#I have many thoughts on their smash mains and they change like every 10 seconds so yeah not sure on the selection here

[xrenyaa]

Athena & Simon Sketchdump

[cheri-translates]

[CN] Gavin’s R&S - Minor’s Memos

🍒This R&S (韩野的备忘录) is part of the Dream Heart Lake event which has not been released in EN🍒

More r&s from the event: 

> minor’s memos ♡

> tilted time

> little bro’s self-cultivatiion

> ashes

[ Chapter 1 ]

The First Memo

I was beaten up.

This morning, I was especially courageous and pasted a "Evil Spirit Begone" challenge letter on the school bully’s lunchbox. But I didn’t stop myself and pasted too many. The other party brought five people and cornered me in a small alley. I straightened my back, but felt a chill. What happened in the end were the four words I started off with... I was beaten up. With a bloody nose and a swollen face, I suddenly felt that there truly weren’t any heroes in this era... Even an ardent youth like me had to face such tribulation...

Suddenly, a pair of white sneakers stood before my eyes. Lifting my red and swollen eyes with difficulty, all I saw was an icy outline. He reached out to grab the neck of one of the school bullies, and had a sharp look in his eyes!

Oh my... It was actually Se! Nior! Ga! Vin!

Today, I finally witnessed what was a true 1 v 5 looked like. Gavin blew the dust off his hands, lowering his eyes and giving me a glance before leaving. Quick-wittedly, I tugged on the bottom of his trouser leg.

Senior turned out to be just as cold and indifferent as the legends said. During the entire process, he only said one word - “Scram”.

He’s such a MAN!

Hence, there’s a small goal in my heart. I want to learn the supreme feat of Senior’s 1 v 5!

-

The Second Memo

I looked for Senior many times, but was mercilessly ignored by him... He was either wholly absorbed in drinking water, or wholly absorbed in sleeping... I decided that I had to take the initiative! So, I came up with a plan to perfectly understand Senior.

Cough cough.

With this, I started embarking on the dull and dry life of “tracking” Senior. At 7.30am, Senior would appear at the school gate punctually, carrying a flat schoolbag. I don’t know if there are any books in it... Forget it, is that the main point? Nope!

After Senior reaches school, the first thing he does is head to the small kiosk in the north to! Buy! Breakfast! Does he actually lead such an ordinary life too? I even thought an existence like Senior’s should be above worldly affairs, and that he wouldn’t eat the food of common mortals! Hey hey hey! It seems that Senior really likes to eat fishballs? He’s been eating them for three consecutive days!!! Isn’t it good to change it to something else?!!!

During class, I deliberately went around the upper levels where the Year 3 seniors were, pretentiously passing by Senior’s window. Of course, Senior typically wouldn’t appear in the classroom at all. But!!! He was here today!!!!

As expected, he was assigned to sit in the last row, and was sleeping without restraint...

Did nobody care?! Wait, why am I feeling envious?

After school, Senior walked around, and I had no idea where he was headed to. Finally, he walked into the library. I couldn’t help but think - Senior really lives life as he pleases...

Huh? Hang on! Why would the Underworld Senior go to the library?!

He not only went to the library, but the thing which startled me even more till my jaw dropped was - I saw Senior helping the prettiest girl in class retrieve a book from the shelf!

He even... s-smiled...

Had my vision gone blurry? This was the Underworld Senior who’s said to be cold, unruly, and scares girls away?!

-

[ Chapter 2 ]

The Third Memo

I was beaten up again...  Writing these words is truly lamentable... Why did I have to rescue that stupid, unsophisticated and immoral four-eyed boy? But isn’t that what a hero does? What this era needs is a hero like me!

...this era might also not need such a weak hero like me...

That’s what I thought when I was pressed against the ground and punched by a school bully. My conviction was about to collapse. All of a sudden, I recalled the sharp look in Senior Gavin’s eyes. It’d have been nice if he were around...

Perhaps God happened to hear my wish, and Senior descended from the sky! With a dashing left uppercut, the other party lay on the ground, and I was moved to tears. 

Senior asked, why do you keep causing trouble for yourself? I very righteously said that it’s because I wanted to be a hero, and couldn’t stand to see school bullies targeting the weak. Senior then said, don’t you know that they call me a school bully?

In my heart, I responded that I knew. But I shook my head very firmly. The look he was giving me suddenly had a hint of bewilderment added to it... like he was looking at a... hm? An idiot? ...

Senior is very difficult to understand. He even told me about what true heroism was, which went beyond the words I recognised from Senior. He actually said two sentences! I’ll note them down, I’ll note them down...

Who cares about him! From what I see, heroism is about rushing to the rescue when one sees injustice!

-

The Fourth Memo

Today, I! Was! A! Hero!

I was following Senior around secretly today, though I don’t know how many days it’s been, and encountered Senior being ambushed! Those guys were the school bullies who beat me up the last time! A total of ten people were there! Terrible! Tyranny of the majority! How could I, Minor, allow such a situation to happen!

Without much thought, I rushed forward to help Senior! Of course, I was beaten up yet again... but I discovered one of Senior’s nuclear abilities-

1 v 10! Too dashing, too dashing. I don’t think Superman, X-Men or Iron Man are as dashing! Senior is a god in my eyes!

But Senior was very cold. He said two words to me which left me utterly heartbroken: courting death.

Feeling wronged, I told him that I wasn’t courting death. This was what heroism meant to me. 

Senior scoffed, then told me not to follow him around sneakily in the future, because it was annoying.

What what what? Was my perfect “Understanding Plan” exposed since a long time ago?!

For some reason, I spoke up at this moment. “Senior, I saw you handing a book to the prettiest girl in class... Are you...”

Senior coughed, then covered his mouth with a hand... W-was he actually blushing!!!!? Oh my goodness - did I discover something disgraceful? Senior actually blushed! If I say it out loud, would I get silenced?!!

-

[ Chapter 3 ]

The Fifth Memo

On the first day of becoming Senior’s, oh wait - Bro Gavin’s little brother, hehe, made me feel like I was suddenly floating. Today, I finally walked beside him in broad daylight, and felt as if a gust of wind was blowing past while walking hahahaha! I saw people looking me with that gaze! That~ Gaze~

But I never expected Bro Gavin to be so strict... All I did was mention casually that someone gave the prettiest girl in class a love letter again, and Bro Gavin suddenly got angry, and asked me to grab those people over.

Catching people is really tiring. I had to run to several classrooms, and it was really annoying to move personnel. In the future, I definitely wouldn’t do such work.

Bro Gavin glanced at them and didn’t say anything. Was I supposed to save the show?? After recalling how teachers typically lecture me, I copied them wholesale and gave them a lecture: At this young age, they should concentrate on their studies instead of fooling around.

[Note] I translated “copied them wholesale” from “原封不动”, which literally translated to “not touching the original envelope”. This is a beautiful choice of idiom because that’s exactly what Minor did later on LOL T^T

Seeing the fear and trepidation in their eyes, I became even more excited.

While I was lecturing them happily, Bro Gavin walked over and only said one thing: Get the love letters back. If you scare her, don’t blame me for being difficult.

Wow, Bro Gavin is so cool! Come to think of it, did I discover a little secret that I shouldn’t be aware of? For example, that Bro Gavin’s feelings towards the prettiest girl in class are actually..

-

The Sixth Memo

I think Bro Gavin is most likely, indeed, and definitely in love. Recently, I became Bro Gavin’s private detective, specialising in focusing on the prettiest girl in class. Maybe next time, I should change the way I address the prettiest girl in class to “Sis-in-law”... Well, since the ancient times, heroes have always loved beauties!

As of now, Bro Gavin isn’t really Bro Gavin anymore -

He hangs out in the library every day. If you want to know where Bro Gavin is, all you have to do is ask where the prettiest girl in class is... He no longer fights, no longer goes to the sports field, and no longer plays ball games anymore. He’s like a salted fish which has lost its dreams. And he actually started reading “5 Years of College Examinations and 3 Years of Sample Questions”... I just want to cry.

[Note] “5 Years of College Examinations and 3 Years of Sample Questions” (”5年高考3年模拟”) is a supplementary book for college entrance examinations used in China!

At noon, we had a PE class together, and I excitedly told Bro Gavin that Sis-in-law had chosen basketball! I initially thought Bro Gavin would snatch up a territory to play basketball. In the end, Bro Gavin hauled me over to the nearby volleyball court...

He said that it was a good place.

Good? What’s good about it? My basketball... I still wanted to display my coolness!

Afterwards, I found out that, tsk tsk, Bro Gavin was truly very sly...

The volleyball court was actually even closer to Sis-in-law’s location as compared to other basketball courts!

When I almost accidentally smashed the ball on Sis-in-law’s head, it was blocked by Bro Gavin, who was far away... How did Bro Gavin do it?!

He actually ran diagonally across the volleyball court so quickly?!!! Does he have some special ability? Will it appear!

But Bro Gavin isn’t attuned to flirtatious expressions at all...

[Note] I translated “flirtatious expressions” from the term “风情”, which literally translates to “information about the wind”

When Sis-in-law thanked him, his face was even colder than when he’s facing me... And when I “accidentally” pushed Sis-in-law onto Bro Gavin! He actually gave me a merciless killer glare. Just thinking about it makes my heart feel pained...

He didn’t recognise my good intentions, sob sob sob sob.

-

[ Chapter 4 ]

The Seventh Memo

Today, I saw another side of Bro Gavin! That is - the Bro Gavin at the sports meet! He’s such a MAN!!!

In the ten-lap long-distance race in the sports field, Bro Gavin won the first place, leaving the second place runner far behind him by three laps. He didn’t even pant!

What kind of supreme feat is this? Before, I used to think that he was only super capable in fighting. Looks like there are many other things I have to learn from Bro Gavin!

It was only today when I realised that although Bro Gavin is so fierce and is always called an Underworld Senior, he seems to be really popular, based on how the female students looked as if they were about to glue their eyes onto Bro Gavin’s body -

Ah, I just want to “tsk tsk”.

Bro Gavin seemed to be in a good mood, but when I asked him to teach me 1 v 10, he assigned me to work as a private detective again...

He was very concerned about Sis-in-law’s sprint. Perhaps he’s a tsundere or something, so he didn’t go himself, and insisted that I went instead. He even tossed his phone to me.

What’s that supposed to mean? His phone? Did he mean that I should sneak pictures? Am I, Minor, such a person?

I called out to Sis-in-law. She turned her head, and I managed to secretly photograph an utterly beautiful side profile. It looked really good. This time, Bro Gavin would definitely teach me 1 v 10, right?

In the end, he! Did! Not!

Bro Gavin is someone who values a lover more than his little bro!

What can I say? I had no choice but to squat at the side and watch Bro Gavin staring at the picture on his phone, occasionally revealing an unusual smile... 

Oh my, Bro Gavin smiled again!!!! It makes me feel frightened!!!!

Love makes people lose their minds!!!

-

[ Chapter 5 ]

The Eighth Memo

Bro Gavin looks very low-spirited recently. If he was a salted fish with no dreams before, then I reckon that right now, he’s not even a salted fish... He seems to have fallen in love with being in a daze lately.

After being in a daze in the piano room, he’d be in a daze in the library, continuously staring at the empty seat where Sis-in-law used to sit, and I have no idea what he’s thinking about. 

But I really didn't expect a person who sleeps in class to be in a daze in the library for an entire afternoon... Did Bro Gavin and Sis-in-law have a fight recently?

Very curious, I asked around, and found out that for some reason, Sis-in-law has been hurrying off after school, and no longer goes to the library nor the piano room. I also heard that she’s been doing her revision for exams at home... Could it be that she’s hiding from Bro Gavin?

Oh my god, why don’t I write an eight o'clock soap opera with such an imagination? It might even become popular!

Returning to the original topic... should I tell Bro Gavin about this? If Bro Gavin also thinks that Sis-in-law is hiding from him, he might be heartbroken.

I’m worried...

-

The Ninth Memo

Bro Gavin disappeared for quite a long time, and finally returned today! But he brought with him a body full of injuries, and it’s very worrying because I didn’t know what happened! He also stuffed a letter to me, saying that it was for Sis-in-law. Even though the envelope was flat and smooth, it had a lot of blood stains.

Did Bro Gavin do something dangerous? He bled so much! I asked him to go to the hospital but he refused... Bro Gavin is truly too wilful!

But he is really different today. Why do I feel like I’m handling funeral arrangements? Touch wood!

He also said that he’d teach me 1 v 10 when he we meet again... Wow! If Bro Gavin wasn’t hurt, I’d have wanted to pounce on him and give him a peck! Bro Gavin is the most dashing! Bro Gavin is the coolest!

Come to think of it, Bro Gavin is about to take the college entrance examinations, and the seniors from the graduating classes have been pretty sad recently. The next meeting Bro Gavin mentioned was probably summer vacation? Hehe, I’m looking forward to it a little!

In that case, while Bro Gavin isn’t around, I’ll be the one to help Sis-in-law block off all the rotten apples!

Other men, don’t even think of approaching my Sis-in-law!

She! Is! Bro! Gavin’s!

-

The Final Memo

During the entire summer vacation... I didn't see Bro Gavin...

More from the Dream Heart Lake event: here

[wiypt-writes]

Stark Spangled Banner

https://wiypt-writes.tumblr.com/post/644486634874847232/stark-spangled-banner

Ch58: You Have To Go Through The Worst, To Get To The Best.

Intro: In the aftermath of the battle, Katie grieves for Tony as the world comes to terms with the fact that people they lost five years ago have reappeared.

Warnings: “Language!” 

Pairing: Steve Rogers x OFC Katie Stark

A/N: This is it! We head into the last part and as such, a brand new banner again from @angrybirdcr​. Only a few chapters left.

Disclaimer: This is a pure work of fiction and classified as 18+. Please respect this and do not read if you are underage. I do not own any characters in this series bar Katie Stark and the other OCs. By reading beyond this point you understand and accept the terms of this disclaimer.

Chapter 57

Stark Spangled Banner Masterlist // Main Masterlist

  Sorry for your loss.

Four words that Katie was already sick of hearing. Sorry. What did people have to be sorry for? It wasn’t like it was their fault. Still, she acknowledged the sympathy that came her way, completely automatically, almost emotionlessly. She barely registered the fact she had spoken to Fury and Hill, two people who had been dead five years ago, she didn’t have the energy to wish she could knock Ross’ head off his shoulders and had no idea how long she had walked what was left of the compound, maybe an hour or so? Who cared anyway? She simply did what people asked her to do to help out, whilst Steve hurried around organising everyone and barking orders. 

Nevertheless, when the crowds of Emergency Services, Armed Forces and Support Staff that had flooded the Compound left, she suddenly felt alone and found herself in their compound apartment, which had miraculously survived bar from a smashed window in the living area. She glanced around before she headed to the bedroom and slumped heavily on the large bed, staring at the wall.

Just staring.

It was quiet, but her mind was anything but. Her brain was screaming all sorts of stuff at her, a jumble of words and sounds and visions, but she couldn’t really understand any of it.

She simply felt broken.

“Katie?”

A voice broke through her reverie and she looked up to see Steve in the doorway.

“Hey.” She gave him a soft smile. “Pepper just spoke to Happy, the kids are fine. All three are fast asleep. He’s going to wake them in a few hours and bring them back.” “No.” Katie shook her head. “I want him to bring them now.” “Honey its almost two am.” He said, and Katie frowned. Okay, so she’d been walking around a little longer than she thought, then. “Let them sleep. We can go, get cleaned up and…” “Plan how we tell them their Uncle is dead.” She swallowed, gazing back down at her hands.

Steve took a shaky breath. He felt beyond guilty. Guilty that he got to go home to his kids because of the fact that Tony didn’t. Steeling himself, he made his way to the bed, sat down next to his wife and wrapped his arm around her as she lay her head on his shoulder.

“What’s everyone doing?” She asked softly.

“Rhodey is in with Ross and President Ellis…” “Ellis is here?” She looked at him, frowning.

Steve nodded. “Rhodey’s giving him a brief on what’s happened. They’re gonna need to put an announcement out so…”

“Suppose it was probably a shock everyone re-appearing again.” She reasoned, quietly.  “What about everyone else?”

“Well Lang, Parker and Bruce already left.” Steve explained as his hand gently rubbed up and down her arm. “And there’s a chopper on the way to take Pepper home and a couple more following to take the rest of us to the Tower. The roads are completely jammed, apparently there’s impromptu parties taking place all over. Might be a while before we can get back through to Brooklyn.” The thought of partying seemed alien to Katie, but as she thought about it, it wasn’t surprising. People would be greeting lost loved ones, celebrating the fact the world has returned to normal.

For them anyway.

“Clint will want to go home.” Katie nodded. “He’ll be desperate to see Laura and the kids.” “We’ve got a jet on the way for him so he can go as soon as possible.” Steve soothed, dropping a kiss to her head.

If ever Katie was grateful for having a husband with Military organisational skills it was now. He’d literally thought of everything. She closed her eyes and nuzzled into him even more, seeking out comfort like a child, before Steve reached around and pulled her onto his lap, holding her close to him, as they sat in silence.

****

“I guess this is strange for you too, huh?” Steve said as they made their way into the Tower. “Yeah you could say that.” Sam shrugged, “One minute everyone was in Wakanda and then the next minute it was just us, and the jungle had changed.” He paused, scratching his head. “Then that Strange dude turns up and tells us it’s been five years and we needed to go fight one last time.”

“Has it really been that long?” Bucky asked and Steve nodded. “So now you’re older than me?” He grinned. Steve chuckled as Katie gave a small smile. “Shut up.”

They made their way into the elevator and FRIDAY greeted them, somewhat forlornly, as Katie asked for their floor. The elevator fell silent as it scooted upwards, pinging open. Katie stepped out first, followed by Wanda then the men.

“So, where do you want-“Bucky began but he stopped dead causing Sam to bump into him.

“What the hell, Frosty?” he spluttered, frowning as he followed Bucky’s eye line, his own eyes growing wide as he saw what Bucky was staring at. Wanda was also gazing, her mouth open, and Steve immediately knew what they were looking at- the large framed photo on the wall in the living room.

Even though their home was in Brooklyn this was still very much their apartment. Katie sometimes stayed if she had a big meeting, or on occasions they would crash here when they grabbed a rare night out in Manhattan.  And it was for that reason that the photos in the apartment had been updated over the past five years as their lives had moved on. The wall their friends were gazing at contained two prints. The first was one taken by Katie at the hospital when Jamie was hours old, the same photo also adorned the wall in the lounge at home and it showed Steve asleep in the chair by her hospital bed, hair unkempt, shirt crumbled, stubble on his chin as his baby son was clutched to his chest as they both slept. He remembered the moment like it was yesterday, one snapshot moment out of God knows how many, all of which the three people stood in front of him had missed.  

The second was from last year, and showed Emmy with Alex as they sat on the sofa at home, both grinning at the camera.

“You…”  Sam gasped as Wanda and Bucky turned to them, mouth hanging open.

Steve nodded, “Yeh, err, did no one tell you?” He asked, rubbing his neck.

“No.” Bucky breathed.

“But then it never really cropped up in conversation, you know, on account of us being in the middle of a battle and all.” Sam said, a little sarcastically and Wanda thumped his arm before she turned to Katie.

“How old?” She asked softly.

“Emily is sixteen next week.” Katie said, looking at the photos smiling softly. “We adopted her after the snap, it’s a long story.”

She then looked at Steve who smiled, knowing she was allowing him the task of revealing their boy’s name to two of the men he was named after.

“And Jamie’s three.”  He turned to look at Bucky and Sam.

“Jamie?” Bucky asked thickly.

“Or to give him his full name James Anthony Samuel.”

Bucky and Sam exchanged a look, the pair of them floundering for words.

“Cap,” Sam swallowed, his eyes misting over. “Wow, I’m so happy for you guys.” “I can’t wait to meet them.” Wanda beamed.

“You might regret saying that.” Steve chuckled. “Emmy’s a sass bag and Jamie can be a handful. He’s only three but he’s stubborn, opinionated- don’t even say it.” He pointed at Bucky who had opened his mouth to comment, a grin spreading across his handsome face.

“They’re awesome.”  Katie spoke softly as her eyes moved round the apartment and fell on a photo of her and Tony taken at her wedding. Suddenly she couldn’t be there anymore. Excusing herself she headed into their bedroom where she flopped onto the bed, now feeling utterly overwhelmed, still struggling to make head or tail of her emotions. She should have been celebrating like everyone else in the streets was doing. Their friends and trillions of other people were saved, but she couldn’t because again, just like the other week when they had grieved for Natasha, there was one person who wasn’t coming back.

Her brother.

Taking a deep breath, she shed her boots before she stood up and peeled off her cat suit before she made her way straight into the en-suite.

She turned the shower on as hot as she could stand, an attempt to sooth the pain she now felt in every inch of her body. But whilst some of it was bruising from the multiple blows she had taken, some of it was coming from inside. The pain of losing her brother was physical, and hard. Closing her eyes she lay her head against the tiles, allowing the water to beat down on her, lost in her memories. “I got full marks on my English essay Tone!”  Her 10 year old self grinned up at him as he leaned against the car, looking as effortlessly cool as ever.

“Get you, you little brainbox!” He ruffled her hair. “That’s awesome, so awesome in fact I think we need to stop for pizza and a shit load of ice cream on the way home. Sound good?” “You’re the best!” She beamed as he took her pink back-pack off her and dropped it into the trunk as she climbed into the passenger seat of his BWM.

 “Oh no, you are not going out wearing that!” Tony stod up as she walked into the living room of the house. Sixteen year old Katie rolled her eyes.

“Tone its boiling hot outside, what you want me to wear? A pair of jeans and a fucking coat?” “Anything but that!” He scoffed, looking at the rather short denim skirt. “Young Lady, I can see what you had for breakfast!”

“Oh bite me, Tony.” She shot back, hearing the guffaw that Rhodey gave out from the sofa before she shot out of the front door to greet her boyfriend who had just pulled up the drive.

She was eighteen…, cruising along the cliff in Malibu, laughing, her hands on the steering wheel of her convertible bug, Tony in the passenger seat sipping an iced tea as the pair of them sang as loudly as they could to Drops of Jupiter- their song.

“Mr Rock and Roll over there, listen to you!” She laughed as the song finished and it changed to AC/DC ‘Thunder’.

“If you ever tell anyone about my love of Train I will kill you.” Tony looked at her over his sunglasses and she snorted, grinning.

“I’m so telling Pepper.”

“Err you know I can still pull my funding.” He glared “You can kiss goodbye to going to Oxford…”

And speaking of Oxford, at twenty-one, she was there, accepting her first class honours in English Literature and Mythology. As she smiled for the camera, she could see Tony stood up in the middle of the hall, whistling before he punched the air. “That’s my girl!” He yelled “Katie Maria Stark. That’s my girl! No I won’t sit down…what did you just say?” And he began arguing with the person behind him.

At twenty-six she was crying, tears of happiness as the ramp on the aircraft carrier opened to reveal her brother. His hair was longer, he looked thinner but he was alive. He was barely at the bottom before she flung herself at him, not caring that his arm was a sling.

“Hey Kiddo.” He said softly as she buried her face into his neck.

“You fucking asshole!” She sobbed, “Next time, you ride with Rhodey, you got that?”

“Trust me, there will be no next time.” He chuckled as she pulled back. “Afghanistan is a shit hole.”

A year later she was crying again, sobbing even, as Tony sat with his arms around her, gently shushing her as she sat up in her bed. “How could he do that to me Tony?” She sniffed, her tears dampening her brother’s t-shirt as he rubbed her back, laying his head against hers. “I thought he loved me…but…” “He isn’t worth your tears, Kiddo.” He sighed “Grant Ward doesn’t deserve them, or you. No one ever will, you got that? No one will ever be good enough for you.”

 And then she was walking up the aisle towards her future husband, her arm linked tightly around Tony’s. He pressed a kiss to her head.

“Remember, just because I’m giving you away doesn’t mean I won’t kick his ass if he ever hurts you.” Tony mumbled and she snorted, turning to look at him. “I love you to the stars and back, Katie, remember that…”

Like she could ever forget. Tony hadn’t been to everyone’s taste, hell, at times he hadn’t be hers, and they’d been estranged for two years. But Katie had never, not once, stopped loving the man who had brought her up as his own. Her brother and father all rolled into one.

She finished washing her hair and stepped out of the shower, the tears still not arriving. She began to wonder if there was something wrong with her. She’d cried more when Natasha died. She pulled on a towel robe that was hanging behind the door and began to dry her hair, squeezing the water out of the long strands.

“I remember when you used to do that for me.” She grinned, watching Tony as he sat with Morgan between his legs on the lounger round the pool at her Brooklyn home, rubbing the little girl’s wet hair ferociously with a pink beach towel, making the three year old cackle with laughter. I remember…but Morgan won’t.

And then the cry ripped from her chest, like someone had reached down her throat and pulled it from the very depths of her heart.

***** Steve made sure the guys were settled in a spare apartment a few floors down, the three of them opting to share, none of them particularly wanting to be alone.  Making his way back into theirs, he headed straight to the bedroom and heard Katie turn off the water to the shower. With a groan he stripped off the top half of his uniform, dropping the grubby item to the bed. His eyes were drawn to the silver star in the middle, and he ran his fingers over it, the material torn in places having seen better days, much like him.

With a deep breath he reached to pull off his compression shirt, but before he got chance, he heard a noise from the bathroom, a primal, raw, broken scream that chilled his every bone. Quick as flash he crossed the room and pushed open the door to the en-suite and found his wife slumped on her knees on the floor, screaming and crying uncontrollably.

“He’s gone! He’s gone, he’s gone!” Steve had known this was coming and it broke his heart that he could do nothing to help, nothing to take away the utter desperation and pain and anger his wife was feeling. Without hesitation he dropped to his knees and she turned to him, fisting her hands around his top as he pulled her close, one arm round her back, the other in her hair.

“Let it out,” his voice was croaky as he rocked her, gently stroking her hair as his cheek pressed against the top of her head, “I got you, sweetheart, I got you.” How long they stayed there for, with Katie screaming and crying over the soft sounds of his soothing, Steve had no idea, but eventually her sobs became sniffles as she regained some form of composure.

“Steve,” she managed to stutter as she pulled back to look at him, “Tony’s gone, he’s gone, why? Why did he have to do that? There had to be some other way!” “Oh, Doll.”  Steve’s voice cracked, his own heart ached with grief and sympathy and love as he dropped a kiss to her forehead, pulling her onto his lap as he sat back on the floor, making no attempts to move her. He buried his face into her hair, his own sobs catching in his throat.

“All my life Tony has been there.” She whispered gently as kissed her head. “Even when we were apart those years I knew that if I needed him, he would be there…but now…he’s gone and I don’t know what to do.”

“You do what you always do.” Steve whispered softly as he pulled back, cupping her face in his hands, wiping her tears with his thumbs. “You get up, you dust yourself off and you act like the amazing, strong, beautiful woman you are. My wife, my baby momma.”

“I don’t know if I can. Katie spluttered.

“Yes, you can. You’re the strongest person I know.” He implored her, sniffing a little.

“I don’t feel strong.”

“You won’t.” He shook his head. “Not yet. But I’m here. Okay? And we’ll do it together.”

Katie looked at him for a moment before she moved once more to bury her face into his t-shirt again, simply breathed him in. His warmth and familiar smell, even if he wasn’t as fresh as he could be after the exertion of battle, was a comfort, a balm to her broken soul.

Tony was gone, she knew that, but she wasn’t on her own. She’d never be on her own as long as she had Steve.

****

“Don’t be sad Momma.” Jamie whispered, as Katie’s tears tickled down her cheeks, her son on her lap. TO her right, Emmy sat on her father’s, despite her age meaning she was normally way past that stage, as she cried into his chest, his arms gently cradling her. “Uncle Nee isn’t on his own.” “What do you mean, baby?” Katie asked, sniffing as he played with a strand of her hair.

He looked at her with his baby blue eyes and shrugged, as if the answer was obvious. “Because he’s with Auntie Nat-Nat.”

“Yeah,” Katie stuttered, a soft sob escaping her. “You’re right. But I’m still sad, but you don’t need to be worried about that okay?” Jamie nodded, before he blinked and frowned. “I can kiss it better, like you kiss my ouches better.”  

Katie smiled as he leaned up, connecting his lips to hers with a loud smacking noise.

“That’s it, you just made it all okay.” She smiled, wiping her eyes.

“When can we go home?” Emmy asked, sitting up slightly, her voice croaky.

“Soon, I promise.” Steve looked at her. “I think we’ll stay here for tonight, your mom and I both need a rest.”

Emmy nodded “I expect kicking alien butt for hours takes it out of you.” Steve snorted. “A little.” “You did it though. Everyone came back.” “Yeah, and on that note,” Katie picked up, “we have some people we’d like you to meet. That’s if you’re feeling up to it.” “Is it them? Bucky, Sam and Wanda?” Emmy asked, her wet brown eyes opening wide.

“Yeah.” Steve smiled. “And, if it’s ok with you, we thought we could all have breakfast together.”

“Pancakes?” Jamie asked hopefully and Katie nodded, dropping a kiss to his head.

“Pancakes” She affirmed.

“Now?”

“Do you ever think about anything but this?” Katie chuckled, prodding his tummy. He pondered for a second.

“Legos.” he said, nodding. “I think about my legos sometime.”

Emmy snorted and Steve let out a little laugh “Pancakes and legos eh, son?” he reached out and ruffled Jamie’s hair. “What more could a three year old want?”

****

Manhattan was in utter chaos and going out in public was the last thing Steve or Katie wanted for fear of being mobbed. However, the kitchens in the tower were well stocked and after sending Emmy to forage what she could, it was easy for Katie to whip up a batch of batter and throw some bacon into a pan.

She set Emmy to work chopping some fruit, and never one to miss out, she stood Jamie on a chair in front of her and gently guided his hand as he held the whisk to stir the batter.  Katie was literally grabbing the ladle to drop the first load into the pan, when the door to the apartment opened and Steve’s voice carried in to the kitchen.

“Hey guys?” Jamie squealed in excitement and Katie moved so he could get down. He shot out of the kitchen, barrelling into the lounge where he skidded to a halt by his dad and gazed up at the three strange adults in front of him.

The first thing that hit Bucky was just how like Steve the little boy was. Stocky, bright blue eyes and a shock of dark blonde hair.

“He looks like you.” He smiled, nodding to Steve as Katie stepped into the room with Emmy and smiled.

“Jamie, Emmy, this is Bucky, Sam and Wanda.” Steve introduced them all, as Emmy raised her hand shyly in greeting.

Meanwhile, Jamie simply gazed up at Bucky, his attention focussed directly on his metal arm and Bucky suddenly began to worry that it would scare him. He was attempting to move it out of view by standing side on, until Jamie stepped forward with all his usual boldness and pointed.

“Is that metal?” “Jamie.” Steve spoke, his tone soft. He couldn’t scald his son for being curious, but at the same time he had seen the apprehension in Bucky’s eyes. Apprehension that had now turned to amusement.

“Yeah it is.” Bucky chuckled, crouching down so he was eye level with his namesake. He held his left hand up, wiggling the fingers. “Wanna touch it?” Jamie reached out and placed his palm against Bucky’s prosthetic and grinned, “Cool,” before he looked up at Steve. “Can I have one?”

“Absolutely not.” Steve shook his head with a grin.

“You think that’s cool you should see my wings.” Sam crouched down next to Bucky, smiling at Jamie.

“You have wings?” The little boy’s eyes grew wide “I want…”

“No!”

“Fine I’ll just ask Santa.” Jamie shruggged and Sam let out a loud laugh.

“I like this kid!” he grinned, standing up.

“You can have him.” Steve winked, as Bucky stood up straight and grinned. “Saves us sending him to The Children’s Prison.” “Morgan told me there’s no such place.” Jamie looked at his Dad and Steve let out a sigh. The threat of the Child Prison was their biggest bargaining chip when he was being naughty. Especially as the naughty step wasn’t an option, because the first (and last) time they tried that they caught him climbing up the staircase and sliding down the bannister.

“I told you titch, it does.” Emmy gave a dramatic roll of her eyes. “I lived there before mom and dad adopted me. And all they give you to eat all day is slugs and slime…” Steve shared a look with Bucky and let out a loud laugh.

“Don’t.” Bucky shook his head with a grin.

“You gave Becca nightmares for days with that story!” Steve laughed as he recalled Bucky telling his sister about a hole in the ground where bad kids went. “She wouldn’t go near a manhole for months!”

“I can still feel the blow round the ears my Pa gave me.” Bucky automatically reached up to rub at the back of his head. The well natured chatter continued as they made their way into the kitchen. Steve went to brew the coffee as Sam, Wanda and Bucky took seats round the table with the kids. Occasionally he caught the odd snippet of their chat as Jamie told Bucky about his toys at home, informed Sam all about his friend at day-care, whilst Emmy was busy talking to Wanda about school and what she wanted to do in the future. But all the time Steve had one eye on his wife as she stood, silently, cooking enough pancakes to feed a small army.

Which, to be fair, was probably what they would need with two super soldiers and a hungry three year old to feed.

Moving over towards her, he slipped his arms around her waist and dropped a kiss to her cheek.

“You ok?” He asked, before he sighed “Sorry, stupid question.”

She chuckled and shook her head. “No it’s not stupid, I know what you meant. And honestly, no. I’m not. Not really. But I will be, in time. I hope.”

Steve dropped another kiss to her cheek and winced as a loud “GET A ROOM!” sounded across the kitchen and he turned to glare at his son. Bucky and Sam exchanged a gleeful look as Steve raised his hand and pointed at Emmy accusingly. “That was not me!” She scoffed, indignantly “It was Bucky that told him to say it.” “If this is the impression you have on my kids after all of fifteen minutes, James Buchanan Barnes, then I’m going to have to seriously consider letting you near them again.” Katie shook her head as she dropped the plate of pancakes into the middle of the table.

“Why did you just call him James?” Jamie asked, frowning

“Because my name is James too.” Bucky answered for Katie.

“No, it’s Bucky.”

“He only gets called James when he’s been bad, bit like you, pal.” Steve chuckled, placing Jamie’s plate of food in front of him. “Now eat that, and then you can show Buck your legos.”

“My legos are here?” Jamie said, grinning.

“Yeah they’re in your bag, we brought them from the compound.” Steve answered, dropping a kiss to his son’s head.

“What the hell is a Lego?” Bucky asked, his face contorted in confusion. The room feel silent as all eyes turned to the man who glanced around, suddenly feeling very self-conscious.  “What?” ****

Rhodey called later that morning to give them a heads up that the President would be addressing the nation later that afternoon, and to also inform Katie that they were talking about honouring both Tony and Natasha posthumously. Katie had merely snorted, not entirely sure what Tony would have said about any of that, until Rhodey made her laugh about the last time he had received an honour, getting stabbed with the pin by the Senator awarding it to him,  Senator Stern.

Who had turned out to be HYDRA.

True to his word, just as he had done five years ago, President Ellis’ address rang out across the nation at precisely three that afternoon, on every TV and Radio channel there was.

“I know there is much speculation surrounding the events of the last 24 hours, and it is for that reason I find myself addressing you all once more, with regards to the Decimation. Only this time I am happy to greet you all with much better news. Thanks to the brave actions of the Avengers and countless others who fought in a ferocious battle Upstate, the Vanished have been returned to us in the same state in which they left.

But it isn’t without cost.

Unfortunately, I have the very sad job of confirming to you all that the rumours are true. Tony Stark and Natasha Romanoff both lost their lives in the mission to bring everyone back. My sincere condolences and thoughts are with the rest of the Avengers, in particular the Rogers and Stark families, and I’m sure I speak for the entire world when I say we will be forever indebted to the two fallen heroes for their brave sacrifices which ensured that friends and families across the globe could be reunited.”

Katie glanced down at her hands as she took a deep breath, the tears falling into her lap as Steve’s arm curled round her shoulder, sniffing a little as his own eyes were once again misted over.

“I know you will all have many questions, some of you will be at a loss as to what to do, and unfortunately I don’t have all the answers, so it is for that reason, if I may, I’d like to address those who have been returned to us.

Over the past five years the world has become a very different place to the one you knew. People lost entire families, friends, husbands, wives, boyfriends, girlfriends. We had to rebuild, make sense of living without you. So I ask you , please be patient with us whilst we try once more to make sense of events, only this time they are a lot happier as you have all been returned to us. Don’t take it too personally if we seem a little, well, astounded.”

Ellis paused, wiping his eyes as he smiled, licking his lips.

“Thank you all, God Bless America, and God Bless the Avengers.”

****

That night fireworks exploded across the skies all over the country. The current occupants of the tower sat on the roof watching the symphony of colours and explosions as it light up the Manhattan sky-line, Jamie opting to sit on Bucky’s knee instead of his father’s, because of course Bucky was now his favourite person on the planet.

But Steve didn’t mind, well, not too much anyway.

The next few days passed them by in a bit of a blur. They moved back to the house in Brooklyn. Sam and Bucky came with them. However, surprisingly to Steve (but not to Katie) Wanda opted to head to Clint’s after the archer called and offered her a room. Steve’s time was divided between speaking to the UN, various people in the senate and government alongside Rhodey as they started to make plans to help those people who had returned because reversing the snap had raised a whole cacophony of different problems, just as Tony had predicted it would.

Some of the vanished had come back to find their wives or husbands had re-married. Others found themselves with no-one left as they’d passed away. Some found themselves homeless as new occupants had moved into their apartments which had been left vacant. Two of those people were Peter Parker and his Aunt May, who were now residing in the Tower until Katie could find them somewhere permanent.

And then there were the kids who had been adopted, suddenly finding themselves with two sets of parents.

Katie, on the other hand, had no time or energy for anything other than planning Tony’s funeral with Pepper, and a service of sorts for Natasha with Clint. Natasha’s was to take place first, a small ceremony at Clint’s farm where they would be planting a red maple tree in her honour. Tony’s, however, was slightly more tricky.

Her brother had, at one point, led a very public lifestyle and naturally (even if unfairly) he was attracting the most public interest. They’d been approached by President Ellis, who had asked if they would be open to a full, state public funeral. Katie had been horrified at first, until Pepper had snorted and reminded her that the Old Tony would have loved the attention and fuss.

But New Tony wouldn’t.

Which was why, in the end, they compromised and chose to celebrate the two sides to Tony’s huge personality.

For the Genius, Billionaire, Play-Boy, Philanthropist they would hold a service at St Patrick’s Cathedral and for the husband, father, brother, friend they would then hold a more intimate wake at the lake house, where his ashes would be scattered eventually.

It was draining, emotionally and physically, so it was no surprise to Steve that Katie was constantly tired and a little irritable and the Solider felt the harsh side of her tongue on more than one occasion. But he never bit back, he knew how she was feeling. He’d had to do it with his Ma. Instead he listened to her bounce ideas off him, helped with the organisation where he could, and simply comforted her, holding her close whilst she cried when she needed to.

A week post the return of the Vanished, people seemed to have reached a half-way point, so to speak, between what they had been like before the Snap and what they had become post. But what was noticeable to all of them was that they were persistently mobbed in the street, people wanting to thank them constantly.

Jamie found the whole thing hilarious, waving to people as he walked with his Father one morning to the play-ground. Steve, however, after half an hour had returned home because he couldn’t stand it anymore.

“It’s mad.” He shook his head with a sigh, flopping onto the sofa next to her. “I mean…”

“It’ll die down.” Katie yawned. “Just gonna take a while. People still don’t know what to do. Hell, half the time I don’t know what to do.” She took a deep breath, the back of her hand pressing to her mouth as a queasy feeling washed over her for the umpteenth time that day. “You still feeling crappy?” Steve asked, watching as Jamie sat on the rug with his trucks.

“A little.”

“You thrown up again?” “No.” She shook her head “I don’t feel sick anymore just a little funny, drained almost. I don’t think it’s anything serious. Probably just the stress of all the organising and stuff.”

But as she said the words something in her mind clicked and she sat bolt upright, Steve giving her a curious look.

“What’s wrong?”

“Bruce’s Snap.” She whispered. “The one where he brought everyone back.”

“What about it?”

“What if it brought everyone back?” “Well we know it did…” Steve frowned, not following her line of thought.

“No I mean,” Katie took his hand and placed it on her stomach, “everyone.”

It took Steve a second to cotton on, but when he did he blinked, looking into his wife’s eyes, a faint buzzing ringing in his ears.  

“Shit.” He spluttered out.

“Language.” Jamie reprimanded him almost immediately, but both parents ignored him.

“I didn’t,” Steve swallowed, “I mean, I didn’t even consider that a possibility. Do you think it has?”

Katie took a deep breath. “I dunno, I mean the first snap took it away…”

They stayed still for a moment, simply looking at each other, both thinking the same. If one snap had taken their baby, the second snap could quite as easily have brought it back.

“I think I need to go to the store.” Katie muttered.

**** Less than an hour later husband and wife were stood in the bathroom looking down. Down at four different tests. Four different tests that all told them the same thing.

“I can’t believe it.” Steve whispered, his arms wrapping around his wife from behind as he stared down at the test in her hand.

“Me neither.” She whispered, turning to face him, tears in her eyes.

“I’m gonna be a daddy, again.” His hands fell to her hips, blue eyes shining as she gave him a smile, the tears falling down her face.

“And I’m gonna be fat again.” She spluttered, a watery laugh. There was a pause, before Steve’s face cracked into a huge grin and he pulled her to him. She wrapped her arms round his neck and he hugged her close, the pair of them laughing through their tears.

“I like you fat with my kid.” Steve pulled away, wiping the tears that were trickling down her face with his thumbs. She smiled and returned the gesture, brushing the back of her hand over his wet cheeks.

“I love you. So fucking much.” He whispered softly as he dropped a kiss to her lips.

“I love you too.” Her voice croaked before Steve pulled her close once more, his huge arms holding her tightly to him, as he breathed her in, his face pressing into her hair.

And for the first time in a week, Katie’s heart felt a little less broken.

 **** Chapter 59

**Original Posting**

[athena-is-a-chaotic-lil-shit]

Of Ice and Blood

Part 2

Hello there! I present to you, part 2 of my orc x fem!human series!

I still don't know what to name this fic of mine

I should've thought about the title in the first place lmao

Anyways! I'll try updating constantly if I can. Enjoy reading!

Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6

Pairing: Tai'chi Kashharzol (Orc) x Pearl Blackbell (Human OC/Reader)

Warnings: Cursing, lots of cursing. Mild violence and mentions of injury.

UD 01/10/21 : CLEANED AND PROOFREAD PROPERLY (hey I did my best)

(reference to the mask she's currently wearing //her hair is still braided// )

*

Even with the tedious introduction the professor was on about, I couldn’t help but pick up the whispers of my human classmates, and the unmistakable nasty odor they were giving off.

“Hey. Look at that orc over there.”

“Tsk. Beast. Why is it even here—”

“I bet it’s gonna get suspended from breaking someone’s arm.”

“It looks like he’s gonna kill somebody soon.”

Snickers and clicks of disgust went around the group.

The professor shushed them, not quite knowing what they were talking about before he moved on.

I cursed, feeling my blood boil from their words. The orc wasn’t even doing anything! And they slander him like that? I would love to break their fucking ne—

No, damn it! No violence! Mama will go crazy if she finds out I broke someone’s spine. Behave and endure. Remember your training.

...but seriously though, I'm going to fucking snap their legs. Nah, perhaps use pepper spray on their eyes until they go blind, even though the mixture inside my spray bottle wasn’t made to have permanent effects on someone, but it would still cause great discomfort.

I hugged my backpack, the thought of my dusters inside somehow comforting.

I didn’t notice Tai'chi was taking glances at me out of concern while I was imagining how I’d smash those jerks’ faces.

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

My mind wandered around the interaction by the gates earlier, and how... contradicting... it was when I entered the building.

Everything passed like a blur as I continued daydreaming about other things, hardly paying attention to what everyone else was saying. Plus it takes a lot of concentration to survive their pungent scents.

A bell rang, bringing me back down to Earth. It was lunchtime already.

Everyone seemed relieved as they started filing out of the area and headed towards the cafeteria. [a/n: Ooh that rhymed] I failed to see the lingering glances of barely masked distaste in our direction.

I glanced at the or— Tai'chi, whom I found out was looking at me already, stunning me at how he stared for a moment before I broke eye contact and stood up, which he also did. I almost fell back down my chair when I scented him.

Wha—

How the fuck did I not smell him before?!

I must’ve focused too much on the awful odor surrounding me that it didn’t register this—

This, oh my God.

To describe it, it was simply so— manly (or is it Orcish?). Like the scent of fresh earth and the warmth of a fireplace in the midst of a cold night. Embers crackling and sending sparks up into the sky.

He doesn’t smell one trace of a beast at all! In fact, I’ve never smelled someone so clean, so pleasant, all the while exuding masculinity, and was that a tad hint of vanilla?

For the first time in a while, I couldn’t place what the feeling was exactly. He simply smells so— good. Which is a positive sign?

I looked up to his eyes once more before I blurted out, probably a little too high-pitched;

“Lunch?”

Seriously? That’s what comes out of your damn mouth?

“I mean, do you want to go grab some lunch? At the cafeteria?” I clarified to sound normal and unaffected, (even when I clearly am).

Was the last part necessary? You’ve broken noses, dealt painful blows like a skilled warrior, but you’re embarrassing yourself.

I was busy reprimanding myself that I nearly missed what he said.

"Sure.”

He straightened up, and I was then faced with the reality of how damn tall he is. Or is it because I’m short? I barely reached over 5 feet, and he is standing there, almost three heads taller than me. Was he hunching for my sake earlier?

Wowie…

I scented a hint of pride, and was that a small quirk of his lips for a second there?

Huh. My mask is a lifesaver, or else he would've seen my jaw dropping.

I followed him out and headed straight for the campus’ cafeteria, all the while trying to converse here and there.

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

'Trying’ was not the right word.

Definitely not.

It was surprising, how easy and nice it was to talk to him. I could scent his apprehensiveness when I talked to him at first, but he relaxed not long after I introduced myself properly.

It felt... natural.

I learned that he came from the Northside of the country and moved to the city last year to pursue his dreams and to find a better future for his clan. I also told him about my family and home, along with my reasons for being here, leaving out the… violent part.

“My family and my entire clan wanted the best for me and my brothers. Up in the North, education is… very limited. Although ever since we were young, we were taught everything from our clan’s history, how to hunt for food, what herbs and plants were poisonous, what were medicinal and edible, how to stay alive, survive and so on.”

He paused for a moment before continuing.

“But we were cut off from the modern world. Times are changing, fast. Global warming being a major problem, leaving a huge impact on our living. So, when my clan heard about a school in the city, open to all races, they turned to us, the youth, and we took this chance.”

I looked down and thought about how disconnected the others were, only given the freedom to modern society eight years ago. Eight years is a long time, but I guess it’ll take more than that for everyone to get used to the change. That doesn’t mean they should treat them poorly!

As I realized I’ve been quiet for a while, I shot up and apologized for not replying.

“No, it’s okay. You looked like you were in deep thought. I didn’t want to interrupt.”

“Y-yeah… I was—”

“Thinking about how the majority of the human race still see us as beasts?”

There was a bit of spite in his voice, although barely noticeable. Or was it because I caught a whiff of it? No one was paying much attention to us while we were walking. But I noticed many of them hastily stepping aside and felt their glares at my back.

“How did you know?” I asked, curious.

“I could tell from your- I could tell, from the way you frowned earlier when one of those humans said something.”

Oh. He was looking at me that time?

“Frowned? But my mask—”

“It’s easy to tell if you are frowning when your eyebrows scrunch up like that. Believe me, my father does that a lot.”

“Ah. Well. It was just very rude of them. To talk shit about you and your kind like that, as if they were any better. You weren’t even doing anything, and they judge you based on your race. Orcs are civilized and intelligent just like any other, and I don’t understand why there’s still so much prejudice after eight damn years—”

I stopped and restrained the urge to go wild and curse every single human who smelled so foul every time we pass by.

“Sorry. I was...rambling.”

Was I this talkative? Maybe it's because I never had anyone to talk to.

He didn’t reply, which I found strange, so I glanced over at him and saw his eyes wide open and brows shooting up in surprise. It was almost comical.

“Uh, Tai'chi?”

Before he could even utter a word, we arrived at a huge hall where students were chatting and enjoying their lunch. Still, I noticed some humans were giving unkind looks to a gathering of goblins eating at the far left side corner of the cafeteria.

And of course, I didn’t fail to smell that wretched odor coming from a group of girls on my right when we walked in. I also recognized the one who pushed me, (No doubt it was intentional). I had to pinch my nose over my mask just but I could only block out half of it.

Ah shit, this mask doesn’t have proper air filtration.

I groaned as I tried to cut off the noise and thickened scents. For real, I wasn’t expecting it to be this harsh! I could literally smell discrimination and hate in the air!

Fuck. I should’ve worn my other mask. I swear I’m gonna burst if I stay and inhale more of that any longer—

“Pearl, are you okay?”

I groaned again and didn’t reply, busy controlling my sense of smell to even open my mouth. We were standing there like a pair of street posts, blocking a small part of the main entrance. That is if there was a 5ft- tall post. I’m more like that foldable caution sign.

“Pearl—”

“Hey, you there! Freaks! Move out of the way.”

Great. Another awful fucking odor. And what a coincidence! It was the one I smelled this morning!

“Are you deaf? I said—”

He shouldn’t have grabbed my shoulder, shouldn’t have tried to shove me aside, for the second I felt his hand reaching for me, and before Tai'chi could pull me away, my reflexes kicked in.

What did I do exactly? Oh, I simply grabbed that damned arm of his, threw him over my shoulder, and slammed him down on the tiled floor in front of me, finishing a one-arm shoulder throw.

The people in the area halted what they were doing and a short-lived silence came over, broken by whispers.

So much for keeping a low profile.

The guy I just performed basic self-defense on was spitting curse words at me. He was still on the floor, trying not to voice the pain in his back.

“Freak! You’re a monster, aren’t you?! How dare you do this to me. Don't you know who I am?!" he yelled.

Did he mean me or? Either way, what he said was not true.

I tried to calm my anger down and gave him a forced smile, under my mask, and mustered up the voice and tone I always used when I’m annoyed.

But right now, I am pissed.

“Now, dear, fellow, human, what you said was clearly untrue. I am entirely human and this person beside me is an orc. Or were you blinded by your overgrown ego and disgusting attitude to see the obvious in front of you? Surely that must be it. The entrance to the cafeteria is wide enough for two people to not serve as a hindrance to the ones coming in, but still, you chose to try and shove me aside yourself. Well, I won’t apologize but I’ve had enough pushing for one day. And lastly, no, I do not know you and I don’t care.”

I gritted my teeth, my face hurting from smiling forcefully. The cafeteria was quite silent enough all the while and no doubt they heard every word I said.

Fuck.

I twisted around and bolted out of the building.

Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck! I blew it! Fucking blew my chance to have a normal college life! Now everyone will think I’m some crazy person and would, without a doubt, avoid me forever.

I was too busy cursing and walking away, planning to hide in a hole for all eternity that I didn’t feel the presence of someone following me.

Without thinking much of where I was heading, my feet led me to a secluded part of the uni. Tall trees lining up before and around me looking like an entrance to a forest, and so I tried hiding behind one. Hoping that the guards wouldn’t notice and detain me or something.

I sat down between the great roots of an oak tree and rested my head on top of my knees as I took deep breaths and listened.

Nature always had a place in my heart. How could it not? When you can hear the chirps of little birds, the soothing sound of leaves rustled by the wind. And the peace that comes with it all.

Not to mention it smells so relaxing.

“Hello there.”

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

Haha! What will Pearl do next I wonder, and who is this person who followed her??

Had to cut it off at that part because my dearest self just loves cliff hangers—

And because I wanted to post something as soon as possible.

Hope you enjoyed! I will be working on the third part asap.

Tags: @kokokatsworld @crackinanutshell

[cl-01-kestis]

My Little Rebel - Inquisitor!Cal Kestis x Female Rebel!Reader | Part 13

Summary: The Jedi temple is full of traps and a high security system, can you and Merrin get past the nightmare that awaits?

Warnings: Violence, dismemberment, injury

The trip to the temple was tense, you felt your stomach churn in angst at the thought of stepping foot in it once more, but this depended on the lives of the Jedi children that had not yet been found by the Empire. You knew most of the holocrons had gone missing during the purge but most of them had been controlled by the Empire and have been used as trackers to destroy the remaining force wielders. You were positive you were on one of the holocrons but you weren’t so sure if it had been destroyed or was still being used, you couldn’t be sure.

Neither you, Merrin or BD wasted time as you left the taxi and approached the temple which had now been changed into the Imperial palace. Your stomach was tense and every second that passed by you were getting closer to throwing up.

You hid your face with a mask Merrin had provided you along with her spare uniform you were also wearing. The grey paint on your face thankfully didn’t rub or wash away, you still looked believable but you were still paranoid in case there was a chance your real skin colour was revealed.

“Which way do we go?” Merrin asked in a hushed tone as you entered the main hall, your gaze switching to every corridor attached to the hall and mentally navigating your way to the holocrons.

“This way” You said quickly, looking to BD-1 on your shoulder and noticing the way it was trembling slightly, it was scared.

The three of you charged towards the hallway you pointed to, avoiding glances from every stormtrooper that guarded the entrances to each hallway and the exits, trying your hardest to slip by without any suspicion. Merrin held onto your hand out of angst, she felt nervous around such an establishment and you didn’t blame her. The temple had been transformed into a place of darkness, something the Jedi were not and never will be.

You got to the elevators in the temple and checked both sides, BD-1 and Merrin both guarding you as you pressed the button with an arrow pointing up on it. Even though there was no one coming you felt so much stress, you were begging for the elevator to pick up it’s speed already so you could get to the holocrons quickly and quietly.

With a small ding from the panel on the wall, the elevator doors to your left opened and you didn’t waste a moment to go in, but just as you were about to, an Inquisutor stepped out along side a Senator who had his arms clasped behind his back. You and Merrin froze completely but stepped aside out of manners as the Inquisitor looked at you both before shrugging his shoulders and resuming his chatter with the Senator.

You side glanced Merrin quickly before filling into the elevator and pressing the button that lead to the holocrons, the one that required your card and details. You quickly slotted the card into the small inserter beside the buttons and it quickly validated your card, another soft bing echoing in the elevator as the panel turned green, granting you access. The doors closed over and you finally let out a sigh of relief, pressing your palm against your head which was drenched in sweat.

“Thank Maker for that, I thought we were going to get caught” Merrin placed a hand on her chest and gave herself a few reassuring deep breaths, her chest heaving up and down in settling panic as she looked at you from across the elevator. You nodded at her statement and gulped, coughing slightly due to how dry your throat was and trying to wet it with saliva as you waited for the elevator to stop.

BD chirped out to you on Merrin’s shoulder, lifting one leg and pointing it at your face. You cocked your head to the side and realised a piece of your hair was beginning to fall out of your hood. Alerted about the situation, Merrin immediately pulled the hood off from your head and re-tied it right in time for the elevator to finally come to an eventual halt. You hid your natural hair behind the hood once more and cleared your throat as the doors to the floor opened, revealing a long strip that was at least half the distance of the temple, leading to the holocrons which the entrance you could see.

“There it is” You whispered, taking a cautious step out of the elevator and creeping out into the desolate hallway which seeped with eerie silence. The lack of noise got under your skin and you felt uncomfortable, but you still kept a brave act up and started jogging down to the entrance of the high security holocron chamber, Merrin and BD high on your tail.

You looked at the corners of the hallway to check for any cameras and thankfully there wasn’t any, maybe they removed them after the purge...

You stopped once you arrived right in front of the large door leading into the chamber, looking to see any way of entrance as you took out your card once more and checked for any slots or panels.

Next to the door there was a small almost missable panel which required a security code. Your heart dropped, this wasn’t part of the plan. The original security system of the door was by security card, not a passcode.

“Shit” You cussed under your breath, putting away your card and taking a step back, trying to see if there was a chance you could pry the door open without the systems going off. Merrin looked at you wish wide eyes.

“Can we get in?” She asked.

“No... this wasn’t what I expected” You answered truthfully, inspecting the panel with the numbers on it, underneath them was a green button which probably meant the confirmation of the code.

You couldn’t risk typing in any old number, the security systems were smarter than that. Maybe with some practical thinking, you could cut through it with your lightsaber but then again, it’s been a long time since you’ve been in the chamber and managed to get through It’s security.

“Do you have any detonators on you? I have an idea but you’re not going to like it” You said, turning to Merrin who gave you a suspicious look but removed the bag she was hiding beneath her cloak.

“Greez thought it would be necessary to bring some, so I guess it’s our lucky day” The Nightsisters hand came out holding a large detonator and reaching out to pass it to you. You took it from her carefully, making sure it didn’t slip and accidentally detonate, that wouldn’t be good.

“Here’s my plan, I’ll place the detonator on the door and hopefully it’ll crack it open, you and I will head inside and get the holocrons and you call for Greez” You were quick at explaining everything but you could see the hesitance in Merrin’s face. She was scared.

“Are you sure this’ll work?” She felt the need to ask and you understood why.

“I’m not sure, but hope isn’t lost yet” You replied to her before sticking the detonator against the surface of the door and pressing a few buttons on it before taking many steps back and taking Merrin with you.

“This won’t do much damage to us but it’s designed for this kind of stuff, Greez was smart to give us some” You smiled, looking to Merrin who simply nodded her head in reply and said nothing.

“Notify Cere, send her the signal to head up here now” You ordered Merrin quickly before seeing the detonator sizzle up and eventually rattle the barriers around the door, sparks flying and a loud cackling noise ringing out in the air.

Just as you hoped, the detonator melted through the door and made a hole which was big enough for you and Merrin to fit through. The only issue was the fact that the alarm had been set off and deafened you and Merrin.

“Come on!” You exclaimed through the noise, grabbing Merrin’s hand and jumping through the hole of the door, the smell of metal pervading your senses and causing you to choke out a strangled gag. Merrin followed close behind you and you immediately raced to the wall full of holocrons.

“Is this all that’s left?” You asked mostly to yourself in disbelief, realising there was only 10 holocrons in total left, the last remaining force sensitive children were right here.

“Open up the bag” You demanded urgently, your voice starting to shake as the alarm continued to ring around the whole of the temple, alerting every single trooper and temple guard near by which didn’t help the stress you were feeling.

Merrin immediately started taking whatever she could and so did you, filling the bag completely and zipping it up before standing back up and following you to the window. Without a choice, you smashed your elbow into the glass and let out a pained cry as the window shattered and pieces of glass cut into your arm. You could see the Mantis approaching from a distance, your heart dropping when you realised how much time you really had until someone arrived. Regardless of your bleeding arm, you drew your lightsaber and pushed aside Merrin who approached the window and waved out to Greez.

You ignited your lightsaber rapidly, your body trembling from the anxiety you were experiencing. ‘Hurry up hurry up hurry up’ was all you were thinking, praying to the Maker the Mantis would pick up the pace considering you and Merrin’s lives were at stake.

“Bet you wish you didn’t come on this mission now!” You joked to ease the tension, earning a sharp chuckle from Merrin who shook her head and looked behind to notice that the door was being unlocked.

“Behind you!” She called out, dragging your attention to the door which was thrown open, a dark figure entering the room which you identified to be an Inquisitor. It wasn’t Trilla, nor cal, or the Ninth Sister. Excusing your thoughts, you inhaled sharply through your nose and waited for him to charge at you.

“Jedi scum!” He growled in disgust, igniting his double sided lightsaber which made you flinch. Keeping your cool, you got into your fighting stance and met the Inquisitor half way.

Your lightsabers clashed, sparks flaring into the both of you as you shoved him back forcefully and charged towards him rapidly, your lightsaber coming down on him only for his own to block it off. He wasn’t as fast as Cal, you were thankful to notice, but that didn’t mean you were powerful enough to defeat him unfortunately. Even so, you continued to clash your blue lightsaber with his own red one, creating a strong purple hue everytime the nasty sound of cackling rung out in the air.

You heard the echo of the Mantis and Merrin calling behind you but you couldn’t leave the fight just yet, the Inquisitor had you pinned to the floor and you drew your leg up to kick him in his lower stomach, pushing him off and standing up.

Just as you were about to run towards Merrin, the Inquisitor regained his position on the ground and raised his lightsaber, the red blade cutting right through your thigh and causing you to let out a blood curdling scream. Merrin’s eyes flew wide open immediately and she took off her bag, throwing it to Cere who managed to catch it whilst balancing herself on the ramp. You dropped to the floor, your detached leg lying next to you as you gripped the red carpet and clawed your way towards the exit. You could feel Merrin’s anger, she let out a scream of rage as green spirals started surrounding the Inquisitor and crushed him, the sound of bones cracking making you wince before Merrin returned to her natural state and immediately picked you up, managing to lift you like a groom would with his bride.

“Come closer! I can’t jump!” Merrin said quickly, alerting Cere who’s eyes landed on you the moment the Nightsister came back into view at the shattered window, her eyes widening at your injured state. Cere could only creep closer to you and Merrin and stretch her arms out.

“This is the closest Greez can get, throw her to me- I’ll catch her!” Cere said in an insisting voice, looking behind Merrin and noticing that stormtroopers had begun to make their way through to see what was happening.

“Hurry!” Cere cried.

Merrin took a deep breath and chucked you over to Cere, the woman dragged you to her with the force and Merrin quickly jumped onto the ramp not long after. Cere grabbed onto Merrin’s hand and the three of you made your way into the Mantis, the ramp closing behind you as Cere ran over to the lounge area and lay you down on the couch.

“Get us out of here Greez!” Cere yelled, her heart pounding violently in her chest as she stared at your unconscious state with teary eyes, wishing she was with you on the mission to prevent you from missing your whole leg.

“I-I could’ve stopped him” Merrin seemed to be feeling the same as she paced around the room, her dark eyes never leaving you as she started crying out of pure fear and trauma. Cere stood up and immediately brought Merrin in for a hug.

“What matters is that she’s still alive, if it weren’t for you she’d be dead” Cere reassured Merrin, stroking her grey hair as she continued to sob at her failure.

Greez zoomed away from the main city of Coruscant and put in the navigation for the lower levels. He knew something bad had happened to you, he was worried sick but made sure the crew was far away enough from the empire to finally tend to what went wrong. He didn’t hear you at all, that made him worry. Usually when you’d enter his ship he’d always hear about anything you’d have to say, but now it was silence.

Only Merrin’s cries and Cere’s reassurance was the only thing heard, only then did he realise something bad had happened.

-

Cal sat in his chambers silently, wearing nothing but a pair of breifs and an oversized black T-shirt. A strange sensation of pain clawed at his heart and he felt as though something bad had occurred. He was sensing multiple disturbances in the force including the dark side. He sat cross legged on his bed with his eyes closed, expression concentrated as he shuffled through the different things he could sense and feeling as though it might’ve had something to do with you.

He felt sick to his stomach when he heard the distanc echoing of a scream, not in real life but in his mind. Your scream.

He opened his eyes immediately and jumped up of his bed, heart hammering in his chest as he quickly pulled on a pair of black joggers and walked out, eager to find out answers. He needed to find you.

Cal roamed around the station on Nur for what seemed like yours before finally coming across another Inquisutor, the Seventh Sister. She seemed to notice Cal immediately due to all the stress he was giving off, she stifled a mischievous smirk and faced him whilst crossing her arms.

“Lost, are you?” She asked with a playful tone in her voice.

“I’ve sensed a disturbance in the force, what’s going on?” He asked urgently, taking a step closer to the Seventh Sister who in return took a step back, her expression becoming more hostile.

“No idea, ask Trilla” she spat, her hands on her hips as she walked away from the young Inquisitor who in response growled, deciding to let her go and take her advice.

Cal walked around the Fortress Inquisitorius for some time before stumbling across the training rooms. He took notice to Trilla who was training with a purge trooper, she was out of her Inquisitor uniform and instead wore black half length yoga pants and a loose fitted white vest, underneath was a black sports bra. She threw kicks and punches at the trooper who in response was blocking them off skillfully and managing to keep up with her unlike the others.

Cal entered the large training facility and sat down cross legged to continue watching her fight. He was wondering if she had heard your screams too, if it’s through the force then maybe Vader even heard it. But Cal was too scared to even approach Vader, nevermind ask him about something so insignificant.

He kept his curiosity at bay but the pit of his stomach was churning in angst. He was so incredibly worried, the force wanted him to hear you. Something happened to you and he was eager to know, you sounded like you were in intense pain and it made him want to cry. There was a sting in his eyes and a lump in his throat as he remembered what your scream sounded like, it only made him want to ask Trilla sooner and stop the fight just to get to the bottom of what he heard.

As if the force heard him, Trilla won the fight and laughed as she kicked the purge trooper go the ground, keeping her foot hard against his chest as he panted out of breath and surrendered, raising his hands up to either side of his head.

Cal stood up, not caring whether or not he was intruding as he cleared his throat, approaching Trilla with caution like anyone else would. She slowly turned around to meet his gaze, her dark eyes unphased as she scoffed and let the purge trooper take a break.

“What do you want?” She asked with her usual monotone voice. Cal followed her as she walked to the side of the training room and picked up a black water bottle.

“Have you sensed it?” He asked, straight to the point and knowing he’ll waste his time if he warms up to the question.

“Sensed what?” Trilla turned around and faced him, raising her brow in growing curiosity as she leaned against the wall and crossed her arms. Frowning, Cal leaned against the wall next to his superior and let out an emotionless sigh.

“I heard a scream just about half an hour ago, I was curious as to know if you or any of the other Inquisitors heard it” Cal said, looking over to the purge trooper to see if he was listening in, thankfully he wasn’t as was currently wiping himself off with a clean black towel.

“Come to think of it, I was informed at the same time that one of our own was taken down in combat by a female Jedi... know anything about it?” Trilla taunted, looking to Cal with narrow eyes as she took another sip of her water. Cal’s eyes widened and he was about to say something, but ultimately kept his mouth tight shut before saying anything he’d regret.

“No, what happened to the Jedi?” Cal had to ask, he had a gut feeling the Jedi trilla was speaking of was you but he couldn’t be too sure.

“According to stormtrooper witnesses, she was killed, others say she was fatally injured, but all we know is that she didn’t come out in good condition” Trilla grinned at that, letting out a sharp chuckle as her shoulders bounced with each noise she made. Cal balled his hand into a fist, unable to fully comprehend what Trilla had said before turning around and beginning to make his way out.

“Thanks” Was all he said before opening the facility door and leaving as quickly as he could, leaving a smirking Trilla alone in the room.

[davidmann95]

Superman’s 10 Best of the ‘10s

Good Miracle Monday, folks! The first third Monday of May of a new decade for that matter, and while that means that today in the DC Universe Superman just revealed his secret identity to the world on the latest anniversary of that time he defeated the devil, in ours it puts a capstone on a solid 10 years of his adventures now in the rear view mirror, ripe for reevaluation. And given there’s a nice solid ‘10′ right there I’ll go ahead with the obvious and list my own top ten for Superman comics of the past decade, with links in the titles to those I’ve spoken on in depth before - maybe you’ll find something you overlooked, or at least be reminded of good times.

A plethora of honorable mentions: I’m disqualifying team-ups or analogue character stories, but no list of the great Superman material of the last decade would be complete without bringing up Cave Carson Has A Cybernetic Eye #7, Avengers 34.1, Irredeemable, Sideways Annual #1, Supreme: Blue Rose, Justice League: Sixth Dimension, usage of him in Wonder Twins, (somewhat in spite of itself) Superior, from all I’ve heard New Super-Man, DCeased #5, and Batman: Super Friends. And while they couldn’t quite squeeze in, all due praise to the largely entertaining Superman: Unchained, the decades’ great Luthor epic in Superman: The Black Ring, a brilliant accompaniment to Scott Snyder’s work with Lex in Lex Luthor: Year of the Villain, the bonkers joy of the Superman/Luthor feature in Walmart’s Crisis On Infinite Earths tie-in comics, Geoff Johns and John Romita’s last-minute win in their Superman run with their final story 24 Hours, Tom Taylor’s quiet criticism of the very premise he was working with on Injustice and bitter reflection on the changing tides for the character in The Man of Yesterday, the decades’ most consistent Superman ongoing in Bryan Miller and company’s Smallville Season 11, and Superman: American Alien, which probably would have made the top ten but has been dropped like a hot potato by one and all for Reasons. In addition are several stories from Adventures of Superman, a book with enough winners to merit a class of its own: Rob Williams and Chris Weston’s thoughtful Savior, Kyle Killen and Pia Guerra’s haunting The Way These Things Begin, Marc Guggenheim and Joe Bennett’s heart-wrenching Tears For Krypton, Christos Gage and Eduardo Francisco’s melancholy Flowers For Bizarro, Josh Elder and Victor Ibanez’s deeply sappy but deeply effective Dear Superman, Ron Marz and Doc Shaner’s crowdpleasing Only Child, and Kelly Sue DeConnick and Valentine DeLandro’s super-sweet Mystery Box.

10. Greg Pak/Aaron Kuder’s Action Comics

Oh, what might’ve been. In spite of an all-timer creative team I can’t justify listing this run any higher given how profoundly and comprehensively compromised it is, from the status quo it was working with to the litany of ill-conceived crossovers to regular filler artists to its ignominious non-ending. But with the most visceral, dynamic, and truly humane take on Clark Kent perhaps of all time that still lives up to all Superman entails, and an indisputably iconic instant-classic moment to its name, I can’t justify excluding it either.

9. Action Comics #1000

Arguably the climax to the decade for the character as his original title became the first superhero comic to reach a 1000th issue. While any anthology of this sort is a crapshoot by nature, everyone involved here seemed to understand the enormity of the occasion and stepped up as best they could; while the lack of a Lois Lane story is indefensible, some are inevitably bland, and one or two are more than a bit bizarre, by and large this was a thoroughly charming tribute to the character and his history with a handful of legitimate all-timer short stories.

8. Faster Than A Bullet

Much as Adventures of Superman was rightfully considered an oasis amidst the New 52′s worst excesses post-Morrison and in part pre-Pak, few stories from it seem well-remembered now, and even at the time this third issue inexplicably seemed to draw little attention. Regardless, Matt Kindt and Stephen Segovia’s depiction of an hour in the life of Superman as he saves four planets first thing in the morning without anyone noticing - while clumsy in its efforts at paralleling the main events with a literal subplot of a conversation between Lois and Lex - is one of the best takes I can recall on the scope on which he operates, and ultimately the purpose of Clark Kent.

7. Man and Superman

Seemingly geared on every front against me, built as it was on several ideas of how to handle Superman’s origin I legitimately hate, and by a writer whose work over the years has rarely been to my liking, Marv Wolfman and Claudio Castellini’s Man and Superman somehow came out of nowhere to be one of my favorite takes on Clark Kent’s early days. With a Metropolis and characters within it that feel not only alive but lived-in, it’s shocking that a story written and drawn over ten years before it was actually published prefigured so many future approaches to its subject, and felt so of-the-moment in its depiction of a 20-something scrambling to figure out how to squeeze into his niche in the world when it actually reached stores.

6. Brian Bendis’s run

Controversial in the extreme, and indeed heir to several of Brian Bendis’s longstanding weaknesses as a writer, his work on The Man of Steel, Superman, and Action Comics has nevertheless been defined at least as much by its ambition and intuitive grasp of its lead, as well as fistfuls of some of the best artistic accompaniment in the industry. At turns bombastic space action, disaster flick, spy-fi, oddball crime serial, and family drama, its assorted diversions and legitimate attempts at shaking up the formula - or driving it into new territory altogether, as in the latest, apparently more longterm-minded unmasking of Clark Kent in Truth - have remained anchored and made palatable by an understanding of Superman’s voice, insecurities, and convictions that go virtually unmatched.

5. Strange Visitor

The boldest, most out-of-left-field Superman comic of the past 10 years, Joe Keatinge took the logline of Adventures of Superman to do whatever creators wanted with the character and, rather than getting back to a classic take absent from the mainline titles at the time as most others did, used the opportunity for a wildly expansive exploration of the hero from his second year in action to his far-distant final adventure. Alongside a murderer’s row of artists, Keatinge pulled off one of the few comics purely about how great Superman is that rather than falling prey to hollow self-indulgence actually managed to capture the wonder of its subject.

4. Superman: Up In The Sky

And here’s the other big “Superman’s just the best” comic the decade had to offer that actually pulled it off. Sadly if reasonably best-known for its one true misfire of a chapter, with the increasing antipathy towards Tom King among fans in general likely not helping, what ended up overlooked is that this is a stone-cold classic on moment of arrival. Andy Kubert turns in work that stands alongside the best of his career, Tom King’s style is honed to its cleanest edge by the 12-pager format and subject matter, and the quest they set their lead out on ends up a perfect vehicle to explore Superman’s drive to save others from a multitude of angles. I don’t know what its reputation will end up being in the long-term - I was struck how prosaic and subdued the back cover description was when I got this in hardcover, without any of the fanfare or critic quotes you’d expect from the writer of Mister Miracle and Vision tackling Superman - but while its one big problem prevents me from ranking it higher, this is going to remain an all-timer for me.

3. Jeff Loveness’s stories Help and Glasses

Cheating shamelessly here, but Jeff Loveness’s Help with David Williams and Glasses with Tom Grummett are absolutely two halves of the same coin, a pair of theses on Superman’s enduring relevance as a figure of hope and the core of Lois and Clark’s relationship that end up covering both sides of Superman the icon and Superman the guy. While basically illustrated essays, any sense of detached lecturing is utterly forbidden by the raw emotion on display here that instantly made them some of the most acclaimed Superman stories of the last several years; they’re basically guaranteed to remain in ‘best-of’ collections from now until the end of time.

2. Superman Smashes The Klan

A bitter race for the top spot, but #2 is no shame here; while not quite my favorite Superman story of the past ten years, it’s probably the most perfectly executed. While I don’t think anyone could have quite expected just *how* relevant this would be at the top of the decade, Gene Yang and Gurihiru put together an adventure in the best tradition of the Fleischer shorts and the occasional bystander-centered episodes of Batman: The Animated Series to explore racism’s both overt and subtle infections of society’s norms and institutions, the immigrant experience, and both of its leads’ senses of alienation and justice. Exciting, stirring, and insightful, it’s debuted to largely universal acknowledgement as being the best Superman story in years, and hopefully it’ll be continued to be marketed as such long-term.

1. Grant Morrison’s Action Comics

When it came time to make the hard choice, it came in no small part down to that I don’t think we would have ever seen a major Golden Age Superman revival project like Smashes The Klan in the first place if not for this. Even hampering by that godawful Jim Lee armor, inconsistent (if still generally very good) art, and a fandom that largely misunderstood it on arrival can’t detract from that this is Grant Morrison’s run on a Superman ongoing, a journey through Superman’s development as a character reframed as a coherent arc that takes him from Metropolis’s most beaten-down neighborhoods to the edge of the fifth dimension and the monstrous outermost limits of ‘Superman’ as a concept. It launched discussions of Superman as a corporate icon and his place relative to authority structures that have never entirely vanished, introduced multiple all-time great new villains, and made ‘t-shirt Superman’ a distinct era and mode of operation for the character that I’m skeptical will ever entirely go away. No other work on the character this decade had the bombast, scope, complexity, or ambition of this run, with few able to match its charm or heart. And once again, it was, cannot stress this enough, Grant Morrison on an ongoing Superman book.

[starline148]

I hope you feel better soon! ;u; For the ask meme, 001 with KdFd, GouTora and/or SomeFubu!

Hi! I’ve been really busy this past week but I’m better, thank you and thanks for asking too! I did the three of them because I just love all of them :D

001 Ship: KdFd

When I started shipping it if I did:

Here it's again the story of how my little brother with only 10 years opened my eyes and changed my life. So we were watching Inazuma Eleven 3rd season (before the rewatch) and I was watching the anime without shipping (or realizing) anything at that moment. Then my brother sighed and told me "Jude and Caleb should marry, they're so obviously in love" and I was like OMG it's TRUE. (Funny thing is that he has this good sense for canon ships, like he said Korra and Asami would end together when half first season was on and has done it with other couples too -also he could adivine who would fall on an ice skating rink, he would be a very good fortune teller-)

My thoughts:

They're my OTP. Like, they're the ship I like most of every ship I ship. And I have some old “growing with” ships in the list like pokeshipping, takari and harutake, which are from some animes that were truly important to me as a child and so are these ships.

I love Kidou and Fudou as individuals, as friends and as a couple. Fudou is my favourite character from Inazuma (and my favourite character in general). And well, I just adore their relationship so much, like they're so pure somehow. I love their moments, their episodes, their hissatsus. I was really excited when Killer Fields happened. And the match against Team K or the Demons/Fallen Angel. I love so much when they're holding hands, such a moment.

So, summarizing I LOVE THEM.

What makes me happy about them:

THEY, EVERYTHING about them makes me happy. I love watching anything about them. And I love creating drawings/stories about them because I just love them so much.

What makes me sad about them:

Ares/Orion. But as I don't like it in general… Something I missed was Kidou not returning to Teikoku in the end of OG. But I also would have liked them interacting in Go. Like, I want to rewrite Go movie so Fudou can go save Kidou when he is kidnapped.

Things done in fanfic that annoys me:

Here I really have something. When they make Fudou not being faithful to Kidou just for drama or kinks. When I don't like a summary I don't go further but I found twice something not expected in tags or warning and well, went sad because to me they are LOVE made couple. 

Also, this is very particular and based in personal trauma. I don't like smoking Fudou. I don't like smoking characters in general, because my mother smoked when I was little and somehow this is a traumatic experience. But I can go with it. Like I'll read the story although I don't enjoy this specific little thing.

Things I look for in fanfic:

If they're there in a respectful relationship or going to it, I'm on board. I love them so much that I'll read almost anything with them. I even read a story where Kidou died and I didn’t like them but the story was beautiful.

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: 

I can't imagine another person for them. And what's more I never saw Kidou as an easy partner. I think it's hard to go on with him based on his personality, but that's just my view of him.

My happily ever after for them:

While I like the idea of them working as professional football players I absolutely love the idea of Fudou and Kidou being the first ones to start the time travelling thing. Like first investigations, first ideas of how this is in fact possible, etc. Maybe not being able to travel, but putting the seeds for further investigations.

So, they marry after Genda and Sakuma. They’re in the Japan Football Team but as the same time they work in their own business of ingenery/physics helping with prototypes of really complex technology (I can see them working in collaboration with Tatsuya and Midorikawa). They have three kids and live in an expensive and luxurious flat near a park. They often travel to Italy, they even have a second residence there. They in fact (as any other couple you can ask me) have a long and happy married life. Kidou dies first, Fudou’s the last one of his friends and he makes a special bond with his great grandson Kidou Akira.

Who is the big spoon/little spoon:

Fudou is the big spoon most of the time to cheer Kidou up. Sometimes despiste it is Kidou who hugs Fudou from the back.

What is their favorite non-sexual activity:

Watching Happy Feet 😂😂 ok, seriously. I imagine them being very competitive so they enjoy any game they can play. Chess, Go, Super Smash Bros, Monopoly, any game. They enjoy playing and trying to beat the other so the winner can show dominance.

I also think they'd enjoy walking at night together and sitting on a bench (Kidou's romantic rival) just to breathe air and hold hands in silence, sometimes they'd talk, sometimes they wouldn't.

001 Ship: SomeFubu

When I started shipping it if I did:

The truth is that the first time I watched Inazuma I didn’t like Fubuki, the anime was in middle of the second arc and I didn't understand what was going on. It also happened someone I didn't like loved Fubuki. So it took me some time to like Fubuki and start shipping him with Someoka who is one of my favs. More truth to be said, Someoka was the one that helped me to like Fubuki XD The scene that started everything was the one of "being like the wind together" and AND the Ogre movie. When Someoka gives his T-shirt to Fubuki to defend Raimon, he didn't know him yet and still trust him so much. Being Someoka that meant a lot.

My thoughts:

I adore Someoka so for me is a bit unbalanced, I mean, I love Someoka so so much that Fubuki doesn’t get all my focus here. Anyways, this couple is just adorable, the thing I like most is thinking that Someoka would be so soft and tender with Fubuki, Someoka loves everything in him, he knows him so much. You can’t convince me that Someoka wouldn’t be the best boyfriend ever. And Fubuki would absolutely love him back at 200% or more, supporting his dreams, improving his self steem and being for Someoka when he needs it. I like to imagine them as one of these extra sweet couples.

What makes me happy about them:

I’m always happy when I know someone else ship them because they are amazing. But as they’re not canon there’s no so much content. BUT the only good thing Ares had to me was Someoka being in Hakuren Team (I don’t like how he was used there, but well… that’s another story). And I love watching art or reading of them.

What makes me sad about them:

People being assholes and insulting Someoka and Someoka’s fans. Especially when they ship Fubuki with Gouenji. Ship whatever you want to ship and leave the others alone. Don’t come insulting us.

Things done in fanfic that annoys me:

Sometimes I find that SomeFubu relationship is portrayed as toxic as hell and Someoka is really abusive. And that makes me sad even if I’m not going to read that.

Things I look for in fanfic:

Fluff, comfort, daily life. Happy stories.

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other:

I don’t have any particular ship for them aside from SomeFubu. But if not with Fubuki I wish Someoka to be with the BEST PERSON he could dream.

My happily ever after for them:

They live in a little house in a little town in Hokkaido. Someoka at least plays in the National Team and Fubuki is Hakuren’s Coach. They both play in a smaller local team too. When they are too old to play in the National I can see them running an Adventure and Excursion business, maybe aimed at children so they can enjoy and have fun at the mountain. They have a daughter and a fox Someoka rescued.

Who is the big spoon/little spoon:

Someoka is the big spoon and he loves it.

What is their favorite non-sexual activity:

I really think they’d love to go skiing and snowboarding together, in general they’d love to enjoy snow and then go back home to drink hot cocoa. I also see them cooking together, being the main chef Someoka and Fubuki helping him with the little things like putting near the salt or taking the carrots out of the fridge.

001 Ship: GouTora

When I started shipping it if I did:

If I remember right it was in the match against Fire Dragon. But I’m not so sure with this ship, it could be sooner, but not later.

My thoughts:

I am usually don’t like so much ships where one of them starts with such an admiration for the other because I think they tend to not be healthy. But Idk, I just love them so much? I love Toramaru, I don’t usually talk or write about him but he is one of my favourite characters and I totally felt with this ship. I like the idea that Gouenji can be himself with him too, even if this means that he is sometimes a bit mean or impatient, not that he can mistreat Toramaru because he wouldn’t, just not need to be always perfect.

What makes me happy about them:

I love how their relationship evolves and how Toramaru wins confidence in the anime. I think that shipping or not shipping it’s a really nice relationship. And I also really really like Tiger Storm. I was also happy that in Go Toramaru is the only one of Gouenji’s friends to whom he not only told the truth but asked for help, like their bond is so lovely.

What makes me sad about them:

Not about them, but I was sad Toramaru wasn’t in Inazuma Legend Japan. I think he was in the bench, with Tachimukai, Midorikawa and all the others that didn’t appear in the Team, you can’t change my mind.

Things done in fanfic that annoys me:

Not sure, I didn’t see many fanfic for them ;v; which is the most sad. So, the lack of stories.

Things I look for in fanfic:

As there are only a few fan fics of them I think I’d like whatever I can find if they don’t have my no-no (main character death, and so)

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other:

I don’t have any other for Gouenji but for Toramaru would be Gouenji’s sister Yuuka :,) (I prefer her with Yuuichi anyways).

My happily ever after for them:

Toramaru runs his Detective Agency and Gouenji plays in a national team (can be boring but they are football players so being professionals I suppose is the best for all of them ;v;). They live in Okinawa, near the sea. Being neighbours with TsunaTachi and HIjikata. They have a really really really big dog called Tiger because owning tigers isn’t allowed (as Gouenji discovered). They’d have 3-5 children, adopted from Hijikata orphanage. When retired Gouenji starts working as a doctor because he actually studied Medicine and because I fucking love the detective+doctor duo :D They have the best garden in Okinawa.

Who is the big spoon/little spoon:

Toramaru is the big spoon or jet pack.

What is their favorite non-sexual activity:

They love going to the cinema together, Toramaru couldn’t go but a few times as a child because he had to help his mother so he is always super excited when they go to watch a movie. Once they grew having the best garden, it helps them to relax and keep stress away. But they always like to watch a good movie, specially if it’s about detectives. I also think they’d enjoy the sea a lot: swimming, surfing and all, once Tsunami teaches them how to love the sea.

[that-shamrock-vibe]

Movie Review: Sonic the Hedgehog (Spoilers)

Spoiler Warning: I am posting this review the day the movie is first released in the U.K, so if you haven’t yet seen the movie do not read on until you have.

General Reaction:

It's difficult with today's movie going audience to predict how movies like Sonic are going to perform and be received. Especially when the ad campaign did absolutely no favours for this movie other than convince Paramount that Sonic needed a more truthful redesign than what they originally put out.

Here's the thing. Sonic the Hedgehog to me is trying to be 2020's Detective Pikachu capitalising on that nostalgia of a beloved classic franchise.

However, I do feel that the haters and internet trolls out there are not going to be able to get past the comparisons this movie draws to 2011's Hop, which was a live-action/CGI-hybrid movie starring James Marsden who becomes the companion of a somewhat overbearing CG creature.

But, I encourage all movie goers, including the haters, to go into this with an open mind...particularly if you have any history with Sonic because you will get some enjoyment and walk away afterwards feeling happy overall.

My personal history with Sonic is slightly less-so than I would like. I played the original 2 SEGA games countless times and did watch some episodes of the earlier animated shows.

Having said that, my main Sonic fandom actually comes from the mid-noughties series Sonic X, which I feel this movie could have adapted but alas. Also I played the Shadow the Hedgehog spinoff game and more recently Smash Bros where I actually won as Sonic recently.

Now this movie reminds me of those shows and games practically in no way. I mean there is that opening sequence where you see Sonic running around and looping like he does in the SEGA games, I do also feel like James Marsden's character could easily be an older version of Chris, the boy from Sonic X, but aside from that, the gold rings and Robotnik...there's not a lot for the Sonic fans to spot.

I can't say this is a perfect movie, because it really is not. There are a lot of super speed gags and some of them do stick but some just fall flat and at times feel repetitive.

The worst crime this movie commits in my opinion is stealing Quicksilver's gimmick of speed scenes. By which I mean there are not one but two occasions when time is slowed down to almost a halt and we see Sonic running around still. They even have songs specific for these scenes.

Also, because I'm not fully aware of every Sonic incarnation, I did not understand why Sonic is effectively The Flash with being able to generate lightning. I mean I understand the laws of physics of generating enough friction can create static but I have never known Sonic to have any electric attacks.

I did like how the static electricity was preserved in his quills when they fell off though. In animation and the games you don’t think about Sonic’s realistic hedgehog qualities such as having quills so it was a nice touch.

I am also aware that Sonic has turned Super Saigen before with the help of the Chaos Emeralds I believe, so the fact we see a similar transformation here is quite good to see for that reason.

In terms of story I do think this is a simple plot that has been done numerous times, Hop is definitely one example that comes to mind, but I feel it’s also a very accessible story for non-Sonic fans.

I don’t know if Longclaw the Owl is an original character or one from Sonic mythology but I did not really vest much interest in her. Baby Sonic I thought was cute, but I refuse to accept anyone saying he is cuter than Baby Yoda as no one is cuter than Baby Yoda.

On the subject of age, it was good to see them acknowledging Sonic’s age for a change as opposed to just presuming because up until now I did always think he was some sort of teenager but this confirms it. If Baby Sonic is around 5-9 years old then Sonic in present day is late teens which makes sense with his temperament.

The gold rings being used as teleportation devices, I don’t know if they’re meant to be in the games but loved their use here.

I enjoyed the use of technology in this movie and particularly Robotnik’s commentary on how technology is more reliable than people which ties into his ultimate fate of being stranded alone without another soul on the planet he is sent to which forces him further into insanity.

The fact Sonic’s story is about fitting into society while James Marsden’s character is about figuring out what’s right in front of him are great parallels and do balance each other out rather well.

Also where he ends up with effectively being part of a family as well as a town hero was a nice way to wrap things up.

However, that mid-credits scene showing the arrival of Sonic’s faithful protege Tails to the real world looking for his friend screams for a sequel, especially if this means that more of Sonic’s companions could be introduced in the future like Knuckles, Shadow or even Rouge the Bat.

Characters:

Dr. Robotnik:

I don’t want to say he is the best character because I feel all four of the main cast members do a great job, but my favourite definitely is Jim Carrey as Robotnik. This is Carrey back on form and there were so many great shades of back when he was at the top of his game in the 90s with work such as Ace Ventura, The Mask and The Grinch.

From his first scene he stole every scene he was in. You could tell that he was taking the role seriously while also having the time of his life with it and this is why, back in the day, he was on such high form.

He may not have been the overweight bald megalomaniac, at least with the latter two not until the end of the movie, but he was the evil genius and mad scientist and almost every line he delivered he nailed.

I think “rockonnaissance” is going to be the new “joygasm” for him but it worked for The Riddler and it works for Robotnik.

I’m also happy he was nicknamed Eggman in the movie by Sonic because of the shape of his drones, I thought it was fitting. I can’t wait for Sonic to see the new bald version.

Sonic:

Yes Sonic is second but I said it before, there were times when he was overbearing.

Ben Schwartz by the way does a fantastic job voicing the character, I know he voices Dewey in the new Ducktales series and also for some reason voices BB-8 in the Star Wars sequel trilogy, but this is my favourite role of his voice is so realistic for a wide-eyed and somewhat innocent “alien” hedgehog.

I enjoyed how when he first came to Earth he was this urban legend around Green Hills who spent those 10 years people watching and either making up nicknames for the citizens while also longing to fit in with them but knowing not to.

Also the movie’s comedy was never as vulgar as Ryan Reynolds or immature as Russell Brand. I think they had one fart joke in the movie but the rest was generic comedy movie material which was hit and miss in comedy.

It was quite touching also that he was so protective of Green Hills and the status quo so much so that when Tom said he was planning on leaving to move to San Francisco, he was so offended and I thought it was going to be that trope of “Oh now they’re going to separate only to discover they need each other later” but instead it was a few digs and then they got over it.

I am so happy they did redesign the character because the movie’s original look for him was horrendous and did make Cats look reasonable whereas this is more like the Sonic everyone knows and I did not realise he didn’t have his traditional running shoes until Jojo, the niece of Tika Sumpter’s character, replaced them for him.

I will keep saying I want a sequel just because I am interested to see where Sonic’s story takes him next, especially with Tails now on Earth and the potentiality that others could join.

The Wachowskis

Again I thought James Marsden and Tika Sumpter did very pleasant jobs. This is my favourite James Marsden performance to date. Up until now his roles have been either corny or simply bland for me but here, yes there were a couple of dodgy jokes and moments but overall I thought Tom was a very likeable character and at the very least a driven character.

His wife Maddie, first of all props to the movie writers for having a mixed-race couple front and centre in the movie. But also, Maddie, who is also an accomplished career woman alongside her accomplished career husband, did not weigh Tom down or the story down as simply being “just the wife”.

I also enjoyed Maddie’s sister and niece, Jojo is quite cute and for the little screentime that she has does well with it for a child her age. While Natasha Rothwell continues to grow in my estimations after her fabulous turn in Love, Simon as the very sassy teacher.

Others:

As for the rest of the cast, this was a great who’s who for spotting the great jobbing actors as Lee Majdoub, Neal McDonough, Michael Hogan and Adam Pally all have minor supporting roles that do not go unnoticed.

Meanwhile Colleen Villard (née O'Shaughnessey), who voices Tails in the video games as well as voicing Wasp in The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes series and Sora in the Digimon franchise, reprises her role as the anthropomorphic fox in an uncredited mid-credits scene. I am hoping she returns for the sequel because it is good to hear her acting again.

Recommendation:

I do see a future for this movie in terms of a franchise. I do not quite see it crossing over with Detective Pikachu as I know there were rumblings of some sort of Super Smash Bros. movie cinematic universe.

However, if the movie does warrant a sequel, and with a current Rotten Tomatoes score of 64%, considering this seems to be a deciding factor for some cinema goers, I don’t see why not. I am hoping the future of this franchise does see the introductions of Knuckles, Shadow, Rouge and even Amy.

Potentially also spinning off from this franchise, there could be Donkey Kong, Mega Man and maybe even Mario to create that Super Smash Bros. universe.

Overall I rate the movie 8/10, it’s a great movie and definitely has some rewatchability to it.

Having said that I can see where some cinema snobs or even haters may come from as they inevitably target the movie but I encourage everyone not to be taken in by other people’s opinions, not even mine, make up your own minds and see it for yourself.

So that’s my review of Sonic the Hedgehog, what did you guys think? Post your comments and check out more Movie Reviews as well as other posts.

[dust2dust34]

4.5 prompt: All I ask + sunlight. Turn my bittersweet heart into mush like only you can, kloveyathanksbyeeeee

(I hope it’s okay this isn’t for S4.5! And that I’m answering this fouryearslateomg)

(i’ll show you) who this heart beats for (Olicity AU)

Summary: Sequel to (i will be the fire) that keeps you warm, and the second story in my spontaneous “The Artie Chronicles” series. It’s Valentine’s Day and Oliver and Artie have a very important question for Felicity. 

Rated: T (for cursing and panic attack)

A/N: Title from Wilderness by Jon Bryant. Partly inspired by @Greeenlan’s cute as sin tweet (and oh yes, that photoshoot absolutely happens in their future when Oliver and Felicity take in a couple of abandoned pitbull puppers that Artemis 100% becomes the adopted mother to).

(read on AO3)

 “Look at you.” Oliver adjusted the headband slightly. “Aren’t you just the prettiest girl?”

The three-year-old pitbull grinned where she sat primly before him. Still panting from their hour-long run, she looked every bit as cute as he knew she would with the fresh flower crown situated on her boxy head. As if she knew what he was thinking, she wagged her tail, her eyes gleaming, her smile widening, her tongue hanging out even further… 

A line of drool slid from the corner of her mouth.

Oliver chuckled.

“Yes, you are,” he said, catching it before it could turn into a shoestring. “You are the very prettiest girl, and don’t you dare tell Mommy that I’m talking to you like this, because she’ll never let me live it down that the way she talks to you has rubbed off on me. She keeps trying to catch us, but we know what she’s doing, don’t we? You’ve got my back, don’t you, girl?”

Artemis agreed with a chipper little bark. Diggle insisted it wasn’t “little” so much as thunderous, but either way, it was damn cute.

“That’s my girl. Alright, you know the plan.” The instant that word was out of his mouth, all the nerves he’d managed to beat back since he decided today was the day roared back. Fighting to keep steady, Oliver clapped his hands together. Artie instantly stopped panting, her ears perking up behind the flower crown. It was so unbelievably adorable it made his chest hurt and he huffed out another little laugh as she inadvertently calmed him. “That’s right. You’re staying right here, and I’m going to have the souffles, and we’re going to wait for Mommy to follow the flowers in here, and then you’re going to distract her with how cute you are so she doesn’t see how nervous I am. Okay? Good. Good.” And just like that, the tiny reprieve she’d given him had disappeared. “Yep. That’s the plan.”

Ignoring the butterflies in his stomach, Oliver patted Artie’s shoulder and stood up.

Was it hotter than it had been a minute ago? He’d opened the curtains to let the sun in, but it was still early, and February, at that. No way it was hotter. 

Right?

Oliver wiped his brow and then dragged his hand down his face.

His eyes darted to the large grandfather clock in the far corner. 

Almost 10:30 a.m. 

His ribs abruptly closed in on him and he frowned, whipping his wrist up to check his watch.

Yep, that was definitely the time, which meant any minute now she’d be walking in that door from her work trip to Central City, duffel bag in hand, a smile on her beautiful lips, those stunning eyes of hers looking for the rest of their little family, especially when she saw the trail of yellow daisies he’d laid out that would lead her right to him… 

His stomach pitched.

With a groan, Oliver started pacing the living room. Artie’s head followed him back and forth, her tail wagging every time he walked by her. It normally made him smile, made him stop and talk to her, but not right now. No, right now his already-pounding heart absolutely took off, racing so fast he had to force a breath into suddenly stagnant lungs. And his hands wouldn’t stop trembling. Oliver shook them out before rubbing them together. Clammy dampness made that impossible and he groaned again, scrubbing them viciously against his thighs.

He was being ridiculous. 

There was nothing to be nervous about. 

Absolutely nothing.

Oliver didn’t realize he was still scrubbing his hands against his thighs until they started burning.

“Damn it,” he breathed, wincing as the pain caught up to him.

He turned his palms up to see bright red streaks across his hands. 

The well of trepidation he’d been fighting to keep down overflowed.

Oliver abruptly stopped, his jaw clenching as his hands started shaking again. There was something to be nervous about, wasn’t there? It wasn’t what she would say, or how she would react, because he knew with every atom in his body how it would go. Because he knew her, he knew them, and he knew where they were going, and that no matter what it would be together.

It was him. Oliver squeezed his hands into tight, trembling fists. It was tying her to him, to his demons, to the shroud that followed him no matter what he did, or how many people he saw,or  how much he talked about what had happened to him on that island, or how much both his girls settled him when his neurosis became too much. It was the worry that they would never stop. It was the bone-deep terror that when he thought he was getting better, it was actually him using her and their dog as a crutch. It was the lingering fear that he was being selfish wanting to keep Felicity as close as he could because he needed her light to keep the darkness at bay. He loved her, so much, with everything inside him. More than that, even. She was his other half. She was a key to a lock he didn’t even know was there. 

But all the baggage that he came with?

His mind shot back to last month, when he’d woken from a nightmare to find himself holding her down when she’d tried to wake him, his hand wrapped around her throat. 

The only thing that’d grabbed him from the images in his mind were Artie’s wild barks. 

Because she hadn’t been able to yell, to stop him, to fight him off.

Oliver shuddered and he curled in on himself. He had been horrified, disgusted, angered, terrified, but she had still somehow managed to talk him down. Rather, he had let her. Because he’d needed her to, because the reality that he had almost hurt her was too much to bear. God, he had let himself fall into her, hadn’t he? Let himself pretend it was okay, buried himself in the belief that it was fine…

Because otherwise he would have crumbled.

She had saved him, so many times. Even with her own shadows, her own demons, she found a path through the darkness to shed her light on him.

He couldn’t offer her nearly what she gave him. 

What if he never could?

The thought ripped open a wound that had been festering since that night. No, since long before that. Since he met her.

His skin was suddenly too hot and tight, closing in on him like plastic wrap. Saliva flooded his mouth and he swallowed hard, a couple times, but it did nothing. His stomach churned, twisting, and tried to take a breath, but his lungs seized up, closing as the full weight of what he was doing hit him.

Was he really doing this? Was this the right thing to do? For her? Things were going so well with them, why would he want to mess that up, why would-

It hit him what day it was and his jaw dropped. 

What the hell was he doing? On Valentine’s Day? Of all the days, he had to choose this day? Not only was he potentially changing the entire landscape of their relationship, he was doing it in the most cliched way possible. How was that for a fresh start on a new path together?

Artie whined and her cold nose bumped his hand.

Oliver looked down at her, mumbling, “It’s okay, I’m okay, it’s okay,” but it wasn’t. And she knew it, because she stared up at him with those knowing eyes of hers. The same eyes that just a few hours ago he swore had been encouraging all this madness.

An incredulous laugh escaped him, because now?

Now Oliver looked up and around and realized that this was an absolutely moronic plan. He actually thought it would be romantic, that it would be sweet, to do this on Valentine’s Day, of all days. Yeah, it happened to be the day she got back, but he couldn’t have waited until tomorrow? Or a week from now? Or anything but this day? Was he doing it because of what happened that night? The thought sickened him. He’d had the ring for months, but it hadn’t occurred to him to use Valentine’s Day. Why would it? It was stupid. But maybe… maybe she couldn’t say no if he used everything in his arsenal.

What was wrong with him?

He suddenly saw the room in an entirely different light.

Flowers were littered everywhere. He’d asked everyone to stay out of the main room for the morning. He’d baked fucking souffles and had put a ring inside one of them-

The front door opened.

Panic shredded his insides.

Oliver lurched towards the coffee table, towards the serving plate holding two perfectly made souffles topped with his homemade whipped cream sat. He had no idea what he was going to do when he got to them, he just knew he had to get them out of there before she saw them and knew what he was going to do. It would have been fine, probably, except there had really been a plan, one that involved Oliver giving a command that would have kept Artie right where she was… 

But there wasn’t a single logical thought left in his head.

When Oliver grabbed the plate, he abruptly stopped in the middle of the flower path, looking around wildly, momentarily struck dumb as he considered shoving them behind a pillow…

He didn’t get the chance.

Sixty-three pounds of solidly muscled pitbull slammed into the back of his legs. 

One second he was standing and the next he was airborne along with the souffles.

He slammed into the floor with a crash, Artie tangled up in his legs. The serving plate crashed next as smashed flowers scattered everywhere, and then the souffles. One of them landed on the area rug, the damage absorbed, but the other exploded right next to Oliver’s head, sending chocolate and whipped cream everywhere.

“Artie,” Oliver gasped, jerking up, but she was just fine, wiggling out from under his leg. Her crown was still on, skewed as it was, and an excited grin was locked in place, making her look almost manic.

But it wasn’t for him.

Artie didn’t even look at him as she bolted for the front door.

“Oh… wow, what is… Artie!” Felicity’s voice carried from the anteroom and his heart simultaneously jolted and calmed at the same time. She’d only been gone two days, but it was two days too long. Oliver closed his eyes, collapsing onto the floor, giving himself a momentary reprieve - really, to revel in all that she was as Felicity talked over Artie’s excited barks. “How’s my baby girl doing? How’s my baby girl? I missed you, too, yes I did, yes I did. What is this on your… Is this a flower crown? Are you my Valentine? Oh my god, you’re so cute, I could just eat you up… Where’s Daddy?”

That spurred him into action. 

Oliver pushed up onto his elbow, only to remember why he’d had the souffles in the first place. Cursing, he looked around rapidly, and then for the other souffle, for where the ring-

“What is all this… Oh my god, Oliver!”

Her duffel slapped the floor and then he heard the scuttle of her heeled feet as she ran towards him. Oliver was already shaking his head, forcing a sheepish grin to his lips as he held up his hand with a, “I’m fine,” but she and Artemis had already reached him. “Wait, there’s-” he started. Felicity ignored him and dropped to her knees next to him right in the cake and whipped cream, her hands flying to his face. 

“Are you okay? What happened?”

“I’m okay,” Oliver told her, finding her arm and squeezing. “Artie and I had an accident-”

“What?” Felicity demanded, whipping around to look at the dog. But Artie was more than fine. Her crown was straight again thanks to Felicity, and staying on her head when she started to sniff around the spilled souffles. “Hey, hey, not for you, not for you! Good girl. You stay. No chocolate for you. Good girl. Wow, you are so much better at training her than me, she would have lost it like when I dropped the bowl of mac and cheese. So what happened? And what… Oliver, is this all for Valentine’s Day? That is so…”

“Yeah,” he replied when she trailed off. He waved at the ground. “These were souffles…”

She wasn’t listening, though.

She was staring at the floor next to him. 

His mouth snapped shut as his heart leapt into his throat. He twisted to see what she was looking at, but he didn’t have to move so fast because she already was.

Felicity picked up a messy little glob that was very obviously a ring.

Oliver froze.

She lifted it up, right into a ray of sunlight.

The beam cut through the chocolate and whipped cream to the sparkly diamond underneath.

“Is this…?” she managed, shock slackening her face. And not the good kind.

Oliver’s insides sank at the sight and he knew he’d been right. His shoulders collapsed on a bone-deep exhale as he said, “Yes. Yes, I was going to propose-”

Felicity’s eyes shot to his. “Was?”

“Yes, I was,” he responded without thinking. “But then I started thinking about what it meant, for you, for us, and with everything going on with me. God, I wasn’t even thinking, and it was so stupid to think I could do it on Valentine’s Day, and then I panicked and Artie crashed into me and we fell, breaking-”

Her fingers landed on his mouth.

Oliver stared up at her with wide eyes, grateful she had stopped him, but utterly terrified about what she was going to say.

“Was,” she repeated slowly. “So… you’re not going to anymore?”

“No,” Oliver said and her face crumpled. “Yes. No. I mean…” He huffed and sat up to fully face her. “I was going to propose.” A little hum escaped her, followed by a tiny, beatific smile that transformed her entire being for a split second. But then she seemed to remember what exactly they were talking about and it fell away again. “But then I started thinking about last month when I… when I woke up hurting you, and how it isn’t the first time and it won’t be the last time, and how it feels like I’ve… slipped back. And instead of going forward, I’m falling backwards, and I don’t… I didn’t… I just… I needed time to rethink things-”

“Because you thought I wasn’t going to say yes?”

“No. Because I want to be better for you. I want to be able to offer the kind of life you deserve.”

“Don’t you think that’s my choice to make?”

“Yes, of course, but-”

“No,” she interrupted. “There is no but.”

“Felicity-”

“I chose this life,” she said, her voice rising. “And I chose you, and I don’t understand how you can’t see that it’s not either-or. You aren’t either-or. Not for me, not ever. It’s not a ‘we can do this, but only when you get better’ sort of thing, because that’s not how it works. That’s not how it will ever work. Trust me, I know. There was a storm in Central City last night and I ended up sleeping in the hotel tub. Which, let me tell you, is not as comfortable as the movies make it seem.”

Oliver frowned. “Why didn’t you call me?”

“Probably for the same reason you changed your mind about proposing to me.”

“I didn’t change my mind.” He sighed as he rubbed her upper arms. “I hate that I wasn’t there.”

“Me too,” she admitted in a small voice. “And I know I’m sort of negating this because I didn’t call you last night, but I would hate if I wasn’t there when you needed me. I hate the idea that you don’t want me there, because I want to be there. I need to be there. This is obviously something we both have to work on, but… I want to work on it. With you. It’s not perfect, but it never will be. And that’s okay. I don’t want perfect. I want you. I choose you, Oliver. I will always choose you, and everything that comes with it.”

A crack pierced through his chest and pressure he didn’t even realize was there eased away.

“I choose you, too,” he said. “Always.”

“Good,” Felicity breathed. “You better. I mean, who else is going to take Artie on runs, because it certainly won’t be me.”

Oliver choked out a laugh, especially when Artie took that as her cue to nuzzle her way in to join their little huddle, pawing her way through the souffle mess. But Oliver saw right through the words, heard the little tremble under them that always appeared when she wanted to stay strong in the face of something way too heavy to carry alone.

And that was the point, wasn’t it?

They weren’t alone. Not anymore. Not ever again.

Oliver’s smile grew as he watched Felicity laugh when Artie’s giant tongue swept out to kiss her all over her face. Not for the first time, he wondered if they ever would have found each other without Artemis butting into the situation. But she’d done her part - she’d brought them together, opened the door for a future of so many possibilities.

It was up to them to keep it open.

“Artie,” he said with a quick double click of his tongue. 

The dog immediately settled back and sat down - right in the spilled souffle, but it was time for a bath anyway - and stared at them with perked ears behind the flowers.

“Felicity…” Oliver took the messy ring from her fingers. She inhaled sharply, going very still, and he smiled as he took her left hand in his. “All I ask… all I’ll ever ask… is that you keep choosing me. And I’ll keep choosing you. Forever.”

Tears filled her eyes behind her glasses and she tugged her bottom lip between her teeth. 

“Will you marry me?” Oliver asked.

“Yes,” she breathed.

“Yes?” he asked, even though he heard her. But he just wanted to hear it again. And again, and again… 

“Yes!” Felicity repeated on a happy laugh and launched herself at him.

They kissed, a sweet, lingering touch that had the crack in his chest widening even more, letting in a stream of light and joy that had him laughing with her. With a grin as wide as hers and shaking fingers that had everything to do with excitement and joy now, he slid the ring on her finger. They both chuckled when the whipped cream made it easier. When it was firmly in place, he kissed the ring, her hand, and then her lips once more.

“Yes,” she repeated one more time, and he smiled so big it made his cheeks ache.

Artie’s excited bark echoed the sentiment. She jumped in to join them once more, and it continued as Felicity said, “And yes to you, too! Were you in on this, Artie? Did you know he was going to do this today, I thought we told each other everything…”

Oliver’s smile didn’t go away, not ever again. It dimmed, every once in a while, but he always chose to keep finding the light, the reason to keep it going.

He always chose her.

The End

*

My thought process while writing this: Alright, let’s do something cute and fluffy! A guarantee with Artie in the picture! Yeah… but don’t forget they’re both trauma victims in their own way… Yeah, and that this is a huge step… And that PTSD and anxiety echo for years, even when you work on it… Okay, so what if Oliver has a panic attack and freaks out?!

I hope you enjoyed it! Thank you for reading! 

Reviews literally feed the soul and muse.

[dansnaturepictures]

My eighth wildlife and wildlife and photography highlights of 2020 blog-Our trip to Devon and Cornwall in August        

Dipper, Chough, Manx Shearwater and more 

You may recall that a permanent fixture in these highlights blogs every year has been our trips to Rutland Water to attend the British Birdwatching Fair. The organisers took a correct, timely and classy decision to cancel it this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It would have not been possible to do safely this year given the nature, popularity and international scope of the event. I did miss going to Rutland it was my first summer since 2007 I didn’t go to Rutland or the wider East Midlands, but I enjoyed where I could getting involved and also donating to the virtual Bird Fair they held instead which by checking the schedules and watching talks and things I felt very much the same exciting vibes I got going to the Bird Fair every year since I was kid.

But I still had the Friday and Monday booked off work for when it would have been on. So as restrictions allowed us at that stage we booked to go to Devon for three nights to visit certain West Country wildlife rich and beautiful locations we knew. Something I felt very excited about I do love this area of the country what a bonus to get to go back after doing so last September going to Cornwall and this and last January in Gloucestershire my last trip away. It was nice to just stay somewhere else other than home for the first time in five months for me safely. On the way on the Friday in and out of sunshine we took in wonderful views of the countryside, most notably seeing the famous Stonehenge in Wiltshire a place I had seen before from the car but I had never managed or even really tried to photograph it so I did that that day I just managed to get my camera ready in time to take pictures of it through the car window including the first in this photoset a fun moment making me excited for my next West Country adventure it’s such a great staging post in any journey there.

When we arrived and settled into the lovely cottage we stayed in in a working farm environment, we ventured to three lovely lakes in a nice light evening they have here. It was such a beautiful walk, I took in brilliant views over this typical Devon countryside which I love. It was particularly a very nice night of flowers and insects a botanist’s dream a little bit, we saw so many wonderful flowers including late foxgloves in the rain, lovely rosebay willowherb, some striking orange and pink ones nice to see them with raindrops on and insects flying around. The orange ones I found out later on were montbretia. As we drove in on a day that had its fair share of rain it was comical to see little makeshift “rivers” flowing along the roads and lanes so it was nice to capture this in a photo too. During the walk it rained that night just a bit and the sun shone, I looked over the fields seeing the dark clouds behind and thought to myself that’s where the rainbow will go and I said that to my Mum and like happened earlier this year surely enough a rainbow did then appear right on that patch and it looked glorious I took the second picture in this photoset of it. A nice addition to my best ever year of rainbows fittingly given what they came to mean in 2020 and a beautiful start to the holiday I felt very relaxed that day especially compared to weeks that proceeded it. I also saw a couple of Wrens that night which was very nice as I felt in the heart of Devon countryside I really tasted that in a sense and embraced by it. A lovely moth a Yellow-barred Brindle came in that night showing good continuity from them coming in at home the weeks leading up to the trip away.

We started the Saturday away with a walk up the lane from where we’re staying, it started rainy and then got sunny, we enjoyed some stunning Devonshire views of lovely countryside which was a great start to the day alongside being very relaxed at being away and excited. On this walk like I did throughout the day I saw more rosebay willowherb. As the sun really came out I was delighted to see beautiful Swallows flying very close overhead and landing on the wire, a special moment with a great bird. A young Robin outside the cottage was very lovely to see and I saw and photographed one at Fingle Bridge later on that day which was memorable. I also saw nice butterflies Speckled Wood and Large White on this walk. I took third picture in this photoset of a view on this walk.

We then went to Fingle Bridge the main place we wanted to come this trip away to search for one of my favourite birds the Dipper. Here it was nice to see Grey Wagtail, Red Admiral, Large White and Southern Hawker as we took in stunning views of a beautiful habitat I love so much gushing water flowing over rocks through a valley in the woods a habitat I find very delicious. I also felt I went back in time and saw some Silver-washed Fritillaries strong butterflies for the habitat one who’s season had long since ended at home in Hampshire. Whilst in Hampshire as I said in my last highlights blog at this stage I was taking in lots of sights and signs of autumn there were only some with one tree in autumn colour here. The flower sightings the night before and that day showed the season in Devon was slightly behind and a little more how the year normally unfolds actually.

Our quest to see a Dipper at Fingle Bridge after walking around was beginning to look a bit fruitless, but I kept saying we must never give up and all we needed was a moment of magic to see one. Luck changes in seconds with these birds. We came across an angler who we spoke to at a safe social distance as we were eating one or two wild raspberries and he had some too and I had some blackberries further on. We asked if he’d seen a Dipper on his travels and he had as well as Kingfisher too the Dipper recently and he told us roughly how far along. It was a very pleasant chat. We walked on checking the river at all times and we saw a Dipper! Very likely the same one. That one moment had happened and I felt so happy. We got brilliant views of it on the rocks in the water and it was very interesting to see it flying as I had done before and see it swimming a bit which I never had before really in the flesh. I got my first photo of an adult Dipper since 2014 the fourth in this photoset, we had seen the bird we had come for as we had here in 2015 which meant it was mission accomplished and we could feel anything that happened on the trip now was a bonus and it was a relief to see this my 12th ever occasion of seeing a Dipper.

It was quite an emotional moment really. 2020 looked like a year we could possibly see a Dipper when we went to North Wales in June we had the right habitat and had locations where we looked for them there in 2016 but that was rightly postponed due to the virus at that stage. I then thought and even said I would not see a Dipper this year and I accepted that. But then the Bird Fair was also cancelled and we managed to sneak a staying-away trip in to this area we love so much and Dipper was the bird we’d come for and we’d managed it which I loved. It was very thrilling to see this bird. 10 years on in very similar habitat (My first ever Dipper was at Exmoor’s Watersmeet which Fingle Bridge is like a Dartmoor version of) from seeing my first Dipper I was reminded why they are one of my favourite birds and how much I love it. Interestingly during my last time off work for more than one day before this my hot week off of day trips in Hampshire and most notably surrounding counties to it in June, on the Friday I watched Julia Bradbury’s ‘Walks with a View’ programme I think repeated where she walked Lynmouth to Watersmeet as part of her walk that episode and saw Dippers which made me very nostalgic this before I knew we’d get to go to Devon so it just made me feel very nice that. Year list wise it was a very important milestone being my 170th bird of 2020. A worthy bird to be the milestone which made me very happy. Equally I didn’t know if I’d reach 170 birds this year it’s been a crazy and restrictive (for the best for us all of course) year a figure it always feels smashing and I am proud to reach I’ve only achieved it six times so I felt happy. I came away once again with a very good impression of Fingle Bridge what a fantastic place it is, the woods and river habitat I just love so much. There’s also lots of nice picnic areas it’s a typical National Trust place so it was nice to see lots of people safely enjoying time outside this August it gave me great holiday vibes.

We then moved into Meldon Reservoir. At Fingle Bridge I had some therapeutic moments listening to and watching the water gush over rocks and falls, and I had very much the same here but in a different more open setting perhaps. Here I simply took in some of the greatest views I’ve seen this trip and this year so far it was exceptional. Typical national park views within Dartmoor. I had never seen anything like it being at a reservoir and dam really and walking along it. It was a wonderful walk through breathtaking countryside. I took the fifth picture in this photoset from here I enjoyed taking pictures there so much. I even managed a dip in the river myself when it turned out the circular route we did meant we had to cross a tributary to the stream a lovely holiday moment for the weekend. I saw Dartmoor ponies here and some Jackdaws which was nice. Being at a dam was so good also as I have seen in my previous visits especially north/mid Devon ones we can learn a lot from the South West about how to use renewable energy and put it into the landscape a wind turbine was visible in the distance too. Its landscape features so good for this. I know there are other uses for the reservoir obviously. So I really saw that up close and personal it’s something that has interested me since school renewable energy use and obviously we should all be interested in so I found that great that day. This was a walk at Meldon reservoir that really allowed me to take in great views and absolutely tire myself out which is what it’s all about for me. That day I also set my record for photos produced in one day producing over 60 which I would emulate the next day and in my Norfolk and Bushy Park trips this year.

On the Sunday we did something that was a surprise idea and something we did not expect to at all this long weekend, and made the trek from where we’re staying near to Oakhampton, Devon to Cape Cornwall and Botallack in the vicinity of Land’s End in Cornwall two standout locations of our wild Cornish September 2019 holiday to see if we could see two star birds there that we did last year which I wouldn’t see anywhere else this year another of my favourites the Chough and a favourite bird B lister for me the Manx Shearwater. Since 2016 the beginning of my working life holidays particularly as well as all time off have increased in importance for me with long summer holidays and the like no longer something I can enjoy. And the lineups in each year since, particularly 2018 and 2019 although 2017 taking in locations we already know well was good too have been amazing with so many memorable trips away from home and smashing stuff happening in them wildlife and landscape dominated and mostly both. In my 2019 holidays particularly the last to Cornwall I really realised how content I was going away to different locations in my own country and doing what I love wildlife watching and photography. So places like these I took to my heart. When we left Cornwall, doing a second trip to Cape Cornwall mostly to walk the dogs before we left due to practicalities and because we loved it so much, I sort of thought I treasured these places so much and I wouldn’t see them again for another three or four years if I was lucky. I said to my Dad before coming away at the possibility of if we didn’t see a Dipper the day before which we did in the end at Fingle Bridge in Devon our main bird target, maybe crossing the Cornish border to go to Boscastle where we’ve seen them before a little bit into Cornwall that would feel strange in a good way returning to Cornwall so soon. But to actually be going to the places we were at last year right at the end of Cornwall, in this crazy rollercoaster of a year was something else.

The day started in a wild way as I saw and photographed a spider in the bath in the cottage we stayed in a similar one to one I got a memorable photo of in my en suite at home on the second May bank holiday Monday. After a nice journey there as the sun came out which felt like going to Anglesey when we stayed in Snowdonia in 2016 for scale of a big journey within time away, in which we saw lots of birds of prey like Buzzard, Kestrel and maybe a Peregrine, we got here and took in stunning views of the dramatic coast in the sun and peak purple heather everywhere and reacquainted ourselves with the beautiful place Cape Cornwall. We did the same with the wildlife, seeing scores of Gannets young and old, Fulmar, Shag, Oystercatcher, Turnstone, get intimate moments with Herring and Great Black Backed Gulls, see another Buzzard and also see a little moth and a cricket which was nice. I enjoyed nice flowers there that day too.

I also saw a decent few butterflies at Cape Cornwall in perhaps the hottest weather we had all trip. It was nice for it to be and feel so hot and sunny after a wet start in Devon for us that day. This included Small Tortoiseshell, some Common Blues and most notably a smashing view of a Wall Brown. I finally got to see one and really make out its features this year one I had had two occasions of quick and flighty and quite distant views of prior to this point in 2020. I very much enjoyed seeing this beautiful mostly coastal butterfly for us up close and I liked taking a picture of it with my big lens with its wings closed.

At this stage in the walk like the Dipper the day before we had not seen a Chough and we were rather making hard work of doing so. I joked we were chuffed to see a Dipper that day’s yesterday but were we going to dip (out) on Chough today (to those who don’t know, “dip out” is a birdwatching term to mean you have missed seeing the bird you are looking for). But I kept the same motto as the day before, we must stay positive and focused as it only took one moment for it to happen.

On the way back to the car at Cape Cornwall that day we got that moment. The one thing had concerned me compared to two visits here last September was we had not heard the distinctive call of this scarlet-billed crow at all which we had a lot here last year. The Chough is a bird you’ve really got to be hearing before you can even think about seeing one. As we walked up the hill I heard two finally, and turned around and there were two black birds flying from where the call was made. I got them in the binoculars but could not quite see their beaks properly. My Mum had just about seen the shape of them but not the red colour and thought Chough. I needed that little bit more convincing as similarly sounding Jackdaws were by the shore to the left of where we were looking moments before so could have easily rose up. They looked more right for Choughs though and we walked back in the direction of the lower reaches of the hill where we’d seen them last year. Here we managed to see them again sitting on the cliff and the pair flew frequently, but we saw their red beaks and were in no doubt now they were Choughs. We enjoyed a glorious few minutes with these precious birds we really did get so close to them, I felt very happy to see and hear them. Once again this weekend away patience had paid off. I took the sixth picture in this photoset of one of the Choughs at Cape Cornwall that day.

As bird 171 in my year it did make me happy and made my year list at that stage my third highest compared to what I had seen on this date in previous years behind 2018 and 2019 my two highest ever year lists. It also marked the first time I saw one as one of my favourite birds which was nice, I had always been fond of them throughout my birdwatching but last September after the holiday I added it to my list of favourites. There’s was only at that stage six of my current list of favourite birds I was yet to see as I mentioned in my favourite birds highlights post in this thread, six I know I have not visited any locations I could see them or are just very hard ones to see so I did very well for seeing them this year. We left Cape Cornwall once more feeling very satisfied indeed. I also enjoyed seeing more great rock samphire at Cape Cornwall that day alongside other nice flowers.

We then moved onto Botallack and had a lovely covid-secure takeaway cream tea to eat on benches I always say you have got to have a cream tea if you come to the West Country and between this and a Devonshire one waiting for us when we arrived at this cottage on the Friday we had a Devon and Cornwall one ultimately. It was amazing how the National Trust made it so safe to enjoy their facilities in terms of the pandemic I was impressed. At Botallack it started to cloud over as the weather forecast suggested but as the visit went on we saw quite a bit of the sun as well. It also looked very purple here perhaps compared to when we came last a few weeks later in the year last year into September thanks to the flowering heather. This meant three of favourite habitats were combined this weekend away, heather, coast and water flowing through a rocky valley in woods over steep gradients and three of my most beautiful places to be. It was more of the same bird wise at Botallack with Choughs delightfully seen again over the café’s area and over the sea, Jackdaws, Buzzard again showing well and a Raven seen sitting on the central chimney for a very long time which was great to see it’s always a great spot for different types of crows here. I took the seventh picture in this photoset of a nice heather and coastal view here today.

We were here mostly to try and sneak in seeing a Manx Shearwater as we did last year and my Mum and her partner has the last two years here, a bird we did not expect to see at all this year. We studied Gannets flying right to left across the sea as the day rolled on; we did wonder if we were too early to see a Manx Shearwater and we would have had more luck in September as we did all across this part of Cornwall las year. But we did just manage to see a few Manx Shearwaters flying over with the Gannets, making out their features. It was not my best ever views of this bird but it was good enough and meant I could tick them and enjoy seeing them a little. Whilst looking at the Buzzard and more Choughs it was a really nice atmosphere of arriving here and waiting until a point in early evening to see if we could see any quite magical really. The sea remained calm but perhaps the day got a little rougher and it was a weird sensation after weather at this stage after hot days being a bit cold this evening. I ended the day on 172 birds seen in 2020 something I reached in July the last two years so I am not too far behind really. I took some interesting photos of the views of the sea and cliffs through a makeshift window  which stood out– a gap in the buildings of the distinctive old tin mine fixtures which define this area and make it quite charming.

I took the eighth picture in this photoset of a lowering sun behind trees visible from the cottage when we returned that evening. This ended two really packed full days away that weekend and I loved being away so much. A perfect substitution to being at the Bird Fair, what a way to spend a summer weekend it did feel so hot and summery that weekend with okay some rain in places and I felt very happy and relaxed. I saw some top-class wildlife birds especially but butterflies and flowers too alongside other things and took in some varied and breathtaking views. Meeting some great people at a safe social distance along the way! So many photos produced again possibly some of my highest amounts ever each day and so many top memories made little and big.

With these memories strongly in my mind as we prepared to return home on the Monday I took one last walk around the area the cottage was in that had three lovely lakes where we had walked on the Friday evening. Like that walk I enjoyed seeing flowers (Yellow dahlias different colour to the ones I enjoyed in our garden so much this year, foxgloves, rosebay willowherb and some other lovely orange summer flowers we saw all over the south west that weekend I believe montbretia), insects some horsefly type things and a common blue damselfly and a nice view of a Wren and Swallow before we left.

We had a bit of a disaster leaving when the roof box for our luggage on the car’s key section broke so it could not be locked. With the help and advice of some very kind people at the farm we stayed, the postman who happened to come by quite charming for a rural area and in the post office at Bridestowe a local village we managed to arrange a makeshift tie down of the box using some rope ties and some newspaper ties and parcel tape from the post office shop there. We had to be resourceful but this type of thing can be what holidays are all about in terms of memories. I took in some views of this picturesque village of Bridestowe and saw a Woodpigeon, Collated Dove, Jackdaws and House Martins whilst there. Quite an adventure.

What followed was effectively a safari through the beautiful Dartmoor National Park as it was one of those sunny and rainy days getting a fair amount of each. We took in the stunning and uniquely carved out landscape, I took pictures of it from the car and at a little stop. On the stop we saw some of the hardy Dartmoor ponies of different colours too which was great I took the ninth photo in this set of one I enjoyed this. We then arrived at a planned stopover point to have a little walk from before travelling home, Dartmeet on the banks of the dart where we’d come in 2015 another very nice river through woods habitat similar to Fingle Bridge where went on the Saturday. We walked one way through rain and sun taking in stunning views along the river and were happy to find Dart Valley nature reserve and we walked along there. I took the tenth and final picture in this photoset there.

After eating lunch in the car park area through sun and rain once more we walked the other way through a heath. More stunning views were on offer here and then the walk came alive for wildlife sightings. We saw a Sparrowhawk chasing a Swallow which noisily tried to see it off, when looking at it I noticed a lovely common lizard sat on a little rockface it gave a great view but I was not quite fast enough for a picture. I noticed loads more of the little things of nature on the walk like a lovely spider on a hard to see web that looked as though it was skating in the air to get from bit of heather to heather therefore. Bees and Beautiful Demoiselles as we had seen the other side of the river completed this. Perhaps the stage was stolen though by another of my favourite dragon and damselflies when a Golden-ringed Dragonfly flew along flying right at us and then along we got a cracking view of this. Then a Buzzard a star bird of our weekend flew over too. On the way home we drove past the beautiful Postbridge in Dartmoor in the lovely cottage we stayed in there was a homely picture of this hung up.

This made a pleasant end to the journey of this weekend away for us taking in some of the key habitat of this weekend that breathtaking river through woods over steep gradients in the land area and the Dartmoor landscape. What a fantastic weekend away we had, some of the best, most enjoyable and memorable times this summer and year for me for relaxing, walking, wildlife watching and photography. As I said we did and saw so much and I loved every minute of it well worth how excited I was for the weekend away it lived up to it well.

We had a fun moment on the way home still in Devon seeing some lovely Cattle Egrets in a field! A year tick on my birthday at WWT Slimbridge the last time we came to the West Country so this was very nice. In Dorset on the way home we went a different way to when we came we had a smashing view of some adorable Roe Deers on the roadside so the journey there and back had great points of interest.

[alfernover]

Strike of the Dragon - Chapter 2

(StrikeTeam!Genji AU)

Pairings/Characters: Gency, Reinhardt, Torbjörn, Mccree (awww yeah baby)

Chapter 1, Chapter 3 (coming soon)

Warnings: none

A/N: This chapter has been the most chaotic thing I’ve ever written development-wise. The first draft of the chapter I hated sooo much I went back to the drawing board and decided to do this. Then once I completed this one, I still hated it but it was better than the last one I’ve got to admit. Then I went over the chapter to delete stuff, add stuff, redo stuff and now nearly every word is completely different, apart from the first part of the story. This wasn’t much of a joy at first, but at the end I felt pleased with myself and gave a pat on the back for it. Hope you all enjoy!

"A month! A month he's been in the strike team and he went from zero to hero in under that time!"

 Genji gave out a fake chuckle as Reinhardt patted his back a little hard – but he was expecting that anyways – he didn't complain though as other members of Overwatch listened and laughed as Reinhardt carried on about how Genji saved and protected the French President a week after he was put on the team, and then go back to talking about the mission that the strike team had deal with some Junkers who had decided to try and terrorise Sydney in Australia.

 At first, people did not like Genji, being that he was a Shimada and there were many rumours about the Shimada bloodline possessing a deadly weapon able to kill someone instantly. And there was also the Shimada Clan which everyone feared of so Genji was expecting immediate backlash on having him on the team which was widely known to be heroic and to protect the citizens no matter what, a boy with Shimada blood was obviously not what people were expecting. But then Genji’s first two missions came and became remarkably successful to making people trust him with live footage of him on both. Unfortunately, Genji had now become quite popular through the media, even though he was appreciated not having himself be shone in the light as the worse thing Overwatch had ever decided on. He still didn’t like the fact that people had swarm onto him like bees when he was only out to at least buy new pairs of shoes.

 At least he has a bigger chance of getting some entertainment at night with a few girls, he thought to himself which made him smile broadly.

 "I mean when those Junkers went towards Genji, they thought he would be an easy target, and me and the rest of the strike team just stood there with me shielding Ana and Torbjörn, but no! Genji deflected all things that were thrown at him and back at them and completely knocked the rest out who were attacking us! Not even a scratch to his suit! He's incredible!"

 "Excuse me Reinhardt," said Genji, trying to sound polite as possible, "I'm off to do some training, call me on my comm if something comes up."

 "Ahhh! I will my friend!" Reinhardt exclaimed, "I might join you later if you save some training bots for me to smash!"

 "Let's hope not," muttered Genji, "we would destroy the training grounds."

Reinhardt bellowed with laughter and patted Genji hard on his back once more. Genji swallowed the pain like it was a drink and managed to create a stiffen smile back at the tall, muscular man. He put the remainder of his lunch into a bin, left the mess hall and headed to the training grounds. He didn’t need to get changed, he was already planning on training anyways and opened his usual orange locker that was at the training grounds and eagerly got his usual training equipment out, they weren’t the ones he wore out on missions just so he doesn’t harm anyone if he did one-on-one combat, but they good enough to destroy any training bot, he inspected every piece of his equipment and then strapped them on to him, he then headed to the actual training grounds where training bots were held, platforms could be raised and flattened for anyone who wanted it to be an open ground, he looked up to see the outside world which had been cut off from with thick walls made of cement, Genji always thought that the tall, snowy mountains looked like paintings plastered to the sky and the buildings from nearby Zurich barely could be seen with how tall the wall was. Genji sighed deeply, then went back to why he was here in the first place.

 "Athena," called Genji, as he did his stretching.

 "Hello Genji," came the robotic reply, "do you want to do your usual training protocol?"

 "Actually," said Genji, in his confident way, "I want to change it up a bit."

 "In what way may I ask?"

 "Increase the stinging lasers for the training bots up from level 6 to level 9."

 "The 9th stinging level is quite power and painful," replied Athena, sounding quite cautious, "the result of you getting hit in the limbs means numbness, no movement for a limb for at least an hour and the sting could cause you to go unconscious, not to mention if it hits your chest or head it could be possible death or cybernetic replacement to them."

 "Then just be grateful I'm not making it go up to level 12 then," Genji retorted, "now do it, I want to challenge myself a little, the rest can be the same as usual."

 "Confirmative Genji," Athena said, the Japanese ninja began to warm himself as he waited for the countdown.

 "Training begins in, 3,2,1."

 There was silence afterwards. But a second later, Genji draw out his wakizashi and deflected the lasers coming out of a pair of two training bots’ arms which had suddenly appeared from the metals doors that confined them and made the lasers go into their heads. He began to dodge another pair of them, who were shooting rapidly, trying their best to lock on to the ninja. But Genji was quick, dodging all of them quickly and deflected them with his wakizashi, heading straight back and into the training bots' faces or into their arms, making them shriek out there usual, annoying ‘OWW’ or ‘ARGH’ or ‘HEY’. Even when he was in the air, he made a single blow fatal to the bots with using his shurikens either all three of them coming out of his training arm to strike in one direction or they go in three directions, most of them hit the bots, some just got stuck in the wall or laid on the ground, making dents to the rubber ground. He then got his main, curved sword out from his back, and began slashing the metal bots up like they were a piece of paper. At last, once Genji place his sword back into his scabbard, the last bot fell to the ground in pieces, joining the remnants of the others.

 "Training exercise protocol for Agent Genji Shimada wave 1 of 20 enemies, completed," announced Athena, "wave 2, beginning shortly."

 Genji sighed and began to catch his breath. He checked his shurikens and made sure that his blades weren't blunt whilst cleaning bots came to take the dismantled training bots so they could be repaired for who else was going to train with them. He then went over to a bench where he got a towel which he wiped on his sweating head, he drank water and rested before Athena was ready.

 "Wave 2, will commence in 20 seconds," Athena said, "I'd advised you get ready Genji."

 Genji nodded and got up. He went to the middle of the arena and withdrew his wakizashi. He walked to the centre of the arena and start to decide on which position he should use before the next part of his training began.

 "Wave 2 commences in 10 seconds."

 Genji leaned into his position, his hand gripping the wakizashi and his eyes darted around the doors in which the bots would come out of and attack him. Then the door to enter the training arena opened, and then the familiar dwarf came out of with his usual cap on him, but Torbjörn wasn't alone, he seemed more happier than usual and was talking to this woman. Genji looked at her and immediately froze, as the woman looked around the arena, she had blonde locks which were in a loose ponytail, her eyebrows were thin like pencils, and she was wearing the doctor's uniform for Overwatch members. Her curious eyes finally came upon Genji’s and they were both immediately locked onto each other, he swore he could make out the ocean and sky at the same time.

 "Wave 2 commence."

 "Wait, what-"

 A strike to the ninja and he fell to the floor with a thud, whilst the training bots immediately withdraw from shooting – they were design that way – Genji felt his left leg go numb for the first few seconds and a wave of stinging came soaring through afterwards, and did it hurt. Genji groaned in pain, it felt like teeth were sinking into his shin and calf and ripping away from the rest of his body. The world around him became a little unrealistic to him the world became blurry and he could only hear a muffled version of Torbjörn's voice, angrily shout things as usual. He was then turned around from laying on his stomach, to his back, and then he saw a shadowy figure above him, blocking most of the sun and making the remainders of it wrap around the head of a woman like it was a halo. The blonde hair which draped to one side of her shoulder sparkled in the sunlight making the ninja know it was the very same woman he was distracted by. His sight refocused and his hearing became much clearer, as he blinked a couple of times to make sure his eyes focused, but to also make sure the pretty blonde woman was still real, and it wasn’t him hallucinating.

 "Hello? Can you hear me?" came a clearer reply compared to Torbjörn, which he was now clearly muttering something under his breath as usual. Genji responded with a nod and got up from his back with both arms holding his upper body up. The woman went to his leg to see where the burnt part of the joggers was. He then gasped in pain and both of his arms moved to clench his leg as another wave of stinging shot through his leg, just as much pain as the last one. The woman placed her hand on his back and rubbed it gently, trying to help sooth him down.

 "Athena!" called Torbjörn, "out of 1 to 12, how much power did Genji put to the training bot's weaponry?"

 "He asked for level 9 for laser power," replied Athena, "I personally insisted not to encase these circumstances came to a reality, but Genji was quite stubborn."

 "Of course, he is," grumbled Torbjörn, "he’s ruddy Genji."

 "Thanks for comforting me after getting hurt," Genji groaned back at the drawf.

 "Yer were the one who wanted to be stung so badly!" snapped back Torbjörn. The woman then cut in.

 "Torbjörn, I think he needs to be checked," she said, with a strong accent that Genji thought sounded very much like the civilians in Switzerland, "I’ll take him to my office."

 The dwarf looked at the blonde woman and grumbled a response whilst nodding. The woman looked to Genji with a warm smile. "Do you think you can stand on one leg?" she asked sweetly.

 Genji blinked for a split second, still not believing that her soft voice was real, then he finally nodded once more. The woman gave him another warm smile which made Genji’s heart beat faster and lifted him up, then she placed his arm over her shoulders so he can balance himself between his one leg and the woman. The ninja looked over to where Torbjörn use to be and look towards the exit as to where the little blonde dwarf was now heading towards without a care in the world about Genji. "Going to help me?" he asked, clenching his jaw once more to swallow a third wave. Torbjörn turned and looked at both Genji and the woman who was helping him balance, with a raised eyebrow.

 "I think she's got you covered," he muttered and carried on moving out of the arena, "I'll see you later!”

 The woman sighed and shook her head whilst having a small smile on her face. "Typical Torbjörn," she said quietly, she looked over at Genji who had clenched teeth, "best get you to my office then."

 They headed there with Genji hopping on one foot whilst his left leg remained numb and having waves of stinging coming to him every minute or so, whilst the strange – but attractive – woman helped him to where they were going. Other agents, doctors and scientists stared at them as they walked by and Genji just felt embarrassed with hopping along with one foot whilst the seemingly new member of Overwatch encouraged him on. They eventually reached the medical department and the woman helped Genji towards a door which made his head tilt.

 "That's the head of medical research's office," he said. The woman chuckled.

 "I thought you were told that the previous one was retiring, and you were getting me as the new head," she responded.

 "I don't listen to briefings," said Genji.

 "Obviously, you don't listen to Athena," came the response which made Genji's eyes widen a little and look to the Swiss woman whilst she opened the door who didn’t have a smile on her face and eyes were now a little wary. Even though he felt anxiety built up from his heart and clash with the pain of his leg, Genji said nothing as he was helped through the narrow door. He had only been in the head office once in his life and that was a few years ago, it was the right size for a medical ward too, not too big or too small. Its walls were the usual white that covered most of the base. A desk and a chair sat at the end of the room with the usual equipment of pens and pencils, but with slips of scattered paper on the desk and whilst a mug of coffee sat near the edge. Genji didn’t have enough time to continue his scanning, as he was tugged by the woman to a medical bed which was at the third corner of the rooms.

 "Sit," she ordered, Genji obliged with no complaints, besides, his right leg was feeling the ache of hopping all the way to the medical ward. The woman grabbed some plastic gloves which sat on a table. "Where did the laser hit you?"

 Genji pointed to place where shin met calf and the woman rolled up his training joggers up to examine his leg. "I never got your name," he stated.

 "Doctor Angela Ziegler," came the reply, "and you are this famous Genji Shimada, am I correct?"

 Genji chuckled whilst rubbing his neck with his hand. "I'm that popular, aren't I?" he joked.

 "With the stuns you pulled in front of the public and with your announcement," responded the doctor, Genji swore was trying to hide a smile as she went on, "you made headlines where I was, it's quite impressive with how agile you are."

 "I was trained by the best," smiled Genji, "I'm guessing you're the new head of department for medical research?"

 "That is correct," she said.

 "I see... how did a young, pretty woman like yourself managed to come here?"

 Immediately, the doctor froze, she stayed like that with her body tensed until she just shook herself back to reality. "Your leg will be fine after an hour," she finally states, ignoring Genji's flirtatious quote and getting up where the ninja could examine her face, her eyes showed more wariness now which Genji absolutely hated, he was just making it worse and worse for himself now and he just looked the other way whilst Doctor Ziegler stepped over to one of the closets. "I will give you some painkillers, so you won't experience the stinging at it's worse. I suggest you remain here for a while though."

 Genji nodded, still a little flabbergasted by the doctor's response to his flirtation. He was given a pill which the doctor offered him water so he could swallow it whole and he was shoved fully on the bed with a pillow underneath his leg. Whilst Doctor Ziegler walked over to her desk and began to move around her paperwork. The ninja watched curiously as she rounded up her scattered papers. "What are they all about?" he asked intently.

 "Just somethings I need to sign and examine," she replied, not looking over to Genji, "some for my arrival and some for the purpose of work."

 "I see," Genji smiled, "sounds a little boring doing paperwork."

 Doctor Ziegler immediately looked at Genji then, who was grinning innocently, she gave him a look that made Genji felt like a brick wall was put firmly between the two now. His smile falter and he looked to the wall next to the medical bed, pretending like he said nothing. He heard Doctor Ziegler mumble something under her breath and he heard paper being moved and crinkled. They both didn't say anything after that, the once comfortable silence had now become awkward for Genji, and all because he didn't keep his mouth shut. Doctor Ziegler hadn't checked up on him yet, not even a glance from where she was sitting. He just laid there, bored. He looked to where she was for what felt like the 50th time and watched her write on the paper, which was organised but felt like it was going to fall into scattering mess.

 "How old are you Doctor Ziegler?"

 The Swiss doctor finally glanced up at Genji, her hand stop moving her pen from writing and she pursed her lips a little. "I am 23."

 "23," repeated Genji, "that's quite young for a doctor that is head of this medical department, you must be very clever."

 "I hope I am," she replied plainly, as she returned to the paperwork, Genji was feeling a little perplex on how something as a piece of paper with words on it was more interesting that a guy who had made media headlines a few times in only a month.

 "I am finding it peculiar that you find that paperwork interesting," he said arrogantly.

 "People find different things enjoyable," replied Doctor Ziegler, she then looked back at Genji, "what do you find enjoyable then?"

 Genji smirked, thinking of how he had gotten a hold of her now but not realising how cold her eyes were looking at him. "I do like playing games and training keeps me fit," he replied, he then paused impressively, his smirk growing and making the doctor lean back a little. "There's also one other thing I do enjoy."

 "And what is that?"

 "Why don't you visit my headquarters and find out."

 There was a pause, both knowing exactly what Genji had just said and then the brick wall that Genji felt between him and the doctor now felt like it had doubled its strength with the doctor's eyes seemingly taking the shape of missiles so to complete the fortress. The next minute, Genji was given a crutch from another corner and was shoved out of the office by the doctor.

 "Who's your personal doctor?" she demanded, as Genji turned around in absolute disbelief, now realising the cold stare he was getting now.

 "Oh-well-I-umm.... Doctor Muller," stammered Genji.

 The Swiss doctor noted this in her head and looked back at a stunned Japanese ninja with her blue eyes, they locked on again like they did when they first saw each other, the Swiss doctor then looked down to the ground, whilst Genji stood there, more confused and perplexed. "I'll give him the report on your incident at the training arena today Agent Shimada," she said formally, "use the crutch for until after an hour where your leg feels fine and then return the crutch by tomorrow."

 "Wait, what-"

 "Good day Agent Shimada."

 She gave a smile that made Genji’s heart feel like ice had been dunked over it and the door slammed right into his face and the ninja was left standing there with a crutch on his left side, staring at the newly place door sign, saying: Doctor Angela Ziegler. He let out a groan, feeling like his flirtation had failed miserably, but it had never failed before! He turned and then noticed an agent roughly in his thirties smirking at him, whilst sitting patiently in a chair for his medical treatment. Genji only scowled at him and began to walk away with his crutch helping him keep balance.

 He almost getting to his headquarters, and every step he was taking with crutch and right foot made him feel humiliated with members of Overwatch looking at him with bemusing grins and curious glances and was feeling the relaxation being hidden away in his headquarters. "Torbjörn told me about ya little incident at the arena," said a manly voice with a thick accent, "didn't expect it to be this bad!" Genji stopped suddenly and then rolled his eyes whilst sneering to a wall as the man with dark clothing and a weird-looking cowboy hat came up to the strike team’s ninja with a wry grin that could’ve made his facial hair separate from each other from two metres.

 "Hello to you to too Mccree," replied Genji quietly, "I thought you were at the base in Norway."

 "Got moved here last night," said Mccree with a wry grin, "came in around the same time as the new doc. How did you find her anyways? Apparently, Torbjörn decided to leave you with her when you made the decision to lose a leg!"

 "Haha funny Mccree and to answer your question, I don't know," the ninja muttered, "it was mostly a one-way conversation whilst I was in her office."

 "Ahhh, I see what you did," smirked Mccree, “there’s only a few ways to not make the doc not talk and I know exactly which button you pressed.”

 "I did too," said Genji, his sour mood from being shut out was getting worse with Mccree’s pestering.

 "The doc is a stubborn sort and wants things to be as professional as possible within a workplace, a little too much if yer ask me. But she even cares for the people she dislikes and even though you might’ve treated her an object or a trophy like you do to every girl yer see, which she highly dislikes, she will still care for you if yer injured.”

 Genji then felt a pang of realisation and tried to remember some of what he had said to the doctor, and with every word he thought of made his heart go lower down in his stomach. "How do you know all of this?" he quickly asked.

 "Well, I've known her since I first joined," smirked Mccree, "Torbjörn showed her around the base at Norway and that’s where we met. We’re both good friends though, so it'll just be you who'll be gettin' the door shuttin' on yer face."

 "Yeah... totally," Genji said, he had finally reached his headquarters which was where the usual strike team members were held at, with Reinhardt next to his since he was the one who usually stayed there, whilst Morrison had his own personal place to sleep in and Torbjörn and Ana usually go to their home country to spend time with their families most often. Genji was quite glad that he had made it but Mccree was insistent on talking to the ninja whilst he typed his passcode to unlocking his door.

 "I'm guessin' yer made one of your stupid lines come out of yer mouth again," he mused. Genji felt insulted, but Mccree didn't seem to notice the expression on his face or just didn't care as he went on. "Honestly, I don't know how you managed to get to some girls apartment when you go to those parties in Zurich.”

 “I’ve said much worse.”

 “Like what exactly?”

 The door had just unlocked, and the Japanese ninja had placed his hand on the handle, but he didn’t open the door and stayed still for a bit. Then he sighed deeply and let his free hand go through his black locks. “I only said that her work must be boring and that I don’t listen in important meetings.”

 Mccree looked at Genji and smiled sympathetically and patted his friend’s shoulder. “It would be a miracle for you to ever catch her now,” he said, “you’ve literally insulted her to a degree of no return!”

 “How much did you think I hurt her?” asked Genji, with his heart beating harder and his face trying hard not to cringe for he new Mccree’s response wouldn’t be good whatsoever.

 “You know the insult when we were teenagers and we say to Reinhardt that his hammer looks like it could be salvaged to be a steam piston and then he would literally chase us down whilst gripping it?”

 “Yeah, that really got to him hard-kuso,” said Genji, as his soul felt like dying, “it’s that bad?”

 Mccree nodded solemnly and Genji groaned and banged his head on his door. The cowboy patted his shoulder again with his gloved hand.

 "The doc is a kind-hearted soul Genji," said Mccree, “but what you’ve said to her in the medical ward well… if you think you were gonna have anythin’ between you two that’s gone down the drain then… actually, naah it’s way deeper.”

 Genji didn't look back at the Blackwatch agent with the funny cowboy hat, he shrugged Mccree’s hand off his shoulder and opened his door and went through it with his body making him look like the saddest thing on the planet. Mccree shook his head as Genji closed the door on him and he was left all alone in the hallway. The cowboy had known the Japanese ninja to be quite rebellious and flirtatious to women and was still extremely arrogant about the whole ideal of him being in the strike team. Mccree knew Genji preferred to work alone and he could tell when he did tests and when he did his first ever mission when Morrison asked Gabriel to take him out on a Blackwatch mission. But it seemed he had gotten a small wake-up call from the whole ordeal with Doctor Ziegler, but as Mccree began to walk away to find Gabriel, he thought of how bad Doctor Ziegler was with her work and stubbornness. But both had heart with protecting and helping the people of the world he knew that. Whilst he got his cigar out of his pocket, he began to think of Genji and the doc as a thing, then brushed aside instantly.

 “Never gonna happen,” Mccree confirmed to himself as he lit his cigar.

[satoshi-mochida]

The Final Fantasy Portal Site has published the first in a three-volume series of Final Fantasy IX interviews in celebration of the game’s 20th anniversary. Final Fantasy IX first launched for PlayStation on July 7, 2000.

The first interview is with Final Fantasy IX event design and scenario writer Kazuhiko Aoki. Volumes two and three will feature artist Toshiyuki Itahana and director Hiroyuki Ito.

Get the full interview with Aoki below.

―Final Fantasy IX is sometimes introduced with the phrase “returning to roots.” Where did Final Fantasy IX sit in the minds of the development team?

Aoki: “The slogans ‘returning to roots’ and ‘return of the crystal’ were there from the start. That’s why the setting of the game also has a medieval fantasy theme.”

―It is true that compared to the science fiction elements of FFVII and FFVIII, Final Fantasy IX made a sudden return to classic fantasy. There were even references to past FF titles, like character and vehicle names. Were those concepts also planned to be included from the beginning of development under the theme of “returning to roots”?

Aoki: “There were some things that were planned from the beginning, and then there were other elements that came about from those in charge of each part of the game during the creation process.

“The newborn chocobo, named Bobby Corwen…smash those names together and you get Boco.

“The foundation is 10 percent, and the remaining 90 percent comes from individual creators putting their own ideas and heart into a project. I think that’s the creation process of not only FF, but all games from Square Enix.”

―Each main character of Final Fantasy IX carries their own background story into the battles they face. Do you have a favorite character? Please tell us your reasons as well, if you have any.

Aoki: “I did my best not to have any favorites, so as not to be biased toward any specific character.

“There were backstories we wanted to elaborate on more, but sadly had to give up on due to time and data constraints.

“At the time I wished I could have developed how Zidane is afflicted by the difference in social status between him and Garnet a little more. Illustrating the breakdown of relations with the nobles in Treno due to their disapproval of Zidane and Garnet’s relationship, Zidane butting up against the social confines he faces and the incredible power Garnet holds as royalty, and how Zidane gets back up on his feet despite all of that—I felt that would have done a lot to help further portray him as a character.”

―The NPCs are also very well developed. What about them?

Aoki: “I don’t have any biases when it comes to NPC characters either. There actually wasn’t any differentiation in my mind between main characters and sub characters. Once the game’s story started to come to life on screen, my drive to develop each character even further – the steadfast reliability of Marcus or Garnet’s internal struggles, for example—only got stronger.”

―The Tantalus members Genero, Zenero, Benero and all their siblings are an unusual bunch. How did they come to be?

Aoki: “There wasn’t a trace of them until right before the game went gold. Not only limited to Final Fantasy IX, each FF series title has a period of about three to four months of quality improvements and brushing up after all elements that will be included in a game are implemented. How can we make it more interesting, what would make it easier to understand, what new discoveries can we find to add to the experience…as a creator you approach the process with a feeling similar to recreating something entirely. Those siblings came about suddenly right in the middle of that final tweaking for Final Fantasy IX.”

―The characters in Final Fantasy IX are built shorter than in previous FF games. Was there a reason for that?

Aoki: “I don’t know the reason for making the characters shorter in stature, but I did often hear that the cutscene team had a hard time making use of the know-how they gained working on Final Fantasy VIII. It was apparently a lot of trial and error.

“The characters in Final Fantasy IX excel at showing a certain sweetness or silliness, but even when they take on a totally different serious tone their expressions are so genuine. I feel that Final Fantasy IX had quite a good balance going in that sense.”

―Final Fantasy IX is known for its many popular and memorable lines. Whose idea was it to put together the loading screen of CG screenshots overlaid with words from the game and art?

Aoki: “The cutscene leader and event staff made that by picking out lines from the game. It was also the manifestation of a strong desire to show what kind of characters these were.”

―There were also many monsters with unique gimmicks, such as Ragtime Mouse’s quiz-style battle. Do you have a favorite monster or gimmick used by one?

Aoki: “I’m not sure if you could call it a unique monster, but my favorite are the black mages who appear in Cleyra. Your party characters don’t do a victory pose even if you win against them. That came from the battle system team’s consideration of the scene those battles take place in. You grow used to the characters celebrating when they win a battle, so I was really surprised the first time I saw that.

“I don’t know if this is still true, but development happened with next to no meetings between the event and battle design teams. Although that’s not to say that those teams didn’t get along.”

―Final Fantasy IX has a lot of mini games, many of which are quite difficult. Are there any you find particularly memorable?

Aoki: “Chocobo Hot and Cold. It came from the director wanting some contents that would allow traveling all over the game world. The concept came together in less than 30 minutes, but the actual creators who worked on the mini-game put a lot of time into it. Every last detail was done with such care.”

―Final Fantasy IX’s soundtrack was handled by Mr. Nobuo Uematsu. We feel that music is another important factor in expressing characters or story. If there are any songs from Final Fantasy IX that really stand out in your memory, please tell us about them.

Aoki: “That would be the song that Mr. Uematsu played for me the first time he worked at the Hawaii office.

“It was in response to me asking if he had any recommended songs from the new game—I got an idea for part of the story the second it came on. That song would eventually be titled ‘You’re Not Alone.’

“I asked, ‘Are there going to be any more changes to it?’ and he responded, ‘Yes, sorry… I’d like to tweak it a little more.’ It wasn’t finalized until the last minute, so I’m sure he really struggled with the composition of that piece.”

―Was there anything during development that was especially challenging or that sticks out in your mind?

Aoki: “The last few weeks were a battle with data restrictions. We had data increasing every day, having to think about where to divide the story so we’d end up with an amount that fit on each of the four discs. That fine-tuning took some real mental gymnastics.”

―If there’s anything else from your experiences during the development of Final Fantasy IX or messages for the many people who still love Final Fantasy IX you’d be willing to share, we would love to hear it.

Aoki: “There were about 300 people at the party celebrating Final Fantasy IX’s completion. It was developed by a team divided between Japan and Hawaii, so about one-third of the faces there I had never seen before…I was surprised all over again at how many people were involved in the project.

“I’m incredibly happy that Final Fantasy IX is loved by so many people; that’s been a huge motivator and confidence booster when facing jobs I’ve had since. I think that’s true not only for me, but also the many creators who worked on Final Fantasy IX as well. It would be nice to celebrate the game’s 20th anniversary with everyone who was at the post-launch party.

“Near the end of that party, there was a moment when the sound effect team went up on the venue’s stage. ‘In Final Fantasy X, there’s going to be this thing called Blitzball, and there will be a scene with the spectators cheering. We’d love if you would all be willing to help with that!’ they said. And I thought ‘…Oh, they’ve already started working on X.’ Just when I thought things were finished, they had already begun a new Final Fantasy. It really hit me being there, this is how the Final Fantasy series continues on forever.”

―Thank you for your time today!

Final Fantasy IX is available for PlayStation, PlayStation 3, PSP, and PS Vita via PSone Classics, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, PC via Steam, iOS, and Android.

[aion-rsa]

Rebecca: Leaving Hitchcock Behind for Something Darker

https://ift.tt/37sEQVx

This article contains spoilers for the film and book versions of Rebecca.

Leave it to Ben Wheatley to remake Alfred Hitchcock. The younger British filmmaking iconoclast has been nothing if not provocative with his filmography so far, which includes the disturbing horror-crime hybrid Kill List (2011), the serial killer black comedy Sightseers (2012), the psychedelic, very weird A Field in England (2014), and the unsettling dystopian nightmare, High-Rise (2015). But with Rebecca he takes on not just a classic Hitchcock film, but the master’s sole Best Picture winner. Why not, right?

We’re being facetious, of course. Wheatley’s version of Rebecca (now on Netflix) is not a remake of the 1940 film but a new adaptation of the 1938 novel by Daphne du Maurier on which it is based. Both films are mostly faithful to the book (with a couple of notable exceptions), but Wheatley and his screenwriters (Jane Goldman, Joe Shrapnel, and Anna Waterhouse) coax a moral ambiguity and feminist twist out of du Maurier’s multi-layered Gothic romance that wasn’t permissible in the 1940 film.

“I mean, it’s the same conversation I have about every film,” Wheatley says when we ask him over Zoom what drew him to the project. “It’s like, ‘Oh it’s a comedy. The last one you did was a horror film,’ or, ‘Oh it’s a fashion movie and last thing you did was a family drama,’ or whatever. I try and choose stuff that’s at 90 degrees from the last thing I did every time, and I’ve been lucky enough to do that.”

Wheatley adds that reading the script led him to rethink his assumptions about the story and the Hitchcock film. “What attracted me to it was initially Jane Goldman’s script,” he explains. “When I read it, I was really surprised by it. I felt all the twists and laughed at all the right bits of it. And that surprised me doubly because I had seen the Hitchcock film and I’d read the book. So I thought that was really odd, that I would misremember it in that way. I talked to a few other people and they were kind of like, ‘Yeah, Rebecca. It’s just this beautiful romance, isn’t it?’ And I’m like, ‘No. That’s not the half of it.’”

It’s fair to say that Rebecca deceptively starts off as a “beautiful romance.” In the new film–as in the book and the 1940 version–the main character is an unnamed young woman (played now by Lily James), who is working as a personal assistant to a wealthy older American (Ann Dowd) on holiday. In Monte Carlo, the young woman meets Maxim de Winter (Armie Hammer), also rich, who is quite dashing and recently widowed.

The two strike up a whirlwind courtship that results in de Winter whisking the young woman back to his ancestral estate, Manderley, as the new Mrs. de Winter. But once ensconced there, she discovers that the house is permeated with the lingering presence of her predecessor, Rebecca, who still commands the unhealthy loyalty of the mansion’s housekeeper, the sinister Mrs. Danvers (Kristin Scott Thomas). It is here that Rebecca pivots from romance to thriller, with the plot turns and psychological subtexts piling up like the waves crashing at the bottom of the treacherous cliff upon which Manderley sits.

“When I reread [the book], I just imagined du Maurier had written Rebecca as a dare or something,” says Wheatley. “That it was kind of, ‘You like romantic fiction? Well, I’ll write a book that will stop you reading romantic fiction forever. I’ll take the tropes of it, which is the widower and the holiday romance, and the rags to riches, and then I’ll really smash it and rub your nose in it.’ I loved it.”

In the book and both versions of the film, it’s revealed that Rebecca was not the perfect wife and society hostess that she was reputed to be. In fact, she was a cruel, selfish woman who claimed to Maxim on the night of her death that she was pregnant with another man’s child and would force Maxim to raise it as his own, a revelation that leads her tormented husband to shoot her dead. He disposes of her body at sea, but when the corpse washes up a year later, Maxim reveals the truth to his new wife.

Hitchcock’s film, due to the moral decrees of the Hays Production Code that was in existence at the time, had to change Rebecca’s death to a suicide since movies were not allowed to show murderers going unpunished. Under no such constraints, Wheatley takes his Rebecca a step further: The new Mrs. de Winter evolves into a protector of her husband, taking action to clear his name while at the same time fully aware that she is complicit in the cover-up of a murder.

“The moral structure of it is very different because of the things that were missing from the ’40s adaptation due to the Hays Code,” says Wheatley. “So the actual heart of the book is the idea that Maxim de Winter has murdered his wife and that you then side with de Winter and the second Mrs. de Winter as an audience member, and basically root for them to win throughout the rest of the story–which is utterly despicable. But I thought that that felt like a good reason to revisit it.”

His reasons to approach the source material aside, Wheatley knew he might touch some kind of third rail of cinema by taking on a story that the general public remembers as a Hitchcock masterpiece (it didn’t work out too well for Gus van Sant and his 1998 remake of Psycho, which like the original was also based on a novel). Getting all that noise out of his head was the first step Wheatley took.

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“Right at the beginning of the process I went, ‘Oh, right. I’m going to get a kicking for this,’” he says with a laugh. “And then I didn’t think about it anymore and I made the film. I put it right to the back of my head.” But the subject inevitably came up as the director began promoting the film. “I saw the reviews [and it was like] ‘Oh my God. It’s all about Hitchcock.’ But that’s inevitable. It’s fine. The audience that’s there for this movie is a much bigger audience than just the audience of people who’ve seen that version of it.”

Wheatley says he’s less concerned with his movie being compared to Hitchcock’s than feeling as if he did justice to the novel. “I had a lot of questions about filling the shoes of Hitchcock and all this,” he remarks. “It really isn’t about that. It’s filling the shoes of du Maurier. That’s the challenge and the fear of taking a book that is so beloved and so central within a culture in lots of ways and so influential. To take that and balls that up is the problem. The other adaptation is done and everyone loves it. There’s going to be no shifting of that from the pedestal of cinema history by anything I did.”

Of course Wheatley wasn’t the only one dealing with the ghosts of adaptations past. His trio of leads–James, Hammer, and Thomas–took on characters first embodied on the screen by Joan Fontaine, Laurence Olivier, and Dame Judith Anderson.

“With Lily, we talked a lot about the agency of the character,” says Wheatley when asked how he approached each actor about their roles. “But there’s the aspect of the book where you don’t know if you believe what the first-person narrative is saying. She says she’s very weak, but at the same time her actions are strong. So is she slightly self-serving in how she talks about herself? And is the whole truth there?”

He continues, “That’s the craft, I think, of Lily James’ performance, trying to be nervous and terrified, but also not capsizing the movie by being irritating or being too confident or strong.”

Kerry Brown / Netflix

As for Hammer’s portrayal of the equally enigmatic Maxim de Winter, “It was more the other way around of taking someone from the position of being completely in control and being like a matinee idol and then just destroying them over the period of the movie,” Wheatley says. “But then as usual, the film is not shot in chronological order. So it’s an absolute nightmare to track all those kinds of performances. But that’s basically what we talked about a lot.”

When it came to casting Mrs. Danvers, perhaps the most iconic of the story’s three leads, Wheatley says he was “totally” enraptured with the idea of the great Kristin Scott Thomas taking on the part. “This version of it is a kind of more sympathetic Danvers,” he reveals. “I think that had come out of reading it and going, ‘I feel like she’s the moral center of it in many ways.’ There was a lot of quite complicated emotional stuff that she had to do–to go from being stern to being vulnerable, from beat to beat to beat. And I think that it took someone of her kind of pedigree to be able to do that.”

Whether viewers come to the new Rebecca with their own memories of the book or the original movie, or tune into Wheatley’s version with no preconceptions in mind, the director thinks that a new version of the story, some 82 years after the book was first published and 80 since the release of Hitchcock’s film, could have a different impact on new generations of viewers experiencing it for the first time.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

“I think every film that you make is putting the film through your experience of the moment,” he explains. “So I think that there are things that are happening now which become more pertinent, and there’s also general universal truths. The idea of, what is your history of your own partner? How do you deal with the jealousy of that and the obsession? What would you do in this situation? How do you compete with ex-partners? That kind of stuff. It’s also a tale of privilege, of someone who can float through life because they’re good-looking and rich, and they do what they like and get away with murder.”

Rebecca is streaming now on Netflix.

The post Rebecca: Leaving Hitchcock Behind for Something Darker appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/31voJD7

[thebiasrekkers]

Make It Right [BTS Mafia!AU]

Plot: “It’s always darkest before the dawn…” It’s a dog-eat-dog world in Seoul, South Korea. One has to dwell in the shadows in order to reach for the light. What are you willing to sacrifice in order to feel the sunlight on your face? What will it take to drag you back into darkness? How long will the journey be to make it right?

Rating: NC-17 // NSFW

Genre: Series | Mafia!AU | Crime!AU | Angst | Romance/Fluff

Pairings: Jin x OC | Taehyung/Hoseok x OC | Yoongi/Jungkook x OC

Warnings: Graphic Violence, Heavy Language, Angst, Slow Burn, Smut

Previous Chapters: Prologue 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28

Links: FAQ || BTS Masterlist || Admin E’s AO3 || Admin E’s WP || [ REQUESTS ARE OPEN ]

Word Count: 2,631

Chapter 28: Rain

“Then I turned my eyes to the window and everything looks gray. Gray city, gray buildings, gray roads, gray rain.”

© thebiasrekkers (Admin E). All rights reserved. Reposting/modifying our work is prohibited. Translations are not allowed. Plagiarism/stealing is not tolerated by any means. Legal action will be taken in instances of theft.

Seoul – Sinchon; Seodaemun District South Korea

“You’re a lifesaver, Raelyn-ssi!”

“Yeah, thanks for coming on such short notice.”

“We had our hands full, so we really appreciate it.”

Raelyn smiled brightly, shaking her head as she waved at her fellow nurses at the hospital she was dispatched to. They all shared a laugh in the break room, steaming paper cups of coffee cradled in each of their hands as they chatted about how busy their schedules had been. Raelyn’s Korean was good enough that she could keep up with the various dialects that filled the room; from as deep in the city as Seoul to as far as the countryside as Gwangju. She enjoyed getting to know each of the nurses and orderlies who milled in and out of the main general hospital in Seodaemun.

Normally, her hospital in Gangnam was busy. But her supervisor insisted that her expertise would be better suited in Seodaemun for that week. If they needed her longer, she was given the go-ahead to remain for a few more days. Either way, she would earn a full week of PTO when she returned and she certainly wasn’t about to start complaining about that.

Part of her was happy to be out of Gangnam for a few days. She needed time to process things and really think about what road she was taking. Raelyn felt slightly hypocritical when she thought about her relationship with Taehyung, and on many levels at that.

While the Golden Jackals may have been no more, it didn’t change that their foundation was still a little unstable. People wouldn’t shift their opinions about them so easily, though it was becoming less and less difficult to throw that mantle into their faces. However, she was no fool to how the criminal underworld worked. If anything, the lack of firearms made Korean gangsters scarier than American gangsters. In America, all a civilian needed was another gun. While a normal person could carry a knife, the difference was that Korean gangsters could all fight. All of them. They wouldn’t hesitate to pierce someone with a knife or bludgeon someone to death with a steel pipe.

Getting their hands dirty was part of the territory.

When she thought about it, Raelyn probably attributed her attraction to Hoseok to that level of danger at first. Discovering that he was the leader only caused her adrenaline to soar to new heights, tickling the senses and rousing a deep-seated darkness that she had long since buried while she was living in the States. Raelyn was young and foolish in her younger years, running headlong into the fire and not caring if she wound up getting scorched or not. The feeling of her heart pumping like a piston in her chest made her feel alive. She was addicted to that chemical that released itself in her brain.

There was an actual condition for something like that. “Adrenaline Junkie” as she had once affectionately been called by her peers. That sense of danger excited her. Dealing with Hoseok and the other Golden Jackals was guaranteed a life of said danger.

When feelings were involved, however, Raelyn realized very quickly that the criminal life wasn’t for her. She could handle the backdoor dealings and under the table handshakes. She could take the mask she often had to don when she walked beside Hoseok during gatherings, both with his underlings and his main umbrella. What Raelyn couldn’t handle was seeing someone she cared about constantly in pain; struggling mentally and physically with his own demons as he promised that things would change. He made those promises as easily as it was for him to breathe.

In the beginning, she’d believed that they were all lies. That he was just saying what she wanted to hear to get her to stay by his side. It was the sort of thing Raelyn expected from most people in her life; men and women, friends and family alike. Nothing changed. Nothing ever did.

But now things were different. Things were beginning to change. Raelyn felt conflicted for the first time in a long while.

“Oh, dammit,” she heard one of the orderlies say, rising from his chair to cross the breakroom, “I forgot to bring an umbrella.”

Raelyn craned her neck with the others in the room, seeing the sudden torrential downpour that fell from the skies. While everyone else groaned in shared sentiments, she smirked and continued to sip her coffee. She didn’t mind the rain. She minded it even less when she didn’t have an umbrella.

It’ll be fine, she thought while setting her cup down on the table, a little rain never hurt anyone.

Her phone buzzed on the table, causing her to raise a brow when she saw two messages. One was from Taehyung, asking the normal question of when she was going to come back home. She shook her head, not sure if she wanted to answer him just yet. It wasn’t like she was avoiding him, but it would be a lie if she said his promise hadn’t shaken her up a bit. Why he felt it was even necessary for her...what did that say about her?

Had she made it that obvious?

The second message was from Eden, which had her almost laughing.

Eden: I’m sick of having to deal with this shit by myself. Ana is in LaLa Land and I’m not having it. You hear me? I spoke with your supervisor and he said today’s your last day at that hospital. I’m coming to pick you up. Don’t even think about trying to dodge me.

She picked up the phone, sending her a ‘smirk’ emoji, before replacing the phone into her pocket. Raelyn scoffed, finishing her coffee and tossing the cup into the trash. If anyone didn’t know any better, people would think that Eden was her girlfriend.

“Raelyn-ssi,” one of the female nurses called out to her, “are you going to be busy later? We were thinking about getting drinks after our shifts were over.”

Eyeing her wristwatch, Raelyn sighed. She was scheduled to do one more walk through of her rounds and then she could call it a day. By the time she finished, Eden would be arriving at the hospital.

Looking up at her fellow nurse, she shook her head and smirked. “I’ll have to take a raincheck, Mina-ssi. My ride is going to be here after we do our rounds.”

A few of her colleagues pouted and she laughed. It was a short amount of time she was dispatched to the hospital, but they already welcomed her as one of them. It was nice to be valued for her skills and who she was as a person versus the color of her skin.

Fifteen minutes seemed to fly by faster than she’d anticipated. As soon as Raelyn finished checking on her last patient, she made her way to the front desk to let them know she was leaving for the evening. Already other nurses and orderlies were coming in to relieve the Day Side crew of their shift – taking on the evening hours until the Overnight shift would come in to replace them .

As if on cue, her phone buzzed and it was a message from Eden telling her that she was pulling up. The rain hadn’t eased up. If anything, it was coming down harder than it had just a while ago. Mulling over the downpour, Raelyn was inwardly thanking Eden for being so stubborn. A little rain never hurt anyone, but a lot of rain in early Spring could cause someone to get sick. Maybe even her.

She waved to the receptionist at the front desk, clutching at her light jacket and bag. As she exited the building, Raelyn stopped just short of the hospital’s awning. She looked around, trying to spy out Eden’s car, and pouted when she didn’t see the mixed girl’s vehicle in sight. Pulling out her phone, she began texting her that she was outside. Raelyn pouted, tapping her foot on the concrete pavement.

“She demands I don’t ditch her, and she goes and ditches me ,” she muttered, turning her head in every direction to see if maybe she’d just missed her friend, “that bitch.”

“Take your fuckin’ hands off me!”

Whipping her head to the right, Raelyn’s eyes widened slightly. It was Eden’s voice. Taking a half step forward, the fronts of her shoes got wet from the water splashing on the ground. Squinting, she tried to make out what was happening in the parking lot. Eden was standing there with an umbrella opened over her head, her other hand clinging to a smaller one – presumably for Raelyn. However, there were about four men attempting to accost her.

Raelyn took another step forward, about to intervene. But before she could open her mouth and yell, she saw Eden dropping the umbrella in her hand only to extend the smaller one in her other hand, rearing her arms around her and swinging like she was holding a baseball bat. Successfully clobbering one on the side of the neck, Raelyn could only watch as her friend spun on her heel and smashed her combat clad foot into the gut of one of the men who tried to grab her by the shoulder.

Sighing, Raelyn knew that it was useless trying to get in the middle of one of Eden’s scuffles. The woman was damned and determined to spit in the face of society because they continued spitting in hers. She was hoping that giving Jungkook a chance would loosen Eden up, but it only proved to get the woman even more riled up than usual.

Just as Raelyn was about to take a lean against one of the hospital pillars, one of the men reached out and snatched Eden by the back of her hair. He grabbed a fistful of her hair and pulled back, causing Eden’s head to whip back and she yelled in protest. Raelyn’s legs moved before her mind could process anything, her shoes splashing in small puddles of water as she attempted to close the distance between her and her friend.

“Hey! Get your hands off her!”

No sooner had Raelyn yelled it, did the man holding Eden’s hair scream in pain. He immediately wrenched his hand from her thick curly locks, now soaked in the downpour. Clutching at his wrist, she saw the blood weeping from his fingers and palm. Raelyn skidded to a halt, blinking wildly as she attempted to process just what in the hell just happened. Tilting her head, she didn’t have time to really get a look at the man’s hand before she saw Eden’s knee crash into the side of his temple.

As Eden’s boot slammed into the ground, soft tinkling sounds followed. Raelyn’s eyes shifted to the ground and she could only stare agape at the three razor blades now on the ground. Her eye-line moved to meet Eden’s and her friend smirked, tossing the small umbrella to Raelyn who caught it robotically in her hands.

“I brought this so you wouldn’t have to be standin’ out in the rain,” she replied cheekily. All Raelyn could do was stare at her. Eden cocked her head to the side. “What?”

“…did you really just—”

Before she could get the words out, one of the other men grabbed Eden by the wrist – yanking her backward with all the force he could muster. Her heels slipped on the wet concrete and Raelyn let out a sharp gasp when Eden slammed back-first onto the ground. There was a distinct pop from her shoulder and her yell exploded from her chest.

“Mother…fucker!” Eden snarled through clenched teeth, glaring at the man holding her arm through one open eye. “Let go of me!”

“Let go of her!” Raelyn screamed in tandem with her friend, ready to clobber him with the umbrella the same way her friend had.

“Oi! Let her go, Taewon-ah,” called a voice over the roaring rainstorm.

The man immediately released Eden’s arm, her limb splashing into the water and Raelyn was at her friend’s side – already helping her onto her feet. Her arm dangled limply at her side, but she could feel Eden shaking furiously in her grasp. Whatever pain her friend was in, she apparently didn’t care. The mixed girl was ready to fight like a wild tiger who’d had its whiskers pulled.

Standing off to the side was a man with dark auburn hair dressed in a long black trench coat, a tailored gray suit underneath. He held a clear umbrella over his head, the four men who assaulted Eden now standing by his side. They clasped their hands in front of them, stoic like soldiers despite one of the men’s hands bleeding freely in conjunction with the rain. Still mentally reeling over her friend having razor blades hidden in her hair, she turned to head back inside to treat Eden’s dislocated shoulder.

“I can see why she’s the Steel Claw ’s girlfriend,” she heard the man say from behind her.

Raelyn paused, slowly pivoting around but careful not to aggravate Eden’s arm further. “What did you say?”

“She’s feisty, that one.” He grinned, one hand slipping into the pocket of his jacket. “It’s almost a waste, really.”

Eden spit at him despite being several feet away. “And who in the fuck are you?”

He bowed his head politely, his eyes still locked on theirs. “Lee Minhyuk,” he said easily, straightening to his full height, “Jindo Dog of the Jade Fangs.”

A ball of ice crashed into Raelyn’s gut. “W-What?” She tried to maintain her sense of calm, but found it was difficult the more she stared into his icy smile.

Her friend’s laughter cut through her trepidation. “And we’re supposed to give a shit, why? What’s that got to do with those punks following me around like some fuckin’ cockroaches, huh?”

Raelyn was angry now. “You should know by now that the Golden Jackals have phased out from gangster business. Why do you guys insist on poking around?”

Minhyuk shrugged one shoulder. “In our world, it’s not so easy to step into the light. It's a fickle place and treats scoundrels like us as little more than garbage.” Even though his smile was present, his eyes narrowed. “Changkyun-ah is curious, is all.”

“About what?” Raelyn snapped, readjusting her hold on Eden.

“He wants to know if what Hoseok-ah and the others are doing is genuine or just some big show to hide their true plans.” He shrugged again, closing his eyes this time. “And what it will take to drag them back into the shadows with the rest of us.”

“You lousy sack of shit!” Eden shifted forward, attempting to lunge at Minhyuk but Raelyn held her back.

Minhyuk chuckled, pivoting so that only his profile was in view. “One of the tigers has claws. That makes things interesting, for sure. I apologize for the boys’ behavior. They get a little excited from time to time.” Craning his neck slightly so he could face them, he bowed his head again in a polite gesture that was in stark contrast to what his actual words were conveying. “Take care, ladies.”

Neither of them moved, watching Minhyuk leave with his small entourage. When it finally appeared that they were gone, Raelyn felt Eden slump against her. Without wasting another second, she yelled for help and a few of the EMTs who were pulling up for their shift came to her aid. They hauled Eden onto a gurney and wheeled her into the hospital, Raelyn already calling Jungkook to let him know what happened.

The rain was lost to the sound of her raging heartbeat.

[2old4kpop]

15 Underrated Girly Kpop Songs That Make Me Go Absolutely Feral

When it comes to girl groups, more than anything I am a Blackjack and Blink. I like to listen to girl songs that make me want to murder men (and believe me, that blog post is in the works). But I’m also a ONCE, as TWICE are my sweet darling babies, but they’re about as girly as I can tolerate. I’m not one for the super girly concepts. I mean, did you guys ever see MINX? Occasionally I ironically jam to Shakey Love Shakey Shakey Shakey Shakey Love, but it was an absolute blessing from the K-pop gods to rebrand them as Dreamcatcher. It’s really only the A-list girly songs I tolerate, like GFriend or Oh My Girl. Everything else below them just seems really cringy.

Except for a few chosen few that are so good that they make me absolutely lose all of my shits. And I’m talking about songs that nobody seems to know like at all. Either these songs came out when the groups were still under the radar, before they had their big smash hits, or they just never seemed to rise to the top. But they are still valid and important. Videos are linked in the song names, since Tumblr won’t let me add more than five videos, but here we go.

15. April- Dream Candy

April is one of those rare groups that pull off the girly concept so well but don’t ever seem forced, like they are just truly naturally sweet and pure and precious. Honestly all of their songs are great, and it’s tragic that they haven’t had a comeback in 2019. But their debut, Dream Candy, is the one that really gets deep in my soul to that animal part of my brain that makes me scream this god damn chorus. But only really at the end. I never really listened to this song until it came on shuffle one day when I was walking home in the rain, and thought, why not listen to this awkward girly song, and then the last chorus hit and OH MY GOD. It’s a good one guys.

14. Momoland- Jjan! Koong! Kwang!

So this song comes out by some unknown group called uh, Momoland?, with a title that is just a bunch of sounds that don’t exist in English, and I felt like I was the only one on Earth that was like, “This is fine.” I was honestly in some I Am Legend universe where instead of me being the only living person on Earth, I was the only one that liked Momoland’s debut. As time went on Momoland started putting out what is pretty much some of the worst K-Pop that exists (I mean, have you SEEN the video for Wonderful Love? Try not to cringe challenge) and sadly enough this group just faded into obscurity and never had any huge, Earth shattering hits or anything. 

13. DIA- My Friend’s Boyfriend

On paper this song is awful. I mean it’s a song about being a petty bitch who has decided to steal their friend’s boyfriend, hence the title. Also the song ads cute little quirks like *squints eyes to read this metaphorical paper closer* coughing. Also the video has an unnecessarily long intro. But believe me when I tell you that this is an absolute slapper.

12. Gugudan- Wonderland

It’s a crime that Gugudan has never really hit it off, even with two I.O.I members. Their debut has this amazing Little Mermaid concept and believe me when I tell you that this chorus is best when screamed at the top of your lungs. After all the screaming I am basically in a manic state by the la la la’s.

11. LOONA 1/3- Love&Live

You’ll notice that the main theme of this list is that the choruses are absolute fire. But this one comes in and basically knocks the wind out of me with sweetness, like some kind of aegyo Kool-Aid man. It’s really the music that does it for me in this one, along with the melody, along with Heejin’s perfect high note. If this song doesn’t make you smile then you are a robot, like ViVi. 

10. Shannon Williams- Why Why

If Ant and/or Dec were here, they would hear this song and definitely say that Britain’s Got Talent. Shannon is the British IU,hands down, undeniably, I will not be taking questions at this time. But it’s very sad that her career was nonexistent after this came out. Was it the fact that this features a sixteen-year-old grinding against faceless boys? Or that this video widely revolves around her intensely stalking someone? It can’t be the song because that is perfect. 

9. AOA- Bingle Bangle

Okay so some history for those non-Elvises out there. AOA was THE HOTTEST girl group for a good minute, with so many timeless collaborations with the Brave Brothers that really changed the shape of female K-Pop for a while. And then ChoA left the group. And without the only member who could actually sing the face of the group, AOA kind of went quiet, save for a few Jimin solo songs. Then AOA came back with a new sound, and while everyone else thought it was terrible, I thought it was a bop! And I love the video and the concept! And the dance for this is so fun. Bingle Bangle is a real yes for me dawg. It’s only too bad that they lost yet another member and their concept was handed off to FNC’s new girl group. Speaking of which...

8. Cherry Bullet- Really Really

Yeah so they literally gave this entire “girls in a video game but it’s fun and cute” concept to Cherry Bullet, and they hit the ground running with it. This comeback in particular is my favorite of theirs because it hits one of my favorite pop music tropes: Having A Funky Instrumental Chorus, Only At The End To Put Words Over The Music. It ticks all my boxes.

7. Rainbow- Whoo

If you ever wanted to hear a song that made you scream “RAAAAIIINBOOW AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!” then this is it. At this point in this list we start to hear the songs that make me truly insane, and this song absolutely destroys me. It’s really sad, however, that this is basically Rainbow’s swan song, as it was their last song before disbandment. 

6. Matilda- Macarena

I bet you haven’t even HEARD of Matilda. I bet you didn’t even KNOW that MATILDA just DISBANDED a FEW MONTHS AGO because ALL THEIR SONGS WERE BAD except for THIS ONE which is just full of CHAOTIC GOOD ENERGY and if you don’t ENJOY THIS then GET OFF MY LAWN. 

5. Berry Good- Angel

Berry Good was destined to be one of those girl groups, like Matilda, that came from a tiny company and was just given bad songs and were set up to fail. So they crowdfunded, and somehow made two incredible comebacks, Don’t Believe (which is a whole other story that we won’t get into today, but it’s an amazing song that you should check out) and prior to that, Angel. I don’t even know where to begin with this song because it literally makes me forget who I am and why I exist. It’s a banger?? This song starts off so soft and pure and jumps right into a chorus that makes you bang your head and scream “I TAKE A CHANCE, YOU NEVER KNOW” as loud as possible. And right when you think you can’t take it anymore, that you are gasping for air because you are drowning in perfection, THEY GO EVEN HARDER. Like, girls, you did not need to go that hard. Holy shit. They go full IU in Good Day. I don’t know why we were blessed with this, especially since after this all their other songs have been garbage, and they’ve been so unsuccessful that they lost their strongest member and they’re heading for disbandment. But we have this gem, and I’m thankful for it.

4. 4Minute- Heart To Heart

Back when 4Minute was just another 2NE1 clone, trying to compete in the market of “Girls Who Look Tough But Are Actually Sweet” 4Minute, aka The HyunA Group, put out this. Third Geners, this is what Second Gen was all about. This is the meaning of Christmas, Charlie Brown. This song is everything. It’s perfect. And it’s too bad that 4Minute didn’t really stick with this sound, but also not, since with their more mature concept they wound up getting pretty famous once Park Bom... I mean, we’re not gonna talk about it. 

3. Hyolyn- Bae

Okay so I know that Hyolyn as an entity is not technically considered underrated, but her entire solo career is being slept on and I don’t understand. With Sistar gone, and now Red Velvet carrying the torch for summer anthems, Hyolyn doesn’t necessarily have to give us one of the best summer songs of all time but she did. Every second of this song to me is perfect. And yeah okay I’ll admit it, I am a Gay, I am attracted to women, and Hyolyn is a lot of. A lot of wow. She and HyunA are exactly my type, and this video is a lot. But the SONG you guys. It’s so much that I told even regular people who listen to English music to listen to this song. They didn’t, of course, because the world doesn’t appreciate Hyolyn like I would, I mean like I do as a fan and nothing else. This song was my summer anthem in 2018, Power Up wishes it was this good.

2. BESTie- Thank U Very Much

One of the things that really got me into K-Pop during the Second Gen was that it sounded so much like pop music from my youth. This is gonna sound weird, but I grew up in a Wiccan Neo-Pagan household where 90% of the music we listened to was traditional Celtic or New Age, and if it was ever anything else it was like The Beatles (my Mom and her sisters were one of those screaming and fainting Beatles fans, the trait that was clearly passed down to me, based on what happened when I saw G-Dragon live, but that’s another story) or ABBA, or any kind of British/European pop/rock from the 70s or 80s. So once I was old enough to really find out what kind of music I liked, I dived deep into cheesy pop songs like S Club 7, Britney Spears, and the like. But I always had a soft spot for ABBA. The melodies, the music, the strange lyrics that didn’t really make sense or weren’t quite grammatically correct but it worked. I feel like that love for obscure pop, along with the 90s and early 2000s bubblegum pop, pushed me right into the K-Pop scene. And this song is the best example of that kind of weird melody with oddly used English words, but it works in the best way. The chorus of this song sounds like it was written by ABBA. The ending of this song is transcendent. Tell me you can’t picture a Korean Meryl Streep in overalls singing the ending of this song while dancing on a beach. This song makes me lose all my shits. But I do have to say that this video is uh, Not Good, especially compared with how amazing the song is. But these underrated bottom of the barrel groups don’t have much to work with in the first place, so we can’t really fault them. This song holds up, and is going to hold up for a very long time. I stan.

1. Laboum- Shooting Love

So like I said before, I don’t typically like the super sugary, super tacky, super girly girl concepts. BUT I LOVE LABOUM. ALL their girly sweet songs are AMAZING. They somehow get everything right, in their own unique way. They’re not at all like “Oh, they’re like GFriend”, “Oh, that’s like Lovelyz” or anything, if you get what I’m saying. Laboum had their own cheesy yet perfect style of girly. Aalow Aalow: A CLASSIC. Journey To Atlantis: A CLASSIC. Hwi Hwi: A CLASSIC. Only U: YES YOU GUESS IT, CLASSIC. Sugar Sugar: DON’T MAKE ME SAY IT AGAIN. I could have made this whole list with just Laboum songs. So I made myself pick one by listening to as many old Laboum songs as I could before I would become an absolutely menace to society, as I am not responsible for my actions after listening to so much girly perfectlon at once. If I was arrested and went to court for I dunno, causing distress and mayhem to the citizens of my city, my lawyer would call it “the Laboum defense.” “You see, Your Honor, my client listened to a lot of Laboum songs, and lost control of themselves and became an entity, a ball of energy, a comet destroying everything in its path while screaming cheesy Korean lyrics.” And I would be set free, of course, because who wouldn’t lose themselves completely to the power of Laboum? But anyway I picked Shooting Love, as it puts me in a manic state from the very intro until the last second. And let me just say now that I deeply mourn this old Laboum, as they came back in 2018 with a new concept that makes them sound lobotomized compared to their old sound. Like slow R&B is fine, but compared to this it’s drab and slow and dull and I hate it. I Hate It. Bring back cute Laboum in 2020, or at least study Apink if you want to see how to properly change an aging cute group into a mature group. I could go on, but now I have the urge to listen to more Laboum. You’ll see me on the evening news tonight, I’m sure.

anyway 안녕

[eddie-boii]

Never Let You Go (part 6/14)

Fic info: Both Eddie and Stan live because I do what I want. Multichapter.

Rating: Teen and up (may change). Language.

Pairings: Reddie, Benverly.

Ao3 link: here

Summary: The Losers prepare for a wedding. Ben’s bachelor party. 

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14

*

“Beer?”

Eddie accepted the bottle Ben handed to him and quickly checked the ingredients and alcohol percentage as Ben handed out the rest to the others.

“Thanks, man, but I think I’m gonna cut back on the alcohol intake,” said Richie, and Eddie looked over at him in surprise; Richie was never usually one to decline alcohol no matter how much Eddie pestered him about the state of his liver.

“We’ve got lemonade?” Ben offered.

“That’ll do.”

Richie accepted the glass and leaned back in the deck chair, eyes closed contentedly, his long legs stretched out in front of him and the beams of sunlight that filtered through the wooden planks from the balcony above lighting up strands of his dark hair in streams of gold. Eddie caught himself staring and looked away quickly, accidentally making direct eye contact with Stanley who just rolled his eyes. Eddie scowled at him in return.

Ben’s bachelor party was far more subdued than Bev’s; just the guys hanging out on the back porch of Ben’s frankly massive house, watching fall leaves drift down onto the garden, their warm hues lighting up in the glow from the afternoon sun. Warmth still lingered from summer but it wasn’t sweltering, and the Losers - minus Bev - were able to lounge around in light jackets while Ben grilled burgers and hotdogs on the barbecue, the smell of charcoal mingling pleasantly with the sweet scent of the fall air.

“You know shoes were invented for a reason,” said Eddie, grimacing as Ben accidentally dropped a scolding hot sausage onto his bare foot for the second time.

“If you say that again, I’m feeding you the floor hotdogs,” said Ben. “Shoes are restrictive.”

“Also protective.”

“Those floor hotdogs sure have a lot of germs on them, Eddie. You know this is where Ember does her morning piddles.”

Eddie nearly gagged. “And you’re walking barefoot there?!”

“I pressure wash it.” Ben lifted his foot and tried to stick it in Eddie’s face. “My feet are super clean. Here, smell them.”

“I’m not sniffing your fucking foot.”

“Lick it, Eds,” said Richie. “Once in a lifetime opportunity.”

“You are both fucking disgusting,” said Eddie, shoving Ben’s foot out of the way which threw him off balance and straight into Mike’s lap.

“Christ, man, are you sure you lost weight?” Mike groaned. “I think you just broke both my legs.”

“He replaced it all with muscle,” said Stanley, leaning forward to squeeze Ben’s bicep.

“Ooh, if he gets a squeeze,” said Richie, leaning forward too.

“Nope, nope, nope, we are not doing this again,” said Ben, extracting himself from Mike’s lap. “I have burgers to cook and bicep-squeezing privileges are for Bev’s hands alone.”

“Lucky lady,” said Richie with a wink, and Eddie tried not to let his jealousy show.

“So, guys, is anyone going to tell me what actually happened last night?” said Ben. “Bev refuses to say anything.”

Eddie sank down in his chair a little, hiding his face behind the beer bottle so no one could see how red it had gotten. Richie, on the other hand, didn’t seem at all ashamed.

“Let’s see, we got drunk, hired a stripper-”

“A stripper?” Ben squawked.

“Not as hot as you, don’t worry,” said Richie, winking again. “Got more drunk, played some party games, Eddie apparently decided to fuck off and clean my house-”

“It was fucking disgusting,” Eddie protested.

“He’s always been like that,” Bill snorted. “R-remember when we all had that sleepover at mine when we were like twelve and ss-stole my mom’s chardonnay and he ended up downstairs doing laundry?”

“Oh shit, that’s right!” cried Stan, grinning gleefully. “And your mom’s face when she came home and we were all throwing up but she didn’t even get mad coz the house was so clean!”

“Drunken housemaid, that’s our Eds,” said Richie, grinning over at Eddie fondly.

“Don’t call me Eds,” Eddie grumbled, sinking lower in his chair.

“So what happened after?” said Ben, smiling warmly at his friends’ stories as he piled burgers and hotdogs into buns and passed them out on paper plates.

“Then Richie got super friendly,” said Mike.

“I cannot be held responsible for what I did when drunk!” Richie protested, mouth full of burger. God help him, Eddie even found him cute with food spilling out of his mouth.

“What did he do?” said Ben, grinning already in anticipation.

“Only tried to make out with literally everyone there,” said Stanley.

“Did he now?” said Ben, grinning even harder. “I hope you’re not trying to steal my fiance.”

“She wasn’t into it,” Richie pouted. “But if you’re feeling left out, Benny-boy…”

Richie lunged towards Ben who managed to block him just in time, holding him away with ease and laughing as Richie made kissy noises and grabby hands at him.

“Ok, ok, you can kiss my cheek,” said Ben when Richie didn’t relent. Ben turned his cheek towards him and Richie leaned in but grabbed his face at the last minute and smashed their mouths together.

“Success!” cried Richie, pulling back and raising his hands in victory while Ben wiped his mouth and tried to stop laughing. “I have now made out with every Loser!”

“You d-d-didn’t use tongue with him, it doesn’t count,” said Bill.

“Don’t you dare,” said Ben, holding his hands out in front of him defensively when Richie looked like he was about to try again. “We’ll say it counts.”

Richie held up his hands in surrender and finally sat back down. “Whatever you say, Benny-boo.”

“You know how fucking revolting that is right?” said Eddie. “You know how many diseases pass via saliva? You could get mono, you know?”

“What’s the matter, Eddie-spaghetti, are you jealous?” said Richie, turning to grin at him obnoxiously.

“No, I’m not fucking jealous,” said Eddie which was a huge fucking lie.

“You know you’re still my number one guy, Eddie Bear,” Richie cooed, pinching Eddie’s cheek until Eddie swatted his hand away. “Well, right after your mom.”

“I hate you.”

“If that’s what you wanna call it,” coughed Stan and Eddie glared at him.

By the time everyone had eaten enough food to last them the whole winter, the sun was dipping low in the sky and the air had gained a chill more reminiscent of fall, so the Losers packed up the deck chairs and headed indoors to lounge on the stylish but comfortable couches and snoop through Ben’s things.

“Holy shit, you have all my shows on DVD?” said Richie from where he was sat cross-legged on the floor, eying up Ben’s impressive film collection as Ember snoozed in his lap, something that Eddie found revoltingly cute. “Didn’t know you were such a fan.”

“They’re Bev’s, actually,” said Ben. “From back before we all remembered. She said she never actually watched them but bought them all anyway coz she just liked having them.”

“Huh, that’s so weird,” said Richie, smiling slightly as he brushed his fingers over the plastic covers of the selection.

“I’ve seen them all,” said Eddie before thinking, and Richie looked sharply up at him, eyes wide.

“You have?” he said, his mouth splitting into a very egotistical grin

“Fucking hated them,” said Eddie, which wiped the grin straight off Richie’s face. “Your jokes never felt right. Guess subconsciously I just knew they didn’t sound like yours.”

“But you still watched them all?” commented Stanley.

Eddie shot him a look to tell him to shut his mouth, then shrugged. “I don’t know, I guess some part of me just…”

“Missed me?” Richie finished, that shit-eating grin back on his face.

“Yeah, whatever, dickwad,” said Eddie. “Myra fucking hated you, for the record.”

Richie gasped dramatically. “How could she? The love of my life!”

“I thought Eddie’s mm-mom was the love of your life,” said Bill.

“Same thing.”

Eddie threw a cushion at him and Richie batted it away before it hit the dog.

“You know, I went to one of your shh-sh-shows once,” said Bill as if only just remembering. “Friend of mine d-dragged me to it.”

“Did you at least like it, Big Bill?” said Richie as he put on his most exaggerated puppy dog face.

“As much as you liked the endings of my books,” said Bill, and Richie pouted, affronted. “Nothing beats real Rich’s jokes,” Bill added, which seemed to cheer Richie up.

“Don’t inflate his ego,” said Stanley, rolling his eyes. “He’ll never shut up now.”

“You know you love me, Stan-the-man.”

“So you read Bill’s books?” Ben asked Richie. “Before we remembered?”

“Oh yeah. Got the whole set back home,” said Richie.

“I went to a signing once,” said Stanley, and Bill looked over at him in surprise. “It was like your first book and I had no idea who you were, but you were in town so I went. Had no idea why, but-”

“Part of you knew,” finished Mike. “I went to one of those book signings too.”

It was Mike’s turn to be stared at.

“Yy-you did?” said Bill.

“Couldn’t stay long or I’d start forgetting, but yeah, man,” said Mike. “You were in Maine and I couldn’t resist.”

“But I wouldn’t have-” said Bill. “I didn’t recognise you.”

“No,” said Mike. “But it’s fine, man. You all remember now, that’s what matters.”

“But you could remember the whole time,” said Ben.

“That really must have sucked, man,” said Richie.

Mike shrugged, looking a little self-conscious. “I mean… Yeah. At first, when you’d just moved out and you never replied to any of my letters, I thought… I thought maybe you just didn’t wanna talk to me anymore.”

“Shit, man,” said Bill, reaching out to squeeze Mike’s hand. “You know we would never…”

“Yeah, I know,” said Mike. “I know you guys aren’t like that. That’s when I figured it had to have something to do with It.”

“You were still all alone,” Eddie said, almost a whisper. He couldn’t imagine what it would be like if he remembered the Losers while they couldn’t remember him, if they were out there living their lives while he was stuck at home with his mother, never responding to messages or calls. If he saw them in person only to be met with irrecognition, their eyes passing over him blankly as though he were just another stranger. And, god, if Richie ever looked at him like that...

“It wasn’t so bad,” said Mike, smiling at them all in a clear attempt to be reassuring. “I kept track of you, watched your careers grow. I was so proud of you all… I’m glad I can tell you that now. I love you guys.”

“You better shut up before Richie starts crying,” said Stanley who seemed to be the one actually close to tears. He smiled at Mike. “Love you too, man.”

“Yeah, thanks for dragging us all back to that shithole,” said Richie, “or we wouldn’t be here now.”

“I wouldn’t be getting married,” said Ben.

“I wouldn’t be divorced,” said Eddie. “That’s a good thing,” he added when Mike looked concerned.

“You mm-made me have to go back to speech therapy,” said Bill teasingly before nudging Mike with his shoulder and squeezing his hand again. “But it’s all worth it.”

“Gay,” said Richie.

“Aaand you ruined the moment,” said Eddie.

“Glad I could be of service.”

“God, how did we survive without each other?” said Ben. 

“Barely,” said Stan quietly, tugging down his sleeves a little.

The others fell silent for a time until Richie, being Richie, decided to lighten the mood.

“I’m thinking of getting a dog!” he said a little too brightly as he scratched Ember behind the ears. He grinned up at Eddie. “A little pomeranian called Penny. What do you think, Eds?”

“I am terminating our friendship effective immediately,” said Eddie, and just like that, the shadow that had fallen over them was lifted.

Ben lit a fire in the hearth and they all lounged around it, basking in the warm glow as they fell back into easy conversation. Ember migrated to Eddie’s lap which he was very smug about until Richie squeezed up next to him to be able to pet the dog, but Eddie was secretly quite content with a dog on his lap and Richie at his side, like something out of one of his more domestic fantasies.

Bill told ghost stories somehow scarier than their experience with Pennywise, and Stan calmed them all down afterwards by rambling about types of birds, which everyone paid rapt attention to because Stan talking about his favourite thing, his face lit up and hands waving around excitedly, was a joy to watch even if no one else cared all that much about the topic. 

Later on, Ben showed them all an old photo album he’d found at his parents’ house of them all as kids, and Mike pointed to the odd picture and excitedly reminded them all about the time they all dressed as each other for Halloween, or the time Richie got suspended for filling a kid’s locker with shaving foam for picking on Eddie, or the time they all went as each other’s dates to Homecoming and tried to dance all together in one chaotic circle.

The fire was warm, and the beer seeped into Eddie’s limbs and made him drowsy, his eyes slipping shut as he listened to Richie and Stanley argue over who had the better homecoming outfit. The next thing he knew, he was waking up in the middle of the night half-draped across Richie with his face buried in his chest, Ember curled up in the small space between them, Mike leaning against his shoulder with Ben against his, and Bill propped up against his legs with Stan’s head in his lap, all fast asleep. He’d fallen asleep with his phone in his hand, and when he checked it, he found a text from Bev who must have come home while they were all sleeping, for it showed a picture of them all cuddled up to one another fast asleep on the couch. He would have been annoyed, but he had to admit it was kind of cute.

[11:25pm] Queen B: [image.jpg]

[11:25pm] Queen B: My boys <333

Eddie smiled slightly and saved the photo to his camera roll, then let his head fall back against Richie’s warm chest, not really caring that the fabric of his shirt scratched his cheek or that no one had brushed their teeth. This was a night for the Losers.

*

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