#I did the colette! :D

[zaptrap]

Seeing that you've been here since 2012 is INSANE like you've witnessed it all huh. You've seen probably SO many weird and crazy things in this fandom like man that's so cool for you I feel...

ive def seen and participated in a lot of dumbass bullshit over the years LMAO. although notsomuch during the skybound-to-seabound era cuz i'd lost interest for a bit

Random shit I remember off the top of my head (plz feel free to fact-check):

deviantart era: (2012-2013)

that bright green ninjago ask meme

like, literally everybody making self-insert purple ninjas (sometimes orange, teal, or rainbow) and shipping them with their fav ninja

everyone making their own genderbends of the ninja. cole was almost always called nicole or colette lmao

people also naming their accounts (name)-the-ninja (or "teh-ninja", since this was 2012)

there's a non-zero probability that if you were in the fandom during the season 1 era, you're a furry now

naruto crossovers

half-snake ninja aus.........wonder who uh......who could've done that.....heheh (me) (that was my whole deal pre-nindroid!jay lmfao)

everyone posting like, doll-maker things they made of ninjago? especially dragon ones

(me) posting leaked screenshots of season 2 eps that i found on the lego wiki or smth lmao. this is also how i found out zane was a robot. i think i kept posting leaks when i moved to tumblr

legends of chima releasing and i thiiink it was supposed to be a ninjago replacement? like, legitimately? though a lot of people weren't happy about it. "furry gang drug wars" was a phrase used a lot lmfao.

tumblr era (2013-2016 for me) (may overlap with dA era)

everyone losing their minds over the shirtless ninja in ns2 lmfao

that one video of kirby marrow (rest in peace) saying cole was 14

that other vid of like, behind the scenes and it was the ninja's actors but like in-universe? it's where "cole bucket" comes from

also some behind the scenes vid with the actual voice actors lol

thinking back on this, im like 100% sure it was bullshit but when the end of rebooted aired, there was a rumor going around about fans being so upset over zane's death that they carved a snowflake on their stomachs. lots of people were freaking out lmfao

the rise and fall of "fucknoshittyninjagoOCs" (ashamed to say i heavily participated in harassing this blog even if i rlly didnt like the premise.........)

maypong

lots of tension with instagram cuz of all the art reposts. like. tons of reposts. i remember someone blocked me when i said to take something down but then unblocked me the same evening and apologized LOL so

roleplay twitter accounts (twitter was kinda not-as-a lot at the time)

nindroid!jay of course. its so old there was an update that was made in flash lmfao...

absolute fucking shitloads of AUs and headcanons. i dont think this has changed much but like. there were so many lmfao. entire threads

actually there's too many fucking AUs. im scrolling through my main blog and i cant fuckin find anything cuz ITS ALL THESE STUPID AU THREADS THEY AREN'T EVEN LIKE DEEP LMAO

ask-all-the-ninjagians

the absurd screenshot redraws i did. like they were super stupid lmfao. icr which blog they're on but they're on my comp still at least

ninjagians just. being a term used at all lmao

the ninjago fan-tournament during ns4. people would draw/write about their ocs doing whatever prompt was posted and then everyone came together to defeat a big bad snake man

tbh i started naturally losing interest during ns5, and then VERY QUICKLY dropped the show (and therefore fandom) when skybound came out lmao............... so i dont really remember a lot from this era and everything after

and now im back :D

i hope this is insightful! xD

[scarletfire03]

when I first got into half life I was still very much a furry. so here have fur-life doodles Also yes this AU started out as a furry AU.

gina and gordon are both hyenas but gina is a striped hyena

vvv some lore and explanations for shit vvv

you may notice I didn't choose obvious animals for some characters. most people would probably make adrian a shepherd dog of some sort since his last name is literally shephard. I don't like using domesticated animals for furry designs tho. its too easy, its overused and kind of a weird concept if you think about it. how the hell were these guys domesticated. instead, I like to go for less popular choices and more uncommon animals. I chose a close relative of sheep for adrians design because i think its a bit ironic that the shephard is a sheep. also they have cool color patterns which I really like :D

as for gordon being a hyena, this was originally just a random idea I had. just tried choosing a cool animal. but when I developed this idea I realized that I could do a lot more with this. hyenas are seen as scavengers that aren't very strong and they are also seen as not very intelligent cough cough the lion king cough cough this is completely false. spotted hyenas are highly intelligent and social creatures and they take down their own food for the most part. they are strong. have you seen their jaws?? they are capable of breaking bones with their bite. I wouldn't dare to mess with one. the more I thought about this the more I felt that it was very fitting for the guy that is considered a goofy idiot by most of his coworkers (every fucking scientist at black mesa seems to treat him like hes just an intern and like he has 0 skill) to be a hyena. hes completely misjudged by everyone around him. and during the resonance cascade he showed the world that everyone was wrong about him. at the same time, his actions might've strengthened those stereotypes in some people that saw him. I mean, he kind of did turn into a killing machine back there. even if he was saving my life I would be wary of him. you just cant trust someone that kills without hesitation. the resistance might also be more divided in their opinion about him (something I'm still keeping for my AU because the canon resistance is boring as fuck sorry) and not everyone thinks he is the savior of mankind.

also like, LOOK AT HOW SPOOKY THAT LOOKS

gina is also a hyena because during development she was literally just female gordon. like, she was supposed to be the female player choice. to keep that theme at least somewhat i made her a hyena aswell. to make her design more unique i made her a striped hyena though.

colette is a lynx (a siberian lynx in the doodle but I later decided on her being an iberian lynx instead)

alyx and barney don't have that much story behind their designs aside from me wanting to have an avian character and not just a bunch of mammals.

eli is also a cheetah obviously and i was thinking of making kleiner something like a slow loris cause they look funky and he is very funky

also on a side note: gordon furreemans head looking like a radiation symbol was an accident at first because i was trying to draw him more cartoony and then I noticed this and now he has a radiation symbol for a head. also that doodle is where my current angular lookin style originated.

[championleonsslut]

Tell us about your OC! Does she have a partner Pokemon? Or a team? What region is she from?

Oh I would happily yap about her for hours omg

The Leeanna Post

To start off, her full name is Leeanna Autumn Colette Turner, (but later becomes Woodrow due to her marrying Leon). Though sometimes she is called Lea by her childhood best friends Serena and Calem, Leon. (Pronounced: Lee-uh)

Her birthday is March 15th, making her a Pisces. She is native to the Kalos reigon, and was actually their Champion from the ages of eleven to twenty two. (More on why she left later)

When she was Champion, her team consisted of:

Sylveon ♀ [The ace]

Chandelure ♂

Garchomp ♀

Greninja ♂

Vespiquen ♀

Venasaur ♂

Leeanna is feisty, stubborn, impulsive, and sassy. But she's also quite clever, compassionate, loyal to those she loves, ambitious, determined, and quite a passionate lover.

She was born and raised in Kalos, being sent on a Pokemon journey by her parents despite not really wanting to yet. She never had the best relationship with her parents, especially since she grew up in nobility. She's a Baroness, and suffered quite a traumatic childhood. She developed claustrophobia at a young age, and strove to be a perfectionist to please her parents. She's an only child.

She's essentially the X and Y protagonist. She was the one to defeat Lysandre and take down the ultimate weapon, as well as defeating Diantha and taking her place. The only issue was that she never wanted to be Champion in the first place, and developed a terrible cocaine addiction at age seventeen.

Soon after her twenty-second birthday, her father forced her into an arranged marriage with a Count named Caspian, who she immedietly hated. He was cruel to her, telling her she would only be good as his wife. Naturally, she ran away to Galar soon after this to go live with her uncle.

I won't give too many spoilers as to what happens in her new life in Galar, as you can read the fic on AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/56822020/chapters/144468685

But, this is where she meets Leon for the second time. They met before as children, since they both became Champions at a young age and saw one another at events. Leon was almost immedietly smitten with a celebrity crush, as Leeanna thought he was loud and annoying, even though he never told her about his feelings.

The two of them meet again and almost instantaniously hate one another. Their story is enemies to lovers, as I love angst >:3

But as time goes on, Leeanna replaces Opal as the fairy-type gym leader. You know what that means! She gets a new team, which is almost entirely female except for Espeon.

Sylveon, Primarina, Tinkaton, Alolan Ninetails, Florges, Mega Altaria, Alcremie, Espeon, and Dedenne.

She does eventually fall in love with Leon, and the two of them end up getting married. In the future, they have three children:

Dande (yes that is his name as a reference to Leon's Japanese name and also I just like the name) Who has dark brown hair, light tan skin, and golden eyes. He takes after his mother more than his father, and is a total mama's boy when he's little.

Auriella, who has tan skin, purple hair, and sea-green eyes. She takes more so after her father in personality, but did get her mother's sass.

Zinnia, who is pale like her mother, with light purple hair and golden eyes. She doesn't really take after either of her parents, being more quiet and reserved.

[I will HAPPILY draw their kids for yall and/or write more about them if you want] :D

And of course, Leeanna is incredibly happy with her future. If you want the full story and not just snippits, go ahead and check out my AO3 profile! The entire first book is on there, and I'm currently working on the second! :)

Draw fanart of them and/or write fanfic and my heart will be yours

[e-adlirez]

The last question you answer about violet having a grasshopper pet being stereotypical make me realize that the girls do be kinda stereotypical in the very first book…(which fortunately isn’t there anymore as the series progress). Though, I hope you don’t mind me asking, but I would love to hear your take on the cultural aspect of the thea sisters books. In your personal opinion, do you think the books do a decent job in cultural representation?

It started out with a decent chunk of stereotypes, but what allows me to look past them and love them is the fact that they show the girls growing out of them. For example, Vi (the only one I can actually speak on) is very much the smart and shy Asian kid stereotype (and the occasional esoteric proverb or two), but I love her because she grew into the role of being the group braincell. She's the group braincell, the straight man, the nanny holding four leashes at once, the anxiety-riddled bean who wants to move out of her comfort zone but is scared to do so on her own and thus leans on her friends for support ohmygodshe'sjustlikemefr--

For a series made in the early 2000s, the representation is pretty good! Definitely not perfect (stares at the Chinese proverb thing and Pam being a sasslord with weird-ass slang), but it was very much ahead of its time! The girls did start out stereotypical, yes, but one thing that it did was expand the girls beyond the stereotypes they initially started out with. Violet started as the Asian smart kid, but her character was expanded (if I described how we'd be here all day); Colette started out as a diva, but grew out of it and became a proud girly girl who gets along with Pam even though their tastes in fashion are different; Nicky does have that crazy Aussie in her (which I love), but she's also a goofball and passionate nature advocate a la Steve Irwin (still crazy tho, see that one time she crawled on the roof of a moving train); Pam I think changed the most, seeing she started off as the sassy one with weird slang but is now more the comedic relief who takes charge of the girls culinary itineraries and keeps them grounded; and Paulina's stayed the most consistent, but I dunno if that's saying a lot because she doesn't get that much screentime compared to the others.

One thing I will also appreciate is the extra bit of character building that the girls have that tie the little bits together. Vi has many things she's into and is good at? She is a curious type open to new learning experiences and is also a perfectionist (with anxiety coding), said wumbo combo means she's pretty good at a lot of nerd-flavored things like art and strategy and attention to detail. Pam likes pizza? Her family runs a pizzeria. Nicky is crazy? Yeah she's crazy, she's really good at thinking on her feet even if it means jumping off the outstretched ladder of a speeding firetruck to catch a perp. Colette is a fashionista? She likes looking good and has a good eye for different fashion styles and how to elevate them (and is most likely the reason Pam doesn't just have the most basic of clothes to wear everyday). Paulina is an IT kid? She is also chronically online :D (:'D) and she uses technology to try to improve her corner of the world and remain in contact with her family, mainly her little sister.

Oh yeah and the plots of the books were not that stereotypical, either! Tho take my statements with a grain of salt because I'm not part of any of these cultures, their trip to Japan didn't involve a single ounce of sushi or origami or samurai-- it involved bunraku and a theme on tradition versus passion. Their trip to Hawai'i did involve hula, but that was because they were there to compete in totallynottheMerrieMonarchFestivalweswearsincerelyScholastic, and they do mention the whole volcanic eruption thing without having to talk about Hawai'i religion beyond the white dog superstition, with a little side comment of how business corporates can be more than willing to pull all the strings they can to exploit the natural beauty and the people of Hawai'i. They went to New York and the plot was intertwined very much with the NYC housing crisis in such a way that was easy to digest, even for kids! They went to India and not only set it in an underrated part of the country (Tamil Nadu), they didn't lean into mainstream media stereotypes about India and let the story tell itself as it deserved to! They went to Italy multiple times and, get this, they didn't make a single pasta joke. (Because it's an Italian series that'd be weird if they did.)

But yeah, they treated these cultures with a surprising amount of respect. Like I said, not perfect, but it is a relief how a good chunk of the books still stand up to the test of time.

If you're from any of the cultures they explored in any of the books, feel free to let me know ^^

[emcscared-whumps]

SHIFTING PHASES - Part 1

[PREVIEW] Chapter 7: No Wish Without a Price

Shifting Phases Masterpost

Here's the next chapter! This is the last chapter I will be previewing for a while, but, since I don't post as I write, I wanted to give you guys something a little more to chew on, you deserve it for being so patient with me :)

Big shoutout once more to @whump-cravings for beta'ing this chapter <3<3 Thons feedback has helped me improve my writing out of sight, thankyou <3<3<3

Previous

CONTENT and WARNINGS: Beating, blackmail, bullying (school bully, but they're out of school), drowning (attempted, but is a big focus), emotional whump/angst, guns, mer whumpee, transformation, vague threat of sexual assault (not explicitly said, but still definitely happens). All characters present are 18 or over. wc: ~4.8k

Pete's Perspective

He’d really fucked up, back under the whitebeam.

For weeks now, Pete had been pushing Burton’s limits, intentionally or not, whether by hiding money, lashing out to escape a particularly painful hold, or something else. Burton’s patience had been thinning already; he’d barely needed one more reason to corner Pete somewhere far from help.

Pete had given him three.

And Burton’s reprimand under the whitebeam was the final straw.

“L-Liz, ye s-ssshould go,” Pete stammered, shoulders pinching high as his heart began to race. He couldn’t drag her into his problems again; he couldn’t bear the thought of another friend getting hurt because of him. He swallowed as Burton smirked and stepped close, and shivered when a hand snaked around his shoulder. Tension lined every muscle. With his eyes, he begged Liz to listen, please; it’d be so much worse for them both if she fought.

She didn’t even acknowledge him.

“You should listen to your silly little boyfriend, Dovey,” Burton smiled. “This isn’t your business.”

“If ye think I’m dumb enough ta just leave Pete alone with you sacks of shit, ye’re dead wrong,” Liz said, stance firming up.

“Liz, d—don’t—” Pete started, but was cut off by a sudden, painful pressure ensnaring his neck. Burton’s large hand had wrapped around the edge of Pete’s scarf and yanked back, leashing him with the knitted fabric. A couple of sharp, experimental tugs forced Pete’s hands to his neck, as if by testing the hold, Burton dared him to resist.

“Go,” Burton said darkly.

“Make me,” Liz snarled.

Burton let out a low growl and shoved Pete into the group. The eager, grasping hands of one were quick to snatch the scarf and reapply the pressure while the others grabbed his arms and shoulders, wrestling him firmly into their hold. Pete coughed weakly as the fabric pulled tighter still. Through wet eyes, he watched Burton prowl over to Liz and rasped thinly, “D-don’t—Liz—” Every movement, every syllable hurt. How could fabric so soft be so unyielding? His fingers dug in against his neck as he tried to give himself the barest room to breathe. “Don’t, hhhk, don’t f-fight…! ‘S’not wor—th… it!

…I’m not worth it…

“Listen to him cry!” one mocked.

Another laughed, “Wah, wah, p-p-p-p-please! Lizzy, come s-s-s-save me, I’m sc-c-c-c-cared!”

This was funny to them.

Burton towered over Liz. “Last chance, Millen,” he said, “Leave.”

But still, she did not back down.

Inwardly, Pete cursed her fearlessness; the two of them were badly outnumbered—this was hardly the time to fight, but she couldn’t see that, or the yellow and black handgun that appeared at her temple. Pete opened his mouth to cry a warning, but his scarf cinched too tight to speak, making him squirm despite the pain. Colette’s thumb hovered over the safety.

Pete jerked, panic and dread shooting through him. He tried again to wriggle free. Don’t hurt her!

Liz froze, but flashed her teeth in a wicked grin. “Too chicken ta fight me fer real, Colette?” she said, turning slowly to face the hunter’s handgun, and the young lady behind it. “And what are ye gonna do with darts that don’t work on humans?”

“Oh, these ain’t darts, Dovey.”

The strength drained from Pete’s legs and the gang easily forced him to his knees with a hand on his head. Blood roared in his ears, yet colour drained from his cheeks. The missing bullets, the small, dark object that Colette had snuck from Miss Moore’s bag... He should’ve said something. Mentally, he kicked himself, stupid. STUPID. His cowardice was going to kill them both! The scarf grew tighter still; he had to fight to make his voice form anything more than pathetic, gurgling whines. “Liz pl-pl’sse, d-don’t—Liz—don’t r-res-ssist…!” ‘S’not worth—“ he choked. He couldn’t breathe. “Le’go…!” he gasped.

Liz’s expression darkened.

Oh Powers, no, no—!

In a split second, Liz slapped the barrel of the gun away, launched her fist toward Colette’s chin in a vicious uppercut, and howled, “Let him GO!”

Colette gave an enraged shriek as the two tussled. Liz’s fists flew, catching her face and stomach while Colette’s rings grazed Liz’s cheek as her hand flew to her hair with lightning speed. Liz nearly screamed when Colette yanked her head back, nearly tearing out her fiery red curls. Above them, the gun’s muzzle swayed aloft, bobbing almost forgotten above their heads.

Liz fought hard, catching Colette’s wrist in a vice grip. Her arm shook with the effort of keeping her opponent in place, but she staunchly resisted every plot to gain the upper hand, and snarled through gritted teeth when her hair pulled tight.

They staggered further from the fountain, but Burton, in his pursuit of a front-row seat, stepped into Pete’s line of view. The girls yelled, but he couldn’t see what triggered furious caterwauling.

Boots slid over stone, fabric suddenly shifted, and—

CRACK!

The muzzle flash was as blinding as the shouts and resounding shot were deafening. Amidst the chaos, the boys’ hold on Pete slackened, allowing him to drag in a desperate breath and wail, “LIZ!”

His stomach lurched; from the corner of his eye, he saw Burton move in—towards Liz, who laid on the ground below Colette.

Nothing the boys could do would stop Pete from struggling. Fuelled by terrified fury, he writhed and kicked against their hold, and through the bruising pain, wrenched his scarf from their hands. The release was sudden, but he had no time to stop; one final buck let him bury his elbow into someone’s ribs and launch himself away, toppling another to the ground. With his full weight behind him, he sent a clumsy punch flying into Burton’s face. Hot pain bloomed across his knuckles.

The punch connected with a muted crack, jerking Burton’s head to the side. Pete drew back his shaking hand, cradling it as it throbbed.

A hush fell over both sides.

Burton slowly turned on Pete, wiping his jaw and working it slowly. He eyed the dark smear on his hand before lifting his wrathful gaze to Pete, baring his teeth like a hound denied its fun far too many times; and, like the prey it hunted, Pete shrunk back with eyes as wide as saucers.

“B—B—Burto—” he began to plead.

Burton stormed forward, seizing Pete’s arm in a bruising grip and wrestled him back into the gang’s hold, heedless of Pete’s frantic thrashing and yelling. A stray backwards kick caught one of his assailants in the leg, throwing him off balance. As he fell, his sudden weight almost pulled him free, but one wobbly kick could never have been enough.

A fist slammed into Pete’s gut, leaving him coughing and choking against the spasms of his diaphragm. Not a second later, his arms were again pinned tightly behind his back. Between wheezing pants, Pete let out a whine at the sudden, painful strain on his shoulders.

Liz growled again, spitting and cussing up at Colette who stood triumphantly over her, “I’ll make ye sorry,” she seethed, “I’ll fuckin’ kill all ye useless wank stains. Ye’re dirt, Burton.”

Pete gasped with relief. It was like a massive weight had lifted off his chest, and he could finally breathe again; Liz was okay, she was alive.

It didn’t last long though. Anxiety quickly resumed its grip on his heart when his eyes found the gun still strained down at Liz.

“Try it, bitch,” Colette sneered, victory turning her voice smarmy. She flicked off the safety the second Liz twitched to strike. “Ah-uh, I wouldn’t do that if I were you, Dovey.”

Liz bared her teeth in a snarl, but laid still. “Ye’re a fuckin’ coward, Colette,” she spat, “ye’re pissweak, ye’re nothin’, that’s why ye need the gun. Can’t beat me on yer own. How does it feel provin’ that I’m better than you even when ye win, huh?”

“Shut the fuck up,” Colette snapped and spat on Liz, “slag.”

Liz’s features twisted with disgust, but before she could retaliate, Colette yanked her up by the arm and half-dragged her back along the path. Liz yelled as she went, but Pete couldn’t discern the words over his heaving breaths and roaring blood in his ears. He just hoped she had enough sense to stay away—the guilt of getting her caught up tonight weighed on him enough.

…And, after this… he would want to stagger home and tend his wounds alone.

Once they were gone, Burton seized Pete’s throat with one hand and buried his other in his wiry auburn hair. “Since when did you have a death-wish, Spencer?” he said, fury melting into sadistic triumph. In the dim light, his eyes glittered with the obvious glee of Pete’s thundering pulse beneath his palm. “You know what happens when you resist.”

“Y—d-don’t—ye w-wouldn’t—! Pl—please, don’t!” Pete choked out.

Burton smiled. “You can let go now,” he said to the boys holding him, “I think he got all uppity because his girlfriend was involved; he knows better than to make things worse.”

“Hey, what’re’ye talkin’ about, Burton? What’d’ye mean?” asked one, though he and his friend did as they were told and released Pete’s arms, leaving him to stumble forward toward Burton.

In less than a second, the bastard had a cruel grip on his shirt and wrist. “Let’s just say I know a dirty, little, secret,” he replied, shifting his weight, forcing Pete to move with him… back toward the fountain.

Pete’s pulse quickened, his stomach dropped, and his blood turned to ice. He shook his head. He had to run, had to get away as quickly as he could—but he’d never be strong or fast enough to escape, if he was even able to stand by the time Burton was done. But, he couldn’t, he wouldn’t actually—! It’d be too far; Pete would die! Surely he knew that!

“It really would be a shame if your silly little friends were to find out,” he said, digging his nails into the fresh burns on Pete’s palm, drawing a choked yelp. “Oh, but I wonder what your mummy would think. Are you scared she won’t love you anymore, Petey?”

Pete squirmed against his grip, holding back panicked tears and biting out, “No! Sh-she would—she would!”

“I’m not so sure about that, Petey, and I don’t think you are either,” he purred before leaning close and whispering in to his ear, “looney.”

She would! She—she has to—she’s my ma!

“She could never love a worm like you.”

Tears streamed down Pete’s cheeks. “Ye’re wrong!” he cried, and surged forward, slamming his head into Burton’s with a sickening crack.

Burton howled and grabbed Pete’s neck again, squeezing tight and moving his other hand to his hair. Pete screamed and choked, clawing at his neck with blunt nails and stumbled back with a sudden push. Suddenly, he was moving, going down, down—

A blinding lightning bolt of pain seared across his vision.

Pete cried out, writhing on the ground, kicking at Burton’s legs, anything to make him let go. His head throbbed with sharp, stabbing pain.

“Oh, does that hurt, worm?”

Pete’s lips parted, but little more than a squeak escaped. Yes! Yes! So much—let go—!

“Stop struggling and I’ll let go,” Burton said.

It took every ounce of strength in Pete to stop fighting the agonising, choking pressure at his neck, but when he did, Burton kept his word and let up, though still kept him pinned to cold stone with a knee at his chest. “That’s better isn’t it,” Burton said. “You’re starting to remember your place, Spencer.”

“Woah… he’s just… laying there. What the fuck Burton,” breathed one of the boys who now stood behind him. “How do you get him to do that?”

Burton merely smiled down at Pete, who gulped, ducking his chin.

The other said, “I bet he’d let you do anything,” and made a crude, terrifying gesture.

Pete tensed and his eyes grew wide, but he didn’t dare twitch with Burton atop him to feel the slightest hint of resistance. Burton didn’t move either. Their eyes met only briefly, though it felt far longer than the fleeting second it was. Pete expected to find cruel hunger in those earthy depths. Instead, there was an odd, unreadable expression that cast his features further into shadow.

Pete swallowed.

Burton’s eyes moved to the side to catch his other friend in his peripheral, face twisting as if he’d tasted something foul.

Before he knew it, Pete was being dragged upright by the hair. Each yank drew another pathetic yelp, but he dared not resist, not even when the tension tore small wounds in his scalp. “No,” Burton said flatly. “He’ll listen to this.” With his full weight behind him, Burton violently shoved Pete’s head down to the water’s rippling surface.

A short scream forced itself from Pete’s chest. He managed to catch himself on the cold, stone edge with a strained grunt, but Burton did not let up. He pressed his head down further until he was so close, he could smell the faint, crisp scent of water, could feel the coolness radiating from it. Pete was in no position to fight, but still he resisted, gulping down air, holding his position with all his strength despite the terror that lit his nerves on fire and threatened to send him down. He shook under the strain. Burton could easily force Pete’s head into the water, but didn’t, toying with him; and he was entirely at Burton’s mercy.

“No—nonono, n-no, don’t,” Pete stammered, eyes wide.

“What’s the matter, Pete, afraid of a little water?”

Pete couldn’t think. With his mind frozen by panic, he could only utter a single, frightened plea; “Burton, d-don’t, p-please—”

“You should’ve thought about that before you humiliated me in front of everyone and jeopardised my school record,” Burton said with a growl, and plunged Pete into the icy water below.

Horror and adrenaline shot through Pete’s body, shocked by the cold. He didn’t even have the chance to scream; instead, he was forced to clamp his mouth shut and expel the water before it rushed down his throat from a reflexive breath in. Pete fought again—he had to get out—but Burton’s hold stayed firm.

In that position, bent over the fountain with the bastard pressing his head and shoulders down, it was impossible to get back up. His muscles burnt with the strain of resistance. He needed air. How long could he hold out for? He’d lose everything if he gave in now.

Without warning, Burton jerked Pete’s head, tearing loose more auburn strands.

His lungs burnt. It took everything in him not to breathe, the water beckoning him with its cool, relieving caress, but the precious few seconds he had left were running out. Darkness crept across his vision.

Burton… let me up, please…

He did not.

He’ll let me up… right…? Powers, he wouldn’t—he wouldn’t let me die, would he…?

Pete would be as good as dead if Burton held him down too long, he had to know that. He had to. Even though Pete was fairly sure Burton didn’t have it in him to kill, a spark of doubt flickered in his mind; just how valuable was his punching bag?

His consciousness was slipping.

After what felt like an eternity, wind finally hit Pete’s face, turning the chilly water clinging to his skin bitingly cold. He hung limply from Burton’s tearing hold, mouth gaping desperately, trying vainly to swallow down as much air as he could. From the corner of his eye, he glimpsed Burton watching him, with glittering eyes and parted, upturned lips. Pete couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t make a single sound, he couldn’t breathe—

Pete tried harder still to drag in breaths, but his lungs remained stubbornly sealed, instead forcing air through the set of gills that flared beneath his scarf. It was enough to delay the darkness that threatened to swallow him, but not to relieve the burn of his muscles. Pete blinked hard and gasped again, a wet, horribly choked sound. His lungs loosened the tiniest fraction for a split second, allowing a minute wisp of fresh air past before closing again. Tears streamed down his cheeks, indistinguishable from the water dripping down his face that he blindly mopped up with his sleeves. Thankfully, only the tips of his hair were soaked.

“Aw, what’s wrong, runt?” Burton sneered.

Between his body’s weak attempts at coughing and his instinctual fight for air, “C—C—” were the only sounds Pete could manage.

“Can’t speak either?” Burton jeered, encouraging the others to join his fun.

Finally, the last of his strength ebbed, and he faltered, stumbling in Burton’s grip, teeth bared in a grimace at the tear of more hair. His world tilted and faded. Dimly, Pete heard the muted laughter and shouts from around him, but they drifted further away every second. He could barely hear Burton speak; “I can fix that for ya,” he said, spinning Pete to face him. Despite how distant he sounded, the steam of his breath rolled against Pete’s face.

Pete folded when a fist sunk brutally into his stomach. All at  once, he wanted to cough, retch, and try again to gasp for air. He found himself on his hands and knees with his head resting on the cold stone. More tears streamed down his face, this time, from the violent coughing that gripped his chest between the ragged, wheezing breaths that signalled his body’s switch to air.

Pain blossomed where the punch connected.

It hurt. He’d probably find a dark welt later. His limbs were weak, his stomach churned, and he shook so badly he almost crumpled the rest of the way down, but the immense relief of the cool air he gulped down outweighed it all. Thank the Powers, he thought over and over, thank the Powers, thankyou.

The respite was short-lived.

More pain exploded across Pete’s cheek, swiftly followed by the dull crack of his head colliding with the fountain’s ornate stone wall behind him and the dull thud of his body hitting the ground. Pete groaned. Everywhere ached and throbbed.

Burton kneeled in front of him, dragging his head up once more to take in the sorry sight before him, to relish the power he held so tightly in his fist. He hissed, “Don’t ever cross me again.”

Pete made a choked sound, unable to control his trembling. He couldn’t stand bending to Burton’s every whim, allowing himself to be beaten and robbed at every turn without so much as a word of protest. Shame heated his cheeks, but what more could he do when this was the furthest fighting would take him? There was nothing he could do, not when he stood to lose so much more than his dignity and lunch credits. “Y—yes, yes Burt-t—Burton,” he wheezed, voice breaking into coughs.

“Good lad,” Burton said, carelessly releasing Pete’s head to roughly pat his cheek before standing, “Let’s go. I think he’s learnt his lesson.”

It was over. It was over.

The notion repeated in Pete’s mind while his body sagged with relief and exhaustion, still heaving, drinking down the air with ragged pants as if he’d been starved for a lifetime. He was thankful that Burton hadn’t taken it as far as he could’ve; it would’ve been so easy—just a couple more seconds was all it would’ve taken. Though the fountain’s cool wall at his side steadied him as he regained his breath, his heart skipped beats at the thought, sending a weakening queasiness through him. Footsteps crunched along the frosty grass, continuing until they clacked unmistakable along the cobblestone surrounding the fountain.

Burton yelled, “Enough! I said enough! Don’t you dare, you stupid pricks’ll drown ‘im!” but the footsteps continued, their owners cooing.

Pete tried to stand, to crack open his eyes to see his assailants and run the other way, but the sudden, intense light of the moon blinded him to all but hazy silhouettes. They grabbed him easily, mocking Burton, “Only a pussy would walk away now, Burton, you’re not chicken, are you? The bitch is so easy to push around! But if you insist, we’ll have a turn with ‘im.”

Every vein in Pete’s body iced over. Their turn.

Before he knew it, Pete was yelping in protest as the boys ripped off his scarf with bruising force and dropped it to the ground to be trampled and forgotten. “No—Help!” he cried, “Burton!”

“Aw,” said one, “Pete doesn’t want his poor scarf ruined!”

Burton yelled again, but no help came.

Once again, Pete was plunged into the frigid waters far deeper than Burton had ever forced him. Credits gleamed on the bottom, their rectangular faces glimmering with reflected moonlight broken only by the waves of Pete’s struggles. Two of them, no doubt, belonged to him and Liz. They were beautiful, like the quiet moment they shared before… this. If not for the hands buried painfully in his hair, or the danger of the position he was in, Pete could easily have felt at peace among the silvery wishes.

It took even less time for his lungs to scream for air, for him to start struggling ever more desperately; he couldn’t withstand this again, but he could only scrabble uselessly against their hold. They yanked his head back up, holding him up for a second before thrusting him back down.

He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t take that precious chance, that invaluable sliver of time to steal a breath and save himself. Their hands were so close—how could they miss the glaring difference between him and them? Someone cussed when Pete struggled again, clumsily kicking his leg out behind him. As punishment, they shook him. Pete’s lungs burned. He needed to breathe; it took all his strength to hold the little air he had left. His gills ached, begging to take over and keep him alive, but he couldn’t let that happen; he couldn’t give in, he couldn’t. If he failed, he’d die. Pete placed his hand on the bottom and pushed hard.

Another violent jolt shook Pete’s world, sending the last of his breath bubbling to the surface, torn from his grasp. With empty lungs and exhaustion weighing heavily on his limbs, his assailant’s weight pressed his chest further into the hard rim of the fountain, though the pain seemed far away. His eyes drooped. Darkness crept from the corners of his vision. Pete’s struggles died down further, but none of Burton’s gang seemed to notice until Pete’s hand slipped with another jerk, sinking him.

Pete had no choice but to surrender.

Cold, relieving, terrifying water rushed down his jaw to his gills, and he opened his mouth to greet it. Greedily, he gulped it down, gills flaring with each deep, shaky gasp, and as he did, the sensation of impending change flooded every corner of his body.

I’m goin’ ta die.

Slowly, Pete’s features began to change. The tips of his ears grew pointed, poking above the water to meet icy air, and the webbing between his fingers grew further and further. Under his sleeves, fins began to protrude from his skin and press against the fabric of his shirt, and scales slowly emerged to cover the skin of his hands and forearms, but still, the cruel hands of the humans held him down. How long would it take for them to notice the strength drain from him? His legs buckled from under him, too weak to take his weight. Unease permeated the atmosphere above him, punctuated by the loosening and changing grip.

It took multiple of Burton’s gang to haul Pete from the water by the scruff of his coat. They expected him to move, to keep struggling, but Pete hung limp in their grasp, too exhausted to do more than curb the loll of his head and weakly gasp for air.

“What the fuck? Is he dead?!” one exclaimed. “He wasn’t under long enough!”

“Oh my Powers,” said another, “look.”

Pete shuddered when fingers brushed his gills. Tears streamed down his cheeks, indistinguishable from the water that ran down from his hair. At the base of his spine, a thick tail pushed itself out over the waistband of his jeans, and his legs were more than halfway fins. There was no way out.

“Shit,” Burton breathed.

When Pete opened his mouth to beg for mercy, all that came out was a bout of hoarse coughs and horribly choked gasps for air. He brought a scaled, webbed hand to the wrist of whoever was closer, but his grip was too weak to pull them off. Instead, they yelped, and Pete felt himself drop. It took a moment for his mind to register the sudden, splitting pain at his forehead, and the warmth dripping from his hairline to his brow from where he slammed against stone. Everything spun. His whole head ached, his ears rang, and he could barely make his eyes focus on the figure that lingered while the others fled, leaving him to finish shifting on the ground. Pete could barely see his silhouette, but the voice, unusually perturbed, belonged to Burton, who swore again at the way Pete’s long, pointed ears drooped, and a weak, gurgling whine caught in his throat after another bout of wheezing coughs. He too turned and fled, discarding Pete as if he were a broken toy.

Pete was so weak. Along his still-growing tail, glimmering, snow white scales surfaced, mottled by an orange hue identical to the colour of the fins that grew from the small of his back and tip of his tail… and the ones where his legs used to be.

He couldn’t move.

Small sobs built in Pete’s chest. Blindly, he turned his head, searching for his satchel. He needed the small towel he kept inside it, but like this, he couldn’t see more than a foot ahead. The cobblestone was chilly beneath his hands as he groped along it, hoping, praying to the Powers that his hand would brush against it, but it never did. He cried. His world still spun, and his head throbbed harder still; it felt warm. Pete didn’t realise he’d fallen back to the stone again, he just hurt. He couldn’t move, he couldn’t even tell which way was up. For a while, Pete laid there, trying and failing to control the overwhelmed tempo of his ragged breaths and stifle his anguished sobs until the mist that seeped through the shadows finally crawled across the open ground, obscuring all but the closest objects.

Where was Liz? She was there earlier. She’d been hurt. Pete tried again to get up, only for the slipperiness of his scales to yank his hand from under him, sending him crashing back down. He heaved another sob, curling his arms around his head, bracing himself against the sharp ache that lanced through his skull. The lone gunshot echoed in his mind in time with each throb, over and over, tormenting him—he needed to get up and find her, help her, make sure she was safe, but he was too weak, too useless to be anything but a burden. He couldn’t remember when the shot rang out, if it was before or after she was dragged away.

He was so tired. The uncertainty weighed heavily on his soul.

How long he spent splayed out on the cobbled surround, propped awkwardly against the wall of the fountain shivering, he couldn’t be sure, but it was long enough for him to wonder if there was any real reason for him to try to get up anymore when all he did was hurt people. As the haze that blanketed his mind grew thicker, his consciousness drifted, he found himself hoping above everything else that Liz was okay. She had to be okay. She always was.

…Where was she…?

“Liz…?” Pete whimpered, but there was no reply.

Pete needed something too, he had somewhere to be, but the thought, as easily as it came, slipped from his mind. He was so, so tired. Maybe if he closed his eyes, he’d remember… Maybe he’d wake up in his bed warm and safe and not hurting, and this was all a dream.

Where was he…?

A long sigh escaped his cold, battered body, eyes finally drooping shut. Several pairs of booted footsteps jogged over frozen grass.

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This Is Only Temporary - Part 2 of 3

(moodboard made by me, Top Gun Maverick screencaps by hd-screencaps, the rest is unsplash.com)

Pairing: Robert “Bob” Floyd x afab!reader x Jake “Hangman” Seresin

Rating: M – MDNI 18+

Word count: 4046

Warnings: Bob and Hangman being menaces, and so is reader (oops), little bit of fluff on top of MORE shameless flirting, beginnings of polyamory, Hangman being a flirty dick who wants what he thinks he can’t have; I’m neither US Navy nor American, so reader isn’t either – meaning there might be a little, uh, criticism here and there (also, we all know aviators are cocky af, right?), not beta-read but I did try to proofread a bit

Summary: After months of irregular phone and video calls, and constant e-mailing back and forth, you finally get to visit your boyfriend, Bob, in California. What you didn’t count on, was the fact that the guest room in his new house was temporarily occupied by one of his colleagues. The same cocky aviator, who can’t help but hit on you when you first meet – and even after he knows, you’re taken.

Read on ao3

Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3

Taglist: @formulapierre (If you wanna be added to the taglist, just lemme know)

A/N: Part 2, here we gooooo. :D A little shorter than I thought it would be, and Jake turned out a little differently than I had expected, but I decided to just go with the flow. Songs for this chapter would be Whattaman by Salt-N-Pepa and Nowhere to Run by Lola Colette.

“I swear to God, if Beth and Rip don’t get their happy ending, the producers and I will need to have a word.” You grumbled at the episode of Yellowstone playing on TV, wrapped in a warm cocoon of Bob’s arms and a thin blanket on the couch in the living room. Your legs had intertwined with his and you rose and fell with his every breath while lying directly on top of him. You’d propped your head up one of your hands to see the TV better.

Bob’s chuckle rumbled through you and lured a smile onto your own lips. “I’m sure, they’ll be fine, darlin’.” His breath fanned across your ear and the side of your head – and you knew, he wasn’t really watching the show as much as he was your reactions to it. You’d started to watch Yellowstone together last year – well, together and still apart, just connected by a (video) call on your phones while you each watched on your own devices. Bob had suggested the show since he knew, you liked cowboys. (Not least because you loved Bob’s family and the farm where he grew up in Montana.) And it was set in Montana, so that was a plus.

“I had no idea, you were into cowboys, sweetheart,” Hangman’s voice suddenly said from the door arch led into the kitchen with its open counter that looked out over the living room.

You lifted your head from your hand on Bob’s chest to glare at Hangman over the back of the grey couch. The words died on your lips though as you laid eyes on him. He was wearing dark grey sweatpants that were hugging his hips just right (and maybe sitting a little too low). He’d forgone a shirt and his perfectly styled, golden blond hair was still tousled from sleep, sticking up into different directions. You couldn’t help the rush of heat flashing through your body and to your core as you let your eyes roam over his body. God damn it, he was hot. You knew, Bob was still watching for your reaction as his arms tightened around your waist. Besides, you were an open book to your boyfriend by now. You’d known each other for too long not to. “W-well …” You cleared your throat. “Depends on the cowboy, Hangnail.”

You turned your attention back to the TV, putting your head back down on Bob’s chest. You assumed Hangman had gone into the kitchen. But you didn’t get to watch a lot of it in peace when you heard footsteps approaching the couch. You shifted in Bob’s arms, turning over onto your back to be able to look at him without breaking your poor neck.

Your breath hitched in your throat when you saw Hangman leaning slightly over the back of the couch and staring down at you. You’d expected to see his thousand-watt-smile plastered onto his face, but his expression was somber. It reminded you a little of the way Bob looked when he wanted to apologize for something. But you couldn’t wrap your head around why Hangman would look at you like that.

“Listen, Y/N… And, I guess, this goes for Bob, too. I’m sorry about yesterday.” He brought up his right hand to scratch the back of his head sheepishly. “I didn’t know you two were a thing.”

“That wouldn’t have stopped you anyway. And it didn’t,” Bob replied before you could say something. But he said what you had been thinking as well. You hadn’t pegged Hangman as the kind of man that would be stopped by the knowledge of his desired conquest’s relationship status. Neither would you have thought him to be the kind of man to apologize for flirting with you.

Hangman sighed. “You’re right. And I … I just wanna say, I’m sorry, alright?”

“Don’t be,” you piped up. Suddenly reminded of your conversation last night with Bob before you’d both drifted off to sleep. “I actually don’t mind. Neither does Bob. And I do hope, you enjoyed last night’s show.”

“Oh, he did,” Bob teased behind you. One of his hands slid down your waist, over your hip to squeeze your thigh lightly. You could hear the smile in his voice, and you couldn’t help but smirk, when you saw the way Hangman’s face fell a little and his ears and cheeks turned red.

He squeezed his eyes shut and pinched the bridge of his nose between two fingers. “I’d like to apologize for that, too,” he said with a groan.

You pushed yourself up until your face was only a couple inches away from Hangman’s. You narrowed your eyes for a moment. “Didn’t peg you to be the type to apologize, Jake. If anything, from what Robby told me, you’re more of a … How’d Salt-N-Pepa put it? A ‘Wham! Bam! Thank you, ma’am!’ type of guy.”

“Y/N…” Bob’s voice held an unspoken warning. But not for you to not push Jake, rather in the “Please watch your mouth, before you say something, we might both regret”-type of way.

You looked down at him over your shoulder and shot him a wink, before squeezing his hand on your thigh reassuringly. You weren’t going to cause friction between him and his friend. You just wanted to tease a little. You turned your attention back to Hangman. You lifted your hand from Bob’s and put Hangman’s chin between your index finger and thumb. Carefully pushing your face even closer to his until your lips almost brushed his. “And yet, you’re here this morning. After you watched Robby and I fuck.” Bob’s hand on your thigh squeezed again, but this time, there was no warning accompanying it. If anything, his hand trailed a little higher, back to your hip, innocently brushing over your clothed core. The touch sent a jolt of electricity through you. A reminder of last night and a promise of more to come. “Why? Did no lady want to take you home with her last night? Or were you curious to know what the two of us would sound and look like?”

You leaned back a bit, your lips curving upwards in a smile as you watched Jake’s chest, neck and face flushing an even deeper red underneath the golden-brown tan. His pupils dilated, transforming the emerald-green eyes of his to a darker shade. You could see the hunger in them. And the yearning. You wondered if he was lying to himself and the rest of the world. That he didn’t like to be this egotistical gigolo with a toothpick, but rather that he was playing this role others had assigned to him. Why, you weren’t sure. To protect himself? Or to prove that he was worthy of his job and others’ attention? Whatever it was, you couldn’t deny that you were curious to know what lay underneath all the bravado and charm.

He swallowed, cleared his throat and averted his eyes. Then he took a step back from the couch. “Right, we should probably get ready for dogfight football.” His voice was hoarse, low. You loved watching him this flustered. Loved it with Bob, too. But Bob had grown used to your special brand of teasing. You still got under his skin, but he fought back, too, from time to time. (Not that he really needed to. Let’s face it, one look from Bob and you could turn into a puddle at his feet.) Jake, though, provided a bit of a challenge.

Behind you, Bob sat up, intentionally pressing his chest to your back. He pressed a quick kiss behind your ear, then gently slapped your thigh. “He’s right, darlin’. We have to go.”

“Fine. But we’re not done talking about this, alright?”

--

The rest of the Dagger Squad were already assembled at the beach behind the Hard Deck, together with the bartender from yesterday (whom Bob introduced as Penny), his instructor for the last detachment and a dark-haired woman, who introduced herself as Phoenix.

“So, I should probably thank you for getting him back to me in one piece,” you said with a slight lovesick smile in Bob’s direction, who was currently talking to Fanboy.

Phoenix lightly clapped you on the back with her hand. “Nah, I wouldn’t have made it back without him either. We protect each other up there.”

“Suppose you have to, otherwise …” Your voice trailed off as you watched Jake – now back to his usual cocksure self and with the charm turned back up to a hundred – take off his shirt. He shot a wink in your direction before putting his sunglasses back on. You heard Phoenix say something, but the words didn’t quite register.

Bob walking over and wrapping you up in his arms saved you from an undignified response, though. “You two good?”

You nodded, as did Phoenix. You tried to ignore her change in behavior after Jake had winked at you, but you saw the light crease forming between her brows. Before she could say something though, Maverick called all the aviators onto the field – that wasn’t much more than an unoccupied part of the beach.

Bob was about to join them, but he turned back to you. “Do you want to join in?” His arm around your waist pulled you further against his body. You tried not to let the feeling of his body – although still fully clothed in a tattered yellow T-shirt and swim trunks – distract you too much.

You glanced at the group of the other aviators, who were now calling out for Bob to join them. Then you shook your head, directing your attention back to Bob. “You go ahead and have fun. I’ll stake out the beach and maybe go for a swim.”

“Alright. Love you,” he whispered and quickly kissed you. Nothing too salacious that would warrant the hollering and jeering coming from his friends, but it left you leaning up to try and chase his lips when he pulled away. He smirked down at you, licked his lips as he let go of you and walked over to his friends. Not before turning his head and winking at you the same way Jake had.

You blew him a kiss in response and rolled your eyes when he pretended to catch it. Your brain returned to the thought that you couldn’t quite believe he was really in front of you. Not just a figment of your imagination. God, how you’d missed him. And you were sure, none of his friends would have guessed that your presence alone would bring out a side of Bob that was more smug, secure in the knowledge that you loved him and were with him again.

“You’re not joining us, Y/N?” Jake called out, twirling the football in his hands. Some of the aviators – you thought, you heard Rooster and Payback – accompanied his question with several shouts of “Yeah, come on.”

You shook your head. “I don’t know a thing about American football. Apart from the fact that, if it lived up to its name, you wouldn’t be running around with the ball wedged under your arm. Should’ve named it American handball.” Your reply got a couple of “ooohs” and “She got you there, man”s from the others.

“Oh well, you enjoy the show then, sweetheart.” Jake grinned and you snorted at the callback to your earlier conversation in Bob’s living room. You weren’t quite sure if the heat that blossomed in your veins was the result of seeing Jake shirtless again – and clearly peacocking for your benefit – or if it was the heat of the California sun beating down at you.

You decided to join Penny in the shade of a parasol and watched the first two matches intently. You didn’t understand any of the rules, but Penny tried to explain them to you as best as she could. Not that it really mattered. You were barely paying to attention, too focused on watching Bob and Jake – on opposite teams. You bit your lip when Bob decided to take off his shirt after all, shocking his friends in return.

“You bring out a different side of him,” Penny suddenly said next to you, watching just as you were.

You turned your head, an eyebrow raised in question. “What?”

“Bob.” She nodded towards your boyfriend, who was just now running from Jake with the ball under his arm. Your eyes stayed trained on him, even as Jake caught him and tackled him to the ground. “I’ve never seen him this confident. Usually, he just hangs back, like he’s saving his strength or something. But with you, he even takes his shirt off.” She chuckled.

You blushed at the implications. “I don’t know. He’s almost smug when it’s just the two of us. But his shyness and consideration are part of his charm.” You smiled at her, then got up from your seat on the beach towel. “I think, I’m gonna go for a swim.”

You shimmied out of your jeans shorts and Bob’s shirt that you had taken hostage the last time he’d visited you in the UK, purposefully trying to ignore the whistling from the aviators. Until you recognized one of them to be Bob’s and your head snapped up and over to look in his direction. His hand lingered in front of his chin, and you blushed at the wide grin spreading on his face when your eyes locked – and at the reminder that you sported some distinctly shaped bruises on your upper thighs.

“That’s exactly what I mean,” said Penny with a smile of her own. You shook your head and chuckled, then went to where the waves crashed onto the beach.

While you dove into the water, you didn’t notice the way Phoenix took Bob aside for a moment. Nor would you have heard their conversation.

--

“What’s going on between Bagman and your girl?” she asked without any preamble. Bob froze, his eyes still locked on your head bobbing in the water as you swam not too far away from shore.

“I have no clue what you’re talkin’ about.”

Phoenix groaned, forcing Bob to look at her with a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t lie to me, man. You must be blind not to see the way they’re flirting with each other. Especially Bagman. He’s got it down bad for your girlfriend. And you’re fine with that?”

Bob shrugged. Of course, the ease with which you retorted Jake’s flirtations stung a little. But it wasn’t like you reacted any more than if it were Bob doing the flirting. If anything, he could see clearly through your own mask of bravado around Jake, trying to hide the insecurities he knew so much about by now. And he’d be lying if he didn’t like the idea of you and Jake maybe acting on your mutual attraction. You and Bob had talked about it late last night, entangled in each other’s arms and on the brink of sleep. In fact, Bob had been the one to bring it up. The idea of seeing if Jake would work as a third person in your relationship. The flirting and teasing went on easy enough between you. Bob just wasn’t sure, if Jake would be willing to open up as much as he would need to, if he even wanted to join the two of you in this relationship.

“Hello? Earth to Bob. You there?”

He turned his attention back to Phoenix. “Yeah, yeah, ‘m here. Actually, I don’t mind. It’s just harmless fun. Y/N would never cheat on me, I trust her on that front. Besides, it would depend on your definition of cheating anyway.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

Bob didn’t reply immediately, instead heeding Maverick’s call to return to the game. He fell into a jog back to the group but turned around to throw back at Phoenix: “Monogamy isn’t the only way to live in a relationship, ‘nix.”

--

The sun was way past its zenith when Dagger Squad called it quits on the football front. While the majority of the group agreed to just stay at the Hard Deck, you admitted to Bob that you were positively starving right now and if you could find a place to eat.

“Burger’s okay?” Bob asked, gently pulling your body closer, until yours was flush against his. You nodded, unable to hide the way your eyes flickered to his lips for a second. Distracted by the way he was licking them, unintentionally reminding you of the way his tongue felt between your legs. You cleared your throat and took a step backwards. Otherwise, you couldn’t guarantee, you wouldn’t have dragged him behind the dumpsters right now.

“I’ll just tell Phoenix, we won’t be joining them, okay?” Bob leaned down, kissing you quickly, before waiting for your response.

“Yep. Would you … mind if we asked Jake to come with us? Given what we talked about last night and this morning, I just … kinda wanna try to get a minute to see if this would actually work. I mean, we haven’t even suggested it to him yet, so, I just thought –” Bob silenced your rambling by pressing his index finger against your lips, then he moved his hand to brush his knuckles against your cheek.

He was smiling his lopsided smile when he replied: “You know, I don’t mind. Do you want to ask him or should I?”

“I’ll go. You tell Phoenix.” You leaned up on tiptoes to press a quick kiss of your own against his lips, your hands resting on his chest that was once again covered up by his Navy T-shirt.

“’kay. Meet at the car?” he asked, and you nodded, before trotting off towards where Jake stood with Javy.

“Well, would you look at that. The princess graces us with her presence.” Jake grinned at you and you rolled your eyes at the new nickname. Really? Princess? You could deal with sweetheart, but princess was a step too far. Even if he’d said it with a light sarcastic undertone. “What can we do for you?”

Since he didn’t look like he would further comment on the sudden appearance of princess in his vocabulary, you didn’t mention it and instead chose to get right to it. “Robby and I were just wondering if you wanted to come with us, we’re gonna get burgers for dinner. And seeing as you’re still staying at Bob’s place and we came here with one car, it just might be easier if you –”

“Sure.”

You hadn’t even finished before Jake had agreed. In fact, he’d been so quick to say yes, you were stunned into silence for a few moments. You blinked at him. “Okay, then. We’re meeting Bob at the car.”

“Lead the way, darlin’.” Jake tilted his head a little downwards. Not that he wasn’t always looking down at you – he was as tall as Bob, after all. Bob just … didn’t always feel as tall. He made himself small sometimes, which you understood. Sometimes it was just easier to try and be invisible instead of standing out like Jake apparently always did.

You quickly said goodbye to Javy and then walked around the bar towards the car, where Bob was already waiting for you, leaning against the hood, his hands in the pockets of his swim trunks. He pushed himself off the car when he saw you approach.

“So, where do you wanna go? Leroy’s?” Jake suggested when you’d reached Bob.

“Sounds good.” Bob answered for both of you. After all, this was your first time in California and in Fightertown. You had no idea what was good here – just knew that you were really hungry, and you’d probably die in the next five minutes if they didn’t get a move on.

--

You’d spent the drive from the Hard Deck to Leroy’s – full name actually being “Leroy’s Fantastical Burger Shack” – talking about the football game. Or rather, Bob and Jake were talking about it. You just listened and tried to wrap your head around the rules. While you were studying the menu and ultimately decided on a veggie burger, you noticed the look Bob shot you over the menus. He seemed to silently ask you if everything was okay, since you hadn’t said much over the last couple of minutes.

Even Jake seemed to notice. He put his menu down and looked at you from across the table, a twinkle in those green eyes. “So, how’d you enjoy your first Californian beach day?”

You smiled, warmth spreading throughout your chest at the two of them caring enough for you to pull you into the conversation. Even though Bob recognized the signs that you were exhausted and that’s why you’d fallen silent, not because you didn’t want to participate or felt left out. “It was … good. Been a while since I got to swim in the ocean. I just think, I might have gotten too much sunlight. I’m exhausted.”

“And here I thought, that might have something to do with what you two got up to last night,” Jake replied, the corners of his mouth twitching. You couldn’t help the smile growing into a grin on your face. So, this is where he wanted to steer the conversation? Fine. Two could play that game. Or more than two people, for that matter.

“That reminds me, we never finished our talk from this morning.” Before you could continue, the waitress came to take your orders. And you couldn’t fault her for batting her eyelashes at Jake. To your surprise, he let her down gently. You’d expected Jake to take her up on her flirting, maybe disappear into the bathroom for a bit before returning to you. After all, Bob had said, he was a nice guy if you got to him better – but that Jake was also still a bit of a womanizer. Scratch that, he was a big ass womanizer. But Jake didn’t leave. Instead, his eyes kept flitting between you and Bob. That small gesture alone sent heat blossoming through your chest down into your stomach. Maybe Bob had been right in suggesting Jake as a third person in your relationship.

“Right, where were we?” Bob tried to steer the conversation back to the topic at hand before you’d been interrupted by the waitress.

“The talk we had this morning,” you replied. You blinked, looked out through the window onto the relatively busy street outside. Gathering your strength before you said what you wanted to next: “Robby and I have a suggestion to make, Jake. This is only temporary, but it’s a suggestion nevertheless.”

“Whatever you say, sweetheart. I’m curious what comes next.” Jake leaned forward, bracing his chin in his hands, with his elbows on the table. You looked at Bob, who nodded encouragingly and took your hand over the table, lightly squeezing it.

“It could be more though, if you want,” Bob helped you along.

You saw Jake’s mega-watt smile flicker; he furrowed his brows.

“I don’t know how familiar you are with the concept of polyamory. But that doesn’t really matter right now anyway. Uh …”

“Are you two asking me to join you for a threesome?” Jake now raised one of his eyebrows. While you could see the glimmer of desire – and was that hope, too? – in his eyes, his face remained serious. He leaned back a bit, as if he was suddenly wary of you. Maybe even scared that this was all an elaborate prank to get him back for watching you last night.

“And … more, if we all want and it goes well,” Bob replied. You nodded in agreement.

“We’re not joking, Jake. You were right, I do like what I see. And I actually enjoy flirting with you. I just want you to know, this would require communication. Honest communication. I don’t expect you to rattle down your whole life’s story in front of us. Just … Be honest,” you explained. When you were done, you saw Jake take a deep breath. And that look of yearning from this morning was back on his face. “Okay,” he said after a couple of seconds passed. “What would you like to know?”

[nemo-in-wonderland]

TA-DAAAAAH!

As I said, WIP #5 was the one with the most votes in the poll, and I worked a bit on it tonight and will probably continue tomorrow! :D

But omg I was so happy to work on it, ngl, because it features all the Baguette Bois plus my De Beaumonts.

Look at them.

Look at my precious babies. How I love and adore them.

My Emotionally Constipated Antoine; my wise and sweet Mathias; my darling and savvy Colette. I love these siblings so much, they give me life. LIFE. And I was so happy to be able to integrate some of the brainstormings I did a few weeks ago into their designs (mainly the coloring, lolol).

This wip looks promising, we will see what's gonna happen.

Now time for me to go to sleep, it's late over here!

Until tomorrow! :D

-Nemo

[britishchick09]

poto rewritten short stories 6/6: meg the fooler

in honor of read an e-book week, i'll be sharing sneak peeks of the rewrite's first short story collection (which will be an e-book exclusive out this spring)! last but not least is meg and cecile being epic pranksters! ;D

...

The door creaked open…

“BOO!” Meg yelled, running out from the vanity.

“AHHH!” a dancer screamed as she put a hand on her heart. “You got me, Meg!”

Meg laughed. The foolee was none other than Cécile Jammes, her pranking partner. They had pulled many tricks throughout the years on the other dancers, the singers, the stagehands, the managers… no one was safe from their pranks on April Fools’ Day!

…No one except The Opera Ghost, that is.

“I have a little something for my partner in crime!” Meg said.

“Oh!” Cécile’s brown eyes sparkled as Meg handed her a little chocolate fish and popped it in her mouth. “Mmm, thank you. Are you ready to start?”

“I’ve been ready since last night!”

Cécile smirked and tossed one of her caramel brown ringlets over her shoulder. “I know exactly what we can do first.”

...

 A few minutes later, chatter sounded through the ballerina dorm as the corps de ballet filed in. Some did stretches, a few lounged on the sofa, others sat at their vanities and some stood around to talk. Meg and Cécile waited near the back, hiding soft giggles behind their hands.

“Here she comes!” Cécile whispered.

Meg gave an excited squeak as Sorelli DuPont walked in. She rubbed a horseshoe on the wall for good luck.

“What in the world?” Sorelli looked at her horseshoe, which was covered with a rubber bathing cap! “Oh, I should’ve known…”

“April Fools’!” Meg and Cécile exclaimed.

Sorelli rolled her eyes. The jokesters looked over at Fleur, who sniffed a tulip… that sprayed her with water! Elena was brushing her hair at her vanity. She gasped as she realized that cold cream was on it! The lotion belonged to Colette... who smeared ketchup all over her face! Nellis opened her vanity drawer to find nothing inside except a paper fish and April’s paper nameplate had ‘Fools!’ written on it. The remaining seven ballerinas were pranked as well, leaving Meg and Cécile in stitches.

“I knew this would happen.” April said with a sigh.

“You two are almost as bad as The Opera Ghost!” Colette exclaimed.

“And just as delicious!” Meg added as she swiped some ketchup from her face.

“No one could ever be as great as that ghost. It’s-” Sorelli paused at Meg’s look. “He’s the greatest trickster in the opera house.”

“We may be great, but he’s the true master.” Cécile agreed.

Meg looked down at the floor as an idea sprung into her mind. She looked up, her eyes widening with a gasp as she exclaimed, “I got it! We can join forces with Mr. E!"

“Seriously? You want us to partner with The Opera Ghost?" Cécile asked with an uneasy frown.

"Yeah! The Ghost is a bit scary, but Mr. E is perfectly fine. He has access to every corner of the opera house, so..."

Sorelli groaned. "Great. You'll be unstoppable.”

"Oui... unstoppable!" Cécile exclaimed with a grin. "Let's do it!"

Meg cheered. "This will be the best April Fools’ Day yet! I'll go get him!"

She ran down the dressing room hallway, stopping at the very end. She put her ear to the door and listened.

"Meg woke me up by putting my hand in cold water," Christine was saying. "It startled me so much! One of her many tricks for today!"

"What's today?" Erik asked.

Meg wanted to shout, 'April Fools’ Day!' but she let Christine say it instead.

"Ah, yes. One of the best times of the year for The Opera Ghost," Erik chuckled. "Ayesha likes it, too. She stretched out on my legs and I sat up to pet her... and then she started walking towards me. She was going to lay right on my pillow! I caught on and laid back down before she could, but she found a nice spot next to me."

Christine giggled. "Oh, how funny! She nearly tricked you!"

"Sounds like she'd be the perfect kitty prankster!" Meg exclaimed as she ran into Christine's dressing room.

Erik looked up. He was doing a mirror chat with Christine, who looked over her shoulder at Meg.

“Then we’d have three tricksters scurrying around!” she realized with a chuckle.

“More like four.” Erik added with a wink.

“That’s exactly why I’m here,” Meg said. “Meet Cécile and me on stage after practice, Mr. E!”

Erik frowned. “Can’t I just meet you?”

“Nope. I don’t prank alone,” Meg smiled as she added, “Cécile won’t be scared of you, I promise.”

She went up to the mirror and held out her pinkie, getting a confused look from Erik.

“That’s a pinkie promise.” Christine explained.

“It is!” Meg agreed. “It’s one you can’t break.”

Erik looked at Meg’s pinkie before slowly lifting his own.

“There you go! It’s a date! But not the ones you and Christine go on!” Meg said, giggling at Erik and Christine’s rosy blushes.

...

 Meg sighed as she stood on her tip toes and tried to peek into Box Five. It was eleven-forty on the dot. Ballet practice had ended not too long ago and now she and Cécile were waiting on stage.

“He should be here by now!” Meg said impatiently.

“Maybe he doesn’t want to partner with us,” Cécile hoped as she fiddled with her coral ring. “Let’s think of some more pra-”

Just then, the chandelier lights went off! Cécile’s scream echoed through the theater. Meg jumped a little, but she wasn’t afraid.

“The electricity’s gone out!” Cécile exclaimed in a panic. “Let’s fetch the managers!”

“Or you could fetch The Opera Ghost.” a voice said.

The lights returned and a shadow stepped out from Box Three.

“Mr. E!” Meg exclaimed happily. “I thought you’d be in Box Five!”

“Got you, Little Miss,” Erik said with a smile. “Consider that an April Fools’ gift from me.”

“The greatest gift would be partnering with us!”

“As long as you’re not creepy.” Cécile added.

“Oh, that’s only The O- Opera Ghost. Y- You won’t need to worry about creepiness with me,” Erik reassured her. “Y- You’ll just need to w- wo- worry about all the sneaky tricks we’ll pull.”

Cécile’s fearful face was replaced with a sly one.

“So you’re in?” Meg asked.

“Yes, Little Miss,” Erik smirked. “I’m definitely in.”

[homosexual-fast-dancer]

One Rainy Night, Colette x D.oc Sc.ratch

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

My half of a trade for @wisp-herr, thank you for trading with me Wisp! Heck thank you for making this into a trade! I would've been happy writing this for you either way :D

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

It was a quiet day… night? Well it was quiet in the Felt Manor, far too quiet for Doc Scratch, he would usually enjoy his peace and solitude but today for whatever reason was an exception. "Well, this is boring, I do hope Miss Colette will visit me soon, our interactions are always so exciting." Doc Scratch nodded, closing his paper to think more about his love. "With most people I can easily guess their every thought, move, and plan two steps ahead… Yet with her, I can never quite tell for certain what she will do next, it truly makes our interactions one of a kind…" Doc smiled internally, placing his head on his hand as he leaned over in his armchair "Not to mention how breathtakingly divine she looks, a real work of art captured in human form." His face turned slightly pink as he thought more about her, her brash attitude and kindness to others (as opposed to him) were truly captivating.As he began to open up his paper again he heard a knock on the door, 'Hm, the familiar shave and a haircut, well this should at least be entertaining…' he thought standing up to get the door.

The knock repeated itself making him sigh somewhat annoyed, turning the knob "Yes, yes, Sir, I know you're he–" Yet much to surprise instead of the big living pool table it was the girl he had just been thinking about, "Ah, Miss Colette I wasn't expecting you, you have quite a similar to English…" Scratch then moved aside to let her in, she was soaked as it had been raining outside the Felt Manor. She shivered and sat on his chair, he somewhat grumbled before grabbing her a blanket, multicoloured with many different numbers on it. "Oh, uh, thanks for the blanket Doc." She smiled somewhat, snuggling further into as he went off to make some tea. "Of course my dear, now what are you doing here?" He asked, sitting on the nearby lounge chair, turning to …face(?) her while knitting his hands together.

"Can't I just visit a friend without a reason, why were you busy today?" Colette's tone was brash but it did seem like she was still somewhat concerned that she may have indeed interrupted him while he was busy. "Not at all, it was rather boring before you showed up. I'm glad to have you here now however." Doc chuckled, flustering the girl and making her tsk before turning away slightly embarrassed. "Yeah well, you don't need to be too excited… Still I'm glad to be here." Her smile, now more pronounced as she took another sip of her tea and made her way to sit next to him. As she sat down she picked up the paper to look at it with the good doctor, on the front page was a story about the felt fighting the midnight gang. But truth be told, Scratch couldn't care less about what was in the paper, as long as he had Colette with him that was enough, and nothing else could be more engaging.

[kitkatt0430]

Sheena - I'm here to kill you.

Colette - Oh, hi. :D Want to be friends?

Sheena - I... did you hear me? I'm here to kill you.

Colette - It'd be way more fun if we were friends though. :(

later

Colette - I'm gonna have to ask her what that was all about once we're friends.

Lloyd - Riiight.

[starrysupercell]

Return to Starry's Intro Deluxe!

I go by many names online but Starry is my main one. I try and keep as active as I can but time slips by on occasion.

Go check out what I've written for Brawl Stars so far on my Ao3 page! There's other things there too.

I run the @townsfolk-triad and @goldarm-queen ask blogs. Go send questions! :D

I also have my brawl stars ocs blog (@brawlers-comet) and my blog for more adult stuff (@soup-stars). I keep those out of the main blog for different reasons. This is the only instance I'll advertise these on the main tags. ;)

Follow @sp-brawlpinions for (not) daily polls! <3

I love character interactions and am a multishipper, so feel free to ask for headcanons about nearly anyone! (I'm sorry, Carl fans, you'll have to be fed elsewhere. I cannot provide to you.) If I like one prompt enough, maybe I'll write something~

My absolute favorite ships are Barley/Ash and any combination of Belle/Nani/Lola. So if anyone wants to make something nice for me, much appreciated in advance. 💙💫

Oh, yeah! Here's the Masterpost to the Tumblr's Favorite Brawler Poll I hosted. Congrats again, Stu! 💥 I did not expect you to win. ♡

Lastly, this is a hate-free zone. Brawl Stars has bare minimum canon stuff, so if you're being forcible, that's just lame.

Lola and Belle's First Date

Colt's A Mama's Boy (An edit based off of a fanfic I'm idly working on.)

My Brawlers' Eyecolors Headcanons!

My comprehensive argument about Fang, Buster and Maisie

Colette twitter Pic Masterpost!

Fang twitter Pic Masterpost!

[e-adlirez]

Treasure Seekers 3 Review/Ramble

Welcome to the third and last entry of the Treasure Seekers trilogy :D

"Wait what?" I probably hear you ask. "What about the other four treasures they said the girls would find?"

And to that I say

yeah it do be a bit sad that they never made a book 4

But make no mistake, Legend of the Maze is a doozy of a third book, and I'd say it's almost on-par with book 1 if not surpassing it. Unfortunately there is no free digital copy of the book, so uh if you're down to spend a bit on a digital copy on the E-book site of your choosing or on a physical copy in a bookstore, I salute you for your determination.

As for the rest of you, you're just gonna have to trust me bro :] /j

Ready? Let's go :D (also this is being written by a sleep-deprived E running on hyperfixation juice so if you find any grammar issues feel free to let me know so I can fix them)

The story begins with the Thea Sisters touring the Capelletti House in Verona with their Italian friend/tour guide Sebastiano. Yes, this Verona.

So yeah Colette is fantasizing about Romeo and Juliet as a romantic ship, Vi is trying to kill her Santa by telling her that Romeo and Juliet are fictional characters (which Colette responds to with "oh hush I can dream"), and oop-- loose floorboard-- what's this package under the flo-- LE GAAASSSPPPP LANE LOOORRREEEEE

The girls fangirl about the ABL jumpscare a lil' too loudly and Sebastiano is a lil' confusion, soooooooo the squad goes out for some snacks outside the Capelletti house to explain stuff to Sebastiano

buckle up Sebastiano you're about to get two 300-page books worth of Lane Lore™

While listening to the story, it turns out that Sebastiano may or may not have heard a peep about a legend about a treasure called the Treasure of Eternal Love (adapted Scholastic name is "Treasure of True Love" which ew, snatches the original Italian name instead), which was said to have been owned by Juliet and tho a lotta people are trying to find it, they dunno where it is now. Sounds very Seven Treasures of the World to me :]

How does Sebastiano know a peep about this very obscure legend? Turns out he learned about it from a letter written by his great-grandpappy Jacopo, who was an archaeologist like Aurora :3

So Sebastiano invites the girls to dinner at his place so the girls can look for the letter. Vi don't get too comfy with the house library I know it looks very cool and antique but we got a goal and that is sifting through a lil' box of Jacopo's kept things and find some-- HOLY CRAP LANE LORE™

-

"Hi Jacopo, tysm for helping me with my research on the Treasure of Eternal Love, you're a real g my guy, regards from me and my sister Linda, also tysm for the tour of Verona."

-- ABL

-

The girls tell Sebastiano their findings over a dinner of bigoli al pomodoro, give some extra Lane Lore™ about Jan von Klawitz and Aurora's six sisters, and mention the possibility that Linda knows where the treasure is, which means that Luke is probably after it too, but also Linda might know where the treasure is, which means a lead >:3

First stop: Verona's city hall, where Sebastiano's friend Guido works and is able to help them with finding information about a Linda Lane who may or may not have lived in Verona approximately a century ago. They find a document that says yes, Linda did in fact live in Verona once, and also her address is listed there because legalities, y'know how it is.

So the girls head on over to the address, knock at the door, and are greeted by an old lady, and :0 turns out this old lady (her name is Mia) knew Linda personally.

-

Linda and Mia met when Linda was in her older years and Mia was a smol child. Mia would read for Linda since her eyesight deteriorated in her old age, and they hung out a lot together. When Linda left to return to England, she left the house to Mia, as well as a good chunk of the stuff she had in said house as mementos for Mia to remember her by.

-

Hey guys you wanna see a trick, it's called "the Lane Lore™ %", aka how fast can we get this old lady up to speed with the ABL drama-- /j

Unfortunately Mia doesn't really know anything about the treasures, but she does have this wack painting of a scenery in Japan that just won't align correctly no matter how much finagling you do to it-- oh there was an envelope inside-- LANE LORE™?

So the letter inside the envelope is a letter from Aurora to Linda basically Aurora telling Linda she found the Treasure of Eternal Love, but because Jan is on her tail, she left the treasure in the "House of the Sun" for now. Now, if you tried looking up "house of the sun", you'd get a hotel in Florida, a manga, a former Incan temple that's now a monastery-- you get the picture, it do be a weird detail and probably not it bro, besides Aurora's too much of a gremlin to be that obvious with her riddles.

At least if you're not a Shakespeare nerd like Colette is (the kind that never read past Romeo and Juliet's wedding), because if you were, you'd know that at one point Romeo equates Juliet to the sun rising in the east. Romeo is simping for Juliet, Juliet is the sun, ergo, the Capelletti house.

But uh, thing is we already went to the house and we already know that Aurora came back for the treasure and took it somewhere else. Sooooo might as well see what the last letter says--

"Hi so I'm on the run rn I can't chat for long because Jan is pissed and he wants to find me and force me to reveal the treasure, and I don't think I wanna know how not-kid-friendly this is gonna get if he does find me. Thanks for introducing me to your friend tho :D she's cool and thanks to her help, the treasure is safe and sound in the shade of the cherry trees! I'll come back for it one day, hopefully that day comes soon. Anyway, hugs and kisses, Linda." - ABL

Spoiler alert, despite having a beeg cherry tree on the painting, there was in fact nothing else hiding behind the painting.

LUKE TRANSITION

So Luke is doing Luke things, not touching grass as per usual. Cassidy comes by to give him a lil' souvenir from great-grandpappy Jan von Klawitz's house in London: Jan's old notes. Luke immediately dismisses Cassidy without even so much as a thank you -- Cassidy girlypop you're not scoring that man no matter what you do, he's the Adrien to your Marinette girlie we're only at book 3, you might as well accept your fate -- and Luke takes a lil' peek into Jan's notebook (he also calls his great-grandpappy "Jan", like just "Jan". I dunno maybe I'm just finding it weird because I'm Asian . .) for the goods.

And goods Luke does find, which he proceeds to consume like a goblin. Bit of Klawitz lore here:

-

"Grrr grrr stupid Aurora and her smartass tricks grrrrr who does she think she is grrrrr she beat me to the Treasure of Eternal Love in Verona grrrrrrrrrrrr well at least now I know how she works, I managed to find this friend of hers Jacopo, who definitely knows about the treasure even though he keeps playing stupid like I don't know that he knows Aurora. Something something cherry trees, I ransacked every single cherry tree in Verona and there was literally nothing, wth, Aurora why are you like this" - Jan von Klawitz

-

Luke responds to this seedy lore from his great-grandpappy with "hehehHEHEHAHAHAHAHAHAHH JAN YOU IDIOT, YOU COULDN'T SEE WHAT WAS RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU BECAUSE YOU UNDERESTIMATED THE LITTLE PILOT GIRL, I ALREADY KNOW WHERE TO LOOK"

Cut back to the girls, and they know where to look next, too

It's Japan, i-it's Japan, y'know Japan's relationship with their sakura/cherry blossoms

Turns out Linda has a friend named Kyoko Bianchi, a Japanese-Italian botanist who was raised in Japan. Since Aurora mentions in her letter that Linda's friend came in clutch, she was obviously referring to Kyoko and now the treasure is in Japan.

So Japan transition :D (based on my personal experience in Japan and also a bit of canon continuity consistency, I headcanon that despite being written in English, this segment of the story mostly had the girls speaking in Japanese, a language they would know how to speak a bit of at least (and apparently Vi is conversational in Japanese so c'mooonnnn).)

The girls land at Narita Airport and take a train to central Tokyo (damn Kumi from Cherry Blossom Adventure you came in clutch possibly teaching the girls how to Japanese subway offscreen because they actually didn't get lost using it on their own :D). Kyoko's hometown was Tokyo, so might as well start searching for her descendants/relatives there. First stop: Shibuya.

Colette is playfully ribbed a bit for having a big-ass bag while everyone else only brought smol backpacks around with them, the luck of the girls not getting lost using the Japanese subway must be balanced out so Paulina's GPS decides now is the right time to be a dick, Shibuya Crossing, and finally they make it to the hotel where Amrita Bianchi, their first Kyoko descendant candidate, is at.

And this is the first time the girls come across the concept of cosplaying, I genuinely don't know how they managed to sidestep it for so long especially since they've been to Japan before for a student exchange, all I can really justify it with is that university has been kicking their a-- RATSUNE MIKU??

Gahd even in 2018 Italy there was no escape from her /j

Anyway so Amrita didn't know Kyoko, so their second candidate is Shinobu Bianchi, a guy living in Shinjuku. They find him-- or more accurately run into him (literally) on his way to work, try to explain things to him but this man is running late, so he invites the girls to follow him to his workplace. They find themselves in a cafe on opening time, customers start filing in before the girls can even tell Shinobu what the whole deal is, soooooo karaoke break :D

Vi c'mon it's not like there's much else to do while waiting for Shinobu-- what're you gonna do, sit there and wait? A-actually y'know what that sounds like something Vi would happily do but c'mooonnn Vi where's your sense-a humor :D

Thirty minutes of singing later, they finally get five minutes to explain to Shinobu what they're looking for and Shinobu says "sorry I dunno Kyoko, I am half-Italian on my dad's side, but my mom has a different Japanese surname"

So the girls Peter William a bit emotionally, Pam goes to what Scholastic is telling me is a kiosk but might as well be a 7/11 based on the banger food Pam got from said kiosk, the girls take a taxi to a Capsule Hotel (judging from the illustration it looks like the Shinjuku Kuyakusho-mae Capsule Hotel), and after a bit of dinner, Peter William into their capsule rooms physically.

The next morning, Nicky goes out for a morning jog as usual (she prolly slept with her capsule open so she wouldn't get claustrophobic), and she finds a gardener tending to a Kyoko Bianchi flower :0 like no joke that's the name, it's a K. bianchi, named after a botanist who founded the Fairy Garden (Disclaimer: neither the K. bianchi nor the Fairy Garden Foundation in Japan exist, they're fictional bits for this fictional story and that's fine :3). Nicky gets the address for the Fairy Garden, runs back to the girls who are having breakfast, and they head on over to the venue.

At the Fairy Garden, the girls meet a gardener named Toshio who happily shows them around, and despite not knowing all the Lane Lore™ (yet), he knows enough to lead them to Kyoko's perfectly preserved office, where the late Bianchi has displayed some pictures from Verona, as well as her furniture and encyclopedia collection.

After a search, they find what was presumably a haiku alluding to Jomon Sugi and the writer's voice being hidden in there, and one jaunt to the record of Jomon Sugi in Kyoko's encyclopedia collection and uhp-- a hidden cassette tape inside the volume!

On one hand, victory, the girls have found a VHS tape that is implied to have a personal recording from Kyoko Bianchi herself, so they're super-close to the treasure now :D

But on the other hand, they found a VHS tape in the year of our lord 2018.

Good news, Toshio knows a buddy who's super tech-savvy, and that's including tech things. Bad news, he's in Kyoto, which is about 445 km/283 miles away from Tokyo.

So the girls quickly take a shinkansen and some bento boxes to Kyoto :D (their wallets are probably sobbing in an 86-USD ticket per person)

At Kyoto, meet Ren, are lowkey surprised that his house is a traditional Japanese house as opposed to a modern flat but hey it's a pleasant surprise, and Ren is able to play the tape for them.

In the tape, Kyoko explains the Treasure of Eternal Love, how it ended up in her hands at the ripe age of 20 through Linda and Aurora, and some Treasure of Eternal Love lore, or rather Ring of Eternal Love lore:

-

Yeah sure Romeo and Juliet were fictional characters, but reality, so it goes, isn't that much different. The Ring of Eternal Love was a courting gift from a suitor to a bachelorette of the Cappelletti household. The suitor and the girl's families had hate boners for each other for a while now, but instead of spiraling into a destructive mess of family feuding and death like in Shakespeare's play, they decided to call off the feud so the two lovers could be happy together. And now the ring, as Kyoko puts it, has been passed down from her to "one who shows love every day, in every way, towards everything that grows from the earth."

-

The girls are happy they got to see the tape and its contents, but they Peter William emotionally once more because well, they're back to square one now-- literally the only clue they have is the thing Kyoko said, and what is the thing Kyoko said? It's cryptic and weird and h a h ? Ren offers to accommodate them for the night, the girls get to sleep on futons for the first time since Secret of the Snow, and the next day they decide to have some downtime vacay-ing in Nijo Castle. A vacay that results in Vi having an epiphany about the riddle and thus who has the ring.

Meanwhile with Luke, he's planning something. Something that's got Cassidy in Japan and putting her master's degrees in Engineering, Chemistry and Computer Sciences to use by assembling a drone (I'm wondering how Cassidy has so little braincells out on the field despite having THREE MASTER'S DEGREES like holy crap--)

Cassidy tries complimenting Luke on the motherboard he sent in from Alaska and-- ew Omar why are you here I thought Luke fired you-- ooh what's that package thing-- oi don't diss on Japanese people being polite, once you see the ruder options you're gonna be pining for that shnit-- wait what how's this drone gonna find the Ring of Eternal Love--

Anyway the girls plus Toshio and Ren take the train back to Tokyo (istg if they took the shinkansen--) and back to the Fairy Garden Foundation, where they talk to the current head gardener: Mr. Murakami.

Mr. Murakami does in fact know Kyoko personally, and after a bit of persuading (it involves a bord like many good things in this world), he decides to bring them to his hometown Nara (which involves a train to Kyoto and then a train from Kyoto to Nara which on the Kodama plus the cheapest option from Kyoto to Nara is-- CHEESUS CRUST 91 USD PER PERSON AND THEY HAVE TO GO BACK TO TOKYO AFTER THIS???)

ANYWAY Mr. Murakami takes them to Nara Park, where he hid the treasure. He brings the girls to it, he checks the hiding place and

It's empty?

Wait, the hiding place is empty?

WAIT WHAT THE HIDING PLACE IS EM--

Off in Alaska, Luke is cackling in his fancy custom-made not-gamer chair.

Mr. Murakami is distraught, most of the girls stay to comfort him while Nicky and Ren scout out the area. In their search, Nicky and Ren find a big broken drone that seems to have crash-landed in the garden, and oop-- LVK logo. It was probably used to spy on Mr. Murakami to snatch the treasure. "DAAAMMMNNNN YOOOUUUU LUUUKKEEEE" Nicky probably would've shrieked at the top of her lungs if she weren't A. in Japan (it's very quiet generally), and B. within earshot of poor Mr. Murakami, who's still recovering from the horrible shock. The girls, Toshio and Ren take the drone to Kyoto while Mr. Murakami stays in Nara with the fam to recover because man, he deserves the break :(

In Ren's house in Kyoto, Paulina and Ren get to work hacking into the drone to snatch its data, and they find that the drone's memory goes as far back as to being in Alaska for some reason. Why would an LVK drone be in Alaska? Unless-- :OOOOO SECRET BASE??

With that lead, the girls depart for Anchorage, Alaska (if I plugged it into Google correctly the price for the flight totals out at a 567-USD one-way flight holy crap girlies have mercy on your wallets-- not including the mini shopping spree for winter clothes Colette was more than happy to drag the girls on). Ren gives Paulina a little flash drive with some written code that could come in clutch in whatever shenanigans they end up in in that secret base of Luke's. Yes Violet as much as I think you're the only person in the group who seems to be concerned for your wallet, ya'll are nawt surviving Alaska with those summer clothes ya'll are wearing.

Behold, a long rest/14-hour timeskip in the form of the last two letters the girls have yet to read from Aurora to Linda. (Well the girls besides Vi, God's sleepiest soldier over here is eeping in the back before the flight's even taken off--)

-

(These are the real letters this time around lmao, if you're confused, Aurora addresses Linda in these letters via her middle name Amaryllis.)

Dear Amaryllis,

I'm very sorry that, because of my job, you are taking on a responsibility that is perhaps too great, and that puts you at risk.

It's all because of the greed of my former professor, a mouse who is incapable of recognizing that beauty should be shared. My dear sister, I have thought about it for a long time, and I have come to the conclusion that the best solution is to take the Treasure of Eternal Love from Verona, where it is not safe... and put you at risk. I am sending you a copy of one of the photos I hold the most dear, in memory of the love that binds us. I hope it will help you make the best decision...

Yours, Aurora

-

Dear Amaryllis,

You wrote me that you are making a decision about the treasure. I agree that the mouse you're planning to entrust it to is worthy of that trust, and I will wait for more news. But you must be careful, even when you write to me, to not mention names or places. We need to watch out, because my former professor is more alert than ever.

It seems that he's building an underground shelter for his riches, designed as a kind of maze to test anyone who manages to enter it...

Professor Jan is clever, and he's always loved riddles, puzzles, and mysteries. I wouldn't wish for any mouse to find themselves in his maze!

Now I must say good-bye, my dear. Sending a big hug.

Yours, Aurora

-

Once the girls land in Anchorage, Alaska, they rent an SUV, pull out Google Maps, read some of the brochures Ren printed out for them just in case, fangirl over a moose (Nicky that's not something to fangirl about have you seen what they're capable of--), and accidental secret tunnel discovery?

Well, accidental secret garbage chute discovery, anyway, since the one thing that allows the girls to not break their ankles when landing is some garbage bags. Food waste garbage bags no less :D Ew :D

Some old aircraft bits are found too which is nice but it's never elaborated on whose old aircraft bits those were so we're moving on to the girls entering Luke's secret headquarters and Nicky trying not to die from claustrophobia :D

CCTVs pose an initial problem, but Ren's flash drive comes in clutch and allows Paulina to freeze the cameras so they can go in undetected (Ren how do you know how to program that is there something you wanna share to the class--). One lengthy labyrinth later, the girls manage to get out of the "we're walking in circles" loop-dee-loop they wound up in and find this little room with a little lit fire pit and an ominous riddle involving the "elements of nature". Pam has the idea of extinguishing the fire pit, and sure enough, inside the fire pit is a key that fits perfectly into the door across the room.

And right after Pam turns the lock on the door, a trapdoor opens up beneath her and she falls into the pit below. It's padded, it's kinda cozy, but it's way too deep for the girls to reach Pam from above without a rope or attempting to risk falling in and getting trapped as well. The girls are very reluctant to leave Pam, but Pam unfortunately only metaphorically slaps some sense into the girls and tells them to go on because they've gone too far to back out now so COMMIT TO THE BIT GODDAMMIT

(you guys like the rhyme-y bits? They're kinda fun to write I do like the rhyme-y bits a bit <:])

And thus the girls minus Pam go through the door to the next room, where there's this swimming pool with a key inside it, which Nicky swims down for, assuming that the trap in the room will only activate once they get the key into the door leading to the next room. Obviously she winds up being very incorrect, as the moment she takes the key from the bottom of the pool, the water starts to drain away until all you got left is a sopping wet Nicky in an empty pool and the key to the next room, which Nicky tosses over to Paulina while asking for her shoes and her dry clothes that they packed. Colette is devastated, devastated I tell you at the idea of leaving Nicky behind, on top of having to leave Pam behind, but Nicky's got faith that the girls will pull through and come back for her; so Colette, Paulina and Violet move on to the next room.

A LOT of walking down a twisting hallway later, the trio make it to the next room (which they use Nicky's key for), and we got four pots with something or other in them, lighting too dim to discern properly what's in the pots, a button sequence puzzle with no margin for error, and a wack riddle. Oh and Paulina's tablet's finally died after possibly uh, 18-ish hours of not charging it. RIP Paulina's tablet, that's gonna be set aside in the corner for the time being.

The pots turn out to have different types of sediment in them, and the wack riddle turns out to be the clue to the correct sequence to input, so the three figure that out fairly quickly and slide down the chute leading to the next room. Except for Paulina, who had to get her tablet from that corner she set it aside in, and wasn't able to make it to the trapdoor-chute in time before it closed on her face, leaving her trapped "forever", as the wack riddle states. The one time you're told to stop holding it, man, unbelievable. I'm never letting go of my tablet again /j

Now Vi and Colette find themselves in an empty room, and they only realize when they get down that Paulina wasn't able to make it out in time. Now this entire time, Colette has been going through it. Of the girls, Colette's been taking the whole leaving-my-friends-behind-for-the-greater-good thing not well at all, and it culminates in an emotional breakdown. Violet comforts her and reassures her that they'll get the ring, they'll pick up the other girls and they'll get outa here soon, but they gotta be brave now for the other girls. (Kinda hard to capture in short and sweet words what the emotion of the scene was but oh well). After a bit of calming down, Colette and Violet look around to find themselves in a... surprisingly simple room? There's a door on the other side of the room from them, and besides that there's literally nothing but thin air.

The two go to the door and move to open it. Yeah this one's surprisingly simple. Just walk on over, pull the door open, walk o-- a gust of wind slammed the door shut . .

Yeah that's right. You ever leave a window in your room open on a windy day and leave your door also open, and the wind going into the room slams the door shut? Yeah, it's that multiplied by uhhhh how much is a vent opposite the door opening up just to blow f%#ken WIMDY-level winds just to slam that metal door shut? However that much multiplies that. The two find themselves in a situation where had all five of them been there to do this puzzle, it would've been far easier; but it is doable with only two people. The plan is one of them wedges themself between the door and the frame and prop it open, while the other crawls under the first person's leg. Transitioning to the second person propping the door open for the first person is gonna be a bit dodgy, but it is doable kinda.

Now Colette has been going through the ringer emotionally, and if you've seen this trope before, you'd know that it'd be a real damn shame if they lost their emotional pillar and had to carry the entire plan on their own, riiiiggghhttt? She's been the handling this situation the worst (emotionally), and it would bring her a belly of the beast to trump all bellies of all beasts and force her to do a The Next Right Thing (hot take: Anna's arc in Frozen 2 was really good), presumably after a lot of sobbing in the corner! It's perfect for angst, and it's perfect for empowerment to see Colette pick herself up and be strong for the girls and save the day!

Which is why Colette doesn't end up being the last one standing :D

Colette was the one who propped the door open for Violet, who crawled through to the other side. The plan was to have Vi switch with Colette so Colette can get through, but one thing they didn't take into account was the fact that the vent would slowly create stronger and stronger winds the longer the door is held open for, so Colette winds up allowing herself to be trapped in the air room so Violet can do the thing. (Oh and the plan was Colette's idea too.)

Heeyyyy Viiiiiiii~ Do you have some cash left over in your wallet? Because I think it's time for you to put your money where your mouth is :DDD

So yeah Violet continues on alone.

Also if you're wondering where Luke is this entire time, he is in fact in his base, still not touching grass and none the wiser about the whole five lil' rat girls sneaking into his base because of the whole frozen cams situation. He does technically notice something's off, but he thinks that the clock in one of the cameras is broken and he ends up complaining about it to Cassidy, haha L. It is also at this point where we learn that the girls have been in Luke's base for a little over three hours at this point :D

Meanwhile, Violet goes down the narrow metal staircase in the hallway outside of the last room and finds herself reminding herself to stay calm but also inside Luke's treasure room, where treasures of all shapes and sizes reside. From whole dinosaur skeletons to ancient Egyptian statues to paintings to suits of armor and-- holy shnit Luke has the Ark of the Covenant in there too o o yeah this guy means business holy crap--

The Ring of Eternal Love is in there too, the lone treasure in the set of seven empty pedestals that Luke was prolly intending for the Seven Treasures of the World. So Vi, clearly not having watched Indiana Jones Raiders of the Lost Ark, attempts to lift the glass case protecting the ring, which sets off the alarms in the treasure rooms, and whoa holy crap there's a robot voice speaking through the alarms? WAIT WHAT DO YOU MEAN FIFTEEN MINUTES TO SELF-DESTRUCTION

Luke, having the shock of his life, comes down to the treasure room to see what's up, and of course it's one of the five brats who's been getting in the way of his endeavors. Hardly a surprise, really, those five have been a pain in the ass from minute one of Luke looking into the Seven Treasures-- from stopping him getting the Alabaster Garden (he didn't even get to see what it was smh), to duping him with the most audacious of gottems to exist only partially due to his goon's stupidity, and now sneaking into the heart of his base without him, his cameras, or his sensors noticing. Strange how there's only one of them, though.

Just like Aurora Beatrix Lane almost a hundred years prior, this young lady is naive, morally stubborn, and idealistic. She is preaching out about sharing these treasures to all, even when the worth of these treasures comes partly in the luxury of not everyone being able to enjoy them. There is value in that sense of rarity, and it's not like any of the uncaring, ignorant whelps working in the museums look at the pieces that sit before them and realize the true value that they have the privilege of looking at everyday. They wouldn't care about them-- they would do the bare minimum to these unique masterpieces and leave it at that. And this naive brat thinks that they are more loving, more caring to these pieces than Luke is?

But as naive and morally pretentious and... ignorant of time and place this woman is (did she really not hear the self-destruct alarm and is thus willing to babble to her grave?)... she is clearly very intelligent. She was able to affect the base's security system such that she could come in undetected. She was able to get past all four traps without getting trapped herself. It is strange how she is alone here, though. She is usually with four other girls-- ah, that's it. They got trapped, and she left them, so she could get to the treasures on her own. What a show of common sense, that is! She must've seen that the traps were designed such that risking oneself to rescue a trapped person is just not worth it, and that first point already makes her far more intelligent than Cassidy or her buffoons could ever be. It could even be on-par with Luke himself. What if... perhaps....

What if they worked together?

Luke, after a bit of back and forth with Violet, gives Violet an offer to ditch her friends and become his partner. If she accepts they can divide everything between each other in the vault, and together, they'll be able to uncover the treasures of the world and enjoy them all to themselves.

I mean of course Vi turns down the offer in favor of sticking with her friends but y'know what it was worth a shot, Luke, kudos to you for spotting a gemstone instead of covering it with mud and pretending it's not there.

Heavily disappointed by Vi turning him down for the sake of "the power of friendship" (I wish I was kidding)(Scholastic!Vi's (?) words not mine)(I would be incredibly disappointed too), he turns to leave her in the treasure room, and it's only then that Vi realizes she kinda effed up. Luke is the only guy here who knows the base inside-out, and thus would know a way to get the girls out so they can Not Die. And to add insult to injury, Luke made a bomb shelter out of his treasure room, so the entire base may explode and the girls might die, but the treasures are gonna be completely fine. Intact, even. Luke leaves, and the robot voice announces ten minutes before self-destruction.

As soon as she's able to, Vi calls the elevator, juggling anxiety and being able to think under pressure. She figures out that Luke oh so helpfully uses pictograms for his elevator buttons instead of numbers, and presses the button for the control room (the heliport floor is locked by a key). She arrives in the control room, eight minutes before self-destruction.

Just as Vi enters the control room, the cameras get kicked back into action, oh so conveniently showing to Violet a timer ticking down to the big kaboom in real time, and footage of Nicky waiting anxiously in the pool room (and Luke leaving), for extra stakes. One Perception check said "yeah, this is a LOT of buttons, TOO MANY BUTTONS", and the tablet sitting on the desk required a password, so oh god what do

Six minutes before self-destruction and one panic attack later, Vi manages to psyche herself up enough to roll for Investigation. She finds a button for disarming the traps, and that allows the girls to get outa the traps and meet up again in the treasure room. Happy reunions aside tho, four minutes to self-destruction

Turns out the girls (thankfully) didn't know about the self-destruct situation. No need to explain tho because Vi is deadlifting the group braincell like she's never done before. She drags them down to the base's... basement, where a train that was probably used to carry the treasures into the base sits unused and ready for the girls to figure out how to work. Three minutes before self-destruction, no pressure :D

Pam sits at the train's controls, Paulina tries to help but immediately brain crashes at the old-timey controls, thus deciding she'd rather help Nicky get the bars off the rails up ahead. Two minutes left, and Pam figures it out and is ready to-- wait they need electricity-- okay cool Nicky and Paulina are taking care of that, cool

Pam gets the train to start up, Nicky and Paulina manage to hop back into the train, and escape the base's explosion range with about ten seconds to spare :D

After stopping the train in a spot where their braincells could afford to deflate, the girls take a minute or two to breathe y'know, just take a minute to breathe, nibble on some wild raspberries growing in Denali National Park, before figuring out what the hell their next move is.

Vi suggests they tell the authorities about the whole secret-base-under-the-park situation and the treasure room and the stuff inside it (since Luke oh so foolishly gloated to Vi about the treasures being perfectly safe), on top of removing the train so it's not getting up in nature's business. They head back to the car talking about their adventure, get a bit sad that they weren't able to find the Ring of Eternal Love-- and oop just kidding, Vi pocketed it in the treasure room right after Luke dipped :D

So on top of the girls escaping with their lives, not only is Luke gonna lose the Ring of Eternal Love as quickly as he got it, he's also losing his entire treasure vault. Can I get a ripperooni

And that's Legend of the Maze :D

I would say that the hyperfixation-that-consumed-these-girls'-lives-for-a-whole-week energy is very strong in this one in the best way, and the girls' personalities are at their most showcased here. The banter is bantering, the girls' dynamics with each other is very believable here, Vi is carrying the group's braincell the entire time and she looks like she's a bit tired from carrying it but y'know wut she's still willing to carry it because it's honest work and she knows how important it is to have it :3 also her trying to kill Colette's "Romeo and Juliet are so romantic" Santa but failing miserably because Colette unashamedly likes believing in the power of love is hilarious

The main thing I wasn't sure about was.... all the infodumpy bits? The infodump goes a significant bit harder in this book than the previous ones (even more than Compass of the Stars, which is an achievement), and it's Scholastic-style infodumping, so you get the girls calling Luke an "evil mouse" or "selfish mouse" and I'm sitting here like "just call him sewer rat please ya'll had no problems calling him that before please for the love of god use that instead it sounds better--"

Don't even get me started with Amrita Bianchi explaining to the girls what cosplay is like she's the damn Merriam Webster dictionary--

Also the Japan segment with y'know Japanese culture and stuff had the terms localized for some reason??? Like haori became "dark jacket", kimono became "long, elegant Japanese dress", they didn't even mention Ren's hakama (he was wearing a very traditional Japanese look), they felt the need to explain bento boxes as "typical Japanese portable lunch boxes" even though "Japanese lunch box" probably would've gotten the point across just fine and also there was an illustration of the bento boxes, Japanese characters became "logograms" for some reason, and dango became "rice dumplings" which became infinitely more confusing for me because the illustration made it look like takoyaki--

I could go on and on but yeah, there are a lot of these and it felt very infodump-y to me. I'm hoping it's just a translation thing, because the story overall feels pretty solid. Scholastic, what happened to the asterisks? Were they just too much for one page? I feel like you would've been able to squeeze them in just fine to make the reading experience a little smoother,,, just like, so it's an optional thing for the reader to read the mini-infodump of the term if they dunno what it means,,,

Other than that tho I don't think I have much to complain ab--

COUGHS GAGS SCREAMS CRIES WRITHES ON THE FLOOR

(I have the magic-of-friendship-invocation tolerance of an angsty teen I'm sorry :'3)

Scholastic, buddy chum pal buddy chum buddy chum pal,,,,

You could've had Vi say "the only way I got here was thanks to my friends", and it would've been fine and infinitely better-sounding and probably more in-character,,, o<-<

Gahd I hate it when Vi's used as the power of friendship prophet -m-

There's a more minor one as the girls are going back to the car and Vi is telling the girls about the deal Luke offered her, and the girls ask her what she said, and she says "I told him I already had the greatest treasure in the world... true friendship!"

Meanwhile I'm sitting there like "MMMMMGGGGGGHHHHHH 'friends like you' or 'sisters like you' or 'my friendship with you' would've sounded better -m-"

(Also the girls call each other like "friends", so like "you were in fact right, friends", which is like, what happened to "sisters" or "girls" those work perfectly fine and get the girls' close relationship across significantly better than "just friends")

Most of what I'm saying here tho are just nitpicks and probably (hopefully) are just stuff with the English translation-- in all seriousness, the book is pretty good.

Aurora's trail here makes sense and is rather logical, and the interesting thing I find about it is that it feels different from the previous two books' worth of shenanigans. Aurora in this one had far less veers and nation hopping shenanigans, and I feel that it was perhaps intentional. Perhaps to give off finale vibes-- Aurora works far more closely with her sister in this one, and the main thing the girls had to work with was not Aurora's diaries, but the letter she wrote to Linda when they were discussing the Ring of Eternal Love. Something about it feels closer, more intimate, more tragic than the previous ones. I felt the need to put her last to letters in the book verbatim because they were emotional dammit -m- Damn you British Amelia Earhart you've done it again /lhj

Luke's character I think is the strongest here. He gives off in a way the most... normal? Vibes here? He's still not touching grass and muttering to himself ominously a whole lot, but his mindset is nice and easy to wrap your head around here. He literally doesn't care about his goons unless he needs something from them, he is more than happy to overanalyze the crap out of a piece of text if he feels Cassidy didn't look through it thoroughly enough, and he wants what he wants right away, and that includes the things he needs to get the thing he actually wants. He as a character literally observes everything happen from his base in Alaska and backseat gamers the crap out of his goons if he sees something they didn't, or if they fumbled the bag and it was perfectly avoidable had it not been for SM being SM--

Also his blatant disrespect for his great-grandpappy Jan is holy crap haha-- it might just be my cultural background, but when I saw Luke call his great-grandpa "Jan" and then say "you disappoint me, Jan", I was flabbergasted haha, not a criticism I just wanted to mention it because I thought it was funny

I really like the fact that Stan and Max (aka SM) didn't show up at all in this book. It would've been easy to have them show up for regularly scheduled hijinks, but in Luke's mind, none of SM's operations have ever been... up to Luke's standards. Especially with how much of a ruckus they tended to make with their presence, they were more of a liability to Luke than an asset; therefore Luke changing up his strategy to be as hands-off and clean and non-intrusive as possible feels like something he'd do, what with how laser-focused he is on min-maxing efficiency to get what he wants as soon as possible.

Omar still being there despite being "fired" might just be a Scholastic oopsie so I can forgive it, Cassidy is still simping for Luke and trying to impress this man and trying to prove she's at an equal level to him, but every time nah. Just nah. Girlie you think you're on the same level as him, which can't possibly be further than the truth. I haven't seen Miraculous Ladybug, but I'd bet Cassidy has even less of a chance of impressing Luke, than Marinette had a chance at getting Adrien to see her as more than "just a friend" before they finally got together.

Now here's something I've been wanting to ramble about for a while: Violet being left alone instead of Colette. It's actually pretty clever when you think about it: Colette is the closest the girls have to a heart (tho she plays hot potato with Paulina when it comes to that role imo), so she's been the most emotional and the most sentimental of the group this entire time. From daydreaming about Romeo, to wanting to believe in love, to happily picking up a microphone to sing karaoke with the girls, to her strong reactions to having to leave the girls behind one by one for the sake of their mission, Colette was being set up for a moment where she is the one who is left alone. You see it a lot in media: the main character is the most sentimental one and as their friend squad make their way to the Big Bad Evil Guy, the supporting characters are forced to get left behind one by one to either hold the evil minions back or because there's no way for the character to move forward with the MC; so the MC is forced to go through the five stages of grief knowing that their friends trust them to get the job they'd set out to do done. It literally happened in Geronimo's third Kingdom of Fantasy book Amazing Voyage, and in that one Geronimo was the one who desperately didn't want to be alone, but he wound up carrying on alone anyway. You see this kinda thing everywhere.

However, in this bit, it makes total sense that Violet is the one who ends up carrying the last leg of the journey alone instead of Colette. Compared to Colette (and honestly the rest of the girls), Violet is the most level-headed. She's the girls' braincell keeper (in this trilogy), the babysitter holding the leash tied to the four gremlins, the one keeping everyone on track and also making sure that the group's collective ADHD doesn't spiral down as badly as it could possibly be. Whenever the girls make a big move that could affect the whole group, Vi is the one asking if it's a good idea or if it's worth doing, and she's the one thinking ahead enough to say "if x happens instead of y, what then?" You get the idea-- Vi is the most capable of keeping herself level-headed even when she's under all this pressure, and she's good at analyzing and planning on account of her often taking the position of the quiet observer.

With this context, it sort've makes you wonder what was going through Colette's head when she offered to help Violet get out of the air room. Violet and Colette in particular get paired together fairly often, and it's probably because of how well they're able to understand each other-- so with the plan, was Colette volunteering herself to prop the door open out of "it was my idea" courtesy, or was she thinking that maybe Violet would be able to figure things out better and thus needed to get to the other side? She probably was expecting to get to the other side with Vi, but would she have thought far enough ahead to a what-if where that wasn't possible? :3c

And Scholastic and power-of-friendship funkiness aside, Violet did handle the situation well, all things considered. The one bit where she only realized Luke was hers and the girls' only ticket out of there was a bit weird, but it can be chalked up to her not being able to take that into account in the moment because of a mix of stress, sheer bafflement from Luke's deal, and the fact that when put on the spot, observers don't exactly handle taking the driver's seat that well :'D (speaking as an observer myself here)

It makes me wonder a bit if Violet and Luke were meant to be foils of each other, what with how similar they are to each other (both of them being observers and planners who delegate more often than they do the work themselves), yet different enough that the contrast between the two is striking. Said difference being

Violet touches grass. Luke does not :)

Anyway so yeah, that's Treasure Seekers 3, and while it is kinda sad that this is where Treasure Seekers ends, y'know what? It gave a solid show as the last installment in the trilogy. I liked it, I liked the canon compliant blorbo angst, I liked the characters character-ing when the dialogue was letting them breathe :]

And of course, we can't forget

God's sleepiest soldier <3

She deserves that nap after what she went through and you know it--

[joyful-soul-collector]

The Two Faces Of January

Whatever my reactions are to this, blame @raven-rk they told me to watch it. Also if anyone wants to send me recs of oscar isaac movies to watch (or any movies?? you want my gay ass to react to??) go ahead and suggest em, I'm all ears. You too, can be responsible for an unhinged reaction post

All I know about this movie is the one sentence description on HBO MAX and that Oscar Isaac is in it let's GO motherfuckers

Oop there he is

Oh look its Aragorn

Everything Oscar is wearing rn? slut behavior

OH HIS SMILE IS SO CUTE LOOK AT HIM

Rydal is a cool name, stealing that

Oh he's a sneaky little man

I wish smoking weren't so bad for you, it's so damn aesthetic

Idk why Chester doesn't trust him, I mean he doesn't even know Rydal scammed him with that bracelet

Wait does he not trust him cuz he's a person of color. Is this mf just straight up racist. I wouldn't be surprised but still lol cmon bro

Who's this rando

Nice of him to try and return the bracelet he scammed em with lol

Oh shit we fightin'

Oh damn did he kill him?

Oh fuck yeah he ded

Oof, dad passed away only a MONTH ago? Poor guy

Is anyone gonna tell Colette what the hell is goin' on

KITTY

Love this guy scamming rich people, you go Rydal

KITTY

I enjoy the aesthetic of this movie a lot, lots of yellows and browns, makes the cooler colors pop well

Cool that he knows so many languages! I like Rydal so far, he's interesting

Oop Chester is d r o n k

Hope Chester doesn't still remind him of his dad, cuz then his dad would be an asshole...

Oh the intimacy of sharing a cigarette... Again, really wish it weren't so bad for you

I've said it once and I'll say it a million times over: men are always prettiest when they're a bit disheveled

RYDAL IS SO SWEET LOOK AT HIM HELPING THIS WOMAN OUT OF THE BUS

Oop he knooooows

God that bus is fuckin banger, I wanna turn that into a mobile home

Chester you mf, blackmailing Rydal like this

Oh Colette is adorable

Also Rydal's hair rn... Slut shit. Whore behavior

Rydal you sweetheart, standing up for Collette like that

OH THIS IS THAT MOMENT WHERE EVERYONE SAYS HE LOOKS LIKE JAKE LOCKLEY IN THE TANK TOP

I see it, 100%

Ok I hate Chester but his bedhead is 10/10

Jesus this guy has a real drinking problem

Oop Rydal to the rescue

Shiiiiit their pictures are in the paper

Why does this random kid think she can just take people's sunglasses???

HELL YEAH GET HIS ASS RYDAL

Oh they just walkin there huh

Love Zippo lighters, I can do a couple tricks with those, it's quite fun

BRUH WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU WHY'D YA DO THAT

OH SHIT FUCK SHIT IS SHE DEAD??

Ohhhhhhh no....

Wait is Rydal dead too? Did he fuckin kill Rydal? I thought he just knocked him out...

OH GOOD he's okay. He'll be pissed when he finds out about Colette tho

FUCK people saw Rydal leaving those ruins, they're gonna think he did it

Love it when people breathe smoke in the face of someone they hate, fuckin great. ONCE AGAIN, REALLY WISH CIGS DIDN'T KILL YOU

Hell yeah Rydal blackmail the shit outta him

OH SHIT MF ALMOST GOT THROWN OVERBOARD

SHIT fuck shit fuck they're looking for Rydal

Pfft hahaha he's like "if I get caught you're comin' down with me"

Oh damn he called him dad. Yeah his dad must've been right shit then

I forget airports didn't always have nine miles of security to get through

Called it, poor guy had a shit dad

Of COURSE Chester's out here like "forgive your dad everyone expects too much from dads, I hated my dad too"

Hell yeah get tf outta there Rydal

Aw dammit they got him. Hope he can get that confession he needs to be freed

Admit it, do it motherfucker

Ah shit he runnin

OH SHIT THEY SHOT HIM

Dammit I really hope he can get this fuckin confession outta him...

THANK YOU God the one good this Chester does in this whole movie

It's the breaking the cycleeeee, Chester hated HIS shit dad and Rydal hated HIS shit dad so now Chester's gonna be a not shit dad in his last moments mmmmmmmmm

Looks like he really does remind him of his dad in the end. And he went to his funeral in return for the confession

Interesting that he buried the bracelet with Chester instead of Colette. Something something, the immortality of fatherhood and metaphors about breaking cycles and literally burying his previous life and crimes with a man who embodied everything he hated, something something

That was a good movie I quite liked it! Good foreshadowing with the "he reminds me of my dad" comment at the very beginning. Viggo plays a great bad guy. Featuring Slutty Oscar, drunk off his ass Viggo, and poor Kirsten who did not deserve any bad things to happen to her ever, and yet they did

[likes-words-and-shrimp]

Any Tales of - game for the fandom ask :D

going with Symphonia! My first and fave Tales game <3

the first character i ever fell in love with:

It's hard to narrow it down but I did really love Lloyd when I first played! I love my dumb protagonists but he's also just such a good character with really good growth. I think after is Dirk because DWARF DAD and I always wanted to have more with him. We need more dwarves in media!

a character that i used to love/like, but now do not:

I guess the best answer here is Zelos lol. I think I used to like him plenty and found him funny but, well, a lot of that has tempered down over the years or maybe I just got very tired of seeing him as a focus in fandom and am bored of it. I played the remaster to remember his good points as a character and I came out of my replay loving Regal more oops.

a ship that i used to love/like, but now do not:

Hm, nothing here really applies. When I first played I actually didn't have many ships at all, even Lloyd and Colette wasn't a full on ship for me! (But I did like them interacting a lot haha). All other ships I eventually liked I still like now.

my ultimate favorite character™:

It has to be said: it's Colette! I do switch back and forth with loving both her and Lloyd together as my pair of faves! But I think Colette ultimately wins out, especially as I've grown older. Much of her story and her struggles just hits for me in ways no other character's background really does in Symphonia. Also religious conflict/guilt of a character is also delicious to me when done well.

prettiest character:

Ohh there's a lot! So it's hard for me to pick. Ofc I think Colette is pretty but so is Lloyd, he's my pretty boy. :D But! I think after watching the OVA, I remember Regal looking so pretty in a way that his in-game model could never do. Regal it is. Also we love a beefy man who cooks, it ups that prettiness.

my most hated character:

Hmm, probably one of the Grand Cardinals, so maybe I'll go with Kvar! HE AWFUL. But fun to write though when I did that one time haha.

my OTP:

*falls on floor* if my blog title isn't obvious, colloyd is my ultimate of ships, the best of my otps. Lloyd and Colette together is food for my soul. I love every aspect of them and they have completely devoured me that I didn't even realize how much I was already shipping them until years later. I emphatically believe Symphonia is their story and about their relationship. The way they understand each other better than anyone, the way they're silly with each other, the way they just love each other?? They do love each other, that's canon. Platonic or romantic (but it's romantic in my eyes) and I am so invested in their dynamic and want to explore every possibility with them. I have apparently written half a million words about them help me.

my NOTP:

:) Sorry but I legit dislike Lloyd with the z-man lmao. I used to be indifferent (I just found it so boring) but now I'm honestly very uncomfortable with it (fandom hasn't helped). Oh well!

favorite episode scene:

I'm going with scene here and it's a tie between the coffee scene and the reveal of Colette's crystallization. Of course both have to do with Colette and how things keep being awful for her :') But I love the coffee scene for Lloyd and how he reaches to hold her, and also how Lloyd assures Colette is not disgusting at all when she has a breakdown of her reveal. Him walking to her to be NEAR HER even as she tries to hide away her sickness gets to me.

Another favorite is the ending: We got big trees, we got beautiful music, we got COLLOYD WINGS. This lives in my heart.

saddest death:

The closest is Corrine! I think what makes it sad more though is Sheena's reaction to it. Also just such a good performance of the voice actress too.

favorite season plot/arc:

Going with plots and arcs in the game, but I think from discovering Colette losing her humanity and seeing this play out throughout the Sylvarant arc of the game is so good and it does make you genuinely wonder what will happen. And when we get to the Tower of Salvation and fight Remiel and KRATOS. I was stoked playing through that when I was younger.

least favorite season plot/arc:

Hm, probably when we're doing the Tethe'alla temples and such. Pacing gets a little off and also with more characters we start to lose the focus on other people. I think it picks back up once the group focuses on curing Colette's sickness.

character that everyone else in the fandom loves, but i hate:

Lol hate is a strong word, I'm more just fatigued of him but heyyy it's Zelos! I am just uninterested. Also Kratos to a lesser extent, but oddly my opinion of him has actually raised a bit more over the years. So he's like, middle. gj, kratos.

my ‘you’re piece of trash, but you’re still a fave’ fave:

Maybe Mithos? I like Mithos. This boy can fit so much messed up trauma and manipulation. Combined with the uncomfortable idolization of his sister to the point he no longer sees her as an actual person (if he ever did?). And the fact he can genuinely be creepy?? Still my fave Tales villain.

my ‘beautiful cinnamon roll who deserves better than this’ fave:

Colette. ;_; She deserves so much more. Also, Dirk is a close second, he deserves more attention! The dad that stayed!

my ‘this ship is wrong, nasty, and makes me want to cleanse my soul, but i still love it’ ship:

So fun fact, I started shipping Lloyd/Mithos a bit purely because of some jp fanartists, and now I'm very intrigued. (I own two doujins of them now haha). I think there can be so much fun interactions between them, and none of it would be good for Lloyd. But it's fun. One day I will write something with them and no one will have a good time.

my ‘they’re kind of cute, and i lowkey ship them, but i’m not too invested’ ship:

I think this would be Kratos/Anna for me, and I've written several fics of them too. I get the appeal in a way, but ultimately Anna is a character with... no established character lol. Even Kratos barely ever talks about her as what she was like as an actual person? I know plenty of people love this ship and I've seen interesting things done with it, but my investment isn't much for them. I honestly mostly like this ship for the baby Lloyd fluff you'll get from it lol.

[ciryze]

Butterfly Effect turns 1 year old today :D (I pushed the release date on AO3 back in the day but it counts!)

For all 3 of you actually following the story, have a cute family picture <3

Also some Butterfly-Funfacts under the cut :)

The actual "Butterfly Effect" is actually not Raine turning to look for her mother in the prologue, but Kloitz holding Genis instead of Virginia doing so.

The flashback chapters are intentionally scrambled through the actual timeline as Raine doesn't exactly remember the order of events herself

Zelos did return several times to the spot where he met Raine for the first time. However at that point, she was already with Pronyma

Presea is still alive in this story. However she is held in the underground research lab in an isolated container, making her crystal grow under similar circumstances as Expheres do in human ranches. She dies during Raine's first test-run with Odin in Sybak.

Regal is also absent in this story. Mithos has him executed in order to take over his company

The spelljammers (both Tethe'alla and Sylvarant) are made and built by Lezareno company. The ones in Sylvarant are brought over by Cruxis and built by Desians

There's a total of 6 human ranches in Sylvarant (the original 4 as well as one in Triet and one in Hima. Both these locations were suggested by Raine

Sylvarant is much heavier regulated by the Desians. With several large borders, it's harder to manuver around, so most rebel groups are local to their respective city.

Raine manipulated the Cardinals enough so that they raised the minimum age for new recruits. She also made them offer childcare and education in their ranches. Kvar thinks it was all his idea though

Raine still caries a scar on her back where the flames of the Broken sprouted originally in The Broken Ones. It looks like a shard of broken glass.

Zelos made several trips to the Meltokio slums in his life, disguised under rags and looking for Raine

Both Zelos and Colette have elvenblood in them

The higher ups in Tethe'alla have their children operated on if they turn out to have even slightly tipped ears. It's common procedure, although it was made less painful after a few years. Zelos had a particular bad case of tipped-ear-syndrom which is why his ears seem unnatural if you look close enough

Raine in this story is nonbinary, preferes the 'she/her' pronouns though. She occasionally goes around as "Ray" having he/him pronouns

Raine is also demisexual

Zelos is pansexual. He's also the only one thinking of Raine as nonbinary, thus avoiding any pronouns for her as well as he can, which is also the reason he calls her 'Master' instead of 'Mistress'

Kratos is genuenly interested in Raine up until the Altamira incident

Although not explicitly said, Sheena tries to convince Zelos to leave several times while they are still in Sylvarant

The heavy accent Raine has naturally is a mix between her growing up with elvish and the accent they carry in Sybak. It sounds remotely like russian

[mpmcorner]

How did Donald McEachin die? Cause of death revealed

How did Donald McEachin die? Cause of death revealed US Democratic Representative Donald McEachin died Monday in Virginia. Let's look at more details about Virginia Congressman Donald McEach and the cause of his death.

The cause of death was

Donald McEachin

.

Virginia Congressman Donald McEachin, a Democrat, died Monday after a long battle with colon cancer, just weeks after winning re-election to Congress. He was 61. In a statement released late Monday, McEachin's chief of staff, Tara Rountree, said: “We have watched bravely, for years, since 2013 fight and win the side effects of his colon cancer. He lost that battle tonight. . In 2019, after recovering from cancer treatment and returning to Congress, McEachin's staff said he experienced "continuing complications" related to chemotherapy and radiation. McEachin's thanks to colleagues "I am grateful for the support and well wishes of my members and colleagues as I recover from surgery," McEachin said in a statement at the time. "Throughout my career, I have been a strong advocate for affordable, comprehensive health care for all, but this personal experience has reinforced the critical need to ensure that all Americans have access to quality care and prescription drugs at reasonable prices."

Donald McEachin

Illness

US Representative A. Donald McEachin, D-4th, has lost more than 60 pounds the hard way while dealing with a short-term medical problem that he hopes to fix with surgery. "I'll be healthy," California House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said Friday after hosting a roundtable discussion on environmental infrastructure with a dozen state and local elected leaders and advocates. McEachin, who turned 57 on Wednesday, says he lost weight as a result of a fistula, a cavity described by his doctor as "an abnormal connection between the bladder and the colon," as well as exercise that included walking across the Capitol. Hill in Washington, D.C., about 10 miles each week. "As a kid, you learn, you get sick, you get better, you move on," he said after an event with Pelosi at the Boathouse Restaurant in Rockets Landing on Friday. "I am sick, I am getting well, and by God's grace, I will get on." In a letter to McEachin over the weekend documenting his illness, Brian P. Monahan, a physician for the congressman who retains him, confirmed the diagnosis. According to Monahan, McEachin's effective 2014 treatment for rectal cancer, including surgery, chemotherapy and radiation, resulted in a fistula. The congressman, who claimed to be cancer-free, learned he had the disease in July after developing a urinary tract infection. “You did a very thorough assessment,” recalled the doctor. "So when antibiotics control the infection, you now need abdominal surgery," Monahan said.

Who is Donald McGinn?

Aston Donald McGinn was born on October 10, 1961, in Nuremberg, Germany. Both his mother and father were teachers, and his father served in the army. He completed his education at St. Christopher's School in Richmond in 1979 before earning a bachelor's degree from American University in 1982 and a law degree from the University of Virginia in 1986. In 2008, he received a Master of Divinity from Virginia Union University's Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology. He practiced law throughout his career and served in the House of Representatives from 1996 to 2002 and from 2006 to 2008, and in the State Senate from 2008 to 2016. He was elected to serve in the US House for the first time in 2016. Mack, Brianna and Alexandra were raised by McEachin and his wife Colette McEachin, a Richmond Commonwealth's Attorney.

Business travel

McEachin represented Virginia's 4th Congressional District, which stretches south to the North Carolina border and includes part of Richmond. This month, he won re-election for a fourth term. "A tireless champion for the people of Virginia and a force for economic opportunity and environmental justice," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi described her late colleague. McEachin was described by Rep. Jerry Connelly, D-Va., as an "environmentalist, civil rights crusader, dedicated public servant, and man of substance." Still no useful partner. McEachin, a Democrat, served two terms in the Virginia House of Representatives, from 2006 to 2008 and from 1996 to 2002. He represented the 9th District in the Virginia Senate, which includes Charles City County, Henrico County, and Richmond. Until 2017. In the general election, McEachin received 57.3% of the vote to win the open seat in Virginia's 4th Congressional District, vacated by Republican Randy Forbes in 2016. He ran for the Democratic nomination for Virginia Attorney General in 2001, but was defeated by Jerry Kilgore.

Tributes McEachin

His staff shared the news in a heartfelt statement shortly after his death, remembering the U.S. representative as "a hero who always, always fought." Put them first. "For years we have watched valiantly as he fought and won against the secondary effects of his colon cancer since 2013. Tonight, he lost that battle," the statement recounted. Tara Rountree, McEachin's chief of staff, released the following statement after his death: We are all devastated by the passing of our boss and friend, Congressman Donald McGee. Over the years we have bravely watched her fight and win against the secondary effects of her colon cancer in 2013. Tonight, he lost that battle, and the people of Virginia's Fourth Congressional District lost a hero who always fought for them. Put them first. Until a new representative is elected, our office will remain open and continue to serve our constituents. The family asks for privacy at this time. Arrangements will be announced in the next few days. Virginia Governor Glenn Young said on Twitter "It is very sad to learn of the death . A valiant fighter to the end, he served Virginia admirably He worked tirelessly to improve the lives of his constituents Americans," Youngin said. "Suzanne I am thinking of his family and friends. community at this difficult time." pic.twitter.com/ev2jRb5Gwr — Rep. Donald McEachin (@RepMcEachin) November 29, 2022 Also read: How did Jack Flint die? Music icon cause of death has been explained Follow us Facebook For more updates. Read the full article