#I got a bunch of drawings of her and Andrea hanging out that I only haven't posted because they look kinda shit lmao

[lab-gr0wn-lambs]

Speaking of Carol, why the hell did she say "Daryl Dixon's the only family I have left" in that teaser trailer? No he isn't?? Judith? RJ? Maggie and Hershel? Rick and Michonne are supposedly back at this point? Y'all may be divorced, but Zeke is absolutely still family. You became a damn secret agent to get him that premuim health insurance. And Lydia? Aaron and Gracie? Jerry? Connie, Kelly, Magna, Yumiko?

The keep doing that. They keep making her just Daryl's little platonic wifey and forgetting about all her other relationships 😭

[elenatria]

OKAY BUT FOR FUCKS SAKE WE NEED ALL THE DETAILS OF WHERE, WHEN AND HOW YOU MET THE GOD!!!!!!!!!!!

I still haven’t processed everything, not because I’m starstruck that I saw Stellan for 3,5 seconds but because it was a miracle that it even happened. So this is not a “Stellan made me feel like a queen for five minutes” story (there was no time for that), it’s a “setting an impossible goal and achieving it” type of story. 

 @alyeen1 and I were discussing Stellan attending the Gothenburg festival back in January, and I was lamenting the fact that, despite learning about it three weeks in advance, the beginning of the new year had left me broke. I was totally regretting not having the money for that trip and Alyeen1 and I were comforting each other, making “what if” scenarios for the veeeery distant future, like “hey, don’t you guys have the Berlinale...? What if Stellan attended the festival for one of his new films...? Just an idea.”

Not long after that, Google alerts notified me on “Hope”, Stellan’s new film, having its European premiere there. Talking of getting my wish granted right away, I mean I had talked to talk, now I had to walk the walk, right? I’ve never taken such a big decision on such short notice - super scary, super urgent.

“Soooooo is Stellan coming?” was the obvious question. There was no way for us to know. We started spamming the Berlinale people with emails until someone pointed at the right direction, the film’s PR agent who said that the cast would be attending the premiere. Then @stellan-pip-69 suggested I should ask Andrea Bræin Hovig herself, Stellan’s co-star in “Hope”. Andrea is a total sweetheart, she answered right away and said that they would indeed be there. I mean, I couldn’t possibly be taking two days off work, spending four days and 500 euro on a whim no matter how much I love Berlin. 

However, we had no further info on where exactly Stellan would be. What we did know according to the Berlinale site was the time and place of “Hope”’s press conference and premiere. Thank god for Alyeen, the Valoris fandom’s resident Berliner, who had bought tickets for “Hope”s screening at the box office.

One day before the screening we were making plans and thinking of routes and timetables, and also we gained some experience from Hildur Guðnadóttir’s talk (who is an absolute darling as you can tell from her vids and acceptance speeches). 

See, after Hildur’s event we waited for her in the cold rain for about an hour and realized it’s not enough to be there early enough or to know which exit the celeb will use, or to run fast enough to get to them first: we also had to deal with autograph hunters who were bigger, stronger than us, outnumbering us, pushing us aside to get dozens of autographs signed by Hildur. They were pushy and persistent and had control over the situation, over what Hildur signed and for whom. Giving me permission to get  that selfie with her. It was almost nightmarish. 

After that, and as we dragged our feet back to the subway soaking wet, we were dwelling in despair and uncertainty. There was no way we could fight off guys who were doing this for a living. And what if Stellan had HUNDREDS of fans screaming his name? What if Stellan lost his patience with all those autographs he had to sign, like Hildur lost hers?

However, I got a glimpse of hope while waiting for the metro when I thought... “You know what? We’ve come so far. We’re doing everything right. We even rehearsed our moves, elbowing people and stomping on toes and screaming Stellan’s name as loud as we can to get his attention. We’re even willing to camp outside the fucking press conference hotel. We can’t possibly fail.”

But for all our meticulous planning, I was responsible for an almost-failure because of my delay the following morning. Remember what Stellan said? Never be late. Never ever. 

So, although my goal was to be at the press conference almost an hour and a half before, we got there only an hour before. That almost cost us everything.

Alyeen knows her way around Berlin and she knew the hotel had various entrances and exits, not just one. Lo and behold, as we approached it from the side, we noticed the road was closed and alongside the pavement there were bars draped with red and yellow Berlinale banners, with small groups of people hanging from them like ripe fruit. As we kept walking, I noticed a spot close to the hotel’s exit where it was getting a bit more crowded, so I peered across the street to see which celeb had attracted their attention and--

-- f-uuuck.

When you see Stellan Skarsgard’s head for the first time in your life hovering over a bunch of fans who are shoving things to sign in his face , there’s only one thing to do.

RUN, MOTHERFUCKER.

That’s all I could whisper to Alyeen1 in utter panic. 

“--run. Run! Ruuuuuuuuuuun.”

I’ve never left a friend behind so quickly.

So we ran like hell. 

We got behind the crowd and I tried to pull my cellphone out but it was too late, Stellan was already thanking the fans and disappearing into the building. If only I wasn’t late that morning!

Years of stress and running and being late have taught me to take a deep breath, give myself a second chance and try to find peace in the eye of the tornado, so I pulled out of the bag a piece of cardboard Alyeen had given me to draw “Hope”s poster with a sharpie. That would calm me down a bit and the wait wouldn’t be so unbearable. Besides we were front row and there was no one between us and the hotel exit, although we still didn’t know which side of the corridor Stellan would pick first, left or right?..

So here’s my reasoning behind the drawing: the previous evening I had wasted my sleep trying to figure out how Tom Hiddleston’s fans were able to stalk him in filming locations (you see, Tom has a wide network of fans reporting on his every move, Stellan doesn’t). Also I wanted to see how his fans got front row on the red carpet and how they got his attention, how they made him do things like kneel for them. I noticed that in order to do that you had to 1) be a flashy cosplayer who catches the eye 2) nag Tom persistently with a voice that’s higher than your usual tone until Tom indulges you. It has to work, right? Like a baby crying for food.

But I’m no cosplayer, I’m an artist, so the idea was to hang a big-ass drawing of mine in front of the barrier to get the attention.

Turns out... I didn’t even need it.

After waiting for about an hour and a half and worrying that Stellan had already left through another exit,  after watching the door open and close half a dozen times and seeing busy celebrities rushing off without signing a single autograph, we were on the brink of despair. 

Until the door opened one more time and 

Stellan was there.

I don’t remember what we did or what we said,  all I remember is that we called his name and dammit, that did get his attention. So we were the first he approached. Fuck.

As soon as he heard us calling him he gave us a broad welcoming smile and was ready for the selfies -  but guess what! I had forgotten to turn off the fucking timer, so Stellan moved on before the pic was taken.

God no. Not now. 

As he was taking a pic with Alyeen I begged him to come back for another try. He said he was too busy and had other fans waiting for him, there were too many of us, but I begged for like 2-3 seconds (a lesson I learned from that Loki cosplayer) so he came back and indulged me one more time.  X__X

After that I was dead inside, not only because I had to beg (I don’t do begging) but also because I had to be a burden to Stellan Skarsgard himself. Like, give me what  I want but please kill me afterwards, okay?

So yeah. Dead inside.

This is why I couldn’t relish the triumph right away, and to Alyeen’s enthusiastic “We did it, we DID IT!!!” my response was a numb “... Did we...?” >__>; 

Inevitably, I had my stress attack after I got what I wanted. Also, I was just realizing that my stupid ancient phone couldn’t use the data I paid for before flying to Berlin so I had to desperately look for free wi fi and post the selfie before... someone stole my cellphone or something. 

For all the mishaps, we got to the red carpet so early that there were very few people waiting before us. Lucky for us 1) this is Berlin, not L.A., where people flock from all over the U.S. to take selfies with celebs they don’t even care for 2) this is Berlin, in February, so it was freezing cold and not many people were willing to freeze their asses off at the red carpet 3) this is Berlin, and crazy screaming fans are scarce. Unless you’re Johnny Depp but thank god Stellan is not Johnny Depp.

Andrea was the first to walk the red carpet and I was really bewildered by the fact that no one was screaming her name. So I called her. And she came! I thanked her for answering my PM and asked for a selfie (I must admit I take better selfies with women than with men). 

She was so sweet with me that I actually gave myself time to think and pull the cardboard sketch out of my bag to show her. I was like, whatever, you have it there, just show her.

She was so excited that she pulled out her phone and took a pic of my sketch. *___*   Crazy, right? I went to Berlin to find a king and found a queen instead.

The rest was like playing out a script. A couple of minutes later, Stellan came out of the car and started signing autographs and taking pictures so I had my second chance at a better selfie. Phew.

So nice of him, so so nice of him.

And oh, look at us lol.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Stellan Skarsgård Fan Acc (@stellanskarsgarddd) on Feb 24, 2020 at 11:32am PST

After the red carpet we could finally breathe. To my surprise, we even had access to the photo call itself in the Zoo Palast lobby.

Stellan was being playful with the photographers, knowing it was his job to pose but also being “whatever” about it, having done it a million times. He gave them one last pose going “Hey hey heyyyy!” and disappeared behind the blue panel until we saw all of them again after the end credits.

The only thing I kinda regret is the fact that Megan was right there, right there, a few meters away from me as her husband was being photographed, but I didn’t dare ask for a selfie because the seats weren’t numbered and we had to rush into the theatre to find a good place. Damn. 

Until next time, I guess. Because there will be a next time, dear comrades. And hopefully Alyeen1 and I won’t be alone. 

[lordofthebigtimesupernatural]

Hello! I am a really big fan of your shiro dad AU! It is wonderfully writing and I always enjoy It. I was wondering if you are still taking prompts (If your not I'm sorry, you can ignore it, I couldn't find anything in your blog that said otherwise) could you do a prompt where klance are a newlywed couple and Lance gets hurts really bad so we have Shiro trying to comfort Keith who having a really hard time and it's freaking out? Thank you!!

Hello! Omg thank you for enjoying this AU and for always reading it. You’re so kind nonny and I love it! This was another tear-jerking prompt and for that I love you all. These are my jams, so be ready for it. As always, Klance is an AU of this AU since I have not set pairings for the Single Dad Shiro AU but this was such a precious prompt! Enjoy!

x.V.x

              Keithhad known what happiness was from a young age thanks to his dad. Keith had oncethought that his dad had been enough for him and he was blessed. Then Keith gothis grandparents and his uncle Kuro and he still didn’t think life could getbetter. Until he met Hunk, Lance and Pidge.

              Keithwas thankful every day for having gone to Allura’s program and meeting thosethree. Keith had struggled to make friends all his life and even now thosethree were all the friends he had, but they were all that Keith needed. He’dknown them practically his whole life and he couldn’t imagine it without anyone of them.

              EspeciallyLance.

              Evenafter being married to Lance for six months now, Keith was still in awe. Everytime he looked down at the engagement ring that Lance had surprised him with,after his return home from his service in the military, on one hand and now hiswedding ring on the other, Keithstill couldn’t believe it. He still couldn’t believe that he’d been with thisman for nearly a decade now. He still couldn’t believe that Lance had finallyasked him out to the carnival on the dock at sixteen for their first date,which led to another and then another and then another. He still couldn’t believethat Lance’s hugs and kisses always greeted him after a long day of work, orthat Lance’s family still cooked for the newlyweds often. He couldn’t believethat just six months ago he’d said, “I do” to the love of his life and went ontheir honeymoon together.

              And tothink it all started with Keith accidentally knocking down Lance’s sandcastleat the age of four.

              Keithwas sure the two of them were disgustingly sweet, always holding hands orlaughing and kissing, but Lance always knew when a line was crossed. He knewwhen it was too much for Keith or when to back off. He never pressured Keithinto sex ever and he was content tojust walk side-by-side with Keith if it was too much for Keith.

              Ofcourse they still bickered and fought, but that was always overpowered withtenderness and love between the two.

              “I’vegot a late night today with teacher training for the new school year so don’twait up.” Lance said, kissing Keith before pulling him into his arms. Keithrolled his eyes at Lance’s attempts to be romantic but couldn’t help but grinat his husband.

              “Boo, myhusband leaves little old me to eatall alone and sleep alone today.” Keith fake pouted while Lance rubbed circlesinto his hips.

              “Awbabe, come on, don’t be that way.” Lance whined, pressing soft kisses all alongKeith’s face. Keith couldn’t stop himself from laughing at the butterfly-likefeeling. “It���s not like I’d rather be trained again on how to teach a bunch of five-year-old brats, rather thanspend time with my gorgeous husband.”

              Keithlaughed again, eyes catching the silver wedding rings on Lance’s hand. Like always,he found himself draw to tracing over the ring with scarred hands. “Alright, Isuppose it’s okay. And you know you love those kids.” Keith leaned up to giveLance one last peck on the lips before sliding out of Lance’s arms. He ignoredLance’s pathetic whine to head into the kitchen.

              “That Ido. But not as much as I love you!” Lance called out before opening the frontdoor.

              “Yeah, Ilove you too.” Keith said, smiling at Lance’s small whoop of happiness. Helooked down at his own rings and couldn’t keep the cheesy grin from his face. Lance could be a dork sometimes, but atleast he’s my dork.

x.V.x

              It waslate, and after a long day of repairing the old studio to look new, and Keithwas exhausted. He’d barely made dinner, since Lance wasn’t home and Keith couldnot having some sort of a cooked mealwaiting for his husband, before he’d fallen face first into their bed to sleep.He fell asleep knowing Lance would be home soon enough, pressed up next to himwhere he could lay his head on Lance’s chest. Maybe his hair would annoy Lanceand tickle him, since he’d grown it out past his shoulders, knowing that Lancewouldn’t move a muscle if Keith pretended he was asleep.

              However,instead of being awoken by Lance’s warm arms, he was instead awoke to the loudring of the phone and an empty bed.

              Theircat Bluedot (we can’t name her Blue,Keith, not after my girl) was annoyed and meowed loudly at the noiseinstantly awaking their overly large puppy Marmora. Between Bluedot hissing,Marmora barking and the phone ringing, Keith could feel a headache coming on.However, he stumbled over an eager Marmora and managed to reach the phone afterthe sixth ring.

              “Hello?”He sleepily asked.

              “Hi, I’m looking for a Keith Shirogane?”An unfamiliar voice said over the line and Keith frowned. He momentarilyrecalled the argument between Keith and Lance about which last name they wouldsettle for and even though Lance proposed, they had decided to keep theShirogane name. Keith was touched when Lance admitted he knew how much his namemeant to Keith and that he never planned on having Keith change it.

              “This ishim. Can I ask who is calling?”

              “I’m Dr.Ross at St. Andrea’s hospital. I’m calling because you are the husband and emergencycontact for Lance Shirogane.” Instantly, Keith felt his entire body freeze asif icy fingers were squeezing him. His breathing had stopped short and he couldfeel his arms trembling. No, no, no.Lance is okay. He has to be. This is all a dream.

              “L-Lance?”He asked tightly.

              “Yes. Ishe your husband?”

              Keithswallowed thickly. “Y-Yes. He’s my husband. Please, is he okay?” Keith desperatelyasked, ignoring Marmora and Bluedot who had both wandered into the room. Theyboth stared at Keith, as if worried, but Keith couldn’t focus on anything butthe voice on the other side of the line.

              “I’mafraid your husband was in a car accident. Another car swerved on a patch ofice and hit his side of the car. He was taken into surgery for his leg, aboutten minutes ago. I’m calling to let you know that he’s hear and we’ll needsomeone to fill out forms in case any other emergency surgeries are needed.”The doctor continued and Keith felt as if his whole world was falling. Theworld was dangerously tilting andKeith had to grab the counter to stop himself from falling. Mamroa whined andBluedot tried to cuddle up next to Keith’s legs. This can’t be happening. Lance has to be fine. He’ll be coming homeany second now, with that stupid grin on his face and those bright blue eyes hehas.

              This isn’t happening.

              “O-Okay.”Keith said shakily, amazing at how calm his voice remained. “I’ll be down assoon as I can. Thank you for calling me.” Keith’s body was numb but it wasalready moving to where he had last put his shoes, with Marmora and Bluedottrailing behind.

              “Alright.We’ll keep you updated as you get here.”

              “Please,”Keith licked his lips, feeling his breath turning shallow. The doctor was quieton the other side of the line but didn’t hang up. “Please take care of myhusband.”

              “…Ipromise we will.”

              ThenKeith was racing to the hospital.

x.V.x

              “Keith,oh, have they told you anything?” Keith numbly looked up upon seeing severalpeople entering the hospital room. He hadn’t left the bedside since the doctorshad emerged from surgery and allowed him back to see Lance. It was horrifyingto see his husband so lifeless on thehospital bed covered in bandages. His usually sunny skin was paler than Keithhad ever seen it and only make the situation look worse than it was.

              Thankfully,Keith got up to greet Lance’s parents. Both of which pulled him into asurprising hug, kissing his cheek before going over to their son’s bedside.Then Keith was drawn into a tight hug by his own dad. It was then that Keithfinally allowed his body to break down, like it had been wanting to for hours.

              Quietly,Shiro pulled the two of them out of the room to give Lance’s family someprivacy and for Keith. They were allowed into a quieter, empty room where Keithsobbed into his father’s chest. It was a bit awkward with Keith being tallerthan Shiro now, but Shiro easily pulled him down and rubbed soothing circlesinto Keith’s hair.

              “Shh.Shh.” Shiro soothed softly, not even wincing when Keith dug his nails into his back.His son looked awful when Shiro hadfinally seen him, nowhere near as bad as Lance, but still bad. Keith neededthis moment and he needed to let out the pain instead of bottling it in. Shiroquietly heard the door opening and saw Kuro entering and shutting the doorbehind him.

              “It’s okay Keith. He’s going to bealright? Lance is going to make a full recovery.” Shiro continued to whisper asKeith’s cries went on. Kuro found himself gently rubbing Keith’s shaking back. “Thedoctors said that he’ll be fine. He’ll need some help for a while but he’sgonna be fine and they’ll wake him up tomorrow. It’s okay. He’s okay.”

              Keithcried even harder but attempted to nod against his father. He knew that Shirowas right and that he was repeating everything that the doctors had told Keith.But Keith was just so tired.

              “I – I can’tlose him.” Keith finally choked out.

              “OhKeith, you’re not going to lose him.” Shiro pulled Keith’s head away from hisbody so they could look right at each other. He then gently wiped the tearsfrom Keith’s eyes. “Lance is aliveand he’s going to be fine. You won’t lose him.”

              Keithsniffled, red faced with bags under his eyes and hair a mess. “B -  But what if I do?”

              “Now, Idon’t wanna hear you talking like that.” Kuro snapped suddenly, surprising bothKeith and Shiro. Shiro narrowed his eyes at Kuro, wanting to scold his brother’sblunt behavior only to stay quiet at Kuro’s look.

              “Enoughof that crap.” Kuro said again and Keith bit back a cry. “Lance is going to be fine. He’s alive; he’s breathing on hisown and he is not in life-threateningconditions. You need to stop thinking that the worst is going to happen andthink about what’s good right now.”

              “Kuro…”Shiro said softly, earning another look from his brother. Keith hiccuppedbefore frowning.

              “I’msorry that I can’t think like that after my husbandwas just in an awful car accident.” Keith bit back sharply. Kuro’s lips almosttwisted upward in a grin. “At least I’m not emotionlesslike everyone seems to think. Sorry for crying over him.”

              “No oneis saying you shouldn’t be emotional Keith.” Kuro said, much gentler than before.Shiro eventually caught on to what his brother was saying and smiled. “We’reall not saying that. It’s okay to be mad or upset or whatever. But you can’t think the worst. You need to bepositive because that’s what Lance is going to need when he wakes up.”

              “Hecould have died!” Keith snapped.

              “But hedidn’t.” Kuro replied.

              “Keith,”Shiro cut in softly. “Listen to your uncle. He’s right, for once.” Shiroignored the wounded look on Kuro’s face to look at his son. Keith was shockedto see his own father siding with Kuro rather than him. “You have every rightto be upset and to cry and that’s not what he’s trying to get you to stop. Hewants you to stop fearing that Lance is going to die because it’s draining on you. You can’t function ifyou’re always thinking that the worst will happen to Lance after this.”

              “You’redad’s right. Thanks Takashi.” Kurorolled his eyes and put a hand on Keith’s shoulders. “I know it’s hard, but it’sgoing to be a hell of a lot harder for Lance, and he needs you by his side. Heneeds a positive force by his side to keep him going when it gets rough. You’reboth allowed to be angry and upset that this happened but you can’t keepthinking of all the bad when there’s so much good. Your husband is alive with injuries that will heal. Keith,you and the two of us, understand physical scars more than anybody and how hardthey can be. Isn’t it wonderful that Lance will only have minor scars; that hisleg didn’t needed to be amputated or that he will have full mobility when heheals.”

              It tooksome time but eventually Keith nodded.

              “AndLance is alive. Lance will soon enough come home to you to your precious puppyand that hellion you call a cat.” Kuro continued, while Keith’s grin only grewwider and wider.

              “Bluedotis wonderful, especially to Lance.” Keith said gently, and Kuro rubbed his chinthoughtfully.

              “Maybewe can get it to see Lance in the hospital. But I’ll make Shiro do is becausethat is a demon cat.” Kuro shuddered and Shiro protested loudly.

              “As if.I’m not touching Bluedot. She yelled at me. I’ll gladly sneak Marmora inbecause he is such a good boy.” Shiro replied, causing Keith to laugh wetly.

              “Okay,okay. I get it. Stop being so emo.” Keith finally said with a relieved sigh. Hegrinned again when his dad and his uncle both pulled him in for a bone crushinghug. Keith whined playfully, demanding to be let go but the two only held ontighter until Keith couldn’t stop laughing.I’m lucky to have the family that I have.

              And to get to share it withLance.

              Thatnight, when Lance finally woke up Keith had immediately threatened to castratehim if he ever did another night trainingagain, before smothering Lance with kisses. Lance took it all with grace andlet his husband and family fret and worry over him until Keith and Lance werefinally alone. They stayed up talking about anything and everything, like theydid as kids, until Lance fell asleep. His hand was still in Keith’s and Keithsmiled. He then leaned down to press a soft kiss to Lance’s lips before closinghis own eyes and getting some much needed sleep.

              “I loveyou Lance.”

[twistednuns]

June 2019

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving.”   

A (very) sunny day in London. Seeing a seal in the Thames, right under the Tower Bridge. Walking through St. James’s Park, eating ice-cream. Taking a beautiful picture of Laura in Covent Garden. Finally getting out of the underground. A tiny rainbow reflection in the sky over Greenwich.

Playing badminton in the evening with Frank. Sitting by the river, making new friends (duckies).

Micha. Meeting in Thalkirchen after I had just seen a half dead mouse. Walking along the river, finding a nice spot across from the zoo with a bunch of musical hippies playing the drums on the other bank. We got drunk on Toro Loco and Grasovka in ice hockey cups until he kissed me in the middle of a sentence. It took quite a while until I noticed I was just kissing my first man with a tongue piercing. At some point I re-erected a knocked over portable toilet (does drunk me have superhuman powers?) and we walked to the subway together. Such a gentle weirdo.

Making breakfast for someone other than me. Sharing an apple. Eating out of the same bowl.

IKEA has veggie hot dogs now. Excellent. I also got a new cutting board. And that’s ALL I got. I’m virtually patting myself on the shoulder right now.

Christoph and Lauren’s wedding was pretty chill. We squeezed into a car, went up a very steep hill to attend the ceremony and spent the rest of the day around a camp fire drinking gin and tonics or dancing to very bad music. I loved getting to know Michael’s boyfriend of 4 years. I always received gay vibes from him… good to know that my gaydar isn’t broken.

Taking polaroid pictures in the beautiful afternoon light. I also loved Christian’s outtakes of the theme music quiz. One of them honestly looks as if I’d just won a beauty pageant - we have a host, two ladies with jealous side glances and me, all excited, open mouth, in front of the mic, waiting for her tiara…

Spending a few hours in my mum’s garden. Doing dangerous yoga exercises in the grass. Walking barefoot. Marveling at the lush roses everywhere. Watching a blackbird taking a bath under the cherry tree. Very entertaining.

I want to learn Spanish and this video gives me hope - apparently I can heavily rely on my French vocabulary.

Why the men I like usually look the same.

Hanging out with Martina, Tobi and Diego the dog at the Thalkirchen campsite. Watching the rafts go by (horrible music), driving them home with their car right before the apocalyptic thunderstorm.

The perfect dessert: berries or peaches with fresh cream. The perfect dinner: Truffle pasta.

The concept of eclecticism.

Spending the afternoon with Franzi at Maria Einsiedel. Meeting baby Elise for the first time. Hopping into the Eiskanal, turning my body into a freezer for five minutes. Eating tiny lemon ice-cream and galia melon.

Meeting Catrin and Andreas at Brillengalerie in Altheim. Really good cappuccino (he’s an optician AND a latte artist). I loved trying on those gorgeous glasses and talking to Catrin about the Latte Art championships and rude customers.

Our trip to the Bavarian Forest to make a cake tree for the wedding. We visited Lena’s uncle who turned a tree trunk into a three-tiered cake stand with his chainsaw. We helped. I really want to get a chainsaw license now.

Once again: roses. They are incredibly lush this year. I don’t know why exactly but climate change seems to have one tiny upside.

Drawing. Portrait practice. Filling my sketchbook from idee. Polychromos coloured pencils.

Using Instagram’s story feature for the first time. I love editing pictures and adding gifs and colours. Immature and tacky but fun.

Looking trough old analogue pictures. Finding lots of my dad looking like the perfect Millennial. 90s fashion really IS back. I still loathe fanny packs though.

I found someone who’s coming to India with me!! I’m going to travel with Bibi this summer. So excited!

Unfortunately: the Solitaire app on my phone. Unhealthy obsession. You know you’ve got a problem when you’re getting REALLY good…

The smell of dill pickles reminds evokes vivid memories of my grandma. She used to make them herself, in heavy stoneware next to the wash room in the cellar.

Spending the evening with Bibi at Kulturdachgarten (having Ginger Spritz as a sundowner in the late afternoon sun), eating Israeli mezze at NANA in Haidhausen and seeing Rocketman at Rio cinema. My colleague works there so we got discount tickets and free ice-cream. Taron Egerton is a fabulous actor. If I had to describe the film in one word it’d be flamboyant. Also, I’d have loved to be the costume designer for this.

Iglo veggie love frozen meals. With Hela curry ketchup. Nom.

Extremely cute new rockery plants (who will have to do with regular potting soil I’m afraid).

Meeting Andre at Thalkirchen. Spending the evening on an Isar gravel bank, drinking the beer Martina brought from Croatia. Joining the… eh, what’s the Mile High Club for people who prefer water to air travel? Catching the last train home. Taking dinky photobooth pictures because we still had ten minutes to spare. That fake photo strip makes me happy instantly whenever I look at it.

Getting better at asking for what I want.

The character Moe in the Netflix series Trinkets. To me, she’s so much more attractive than Tabitha. And I love her attitude. And her hookup in episode seven. What a pretty man.

Manu making me realise how much I look like my dad. “At least jawwise!”

Spending the evening with Tom. Pre-theatre Spritz, Melancholia at Kammerspiele, Isar-beer near Müllersches Volksbad. Talking about our insights and issues.

It’s fascinating to see the lupin in front of my balcony door open it’s blossoms gradually from bottom to top. This plant has such an interesting structure and geometry.

Salad season. Somehow I only like salads in the summer but then I eat them passionately. With strawberries, Black Forest tofu, peaches, blueberries, mangoes, olives. Those nice, firm Roma tomatoes you only get during the summer months. I made a huge bowl of Tabouleh the other day and had it for breakfast, lunch an dinner.

Going home in the morning, smelling of another person.

Booking flights to India. 5 weeks. I’ve never been gone for so long and then I chose India of all places… I feel a mild panic attack coming but I’m also super excited.

Artificial cherry flavour.

A day trip with Lexi. She brought crisps and a fun Mexican dice game which we played on the train. Spending the whole afternoon soaking in the warm water at Therme Bad Aibling. Discovering the amazing acoustics in the various domes. Making a new duckie friend. Weird mirror selfies with hairdryers. Dinner at a Bavarian restaurant in Rosenheim. Teaching le Sash some obscure Bavarian words.

The word obscure, come to think of it. Uncanny is a close second.

Jupiter being so bright in the night sky. I always notice it first as soon as it’s dark.

Librarians are secretly the funnest people alive.

So many things, really. I’m feeling quite happy at the moment. My only problem is that I keep gaining weight. Somehow enjoying myself is adverse to the strict regime I need in order to stay perfectly healthy.

Random things: Schweppes Fruity citrus and orange lemonade. Tomato sandwiches with fresh basil on olive ciabatta. That squirrel running over the garage roof in the morning. Dreaming of ferry rides through US rivers. And intercourse with a panther. The Garner Ambre Soleil natural bronzer spray with coconut oil. Nice colour, good smell, minimal chipmunk effect. And of course me regular Garnier sun oil. It’s the bottled essence of summer.

Filling in for someone in the Natural 20s pub quiz team. Being invited to a pen and paper round with feline characters only. Meeting Sophia who, I realised later, played Rosencrantz (or Guildenstern?) at Entity Theatre’s production of Hamlet last year.

My complete and utter obsession with Phil Collins’ version of You Can’t Hurry Love. I think it’s going to be my next karaoke song.

A desire and drive to be creative. Making collages out of dried leftover paint. Drawing on the window panes. Getting out gouache, pastel chalks, oil pastels, those weird 3-in-1 coloured pencils which create such a nice texture. Drawing first thing in the morning. Spending hours drawing owls for the coffee roasters. Using coloured pencils to draw portraits of all the cool girls of Instagram.

Oh, speaking of art. I don’t want to jinx it but I might get the chance to write a book soon! I met an editor who works at a publishing house for lifestyle books and needs someone to make a book about portrait drawing/painting for her. So. Excited. They’re also looking for a trainee in the graphic design department. I really hope I get to collaborate with them in one way or another.

Cute summer outfits. Good colour combinations. Accessorizing. Wearing pretty clothes with a creative twist. Actually putting some thought into putting together an outfit can be a lot of fun. After all it’s just another way of making a collage.

Polarized sunglasses providing me with the bluest skies and rainbow-tinted tram windows.

The Croatian man who sat down next to a visibly pregnant Bavarian woman on the subway and started telling her about his daughter Persephone and the abduction myth connected with her. I keep reading and hearing about Demeter and Persephone lately, for example about Baubo and the vulva presentations / Demeter worship.

Carmen Rohrbach’s Unterwegs sein ist mein Leben. I was very impressed by how much she has seen and experienced. How much she knows about nature and animals. I mean, she’s a biologist, too. Reading this book made my days a little more special because it gave me a sense of how much more there is to discover on this planet.

Eating vegan ice-cream (pumpkin seed and ginger-turmeric) with Micha. Sitting on the balustrade in front of the Art Academy. Staring into these insanely pretty blue eyes all the time. Looking for the toilets, roaming through the hallways. I love the architecture of that building.

A ladybug escaping the subway train through an open door. Freedom!

I love how the characters resemble each other so much in the different generations in the TV-series Dark. Uncanny. And they feature very nice colour contrasts, too. I guess I like their production designer / cinematographer.

Late-night Isar strolls. Drinking red wine, lying down, watching the stars surrounded by fireflies! (which are quite rare where I live so I was lucky - the strangest thing is that I had drawn a firefly into my sketchbook earlier that day, feels like I manifested it)

Tollwood gin and tonics, forgetting to go home, ending up in a gay club at 3am. Nice Thursday.

Making up for the lack of sleep on Friday afternoon. Waking up late. Releasing my inner Julia Child at 2am by making sushi rolls, taboulé and Bergsteigerbrot, something like super tasty vegan granola bars with lots of nuts and honey.

A little bike tour with Frank along the river. Pseudo-meditating on a log, eating some snacks I brought. Floating with the current. His alliterations (“further fodder for future followers”).

[promptbomb]

Ink and Paint : Chapter 2

Pairing: Ryan Haywood x Reader Previous Chapters:  One Word Count: 1,593  Prompt: You came to Los Santos to pursue a dream of becoming a tattoo artist. Things haven’t quite worked out as you planned and now you find yourself working a graveyard shift at Pandemonium Ink. Things are typically quiet, that is until one of the cities most infamous criminals come through the door. 

The ringing of your phone coincides with breaking news interrupting your binge of San Andreas Diners and Dives.

You mute the tv just as a headline crawls across the bottom of the screen, Del Perro Freeway Car Chase, but you’re more focused on your brother’s name flashing on the caller id and the gnawing you feel in your stomach as you reluctantly answer. The conversation follows a pretty standard format; a greeting, small talk about each other’s lives, until ultimately asking if you had talked to your mom recently. He knew that you hadn’t of course, he lived at home after all, and you were sure your mom was hovering around him, waiting for a chance to sneak herself into the conversation.

The relationship between you and your mother was strained, more so since you moved to Los Santos. She had never approved of your interest in art and had only tolerated you working for your uncle’s parlor because you had told her you were saving up money to enroll in online courses for Medical Coding. Boy, she angry when she found out the truth. She had done everything, save locking you in the basement, to keep you from leaving. You knew that she probably had good intentions, but she was absolutely lousy in trying to show them.

When you hear her asking your brother to hand her the phone you make an excuse that you’re late for work and hang up. At least it wasn’t completely untrue, you had agreed to take on a last-minute late shift at one of your part time jobs, a little sandwich stands named Ruth’s. It didn’t pay well but the tips were decent enough and the owner, a little old lady who the stand was named after, was very sweet, almost a pseudo mother figure, who never failed to send you home with a nice meal when she thought you were looking a little thin.

Ruth was there when you showed up, her short stature barely visible over the counter and no doubt recovering from the lunch rush. It looked like a good day, at least that’s what you gather by all the fry baskets and plastic cups left on the tables outside the stand. Instinctively, you bust them down, tossing the trash into the bin as you call out to Ruth to draw her attention away from a small black and white tv balanced on the counter. “What you watching there?”

“Oh, the news.” That figures, after all, the only channels she got on that antique were local. “They’re talking about that car chase from earlier.”

“I saw something about that when I was getting ready.” You say as you tie an apron around your waist, walking up to look over her shoulder at the grainy picture. You see the chief police talking at a podium with about a dozen microphones shoved into his face. He didn’t appear to be happy. “I take it that they didn’t catch them.”

She brushes you away with a playful flick of a towel, “What? Those morons? They couldn’t catch a cold.” You snicker and she continues. “You know, back when Augustus and I first came here it was such a lovely city.”

“When was that again?”

“Watch it,” she says and shakes a crooked finger at your playful rib. “You may not believe it but this used to be a city of dreams. You didn’t even have to lock your doors.”

You had heard it all before. Los Santos certainly had its problems with crime, but what big city didn’t? The pristine utopia that Ruth often described was no doubt tainted by nostalgia, but it was cute to watch her reminisce about old times. “I don’t know, a little dirt gives the city personality at least.”

“Personality? You think those delinquents running the streets have an inkling of personality? They’re just running around, causing chaos. At least the criminals in my day had some class and kept their dealings behind closed doors.”

“Well, I’m sure the cities finest will catch up with them next time,” you say as you catch a glimpse of one of the mugshots, a dapper looking mustached man, before she turns off the tv as a new customer walks up.

You opt to stay with Ruth until closing, helping her clean up and shut down just as it begins to get dark. You made enough with tips to splurge on a cab, it would give you some extra time to clean up before heading to Pandemonium. Yet, despite your earnest protest, Ruth splurges on the ride for you as thanks for coming in on short notice and for staying later than you expected to. The ride from Ruth’s to your apartment building is a short one and, along the way, you’re surprised when you get a call, from Pandemonium no less.

“Yo.” Bruno’s deep voice bellows as you answer. Bruno was one of the daytime artists and typically who you interacted with the most between shifts, a sort of changing of the guards as he chucked the keys at you and reminded you to lock up the safe. The fact that he was calling was extremely rare.

“Hey. What’s up?”

“Yeah. Someone called and asked for yous. Yous specifically.” Your brow quirks, he sounds almost as surprised as you are. “Said yous guys had a consultation a couple weeks ago.”

Your mind races through your memory like a Rolodex, trying to remember. A couple weeks ago? A consultation? Nothing comes to mind. Nothing except- “Oooh. Huh.”

“What’s that?” Bruno asks.

“Nothing. Just, this one guy did come in but we...we couldn’t come to an agreement. It wasn’t even that much of a consultation.”

“Well, if it’s the same guy yous must have made some sort of impression. Said he was coming by tonight.” Great. You hadn’t really thought about that awkward encounter since it had happened. With the way he stormed out you just assumed that was the end of it. “Yous remember what he wanted, yeah?”

“I think so, yeah. Thanks for the heads up. I’ll try to make it in a little earlier to set up.” Bruno grumbles a farewell and your conversation ends a few minutes shy of the cab pulling up to your apartments.

A quick shower and a change of clothes and you’re sitting on the couch sketching. Roses. You remember that he wanted roses, a memorial for a friend. But that was all. You didn’t have a clue where he wanted the tattoo placed, what style, if he wanted color or black and gray. Maybe he didn’t want anything at all. You realize you could be doing a bunch of work for no reason if he simply wanted to come in and show you a tattoo he got someplace else as a means to remind you of your poor customer service. You don’t regret it, though. You still stand by what you said.

You toss your sketchbook on the table in defeat; there was no point in trying to draw something before you even knew what he wanted. You lay back on the couch and glance at the tv, seeing that they’re still talking about the care chase this morning, or at least that’s what you assume as you see the same dapper looking mustache man mugshot from earlier on screen morph into a full lineup of several wanted criminals.

That’s when you see him.

Disheveled hair, ripped jacket, a face completely smeared in paint, yet the recollection of those blue eyes washes over you like a bucket of ice water. Stunned, you roll off the couch and into the floor, nearly missing cracking your head against the table before managing to get to your feet to draw closer to the tv screen. There was no mistaking it. The man in the mugshot, labeled only with an alias of Vagabond, was the same man that you had talked to. The same man you had pissed off. The same man that was coming to see you tonight.

“Shiiiiit.”

Logic told you that no one would call ahead to let you know they were coming if they intended to do you harm. At least that’s what you had to tell yourself in some way of psyching yourself up to go to work. You no sooner get through the door before Bruno and a couple of other artists are on their way out. If you didn’t think Bruno would laugh in your face if you asked him to stay you might have asked. Fat chance he’d be of any help if things turned sour. Even if he believed you he’d be more likely to call the cops and the thought of getting in any deeper than what you already were was none too appealing.

So you settle on running business as usual. If anything the element of surprise was off the table and if you felt threatened, well, that’s what the baseball bat was for. Still, the waiting game had your stomach in knots. You had no idea when the Vagabond was going to show up, or what mood he would be in for that matter. You had to admire his moxie, though; instead of laying low after a high profile car chase he’s out, living like it was just an everyday occurrence. Well, you suppose it could easily be madness as much as it could be moxie.

The hours tick away and you actually have to shake yourself awake when you hear the door open.

[booksummarieswithkatz]

Pack Justice by R.J. Blain, a summary

Okay, terms to know can be found here.

Now that that’s out of the way let’s get on with the story.

I’m gonna level with you here, for the sake of telling the story as clearly as possible, I’m gonna tell it in the order stuff happens in the world of the book instead of the order the book presents it in. Clear? Good.

Prosecuting Attorney Sean Scott discovered he had a cheetah spirit when he was five or six years old, and he has no idea that he is not alone in the world of supernaturals. Sean doesn’t know about the Inquisition, Fenerec, witches, nor shamans; he just thinks that he’s the weird one. His cheetah, who has no name and shall be referred to as “Statler” from now on, takes the form a ghost only he can see and interact with. Statler also endowed him with the ability to temporarily take his form, and they can swap bodily control and communicate purely with thought. This has become a sticking point for Sean by the time the story starts for two reasons: one, Statler hates Sean’s abusive wife, Idette, and two, Statler wants Sean to get nasty with Defense Attorney Andrea Morgan with an urgency that has escalated for the past ten years.

We should digress here to discuss Idette. Sean and Idette have been married for a very long time, straight out of college to be precise. Their marriage was good, Idette was gentle and kind, and was pretty much the stereotype of a 50s housewife. However, seven or eight years ago, when Sean was just turning thirty, things changed; Idette became a rogue Fenerec. Sean of course had no idea, but he is certainly familiar with the repercussions. People who become a Fenerec after they are married will immediate assume their spouse as their mate, but for Sean and Idette that was not going to happen. You see, a few years before Idette’s turning Sean met Andrea Morgan, and Andrea Morgan is also a Fenerec. Andrea wanted to take Sean as a mate, and Statler accepted the mating bond in Sean’s stead, without telling Sean. So we come to the current situation: Sean and Andrea are mates, and Sean’s wife is dominated by the need to take him as her mate, and Fenerec don’t give up on mates; they also are disturbingly territorial and violent when they’re needs go unmet. So Idette tries to fix this the only way she knows how: by trying to force her mating bond onto Sean. Her attempts take the form of physical abuse – by biting him in particular, biting him until she draws blood and scars him. Sean doesn’t know why this is happening, Idette doesn’t know why this is happening (though her wolf instincts are slowly driving her insane), and Andrea is stuck pining because she doesn’t realize what’s going on either. Now hang on you say, how come no one realizes Sean’s wife is a Fenerec? Shouldn’t other Fenerec be able to smell her or some shit? Technically yes, except that Sean has a bunch of friends in the police department who are also Fenerec, so he smells like wolves all the damn time: Idette thinks it’s her scent and the others think it’s theirs. Good going guys.

And so we come finally to the beginning of the story: settling a big case in the courtroom. The players of this scene are Sean (as lead prosecutor), Andrea (as the defense), Judge O’Mallory (local alpha Fenerec), and the Defendant: Douglass Roberts, accused of raping multiple women and the murder of a police officer. After a nation-wide television coverage of the case, Roberts is declared guilty. Much good news, very celebration. Wow. Except for one thing: someone submitted an envelope to the police during the trial. The envelope contains pictures showing that Roberts had an accomplice, and they’ve been stalking Sean. Sean is worried about a danger to his person, and asks if he should cancel the trip he’s planned. The trip is a short vacation with Idette out to an isolated cabin in the woods of New York (they live in L.A. btw) to give their marriage one last chance before he served the divorce paper’s after years of browbeating from Judge O’Mallory to submit them. As much as Sean wants to cancel, O’Mallory says that he should go – to throw the stalker off his trail.

After Sean’s cop friends (who are also Fenerec) get him drunk so he can’t go home immediately, Sean flops into bed and avoids Idette as much as possible. The next day they head out to New York and arrive at the lodge Sean’s rented. Idette is very hostile to Sean and calls him out for the smallest errors, but she loves the choice of venue and asks if he’ll take a walk with her in the woods after dark. Because that’s not the start of ANY horror movies at all. He agrees, of course, and they kayak to the other side of the lake to walk through the pristine woods in the light of the full moon. As they hike through the forest, Sean loses track of Idette, and he notices with Statler’s senses that a wolf has begun to stalk him.

This is no ordinary wolf, but a Fenerec that Statler identifies as Idette, who is also the size of a pony. Nice. So Idette attacks Sean; he defends himself by bicycle kicking her right in the face; she responds by ripping his throat out. Sean passes out.

He awakens to Statler whining and trying to staunch the bleeding with his paw, but it’s no use. That’s when the wolf spirit appears. This is the first time the Fenerec’s wolf spirit is seen in any of the books, and it’s appearance is that of a spectral wolf with silver eyes and fur the colors of the night sky and glistening with stars. It approaches him, and offers to become one with him like Statler had, he accepts.

He awakens as a wolf pup, dazed and hurting. His throat has regenerated but it has left him weak, and Idette lurks nearby. She grabs him, and brings him back to their kayaks, she transforms back and brings him to the cabin. She cleans off the blood and lies a silk band around his muzzle, “Everything’ll be okay now,” she says “I’ll take good care of you now. You don’t have to worry about anything anymore. No one will ever separate us now, not as long as I live”(location 746-747, yay ebooks).

She abducts him in his wolf form, they leave everything behind except the rental car and Idette’s luggage. She keeps him as a pet for an unknown amount of time, and she fashions a collar and muzzle for him out of leather with silver super-glued to the outside. We don’t know how long they keep up this pattern, since human concepts of time lose meaning the longer one stays a wolf, but one day Idette slips up, and Sean tears his leash and escapes. He happily risks the burns to take off the silvered muzzle and collar, and he runs off into the wilderness.

Sean isn’t stupid, he realizes that they left a huge amount of his blood and signs of struggle in the woods of New York, he knows that they left his torn clothes and personal effects; as far as he can tell, everyone will believe that Sean Scott is dead. He lets Statler and the wolf (we’ll call him Waldorf) take control of their body, they don’t know how to become human again but they do know how to become a cheetah and become a wolf respectively. The two animal spirits switch off between them as Sean’s spirit drifts and sleeps, they debate over which kind of beast is the better hunter, and they test their arguments as they travel to find prey. More time passes, and the weather gets colder, Sean and the beasts decide to stay in their wolf form to stay warm, and they pick up on the scent of blood. They follow the scent, thinking that a deer may have fallen and become injured – easy prey for a nearly full grown Fenerec. But their prey isn’t a deer; deer do not sob. Deer don’t cry and whine and raise a din when predators are near. The three find themselves looking at a teenage girl, using a box cutter to slit her wrists and bleed out.

Waldorf balks at the girl, it goes against everything he stands for to see a pup so abused that is would kill itself; Statler is just as angry. The two beasts wake Sean’s spirit to ask his opinion, and give him control again. Sean had helped prosecute abusers many times, and had a good reputation for comforting the victims – his beasts want him to take the lead; he agrees. He sneaks up on her and scares so badly she drops the knife. He grabs it and buries it, before approaching her like a friendly stray mutt. Waldorf is not amused, but he rolls with it. The girl (her name is Kimberly) takes one look at the giant cheetah-spotted dog that won’t let her kill herself and just breaks down crying. She just sobs and sobs into his fur, and when she finishes crying she leads him to her home. They pass through a field of corn, abandoned and rotting. Kimberly brings her into her house, we find that her parents have died recently and that her uncle got everything – Kimberly included. The scents of the house nearly send Sean and his beasts on the warpath; the whole building reeks of her fear and a man’s arousal. Her uncle is not a good man.

Kimberly, now armed with a kind canine companion, finally builds up the courage to run away. She steals her uncle’s car, which he bought by selling all her parent’s farming equipment (shits a cherry red classic muscle car). They head cross-country, all the way to L.A. (there a back again, a wolf-cheetah-man’s journey), where they dress Sean (she named him Spots) as a service dog.

Stepping back for a moment, let’s look at what’s been going on for the Fenerec pack in L.A. and Andrea. It has been over a month since Sean and Idette disappeared, and shit’s gone pretty sideways for the pack; Andrea’s losing her goddamn mind with her mate probably dead but unable to abandon her responsibilities to go search the scene herself, the policemen in the pack are not much better off, but the alpha pair – Police chief Ramirez and her mate, Judge O’Mallory – keep everyone in line while they wait for the Inquisition to give them answers. Now imagine you are one of those Fenerec police officers on your regular patrol. You see a girl, she’s young, gaunt, and pale – by your experience a runaway – and then you see her dog. You just about trip over yourself watching a Fenerec you’ve never seen before pretending to be a docile service dog. You draw closer, trying to catch the strange wolf’s scent and identify them. You get the scent – it’s familiar – but whose scent is it? OH FUCK! You just about shit your pants. It’s Sean! Sean’s back! And a wolf! And acting like a service dog for a runaway?!

Sean and Kimberly catch sight of some policemen coming towards them. Sean thinks he should know them, but he’s purposefully caged his human memories to keep himself together. They start asking questions about him – well, about Spots anyways. Kimberly gets nervous, but the cops are really friendly and nice and they just want to bring her to the station and feed her dog (lol) and make sure all of her service animal paperwork are in order. That’s when Sean pulls the leash out of her hand and jumps in the back of their police cruiser. I guess he trusted them to help her out.

So they separate Spots (Sean) and Kimberly at the station, and they bring their cheetah-spotted buddy up to the captain’s office. Sean is pretty confused at this point, they shouldn’t be able to recognize him… right? That’s when Alice shows up, she’s another police officer who takes a surprising shine to the giant dog that just walked in. They bring to Captain Ramirez’s door; on the other side of it they hear crashing and shouting on the other side. The officers all sigh, Andrea’s back to drinking it seems. They enter, and Ramirez takes one sniff of Sean and blows her top. “Are you kidding me?!” she shouts, as Sean relegates himself to the farthest corner he can find. Ramirez cajoles Andrea out of her drunken stupor, and demands she take a whiff of this new wolf in their midst.

Andrea just about shits herself when she catches his scent, and she immediately glomps onto Sean, an blubbering mess. Once Andrea is done ugly-crying all over Sean, they bring him out to the alpha pair’s cabin in the woods outside the city to get him back in human shape. They also put Kimberly in the foster care of a Fenerec couple, because nothing says safe like hyper-protective wolf monsters.

Sean passes out while shifting back, and as soon as he’s awake he starts going through the delightful right of passage all Fenerec face when they become human again after their first shift: ritual sickness. So Sean spends the next who knows how long vomiting everywhere, and when he can finally stand without shitting himself he starts eating everything in sight, and he meets his guards for the night. The two cops that picked him and Kimberly up have been assigned to him so he doesn’t run off, and they explain some important info about being a Fenerec, and let slip that him and Andrea are mates before sending him off to bed again. He awakens at two the next morning, absolutely famished and in need of a run. So he turns into a cheetah and jumps out the window. Genius.

Now, let’s be clear: at this point nobody knows that he can turn into a cheetah, nobody has seen him do it and he’s never told anyone. But regardless he goes hunting in cheetah form and by the time he’s done he’s not thinking people thoughts, he’s thinking cheetah and wolf thoughts. Statler and Waldorf convince Sean that as long as Idette is alive and out there Andrea’s relationship with him will be at risk, therefor the only course of action is to chase the bitch down and kill her. They bound off into the night. They track down Idette in some mountains (somewhere in Montana I think?) and it seems she’s made some friends. Sean nearly vomits at the stench of madness (apparently mad wolves have a smell). Idette’s giant wolf is surrounded by newly turned Fenerec pups, and before her stands… dun-dun-duuuuuuuuuun… Douglas Roberts! The bitch busted him out of jail! Waldorf tells Sean that she’s about to perform the ritual on him, they can’t allow a monster like Roberts to get wolf powers; it would be a disaster. So he leaps down from his hiding place and mauls the shit out of Roberts, killing him. Then he goes for Idette, ignoring the useless and unsteady pups. But Idette’s a giant wolf and he’s only the size of a normal cheetah (~3 ft. at the shoulder), she takes a few hits before snapping his leg like a twig. Then she kidnaps him again.

Sean emergency shifts into his wolf form to speed his healing, but before he can try to escape another Fenerec appears: a black and white female. The new she-wolf kicks the shit out of Idette, and forces her to escape before circling back to stay with Sean. The two find a place to den while Sean’s leg heals, but soon the she-wolf leaves him alone and doesn’t return. Sean hears the singing of an entire wolf pack in the distance, and shifts to his cheetah form and hides up a tree. To be clear, none of the good guys realize Sean can become a cheetah still, so they think they’ve lost a three hundred pound wolf monster and there’s no way he made it up a tree. An entire pack of wolves approach his hiding place, and Sean sees that there is a male wolf that keeps trying to get frisky with the white and black she-wolf. He keeps rubbing up against her and nipping her and she rejects him every time but he won’t stop, and none of the others are stopping him either. This for some reason infuriates Sean, and he power bombs the shit out of this trespassing wolf, then kicks the shit out of him. Of course, none of the pack was expecting a cheetah to jump out of a tree and attack one of them, but they realize that the cheetah has Sean’s scent and decide that they’ve seen stranger things, and just let him defend his woman (in case you haven’t guessed it the she-wolf is Andrea). He puts on a big show of purring and rubbing all over his freshly won mate, before someone comes up behinds him and stabs with a needle full of morphine.

He wakes up again at the cabin, in bed and very naked. He notices that there are arms around him; Andrea is in bed with him, also very naked. Andrea wakes up from his moving about and they have a grand old time doing the horizontal mambo. Sadly, the cops show up and tell them that they have to go to work, well, Andrea has to go to work and Sean needs to turn into a wolf so they don’t have to explain why a man who they claimed was recovering in a private hospital in New York was doing in LA. They bring him to the police station to send him through K9 unit training, which includes scaring the shit out of him repeatedly to test his control – apparently the Inquisition doesn’t like it when a freshly minted wolf loses his shit because some kid set off some firecrackers and attacks someone. Once they are satisfied he won’t lose it completely they send him out on some drug busts, I guess to ensure he could use his new olfactory senses effectively? Whatever. So they bring him to a warehouse and send him out, problem is they didn’t clear the area very well, and Sean is forced to take down some guys, one of whom shoots Sean in the shoulder.

So they bring him back to the station and Captain Ramirez crucifies them for letting Sean get hurt like that, especially because Andrea felt Sean get hurt through their bond and flipped her top. So they realize that getting shot did not turn Sean into a panicky killer then returning to work in the courtroom probably won’t do it either, so they facilitate his “fateful return” to the city in human form. They also tell him that since all the wolves Idette made were criminals she busted out of jail after Sean put him in there, by California law he was allowed to divorce her Scott-free and got everything in the settlement. But Sean does not want to keep his house, seeing as it was the place Idette abused him for nearly a decade, so he calls a previous client who happens to be a real-estate agent and they go to look at houses together. Except, Sean never told anyone that he was doing this, and everyone thought he was at home all day; this was problematic when someone blew up his house.

So while Sean gets attacked by a piece of falling ceiling, people are holding Andrea back from digging through the debris in hopes of finding him. Sean and his realtor show up as the cops set up the barricade around the property; everyone is fucking pissed when they see him, and they quickly escort him into police custody while they search for evidence. Once they are done looking through the wreckage they check him in to an Inquisition-protected hotel, and he’s happy to realize that he won’t be lonely because the hotel suite came with a pretty lady-wolf wearing nothing but a smile. Sadly they can’t just hole-up in the hotel room and fuck forever, so they send Andrea home and decide to have Sean “date some pretty girls” and by that I mean meet with some local witches so he can have help controlling his wolf side.

This plan works for about five fucking seconds before Andrea shows up looking fine as hell, and everyone realizes that this was a stupid plan so they decide to just move on with their lives and let Sean and Andrea move in with each other and maybe adopt Kimberly, because Idette is going to come after them sooner or later so they might as well just set up as many defenses as possible in the meantime. The End

[astridspokemonfic]

Episode 8: Spheal the Deal!

Narrator: After their brush with Team SubZero, our heroes have recovered from the harrowing ordeal only to come to an abrupt realization.

“I never got to actually go inside the aquarium!” Astrid shrieked. Considering it was 10 in the morning, it wasn’t exactly a pleasant sound. The twins gave her the most annoyed look they were capable of. (Especially considering that they woke up late.) Janine thankfully, was spared from the sound since she was inside taking a video call.

“You didn’t realize?” Kaytlyn raised an eyebrow.

“No I didn’t!” She scowled.”I was caught up in that poacher stuff!”

“You tend to not notice a lot of things.” Kayla muttered. “There was the Double Contest thing last week… and now with the aquarium.”

“Shut up!” the teen huffed, “Why don’t you ever tease Janine about anything?”

Kayla thought for a moment before turning to her sister. “Should I?”

“Janine never really does anything tease-worthy-”

“Yes she does!” Astrid interjected. “First of all she’s a total weeb.”

“True.”

“She has scoliosis.”

“Also true.”

“She’s an emo.”

“Uh-huh.”

“She’s-“

“I’m what?”

Astrid let out a shriek, unaware that Janine had somehow snuck up on her. The trainer gave her an unimpressed look before continuing.

“I got a call from Adrian. He’s gonna be here in a few minutes and he wanted to make sure that we were still here so we could finally battle.” Janine explained.

“You do know that Adrian has a type advantage on you right?” Kayla pointed out. Janine shrugged.

“I’ll just do the same thing I did with Romeo back at the gym.”

“Uh, but what if Mudkip evolved?”

“What?”

Kayla gave her a concerned look before Astrid cut in, “Mudkip evolves into Marshtomp, complete with a Water/Ground-Typing. Fire has a quarter of its usual effectiveness, and Electric does absolutely nothing.”

“Well… that’s a problem.” The trainer stated, dumbfounded.

“Yeah. On the other hand it becomes double weak to Grass-Types.” Astrid said smugly, offering Kayla a hi-five since they both chose grass-type starters.

“Well. Time to spam Double-Kick.”

“You can’t just do that!” Kayla pointed out.

“Yes I can.”

“That’s the most basic and unoriginal strategy I’ve ever heard.”

“Bet. I’ll beat him.”

“I hate you.”

~*~*~*~*~

After a few minutes of waiting, Adrian and his friends had shown up at the entrance of the Pokemon Center. The group caught their attention with a series of shouts and joking cat-calls. (At least on Astrid’s end)

“Please shut up. You’re all so embarrassing.” Adrian pleaded, glancing around to other bystanders.

“You love us.” Astrid crowed, meaning to embarrass him further. She narrowly dodged an incoming slap and moved over to hug Sheyla and Andrea.

“How was Route 3?” Janine motioned to his ragged appearance.

“Other than the ungodly amount of Mightyena and Poochyena everywhere, it was great! I caught two Pokemon!”

“Woah! Two?” Kayla asked curiously. At Adrian’s nod, the teen beckoned Astrid over, hoping she would lend the Pokedex to her for a few minutes. Wordlessly, Adrian reached to two more Pokeballs hanging at his hip (Wow, how did they not notice those?). Each Pokemon popped out with their own unique cries.

“An Aron and Ralts?”

Astrid handed her Pokedex to Kayla and knelt down to poke at the Psychic-Type.

“Ralts, the Feeling Pokemon. Ralts senses the emotions of people using the horns on its head. This Pokémon rarely appears before people. But when it does, it draws closer if it senses that the person has a positive disposition.”

Kaytlyn snorted. “Well that makes absolutely no sense.”

“What do you mean?”

“Adrian, you are one of the most aggressive people I’ve ever met. Second to a rampaging Tauros.” She snickered. Adrian gave her a hard look before sighing.

“True.”

“Is there a particular story behind this?” Janine asked, remembering her Mareep.

“Not with Ralts. He just threw the Pokeball as soon as he beat him. Pretty standard.” Andrea shrugged, “But Aron? There’s a story behind that one.”

“Ralts is a he?” Kayla gave Ralts a onceover, not understanding how such a feminine Pokemon could possibly be male. “Remind me to introduce you to Astrid’s Vulpix.” she muttered.

“Sh! I want to hear the Aron story!” Kaytlyn threw leaves at her sister, acting over dramatic. Kayla gave her a wounded look and simply scanned Aron in response.

“Aron, the Iron-Armor Pokemon. This Pokémon has a body of steel. To make its body, Aron feeds on iron ore that it digs from mountains. Occasionally, it causes major trouble by eating bridges and rails.”

“Okay, so basically.” Sheyla began, “Adrian had already caught Ralts like the day before, and he was training up her Magical Leaf attack. And then out of nowhere the Aron comes out.

“Adrian’s like ‘Oh this is going to be great training experience!’ and he sends Ralts to battle. Andrea and I just sorta… move away because this is probably the eighth time he’s done this in the past hour or so. He’s insane.”

“I was training my Pokemon!”

“You couldn’t have waited until we got to a Pokemon Center? You’re the reason it took 3 days to get here! Whatever.” Sheyla waved him away and the boy sat down, no longer able to tell his own story, “Anyway. We were just talking about how stupid Adrian is, and then he starts screeching. Out of nowhere.”

“It was concerning.” Andrea added, giving the gay a disgusted look. Adrian narrowed his eyes in response.

“Mhm. Well. We go over and we’re like,

‘What’s wrong? Are you hurt? Is Ralts hurt?’ But no. Instead he starts yelling at us to give him his bag, and he won’t answer when we ask what’s going on. So we just fling his bag over and he’s all panicky, and he doesn’t even look and he throws a Pokeball at Aron. But it doesn’t work. Obviously. And Aron escapes and starts to run.”

“Yes, of course, I’d run too.” Astrid nods, unhelpfully. Janine scoffs.

“And instead of battling it again, like a logical human being, Adrian throws another Pokeball. Which doesn’t work. And he continues this maybe 4 more times before finally throwing a Great Ball.”

“Why on Arceus’s green Earth would you do that?” Janine turned to the boy in question.

“Aron has a Secret Ability!” Adrian said, showing them his Pokedex.

“Secret Ability?”

“You know how Pokemon have abilities?” Sheyla began. Janine nodded.

“Arroz has Static as her ability.”

“Arroz? Who the- Actually, nevermind. Anyway, Secret Abilities are just really rare abilities that a certain Pokemon species may have. For Aron species in particular, their secret ability is Heavy Metal, meaning they become heavier in battle. Most Pokemon have Hidden abilities that make it so that they have a better advantage in battle.”

“I heard about Hidden Abilities before in school, but I didn’t think we’d actually meet a Pokemon with one!” Astrid said in wonderment. Kayla had a similar look as they inspected Aron thoroughly.

“I wonder if any of our Pokemon have a Secret Ability.” Kaytlyn thought out loud.

“I wouldn’t even know the difference.” Janine admitted. She turned her attention back to Adrian, “So about that battle…” Adrian nodded in excitement and was about to set the terms before Astrid interrupted.

“Woah, woah, woah! I’d just like to remind you that I haven’t gone to the Aquarium yet!”

“Literally no one cares.” Adrian gave her a harrowing look. Astrid glared right back.

“You can wait. I’ve wanted to go to the Aquarium since the first day we got to this sandy purgatory! Listen. You two can battle after we visit the aquarium.” She turned to Kayla and Andrea and began to drag them along, “Before something ridiculous happens and Team SubZero decides to blow up a daycare or something.” Sheyla watched the coordinator drag her friends along before a thought struck her.

“Who’s Team SubZero?” Janine took a double-take.

“You haven’t encountered them yet?”

“It doesn’t really matter, they’re just a bunch of Pokemon stealing weirdos in parkas.” Kaytlyn said dismissively.

Adrian nodded sagely. “Like Team Rocket.”

They have him a look.“Who’s Team Rocket?”

“This group back in the 90s that- actually nevermind it doesn’t matter. Just follow them before they get themselves run over.”

~*~*~*~*~

Turns out saving Pokemon from being kidnapped comes with its perks. When they started to pay for their tickets, the lady at the ticket booth had told them ‘It was already taken care of’ and told them to pass right through.

Andrea eyed the ticket booth in suspicion.“Did you somehow join the mafia in the time we’ve been gone?”

“More like stopped the mafia.” Kayla corrected, “We got Team SubZero to back off yesterday, so I’m guessing this is their way of saying thank you.”

“You keep mentioning this Team SubZero.”

“Bruh. We met them the first day we started our journey!” Astrid began her over dramatized tale of rescuing the twins, much to their chagrin.

“You never finished that story back in Rocens, you know.”

“I was nervous for my contest.” She shrugged. Janine narrowed her eyes.

“So you mean to tell me that they never crossed paths with you guys once?”

“Nope!”

“We’ve crossed with them twice! And they’ve tried to kill us both times!” Astrid exclaimed. Kayla could only offer a long-withering sigh.

“Coincidence?”

She glared up at the sky just long enough to avoid permanent eye damage. “Arceus is playing some huge trick and is laughing his plates off right now.”

“Wait a minute! Backtrack!” Adrian paused in front of her, “What do you mean tried to kill you?”

“Uh. Kind of? The first time there was this Ciela woman who wanted to catch the twins and she took their Pokemon too.” Janine thought back.

Astrid giggled. “Then we destroyed her stupid machine.”

“Yeah, and then she wanted to freeze-dry us with her Froslass!”

“Don’t be stupid. Froslass can’t learn Freeze-Dry.” Kayla gave her a grin.

“You’re all surprisingly calm about facing a criminal organization.” Sheyla pointed out.

“Oh, it’s never calm. Every minute it feels like I’m about to either cry, punch someone, or a mix of both.” Kaytlyn grimaced, “It’s not fun.”

“Either we’re suppressing our trauma, or we’re sociopaths.” Kayla glanced at her phone, “At least according to Google.”

“Or you’re adrenaline junkies with hero complexes.” Sheyla suggested. Janine considered for a moment before agreeing dejectedly. Astrid let out a loud gasp and dragged Kayla through to a glow-in-the-dark display.

“Kayla! Check out these Tentacool!”

“I already saw them- Stop pulling on me!”

Kaytlyn heaved out a sigh before following her sister. “Sweet Arceus.”

The group slowly crept through the aquarium, stopping frequently to marvel at the different types of Water-Type Pokemon that called the aquarium their home. Janine had to admit that there were details she hadn’t noticed before when she was running around looking for culprits. The silence was broken every few moments when someone would crack a joke or had an interesting fact to share.

The teens followed each exhibits, until they had gone through the entire building, exiting in the courtyard. From there, it was of little argument where to go, as they all agreed that it would be most interesting to watch one of the upcoming shows.

Their curiosity led to a designated pool area that was surrounded by glass, likely to keep people from getting too close to the Pokemon. There were hardly any people sitting in the arena, maybe two or three adults and the rest were staff who were easily recognizable in yellow polos.

Next to the pool was a platform where a man in a wetsuit was standing with his arms crossed staring down at a group of round blue Pokemon.

Janine took out her Pokedex and scanned the Water-Types.

“Spheal, the Clap Pokemon. Spheal always travels by rolling around on its ball-like body. When the season for ice floes arrives, this Pokémon can be seen rolling about on ice and crossing the sea.”

“It’s so round…” Kayla looked at the Pokemon with wide eyes. The group of Spheal clapped enthusiastically, some rolling around dumbly. A single Spheal was the outlier of the group far away, and refusing to even get close. The Pokemon began to practice some sort of routine, each taking turns bouncing a beach ball to each other. In a word, it was one of the cutest displays they’d ever seen. Until it was the last one’s turn.

The Spheal smacked the ball back with more force than necessary, bonking one of the others in the face.

“Spheal, come on! Please cooperate for once!”  The trainer pleaded to no avail as the Spheal absolutely ignored him. “Spheal!”

“Woah, that Spheal really doesn’t want to listen to him.” Astrid whistled, pressing closer to the foggy glass. Kayla nodded.

“Maybe it doesn’t want to do their routine?” she suggested. The Spheal bounced closer to one of the others and promptly smacked it so hard that it rolled backwards into the water. “Or. Maybe it’s just mean.”

The man seemed to be at wits end as the Spheal bounced/rolled around causing chaos amongst the others.

“Spheal it’s not that hard! Bounce the ball!” The handler seemed to try a different approach, giving a nervous laugh as he gently tossed the ball in said Pokemon’s direction. The Spheal gave him an angry look at smacked the ball back again. The handler barely caught it. Spheal opened its mouth and began to form a ball of ice.

Sheyla recognized the move immediately. “That’s Ice Ball!” The handler seemed to notice and thankfully dodged the first time. However, he wasn’t so lucky the second time and was knocked backwards.

“Shouldn’t someone intervene?” Andrea looked around nervously and spotted some of the staff ignoring the scene in front of them, or maybe it wasn’t that big of a deal?

“Woah, let’s talk about this!” The handler scrambled backwards as another Ice Ball shot past his face.

“I think we should intervene!” Adrian said, prompting his friends to run to the glass door on the side that read ‘Employees Only’. The teens pushed their way past each other through the narrow door. Kaytlyn was the first to throw a Pokeball out.

“Charmander, use Ember!” Her Fire-Type released a barrage of small fires at the Ice Ball, throwing it off it’s trajectory and down to the tiled floor. Andrea helped the man up while Kaytlyn faced down with the angry Pokemon. The Spheal stared down Charmander with a surprising amount of ferocity. The Spheal let out a bark and began to roll towards Charmander at an alarmingly fast pace. The lizard hopped to the side to avoid the attack.

“That was Rollout!” Astrid exclaimed as the group parted to avoid the still rolling Pokemon. She threw down a Pokeball, “Vulpix use Fire Spin to keep it in place! Wait- but not too strong!”

The fire fox popped out and released flames from its mouth that quickly formed a circle of fire around the spheal, a muted version of it’s usual fire tornado. The Spheal rolled in place inside the fire circle for a few moments before rolling out, completely oblivious to the flames. Astrid let out a shriek and scooped Vulpix out of the way.

“Charmander, use Dragon Rage!” Charmander gathered a collection of orange energy in its mouth and released it towards the Spheal resulting in a cloud of dark smoke. When the Water-Type came into view, it seemed injured, but continued to glare at Charmander as if it wanted to continue fighting. Charmander let out a growl and Spheal’s glare faltered for a moment.

“That’s it! Spheal, return!” The handler recalled Spheal back to its Pokeball. The man sighed heavily before turning to the teens, “I’m sorry for Spheal’s behavior.”

“Is it usually like this?” Andrea asked warily. He sighed again.

“Unfortunately, yes. Spheal’s been causing trouble for the Aquarium for quite some time. Because of that, Spheal is the only Pokemon here that needs to be in a Pokeball.”

Sheyla looked up from where she was staring at a snoozing Spheal. “Is Spheal originally from the wild?” “No.” He replied, “Spheal was hatched and raised here in this Aquarium. We have no idea where he learned how to battle though.” He rubbed the back of his head, “He’s been picking fights with the other Pokemon, so we couldn’t have him in any exhibits. Similarly, he struck out in the petting zoo…”

“You let him around children?”

“Yeah, that was a mistake. This Spheal show is the last chance we have for him.”

“What do you mean last chance?” Kayla gave him a curious look.

“Well, if Spheal can’t live in the Aquarium, we either send him somewhere else or we release him to the wild. Because Spheal is so volatile, they’re leaning towards the latter.” 

Sheyla narrowed her eyes. “Don’t Pokemon raised in captivity die in the wild?”

“Wait they do?!” Kayla’s eyes were wide with surprise.

“Pokemon that are raised in captivity aren’t used to life in the wild; They don’t know how to hunt  or protect themselves. It’s almost as if their natural survival instincts have been wiped away completely. Unless a Pokemon is exceptionally strong, it’s not advisable to send them into the wild on their own.”

“That’s cruel! Why would they be leaning towards that option?”

“Because Spheal’s built up a reputation as being difficult with other people and Pokemon. None of the Breeding Centers and Aquariums we’ve contacted want him.” The handler glanced down at the Pokeball in his hands. “We can’t find anyone who can handle him, and he’s purposely been messing up the shows by trying to fight everything in the immediate vicinity. Including me. The most we can do is hope that when we release Spheal, he’ll be caught by some nice trainer.”

“Or…” Adrian cut in, “You could cut out the middle and just give Spheal to a trainer directly.”

Astrid gave him a look. “What trainer could control Spheal?” She held her hand up, “And don’t say you.”

“Pff, no! I already have a Water-Type. I meant Kaytlyn.”

“What? Me?” Kaytlyn and Charmander had been half-heartedly been listening to the conversation until her name was called.

“Well, yeah. You got Spheal to back off long enough for its handler to call it back to its Pokeball. I’m sure you could handle it.” He gave her a pat on the back as if it was any consolation.

“That’s right! You took on Romeo and beat him despite the type disadvantage! You’d totally be able to handle a water type!” Astrid joined in, blatantly ignoring Kaytlyn’s motions for her to shut up. The twin turned to Janine in the hopes that she’d stop them.

“...You might be able to teach Spheal to calm down. You’re pretty calm in most situations.”

“No I’m not!”

“You have to admit that Spheal gives you a tactical advantage. Spheal would give you an advantage over Rock-Types and Ground-Types. Which are strong against Charmander.” Sheyla added. 

Kaytlyn turned to her Charmander who was staring up at her intently. “What do you think? Would you be okay with another Pokemon on our team?” Charmander seemed to consider a moment before letting out a happy sort of growl, letting the flame on its’ tail grow larger. “Well if you’re okay with it…”

“You seem to be a strong trainer. I’m trusting you with Spheal okay? So… take good care of him.” The handler gently placed the Pokeball in her cupped hands. “I should go practice the routine with the others, so good luck with Spheal!” The handler said brightly, leading the Spheal herd away through a door.

“So… what now?”

~*~*~*~*~

With the aquarium trip cut short, the teens sat out in the grass outside the Pokemon Center, lounging on the grass in various states of relaxation. Kind of.

“Kaytlyn, just let it out!” Kayla was thoroughly done with her sister.

“No! It’s going to attack me or something!”

“Then I’ll do it for you!” Kaytlyn dodged her sisters hands before she could grab the Pokeball. “Why are you so scared? Charmander is right there.”

Astrid looked up. “We could all let our Pokemon out if that helps.”

“That’s not a good idea.” Janine placed her hand on the Coordinator’s shoulder to keep her from releasing her Chikorita. “If there are too many Pokemon around it might get intimidated and then it’ll actually attack.”

Astrid let out a groan, “Then do something already! We didn’t even get to see the petting zoo area!” She threw a short twig at Kaytlyn in annoyance.

The girl gave her a dirty look before taking a deep breath. Charmander cooed in support while the other trainers backed up significantly.

“Here goes.” Kaytlyn flung the Pokeball into the air and tensed up. When Spheal materialized in front of them it immediately looked around and began to glare at Charmander. She quickly stepped between them, blocking their glares. “I’m just gonna cut in here, Spheal, I’m your trainer.”

“Way to rip off the bandage!” Kayla teased from her safe spot behind Janine. Kaytlyn sighed and knelt down to offer her hand to the Pokemon.

“Listen, we didn’t start off on the best terms, but I hope we can work together.” The Water-Type gave her an unimpressed look and turned away huffily.

“Maybe Spheal is still mad at you and Charmander.” Andrea tried.

“At this point I think it’s less that Spheal’s holding a grudge and more that this is just how he acts.”

“Oh That’s right!” Adrian nodded, “Spheal didn’t even listen to his handler!”

“You two need some bonding exercises.” Astrid suggested, “Why don’t you play a game?”

“What game do you play with a Pokemon?” Adrian wrinkled his nose.

“Ducklett, Ducklett, Yungoos?” She tried.

“No.”

“Rowlet’s funny. That’s why we get along. ” Kayla mentioned. Adrian looked at her and decided to offer his advice as well.

“My Pokemon and I have a common goal: to be the strongest team in all of Niacal.”

“Ooh, same!” Astrid gave him a hi-five, “But also Chikorita, Vulpix, and I have a lot in common personality-wise.”

“So what I’m getting from this is to have a common goal, find what we have in common, and try to find a good personality trait.”

“Yeah.”

“Basically.”

She sighed again. Janine thought for a moment.

“You battle.” Janine paused, “Or share a life-threatening experience. That’s how it worked for Arroz and Pollo.”

(“She still hasn’t explained why they’re named after food.” Andrea muttered to Sheyla.)

“Wanna re-enact the Mightyena attack?” Kaytlyn gave her a sarcastic look.

“No, but battling is actually a really good idea!” Sheyla said, “In fact it’s probably what’s gonna help you and Spheal learn more about each other! There’s a whole study about how battling strengthens the bond between Trainers and Pokemon and helps them grow!” At this, Spheal suddenly rose to attention, growing more interested the longer he heard about battling other Pokémon.

“Yeah, but who wants to battle Spheal?” Kayla asked. No one volunteered until Janine spoke up.

“I know I promised to battle Adrian today, but actually, Adrian, would you mind battling Kaytlyn and Spheal instead?” “It’s good with me, but you’re going to have to battle me next time.” Adrian said, pushing himself up off the grass. “I assume you’ll be using Spheal for this?” Kaytlyn faltered for a moment.

“I’m… not so sure… Spheal will hardly listen to what I have to say.”

“Then start off with Charmander. Having Spheal watch the battle would mean he’d understand how the battle works first.” Kayla said. Astrid let out a few condescending scoffs before pulling Kayla back by her shoulder.

“Actually, it would be better for Spheal to experience the battle with Kaytlyn. They’d get a first hand experience at a partnership.”

“And Spheal could also completely ignore Kaytlyn and do whatever it wants getting itself, Kaytlyn, or other people and Pokemon in the process.”

“Kayla, I can watch the Olympics for a week straight. It doesn’t mean I can do backflips! You can’t learn it just by watching- Especially not with battling. Besides, it’s just a practice battle. You act like they’re facing the League.”

“People could get hurt!”

“Yes. And?”

“What?”

“I thought we’ve already gone over this: I don’t care about people.”

“Wha- Astrid!”

“Kayla!” she mocked.

“Or?” Sheyla stepped to intervene, “They could double battle. That literally combines both your solutions. You’re both stupid.”

Adrian swept stray grass off his pants and stood in a battle-ready stance. The twin gave him a look before turning to the Pokedex Janine had stuffed into her hands. It said that Spheal’s known moves were Ice Ball, Water Gun, Encore, and Rollout.

“So I’ll just avoid the obvious type disadvantage. Go! Marshtomp and Ralts!”

“I told you it evolved!” Kayla pointed out to her travelling companions.

“Janine, I don’t mean to alarm you, but if Adrian’s your rival, then maybe you should invest in some Grass-Type Pokemon.” Andrea stage whispered, causing the teen to let out a sigh in acceptance. Astrid took the opportunity to scan Adrian’s evolved starter.

“Marshtomp, The Mud Fish Pokemon. This Pokémon plays in mud on beaches when the ocean tide is low. Living on muddy ground that provides poor footing has made its legs sturdy.”

“Charmander, Spheal! Let’s go!” Surprisingly, Spheal was compliant, easily hopping up next to Charmander, giving a somewhat intimidating stare to Marshtomp.

“Ralts, start us off with Magical Leaf!” Ralts raised its hands above its head, summoning up a group of glowing green leaves. Ralts threw his hands down sending the leaves spiralling towards Spheal.

“Use Ember to burn that up!” Charmander hopped in front of Spheal and shot bolts of fire at the offending leaves, burning them up to ash.

“Marshtomp, Mud Bomb!” Marshtomp dug its arms (fins?) into the ground and hurled a blob of mud at the Fire-Type who was left momentarily defenseless. Kaytlyn opened her mouth to command Spheal, but hesitated a moment too late, unsure that Spheal would even bother listening. Spheal took action for her and formed an ice ball and throwing it back, countering the attack before it could hit.

“Have more confidence in your Pokemon!” Kayla cheered from the sidelines.

“Spheal reacted before Kaytlyn did. Interesting.” Sheyla hummed, “And Spheal countered the Mud Bomb just as Charmander did with the Magical Leaf.”

“He’s learning!” Janine marvelled, “He’s a natural battler.”

Spheal reared back and prepared another ice ball to throw at Ralts.

“Spheal, wait!” Kaytlyn called out. Spheal paid her no mind and shot the Ice Ball anyway.

“Ralts use teleport!” Ralts popped out of existence for a moment dodging the ice, leaving Spheal both confused and vulnerable to attack. “Marshtomp, use Tackle!” Marshtomp let out a cry and moved to throw itself onto the Spheal with full force. Spheal panicked for a split second

“Block that with Dragon Rage!” Charmander gathered a small amount of orange energy in its mouth and shot it out at Marshtomp, not hitting it, but preventing it from continuing its’ attack. This bought Spheal enough time to bounce away from the Marshtomp in the chaos.

Janine leaned over to Sheyla and Andrea.

“Kaytlyn isn’t going to win this is she?”

“Nope.” Sheyla didn’t bother to take her eyes off of the field.

“No, she isn’t.” Andrea cast an amused glance to the side, “Marshtomp is an evolved Pokemon with a double advantage against Charmander. And Ralts knows a Grass-Type move.”

“What’s important is that Spheal learns to that Pokemon Battles aren’t just about fighting.” Sheyla explained. “Battles are about showcasing the bond between Trainer and Pokemon.”

Andrea nodded, “That’s why Adrian’s holding back on attacking. He wants Spheal to realize that. Or maybe he’s getting a feel for the battle before destroys them… Either way.” She shrugged.

“That’s kinda… brutal…” Janine turned back to the practice battle.

“Charmander, use Scratch!” Charmander aimed its claws at the Marshtomp but was easily blocked. Most of Charmander’s moves would be useless either way, the most she could do was use Smokescreen to buy time-

“Use your other Pokemon!” Kayla yelled out to her, “Idiot.”

“What?!”

“Ralts, use Confusion on Charmander!” Ralts’ eyes were glowing blue under its bangs while Charmander seemed to have a blue outline. Without warning, Charmander was flung backwards into the dirt. “Marshtomp use Tackle again!” Marshtomp nodded in assent and threw itself at the Ice-Type Pokemon. Without Charmander to help defend, her only option was… Kaytlyn threw caution to the wind and took a chance.

“Spheal, use Rollout!” Spheal had no hesitation as it began to rapidly roll and landed the first actual hit in the battle, slamming into Marshtomp’s stomach. Spheal rolled back to Kaytlyn with a happy expression on his face. “Great Job!” She received a happy bark in response.

“It listened to her!” Janine let out a happy whoop and clapped a bit in encouragement.

“Marshtomp use Water Gun!” Marshtomp puffed its’ orange cheeks up then released a strong stream of water at Charmander. Kaytlyn looked to the Pokedex in her hand before deciding her next move.

“Charmander, use Ember to counter! Full Power!” Charmander glanced back at her with a ludicrous expression but followed her direction and shot out at the water. The Fire-Type move didn’t do much, barely keeping the strong water at bay. “Great! Spheal use Rollout on Ralts!” Spheal got a flopping start and spun its way over to the Psychic-Type.

“Ralts, use Teleport to get out of there!” Ralts easily popped out of view for a few moments, allowing him to dodge Spheal’s attack. Ralts reappeared in the same spot, confident in having dodged the attack.

“Come back!” Kaytlyn let herself grin watching her half-formulated strategy come to fruition. Like a yo-yo, Spheal rolled in place for a moment before rolling back in the same direction, hitting the unsuspecting Ralts. “One more time!” Spheal stopped for a second before changing direction and hitting Marshtomp who was busy fending off Charmander’s full strength Ember. Spheal rolled back to Kaytlyn, clearly satisfied with his accomplishment.

“That was so cool!” Astrid skipped over to shower the clearly uncomfortable Spheal to shower it with head scratches.

“You can’t just- This is a battle!” Adrian yelled from his side of the field. The coordinator didn’t even spare him a glance as she scratched behind the Water-Type’s ear.

“Practice Battle. We both know that if you really wanted to battle Kaytlyn, you wouldn’t have deliberately focused on one Pokemon at a time.”

“He was what?” Kaytlyn turned to her opponent in question. He shrugged unapologetically.

“I wasn’t about to straight up destroy the Pokemon you just got. I’m not stupid. You needed to build trust.” He rolled his eyes.

“Wow. Adrian being prepared. What a scholar.” Sheyla teased. He ignored her determinedly, even when the others joined in. Meanwhile Kaytlyn crouched down to Spheal’s level.

“So, Spheal, do you wanna stay on my team?”

Spheal gave her a funny look, like he was asking something. Kaytlyn mirrored the look before deciding to just explain in general.

“I’m aiming to be a Top Trainer here in Niacal. Maybe even the Champion given enough training. There’ll be plenty more battles like that, and you can grow stronger with me and Charmander. We work together as a group. So?”

Spheal gave some aggressively enthusiastic barks, clapping its’ fins against its’ round stomach.

“I’m assuming that’s a yes.” Kaytlyn gave another grin and scratched its’ head in thanks. When she dragged her attention back to the group, Adrian was discussing tomorrow’s activities.

“Tomorrow I’m taking on Romeo. Are you guys staying to watch it?” Astrid made a hissing sort of sound.

“Yikes. We’re kinda leaving tomorrow morning…”

“Are you serious? Every time?!”

“I don’t know, if you’re upset ask Mew for advice. Anyway, we’ll be heading to Silkgem for Janine’s second badge.” Kayla explained. She glanced at her other friend, “And probably stopping at any and all contests for Astrid. I can almost guarantee that you’ll catch up in a day or two.”

“If we don’t run into trouble.” Janine sighed, “Our battle is postponed again.”

“I don’t get it, why can’t we battle now?”

“For one, your Pokemon are exhausted and second, you should probably rest for tomorrow’s Gym Battle. Just a suggestion.”

“Also, Janine has the Harbor Badge and you don’t. If you ask me it’s kind of unfair since she has more badges than you.” Astrid cut in, clearly hoping to rile him up. She clearly succeeded if his indignant tone was any clue.

“Oh shut up!”

“On the upside,” she continued, “We can finally have that sleepover we didn’t get to have in Rocens city. We can make face masks!”

“Please don’t make face masks.” Janine groaned, causing her friends to laugh.

Narrator: With a new friend by her side, Kaytlyn begins to build her Pokemon team! With adventure just beyond the horizon, what will our heroes face next?

The entire group was sitting in a room that was clearly too small to house them. There were two bunks on either side. The bottom bunks held Sheyla, Andrea, Astrid and Adrian while Janine and the twins opted to sit on the floor rather than cram themselves onto the Pokemon Center beds. After their 4th round of Uno they began to calm down and were leisurely throwing down cards without any real malice. A thought crossed Janine’s mind as she threw down a Red Two.

“No seriously, you’ve never met team SubZero?” Janine asked seriously. Andrea shook her head while Popplio gave tilted its head.

“Not once.”

“Huh.”

“If you do, try to stop them from whatever it is they’re doing. It’s probably going to be nefarious and involve destruction.” Astrid brushed her Vulpix’s tail while he obediently sat still.

“Honestly.”

“It’s so weird though, what are their goals? Why drill in the forest? Why poach Pokemon and go through all the effort to kidnap them again?” Sheyla pointed out, “And why would that guy let you go?” She motioned to Janine.

“He said something about truths and ideals; Honestly I blanked out.” She shrugged.

“And why hire other people to do the poaching when they could clearly do it themselves?”

“The poachers said they were offering lots of money too.”

“It doesn’t add up!”

“You know what does? This Wild Draw Four!” Astrid howled, breaking the tense silence. Kayla who was next to sighed and accepted the cards with slight grumbling as the game heated up again and the topic was almost completely forgotten.