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pinequarry · 7 months ago

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Episode 4 - Valentine’s Day

Hi!

Just a small note to those who aren't aware, this entire work is organised and better edited on Ao3. If you would like to read, search "Pinequarry" on Ao3 or click the link in the sequential post to this one. Enjoy this episode, and we are so glad to roll it out to you, even if it is many weeks late!

Clover

Clover, Indigo, Felix, Valentine, and Clara sat in Felix’s living room. An old grandfather clock ticked away in the hallway very loudly. In Front of them on the coffee table, and a tea tray with a tea set and a plate of biscuits. Clover nibbled on a malted milk.

“Three out of ten,�� Dumitria said. She held up the newest amulet, the amulet of poison transferal, which his sister, Indie, and Felix had recovered. Dumitria placed it in a case with the rest of the amulets.

“Next is the Amulet of Aligism.” She said “This one isn’t too far from home”

“What does aligism mean?” Val asked.

“The ability to understand any language.” Dumitria responded. “This one isn’t hidden too far from home; we could be stood right on top of it, and we wouldn’t even know it”

“What do you mean?” Felix asked his grandmother.

Her tall horns shimmered in the lamplight “It’s hidden in a set of secret tunnels under the town. All we need now is someone to go get it!” She clapped her hands and rubbed them together.

Clover liked the sound of this, and hadn’t experienced anything like it yet, so he really wanted to give it a go.

“I’ll go,” Clara said from the other side of the room.

“No, you won’t be,” Dumitria said. She handed her the case containing the three amulets. “I want you to take these, and try to get them to work.”

Clover hesitated.

“I'll go,” He said.

Everyone looked at him in shock.

“No, you’re not.” Indie said.

“He can if he wants to.” Dumitria argued.

“He’s too young!” Indigo argued back.

“It’s not a tricky one, just… a bit of a maze really” Dumitria said nonchalantly.

“...I’ll go with him then,” Indigo said.

Dumitria smiled. Clover was excited to see what it was like out there finding the amulets, even if it was just a “simple maze”.

“You two come over in the morning - Clara you come too to get the amulets, Felix will be here anyway. and Valentine, have a lovely birthday.” Dumitria said, as everyone except her and Felix stood up preparing to go home. Clover could see Valentine blushing at the mention of her birthday.

“We should do something!” Felix said.

“No, it’s fine, don’t bother.” Val said, smiling bashfully.

Clover saw Felix wink at Clara, then he smiled at him and Indie.

“You pair’d best be back in time to see Val on her 16th!” Felix said to him and Indie.

“Please Felix, don’t do anything my mum will make a big fuss about it anyway.” Valentine protested.

They all made their way to the door, and after saying goodbye to each other found that they all walked the same way home. Indie and Clover were the first to depart from the group and made their way across the street. Val, who was their neighbour, crossed at the same time as them, and walked down a few metres to her house, and Clara stayed on the other side, and walked toward her house.

They entered the front door of their house and both kicked their shoes off into the side in the foyer. Their mum walked through the foyer from a room on the side. “You okay?” She asked before coming up and giving Clover a peck on the cheek. “Put those shoes away tidy.” She said and disappeared through an arch into the kitchen. Indie put both their sets of shoes into a shoe cubby and they made their ways upstairs, splitting off to enter their own separate bedrooms.

Valentine

Beep-Beep.

Valentine stirred, groaning. She swung her arm over her body and reached for her phone to turn it off, or put her alarm on snooze. She stared at it, and checked the time.

4:00, It read, and underneath it were zero notifications. Val wondered if everyone else woke up to no messages on their birthday. Maybe it was too early, but then again, she knew some of Indie’s friends stayed up until midnight to text each other “Happy Birthday”.

Valentine sat up, and put her feet on the ground next to her bed. She rubbed her eyes and tried to make out where her bathroom door was from her bed, and she could just about see it in the murky october morning light. She padded across her pink carpet, and pulled the light cord as she stepped into her en suite. It wasn’t very big, and there was barely enough room to move around, but there was a small standing shower, a sink and a toilet. She showered, and made sure to wash her hair as thoroughly as she could. Once she was done, she put a little teeth-whitening device in her mouth, put mousse in her hair, and did her skincare and put on some makeup. Nothing too crazy, just some foundation, concealer, mascara, and lipgloss. Natural. Nice.

She removed the device from her mouth, and brushed her teeth. She brushed her hair, and used the handle of it to make her curls more defined. Once they dried, they looked shiny and sleek.

She walked out of her bathroom and to her drawers, where she picked out her most expensive pair of pyjamas to change into. They were pink, with thick, vertical stripes in a similar colour. She put on the button-down shirt, and the shorts to match, and then went back into her drawer to find the sleep mask that went with it. Then she went to her mirror, and crouched down so that she could see her whole body, because usually the top of her head wasn’t visible in the mirror. She looked good, and now she was sure of that, she could get back into bed.

Around half an hour later, Valentine heard her door being opened. She was wearing an eye mask, so she couldn't see for sure what was going on, but she was so used to the routine by now that she knew exactly who it was and what they were doing. It was her mother, holding a tripod and a ring light, followed by her brother Toby, who was probably carrying piles of presents. Valentine made sure to shift over, so that when her Mum started filming, she would look like she was sleeping peacefully, but not so deeply that it looked too real. It had to be picturesque. She heard the sound of wrapping paper, as the many boxes were placed around her. The empty ones, to fill up space in the frame while she opened her actual presents. The ones that got sent to her from various sponsors. This was commonplace, because her Mum hated it when all the presents her family members, or in rare cases, her friends, had sent her had all different “ugly” wrapping paper on them; so Valentine opened all of her sponsored gifts, and the ones from her Mum and her brothers here in the morning, because they were all wrapped the same.

She heard the sound of her Mum fumbling with the ring light, and through her mask she could feel the light of it as it turned on. She heard a quiet bip-bip of the camera starting to film.

“Valentine,” Her mum said gently. “Wake up!”

Valentine sat up, yawning theatrically and pushing up her mask. She tried her best not to wince when the brightness of the ring light hit her eyes, and she gasped at the sight of all her presents - but she could see a vague look of disgust on her Mum's face.

“Sorry babes, can you do that again? It was a little forced.” She said.

“Okay.” Valentine led back down again, and put the mask over her eyes again. The rigmarole began again, and this time she tried to appear ever so slightly more realistically asleep. Her Mum smiled from behind the camera.

Her brother came in, carrying a paper party hat and a large red velvet cake. Her favourite. There were sixteen candles on it, and it was iced with Valentine in pink piping and little pink hearts. She smiled wide, thanking her Mum and Toby profusely, and blew out the candles through her teeth, still smiling to make any photos of this moment as good as they could be. Then she opened her presents; A gift set of skincare products from some local business in Avonport, some silver charm necklaces and bracelets, several other products from big and small local companies, and finally a wad of cash. She wasn’t sure if it was real, and she didn’t really care to check. It didn’t matter.

Her Mum clicked the camera off, and gave Valentine a powdery kiss on the cheek.

“Happy birthday darling. We’ll go open the rest of your presents downstairs, ‘kay?”

“Okay - Mum?” “Yeah?” “Is Teddy gonna come back from Uni for the day? Cos I texted him the other day and he said he was gonna, but I was just wondering if he’d said anything to you.” “Oh honey, I’m not sure. He hasn’t said anything about it to me, which is a shame, because now the photos we take today are gonna be so asymmetrical - actually, I think we’ll just have you in the photos and Toby can just stand behind the camera, so it’s a little more clear what we’re meant to be looking at.” She pinched Valentine’s cheek gently. “My superstar.” The way she talked about Toby, as if he wasn’t even there, made Valentine feel a bit weird, but she pushed past it. She knew her Mum had good intentions for her children. Toby and Teddy had all of the profit from the videos they had made as soon as they turned eighteen, and since Toby was sixteen, he hadn’t been featured heavily in any of the videos; only in small parts or group photos. Her Mum fully intended to give Valentine the money she’d saved up from the videos, and half of all of the profit went straight into Valentine’s bank account, per her request. Despite all of the filming, her mother was a good woman. And this was just how she facilitated that.

Indigo Indie left the house with Clover the next day to a cold, frosty morning. They met Clara at the end of their driveway, and they all walked down to Felix’s house. Indie was weary about taking Clover out, but he seemed so keen on going, she didn’t want to deny him of it. And it was clear that this was their life now.

They made it up the driveway and Indie rang the doorbell, which was hastily opened by Dumitria. She led them upstairs to the door room where she offered them tea.

Clover and Indigo sat down on two antique chairs in the corner. Felix leaned on the doorway and they watched as Dumitria packed each amulet into a smaller container that Clara could fit into her bag. Every now and then Indie noticed herself making eye contact with Felix from across the room. Clara then left with Felix to go to a nearby pub and set up a little surprise for Val’s birthday.

“Okie dokie then” Dumitria said. “I hope you haven’t worn your best clothes, as this is going to be a smelly one”

Indie and Clover looked at eachother. Clover looked very excited.

“The amulet is hidden somewhere in a maze of sorts under Pinequarry, and I have no doubt that a creature has moved in down there to make your lives a lot harder. You're going to have to enter through the sewers unfortunately, so that does mean going down through the sewer’s entrance in the industrial site. In that case, I've got you both pliers so you can break any locks!” She smiled at them as if this was meant to be a piece of cake. Well, it must be easier than the last quest Inigo went on.

Dumitria opened the door and they stepped in. They came out at the back of some building in the woods. It was old and rusted. After further inspection, she saw a pot-hole-covered road beside them, and above them a dual carriageway. Just beyond the building, at the end of the road, was a large, metal gate. It was old, covered in nettles and led directly into the industrial site. Well, not directly, as according to a sign just inside of the gate, there was another half a mile of country road before one even made it to the main site.

They approached the gate. A big , red, rusted, sign read; “DO NOT ENTER. PRIVATE PROPERTY”. They of course ignored this sign and used their pliers to cut open the lock and waltz right in.

The industrial site was partially closed. It was split up into a lumber yard, quarry, a factory sort of area, and warehouses. There was also the main entrance to the sewers. The site was the same size as the rest of the town. Most of it was abandoned (The factories and warehouses) But the quarry and lumber yard were still open, although talk of the town suggested they might close any minute. There was an old train station right at the very back too, but was disconnected due to a landslide which buried the tunnel leading to a small city nearby called Fairwater Port. Now, anything leaving the site went out in large red lorries with the words “Pinequarry Quarry” or “Pinequarry Lumber” on them. Clover always used to comment on how silly “Pinequarry Quarry” sounded.

Finally, after walking along the long road through the woods, they made it to the site. It was the section with all the abandoned warehouses. They were huge, and rotten. They looked like their souls had been sucked out of them. They had to sneak around a bit, due to builders around the place surveying the site to be demolished, but eventually made their way to a wide alley between a warehouse and a large brick building. The alley sloped down into a concrete ditch. In the middle there was a small ditch carved out, where clean water was flowing down the slope into a large concrete tunnel. The tunnel was completely cut off by large prison-like bars. Indie tried to see if she could squeeze through the gap in the bars, but couldn’t fit; so they decided to look for another entrance.

Eventually, they came across a small brick structure. There was a metal door on the front of the building and a keep out sign. The door was locked shut so they used their pliers to cut it open. Inside was a dark room. From one end there was a small amount of red light coming up from the ground, so after turning her torch on to find a light switch, then turning on the light switch, Indie saw that the light was coming up from the bottom of a very deep metal staircase. They looked at eachother then made their ways down, Indie first and Clover behind her.

Clara

“You’re gonna fall, that ladder is tipping.” Clara said.

“Well, grab it then!” Felix hissed, from his position in the beams of the ceiling. Clara rolled her eyes, and went to roll up her sleeves for the fourth time this morning, before remembering (for the fourth time this morning) that her sleeves were connected to some fingerless gloves, so she couldn’t.

“Hello?!” Felix said, swaying more dramatically on his ladder. “Help!”

Clara put her hands on the ladder, stabilising it.

“You are a child.”

“Oh yeah?” Felix said, looking down at her. “Then you get up here and put these up. My arms are tired anyway.”

“Okay.” Clara said, cockily.

Felix clambered down, and waved his arms towards the ladder, ushering Clara up it.

“I’ll go up the ladder!” Margot shouted from the corner booth her and Lottie were sitting at, watching something on Margot’s phone.

“You will not. You wouldn’t be any good at putting streamers up anyway.” Clara teased.

“Hey!” Lottie chimed in. “I made those streamers! We are very useful.”

Clara smiled and started up the ladder. She felt it wobbling as she climbed, and she felt as if she were climbing into another altitude. Once she reached the top, she reached out to fix a streamer to a beam -

And then she fell. Down, down, down, and Clara was sure she was going to break one of her limbs when she hit the ground. But instead of hitting the ground, Felix ran forward and caught her. She was still winded, but she was intact.

“Thanks, Felix.” She said as she got to her feet. “Maybe you should stick to going up the ladder.”

“That’s it?” Felix said. “I don’t even get a sorry? Maybe even a, you were right?”

“Nah.” Clara said, grinning. “In fact, you should be thanking me for making you look so good at ladder climbing.” She walked back over to a small table in the corner, and went back to her two amulets and her notebook. She liked this pub, and she was very grateful that they had rented out a room to them, even if it was only going to be the seven of them here tonight. They didn’t even have alcohol, because Lottie and Margot were here, and Clover was showing up with Indie later; But Clara didn’t really care, she didn’t drink anyway. It was only Felix who did, and she imagined Val and Indie would follow suit.

She buried her head in her notebook and tried to go over what she had written as best she could. There wasn’t much to read anyway:

Crystal charging didn’t work

Incense? Didn’t work

Spells?

She reached into her leather messenger bag, and pulled out a large book that she had brought with her. It was another Voyant one - Clara had picked it up while she was looking for her copy of GHOSTS and other spiritual correspondences that seemed to have gone missing. Weird. This one was Channelling your power: the key to jumpstarting your own magical ability. So far Clare Voyant hadn’t taught her much of anything, but Clara thought it was worth trying this one just in case there was anything that she could glean about “jumpstarting” a magical amulet that was full of magical ability. She picked up the illusionist amulet that they had found at the fair, and flipped to the index of the book. The only thing that looked right to her was magical catalysts, so she flicked to that.

Many items can be used to enhance one’s magical ability. It is important first to know where your power manifests from, and then one can move forward in deciding what object you wish to use. Common items include wands, amulets, poppets and charms.

Clara didn’t think that was very helpful. She knew her power source was the Moon, but considering it was the middle of the day, that wasn’t much use to her. She did write Moon ability in her book before continuing to read.

Historically, some have experimented with demonic intervention to create power catalysts. This is highly dangerous, and in many countries it is illegal. Once these catalysts are made, the demon one may choose to ask for help will likely be inclined to stay around, as without their presence the catalyst will no longer work. In order to reactivate such a power source, one would have to find a similar magical charge that carries such a similar energy that the original spell can be replicated. Despite being legal, it is highly dangerous and not recommended by anyone unless performed by an extremely skilled magic user.

There we go, Clara thought to herself. She read the passage over and over again, until she felt as if the words were tattooed behind her eyes. Magical charge? What did that even mean? She supposed that meant that she had to be able to use her powers to make the amulets work again, and so she buried her head back in the first chapter of the book and started reading.

Margot slipped into the booth and slid next to Clara. “Whatcha reading?” “A book,” Clara said, trying very hard to stay concentrated on the words she was reading. “Go away.”

“Is it a Clare Voyant one?” Margot asked.

“What-? Yes. Why?” Clara said.

“Because I have one of hers in my room, one about ghosts.” Margot replied. “...Did you steal one of my books?” Clara said, glaring at her sister.

“Maybe.” Margot said. Then she slipped away.

Clara shook her head, and then she went back to reading. When she was done, she concluded that the only way to activate these amulets was either to try and use her powers, which in her fifteen years of life had yet to work, or to sell her soul to a demon - just like Ophir did.

Valentine

Once she had opened her presents, and taken photos in front of them all, she felt a little lighter. She went upstairs to her room to put on some clothes, and she settled on a little pink dress with lots of flowy tulle ribbons, and a thick pink headband to match, along with some strappy pink platform heels. Something nice, in case they decided to take more videos and photos. She went back into her bathroom and she put on some more visible makeup. Then she went downstairs, and sprawled on the sofa. She was bored. Well, she didn’t really want her Mum to come in and ask her to film some more stuff, because she didn’t want to do that either. But at the age that Valentine was, there wasn’t really anything she could do with her presents, other than wear them, or use them tonight in the shower. Other than beauty products and clothes and jewellery she only really got money. She supposed she could walk into town and buy herself a hot chocolate, but that would be risking ruining her dress, and anyways, her Mum didn’t want her leaving the house because she needed to be around and ready to film. So now she wasn’t quite sure what to do with herself.

She went back upstairs and just wandered, tracing her hand along the bannisters and the walls. She could hear a faint sound coming from Toby’s room, and she assumed that he was editing the videos they’d filmed that morning. Then she walked back downstairs, and decided to sneak some icing from her cake while nobody was around. She thought about messaging the groupchat that Her, Clara, Indie, and Felix were in, but she didn’t really know what she would say. She was happy though, as the group had pinged a couple times later in the morning with Happy birthday Images, and Indie had posted a photo of the seven of them with the caption Happy birthday @Val_ley.girl_x, we all hope you have a fabulous day and get all the presents you want <333.

It was at times like these that Valentine wished that she could leave the house, even if it was just to do something with Clara. She knew they were going to plan something, and she was really glad they hadn’t, because she never explained to them that she wasn’t allowed to leave the house unless her Mum said that it was okay, plus she knew that Indie and Clover were on one of those amulet-getting jobs anyway. Valentine wondered when she was gonna get a chance to go on one of those missions, even though they seemed pretty dangerous and kinda gross.

She lay back down on the sofa, and stared up at the ceiling, and for a moment she shut her eyes and thought about all of the things she could be doing instead of waiting for her Mum to ask her to film another video. Then she felt herself dozing off, away in a dream that they had thrown her a big party and everyone at school had decided to come, and nobody was calling her names, and treating her like a second class citizen, and it was all perfect…

“Valentine, darling?” Her Mum called from the kitchen. “Can you come here and film something really quick?”

Felix

Felix stepped off of the ladder and stood back to admire his work. He had (single handedly mind you) put up almost all of the decorations. Clara had blown up maybe four balloons, and the girls had put little cloths on some of the tables, but the balloons that Clara went out to buy, the streamers that the girls made, the banner that Indie and Clover had put together, and all of the other decorations that Felix had helped Indie make had been put up by him. And it looked really good. He’d fallen off the ladder twice, but that was Clara’s fault for not holding the ladder like she said she would; she was busy working on the amulets, which he supposed was fair enough.

He went behind the bar and grabbed himself a coke. Full sugar. Indie said the diet one was horrid for you, and it was worse than just having normal sugar, so Felix thought he’d give it a go. He took a big swig - and immediately spit it out into the sink.

“What are you doing?” Clara said from her little table. “You’re supposed to swallow the drink you know.” She chuckled to herself at her joke, and Felix could hear the girls giggle from their booth in the corner. “It’s vile,” Felix argued. “It’s so sweet.”

“Have a diet one then.” Clara said. Felix had noticed that since their little group of four had begun, Clara had gone from being distanced and quiet to being really snarky, specifically to Felix. He knew she was joking, though. At least he was pretty sure she was joking. She wasn’t mean, Felix knew that, she was just…moody.

Felix tipped the full sugar coke into the sink, and grabbed himself a diet one. He left the bar and went to sit on the table in front of it. He took a big swig, and did one of those cartoonish gasps after. He could see a big pile of presents that were behind the table in the corner of his eye. He looked at all of the different paper they had used; Blue paper with green stars on it from felix, Brown paper from Clara and Margot, except Margot had doodled all over hers, and Yellow paper with Teddy Bears from Lottie.

“Should we put the presents out?” Felix said. “Cause they’re all back here, and I have a feeling I’m gonna forget to do it.” “Yeah,” Margot said from her booth in the corner. Felix could see Lottie nodding enthusiastically as well. “Can we help?”

“You guys can do it if you want,” Felix offered. “I’m not bothered.”

The girls jumped up, and carried the presents onto the long table at the front. They smoothed out the tablecloth, and Piled the presents around. Lottie’s on top of Clara’s, and Margot’s on top of Felix’s. They left space for Indie and Clover’s presents, but as Felix noted that his phone buzzed. He checked it to a text from his Nan.

From: Nan - Indie and Clover might be late…Love you…

Ominous, but that was just the way that his Nan texted.

The girls had left space in the middle of the table for the chocolate cake they had bought. Felix had left it in the fridge and decided that he wouldn’t put it out until Val was on her way.

“Guys,” Felix announced, “Indie and Clover are probably gonna be late, my Nan’s just messaged me about it.”

“Oh, okay then.” Clara said, looking up from her book. “So what do we do in the meantime?”

Clover

The stairs went on for ages. It was like they were descending into the centre of the earth. It spiralled down into the depths, and all you could hear was the clanking of their shoes on the metal. There was occasionally the sound of water, or the growl of some sort of machine.

Eventually they reached the bottom.

There was another metal door, not locked, which led them into a smelly brick tunnel.

It stunk.

On the ground in the middle was a small cutout where water was flowing down. The ceiling was curved and every now and then there were arched supports extending just lower than the ceiling. Between the arches were little lights which flickered on sometimes but were mostly off, so they had to use their torches to see. The tunnel went on for a while. They both had to put the neck of their jumpers over their mouth and nose to keep the smell of raw sewage out.

They walked for god knows how long. Below them, dirty water flowed down a cutout in the floor and every now and again, there would be a pipe with water flowing out it and into the tunnel they were walking in.

On their walk they came across multiple rats, rubbish, three shopping trolleys and these weird slug like creatures with one eye about the side of Clover’s leg which were always found in pairs.

They eventually came across a door. It was like the door they had come through and had a big warning sign on it. Indie turned the handle. They were in a new sewage tunnel. This one didn’t smell bad as there was no dirty sewage flowing down the middle so they could uncover their noses and mouths. From the ceiling hung metal lights which dimly lit up the corridor and flickered on and off every now and again. This one was even more different to the last one though for one reason. The walls were covered in odd glowing green sacks with green slime spread over them.

Indigo

The green sacks glowed a strange, dim, yellow light, and they moved around very slightly. The ground was covered in the green slime. Indie was reminded of Dumitira saying that some creature had probably moved in, and she was obviously right. They followed the tunnel up until they found something. The tunnel opened up into a large room with big tanks of water. Everything was covered in even more sacks and goo, which was even thicker here. Indigo noticed something move behind one of the tanks, and cautiously made her way over, Clover behind her. They peeked around to see a giant, green and yellow snail. It had long, droopy antennae, a thick squelchy body, and a spiralling shell with large spikes at the top, which were covered in the same green slime. It didn’t notice Indie or Clover, and moved around with a vile squelching sound. It slowly made its way to a corner, which was clean of any goo. Clover leaned over further than Indie to see what was happening. They watched as the snail seemingly laid a clutch of eggs. They looked just like the glowing sacks around the rest of the place. This snail had turned the sewers into a giant nesting ground. The pair backed away from the snail and looked around to see if they could find anything resembling an amulet. They found a large wooden chest in the centre of the room. It was covered in slime, but when they looked, they saw there was no lock on it. Upon opening it they found it to be empty. Indie decided to move it out the way to reveal a hole in the ground. It had a coating of slime over the top.

“What's in there?” Clover asked.

“Probably the amulet…” She responded.

Indie rolled up her sleeve and hesitantly reached down through the sludge to see what she could find. The goo was cold, but also warm in certain places, which made Indie gag. It had a weird consistency that felt like snot. She shut her eyes and reached further in until she felt her fingers close around something hard and cold. Her hand returned holding an amulet. They grinned at each other, and retreated back to the door, as quickly and quietly as they could. They crept back through the smelly sewage tunnel to the stairs and made their way home.

“I should probably call Felix.” Indie said, as soon as they made it back to the surface. She grabbed her phone with her non-slimy hand and clicked the call button. It rang once, twice -

Yeahllo?

“Felix, It’s me Indie. We’ve got the amulet.”

How much longer are you gonna be? Clara wants to go get Val.

“Not long, we’re In the sewer tunnels right now.”

You’re where?

“Yeah, that’s where the amulet ended up being.”

…Ew.

“We’re on our way home now.” Are you gonna portal back then?

“Probably. You can tell Clara she can go get Val now, if you want.”

Cool. Okay, I’ll tell her. Bye. “Bye.” Indie heard the phone click, and knew the call had ended.

She turned to Clover. “We’d better make a move for home.”

Clara

They had done practically everything they could think of to pass the time. After Felix finished his diet coke, he started throwing it around with the girls in an impromptu game of catch, but then some coke residue spilled onto Lottie’s head, so they stopped doing that pretty quickly. It was another hour and a half before Clara had gotten involved, because she was too busy studying her books. Eventually, she felt as if her head was about to explode, and so she shut the book, defeated. She really didn’t know what to do with herself now. It seemed that no matter how hard she tried to get around it, she couldn’t seem to find a way to get these damned amulets to work without using magic. Something she was supposed to have, but didn’t.

Stupid Family. Clara thought to herself. It was their fault. Not her mother’s, obviously, but her grandfather’s. It was him that did this to her. Made her the way she was. He was sick, and Clara blamed him and every other Rook that came before him for all of the pressure that was on her to fix this whole amulet situation.

She noticed that during this dramatic internal monologue, Felix had come to sit beside her.

“What you reading?” He asked. Clara shot a look at him that said, don’t.

“What?” Felix said. “I wanna know.” Clara sighed and flashed him the cover. “It’s a Voyant one.”

“Who?”

“Voyant- Do you not know who Clare Voyant is? We read, like, three of her books in year 8 parazoology.”

“Oh, I never paid attention in that class,” Felix said. “Obviously I don’t need to know how to use magic, do I?”

Clara felt as if she had put her foot in it a little bit, considering Felix’s whole lack of horns issue. “Can I ask-” “Yes, I did it, yes my powers don’t work anymore, no I don’t really want to talk about it.” Felix said, cutting Clara off. “I’m assuming you wanted to ask about my bandana - or my horns, I guess.”

Clara sat in silence for a while. She really had put her foot in it now.

“You know, when I met you at the carnival, I didn’t like you very much,” Clara said. She kicked herself mentally. She didn’t need to be telling him that. She was blunt, everybody said so, and Clara had learned over the years that it was better for her to just keep her mouth shut sometimes. “But I don’t think I feel that way anymore. I don’t know, you’re not this…overly pushy, drugged-up loser washup that I thought you were. You’re…pretty cool, I guess.” Felix breathed a huge sigh, and then started laughing, really laughing, until he was doubled over with his forehead on the table, shoulders shaking. He was laughing so hard that no sound came out. Eventually, he straightened.

“Oh my god, that’s a relief. I thought you hated me. Thanks for saying that. For the record, you’re “pretty cool” too.” Felix said.

Clara smiled. Felix reached out his hand, and they did a tentative high-five.

Clara looked up at the clock on the wall. “I think I’m going to go get Val now. Indie and Clover should be back soon, right?” “Yeah, they should be.” Felix said, and just then his phone rang.

“Yeahllo?” He said, putting the phone up to his ear. “Indie, hi. How much longer are you gonna be? Clara wants to go get Val…You’re where?...Ew. Are you gonna portal back then? Cool. Okay, I’ll tell her. Bye.” He hung up and turned to Clara. “You can go now, I think. They’re on their way home from my nan’s.”

Clara

As Clara walked up Valentine’s street, she shivered. It was really cold tonight, seeing as the rest of this autumn had been so warm. Anyone would think it was still summer, If they didn’t live here. Which was a shame, because Clara liked winter. She liked snow. She hoped it would get colder soon, but she doubted it. Shame.

She swung open Val’s front gate, and walked up her front path. Her house had all different kinds of decorations on it, and they were all pink or velvety red. Clara raised her fist to the door and gave it a tentative tap.

There was no response, at first, so Clara knocked again, this time a little louder. The door opened and a woman stood behind it. She had long curly hair, but not like Val’s - it was a much lighter brown, verging on blonde, and she was much paler than Val. This woman was clearly white, but had used fake tan to get the olive skin tone she had currently. She was wearing loose jeans and an off-the-shoulder shirt that looked like something Indie would wear, except it was quite clear to Clara that this outfit had far more effort put into it than this woman would like to let on. She smiled warmly, showing her teeth, but it did not seem very genuine at all.

“Hello.” Clara started. “Are you Mrs Jones?”

“Yes dear, who are you?” Her smile did not waver, which all but confirmed to Clara that it was not a real one. It was evident she didn’t want guests right now.

“Uh, I’m Clara - Clara Rook? I’m one of Valentine’s friends, we’ve planned a party and I’ve just come to get her.” “Oh dear. No, she can’t leave today. We have so much to film.” “...Film? Film what?” Clara asked.

“Have you not seen our profile online? We’re huge. That’s our job; and I need Valentine around to help me film some things for her birthday. It’s very important that we get engagement on big days like these.”

“Can I not just take her for a few hours? It’s the evening, surely you can’t have that much to film-” “My answer is no, if you want to see her you can always see her in school when-” A flash of pink sped through the door, and suddenly Valentine was in front of her mother, dressed in a pink dress and strappy heels. She grinned at Clara, grabbed her by the wrist and dragged her out of the front garden.

“Uh, hi, Val.” Clara said, as they were running down the street.

“I heard everything.” She stopped running suddenly and pulled Clara into a tight hug. “I love you guys so much.”

Clara relented, and let Val hug her for a few more seconds before she pulled away.

“Happy Birthday, Val.”

Valentine

The party was everything Valentine could’ve ever asked for. All of her friends were there, and they had all made decorations for her, none of that custom-ordered matching crap she was used to. They had baked her a cake, and they had each bought her different gifts that felt more personal than anything her family had ever bought her. Margot had bought her a little crow teddy - “It’s a rook,” She had said. “You can put it in your room somewhere, and it will remind you of me and Clara!” And Lottie had hand-made her a little friendship bracelet with plastic beads. They might as well have been diamonds. Clara followed a similar track, buying Valentine a beautiful black and pink lace necklace, and Felix had made her a pink phone charm, with Lottie’s help. Clover and Indie had hand-made her cards, but they also made banners and streamers that covered the room. She had never felt so grateful

They spent hours dancing and singing, and at one point they started playing all of those silly children’s party games, laughing until their sides ached. It was around eleven at night when they decided to go home for the night. The girls were curled up in a booth asleep by then, and everyone else was sitting in a circle chatting for around an hour before Indie stood up and said her mum was expecting her home twenty minutes ago. They all locked up the pub, and walked home together in the cool night air. Felix was first, and he said he was just going to sleep in his caravan at the fair, because it was closer and he was tired. The rest of them slowly dispersed into their homes until it was just Clara, Valentine and Margot.

“Thank you so much for today, Clara.” Valentine said at her front gate. “From the bottom of my heart. You’ve made my day, you really have.” “Oh, you’re welcome. I guess this means we’re proper friends now.”

“Yeah. I’d say you’re my best friend, Clara.” “...Does that mean I can stop doing your homework for you now?” Clara joked. Valentine giggled, and started to walk back towards her house.

“I don’t know about that.” She said, “But, seriously, thank you. For everything, not just today. I don’t know where I’d be without you, because you showed me kindness that nobody else had back in september.”

“It’s no big deal,” Clara said. “I think I needed you just as much. See you Monday?” “See you Monday.” Val said, and with that she went back into her house, blissful and so, so tired.

#pinequarry #fantasy #literature #my writing #book blog #authors #ao3 #books #my ocs #author #writers #writers on tumblr #writers on ao3

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scruffyplayssonic · 1 year ago

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Are the ArchieSonic comics actually an 80's/90's syndicated cartoon? Episode 64 - 65: Two Multi-part Finale (part 9: Sonic Universe #50)

Welcome back to my investigation of how Archie Comics’ Sonic the Hedgehog series was actually a syndicated cartoon from the 80’s and 90’s!

Okay, so last time we were here I talked about everything leading up to the end of the pre-boot era of Archie’s Sonic the Hedgehog comics - the rise of King Naugus, the return of the Death Egg, Sally’s tragic sacrifice, the disbandment of the Freedom Fighters, the debut of Team Freedom, Team Fighters, and the Secret Freedom Fighters, and how a legal dispute between Archie Comics and former writer Ken Penders resulted in hundreds of characters being removed from the series and the current writer and artists having to throw out what they were working on and start again from scratch. So what happened next?

Well, the story picked up again after Endangered Species in Sonic Universe #50, where Eggman was being a Mr Grumpypants. You may recall that in my recap I mentioned that Team Freedom had stopped an Eggman attack on the city, unaware that the Secret Freedom Fighters had been secretly helping from the shadows.

The people of New Mobotropolis may not have noticed that there was another Metal Sonic defending them, but Eggman did. Deciding to fight fire with fire, he whipped up another Metal Sonic to take out Shard, this one also equipped with a power gem core. Eggman also had specially programmed this Metal Sonic to learn and adapt, but also to resist any temptations he may have had to disobey Eggman’s orders.

Team Fighters then had a brief cameo appearance, discussing what went down back at Albion as well as their unexpected run-in with Shard. Tails was at ease with Shard getting a second shot at life, but Sonic wasn’t so sure they could trust him.

Sure enough, at that very moment Nicole was under attack from Shard…

…in a digital game of chess. Curse his sudden yet inevitable betrayal! But no, Shard and Nicole were just enjoying a casual game together, as Shard didn’t think there was much anyone else he could be social with besides the other Secret Freedom Fighters. Of course, we need to also keep in mind that the only other member of that team who hadn’t now been removed from the series was Silver, and he was currently unavailable. More on that later. So Shard and Nicole were just hanging out and having a chill time, and Shard was maybe developing a little bit of a crush?

But before this tantalising new ship could be explored any further the two were alerted that another Metal Sonic had gotten into the city and was holding someone hostage.

Geeze, dude. Hasn’t Antoine been through enough? Well apparently Metal Sonic didn’t think so, and he wanted to finish the job his previous model had started. Shard managed to convince him to take their discussion outside though, and an epic Metal Sonic v Metal Sonic battle commenced.

At first the two seemed pretty evenly matched, but then Metal Sonic started using memories from his previous models’ defeats to counter Shard’s attacks.

Shard recognised that this newest Metal Sonic had a spark of independence like him, and tried to convince him to abandon Eggman and live his own life.

No luck though, Eggman’s anti-rebellion programming was too good.

But fortunately Shard still had his healing factor, and was able to goad Metal Sonic into monologuing long enough for his arm to repair itself.

Metal Sonic was able to shear off Shard’s arm with his burst shield, and rather than letting Shard potentially steal his power gem core, elected to blow both of them up instead.

Oh man, Shard looks in pretty bad shape here. With his power gem damaged it was not clear whether or not he would be able to recover from this ordeal. And the thing that hurts the most is we never found out what was going to happen to him, because this is Shard’s final appearance in the series, ever. As far as I know Ian Flynn has not yet revealed what Shard’s fate would have been, and I imagine we’ll have to wait for his planned “Lost Hedgehog Tales” project to find out.

Metal Sonic, on the other hand, was back up and running again almost immediately, and Eggman had a mysterious new assignment (and partner) for him.

Well well well, things are starting to look a bit crossover-y in here. But I’ll get into that a little more next time, when I look at the final issue of pre-boot ArchieSonic: Sonic the Hedgehog #247.

#archiesonic syndicated

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ear-worthy · 2 years ago

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Spotify: Discover This Podcast On The Eurovision Song Contest

The Eurovision Song Contest, often known simply as Eurovision, is an international song competition organized annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring entries from primarily European countries. Each participating country submits an original song to be performed on live television and radio, transmitted to national broadcasters via the EBU's Eurovision and Euroradio networks, with competing countries then casting votes for the other countries' songs to determine a winner. Based on the Sanremo Music Festival held in Italy since 1951, Eurovision has been held annually since 1956 (apart from 2020), making it the longest-running annual international televised music competition, and one of the world's longest-running television programs. As of 2022, 52 countries have participated at least once. Each participating broadcaster sends one original song of three minutes duration or less to be performed live by a singer or group of up to six people aged 16 or older.

Spotify just released the newest episode of its podcast series, Spotify: Discover This and in this episode, listeners can learn about all things Eurovision that garners up to 200 million viewers (almost twice the size of the Super Bowl audience in the U.S.).

You can listen to the full episode here, and check out exclusive footage from on-the-ground in Liverpool on YouTube and Spotify. Last year, rap group Kalush Orchestra won the title representing their home country of Ukraine with a soaring power anthem. The contest winners are usually awarded the honor of hosting the following year’s event, but the continuing war meant the UK, as runners-up, was invited to host on Ukraine’s behalf. As this year’s competitors prepare to compete in the city of Liverpool this week, Spotify podcast host Lea Palmieri caught up with several artists, including Ukrainian music duo Tvorchi, UK’s Mae Muller, Israel’s Noa Kirel, Italian artist Marco Mengoni and Swedish superstar Loreen, who could become only the second artist to win Eurovision twice. Lea also speaks to the Editor-at-Large of Esquire Magazine, Dave Holmes, who offers light-hearted insights on the competition's popularity and peculiarities. Passionate Eurovision fans share what they are looking for in a Eurovision winner while Spotify’s Music Team Lead for Eastern and Southern Europe, Mateusz Smolka, reveals unique Eurovision insights from Spotify streaming data. See below for interview highlights in the episode.

Dave Holmes on how Eurovision Started “Eurovision started in 1956 as Europe was recovering from World War Two…trying to find activities to do together to sort of reunify. And how better to do that through music. It was just, you know, artists singing songs. There was a voting body. That was it. And over time, it got bigger and flashier and campier and it started to produce some stars. ABBA came from it in the early years…Celine Dion..and it became more of a camp Super Bowl.” Dave Holmes on why America has not caught on to the phenomenon yet “It's really difficult to explain how massive the Eurovision Song Contest is everywhere in the world, really but America. The best way that I can put it for an American audience is that it's like the Miss America pageant and American Idol and the Super Bowl, but sort of gay and just all together with just an extra little bit of glitter on top. America does not know what to do with the tone that Eurovision creates. It's sincere, but it's also like 10% making fun of itself at any given moment. It's just it's. It's a tone that we as Americans do not know how to do. We're either fully ironic or we're fully sincere. And it's just we can't do it.” Tvorchi band member, Jeffrey Kenny on what fans can expect from Ukraine this and a special shout-out to the UK for hosting. “Ukraine has been represented in the past years with folk songs, and it was a great representation. But this year we will show the country from another side with progressive electronic music, and we will show everyone how different Ukraine can be…we would like to say a huge thank you to the United Kingdom for hosting and all the support they've offered. They have really created a lot of initiatives to really bring the culture and feel of Ukraine into Liverpool, and they have done an amazing job with that.” Loreen on what Eurovision Song Contest means to her. “Basically, that was the community that accepted me for who I am. I was a struggling artist before that, you know, trying to find my space. And then I knocked on the Eurovision door, and they're like, You know what? We like you. We like what you're doing. Come on in, we'll give you a shot. That was where it all started.” Loreen on what it would mean to her home country of Sweden if she won again. “My performance has to have certain values. I think that's one of the reasons why they want me to represent them. The message is pretty clear. It's about nature. It's about hope, It's about love. All those things that I guess the majority of the Swedish people believe in and want to send out there.” Mae Muller on what it would mean if her home country of the United Kingdom won this year. “I feel like, especially in the last few years, there's been a change in tides and how people are seeing Eurovision in the UK. And I feel like we're taking it more seriously now, and I feel like, you know, a victory like that would just really like help, just like catapulting it in a different way. And I feel like Sam (Ryder) doing so well last year, like completely kind of changed the game.” Mateusz on artists that are proving most popular on Spotify ahead of the final. “In terms of Spotify streams, it's Swedish superstar Loreen and her song Tattoo. Actually Loreen already won Eurovision many years ago with her amazing track Euphoria. And that actually started her amazing career. And now she's back with another stellar song and is already having amazing numbers - actually twice as many streams as the second song in this list, Marco Mengoni…Marco is like an Italian artist. And then these two tracks are followed by Norway's song Queen of Kings…”

#podcast #music

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marvelcriminalhoe · 3 years ago

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Stumbling West

Aaron Hotchner x Female Reader

Chapter 21

The Perfect One

i.e. Season 10 Episode 1

Chapter Summery: Your first day back, A new team member, and Aaron goes shopping with Rossi.

AN: I am so sorry for the long wait. I got stumped in my writing and then I got busy with the real world :/ BUT here I am again. This is a very fluffy chapter, leading us into some more exciting things for Aaron and Reader, hope you enjoy, and I should have some more chapters out this weekend :)

Word Count: 2,122

Series Masterlist

You're siting in Aaron’s office as he looks over some files, “What interview is this?”

“The 10th.” He looks up at you briefly, “The other ones just didn’t fit.”

You hum, “And this one does?”

“I think so.” He sighs, “She has the experience and all of her recommendations say she adapts well in new, fast environments.”

You nod your head, “Well then I’m sure she’ll be great.”

Aaron closes the file, leaning back in his chair, staring at you for a few minutes, “How are you feeling?”

Today was your first “official” day back. Really it just means you can travel with the team again and join in the field. You were out of it for 5 months recovering. With both your wounds taking their time to heal, and Aaron being overprotective when it came to you doing anything. Your stomach wound healed nicely, while your thigh took some time. You weren't able to walk on it for a whole month, part being the thigh, part being the abdomen. and when you did start walking on it again, you had to rebuild the muscle memory.

“I’m good. Ready.” You tell him.

He nods, studying you, “Are you sure?”

“Aaron,” You sigh, “I’m okay.”

He nods, standing up to walk over to you, “I know, I know. I just—“

“You just worry.” You cut him off, with a smile, “And I appreciate it, but you don’t need to worry.”

He nods his head, leaning down, hands on your arm rests, to give you a quick kiss. That’s another thing thats changed, Aaron is more open with your relationship in the office. He never goes, over board or anything, but he also doesn't stop himself from showing you affection. You don’t mind it if you’re being honest, it helps keep you grounded.

Theres a knock on his door, “Come in.” He pulls back from you, straightening up. You turn your head to see a small brunette woman standing there, “Hi, i’m Kate Callahan.”

You stand up, introducing yourself, before turning back to Aaron, “I’m going to go get some coffee down in the kitchen while we still have the time.”

You’re walking back up into the bullpen, coffee in hand, when Aaron and Kate walk out of his office, “Round table.” He tells you, seeing your confusion. You nod, following them both. “Everyone, this is Kate from Andy Sawn’s unit. She’ll be joining the team.” Aaron informs everyone, taking a seat, you sit beside him.

“Are you headed with us?” Rossi asks you.

You nod your head enthusiastically, “Finally.”

You see Aaron shake his head with a small smile at your enthusiasm, before becoming serious again, “Let’s get started.”

“Yes, uh, the mad butcher of Bakersfield has left another torso in the desert.” Garcia starts the case off. Going through all the details she has. The team shares some theorizes back and forth before heading to the jet.

You sit with Morgan, Kate, and Reid, at the table, JJ beside all of you on the couch. Everyone talks, getting to know your newest member.

Rossi and Aaron are at the other end of the plane, sitting across from one another.

“You thought more about what we talked about?” Rossi asks.

Aaron looks up from the report in his hands, looking over at you laughing at something Derek said, before looking at Dave, “It’s the only thing I seem to think about.”

Rossi hums, “You find a ring yet?”

“No.” Aaron sighs, “None were ‘the one’ when me and Jack went to look last weekend.”

“What does she think you two were doing?”

“Watching the newest Spider-Man.” Aaron says with a chuckle, “Which we did do, after we went ring shopping.”

Rossi smiles at him, “How does Jack feel about everything.”

Aaron leans back in his seat, “He’s excited. We had a long talk about everything, but he sees her as his second mom and understands she’s not taking up Haylee’s spot.”

“Good.” Rossi nods, “I’m happy for you Aaron, you deserve it.”

Aaron smiles at him, “Thank you.�� Their both silent for a moment, before Aaron sends him a friendly glare, “You want to help me look at rings don’t you.”

“Well I’ve only done it 3 times now, I know what I’m doing.”

Aaron shakes his head, going back to the report.

The case in California has reached a standstill and the team is now at the point everyone hates, having to wait for another body.

You are in the conference room with everyone else. You let out a yawn, rubbing your blurry eyes from starring at the case files for so long.

“I think that’s enough for tonight.” Aaron’s voice rings through the room. Reid wakes with a jump next to you, making Morgan and Kate laugh tiredly.

You all clean up around yourselves, grabbing your things and heading to the cars to drive to the hotel.

Aaron leads you to the room, his warm hand on the small of your back. You both go through your nightly routines before crawling in bed, snuggling into the covers.

Aaron gets in after you, arms immediately going to your waist to pull you to him. You both get comfortable, basking in the silence after a tough day. Aaron let’s out a large sigh, “I miss our kids.”

You giggle softly at the randomness of his words, but nod your head, “Me too. You know, I hated being out of the field these past few months, but getting to go home to our babies every night? That was the best.”

Aaron kisses your head that is laying on his chest, “I missed not holding you at night.” He whispers.

You pull your chin up to look him in the eye, “I missed that too.”

Aaron smiles at you, “I think this is the first alone time we’ve had for 3 months.”

You almost snort at that, shaking your head, “That hasn’t stopped you from anything.”

“Not entirely.” He moves, flipping you so you are below him, “But I can’t do everything I want.”

“And what do you want, Mr.Aaron Hotchner?” Eyes fluttering shut as he peppers soft kisses down your jaw and neck.

Aaron hums against your skin, “All of you, baby. All of you.”

There has never been someone so enthralled with knowing every part of your body as much as Aaron is. It’s like he almost prides himself on the moans he can draw from you.

And he drew many that night.

The next day, You and Kate go to all the homes on Garcia’s list, all the people that buy large quantities of preservatives.

You only have one more house left, knocking on the door a few times, both of you waiting patiently.

A man in his 40’s answers the door, “What can I do for you, officers?”

“Agents.” Kate states, introducing you both, “FBI.” Flashing your badges.

“Oh.” The man back tracks, “My apologies. You must have worked extra hard to get that badge.”

You frown, “We all did.” Kate says.

“You buy large quantities of preservatives.” You state.

The guy stutters, “Um.. Is- is that a question?”

“May we take a look at your supply?” You ask.

“Uh, uh, why? Is, uh… Is there something tainted?”

You get a bad feeling from the guy, “No sir.” Answering him.

“Is it a threat to me or my family?”

You share a side eye look with Kate, “No.”

“Well, then I’m sorry, but that is my private property, and for you to come into my home, you’re gonna need a search warrant.”

“Shoot.” Kate looks at you, “I knew we forgot something.”

The man backs into his house, “Well, I have to help my son with his homework.”

You and Kate start walking back to the car, “When we arrest that guy,” She starts, “Do you mind if I do the honors?”

I like her.

“We might have to flip for it.” You laugh.

You both get into the car, heading to the stakeout of the barn with the local PD and the rest of the team. You see the Mans car pull up about 3 hours later, both you and Kate making eye contact before proceeding.

Knew it.

You and Kate both pull your guns out, “You’re on private property.” Kate yells to him, “So we have probable cause to search your vehicle.” You finish her sentence.

“Get out of the car.” Aaron tells him, coming from the other side with Rossi.

Kate looks down through the passenger side window to the seat, “Oh, got one.”

“Let’s pop the trunk.” JJ says.

While you and Kate step back towards the trunk, Rossi and Aaron apprehend the man that is yelling at the two of you, “Hey, you can’t go back there! Get away from there!”

“Just keep quite.” Aaron tells him in a hard voice.

“Hotch.” Kate gets his attention, the both of you looking over at JJ and Rossi who were coming to see the disturbance of your findings.

The team finds the real unsub 2 nights later. Finishing up the case around 3:30 that morning. Aaron makes the executive decision to not leave until 10 the next morning, giving everyone a nights rest back at the hotel, and an easy morning. It’s not often you all get time to spend in the city you travels too.

Rossi and Aaron go somewhere together, Rossi saying about showing him some antique shops. You send your forlorn boyfriend a sympathetic look as you head with Kate and JJ to a breakfast cafè nearby, your morning will surly be better than his.

“So, how long have you two been together?” Kate asks you.

Taking a sip of your coffee, looking over the menu, “A little over two years.”

JJ hums, “It seems longer. You guys act like you’ve been married for 20 years.”

“It’s weird.” Kate hums, “I wouldn’t match you both up if I had met you separately. But seeing you both together, it just makes sense.”

JJ puts her menu down, “When are you getting married?”

You roll your eyes at her, “You want to talk about taking awhile to get married?”

“You’re right.” She nods, picking the menu back up. You and Kate laugh, shaking your heads. But her question has been something that has been on your mind lately. You never thought you would find someone like this again, someone to love. Someone to grow old and have children with.

I’d marry Aaron Hotchner tomorrow.

Aaron was being dragged around by Rossi, who despite claiming to ‘have done this 3 times’, is not helping him out.

“Don’t give me that look Aaron.” Rossi tells him, taking him to another jewelry store. “How am I supposed to know you were so picky.”

Aaron rolls his eyes, “I’m not picky.” He huffs, “She just deserves something special, not just a ring like every other.”

He goes around the glass casings, looking at everything the have on display, getting more downcast by the second, not finding the perfect ring for you.

Just as he’s about to tell Rossi he’s giving up, the older man gets his attention, “What’s Jacks birthstone?”

Aaron gives him a perplexing look, “Opal.”

“And Charlotte’s is diamond?”

He nods his head, giving his friend a questioning gaze, “What is this about?”

“Well you wanted a ring that speaks of her, what’s better than her children.” Rossi tells him, nodding his head towards he case he’s in front of.

Aaron wake to his friend, looking down at the rings below him. His eyes immediately land on the rind Dave was talking of, breath catching.

This is it.

This is the perfect one.

He kicks himself a bit, not having thought of something like this. The most important thing to you was Jack and Charlotte. You joke to Aaron all the time about getting there names tattooed, though you both know you won’t, your fear of needles coming into play yet again. But every time Aaron has asked you why you would do that, you tell him so you have a reminder to look at, a physical thing to see and have with you, when you are away from them. Something to remind you of what is waiting for you at home, of why you choose to do this job.

Aaron always falls a little bit more in love with you when he hears you answer that question, or talk about the kids, or really, do anything. And he knows without a question of a doubt, that this ring, decked with an Opal jewel in the middle surrounded by tiny diamonds, is the ring. And he can’t wait to give it to you, to ask you, and (hopefully, depending on your answer) to marry you.

“Excuse me?” He gets the workers attention, “I’d like this one.”

tag list: @bakugouswh0r3 @averyhotchner @rousethemouse @malindacath @buckyswintersoldiermask @floweringashore

#aaron hotchner #aaron hotchner x reader #bau reader #aaron hotchner fanfiction #aaron hotch x reader #criminal minds #criminal minds fanfiction #aaron hotchner fanfic

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qourmet · 2 years ago

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i have yet to recover from the newest tlou episode o)-<

#i have Long Long Time on loop #screaming into the void #tlou #the last of us #''what if we took the first 10 minutes of Up & stretched it out over 75 minutes & made it Gay'' shut uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuup #tlou spoilers #spoilers

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an-anticlimactic-bass-drop · 4 years ago

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Tall Part 2/?

Prompt: Tech is too tall for his own good. Constantly hitting his head on objects and desks as he works on projects. The other bad batchers make fun of him for this but you find it endearing.

Tech X Reader

Slow Burn/ Angst

Warnings: Mild 1.11 Spoilers, Deviates from canon

Word Count: 1.5K

Part 2/?

partly inspired by this gif

(it won’t let me put it in but its the one of tech catching omega)

Omega nudges you awake from where you are napping in the pilot’s seat. The small girl’s blonde head peeks over the arm of the chair as she looks out the window.

“Look!”

The sounds of explosions and blaster fire are erupting from the city center a few klicks away. You quickly lean forward and start firing up the takeoff controls for the Marauder. You are sure your boys are the ones behind the explosions and you smile gently as you imagine Wrecker’s gleeful expression as you see a cloud of smoke rise into the air in the distance. They can’t be too far off if the nearing sounds of blaster fire are any indicators. Omega rushes to the landing ramp as Hunter’s voice crackles in through the comms.

“Omega! Get ready to bring the senator aboard!” Hunter sounds a little winded and Wrecker cackles in the background as another explosion rocks the tunnel they were in. You remember the new security system Tech put in place and shake the last cobwebs of your nap out of your mind as you recall the specifications that he had told you about before leaving. Your hands fly across the panels as you disarm the system and lower the landing ramp. You head to the ramp as Omega jumps up and down waving at the men as they trek towards the ship.

“Ladies! Meet the newest passenger of the Havoc Marauder, Senator Avi Singh.” Hunter introduced you to the senator and you looked him up and down. The senator doesn’t look like he’s all that happy to be leaving his planet in the hands of the Imperials. Singh is wringing his hands and has a look of worry on his face.

“I should not leave my people. They need me here!” The senator says quietly. Echo leans in with a hand on the senator’s shoulder.

“If you stay here you will be hunted down and murdered. It is better to live to fight another day than to die unnecessarily.” The clone looks almost defeated as he tells the senator this. Singh’s shoulders slump forward as he takes one last look around his planet before boarding the ship, nodding in agreement at Echo’s words.

The trip back to Cid’s bar was uneventful to say the least. The senator and his droid are quietly sitting in the cargo hold. You offered him a cup of caf earlier but he graciously declined. The men are scattered around the ship as hyperspace speeds by. Echo and Hunter are attempting to sleep in the bunks while Wrecker and Omega are playing Saabac on the box that functions as a makeshift table. You just poured yourself a piping hot cup of the precious brown liquid that keeps you going through bouts of insomnia caused by the nightmares and the general lifestyle of the Bad Batch. Wandering up towards the cockpit, you aren’t expecting to trip over Tech’s long legs that are stretched out into the aisle.

“Kriff!” Tech curses as your cup spills slightly onto the top of his blacks. He slides out from the wall he was buried in and starts looking around for a towel to wipe the hot caf off of his shirt.

“Sorry! I didn’t see you there!” You frantically bend down to help him. You grab one of his grease rags from the toolbox you notice off to the side and dab at the stain on his shirt.

“No worries. I will be fine.” Tech strips off his shirt and you swear you can feel the temperature of the air heat up several degrees as you realize just how close you are to the taller clone. “There. No harm done. Would you mind putting this in the laundry for me? I need to finish this last bit of wiring before heading back to check on the flightpath.” You flush as you tear your eyes away from the bare chest of the man in front of you.

“Hm? Sorry! I’ll just get right on that.” You hurry away with the stained shirt and a blush on your face. You left your cup of caf on the floor near where Tech was working. He let out a small chuckle as he steals your drink. Not his fault if you left it in your hurry.

The ship lands back at Cid’s bar without incident. The senator thanks you all graciously and departs into Cid’s office to discuss payment. Wrecker and Omega not so sneakily sneak off to get Mantell mix and Echo follows them at a distance to make sure they stay out of trouble. Tech goes to the bar to get a drink and you sit beside him to discuss the mission. You flush as you think about the previous night on the ship and you clench your jaw to avoid licking your lips at the thought of the bare chest of the taller clone next to you. You aren’t ashamed to say you dreamed of the expanse of skin and what it might taste like while you were in your bunk after that episode last night.

“Am I boring you? I can stop if you would like.” Tech looks concerned as you zone back into reality and realize you have been watching him with a blank expression for a beat too long. You blink in surprise as you shake away the untamed thoughts that have been plaguing your mind. You really can’t be anymore obvious in your crush can you? At this point you might as well have a giant sign that follows you around that says “This person has a crush on the tall nerdy one!”

“No!” You exclaim a little too loudly and get some irritated looks from the other patrons of the bar. “Sorry I'm just distracted today. The mission has me a little rattled. I am not used to being that deep into enemy space.” You say in a quieter tone.

“We are also not used to it. I always knew we would make it to Raxus someday however I never thought about it being to save the seperatist leader. Echo was most displeased about the idea and protested greatly. I tried to convince him that it was just a job and we need to pay off our debt to Cid but he does not see it this way.” Tech seems saddened at his brother’s inability to see the mission without the politics. You can see Echo’s point of view and point out to Tech that Echo’s trauma probably makes it hard for him to trust the separatists seeing as they had kidnapped and tortured him for 2 years before he was rescued.

“The Techno Union treated him like a computer! An algorithm! Barely even human! I really don’t blame Echo for not trusting the separatists. He has barely recovered from the trauma of being in that machine for so long. He is still really pale and frail and you haven’t finished working on his new limbs yet so he still has the prosthetics they forced on him. Speaking of which, if you need help working on those I am always available. He has every reason to be upset about this mission.”

You are fully involved in the discussion and don’t hear Echo and the others enter the bar as they make their way over to you and Tech. Echo catches the tail end of the conversation and tries to announce their presence with a small cough that turned into a hacking one that left Omega looking concerned. Her big round eyes are full of unspoken worry as she gazes up at him. Echo glances down at the young girl and forces a smile, patting her head.

“I am fine little one. Don’t worry about me.” He says reassuringly.

Hunter leaves Cid’s office with her and the Senator. He comes over to where the group has gathered and steals Tech’s abandoned drink. He chugs the rest of it and gestures for the group to follow as he heads back to the ship. Tech stands up and offers his hand to you to help you off of the bar stool. He has a habit of making sure none of the Bad Batchers fall over, a habit he has picked up from their upbringing on Kamino where the other 3 clones were not the best balanced due to their enhanced abilities. Your face flushes again as you become uncomfortably aware of how close you two have gotten during the conversation. He leans away from your touch as if he also hadn’t realized how close you two had gotten. Tech turns to follow Hunter out the door and has to stoop a little to avoid hitting the door frame, Echo cracking a quiet joke about not having to worry about hitting the top of door frames since he lost a few inches. Only Omega and you caught the joke and you give a chuckle as Omega just looks confused.

“The legs you see? Lost a few inches? Oh well.” Echo gave up on explaining the joke to the kid and followed Wrecker out the door towards the ship.

Once back on the ship Hunter announces that they have been given a few days off courtesy of Cid since the mission went so smoothly. The other bad batchers glance at each other, not sure of what to do with their new time off. You were pretty sure they have never had free time in their entire life.

“We could visit Cut and Suu? See how they are settling in!” Suggests Omega.

“Too dangerous for them. We attract too much attention. The last thing they need is to be recognized as republic sympathizers.” reasons Tech.

“I think we deserve a few days of downtime! We can take a well deserved vacation and rest up before the next mission.” you say as you pour a cup of caf from the pot Tech started when you arrived back at the ship. “We can get some repairs done on the ship and maybe even explore the city! I know Omega has been dying to go to the museums in the city center since we got here and I'm sure you boys would enjoy it too.”

Hunter thinks for a moment and nods in agreement.

“Sounds like a plan to me.”

Taglist: @haloangel391 @m-o-o-n-s-g-o-o-n-s

#tech x reader #tech is too tall for his own good #part 2 #omega has a nanny #its you #the bad batch steals each others drinks all the time and you can't convince me otherwise #tech is a caf fiend #you can't leave your drink alone with him he will steal it #tech has the best balance out of the bad batch #he catchs everyone

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neuxue · 5 years ago

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I'm on episode 26( haven't finished yet) and I honestly can't figure out why the other clans are being so cowardly. Especially the Red Blade dude who led the Sunshot campaign. Like would it have been so hard to just stop the Jin dude from trying to give alchol to the Lan Clan? It's so obviously disrespectful but as Clan LEADERS they could've easily shut that down. I'm not talking about the WWX generation because they're tied down by respect but I'm super disappointed in MingJue right now.

Ah, the complicated dance of post-war politics when you’re trying to keep four main powers and the vacuum left by an ousted fifth from falling into disaster.

I think... it’s complicated. They’ve just fought a war that’s decimated at least two, arguably three of their sects, and they’re still trying to recover and rebuild, and to figure out what their post-war society and structure and political situation looks like. How do they handle the aftermath? The prisoners of war? The rebuilding? Who is in charge? In the absence of Qishan Wen, who steps in to fill that void? How do they prevent another disaster?

And now Jin Guangshan, who held back during Sunshot and who as a result has, with Lanling Jin as a whole, come through comparatively unscathed, is inviting them here, placing himself as their de facto leader and benefactor, flaunting his power and influence.

But even if the others want to challenge him (which... I think no few of them do; I don’t think they all disagree with some of Wei Wuxian’s accusations in episode 26, necessarily), how can they? None of them have the wealth or power at this point, I don’t think, to stand up to Lanling Jin without consequences, and none of them are in a position where they can afford consequences.

You have Lan Xichen (and Lan Wangji), who are working to rebuild their clan/sect in the wake of destruction at the hands of the Wen. Lan Xichen and Gusu Lan in general command a certain degree of respect and admiration, but while they’re strong in reputation they’re still weak in resources. Individually, either of the Twin Jades could wipe the floor with Jin Guangshan or Jin Zixun. But this is a dance of politics, and Lan Xichen wants to preserve some kind of peace and stability, and so they can’t afford a direct challenge. Instead, Lan Xichen picks his battles of words carefully, slipping in a placating comment here and a subtle redirection there, challenging only where it is most worthwhile and where he has a chance of swaying things in a better direction. He doesn’t stand up to Jin Zixun because this isn’t a hill worth dying on. Because he can try to sidestep gracefully instead.

You have Jiang Cheng, youngest and newest sect leader in the room, trying to establish himself with very little base to build from. Lotus Pier was burned and its people massacred and then there was a war and he’s been thrown into leadership young and in the midst of crisis, and in a world where everything hinges on reputation he’s still trying to forge his. Jin Guangshan still treats him almost as a child, barely masking it in the thinnest layer of courtesy, and Jiang Cheng’s doing what he can to rebuild and re-establish Yunmeng Jiang but there’s a ways to go, and he just doesn’t have the political capital to spare in challenging the most politically powerful (and power-hungry) man in the room. And he’s certainly not going to spend what little political capital he has on a fight that doesn’t involve him - he just can’t afford it (and it’s also... not really in his character). Is that cowardice, or is it just pragmatism and necessity?

Lastly, Nie Mingjue. I’m less certain of the current status of Qinghe Nie, but given that he co-led much of the Sunshot Campaign, I’m pretty sure they saw their share of casualties as well. So once again, directly challenging the wealthiest and resource-strongest sect is... probably not going to go well for him. Plus, this isn’t his fight. Unlike Jiang Cheng, he does seem like he might be willing to step in, if absolutely needed - he’s Lan Xichen’s sworn brother, after all, and he does exchange A Look with Lan Xichen that carries a degree of question and concern, as if asking whether they need his help.

But even if he’s willing to interfere in some way, there’s the other aspect of this political mess, which is that it would then potentially make Gusu Lan look too weak to fight their own battles. Same for if Jiang Cheng stepped in. In fact, pretty much the only person who can step in is Wei Wuxian, because he already has a reputation for just... walking straight through the usual boundaries and leaving them scattered behind him, and drawing attention and ire towards himself, and away from its previous target. Also, he’s not a sect leader. Nie Mingjue stepping in here would be a little more complicated, because this is set up as a fight (with words and courtesy rather than swords, but a fight nonetheless) between Lan and Jin, and if the Lan brothers can’t hold their own, it shows a crack in their armour.

And that’s true of some of the other situations in episodes 25 and 26 as well - none of the clan leaders are in a strong or secure enough position to speak or act out directly against Jin Guangshan alone, and to speak out on another’s behalf would risk painting that other as weak, and yes, there’s an element of hesitance to all of them when it comes to putting themselves on the line for anyone else.

None of them alone can afford to be seen as an enemy of Lanling Jin right now, because none of them would survive that challenge - at least, not without a high cost. And together... as a coalition of three, they might be able to oust Jin Guangshan. Maybe. But no one wants another Sunshot Campaign right now; even if they won, it would be at a hell of a cost. So they’re trying to keep the peace, and Jin Guangshan knows that, and so is playing the situation to his advantage. Pushing here and there, at weak points, because he knows they aren’t strong enough to push back. Taking just a little more power than they might otherwise let him get away with, because he can. Consolidating his base now, so that even when the others do regain strength, it’ll be too late.

Maybe in coalition they’d stand a chance, but at that point they risk upsetting this tenuous new balance of power in a different direction, and potentially igniting another Sunshot Campaign. Or else playing their hands too early, and being unable to back it up. Not to mention, they are all somewhat focused inwards, on themselves and on rebuilding, on looking to their immediate responsibilities first.

Cowardice? Maybe. But they also, I think, have to be cautious. It’s something this show does well, I think: creating these situations where there aren’t any easy or clearly right answers. Should these leaders risk themselves and their sects for the sake of another? Or should they take the cautious route, to protect those they are responsible for, even if it means letting corruption or atrocity go unpunished elsewhere?

#it's all just such a MESS #but most of them are /trying/#a delicate dance of power #and darker currents of corruption beneath #and to slip at all is to drown #so they have to play the game carefully #but the cost is complicity #or else you take wei wuxian's route #and reject it entirely #but that comes with its own costs #so what is the answer?#(who is wrong and who is right?)#asks #anon #the untamed

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rms-moonchild · 4 years ago

Text

Chapter two

WORD COUNT: 1k+ words

GENRE: Fluffy, romance, angst, smut at a later date

PAIRING: Namjoon x original character

DESCRIPTION: It was supposed to be just a normal day of filming RUN BTS. Namjoon didn’t know he was about to discover something he certainly was not ready for. That something being finding a girl in the middle of the forest.

THEMES: Namjoon x Fem!character, mentions of abuse/rape, Smut, some Violence, some strong language

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The ride to the hospital was a rather eventful one. Namjoon's heart sank more than a few times. It appears they had gotten to her just in time because she crashed once leading them to need to administer CPR and at one point, she started to have a seizure. Why was Namjoon there may you ask? Well after some rather intense debate he managed to convince them to let him join in the off chance that she woke up and didn't understand Korean. He didn't think she would and neither did the medics, but Namjoon looked about ready to strap himself to the ambulance in order to be able to go with them. Truth be told be just felt like it was his responsibility to make sure she was going to be okay. He was the one that found her. Shouldn't he be able to know if she was alright? She was his responsibility from here on out.

"We're here. I'm sorry to say but this is as far as you are allowed to go. A nurse will escort you to a waiting area and we'll update you as soon as we can." The head medic told Namjoon as he wheeled the girl into the emergency area. As soon as she was out of sight a nurse ushered him into a small waiting room. I was empty of people which he was happy for. Sitting down he pulled his phone and dialed the first name in his recent call log. He fidgeted anxiously waiting for the person to answer.

"It's about time you called! I was about ready to start calling all the hospitals to check if you were in any of them!" Namjoon grimaced and held the phone away from his ear as the other person yelled on the other end.

"I'm sorry Seokjin-Hyung. We just got here. They have me in some waiting room."

"So, I'm guessing you don't know anything yet?"

"No, not yet. Though I probably won't for a while either. She wasn't doing very well while on the way. They had to restart her heart and she started having seizures. I'll let you know as soon as I know something."

"You really expect us to just go back to the hotel and wait for you there. No, we are coming to the hospital to wait with you." That was Jungkook. They must have him on speaker as he heard a round of murmured agreements.

"You don't have to. We don't all need to be here. You should go rest while you can." He sighed smiling slightly when his comment was met with cries of outrage.

"We are coming whether you want us to or not Joon. So just tell us which hospital you went to so we can come, and all be anxious together." Yoongi said after he managed to get everyone to calm down. After he told them where he was, he hung up and sighed. Leaning back, he tried not to think too negatively about whether the girl was going to make it or not. After about 20 minutes, he wasn't sure, the other member rushed into the waiting room looking at Namjoon hoping that he had some answers. When he shook his head they visibly deflated and sat down in various spots determined to get comfortable for who knows how long they would be here for.

Several hours and a bunch of coffee later a doctor finally came in looking exhausted but relieved, "Are you all here for the young woman" The doctor asked looking around the room. As soon as they heard him start speaking, the members were scrambling to get up and start asking questions.

"Whoa whoa whoa, slow down, please. I can't answer all of your questions at once. One at a time please." The doctor pleaded backing away slightly.

"Sorry," Namjoon apologized for the group after managing to calm everyone down, "How is she doing? Is she going to be alright?"

"The young miss is going to be fine. We managed to locate and repair where she was bleeding internally. Surprisingly enough she didn't have any broken bones. However, that's not to say that she's not in bad shape. Most of her ribs were heavily bruised and she'll need to be careful of the stitches on her stomach from where we had to do surgery. She was also severely dehydrated as well as malnourished. Once she is released, she'll need to take it easy on the food. Too much and it'll make her sick." He explained making sure they all understood, "We are not sure whether she will have any neurological damage until she wakes up. Until then it will be helpful to talk to her. She may be able to hear you even if it seems as though it seems as if she is asleep."

"Can we see her now then?" Namjoon asked smiling slightly. Even if they managed to get her in stable condition didn't mean they were out of the woods yet. The worst case is that she never woke up.

"Yes, however, the authorities would like to speak with whoever found her first."

"That would be me." The doctor nodded a waved for Namjoon to follow him out the door.

"A nurse will be in to show the rest of you to the recovery room." And with that, he left the room with Namjoon following close behind. They walked to the end of the hall and to the right then through a door where two police officers were waiting. They turned to when the two entered the room. The doctor bowed before leaving the room.

"So, you're the one that found her?" Officer one asked.

"Yes sir"

"Can you tell exactly what happened? We already talked to you director and managed, but we would like to hear what you recall of the incident." Officer two said pulling out a notepad.

"Well, we were in the middle of filming our newest RUN BTS episode. It was going to us playing paintball. I had decided that I didn't want to be in the main crossfire, so I was going further out to wait for a good opportunity. I heard my name being called because I was going too far out, but when I turned, I saw something lying there so I went to go look what it was. That's when I noticed that it was a girl. I immediately check to see if she was alive and called for help. That's when my Hoseok showed up and he ran to get help. She must have been out there a while because she was very cold. I placed my overshirt on her to try and help. I'm not sure if it did, but I'd like to think that it did." Namjoon explained. Sure, he left out a small detail here and there, but he got the main point across, "I was wearing a head camera if you would like to look at it. I'm sure Bighit will be more than happy to hand over the footage."

"Thank you, Mr. Kim. If we need it we will contact them. Thank you for your time." Officer one said getting ready to leave.

"What's going to happen to her?" Namjoon asked before they could leave.

"As of right now she is under the care of the hospital so she will remain here still stated otherwise by the hospital. Once she wakes up, we will be able to better determine what is best for her. For now, let's just hope she gets better and recovers." And with that, they left after bowing.

#bts #namjoon #namjoon smut #bts jhope #bts jin #bts taehyung #bts jimin #bts jungkook #bts yoongi #bts ff

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diyunho · 5 years ago

Text

The Joker x Reader - “Trapped” Part 5

Almost one year ago, someone tried to kill The Joker in a speeding car and Y/N pushed him out of the way, getting hit instead. With a fractured skull and broken bones, she was out of business for 6 months; when she finally recovered, The Queen of Gotham wasn’t the same anymore. Trapped inside her own mind and exhibiting severe cognitive impairment, Y/N’s life switched upside down without any hope of ever returning to normal.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4

4 Months Pregnant

“I need customized stickers that say Baby On Board for my purple Lamborghini and the other cars I drive,” The Joker growls at his own idea whilst sharing it with the person fulfilling his wacko trades: Franco Rossi, the leader of best underground supply chain in Gotham.

“When would you like them ready Mister J? After Y/N gives birth?”

“Nope! Tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?...” Franco hesitantly inquiries about the sudden emergency since he can’t understand why The King of Gotham demands them so fast.

The Joker hates explaining yet certain people are obtuse thus they necessitate enlightenment.

“Y/N’s pregnant: when she gets in a car, the baby is also. Baby on board! Hello??” the father-to-be loses his temper.

Who can argue with The Joker’s logic? Nobody. It sort of makes sense anyway.

“Of course, Mister J. I’ll have them ready. If you drop by after 6pm, I’ll have your guns ready too.”

“Perfect!” the Joker hangs up among the ruckus coming from the office near the kitchen: sounds of shattered objects and yelling alert Richard aka Panda you’re at it again. He nonchalantly passes by in order to deliver the items to The Clown.

“Your drinks Mister J,” he gives one cup with Starbucks caramel latte to his boss and the other is placed on the table. Why does your boyfriend require 2 identical containers? It won’t take long to solve the mystery.

“Are the lids glued?”

Strange question but there’s a purpose in it.

“Yes sir. How is she doing?”

“She’s hormonal: breaking things makes her feel better which reminds me we have to hoard porcelain objects for her to wreck. NO glass!”

“Sure, I’ll tell the crew,” Richard leaves the kitchen while texting Frost. “Hulk needs more to smash,” he types the code name they gave you in the last weeks although The King knows about it: J’s the one that came up with it.

“Hey Pumpkin,” you are greeted as soon as you pop up from the office. “How’d it go?” he scrolls down on his phone and takes a sip of hot liquid.

“Ugghh!” a frustrated Y/N swings the yellow teddy bear The Joker stole for her on their first date, hitting his hand in the process. The drink flies near the fridge and splatters on the floor with minimal damage: only a tiny puddle instead of a disaster, that’s why the lids are glued.

Safety measure for The Queen’s unpredictability.

J grabs his reserve cup of coffee, paying attention now hence he dodges your renewed attack and keeps his coffee intact.

That’s why his drinks have the lids glued, in case you catch him off guard the second time it will result in negligible destruction.

It happened before.

“I don’t think so Princess,” The Joker strong grip on the container calms you a bit because you won’t be able to win this round. “Are you hungry?”

“No,” you pout and sit in his lap.

“I bet the baby is,” the secret weapon is unleashed: J discovered such a gem by accident and it works like a charm. How can Y/N say “no” if the baby is involved? She can’t.

A plate filled with a bunch of your favorite breakfast food is placed in front of you and strangely enough you’re instantly hungry.

“Extra bacon,” he purrs. “Plus chocolate dip and honey mustard for your pickled cherries. I added peanut butter olives as a bonus.”

In your defense, you’ve been having weird cravings lately.

You place the toy on the chair nearby and start eating, ogling a Joker texting back and forth with his business partners. He chews the morsel you just offered and shivers: waffle dipped in clam juice is disgusting. Maybe he should look at the food you shove in his mouth.

“Gross,” J washes the terrible taste with coffee and gets a kiss for encouragement, yet he’s aware of the connotations. Another kiss confirms it.

Let’s put it this way: besides the hormonal episodes and food demands, The Queen has had a fresh type of craving recently - The Joker kind.

More than usually.

That’s why he has to clear it up.

“I’m flattered for being the center of attention; we gotta keep in mind that contrary to the popular belief, I don’t have unlimited stamina, Pumpkin.”

You nod in agreement and unbutton his pants, then unzip them also.

“Y/N, pay attention!” J insists since you don’t give a damn about his woes. “Think about it as a two way street: The Joker Street and I Want To Break Things Street. Are you with me so far?” he double checks.

Why is he yapping so much??! I guess you should make an effort to comprehend: he’s even doodling patterns on his phone to emphasize the speech.

“When you get hormonal, Princess, let’s try and walk on the I Want To Break Things Street instead of The Joker Street, hm? The Joker Street is sometimes closed for repairs until further announcement.”

OK, OK, this is a lecture. Something about a Joker Street, he seems upset he doesn’t have one…?... Right?...

If you were him, you would be pissed Gotham didn’t name a street in your honor when you’re so important for the town.

Another peck on his neck, then your lips go down his collar bone.

“You’re not paying attention, are you?” J mutters when it’s clear his shirt won’t remain on his body for too long.

“I am,” you defend yourself.

“Oh yeah? What did I say then?”

“Ummm…” you try to piece together words among estrogen taking over. “No Joker Street?...”

“Bingo, that’s it Princess! No Joker Street, correct! Choose the other street, yes?”

This time he kisses you, excited his idea was well received when in fact, both parties are referring to unrelated concepts.

“Wait,” J dodges your touch, “Richard is calling.”

Because he’s on the phone ignoring Y/N, she is ensuring a nice surprise for later; concentrating to the maximum to avoid misspelling, the following message is sent to Franco Rossi from her cell:

“Make a landmark sign that says Joker Street.”

The King’s conversation is prolonged more than anticipated until he discerns you’re not wiggling: you feel asleep, softly snoring on his shoulder and he definitely can’t afford to wake you up.

The doctors said your body is trying to cope with the pregnancy the best way it can: if you doze off at random hours it means you ran out of fuel and you should rest. After cheating death and surviving the accident, the future mother is at high risk of serious complications which is why each day could lead to unforeseen problems.

The Joker rises from the chair holding you in his arms and after a few steps he realizes it’s difficult to walk: thanks to his unbuttoned and unzipped pants, they keep sliding lower and lower. There’s no way he will make it upstairs so maybe the sofa in the living room is the best option. He almost trips thus he begins to drag his feet on the carpet, the pants at knee level now.

“I’m reduced to a piece of meat,” J grumbles, finally making it to the couch and placing Y/N on it so she can have her power nap.

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

6:02pm

You accompanied The King to a meeting with Seraphim, the best hacker/strategist J uses: they’ve been plotting for a while concerning D.A. Kevin Winchester. The politician is becoming a huge pain in the butt for Gotham’s underworld and something must be done; either annihilation or blackmail, it truly doesn’t matter since he’s bad for business. Due to a total lack of interest in the subject, you are exploring the surroundings quite angry The Joker dragged you here.

Luckily there’s stuff to do.

Bam! you punch the fragile glass sculpture and it splinters into a million pieces on the lavish marble floor.

Seraphim jumps at the noise, immediately recognizing his beloved possession:

“That’s…,” he gulps, appalled. “That’s a Vitriol!”

Yup, the one and only Degas Vitriol, the latest sensation taking the art universe by storm.

“She’s hormonal,” J sneers. “She breaks shit!”

“That’s valued at 150,000 dollars!” the hacker breaths in much needed oxygen regarding the atrocity unfolding at his hideout.

“So??!!” your boyfriend sucks on his teeth, irritated. “Serves you right for buying that asshole’s artsy fartsy crap!”

The Joker actually has 4 Vitriol masterpieces at the mansion yet you were strictly forbidden to destroy them, alas he gave you the office for your rampages.

You continue your exploration as they talk about God knows what until you perceive an alarming detail: Seraphim is literally screaming having a gun pointed at J.

You sneak behind him then in a split second you strike the pistol out of his hand and your fist lands on his temple with such brutality it knocks him out unconscious.

“What the hell are you doing, Y/N???” The Clown hisses at your erratic behavior.

“Hm?”

“What are you doing??!!!” he repeats, annoyed.

“S-saving you…,” you stutter, confused on why J is mad. “He was yelling and…mmm, had a gun,” you wince in pain because your knuckles hurt from the impact.

“The guy’s half deaf and sometimes he raises his voice without noticing, or did you forget??!! Now I have to wait until he comes to his senses and that’s a waste of my time, Y/N!!! Seraphim wasn’t threatening me, he was showing me his newest collectible!!! I suppose someone with half a brain can’t acknowledge the mess they’ve created!!!”

A lot of accusations thrown your way still… the last sentence brings tears in your eyes.

“I…” you bite your lower lip. “…I don’t have half of brain…”

“Wanna bet??” The Joker bites more instead of leveling with your logic: you though he was in danger and took action. If it was a real emergency, yes, you would have been the hero; it’s not and apparently he can’t appreciate your fast intervention in these circumstances.

“Y-you’re stupid…” you whisper, frustrated. “You don’t understand anything…”

Here it is -- the cataclysmic event of the century: someone called The Joker stupid. He’s beyond outraged with nothing better to utter besides a very childish:

“You’re stupid!”

Y/N turns around and stomps out of the house leaving a trail of destruction outside: she slaps the bottled water out of The Shark’s hand, kicks Panda’s shin and snatches Frost’s donut basically inhaling the sweet treat.

“I want to go h-home!!” you shout and enter the first vehicle you see, slamming the door so hard the window on the passenger side cracks.

“Jesus…” Jonny mumbles and being the sensible man that he is you are offered the whole box of pastries he purchased for his family. He can acquire more, but there’s no way in hell he wants to endure Y/N in the state she’s in.

Gotta keep Hulk calm somehow…

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

3 Hours Afterwards

You sulk when The Joker strolls in the master bathroom frantically searching the cabinets.

“Did you see my shaver?” he asks.

“Hm?”

“Did you see my shaver?”

“I…I wouldn’t know. I only have half a brain,” the surprisingly eloquent phrase queues J his woman is holding a grudge for his earlier statement. Why wouldn’t she? He was a complete jerk.

At least you didn’t catch on to the obvious: The King of Gotham doesn’t own a shaver; hair just grows on his head.

He glimpses at Y/N soaking in the bathtub with a kid’s book in her left hand and the right hand fingers sunk into a bowl filled with ice placed at the edge of the Jacuzzi. The Joker leans over and switches your book since it’s upside down.

You huff at the unwanted help and stare at the pictures expecting he’ll look for his shaver and disappear.

You’re not that fortunate today.

“Imagine my surprise when I drove the main alley and detected a sign that says The Joker Street,” he brings up the topic.

Franco Rossi was super-efficient …sadly you ordered the item before J ran his mouth at the hacker’s place, otherwise you wouldn’t care he wants a street with his name.

“You said no… no Joker Street,” you stammer. “Now you have one,” the bitter tone makes him roll his eyes: Y/N’s brain got what it could from his monologue, he should have known better than to make it complicated.

“Excellent…” The King starts rubbing your tummy, “… precisely what I was aiming for. I’m washing the baby, not you!” he underlines when you move farther from him.

You scrunch your face displeased but let him do it because it’s for the baby.

“I know what you’re doing,” Y/N gives him a cold gaze. “U-using the baby… I’m not stupid!”

Busted, The Joker thinks. The schemer in him won’t accept defeat though.

“I didn’t say you were.”

“Yes you did!”

“You said it first!!!” he reckons, antagonized. “Therefore two stupid people put together gotta make up for a smart one!!’

“I… I don’t wanna make out…” you frown at his suggestion.

The Joker sighs, deciding not to correct the trajectory of your judgement; it sure sounds like an opportunity.

“Why not?”

“I’m tired and…and I h-hate you,” your heavy eyelids close.

“Both viable reasons, even if I have to admit you striking Seraphim like that got me quite worked up. He’s no small fry! I had to wait for one hour for him to recover; you got a mean punch, woman! The more I reflect on it, the hornier I get. Which reminds me, Pumpkin: guess what?... … … I’m hormonal too.”

No answer, Pumpkin’s out.

“Of course nobody gives a damn if I’m hormonal!” he complaints while grabbing you from the bathtub. You cling to him for a few moments prior to drifting back into your dreams.

“Thanks for getting me all wet,” J snarls at the cruel reality of having his favorite Prada suit ruined.

“You…you’re welcome…” his Queen replies in her sleep, somehow her mind clutching to reality amidst pure relaxation.

This is what two hormonal individuals are reduced to: one’s dozing off, the other is suffering in silence, although being the proud owner of the tiniest road in Gotham compensates for the mishap.

It’s a two way street.