michelin star chef,” I tease as Ryker barks a laugh and shakes his head. “But I like to think I’m fairly decent, I believe in the four food groups, butter, bone marrow, bacon grease and lard and one does not get this pudgy only eating salad.” I joke as I grab and jiggle my pudgy belly for emphasis as Ryker busts out laughing having nodded in agreement to my sentiments. “But seriously, even I’m banging my head against a wall with Del. She used to be a such a great adventurous eater and once Michael passed, she did a 180 and now she only wants to eat the foods Michael liked and Michael had one hell of a narrow food palate. I don’t know if that’s one of the ways she’s choosing to grieve or what but all it’s been for the last year has been lots and lots of chicken, pork, beef and venison. In that order because he liked to hunt and she thinks deer chili is better than beef. But we’ve eaten the last of it now and I’m uncomfortable accepting any other “sources” of it.” I explained. 

“Sources?” Ryker repeated in confusion. 

 “Michael’s friends who also hunt who now think they have a shot with me to get at Michael’s life insurance money, which they all have allusions of grandure as to how much I have and they want Michael’s stuff and live the idyllic life he seemingly led with me because and I quote “ I was their gold standard for a wife” while I was married to Michael and to them I say “Fuck off.” Because they’re all losers who I have absolutely no interest in, they’re repulsive to me because they did see Michael be an asshole to me and they would just laugh at his “jokes” at my expense and there is no way in hell I’m putting up with anything like that ever again and they can go to hell.” I reassured him which he beamed so proudly at me back. 

 “Well, how about this?” He claps his hands together and rubs his palms together. “You go and stock up on groceries for your time here, and I have tomorrow off. I can come over and show you some tips and we’ll take it from there.”

“Really?” I gasp in awe, a bright excited smile blooming on my face, lighting it up like sunshine itself. 

“Yeah, really,” he says with a grin.

“Let me pay you,” I quickly offer. “I can’t let you do that for nothing.”

He shakes his head. “No way. Not often I get to show off my skills to a willing audience, much less a more deserving one.” he grins. 

“Well, I’m a licensed massage therapist!” I counter. “Therapeutic and medical massage,” my cheeks burn. “I can give you a massage in payment. I'm licensed and everything.” I offer coyly. 

A shy smile flickers over his face. “A massage? Really? Would I have to get naked?”

I lose my breath for a moment at the thought. “Not unless you’d want to be, you’d be covered with sheets and blankets and stuff. I would just have to tell my mom to pack my table and supplies in the trunk,” I squeak.

“Never had a massage,” he says thoughtfully. “Ok, sure. One massage for cooking lessons it is!” Ryker agrees before Del sees us and comes outside. 

“Hey! What are you doing here?” Del asks as she tilts her head. 

“I thought I saw a wolf and freaked out like a spaz.” I admitted. 

“Well there are wolves around so it’s ok. Your mom said you’ve been painting.” Ryker quickly changes the subject. 

“Yeah, let me show you!” Del invites him in by taking his hand and dragging him into the house before she has him sit down on the sofa with her. 

“Wow! You painted this?” Ryker exclaims as he sees the works of art and is impressed by Del’s skills as Del started talking his ear off and showing him her old sketches but before we know it, he has to leave to go into to work and we have a wolf reserve to visit. 

And they do bring out the baby wolves who are cuter than a bug’s ear. So fluffy. After that I get a call from the mechanic, and the car is toast. Like it’ll cost more to repair it than it’s worth. So I tell him to scrap it and I call my parents and tell them the change of plans and to drive my camaro down because I know that won’t fail me which they agree to then I shoot a quick text to Ryker and inform him of the changes. Part of me really wants to see the look on Ryker’s face when he sees the car. I want him to like it. Hell even Michael knew it was a “panty dropper” and it was. Maybe, just maybe, if I’m really lucky, it might do that again. Hopefully. 

After we visit the reserve we head to Big Billy’s and I explain the new situation and now instead of renting the cabin for $65 a night, we now get to rent it for $100 a week, another ‘kid and bad luck discount’ which I won’t argue with and Del gets signed up for the kids camp which she is ecstatic to start that weekend, then we head to the grocery store which is amazing, packed with everything I could possibly want or need and I go nuts because if Ryker is coming over tomorrow, I’m going to show him my best dishes and hopefully he’ll like them. The only thing I notice that is strange is that there isn’t a meat section, there’s a seafood section though. An employee tells me the reason is because of the local butcher shop, it has a monopoly on the meat in town.

Del and I then go to the butcher’s shop to pick up meat. Inside it’s like a little deli, very cute and quaint. The man behind the counter looks like an angel in a painting. His hair is platinum white and he has the most amazing gray eyes.

“You’re new!” He says brightly. “What can I get you?”

“Hi, uhm, yes,” I chuckle. “We’re on a surprise vacation here. I just need to pick up a few things to get us through the week.” I say. 

“Well good, we’re happy to have you, my name is Adam,” He offers his hand for a handshake which I readily shake. 

“Zara Norris, pleasure to meet you and this is my daughter Delilah, Del for short,” I reply. Something about him makes me feel comfortable, like he’s the world’s friendliest puppy. And I look over his selection and my jaw drops and my mouth waters. He has the usual, chicken, pork and beef and a wide variety of fresh sausages. But he also has mutton, lamb and goat too, plus game meat!  Pheasant, boar, venison, rabbit, duck, goose and turkey, both wild and domestic. I want it all. That employee wasn’t joking when they said this place had the monopoly. They even have charcuterie in addition to the lunch meats and cheeses. I’m in heaven. So I get a bit of everything.  

After shopping, Del takes a bath using the bath bombs she’s brought with her in the big claw foot tub in my rooom as I’m putting the groceries away I hear something strange. I look around for a moment then hear something outside again. I go to the sliding glass door and push back the curtains which I had closed before we left, sitting in the trees beyond the porch I see a massive wolf. This one looks different than the one I saw earlier, this one is mostly black with bright blue eyes, almost husky-ish but still very wolf. 

I nearly scream but I keep myself quiet since I don’t want to freak Del out and I have to keep my own emotions in check because I don’t want to have another panic attack and start shocking again. I’m not sure what to do, I just stand there staring at it, breathing heavily, afraid that if I move my eyes away, it’ll vanish. The wolf gazes back at me with eyes so blue it makes me break out in goose flesh. It lifts its head then rises from the ground and I watch as it walks towards me and I can only hope it can’t break through the glass. 

“Can we talk?” It says.

I almost pass out but I shock, my whole body spasming and jerking as I cry out and whimper before I bend over and lean against the glass and try to catch my breath before I look up to see it’s in a submissive pose on the back porch before it tries making itself smaller by crawling on its belly towards me slowly, it’s tail tucked between its legs and it’s whining like it’s the one in pain. 

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you, it’s ok, I’ll never hurt you I swear on my life, please, Zara,” it murmurs. “I don’t want you to be scared especially of me, that’s why I’m doing this now.” The wolf backs away as far away from me while still being on the porch before it slowly stands up on his hind legs, his body, taking on a more human shape and I suddenly realize it’s not a wolf wolf, it’s a werewolf. And it knows my name. 

Against all reason, I take it for it’s word and manage to recover and I bravely open the door and step out onto the porch but slide the door shut behind me.

“I’m sorry I…” he huffs. “I wanted to do this right, but I didn’t want to scare Del or you, especially you. I also didn’t want to force something on you if you weren’t ready.” It explains. 

I furrow my brow as I look at them and suddenly it clicks, the voice. “Ryker?” I whisper before I slowly start to walk over to him. “What’s-” I look around in a panic. “What the hell is going on?”

“Let me explain.” He walks up onto the porch. “Hearthway Hollow, it’s much more than what it looks like,” he says with a gentle voice.

“Wait. That wolf I saw this morning?” I realize and put two and two together. I’m an idiot. 

“It was Shahan,” he says.

“Is everyone here a werewolf?” I ask curiously. 

Ryker sighs and nods his head. “Let me explain, please.” He smiles gently at me. “It’s a long story.”

We end up sitting on the stairs of the porch, talking for a long time. He tells me how Hearthway Hollow is a sanctuary for werewolves, a place where they can find a home and not have to hide. There is a tradition when a ware finds their mate, one that requires consent at all costs. The ritual includes the ware going hunting and leaving dead animals for their intended to show that they can provide for them and their family. But since I had Del, Ryker didn’t want to scare her, let alone me. He decided to come to me, as he was, and explain everything to me and I’m so grateful, so so grateful he did and the longer he talks, the more human he looks, at least in his top half. 

“The moment I saw you in the restaurant I was absolutely floored,” he whispers. “But you had a kid, and a wedding ring and I thought for sure I missed my chance. But-” he laughs softly. “This morning, I was so excited when you messaged me I literally fell out of bed and hit my head and then when you called in a panic, I panicked and I had to fight not to shift to come running over and risk scaring you even more than I already have.” He looks at me with sad, soft eyes. “You just lost your husband. I didn’t want to force something on you and Del like this. Besides, you’re not going to be here long.” Ryker sighed sadly. 

“I’m not-” I hesitate and sigh. “I don’t think I’m worth it, Ryker.”

He stares at me in shock. “What?”

I sigh tiredly. “You’re a bit younger than I am, you have all kinds of possibilities ahead of you and you could get anyone you wanted and trust me, I have been through the ringer. I have...let’s just say that I’m obviously not mint in box.” I try to explain delicately. 

“No one is,” he scoffs.

“Listen,” I hold his hands in my own. “You deserve better than this, better than me.” I tell him and my heart breaks and my voice cracks. “I’m a widow with enough baggage to fill a jumbo jet. I’m a single mom to a precocious but supremely spoiled child. She is the only grandchild on both sides of my family. Not to mention the laundry list of health problems I have so much more than those migraines and the conversion disorder- I have Crohn’s disease, chronic fatigue syndrome, I’m manic bipolar, I have depression and anxiety and PTSD. I’m basically six kinds of crazy. I’m not great with money and the only reason I’m doing as good as I am is because Michael was and his father helped me with the life insurance policies so I didn’t blow it all already. I don’t want you to get your hopes up. I said that Michael’s friends thought I was the gold standard but that’s only because they don’t really know me. They haven’t seen me at 3am when I’m in the middle of a Crohn’s flare and puking my guts up and I’m dehydrated to the point my veins collapse and they can’t get an IV in and blow every vien they try until my arms are more bruises than anything and they have to resort to a picc line or a port. They haven’t seen me in a manic episode when I blow a thousand dollars on a shopping spree. They haven’t seen me in a suicidal depressive episode when I’ve tried to kill myself via overdose and have to commit me to a suicide center for a week until I snap out of it. Granted I’m on really good meds for the latter so those last two things haven’t happened in years but still. When I say I’m broken and you can do so so so much better than me, I mean it.  I’m flattered, I truly am but I can’t help but think you’re better off...” I’m cut off as Ryker kisses me. His lips are soft and warm and I cannot help but be pulled into him.

I meet his kiss, wanting it so badly. It’s been so long, so damn long and he tastes so fucking good! He wraps his arms around me, hugging me to his strong, warm body and I cling to him like he’s my lifeline. 

“I think you’re beautiful and definitely worth it. Even if you only have a dollar to your name, I don’t care, I can afford to take care of you and Del, no problem. None of those issues make you any less valuable, especially to me. I’m just sorry you suffer but if I have to spend the rest of my life in and out of hospitals or whatever, I’ll happily do it. You’re an investment, one that I’m happy to make and your love and affection is all the dividends I could ever want or ask for.” he whispers. “And when I look at you I don’t see what you see. I see my mate and to me that’s all that matters, I don’t want anyone but you and if I have to wait, I will, I’ve waited my whole life for you. I’ll wait as long as I need to because you are absolutely worth it. Plus I like Del, she’s funny and a much cooler kid than I think you realize, she’s awesome and if we gotta go slow for her we’ll go slow for her. You being a single mom? That’s not a problem for me, in any way shape or form. You aren’t used and broken like a box of tissues or a toy in a box. You’re a human being who’s lived in the world and this world can be heartless sometimes, no one makes it out unscathed.” he scoffs. “You’re this beautiful, soft, lovely and amazing woman. You’re so strong and resilient for making it this far. Give me a chance to prove it to you. Please.” Ryker pleaded as he holds my face in his hands so he keeps his gaze locked with mine and occasionally wipes the rivers of tears I’m crying away. 

I try to hold back the tears but I can’t. I bury my face against his chest and sob deeply. He holds me the entire time, rubbing his hand up and down my back. He kisses the top of my head and buries his face into the crux of my neck and shoulder and when I’m done crying, he wipes away my tears.

“I’m sorry,” I blubber. 

“It’s ok,” he whispers. He kisses my cheek then smiles lovingly at me. “Let me court you, while you’re here Zara,” he says gently. “Let me treat you like the queen you are and Del like the princess she is. We’ll figure it out.”

“Ok,” I whisper softly. “But you have been warned,” I sniffle.

“So have you.” He kisses me again. “I don’t intend to let you go so easily. So try all your tricks.” He chuckles. 

“Oh yeah, sobbing on your shoulder and telling you all my problems is a great one.” I try to laugh.

Ryker runs his fingers through my hair then cups my cheek. As I gaze into those beautiful blue eyes I realize I may not escape Hearthway Hollow and if I do, I probably won’t be gone for very long.