#I love when the kids draw themselves…. i wanted to capture that energy

[potatoes-tomatoes]

🎶How's about a piece of pie? Ding, dong! Ding, dong!

Fancy locks and cocks and rocks, stay inside, stay inside🎶

[honest-moth-of-silver-grove]

Hello! I am here from your post of the BG3 matchups / hcs!

I was reading fanfics when I should be sleeping for college and I came across this and figured this might quell my indecisiveness.

So I guess a bit about my Tav / Me:

My Tav/OC is named Maelyra, and her traits are that she is really outgoing, adventurous, kind, you know, the usual (Given that she is a Bard and a Half-Elf). She's very optimistic and friendly and welcoming to new people (a bit ADHD). She is also smol, not dwarf small, but she is 5'1. She also tends to give one too many second chances to people regardless of how much they hurt her. The only time she does not give second chances is if they hurt anyone she cares about because she is insanely loyal and would lay her life on the line for an in an instant for her friends.

She also tends to be a little bit of a hypocrite in some regards, as she spends a lot of time taking care of people and telling them that they are always worth it, no matter what and they should never feel ashamed of anything or that they have to hide parts of themselves. Yet she does not like to tell people about her past and usually masks her pain with happiness (not to say she isn't ever geuninley happy b/c 99% of the time she is actually happy), because she's afraid it would make them look at her differently (she is usually the sunshine of the group).

Her hobbies and skills are mainly on the artistic side. Dancing, singing, drawing, painting, playing music. Anything that is in that regard. Hence, the Bard stuff. She loves, loves, LOVES kids - thinks they are the most cute things to ever exist. And she also tends to daydream a lot. She tends to have a strong dislike for insanely physical activities if it isn't for fun and gets bored easily if the activity isn't something she is interested in.

(Sorry if that's long, I get carried away a lot)

Anyway!

I am fine with boys and girls (coming in a bi-queen!), but I would like them separate if that's alright :)

Thank you so much, and sorry if this is so long!

A/N: Reading fanfics when I should be sleeping is practically my life story lol. Because you (as a fellow bisexual queen!) specified you wanted separate male and female answers, I’ve got two companions for you down below.

For you @seanymphcalypso , I think your best matches in companions would be Astarion (Male) and Karlach (Female)!

⭒ Astarion is a great match for Maelyra, even if it may not look so on paper. At first glance, the two have more differences than similarities, however, if you look closer, their differences are perfect counterbalances for one another.

Astarion may put on the charm, but a good amount of that is a facade- one he was forced to wear to lure victims to Cazador. He’s more introverted than he lets on. Although I do believe deep down, he truly is an extrovert, he’s less of a conspicuous one. He would do well with someone friendly and outgoing enough to initiate, within a relationship- and that’s where Maelyra comes in. She’s friendly, kind and very sociable. There’s no doubt in my mind her extroversion would enable her to slowly unpeel the many walls and guarded layers of Astarion’s heart. He is rather disarmed by someone who is genuinely cordial all the time- it’s sort of refreshing to think there are people out there who are sincerely kind and not just feigning kindness or interest to get something later on.

Astarion himself isn’t a big guy. He’s slender, and not incredibly tall so Maelyra’s shorter stature wouldn’t bother him in the slightest. He finds it rather adorable- that so much energy and personality could be stored in such a small person.

If anyone could use a boatload of second chances, it’s Astarion. He wasn't exactly the kindest person before his capture, and he still isn’t exactly the kindest person now. He’s endured 200 years of nonstop trauma and torture. So much of how he thinks, how he acts, and how he reacts is based on survival, not on personality. He lashes out, and he’s probably going to lash out often, even when he knows better. It’s not that he wants to hurt his new companions, and he especially doesn’t want to upset Maelyra, it’s just that he’s not used to having permission to experience all the newfound emotions. He’s inexperienced when it comes to processing them, compartmentalizing, and responding to them appropriately. He’s so grateful that she understands how hard he’s tried, how hard he’s trying to be better. He thinks she must be part celestial or aasimar to have the level of patience and forgiveness she does.

It’s also so meaningful to Asatrion that she refuses to let people cross the line with him and with her friends. No one has stuck their neck out for him like that before. (Huh, get it? Neck??) He used to believe he wasn’t worthy of such defenses. But thanks to Maelyra’s affection, he’s starting to think differently.

Astarion understands Maelyra’s hesitance to share who she truly is, so he won't push her to open up until she’s ready. He may bug her with some teasing questions here and there, but as long as she takes what he says to her on faith, he figures it’s the least he could do to return the favor. But whenever she is ready to share, he’s ready to listen. And he promises to do his best not to judge.

He loves that she’s interested in art. Back as a magistrate, Astarion found he quite enjoyed the fine arts- the theater, art shows, higher fashion- all that sorts. Especially the way Maelyra manages to capture his appearance on paper or canvas. After he was turned, he never thought he’d see his appearance ever again. But thanks to her talent, he can see himself through her eyes: with such precise brush strokes, and detail, he can tell he’s loved just by looking at her depictions of him.

Astarion may not be the fondest of children at the moment, mainly because they bring back horrible memories of what Cazador forced him to do. But he does like how happy Maelyra is when she’s around them. It fills his undead heart with glee every time he sees how her face lights up around a baby. Honestly, the idea of having or raising children never used to cross his mind. But now that he’s free, and now that he’s with her, the idea doesn’t seem so impossible. He doesn’t feel ready yet- and he probably won't be for quite some time. So in the meantime, he just grins and bears it as Maelyra makes him sit amongst the children for song/story time. And he tries his hardest to maintain a stoic, indifferent disposition, even as some of the little ones weave flowers into his hair.

Astarion doesn’t mind taking it easy, as a matter of fact, he prefers it. A lazy day spent lounging in each other’s company sounds much better than hiking through humid weather or getting trapped amongst an unruly village crowd. He’s very similar in that if he doesn’t want to do something, he’ll make sure to let everyone around him know. The two of them can be quite stubborn that way, much to some of the other companions’ chagrin.

At the end of the day, Astarion feels great love for Maelyra. And he knows she loves him in return. And thanks in part to her love, he’s beginning to think he might one day love himself.

♨ Karlach is such a great match for Maelyra because they’re like two peas in a pod! Karlach is loud, outgoing, and extroverted as well, making her able to match Maelyra’s more sociable energy. They’re both optimists and choose to look on the bright side, despite the darkness in their past. That’s not to say being hopeful comes easy to either one of them, but with Maelyra and her infectious eagerness by her side, Karlach feels empowered to choose happiness all the more.

Karlach is big and tall. She’s a tall glass of water for sure. And she thinks it’s adorable that Maelyra’s shorter than her. She loves their height difference and how it makes Maelyra the perfect height for forehead kisses. Plus, it boosts Karlach’s ego when she can lift Maelyra and carry her around on her shoulders as if she weighs nothing. It’s also Karlach’s way of letting Maelyra know she can defend and protect her from harm. If any evil thing comes Maelyra’s way, she can just step behind her giant barbarian girlfriend.

Karlach is also fairly forgiving when it comes to second chances. Despite being a barbarian, she’s empathetic and thoughtful before going in for the attack. She chose to reason with Wyll rather than engage him in battle when he first hunted her down. She isn’t the bloodthirsty devil people think she is, and she wants people to know that. So she forgives. That being said, Karlach certainly doesn’t forget. If someone dares try to take or hurt her friends, she will go into a rage. God help anyone who dares try to hurt Maelyra.

Karlach is truly impressive in that while she does often take on the burden of her friends, she also manages to put her needs first. It’s great for Maelyra to be with someone who knows how to balance goodwill and self-care as it sets an example for her to follow. With Karlach reminding Maelyra to take time for herself, Maelyra is even more effective at caring for her friends. Sleep and proper care for yourself does wonders, and it makes you all the more ready to tackle the day. And Karlach loves that Maelyra knows how to have fun. Fun is super important, especially when you’re tasked with saving the world. It’s the only thing that keeps you from going completely crazy. So KArlach and Maelyra are often the ones to initiate game nights or visits to a local tavern. (They may also be the only two left standing after a couple rounds of shots lol.) However, just because Karlach is extroverted and happy-go-lucky more often than not, doesn’t mean she isn’t serious. She knows when to be positive, and she also knows when people just need to vent. She’s willing to listen if Maelyra is ever willing to talk. She wants Maelyra to feel safe with her- in both happy moments and in bad ones.

And ooh boy, kids! Karlach lights up around kids! Did you see how wistful she got when meeting Jaheria’s family? She’d love nothing more for her life to be about protecting and nurturing as opposed to destroying and claiming. She and Maelyrn would have hour-long conversations, dreaming about what their family might look like in the future. Sure, there’d be a ton of logistics to work out, but in the meantime, that doesn't mean they can’t dream.

Karlach needs physical activity. She needs tons of movement or else she’s gonna go crazy. So to work Maelyra into her workouts, Karlach will either use her as excess weight or as someone to count her reps. Maelyra could get comfortable on Karlach’s back, reading or writing, or even drawing as Karlach continues to do push ups. Sometimes Karlach will alter the count, just to see if Maelyra’s listening. “24… 200… 201” “Don’t you mean 26?” “Of course love, what did you think I said?”

They’re basically couple goals. Everyone else in camp is lowkey jealous af.

...

Please Like & Reblog!

[mefiman]

Hamato Family’s First Visit to the Hidden City

Story request by @rottmntrulesall. Hope you enjoy the story, bud! ^^

"C'mon, everyone! Hurry up!" Michelangelo's impatience was obvious in his excitement. He and his siblings were finally going to show their dad's relatives for the first time to the Hidden City for two reasons; one: to view the many wonders of the other world and two: to have a formal, proper meeting with Draxum's parents. The latter part had instilled some unease into the Hamato siblings, especially Saki who was wary about stepping foot into a mysterious world and was about to see for himself the father and mother of the "monster" who altered his younger brother many years ago.

"Are you sure this place is safe?" Hamato Kenji asked. Raphael glanced at his uncle, understanding his uncle's concerns. "We've been there a lot, Uncle Kenji! We did encounter a few dangers there before but other than that, the people there don't usually attack humans unless provoked." Raph assured his uncle.

"There are a lot of places to visit like the many resorts and spas if you want to have a massage and ooh, Señor Hueso's Run of the Mill Pizza where they make one of the best pizzas! I know the manager of that place, we're amigos~" Leonardo took the chance to quip in.

"I can't wait to see Grandpa Mons again! Wait till you guys meet him yourselves, he's the nicest, sweetest grandpa you'll ever meet! He's still as strong as he's gentle!" Mikey said happily.

"I wonder if Grandma Chemia has some wicked new inventions to show me!" Donatello exclaimed.

"This would be my first time seeing my grandparents, Arachne..." Ariadne whispered to her best friend, Arachne.

"You've never seen them before?" Her friend asked.

"Once when I was a baby... I haven't seen them for years." The yokai femme told Arachne.

"Alright, kids, you've shown us all that you're excited to bring us to visit the Hidden City, Mikey, can you open the portal now?" Splinter asked.

"Sure, Dad!" Mikey got to work quickly.

Draxum felt a tinge of anxiety inside himself. He could not recall the last time he visited his creators ever since he moved out of home to pursue his alchemy researching, away from his parents' constant arguments, half of which is about their preferred methods of raising him. It was a surprise how those two still manage to live under the same roof despite their obvious clashing personalities. He guessed that they tolerated each other just for his sake. His parents had never produced any more offspring after him and one of Arachne’s parents...

"Hey, are you okay, Dad?" A female voice asked him. Draxum jolted from his pondering to find that his daughter, Poison Ivy asking him out of concern. He just gave a small smile as he ran his clawed hands over her helmet. "Am fine, just thinking about your grandparents." He assured her. He marveled how Ivy much had grown from the last time he scientifically created her with his and Lou Jitsu's DNAs; she being so tiny as a developed newborn infant growing in a liquid chamber to a young lady around the boys' ages. From what he knew later on, Splinter raised her along with the Turtles. Ivy had lived her life at first as a normal human teenager until her yokai genes started appearing. The initial discovery of her origins did shake her world but over time, she had learnt to accept and use them to assist her brothers in their adventures. She was intelligent like Draxum and his mother with his father's gentle, mature nature as well as Splinter/Lou's sassiness. She loved to study on botany and coincidently, her powers involved using vines and summoning plant like monsters at will. She recently revealed her sexuality preference as a lesbian and had a girlfriend who is a fellow classmate and witch trainee/apprentice in disguise. Both her creators and siblings were happy for her. As of now, she was cradling her younger sister, Venus de Milo was giggling and squealing as April, Ariadne and Arachne cooed and tickled her belly.

The group watched Mikey draw a symbol on the wall at an alley. Once the symbol was drawn, an open portal revealed. The Hamato siblings' mouths went ajar, not believing what they just saw. "if you think that's mind blowing, you haven't seen nothing yet!" Mikey grinned. His three other brothers and the three girls each took hold of one of their Hamato uncles and aunts's hands. The moment they all jumped into that portal, they found themselves staring at a massive part of a what seemed to be a huge city. The sky above was unlike Earth's skies; instead it was orange with some brown. The architecture of the buildings there were monster shaped with some tall, castle like structures far away from the city. There were a lot of people of all shapes, sizes, colors and appearances walking, running, passing by each other, buying their needs or doing their usual business trades. The Turtle family allowed their Hamato relatives to take in their first view around them. Saki's eyes were bulging out of his sockets, he could not believe for his life what he was seeing. Anthropomorphic, mostly consisting of animal, everyday objects, monstrous and supernatural like individuals roamed every part of the streets around him, he felt as if he was having a strange dream that defied logic! Nori on the other hand, looked right and left, taking in interesting sights that captured her attention. Underneath a calm façade, Kenji was freaking out internally at the new, foreign view. Hiroki was squealing in delight similar to a child had just discovered a world made of toys and sweets. Her twin, Hikari was a bit calmer than his sister, feeling a thrill of danger running through his veins. Last but not least, the youngest Hamato sibling, Mei's stance looked poker face yet she looked around to see if there were any Gothic like people that she can interact with. The Turtles and the girls grinned, seeing the reactions of the others.

"What do you think? Surreal, huh?" They ask.

"Amazing.."

"Fascinating..."

"I can't believe what I'm seeing..."

"Someone please tell me that I'm dreaming..." Saki mumbled, still not believing.

"No, you're not," Draxum replied, going straight to the point with an indifferent expression. "May we please hurry to my parents' house, I bet they're waiting for our arrival..."

"Oh yeah!" Mikey clapped both his hands once. "Lead the way, Draxy!"

Draxum sighed as he took the lead of the group. Along the way, there were a few whispers around and behind Draxum coming from the city people but Splinter and Ivy took hold of both his hands and gave a comforting, assuring squeeze, making him feel better. Ariadne gave her uncle a comforting hand on to his shoulder. They were soon out of the main city square to a further distance into the woods. They had to climb up a hill for a while until they reached a big mansion residing there.

"We are here at last. My childhood home..." Draxum said, looking at the grassy, serene valley below, reminiscing the times where he as a little one ran galloping around the field, cartwheeling with glee among the flowers and his sire teaching him the basics on how to defend himself the predator way. Both father and son spend their days in the early years, sparring with each other...

"Draxum, my son!" The former alchemist warrior villain snapped out of his memories to find himself being engulfed into the arms of none other than his dear, loving old father, Monsrage who brought his only son into a crushing bear hug which knocked the wind out of his lungs. "How have you been, my little baby boy? It's rare that you visit us but it's so wonderful to see you bring your family along! How delightful!" the older yokai gushed, his bushy tail wagging with unlimited enthusiasm like an excited puppy. Monsrage was rather huge and muscular with perked up, pointy ears, silky straight black hair unchanged through time and a fairly long beard to match. Like Draxum before, he wore a battle mask. He had a significant dark upperlip. His body had different shades of blue just like his son, Draxum when he was armored. Monsrage's eyes were the same like Draxum's. His feet in particular, was a noticeable difference. Unlike his wife and son, his feet were shaped like a lion's paws, fitting for him coming from a predator species.

"Father, it's great to see you... but can you please let go now? I can't breathe..." Draxum choked out, being smothered by his sire's busty chest. Monsrage immediately loosened his grip, apologizing profusely while checking to see if he had accidently broken any of his son's bones. Draxum shook his head, smiling a little. His sire had never changed all these years, still a concerned worrywart. And he bet his mother had not either...

Chemia on the other hand, was greeting the rest of the visitors with feverish energy. She was a redhead with shades of pink for her skin colour and her ears, long and drooped. Her eyes had a little twinkle in them, a part of her eccentric personality and plump, red lips. Like her husband, she wore a mask. Donnie, April, Arachne and Ivy were given a whirlwind hug the moment they came in front of her. Monsrage went back to the mansion with his son to give the new visitors, the Hamatos, April, and Arachne a warm greeting as well as welcome his beloved grandchildren with his signature bear hug and proceed to pepper their faces with smooches which they were delighted to have especially Mikey, Ariadne, Ivy and Venus. Monsrage and Chemia ushered them all into their humble abode. The Hamatos were initially skeptical about meeting Draxum's family but they were soon warmed up to them. Later on, the mansion was filled with guffaws of laughter as Monsrage showed them all baby pictures of his son which embarrased the poor warrior scientist. Donnie, April and Ivy were treated to Grandma Chemia's latest creations. Monsrage himself had a blast, playing with Venus and sparring with the Turtles and the girls. Arachne was delighted to meet her grandparents as a young adolescent, telling them about her achievements, adventures and that her own parents are doing well. The Hamatos became comfortable talking with Draxum's parents over some snack delicacies. Overall, everyone had a wonderful time at the Hidden City.

I had fun writing this! Was tiring but oh so worth it.

The Hamato siblings (minus Lou/Splinter) and Venus de Milo belong to @rottmntrulesall while Ariadne and Arachne are the OCs of @mikeykawaii/@mikey-ho. Monsrage, Chemia and Poison Ivy along with the mention of the witch girlfriend belong to me, @mefiman. I hope you don’t mind me incorporating your girls into this story, @mikeykawaii but I’ve been dying to add them in, especially Ari meeting her grandparents! ^^ 

[snuggetfish]

Majidad and spouse headcanons?? 🥺🥺 (nsfw too if youd like e h e)

Hell yeah 👀 I tried to keep them mostly gender-neutral, but some headcanons will fit more to a female partner. Everything under the smiling Maji cut!

Let’s start with the cozy, wholesome ones! 😊

You know how cute Majima’s genuine smile is? The one he doesn’t show quite as often once the Mad Dog takes hold?

Well, I think a sure-fire way to bring it out would be watching his partner and child doing just about anything together: 

...Cuddling on the couch when it’s well past the little one’s bedtime and they’re already sound asleep, but neither he nor his spouse have the heart to move them to bed. 

...Baking a cake, with the kid just barely tall enough to peek over the counter and stick a tiny finger into the chocolate ganache.

...Getting ready for school, tying shoelaces and buttoning up their coat so the cold doesn’t creep in. 

Honestly Majima can’t believe how lucky he is to have been blessed with such a family. He could stare at them for ages and never get tired... which is exactly what a picture is for. One he could keep in his wallet, in his desk drawer at the office and on his phone. Cliche for a parent? Yeah, but who’s gonna stop him? He anyway doesn’t talk about his family while at work. Who knows what ears might be listening...

He wouldn’t stop at one picture though. Since the games have thoroughly established how sentimental he is, I think he’d take lots, to capture everything from important occasions such as birthdays to more casual moments like going to the park or the zoo. And, as much as he’d like to be there all the time to experience each milestone, he knows that’s not gonna be the case... so instead his partner would promise to photograph and record everything he might miss: first words, first steps, first drawing, first day of school... 

Ohhh about those first words, I think Majima might get a bit competitive. Is it gonna be “mama” or “papa”? He loves his spouse of course and he’d be happy either way, but... in his heart of hearts, he kinda wants it to be papa. Maybe he’ll cheat a little and try to double his odds: how about Goro? Well it would sound more like Gowo for sure, but he’ll take it!

When it was still just the two of them as a couple, I think Majima was very much the little spoon in bed. It made him feel warm and loved, all while the Hannya kept watch over his partner. But if we’re talking pregnancy, then he’s switching to the big spoon, for comfort reasons, but also because there’s really nothing better than holding both your beloved and the tiny life inside them all at once. Only once the kid grows a bit older does he revert to his usual position, though it turns out he’s most often the middle spoon now: partner on his back and little munchkin nestled in his arms. Truly the coziest spot in the world, sandwiched between his two favourite people.

As we’re on the topic of bedtime, I think both he and his partner would complement each other well as storytellers. They do the narration and Majima does the voices and sound effects. With his sing-song tone and his silly faces, he’s got the kid completely fascinated, even if it’s largely all improv. After all, he doesn’t need to look at the book, he can make up a better plot on the spot. And when he can’t... well there’s always the narrator to set things straight again. The only problem is, he’s so good that the kid refuses to go to sleep before hearing the end of the story!

Now what if Majima’s child inherited his uncontrollable energy? Well I think the two of them combined would be quite the handful for his partner. They’d zoom around the house doing pretend chases, incorporating all the costumes Majima can dig out of his closet (bonus points if he gets matching ones done for his toddler - imagine the disco outfit!) and eventually they’d have to be shooed out to expend all that energy on a more outdoorsy adventure. When Nishida delivers them home later in the evening, Maijma’s carrying one very tired kid and an equally exhausted look in his eye... but it’s made instantly better with a kiss and a soothing bath.

I’ve touched on the topic of bath time briefly before, but I really think it would be a valuable bonding moment for Majima’s family. It’s not unusual for parents and children to bathe together in Japan and this would give Majima an opportunity to flaunt another hidden talent: haircare. Imagine if his daughter was keen on growing out her hair and her go-to person for that was always daddy. He somehow knows all the tricks that make her hair looks shiny and gorgeous: combing through slowly, detangling from the bottom upwards, using only the gentlest shampoos and conditioners... His partner is of course familiar with his past and knows he’s far better at handling long hair than one might infer just by looking at him... though maybe they can’t help but feel a tiny little bit jealous of how much of a daddy’s girl their daughter’s shaping up to be.

All right I’ve gone through the SFW ones, but a couple does need their intimacy, even with a kid around, so... 👀

Given how hectic and overwhelming first few months of parenthood are, nobody’s surprised that here’s not much time for sex. Nights are sleepless... but so is Majima. He’s not going to grumble if his partner isn’t in the mood after spending half an hour trying to put the baby to bed, though if they’re willing and just a bit too tired, he’ll focus solely on their pleasure. Slow movements accompanied by kisses everywhere. They deserve to lie back and be spoiled and feel his full appreciation for all the joy they’ve brought to his life.

Once the child gets older, the energy and libido return, but now they’re also more at risk of being caught. Majima may be a clingy dad by nature, but eventually even he realizes some time away from his little one would do them good. Kiryu and Saejima can help there. On that first quiet morning with the kid staying at their uncle’s place... the Majimas aren’t leaving the bedroom until well into the afternoon. He’s really, really missed making love his spouse and that’s gonna show in his long and deep strokes, how he keeps his body pressed close to theirs until they’re both lying in the dewy sheets, spent and sated.

Speaking of sated... Imagine that one day the kid blurts seemingly out of nowhere: “I want a baby brother/sister.” Majima would glance over at his partner, curious for their reaction... maybe with a hint of the same pleading look. He knows it’s their body, their call... but if they agree, he’s overjoyed. A sibling means the child would have another outlet for their energy and someone they can hopefully lean on later in life... although, that’s long-term. Short-term, it means that whenever Majima and his partner find a moment to themselves, there’s no more holding back. He fucks like a man on a mission and fills them up over and over...

Think I’ll stop here for now! Thank you so much for the ask! 💙💙💙

[earth-ambassador-jim]

Lost Souls: Story 11

Something New

Lost Souls Summary: Merlin awakens early from his sleep. He decides  that he doesn’t want to leaving anything to chance and kidnaps the young  James Lake Jr. to began training his Trollhunter as early as possible.

Barbara  is determined to hunt down the man who kidnapped her son. In her  efforts to get her son back she finds a strange old radio that speaks to  her in a woman’s voice. The radio leads her to an underground society  of shapeshifters.

Mother and son meet again years later as strangers on opposing sides.

AO3 - Fanfiction

~~~~

~~~~

“Head up! Don’t block the blow: redirect it.”

Eli tries to comply but it’s hard when his arms feel like they’re made out of jelly. Instead of being redirected Jim’s staff pushes Eli’s down causing him to bop himself in the forehead with his own weapon.

Eli topples over like a load of bricks and lays there. A low whine seeps through his lips as his tailbone pulses with pain from hitting the ground too hard. That will be another bruise for his collection.

He’s actually managed to get more bruises training with Jim than he has from Steve. Which is really saying something.

“Are you okay?”

He opens his eyes to see Jim hovering awkwardly over him, staff still in hand. He’s shifting back and forth on his feet in a way that tells Eli he’s debating whether to keep pushing him or end the session here.

Eli doesn’t really want to disappoint him, so he tries to sit up. All his muscles protest. He lays back down. Yeah, he isn’t going anywhere. The training montages in movies really fail to capture just how much pushing oneself to the limits hurts.

“We’ll stop for the day,” Jim decides.

He sets his staff against the house before retrieving Eli’s and setting it there too.

“Can you get up?” Jim asks.

Now that he’s not in training mode he stands a little less straight and his expression softens from his previously sharp focused gaze.

“Yeah… maybe,” Eli says, his voice squeaking a little. “Just a second.”

Eli lays on the ground just breathing and trying to summon the energy to make another attempt at standing up. He knows he’s going to be sore in the morning again.

He honestly wants to give up. Clearly he isn’t cut out for this.

There’s movement to his right and Eli looks over to see Jim laying down beside him. The blue skinned troll blends in almost perfectly with the night; except for his eyes which glow a faint, ethereal blue. He settles on his back, head propped just slightly up by his horns.

“So…” The troll says slowly. “You were telling me that human constellations are different than troll ones?”

Eli nods slightly, unable to look away. His glasses slide down his nose. He quickly pushes them back up.

“Do you want to compare?”

“Really?!” Eli squeaks, surprised.

Next to exploring the strange and unusual, stars and space has always been one of his greatest interests. Something about the vastness and boundlessness draws him. He studies every book he can get his hands on.

This is a chance to learn what a being that isn’t human sees. That’s… that’s something beyond his wildest dreams.

But more importantly, it’s a chance to talk about something that he loves with a friend.

“Eli?”

Jim is looking at him rather nervously. Eli realizes that he’s teared up.

“I’d like that,” He says. He pushes his glasses up to swipe at his eyes before giving Jim a smile.

~~~~

As predicted, Eli is very very sore.

He spends the day limping through his classes. He wonders if this is what old people feels like. He’s so glad when it’s time to go home.

His arm positively aches as he transfers the textbooks he doesn’t need to his locker. As much as he enjoys spending time with Jim he’s glad that the Trollhunter won’t be over tonight. He doesn’t think he can take another round of training.

He plans to take it easy when he gets home. He can get his homework done and then he’ll see if he can snag enough of his friends from the forums to play a round of Among Us.

Eli flinches as a hand lands on his shoulder. Without turning around he already knows who it is. Automatically his shoulders draw up toward his ears as he pulls his arms in close to his chest.

“What do you want Steve?”

“Why, I was just worried about my favorite nerd,” The blond bully says with mock sincerity. “I haven’t heard any of your wild conspiracies and was starting to be concerned about your health.”

Eli hasn’t been sharing his theories and discoveries since meeting Jim because he promised Jim to keep trolls and the other creepers… creatures running around Arcadia secret. He still discusses aliens but he’s been sticking with his friends online and Jim now, since they don’t laugh at him.

He figured since he had been keeping to himself Steve would ignore him, but now he’s seeking him out because of that.

There really is no winning, he realizes.

“Can’t you just leave me alone?” Eli asks quietly.

Steve doesn’t appreciate that.

The blond bully shoves him and he hits the locker hard sending a violent jolt of pain through his back. His books fall out of his arms and scatter on the ground.

“Don’t talk back to me butsnack.”

Eli glances around but there’s nowhere to escape in the crowded hallway and, as usual, no one seems inclined to help.

“I think you need to spend some time in your locker until you remember your manners,” Steve continues with a glint in his eyes.

A whimper escapes Eli at that. He doesn’t want to spend another hour stuck in the locker again. His eyes dart around frantically.

Steve reaches for him and takes a step forward, his foot landing just in front of Eli’s spilled textbooks.

“Use your surroundings as a weapon.” Jim’s voice whispers in the back of his mind.

With no other options presenting themselves, Eli kicks Steve in the shin as hard as he can. The bully lets out a yelp and grabs at his injured leg. Eli doesn’t wait for him to recover. Ignoring the protests of his aching muscles he shoves him hard in the chest. Normally it would have done nothing but Steve, already off balance, stumbles and his foot lands on Lord of the Flies. He topples over backward and slams hard into the ground.

The hallway goes completely silent.

Eli stares, his heart still racing. He can’t believe it. He actually managed to take down Steve.

Steve Palchuck! The boy who’s been tormenting him since kindergarten.

Around him all the other kids start murmuring.

Then someone cheers and then the whole crowd is whooping and hollering.

Steve seems to have recovered from his shock and is getting up. He’s turning a violent red and it’s pretty clear that he’s going to get revenge. Eli has the feeling he won’t get lucky a second time.

“Hey! What’s going on here?”

Eli is about ready to collapse from relief when Coach Lawrance’s voice breaks through the noise. The crowd of students disperses like cockroaches. Steve backs off, shooting him glares.

Eli gathers his books and slinks off to get his bike with the distinct feeling that this incident will come back to haunt him.

~~~~

“Can you believe it?” Mary squeals.

Her fingers are darting rapidly over her phone. No doubt she’s already uploading a video to one of her many social media accounts. Steve is going to be livid.

“Girl, I saw it but I still don’t believe it,” Darci says.

Eli Pepperjack getting one up on Steve was the last thing she had been expecting out of school today.

“What do you think Toby?” She says nudging him in the ribs.

Since they’ve made it to high school and have Claire and Mary to hang out with, she’s determined to get him to come out of his shell.

Toby blinks and looks up from his phone.

“Yeah it was pretty cool,” He says, eying the other two girls hesitantly.

Claire give him a friendly smile and he awkwardly smiles back before quickly returning his attention to his phone.

Darci sighs and shoots Claire an apologetic look. Claire shrugs in response and then she, Mary and Darci continue to discuss the strange happenings of the day sans Toby’s input.

~~~~

“Would it hurt you to try to be a little friendlier?”

Toby winces. Yeah he deserved that one.

“Sorry,” He says, a slight flush crawling up the back of his neck.

Darci lets out a little huff.

“You should be, Mary and Claire are the best. Come on TP you’ve got to give them a chance.”

Toby doesn’t reply. Instead opting to instead focus all his attention on the game. His fingers fly over the controls. He understands what she’s getting at. He really does but well…

“I guess I’m just not ready for new people.”

There’s a ping as they reach the end of the round. Toby hazards a brief glance up and sees Darci looking at him with a puzzled frown.

“But you know Mary and Claire,” She says. “I’ve been friends with them for as long as I’ve known you. You’ve hung out before and never had a problem with them.”

“I know,” He mutters. “It’s just…”

He doesn’t want to admit it. It’s pathetic.

“It’s Jim, isn’t it?”

Toby gives her a weak grin.

“Have you been taking lessons from your Dad? Cause that was some real detective work there.”

Darci snorts.

“It doesn’t take a detective to figure that one out.” She gives him a little poke on the shoulder to emphasize her point.

Toby sighs and drops his controller.

“It’s not just Jim,” He admits in a subdued tone. This is something he’s thought about a lot. “It’s Mom and Dad, too… Heck even Dr. L just up and left. It was fine hanging out with them once in a while as your friends but what’s the point in me becoming friends with them? Once we get done with high school everyone is just going to move on. I just don’t want to deal with that.”

It would be bad enough when Darci moved on.

He can feel her staring at him.

“You know I’m not going to abandon you, right?” She asks.

Toby winces. It sounds bad out loud. She puts her hand on his shoulder and he glances up hesitantly. She’s smiling at him in a very gentle and sad way that makes his chest ache.

“Even if we end up on opposite sides of the world I’ll keep in touch. You won’t lose me okay?”

“You don’t know that.” It slips out before he can stop it.

Darci sighs.

“Look I… I guess there really is no way to know for sure but do you really just want to give up? Just like that? To spend your whole life alone?”

“Not really…” Toby says slowly.

“Then can you give them a try? For me?”

He can’t resist those big brown eyes.

“Okay,” Toby says. “I’ll give them a chance, but no promises on results.”

Darci’s smile and quick hug makes it worth it. Toby just hopes he won’t regret this. He clears his throat roughly and focuses his attention back on the screen. He starts another round hoping he can drown out the uneasy feeling in his gut.

“You know I really could use a larger audience to practice my magic for. You know all of my tricks anyway.”

Darci claps her hands together

“Oh! That reminds me. Mare told me there’s a new bookstore in town. She was going on and on about how cute the guy who was working the counter was, but, more importantly, she mentioned there’s a huge selection of magic type books. Want to go check it out?”

“Sure,” Toby says. “That sounds like fun.”

He doubts there will be anything real there but maybe he can find some cool props to use for the next talent show.

~~~~

~~~~

Author Notes:

Steve has really come a long way. He was a major bully back in the beginning of the series. Hopefully we'll get to see more character development for him in Rise of the Titans. (Also more CreepslayerZ! I miss the CreepslayerZ.)

Jim grew up with Kanjigar and Merlin's training so his version of "going easy" is still really pushing it for an inexperienced human. It's going to be a while yet before Eli is not sore again.

Jim learned the Trollish constellations from Kanjigar. While he never took him to Trollmarket, Kanjigar did start taking him outside within Merlin's barrier. Stargazing was Jim's absolute favorite thing to do with him.

Next chapter we get to see Jim's visit to his old home before he became a troll!

If you like this be sure to tell me what you think :)

[vhsrights]

hi im here with an ask! kind of...so i forget what youve done but maybe like michael and henry playing with emily?

i love this prompt! here :)

The Tyrannical Ruler

WC: 1616

“Okay Mikey, what’s the plan? Do you have a visual on the target?” Emily leaned against the wall, looking to her partner for answers.

“Um, hold on. Gimme a sec.” Micheal ran his fingers through his hair, smoothing the floppy, blonde locks back.

--------

“Okay Mikey, what’s the plan? Do you have a visual on the target?” Emily leaned against the wall, looking to her partner for answers.

“Um, hold on. Gimme a sec.” Micheal ran his fingers through his hair, smoothing the floppy, blonde locks back.

“Got it! Agent Emmy, I think I have a plan. Henry The Ruler should have his fort in the room. We use our weapons to fight down the enemies in the beginning. Then, we crawl through the pillow tunnel. I found a weakness in his kingdom when I was looking earlier. The bunny guards leave the door open once every 5 minutes. I think we can break in through there.”

The boy spoke with enthusiasm, the wildness of his imagination twinkling in his eyes. His hands were clasped together, imitating the fake gun that his persona always carried. Today, Micheal was Agent Mikey J who fought crime endlessly alongside his badass partner, known for his quick draw and spot-on aim. He obviously took after his mother. She was Agent Emmy P, known for how she could take down the biggest of guys without the slightest of scratches. They made an unruly pair, getting themselves into quite the pickle sometimes, but always found a way out.

Today they were going after the tyrannical Henry The Ruler. The sovereign had made his way to power through dirty, back alley deals, endless hands of bribed cash, and sweet words to lull the public. He had been sitting on the throne for roughly a year and had already tossed the state into chaos. Who was better to stop him, than the two best agents in the force?

Emily nodded to the young boy in front of her, dropping to her knees. They needed stealth mode for the operation at hand. Micheal bent his knees and took meticulous steps until he reached the corner, peering his head around to take in a glance. The immediate clearing in front of them was empty, too empty. Observing further, his notice turned to the blankets that adorned their couches, sealing off the edge of what was likely Henry’s fort. A few strategically placed stuffed bunnies caught his eye on the outskirts of the pillow tunnel. Avoiding their gaze, he quickly turned back to give his report.

“I couldn’t see past the blankets but everything is how I thought it would be. There are some extra guards outside the pillow tunnel, but I think that we can take ‘em.” Micheal talked in a tone that he’d heard the BAU speak in when they did “work talk”.

Fully stepping into character, Emily pulled her sunglasses over her face and gave the final non-verbal commands. She motioned to him that they keep their eyes forward, move as quietly as possible, and split in the middle of the clearing to meet up outside the pillow tunnel. Micheal threw a thumbs up at her before taking his first steps into the living room.

They moved efficiently, easily knocking down the first line of enemies. Emily glanced over periodically, making sure Micheal was doing okay. She was so focused on him, that she missed the thin piece of string that was tucked in the couch arm and layed out, reaching mantle. She took a marginal step forward and the string tripped her balance. Before she could realize it, she’d hit the ground. Calling out to Micheal, Emily tried to figure out what had happened. She quickly uncovered the string but was then faced with a bigger problem. The thud of footsteps grew louder behind her and ‘Agent Mikey J’ was nowhere to be found.

“Freeze!” The shrill voice rang out from her peripheral vision, cracking at the end of the word.

Henry The Ruler. Agent Emmy P had been caught.

“Mikey J!” Emily tried calling out one more time, hoping that her partner heard her.

No later than two seconds later, the agile boy crawled out from behind the couch. He came face to face with the last thing he wanted to see. Emily was splayed on the ground, Henry standing above her. His smirk was devious and his eyes followed Micheal’s every movement. The Nerf gun in his hand was pointed directly at the brunette’s head.

“One more step, or one more word, and she gets it.” The boy tried to make his menacing words fill the room.

“Emmy P!” Micheal fell to his knees, his finger gun falling apart.

“I said, one more word, and SHE gets it!” Henry locked eyes with the younger boy, widening his stance to show his power.

Micheal shot a worried look at Emily, not knowing what to do. His thoughts were interrupted when Henry cocked the Nerf gun.

“You know, I’ve waited a long time for this. I knew that the agency would send people after me eventually. I just thought they’d be better. “ Henry began the supervillain monologue that he had planned in his head. “I honestly didn’t believe that the hotshot, Agent Emmy P, was so easy to capture. I guess I just overestimated you guys. Or was it you underestimating me? Either way, there’s no way out for you two now. Her life is almost up as it is, and you’re next.”

The end of Henry’s speech reminded Micheal of one important move that Emily had recently taught him when they were planning this mission. Operation Warehouse. He noticed that Emily had managed to turn her body, having full sight of what Micheal was going to do. As nonchalantly as he could, the 5-year-old raised his pointer and index fingers up to his face, tracing a line from his forehead to his eyebrows. Then, he looked straight into Emily’s eyes and winked. Henry missed the subtle signals, too wrapped up in his seemingly victorious state.

Emily saw the boy’s signals and was impressed. So he’s going that route, okay. I better try to free my hands. She shifted ever so slightly, pulling her hands out beside her body. She was still between the couch and the mantle area, but it was manageable. Henry looked over to Micheal and noticed something off. The boy’s demeanor had changed. The hope had left his eyes and his hand went up to his stomach. Micheal grunted in pain, squinting his eyes to make it as believable as possible.

“I think one of the bunnies got me.” Micheal delivered the line before slowly falling to the ground. Not willing to give up the charade, he continued. “Tell my wife and kids that I love them. I never thought that I would die on the battlefield like this. Emmy, I don’t feel so good.”

Henry grew concerned for the boy. The way that he had doubled over was scary. What if something had happened to his brother? Dropping his Nerf gun away from Emily, Henry tensely made his way over. He tried to get a better look at the boy, but he didn’t see anything. Henry crouched down, examining his brother.

“Mikey?” Henry’s words dripped with concern.

At that moment, Micheal’s eyes shot open and he threw his arms up, surrounding Henry.

“Get him, Emmy!” The boy held his brother tight, not letting Henry out of his vice grip.

“Let me go!” Henry yelped, understanding now that he had been trapped.

Emily quickly made her way over to the two boys, clasping her fingers into a finger gun. She winked at Micheal and then made the shot sound effect, letting Henry know that it was over. The boy fell dramatically out of Micheal’s grip to the side. Micheal and Emily leaned over him, his brother smiling at their successful plan.

“We got you, Henry! I did Operation Warehouse! Didn’t I do good, Emmy?” The 5-year-old looked over to his Mama for approval.

“Of course buddy, you did everything perfectly. So, Mr. Henry The Ruler, how does it feel to be defeated in your kingdom?” Emily smiled over to her other son, noting the playful disappointment on his face.

“It sucks.” Henry folded his arms, his face struggling to hold back laughter.

Just then, the front door unlocked and JJ walked in with the groceries. Two big bags were in each hand, but that didn’t stop Micheal from bolting over to her. His energy was boundless and he was practically bouncing off the ground, excited to tell his mom about their victory.

“Mommy! Mommy! Emmy and I beat Henry! I was Mikey J and she was Emmy P! We were killing the enemies, but then Emmy tripped! Henry almost got her, but I didn’t let her! I did ‘Operation Warehouse’ and saved her! I saved Emmy and got Henry, Mommy!

JJ set the bags down and turned back to her ecstatic son.

“Oh really? Wow, I’m so proud of you! What’s Operation Warehouse?” The woman’s eyebrow’s furrowed, not recognizing the term.

“I pretended that one of the bunnies got me and played dead! Henry came over to me and Emmy got him!” JJ’s eyes widened at the ‘playing dead’ part. That was probably Emily’s plan.

“Well, that’s an interesting plan. Emily, why don’t you help me unload the groceries while the boys clean up?” JJ turned her gaze over to her wife, smirking.

“Okay, sure. Boys, come on.” Emily got up and let her sons scurry past her as they went to tidy the room.

When JJ and Emily reached the kitchen, JJ spoke.

“Operation Warehouse, really Emily? Like Mother, like son I guess.” Emily chuckled.

“Hey, Micheal wanted to have a contingency plan, so I told him what worked!” She made her way to the bags, beginning to pull out the ingredients for their dinner.

“You’re crazy.”

“You love me for it.”

[honeyedblossom]

super cool headcanon meme.

asked by @lcvelymxnifest​

2-4 songs that are probably on their iPod

friday i’m in love - janet devlin, make me feel - janelle monae, honey - kehlani, FOOL - alyson stoner 

the one place they sometimes end up falling asleep – where they’re not supposed to

oh i have a feeling charlie can sleep just about anywhere, but more often than not, she’ll fall asleep on the sofa with a half finished ramen on the table and some true crime show on in the background....likely after finishing a blunt. 

the game they’d destroy everyone else at

i think charlie would definitely be good at games like capture the flag, ghost in the graveyard, kick the can and games like that ! 

the emoticon they’d use most often

👉😎👉

what they act like when they haven’t had enough sleep

a kid on a sugar rush, honestly, they come off as having so much energy and likely annoy the shit out of anyone that has to put up with them, but eventually, they’ll crash in the worst of places like the freezer at work 

their preferred hot beverage on really cold nights. or mornings. or whenever.

they don’t really like hot beverages, but sometimes a hot tea with just a dash of honey it does hit the spot or an irish coffee 

how they like to comfort/care for themselves when they’re in a slump

i imagine a lot of pigging out, smoking and avoiding what’s bothering them, though this doesn’t happen as 9/10 times, they’ll talk to their brother 

what they wanted to be when they grew up

oh definitely a vet or something to do with animals, but they definitely always loved coming up with funky ice cream flavors, both good and bad. 

their favorite kind of weather

just the right amount of hot, where there’s still a breeze, but keeps the customers rolling in! 

thoughts on their singing voice (decent? terrible? soprano? alto?)

oh i feel like they have a unique, but nice voice? something raspy like janis joplin, stevie nicks, p!nk, etc!

how/what they like to draw or doodle

I think they definitely love making designs for the shop, though i reckon they’re not always the best and they have a go to graphic designer to help the brand grow ! 

[fizzingwizard]

Ep 38 is another good one! We are on a roll. I have some thoughts on why and whether I could still end up whining in future episodes again... but for now let’s just enjoy the moment.

We are finally catching up with Yamato (and Jou) who has the sort of episode you’d expect from the brooding lone wolf of the group. I wish they’d pushed it just a liiiittle further than they did and I’ll tell you why below. Still, the point is we learned some things we needed to about Yamato, and with some higher than usual stakes (for a side plot) than usual.

Pic of the day, though, is all about his highness, our lord and savior, JOOOOOOOOO.

You will bow before him, peasant!

More below.

Like I said, the stakes are a bit high this week:

Right off the bat, Gabumon’s been beaten, captured, and tied to a cross...

... where Mephismon (this guy) is apparently planning to kill him in ritual sacrifice.

In other words, this episode is: Yamato and Gabumon Go To Digimon Hell

:P

I mean... Mephismon even looks scary. Very Satanic. Gives me chill, lol. Probably not as scary for kids who didn’t grow up being hit over the head with a Bible every day by evangelicals, though. Sometimes I look back on my childhood and just think “wtf?”

That being said, Mephismon is the sort of lackey you’d expect Millenniumon to have, much more in the vein of Devimon or DarkKnightmon. Aka, pretty darn scary. I was so frustrated for so long by all the small fry Digimon Taichi “struggled” with by himself for no apparent reason - they felt like filler episodes, tbh - filler for a show that has no reason to have filler!

And I STILL do NOT understand why we got WarGreymon’s evolution over a totally forgettable nobody Digimon, but these recent episodes with Koushirou, Mimi, and Yamato have all been serious crises where the characters put everything on the line, and yet nobody evolves. It’s not that I think they HAD to evolve here - I can see they’re leading up to it and since that guarantees more focus on them in the future, I’m totally down for that. What I don’t understand is why Taichi DIDN’T get that. Why play WarGreymon so early? The episode itself did involve Taichi challenging himself, but it all felt so setup. And so unmemorable that it’s just hard to care.

Anyway... I’m ranting about things that didn’t happen in this episode. Rant over xD Back to Yamato.

His desperate play to rescue Gabumon by himself goes as well as you’d expect.

Yamato: I’m too cool for this shit

He is chased by those gas mask-wearing Digimon whose name I forget. But they are conveniently blown back by the gush of a timely geyser. Geyser, you say? That means hot springs must be nearby. If hot springs are nearby...

Jou: Now I know what it feels like to be Team Rocket!

Jou falls out of the sky and right into Yamato’s path. Dressed in nothig but a towel, he looks to Yamato like a scrawny, nerdy, guardian angel.

Yamato: You’ve gotta help me, Clarence. Fly me to the top of the mountain.

Jou: I can’t, I haven’t got my wings.

Yamato: Yeah, you’re about what I’d expect my guardian angel to be like...

So, Jou immediately starts to chatter at Yamato, and it looked to me like Yamato might be getting annoyed. If this were 99 Adventure, he’d had snapped and said something like, “Can’t you see Gabumon’s gone? Aren’t you even going to ask about that or do you only think about yourself?”

But this is 2020 Yamato, and 2020 Digimon Adventure, where the kids are all Very Nice and don’t have much in the way of flaws. That’s my number one complaint about this show so far. So Yamato just waits for the moment where Jou needs to take a breath to break and ask for his help rescuing Gabumon.

(Gomamon reminds Jou to get dressed first, thankfully.)

Up on the mountain peak, Mephismon sacrifices the Data of poor blue!Elecmon to the fragment of Millenniumon he is guarding.

At first I was like, why do Yamato and Jou know about these crystals?? But then they’re like, we heard from Taichi over the digivice. Ah, of course. I kind of miss the old digivices that pre-date smartphones :P

Yamato explains how they ended up in this situation, and I REALLY like this. They came across Mephismon sacrificing innocent Digimon on their journey to reunite with the rest of the team, and it was Gabumon who insisted they had to stay and save them. Gabumon!

So this is not the first time we’ve seen the Digimon partners take initiative this season. The lack of personal flaws and personality clashes are my least favorite part of the reboot, but the increased agency of the Digimon themselves is probably my favorite. When DanDevimon swallowed Taichi, it was Agumon’s pain that caused his warp evolution. Not saying Taichi had nothing to do with it, but the focus was certainly way more on how losing his partner sent Agumon over the edge. Now we’ve got Yamato actually arguing with Yamato because he feels so passionate about rescuing the captured Digimon.

Yamato’s not heartless, of course - he just prioritizes the people closest to him first. And I have no idea if we’ll see much more of this sort of willpower from Gabumon - it’s partly there for convenience, since no one else is around. (Last time, it was Sora who wanted to help others at their own risk and Yamato clashed with her over the same thing.) The other reason is, this is the episode where we find out how Yamato and Gabumon became friends - which is especially important for the guy who gets the Crest of Friendship - so they needed something a bit more meaty than “the proof of our friendship is I follow you wherever you go and do whatever you want.”

But I love it because it really makes them feel like partners.

Of course, Yamato can’t say no in the end, so he and Gabumon go to save the Digimon. But they’re overwhelmed.

The vision of his partner’s bony ass shrinking into the distance as bullets fly overhead will haunt his dreams always ;^;

Yamato: Once a psychic read my palm and said I have an unusually short life line. I guess she was right. But she also said I’d marry Emma Stone and have eight children.

Jou: are you sure she wasn’t just playing a game of MASH?

While Yamato and Jou plan their strategy, we switch back to the rest of the team, where the girls are having tea time.

I know I complain about this every time but WHO DA HECK decided Sora and Mimi should wear the same color scheme look what you did now they both blend into the couch

The boys talk a bit of shop, then Takeru reveals that he and Yamato don’t live together because their parents fight and don’t get to see each other because they both work so much. He doesn’t really come out and say “they’re divorced” but he says he and his brother are separated. Even though Yamato calls Takeru to talk a lot, Takeru still feels sad that there are things he misses since they live so far apart.

Taichi assures Takeru that Yamato will be fine, pointing out that Yamato had already been adventuring in the digital world for an unknown amount of time before Taichi’s group ever got there. Wow, haven’t referenced that in literally ages. I’m glad these things are finally relevant again. Also like how it seems to confirm Taichi still kinda holds special admiration for Yamato. That seemed like the route they were going way back when Yamato joined the group in episode 8, but then it wasn’t touched on till now.

Then we get the long-awaited Yamato & Gabumon origin story! Yamato appears to have arrived in the digital world in a similar way that Taichi did. He looks the same, so probably it wasn’t a huge time difference (in human world time anyway).

At first, Yamato’s like, “leave me alone. I don’t have any interest in the digital world. Where’s the exit?” And Tsunomon says, “Fine, then I will just protect you whether you want me to or not.”

Yamato: Reeeeeally wishing Ikkakumon could fly, lol

Yamato recalls how, despite his chilly behavior, Tsunomon still jumped to his rescue.

(The rescue involved Ikkakumon shooting torpedoes up the mountainside so Yamato can grab them and climb to the top. What I don’t get is why this didn’t draw Mephismon’s attention :P I guess he figured his gas mask lackeys would handle it but uh.)

Past!Yamato rescues Tsunomon, who is so touched that he is able to evolve. Yamato makes an attempt to remain aloof...

... but in the end he turns into Taichi :P

So that’s the origin story! It’s more or less what I figured. Kind of surprised we didn’t get any scenes of them in the digital world proper, since I got the impression Yamato was familiar with that world as well as this plane that seems to be a sort of interface between worlds. But maybe not, who knows.

What they try to do here is set up that Yamato is an aloof type who tries to avoid relationships. But he snaps out of it and warms up to people so fast that it’s hard to really appreciate it. Plus he doesn’t really do much to push them away other than say “leave me alone.” Eh.

Lol it’s funny because he’s strapped to the cross but because his leg fur hangs like that, from behind it looks like he’s just standing there....

Mephismon starts to sacrifice Gabumon!

A power blast of dark energy starts to pulse from the mountain, sending everyone to their knees. Jou thinks fast and hides inside his bag. Nylon is good at blocking out satanic chanting after all.

His eyes fall on... his textbooks! Social studies, chemistry, the periodic table, Japanese history memorization textbook... these useless books! Could they actually be useful?!?!?!

no.

no they couldn’t

Yamato: Ahh! That’s it, I have got to start lifting more.

But wait - Jou gets an idea. There’s something that calms him when he’s stressed and that’s... chanting passages from his rote memorization technique books x’D So he sits down and... it’s basically a throw back to the Bakemon episode in 99. I believe he’s chanting things from the Japanese history book, but as I’ve never been a Japanese kid, I’d have to do more research than I want to to figure out for sure.

He then switches to chanting the numerals of pi! He has pi memorized! x’D I don’t know why that should surprise me. He soon begins to glow with the Zen energy of a cram school trance.

Jou: 3.14159265359... 3.14159265359...

Gas mask Digimon: 3.14159265359.... 3.14159265359...

These bright ripples emanate from Jou, counteracting the evil ripples coming from Mephismon’s mountain. It soon pulls the gas mask Digimon into the trance as well.

Ikkakumon: ... I have no effing idea what is going in this episode on anymore

Jou comes out of the trance to discover the gas mask Digimon ARE NOW HIS OBEDIENT SUBJECTS. WHAT.

(see I told you you’d bow)

seriously what just happened! XD is this Jou’s mutant power

or is this something all Japanese children who survive juku can do as a result of spending so much time memorizing shit

Ikkakumon then is able to shoot a bunch better pathway of torpedoes for Yamato to climb and MEPHISMON STILL DOESN’T NOTICE

Yamato finally makes it to the peak!

Mephismon’s like, “nice try, but what were you planning to do now? You left your friend at the bottom of the mountain and I’ve got your partner. And I doubt you’ve memorized all the numerals of pi.”

He kindly creates an evil burning vortex to increased the hellishness of the landscape. He understands that a Yamato episode needs the proper ambience.

Gabumon’s about to be sacrificed to Digi-Satan lmao

Yamato steps into the pentagram and get shocked. But he presses on despite the difficulty (and the hellfire), thinking about how much his partner means to him.

He drops to his knees while Gabumon begs him to save himself.

Yamato: “You’re my... friend!”

The power of friendship destroys the pentragram and also frees Gabumon from the cross.

The Crest of Friendship glows...

Gabumon is strengthened and becomes... WereGarurumon.

:P

Yeah... seemed like a good time for MetalGarurumon but whatever.

After a cool but brief fight, Mephismon is defeated.

He appears frozen? Can Gabumon freeze stuff? Whatev. Anyway he’s frozen and then disintegrates.

Gabumon is tired but happy. Their bond is now even stronger.

Cute Takeru on Pegasusmon flies down to his brother at last.

And the others wave up to them from Komondomon. Aw. So finally the team is back together! ;__; Please let it last this time, please please please....

Kay so, overall... I liked this episode. The whole “You’re my friend!” bit would have been stronger if we’d seen more of Yamato resisting that though. I don’t really know why but the reboot seems to pull its punches a lot. I really wish they’d let the kids be mean to each other like 99 Adventure did sometimes. Being mean doesn’t mean you’re a bad person and a terrible influence on children watching your show. It just means you are human and your viewers can learn from watching your mistakes and seeing your growth. Try to understand that, showrunners :P

A missed opportunity in this episode: Yamato and Jou. I was excited that they were gonna be together because they often clashed in 99. And in the reboot as well, it was established that Yamato is annoyed by Jou, although he’s much more polite and hadn’t said anything about it till now (just stayed away from wherever Jou was until he fell asleep lol). So I thought, in this ep, we’d see them butt heads and learn to work together, something like that. But aside from the very first moment where Yamato might look a teensy bit annoyed, they just get alone fine. Idk. Not interesting.

In the end, though, the ep was clearly meant to be Yamato only and Jou was just there as a matter of convenience so the whole group would be together at the end. Since the team is finally reunited, I hope we do start to see all of them interacting in different ways that show their personalities more. Might not be the same as 99 (or, I should say definitely won’t be, at this point), but just something more than “look how well we all get along.”

Next week...

Looks to be a light and funny episode. The Burgermon were one of my fav bits of Frontier. But I’m a little nervous about this being a Jou epiosde. It’s his turn, I know, but everyone else got something meaningful. Even Mimi - though there was lots of humor in her episode, she was also major league cool the entire time. Maybe that will be the case with Jou here, but I’m not sure because 2020 Jou is a little different - more scatterbrained, more open, more talkative, less serious, less likely to act sullen... he’s quite different, now that I think about it. So I’m actually having difficulty imagining what his personal test will be in this episode. Guess we’ll have to wait and find out. Maybe it won’t even be that kind of episode anyway.

Also, just a guess, but next week is ep 39. So ep 40 maybe will be the start of something big again. It would be good timing: the team’s together and everyone’s had a chance recently for an episode to themselves...

See y’all next week! As usual didn’t check for typos :P

[daddychims]

Offside Pt 13

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13 

Series Masterlist!

Genre: Smut, Soccer AU, College AU

Pairings: Soccer Player! Jungkook X Sports Trainer! Reader

Word Count: 2k

Other BTS members all make a cameo as well because I’m an OT7 Trash!

You work as a sports trainer, providing basic first aid and injury management for the Hanguk University’s soccer team. Going with your mundane life of caring for the dozen of guys hurting themselves in the soccer game takes a turn when one of the guys catches your eyes. It’s not his breathtakingly good looks or his muscular athletic body usually seducing girls at the campus that catches your eyes. But the action plan in your kit, indicating he is diagnosed with Asthma is what draws your eyes time and time again to the Golden Boy of Hanguk University.

Warning: Slow burn, eventual smut, Taehyung being a freaking tease the whole time, Also Jimin not letting the female MC live for one day, Fuckboy!Jungkook, Asthmatic! Jungkook , mentions of episodes of Asthma, Take your Ventolin kids, Take your medications kids!

“Look Jeon, I’m saying this as your Hyung and your senior, you need to learn to save your energy if you wanna play for long,”

You lift one of the boxes of tapes and reach for the cabinet shelf at the top to settle the heavy box there as you listen to the captain’s calm but intimidating voice

“I’m grateful you’re giving it your all, but as the captain I can’t watch you exert yourself to the half time and tap out the second half on my watch.”

You bite the corner of your lips, heart beating rapidly at the warning behind the words that leaves Hoseok’s voice. The captain is often calm and collected, but he doesn’t hesitate to scold his teammates as their leader.

“I had a chat with Seokjin Hyung after our meeting last week,” Hoseok continues with a hesitant tone “In the past two years I’ve never allowed any special considerations for you just because of you condition- “

“Hyung, just do as you always do,” Jungkook finally speaks up “I’m fine, Seokjin Hyung is just blowing it out of proportion.”

“If he didn’t, I would have brought it,” Hoseok interjects the younger’s argument “I’ve been watching you play since day one, I can tell when you’re tired or when you’re in a slump because of your condition. And this is definitely more than just a pre-seasonal fatigue …”

A long silence follows the captain’s words and you wish you would have left the changing room earlier tonight so you wouldn’t have to now eavesdrop on yet another conversation on Jeon's asthma that somehow worries you more than your own final exams and undone assignments.

“You need to learn to pace yourself through the game,” Hoseok suggests “Let’s talk about this before the next game, we’ll have to talk to a couple of midfielder guys to back you up. You’re our striker wild card, you get what I mean right?”

“Yes captain,” Jungkook finally speaks up “I’ll talk to the guys and we’ll figure it out.”

“Alright, go home and get some rest.” Hoseok pats the younger’s shoulder before heading out of the changing room

You quickly turn around and keep yourself busy to make it less obvious that you were listening to every single word across the wall.

“Thank you for tonight Y/N.” Hoseok calls for you and you turn to face him

“Anytime captain,” you salute the guy “How’s your ankle?”

“Pretty good,” he nods as he twirls his shin around “I can do with a bit of tape on the next game.”

“You know where to find me, Cap!” You nod reassuringly

“Thank, Oh and …” he smiles “I was meant to buy you a dinner for a while now. I still owe you for Jiwoo's party.”

“Lets keep that after the finals,” you offer “You can buy me dinner to celebrate Hanguk’s win as well!”

“Of course,” he laughs, his face lighting up at the prospects of his team winning “I should probably tell Namjoon we’ve got you on our side then.”

Your smile immediately fade and you furrow your eyebrows “Don’t you dare-“

“I’m just joking,” he laughs watching your reaction “your secret is safe with me” he turns around and opens the door as he waves “Goodnight.”

You chuckle at the guy’s childish remark, before getting back to the boxes that are waiting in the corner of the room for you to finish up. You grab another heavy box and groan as you reach at the top cupboard to place it in when someone hovers over your body and grabs the box and easily places them where you were intending to place them.

“So, you’re on our side huh?”

Your suspicion turns certain as you hear the guy’s familiar voice and you turn around, gulping as you realise the guy’s body is pressed against yours

“I didn’t say that,” you quickly interject “I’m with anyone who shoots the winning goal. And if that’s SNU then I’m siding with them.”

“Mhmm, So you wanna tell me you’ll be siding with Park Jimin,” He scoffs, as his tongue pokes to the corner of his cheek, “I doubt you’d prefer SNU’s 3 inch shooting his shots?”

“Jeon-“ you immediately speak up to interrupt his lewd words when he presses his index on your lips

“Once you get a taste of Hanguk's big boy shots, you’ll change your mind …” he hesitates as a playful smirk tingles on the corner of his lips “I don’t know if you’ve heard but we know how to play with big balls here." 

“Of course, you do!” you roll your eyes mockingly

“Do you want me to show you?” He raises an eyebrow, taking on the challenge “The ball is on the table, babe” he chuckles, playfully placing an intonation on the words “you just gotta decide to play.”

“Jeon, I’m on duty!” you sigh pointing your eyebrows at the boxes across the room "I dont have time to play with balls!" 

“Fine!” His face immediately drops and he loosens his body’s cage around you to allow you to move away with an annoyed expression but you don’t stay back to watch as you quickly walk to the rest of boxes. 

“Shouldn’t you be home already?” you look back at him as you lift another box “why are you still here?”

“I’m sure you heard Hoseok hyung scolding me,” Jungkook sighs as he rest his weight on the shelf and grabs the box as you stop before him to place them on the top “Why do you act like you didn’t eavesdrop on us?”

“I d-didn’t,” you stutter as you quickly turn around to grab another box “I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

“Of course, you did,” He chuckles watching you struggles with the box in your hand “Aren’t you always waist deep in my business?”

“Fine,” you pout as you hand him the box, “I heard the conversation, but its not because I wanted to,” you sigh “Captain’s voice is now chronically loud after screaming at you guys on the field.”

“That …” he suddenly burst out laughing and you unconsciously smile along “is true, I can’t really fault you on that.”

You watch the guy’s genuine smile, spreading from his lips all the way to his cheek and then his deer-like eyes. You realize it’s the first time you see this smile adorning his lips, different to his usual cocky smirk he loves to throw your way. 

“So are you just gonna stand there and watch me?” His lips curve on one side as he stands with his arms crossed

“What do you mean?” you ask in confusion

“I’m waiting for your two cents on my life,” He says in a mocking tone "dont be shy, Y/N!" 

“I’m not that nosy okay?” You complain as you turn around, only then realising his sarcasm 

“Oh you’re not?” He chuckles in amusement “You have more opinion on my life than my parents.”

“That is not true-” you respond defensively but immediately stop mid-sentence seeing his unimpressed expression “Fine, maybe I’ve been a bit nosy in the past. But I’m a changed woman now …” you say in a determined tone “I’m not doing that anymore.”

“Not doing what?” he steps forward, filling the space between the two of you “Hmm?”

“sticking myself into your life.” you respond nervously looking into his eyes

“That’s unfortunate,” he squints looking into your eyes “Because I decided to stick myself into yours …” he smirks “or shall I say into YOU?”

“Jeon-“ you warn and he immediately throw his hands up in surrender

“Fine, no more messing around!” he declares as he points at the boxes at top shelf “you’re done here right? Lets go!”

 “Where?” you stop him and ask with a confused tone

“My place,” he furrows his eyebrows “You don’t wanna check my meds?” He asks suspiciously “If not then-“ his face immediately lights up in a teasing way

“No,” you immediately interrupt “lets go.” You say as you quickly grab your bag and walk ahead of him, hearing him chuckle behind you

-

You stare at the guy who walks to his mini fridge across the room and grabs a bottle of beer and waves it to you “Want some?”

“I’m good,” you quickly shake your head, knowing the last thing you’d want is being drunk in the guy’s room

“Alright!” he shrugs as he snaps the beer open and takes a sip, capturing your attention to his adam’s apple that wiggles between the toned muscles of his neck

Your eyes immediately drift around the room nervously trying to unsee the unintentionally lewd scene as you mutter “Where are your meds?”

“In the first draw,” he points at his nightstand beside his bed and you nod before reaching and opening the first dra

“OH,” you gasp, as you stare at the shiny packets of condom for a few seconds before looking up and making a momentary eye contact with him

“Like what you see?” He smirks watching you get all flustered 

“You mean another reminder of your Golden reputation?” you mock as you scan through the shiny packets for his medication “can’t get enough!”

“you know now that you’re here …” he leans closer, his warm breath hitting your neck “We can put these and my golden reputation to some good use tonight!” he suggest wiggling his eyebrows 

“Your medication,” you scold patting his shoulder “Can you put yourself to some use and find them?”

“Of course!” he nods with a chuckle as he fishes through the drawer and finally finds the ziplock bag

You sigh as you grab the ziplock bag and take out the device to check them as the guy climbs his bed and plops himself beside you on the soft mattress.

“Wow, you really haven’t even opened these!”

“Was waiting for you to pop the pandora’s box open for me,” he laughs as he raises an eyebrow “and maybe I can pop your pandora’s box open after!”

“In your dreams,” you flash a fake smile before taking out one of the devices “Have you used a DPI before?”

“if by DPI you mean dick pic invitations, of course!” he beams with a naughty smile “I always use DPIs to set the mood.”

“Dry Powdered Inhaler,” you pronounce each loud and clear for the guy “It’s the same medications but instead its in powder form.” You explain as you watch the guy in front of you yawn

“In other words It’s the same shit as the other one and I need to take it,” he nods “lets get this over and done with, I’m tired-“

“No,” you quickly wiggle the device away and hide it behind you “you need to know the difference so you can use it properly. Since this is powder you should take it differently.”

“Its not that deep, Y/N,” Jungkook deadpans “I chug it up my lungs and we can finally on more important stuff,” he pauses before smiling "like your pandora's box!" 

“ I’ll just explain it very simple and quick," you state with a stern tone "just listen to me once”

“You see listening hasn't always been my strong point!” He shrugs

“Jeon! Please just once!” you ask with a frustrated tone

“Mhm let me think,” his pupils twirl around before stopping on you “why don’t you try teaching me like you did earlier today,” he smirks as he shift himself up on the bed, back resting on the bedpost as he man spreads his thighs “Coming close does help me listen better.”

You furrow your eyebrows, eyes travelling from his face to his thighs “If you pull one of your stupid game-“

“Don’t worry,” he throws his hands up “I’ll just be a good student, full attention on you and will listen like a good boy.”

“fine,” you murmur as you shift closer and settle on the guy’s thighs “after you put the inhaler on your lips, you see this button here,” you show him, without looking up “You need to press this so you can prime the device,”

“Uh huh,” he murmurs as he leans closer on your face trying to get a good view of the device “I press the button and then …” he says as his hand wraps around your waist, resting just above your hip

“A-And then you press again to release the powder,” you explain, trying to keep your composure as you feel his hands softly massaging the side of your waist  “Since this is powder, you should take a fast deep breath in,” and you gasp as his hand wiggles under your shirt almost In unison with your instruction

“Uh huh …” he nods with a smirk, fully aware of the effect his sinful hands make on you “I take a fast breath in and?”

“then you need to hold your breath for 10 seconds,” you release the breath your holding, almost sighing as his cold hand soothes your skin “to allow the powder to settle in your lungs.”

“Mhmm,” he nods, continuing to touch you under your shirt as he murmurs “I think I got it,” he smirks as he leans closer to you, and you finally break your eyes from the device and look into his eyes “So I press the button,” he says and as the words leaves his lips his hands travel under the waistband of your pants, aiming for your core “to prime the device,” you gulp as his hand rest on your hip bone, dangerously close to your crotch “Then I press the button again,” he smirks as he reaches further down, thumb touching your clit and a small moan leaves your lips “and take a fast breath in right?”

He waits for your response with a pause as he continues to rub against your clit, slender fingers now reaching lower to spread your wetness around “then I just hold my breath for 10 seconds,” he suggests, watching you perform the exact instructions as you hold your breath under his touch “Right?”

“J-Jungkook …”

“Ssshhh,” he hushes your voice as he presses his forehead against yours “See how wet you are for me,” he smiles in satisfaction as he rubs your juices on your core "You want this as much as I do babe!" 

“F-Fuck,” you gasp as he pushes a finger in your folds and your body tenses on his lap “Jungkook please …” you whine as you press your forehead against his collarbone

 “Tell me what you want, babe” he instructs in a gentle tone “Remember, you just need to tell me!”

“Jungkook,” you gasp as your part your hooded lids, distancing your face from his shoulder and looking at his face, a playful smile dancing on his lips as he stares back at you with his darkened gaze, waiting for your response.

It takes you exactly 5 seconds to register what he’s doing and you immediately jolt away from him, forgetting about your awaiting climax

“fuck!” you quickly distance your body, settling back on his bed staring at him in a state of panic

“Hey, relax!” he says in an authoritative tone

“we shouldn’t do this- “

“why?” He raises an eyebrow looking at you “You don’t like it?” he asks with confidence all over his expression as if he’s challenging you to say you don’t.

You look at him, parting your lips to say something but nothing comes out. You can’t possibly lie through your teeth and say you didn’t like him knuckles deep in your pussy so you just blush and look away to his response. 

“I-I’m sorry Jeon, let’s do the medication check another day,” you brave through the words as you quickly fix your shirt “I should probably go home-“

“No wait,” he immediately interjects, shifting on the bed to lock your body between himself and the mattress “Do you really wanna leave?” He asks, as he presses himself on your body, his hardened cock pressing against your thighs as he asks, “Even if I tell you I’m this hard just for you?”

“For m-me?” you ask, pupil dilating as you digest his words

“Can’t you see,” His eyes shine with lust as he tilts his head “That you’re the only medication I’d ever need?”

Your eyes widen as he leans closer and presses his lips on yours ... 

[londonspirit]

After the pandemic delayed its highly-anticipated release, the In the Heights movie is finally coming to very thirsty fans this Friday - and, to make the premiere even better, a special behind-the-scenes look at the movie is hitting bookshelves. In the Heights: Finding Home is a joint venture with Lin-Manuel Miranda, screenwriter Quiara Alegría Hudes, and Jeremy McCarter - it combines never-before-seen photos and oral history style-storytelling to take readers onto the Washington Heights set, spilling all sorts of filming secrets. Here, in an exclusive excerpt, read along as the cast battles record heat to complete the "Carnaval del Barrio" number.

Washington Heights is dense enough, and lively enough, to offer a distilled version of the New York paradox: Life is a nerve-fraying ordeal that you miss terribly as soon as it's gone. (According to local custom, people don't just double-park here, they triple-park.) Everybody knew that shooting a movie there would be difficult and expensive. But Jon [M. Chu, the director,] couldn't imagine doing it any other way.

For all of its fantastical touches-what Jon calls its "sing-to-the-stars-y" energy-Heights has always drawn power from its realism, a depiction of life as it's actually lived. The sweet spot for the movie, Jon felt, would be offering "a very truthful take on living in Washington Heights, then upping it."

In other words: No matter how fraught the process might be, the cast, the crew, and all of their gear-up to and including their fake sun in the sky-were going to spend the summer of 2019 in Washington Heights.

"The essence of a movie dictates where you shoot it," explains Kevin McCormick, a Warner Bros. executive who was integral to Heights. "And there's no way you could not have made this in Washington Heights. To have a movie about this community and not film there would be such a lost opportunity."

The first thing they did there was listen. Members of the production team, particularly Samson Jacobson, the location manager (born and raised in the area-a definite plus), and Karla Sayles, the director of public affairs at Warner Bros., met with community leaders to field questions and respond to concerns. Once again, Luis Miranda was a vital resource, drawing on relationships he had built over decades to make introductions.

The producers vowed to do all they could to limit the physical footprint of the shoot. Cast members shared trailers that they might otherwise have kept to themselves. The production hired people from the neighborhood for roles onscreen and off. Instead of catering every meal, they encouraged actors and crew to buy lunch in area restaurants. They even funded a student production of the show at George Washington high school.

What you see onscreen is a two-hour-and-fourteen-minute record of movie professionals falling in love with a place and its people. They arrived uptown to discover that Washington Heights really was different from most places in New York. Locals opened the hydrants on hot afternoons and played dominoes on the sidewalks. The pirag��eros really did park their carts on the sidewalk to hawk their flavors of the day. The fascination seemed to be mutual: Actors got used to seeing whole families-little kids and their abuelitas-watching from their stoops at any time of the day or night.

Which is not to say that it came easily.

To Alice Brooks, the director of photography, the weather problems were "insane." If a storm popped up on the radar anywhere nearby, they had to suspend production. This happened with schedule-wrecking regularity. They expected to be free of such interruptions when they went underground to shoot "Paciencia y Fe" on the subway. Instead, they experienced a torment familiar to every New Yorker but with a twist: They weren't waiting for the train to appear so they could ride it to work, they just needed the garbage train to pass by so they could go back to shooting their movie.

The need to solve the endless riddles of New York filmmaking had led the producers to add Anthony Bregman to the team. At this point, he reckons, he's filmed in just about every corner of his hometown, always looking for ways to capture the authentic look and feel of a place-even when the movie is surreal. (He produced Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, a valuable point of reference for the reality-bending frame of Quiara's screenplay.) So he wasn't especially rattled when, on the night they filmed "Alabanza," a nearby building caught fire, or when, on another night, gunshots rang out nearby.

"You want the life of the city?" Anthony asks. "The life of the city is complicated."

The production lost valuable shooting time on both of those nights. They found ways to make it up later. But other days offered no second chances. Anthony remembers looking at the calendar before summer began, getting a feel for what lay ahead. Some days seemed manageable; some days seemed tough. Then there was "Carnaval del Barrio."

"That day," he says, "was impossible."

What turned out to be a defining episode in the whole long history of In the Heights almost didn't happen at all. Many a movie executive had suggested over the years that there wasn't enough plot in "Carnaval del Barrio" to justify a song that was very long and very crowded, which made it very expensive. But the song's power doesn't come from the plot, it comes from the theme. The characters rally one another's spirits amid a citywide blackout. They raise their flags and celebrate their heritage-and their humanity-in defiance of every force telling them not to.

That community-fortifying aspect of the song is "essentially the DNA of In the Heights for me," Quiara says. Beneath the joy, there's a legacy of struggle and resilience. " 'Carnaval' unearths that history. All we have is our fight to be here together, the testimony to our spirit."

To help ensure that the number would remain in the movie, she hooked it into the plot more securely, situating it as a farewell number for the salon ladies, who have been priced out of the neighborhood. But the budget wasn't the only limiting factor. "Carnaval" is unique in requiring virtually every member of the cast to be present at the same time.

The actors' complicated schedules meant that Jon wouldn't get all the filming days he wanted. He would get only one.

Which meant it was time for the hard, slow, unglamorous legwork of moviemaking: planning, organizing, rehearsing, designing, equipping, and rehearsing some more-months of it, all to give themselves the best possible chance to "make the day," to film the whole gigantic number in the time available.

In the world of making movies, "day" is a flexible unit of time, especially for a scene that would be filmed outdoors- in this case, a courtyard between two apartment buildings around the corner from where Lin went to preschool. They scheduled the shoot for a Monday, when union rules would let them start the earliest. And they picked June 24, one of the longest days of the year.

They didn't realize it would also be one of the hottest.

The song would be filmed more or less in order. Which meant that for the production, as for the characters, the salon ladies would lead the way.

Some of the movie's actors were new to musicals. Not Daphne Rubin-Vega, who plays Daniela. When Rent blew the mind of seventeen-year-old Lin-Manuel Miranda, she was onstage, playing Mimi. But when she arrived for hair and makeup on "Carnaval" day-at 4:30 in the morning-even she was feeling nerves. The uneven concrete floor of the courtyard wasn't like where they had rehearsed. The prospect of filming a seven-page song before nightfall seemed crazy.

She began to hear a voice of doubt in her brain, one that's encoded in a specific ugly memory. After wrapping her first film, she had gone to the airport to fly home to New York and mentioned to the woman at the ticket counter that she had just acted in a movie.

"That's funny," said the woman, who Daphne believes to have been Latina like herself. "You don't look like an actress."

Worries about how they looked, questions about what they were wearing, a general feeling of negativity-Dascha Polanco was feeling them, too. She always loved arriving on set to play Cuca, one of Daniela's fellow salon ladies, because it felt so much like coming home. She was born in the Dominican Republic and while growing up in Brooklyn used to make frequent trips to the Heights with her friends. ("Washington Heights is a small Dominican Republic," she explains.) Now she, too, wondered if she belonged. Am I capable of remembering the steps? she asked herself.

She decided to stop those doubts-for herself and the other salon ladies. She grabbed the hands of Daphne and Stephanie Beatriz, who played Carla, and formed the women into a profane prayer circle.

"Shake that s--- off," she told them. "I'm not going to let anyone or anything interfere with my performance today."

Daphne laughs as she tells the story. "She was so hilarious and said we were going to protect each other from that insecurity. That was such a beautiful thing-going in there with that determination to represent."

By 5:30 A.M., when the sun rose over Queens, sixty dancers had arrived. Christopher Scott, the film's choreographer, tried to prepare them for what was coming, backed by his full team of associate choreographers: Emilio Dosal, Ebony Williams, and Dana Wilson, as well as associate Latin choreographer Eddie Torres, Jr., and assistant Latin choreographer Princess Serrano. By six A.M., dozens of crew members had joined them, making the thousand careful adjustments needed to help a movie look spontaneous.

It was almost nine A.M. by the time Jon called "Action." The cameras started rolling, Daphne started singing, and the clock kept ticking.

Arrange the actors, position the cameras, do a take, reset everybody, do it again. As the sun climbed higher that morning, the temperature rose to what one crew member estimated to be nine hundred degrees. Look closely-see the sweat on people's bodies? Most of it didn't come from the makeup department. But there wasn't time for extra breaks to cool off.

"Please be quiet," a voice on the loudspeaker boomed at one point. "We gotta go."

At one point that morning, Jimmy Smits got his turn to shine. Playing Kevin Rosario wasn't his first Height experience. He had seen the show Off-Broadway and been "blown away" by it, he says. He had offered to help in any way he could, eventually recording a radio ad for the show.

His devotion to Heights carried into rehearsals for the film. As they got underway, he told Chris Scott and the choreography team, "I know I'm playing the dad, but the last thing I want to see is myself in the background, just waving my hands. I want to go all in." They obliged him. He sometimes hobbled home from the dance studio to ice himself for hours.

His payoff came on "Carnaval" day. He had a featured moment in the song: an intricate, whirling combination. The cast and crew watched him do it again and again, cheering him on. He could feel "a lightning bolt of energy" around the set, something he'd experienced only rarely in his long career.

Over the applause after one take, a voice rang out, ricocheting off the walls: "That s--- was crazy! For our ancestors!" It was Anthony Ramos. He, too, had a long history with Heights, but it wasn't as happy as Jimmy's.

Very early in his career, he had tried to get cast as Sonny on the show's national tour. It meant taking a bus into Manhattan from a gig he was doing in New Jersey, going through round after round of auditions. At last he made it to the big moment: a callback in front of Tommy Kail, Alex Lacamoire, and Lin himself.

He gave the song everything he had. He didn't get the part.

He thought he'd missed the one chance he would get to work with Lin, the writer who'd evoked Anthony's own world, Latino New York, so beautifully on a Broadway stage. He needn't have worried. A few years later, the same guys would hire him to originate the roles of John Laurens and Philip Hamilton, Alexander's son, in Hamilton.

When Anthony got to know Tommy and Lac well enough, he asked if they remembered not casting him as Sonny. They said they did.

"You weren't ready yet," Lac said.

Anthony knew he was right. "Only a homie would tell you that," he says.

But he needed one more break to make his way back to Heights and find himself sweating in the courtyard that morning.

In 2018, Stephanie Klemons, an original cast member of both In the Heights and Hamilton, directed a production of Heights at the Kennedy Center in Washington. The night before rehearsals were set to begin, she lost an actor to an injury. She reached out to Anthony: Could he step in with zero notice?

He didn't feel physically or mentally ready, and was about to pass, but decided to do it. That's how he got a second chance to show Lin what he could do in Heights-not as Sonny this time, as Usnavi. In a series of tweets, reproduced on this page, Lin commemorated how overwhelmed he was watching Anthony step into the role he once played. He, Quiara, and Jon all agreed that when the cameras started rolling, Anthony should be their Usnavi.

The bond between Anthony and Lin added to the drama of filming "Carnaval." Lin played Piragua Guy, so he was in the courtyard, too-or, rather, directly above it, on a fire escape. It meant that the whole cast and crew had a clear view of the brief duet that he and Anthony sing in the middle of the number. To people who knew their history, the sight made time go all swirly. Anthony had originated the role of Lin's son in Hamilton, and now he was playing the role that Lin had originated, and somehow the two of them were singing a duet in Washington Heights.

A quirk of the production process made the moment even stranger and more potent. All day, the actors had been singing along to prerecorded versions of "Carnaval" piped over the loudspeakers. But somehow they hadn't gotten around to recording Anthony's side of his duet, so they had to fall back on the only other version on hand: the Broadway cast album. Which meant that Lin wasn't just singing with Anthony that day, he was harmonizing with himself at age twenty-eight, when every bit of what was happening around him would have seemed like a ludicrous dream. "It was like time travel," Lin says.

By three p.m., when everybody had returned from their lunch break-blood sugar bolstered by the ice cream truck that Stephanie Beatriz had hired-time was growing shorter, the day hotter. Now when choreographer Chris Scott talked to the dancers, many listened with hands on hips, hands on knees.

From his fire escape, Lin did his bit to keep up morale. He joined in the clapping that broke out between scenes; he made silly faces; he pulled up his shirt and did belly rolls. Guests watched from the edges of the shoot: Lin's dad and wife, Quiara's sister, Chris's mom, Anthony's sister and mom. Anna Wintour stopped by.

Jon is not the type to direct through a bullhorn, barking orders from the shade. When they'd filmed "96,000" earlier that month on a couple of unseasonably frigid days, he had jumped in the Highbridge Park pool with the cast.

On this day, he darted around the courtyard, giving notes to actors, framing shots, conferring with Alice. He is also not the type to speak in mystical terms, but when he thinks back on that day, he remembers "the sun shining down like a laser-it was like the sun was shining out of everybody."

By late afternoon, the boundary between the make-believe world of the movie and the real world of the shoot had all but melted away. They had reached the part of the song where Usnavi and Daniela try to call forth their neighbors' pride in where they come from. Anthony climbed onto a picnic table and faced the whole cast, rapping, "Can we sing so loud and raucous they can hear us across the bridge in East Secaucus?" Daphne stood near him, arms wide apart, raising them up, willing everybody to stand tall, to keep going.

Both of them were throwing all their skill and commitment into their performances, the stars of two of Broadway's epoch-making musicals doing what they had trained to do. But they also weren't acting.

"To raise the flag for your country, to dance and recognize that we're all here together, and belong here, we don't need to be forgiven for it, or ashamed for it," says Daphne of what she was feeling. "There's a pride in being here from Colombia, or Panama, the D.R., Puerto Rico, Cuba, wherever."

At eight o'clock, with the sun sinking toward New Jersey, the dancers were still dancing. Eleven hours had passed since Daphne had belted out "Hey!" to start the song. Now Jon was trying to get the right take of sixty-plus voices shouting "Hey!" to finish it. In the movie version of the scene, the blackout ends when the song does, so a voice on the loudspeaker would announce, "The power's on!" That's how the actors knew the right moment to cheer that it was over.

After one such cheer, it really was over. Not just the take-the song.

They had done it. They had made the day.

Jon jumped into a swarm of dancers. (Ever see a baseball player hit a walk-off home run, then leap onto home plate into the waiting arms of his cheering teammates? That's what this jump looked like.) People were clapping and shouting and hugging and crying. Alice thought the whole thing was a miracle.

"You know when you see people at a concert cry, and you're like, 'I would never do that'?" asks costume designer Mitchell Travers. "That's what I did." He thinks it's the most sheer human energy he has ever been close to.

Anthony Ramos, in the middle of the crowd, launched into a speech. He can't remember his exact words. He hadn't planned what he was going to say-he hadn't planned to speak at all. He just felt that something needed to be said.

"I might have said, today we made history," he recalls. "This was for our ancestors who didn't get the opportunity to do this-who were fighting to have a chance to do what we just did. It was for love of the culture. It was for our kids, who look like us, to be able to see themselves on the big screen, to see us singing about our pride. Some s--- like that."

Somewhere in the crowd stood Dascha Polanco, cheering with the rest. She was sweaty, tired, tear-streaked-and beginning to feel the spirit move.

"I looked down and saw that concrete floor," she says, "and I saw those fire escapes up there, and I was like, 'New York.' "

She began a chant. It was slow and pitched low: "N-e-e-e-e-w York, N-e-e-e-e-w York." In seconds, the whole crowd took it up. "N-e-e-e-e-w York! N-e-e-e-e-w York!"

They were pointing to the sky. They were dancing.

"N-e-e-e-e-w York! N-e-e-e-e-w York!"

"It wasn't like chanting, 'Oh, I love New York,' " Anthony says later-meaning it wasn't a casual thing someone would casually say. "It was"-he drops his voice an octave and leans in-"I motherf---ing love New York. I'm proud to be from New York. I'm proud to be Latino from New York. That was the chant."

Lin, on his fire escape, was overwhelmed. Quiara, in the courtyard, guessed that people could hear them all chanting for blocks around. "It was the sound of joy and survival," she says. "And the sound of people who were really proud to be artists in community together-all our stories braided and interwoven at that one moment."

The long months of preparation had yielded the thing that movie people dream of creating: the burst of real emotion, the flash of genuine spontaneity. Some of it infuses what you see in the finished version of the song, but some of it can't be recovered now. It's an experience only for the people who got to be part of that impromptu celebration, the carnaval that followed "Carnaval."

That long day and its joyous finale capture, in miniature form, a lot of the Heights experience-what's powerful about it, what's rare. Instead of expecting little from the actors it featured, Heights demanded everything-not just what they could do, but who they were and where they came from. By fusing them with dozens of other artists making the same commitment, it gave them the feeling that Lin had wanted so badly for himself when he started writing the show: a sense of belonging, of being part of a group of people working toward a goal they all hold dear. That's why Anthony, looking back on filming "Carnaval," says, "That was one of the greatest days of my life. Period. If I never do another movie again, I did this."

"Something that arises in 'Carnaval' is a feeling of, 'There's a place for us,' " says Quiara. "But the place is not one that says, 'Oh, I definitely fit in' or 'I definitely don't.' It holds those questions. It allows those questions to exist."

Those questions, she has come to see, are universal.

"People are like, 'What is my place in the world?' That question is actually part of your place in the world," she says. "There's something about In the Heights. It takes such a burden off to hear, 'Yeah, there's a place for you. Here it is.'"

[alirhi]

22

Title: Winter's Frost Chapter: 22/? Fandom: MCU Rating: R to be on the safe side Pairing: Loki/Bucky Summary: Loki never told anyone the real reason he became so obsessed with Midgard. Much better to let them think he wanted to hurt his brother than draw their attention to the one thing in the universe that makes the God of Mischief truly vulnerable. Notes: Due to massive levels of incoherent rage at the thought of what they did in Thor: Ragnarok, I have decided to pull from actual Norse mythology again. Everything after The Avengers has been erased in this fic, anyway, so fuck it. Hel and Fenrir are Loki's children as it always should be.

Loki sighed, head resting on Bucky's chest as he basked in the simple joy of hearing his beloved's heart still beating. "I hope you know that you're not allowed to ever die on me again."

"Technically, I haven't died yet at all."

He frowned, pinching Bucky's side and making him laugh. "I mourned you for nearly fifty years, James, and it almost destroyed me."

"Loki..." It was Bucky's turn to sigh as he pushed the Trickster off of him and they both sat up. "Serum or no serum, I'm still human. Eventually, I'm gonna grow old and die. That's just the way it works."

"I don't want you to." Feeling like a child, tears choking him that he refused to shed and Bucky's hands gripping his, Loki shook his head. "I can't lose you again."

With that sad smile he was so sick of looking at, Bucky squeezed his hands a little tighter. "You lived over a thousand years without me, Doll. You'll be okay. You've got Sigyn-"

"I hardly think that's relevant." Prying his hands loose, he wiped furiously at his eyes. "Especially since, if the oaf can't sway Odin, I'll likely never see her again, either. Or my other children."

It was truly beginning to sink in, just how much Loki had sacrificed in his mad scramble to rescue Bucky, and he could tell from the stricken look on his lover's face that it was hitting him, as well. A grown man – a God– and he'd behaved like a reckless child ever since he'd first discovered his soldier alive. He'd succeeded, at last, but at what cost? If his actions left him forever on the run from Asgard, he would never see his wife and sons again; his one consolation was that at least he had his daughters. Hel ruled her own realm and answered to no one, least of all Odin, and Eira... He would die before letting anyone take Eira away from him.

"Jesus, Loki..." Bucky winced, pulling him closer for a hug. "Nari, Fenrir... I'm sorry, I can't pronounce the snake's name-"

That got a half-hearted laugh out of the Trickster, and he laid his head on Bucky's broad shoulder. "Jormungandr. It's alright, love, I'm impressed you remember any of them."

"I get headaches," he admitted softly, "when I try to push too hard, but it's coming back." Arms tightening around the other man, he murmured, "There's a lot I'd rather never think about again, but I don't want to lose a single memory I have with you."

"Don't force it," Loki cautioned as gently as he could, bringing one hand up to tangle in that beautiful dark hair. "It will come back; a remarkable amount already has. Just be patient."

"...Nari," Bucky whispered, shaking his head. "Fenrir, Sleipnir, Jor...Jormun... Can I just call him Joey? I know that's not how the J is pronounced, but his name does start with a J, technically... Right?"

At that, Loki buried his face in Bucky's shoulder and laughed so hard he couldn't breathe. "I would pay to see the look on Jormungandr's face if he ever actually heard you call him Joey!"

"Loki, I'm being serious!"

"About 'Joey'?" He could hear the grin and the suppressed laughter in his beloved's voice, so he didn't feel bad for being unable to contain his hysterical laughter.

"About your kids." He didn't sound amused anymore. With a firm grip on Loki's shoulders, he pushed him back to look him in the eye, and the atmosphere instantly shifted. Expression pained, Bucky reminded him, "What you lost, for me... If you can't fix this, you'll lose your whole damn family. Did you think I was just reciting their names trying to remember them all for a fucking Christmas card or something? Eira's brothers, her sister, her step-mom... Your whole family, everything you built before we met... My God..."

"Yes." His attempt at a snarky, slightly cheesy retort fell flat even to his own ears, but Loki still tried. Prying one strong hand from his shoulder and cradling it between his own, he told him, "I am your God. As for my children... Sleipnir was already taken from me long ago. I'm not sure he even knows I'm his mother."

"Christ, Doll, that makes the rest of this worse!"

"I haven't 'lost' anything." Freyja, how he wished he believed what he was saying. All that mattered at the moment, though, was that Bucky believed it, and so he soldiered on. "Not yet. Odin is a stubborn old fool, but he is old. Worst case scenario, if I can't return home without ending up in chains while he lives, well... he'll die soon and Thor will take the throne despite my best efforts – I really had a lot on my plate when last the Sergeant and I met – and because he's sentimental and forgiving, I'll be welcomed back with open arms."

"'Home'?"

He blinked, confused. "What?"

For someone with such a remarkably expressive face, Bucky could, on occasion, be difficult to read. With the most curious look that Loki couldn't quite identify, he pointed out quietly, "You still call Asgard 'home.'"

He scoffed and shrugged. "Force of habit, I suppose. Best not to read too much into it, darling."

"Right." There was a brief moment of tense silence, and then Bucky, bless his strange mind, smiled and nudged him. "Look, thanks to the serum, I don't really get sick anymore. So as long as the purple menace doesn't lop my head off, you've still got decades before you have to worry about me croaking on you."

Though he appreciated the effort, Loki couldn't quite bring himself to share his love's optimism. After all, what were decades to a being who would live for millennia? Rather than point that out, though, he focused on the other troubling fact: "James, Thanos is dangerous."

"Why, because he kicked your skinny ass?" he teased. "Or, to be more accurate, his minions kicked your skinny ass. Did Thanos actually do anything? How do you know he wants anything nefarious with these magic doohickeys?"

"Because one man amassing ultimate power has never been for the benefit of others, no matter how they delude themselves for the sake of remaining the heroes in their own stories." Giving him a bland look, Loki grumbled, "One would think a World War II veteran would understand that better than most."

Still clinging desperately to his attempt at humor, Bucky shrugged. "Hey, I'm still holding out hope on the kitten theory. You can't deny the world would be a better place if everyone had their own adorable kitty to spoil."

Finally, finally Loki chuckled, shaking his head. "I'll tell you what, darling... Survive what's coming with sanity intact, and I'll get you a kitten myself."

Bucky snorted. "Oh, baby, the sanity ship has sailed. Are you kidding me?"

"The best you can manage, then," he amended with a soft, sad smile. "Just stay close to me, so I can keep you safe."

Watching the other man's expression crumble and all the humor immediately vanish as if it was never there at all, Loki wished he'd never spoken a word.

"No," Bucky told him quietly, but firmly. "I'm sick of constantly being rescued and protected."

"It's not that I think you're weak-"

"Do you remember what I told you when you wanted to stay and fight just so we could be together?"

He did, though he failed to see its relevance. Still, to prove to Bucky that he was paying attention, he dutifully recited his own words back to him. "'You're outside of all this and that's where I need you to stay.' But neither of us is 'outside' of this one-" He was interrupted by his lover snorting and rolling his eyes. "What?"

"Not that part." Shifting position slightly so that he and Loki were facing each other directly without either having to twist, he took the Trickster's soft hands in his own - one rough and callused, the other chilly and unyielding - and reminded him, "'You make me weak. If I see you out there, you'll get me killed.' Well, babe, this time neither of us gets to walk away, so we both need to be focused on the enemy, not each other. Don't waste energy trying to protect me. Having to protect Eira got you both captured. When the war comes, just fight it, and trust that I can look out for myself."

That was a terrifying proposition. Enhanced by mad science or not, Bucky was still only human. The thought of him standing alone and fighting Thanos or one of his psychotic minions with no powers was enough to make Loki sick to his stomach. Perhaps it would be best to leave Bucky in New Mexico with Darcy and Eira; after all, run-of-the-mill human dangers didn't simply vanish because a bigger threat loomed. They would need someone to look after them, as well, and Bucky could certainly handle some random thug looking to cause trouble.

He opened his mouth to suggest it, but his thoughts must have been showing on his face. A metal hand clamped over his mouth before he could utter a sound and Bucky snapped, "You're not sidelining me. Purple Space Hitler calls for all hands on deck, so deal with it."

With a sigh, Loki batted his hand away and shook his head. "You really are the most stubborn creature, James."

___________________________________________________

Next Masterlist

[frooopsen]

Kyalin - part 4

thanks to @linguini17 for beta-reading again. :)

Communication

"Kya.“ It was dark outside and the moon shone into their bedroom through a gap in the blinds. They had both drifted in and out of sleep and the sun would rise in a few hours. "Kya,“ she whispered once more.

"What is it?“ Kya didn’t sound sleepy at all, which confirmed Lin’s suspicion.

"You can’t sleep,“ she sighed.

"Very perceptive, Chief.“ Her smile was audible the next time she spoke. "Are you going to let me in on why you felt the need to tell me that?“

"I‘m having trouble sleeping.“ The moonlight accentuated Lin’s smooth skin and Kya let her eyes wander, taking it all in.

"You know this is hard for me, too,“ she said smirking, her fingers stroking along Lin’s arm, "No teasing you for a whole day.“

"I know. You’re doing so great,“ Lin sighed with a smile making its way onto her lips. "By the way, if you tell Bumi that you got me all mushy and analyzing stupid nightmares, there will be consequences.“ She tried to sound at least  vaguely threatening but that notion was discredited by the grin that travelled between their faces.

"Well don’t tempt me.“ Kya gasped leaning in for a kiss. Before letting go, she captured Lin’s lower lip between her teeth, as the metalbender took the opportunity to pull her in by the hip.

"Speaking of tempting,“ Lin hummed, searching for another kiss. Their lips met again, as they started feeling down each other’s backs. "Maybe,“ she said while trailing kisses along Kya's tan skin, "And I’m only throwing ideas around – we could have a different kind of communication for a change.“

Kya felt desire kicking in and this time knowing that the talk was not going to be avoided, she didn’t care how much time passed until said talk came around. "Oh, I love this non-verbal communication,“ she smiled before placing a long-lasting kiss on the side of Lin's throat.

"Maybe you’ll get a taste for it after all,“ Lin answered jokingly.

"You are a smooth one,“ Kya admitted before sliding her hand down Lin’s stomach, a clear goal in mind. "However, my tongue is just fine, tasting different things for now.“

Lin arched her back as Kya made her way down her body. Kya did have the best comebacks, no matter how good Lin's ideas were, Kya had never lost a teasing match. Lin didn’t really mind. She did like it, most of the time. She was quickly ripped away from her thoughts as her focus was drawn in by lips wandering the invisible trail that Kya had already left with her fingers.

------

"I‘d almost forgotten how fun this is,“ Kya joked as she took the cup of coffee Lin had just made for herself.

"It hasn’t been that long,“ Lin said, turning around just to find the empty spot on the counter. That had been her coffee. She sent a piercing look Kya’s way.

"Well I’ll be needing that if you keep me up when I’m supposed to be sleeping,“ the waterbender murmured while sipping her coffee with a knowing look on her face.

"It’s not like I woke you. And if memory serves me well, you enjoyed yourself,“ Lin answered, making herself another cup.

"Still got my coffee, didn’t I?“

They sat down at the kitchen table. Kya watched the spirits floating by the window. They usually came by during the early morning hours and she was always mesmerized by their ease. Lin read through the newspaper and sipped her coffee. The weekends were when she spent a little more time on the things she usually did in a hurry. Showering, getting ready, making coffee – weekend coffee was always better. She even flipped through the news, since she didn’t spend a lot of time doing that during the week. The most important news travelled fast – especially at the station – and she spent enough time reading police reports already. At some point reading had turned into a chore, rather than a relaxing activity. The occasional article sparked her interest, nonetheless.

"I can’t believe it,“ she gasped in suprise. "Look at this!“

Kya leaned over the table and tried to decipher the headline. "Would you look at that! It’s about Uncle Sokka!“

"Not him. His sword. Some kids found it when playing hide and seek. It says here that it was stuck in some tree,“ Lin elaborated.

"I did always wonder where it ended up. It’s been forever since he lost it. Did Toph ever tell you that story?“ Kya asked, remembering how Sokka had never been able to shut up about his space-sword – as he called it.

Lin shrugged her shoulders, "She didn’t, but Tenzin did. It sounded rather boring until Bumi took over. I always wanted to see a sword like that.“

"Tenzin never was a good story-teller. Another point to me.“

Lin glared at her. "I hate when you do that.“

"Too bad,“ she smiled as they both resumed drinking their coffee.

--------

After a quiet lunch, Lin cleared her throat. "Can we finish that conversation?“

Kya looked around the room as though looking for something.

"You alright?“, Lin asked.

"Did you hear that?“ she giggled. "I think I heard someone volunteer to get touchy-feely.“

Lin sighed as she rubbed her forehead. "You are taking it too far, too soon.“

"You’re just rubbing your face now, so I won’t see that smile,“ Kya complained.

Lin let out a unappreciative growl. "Fine. Then we don’t talk about it.“

"Oh, come on!“ Kya said. "Don’t shut off now, I’ll promise to be nice from here on,“ she paused, then added, "For the duration of the conversation, of course.“

"Well, now I don’t even know how to start,“ Lin growled, "Not that I did before.“

Kya lead them to the couch, where she gestured for Lin to sit down. She joined her, pulling the muscular legs onto the cushion, planting herself in between and leaning her back against one of the armrests. "That’s not a very serious position,“ the earthbender noted as she leaned against the armrest behind her back, like Kya had done.

They sat across from each other, legs slightly tugged towards themselves, shins touching lightly. Lin fumbled on the leg of her pants.

"We’re just talking, not having a meeting,“ Kya laughed. "Also, talking about your feelings doesn’t have to be organized. People just…ease into that and don’t declare the beginning.“

Lin opened her mouth to interject, but Kya didn’t give her the chance.

"I’ll let it slide, since you claim to be new to this. I mean we have talked about our feelings together before. Otherwise I don’t think our relationship would have gotten to this point.“

Lin looked straight ahead to meet Kya’s eyes. "You being nice didn’t last very long. Besides the talks you’re referring to were us talking about us or sometimes you. That’s different.“

Kya leaned forward, just enough to cup Lin’s cheek and smiled, "Well, how is that different? They‘re still your feelings.“

"Yeah, the nice ones and I like talking about us and especially you,“ she explained kissing Kya’s hand before she withdrew it from her face again.

"You know, Kya,“ Lin said softly, her gaze still holding the waterbender’s eyes captive, "When you smile at me like that, I am so happy to have you. Your’re so full of love and I get to feel it wrapped around me.“

They stayed quiet for a while. Kya had heard the words come out of Lin’s mouth clear and warm. Yet it felt like the woman‘s soul had spoken instead. Lin’s voice sounded different, when she said things like these and Kya couldn’t explain why. It didn’t happen a lot. She thought it must have been that it felt so surreal to hear Lin – the woman she adored to an extent, which sometimes scared even the passionate waterbender – talk about her in that way. Yet she wanted to hear it from no one else. "Spirits,“ she sighed finally breaking the silence as she lowered her head a little, "I only want to make you feel, like you just made me feel.“

"And what was that?“

"I can’t tell you. I wish I could, but I don’t think the words exist.“

Lin smiled into the room as she remembered a poem. "You know, some poet once said that if lovers were ever able to express their feelings in words, they would be too full of energy for everyone who heard them. He called it the lovers‘ curse.“

"Well, it’s not hard to believe him. Especially when I see you looking at me like that.“

Now it was Lin’s turn to sigh. The past week had been filled with so many emotions, that she could feel the exhaustion flare up any time she took a little time to sit down and rest. The time she spent with Kya had been spent in silence; except for that one afternoon after the panic attack. Her skin still reacted with goosebumps when she recalled the immense fear she had felt; first in the nightmare, then during the panic attack. Now anytime she went to bed, she had to convince herself that she wouldn’t dream like that again. It still lingered around and she knew Kya could feel it too. She had always been more perceptive when it came to that. Even though Lin had noticed that her tension somehow affected both of their sleeprythms, she still didn’t know if Kya saw the residue of fear, that Lin saw anytime she looked in the mirror.

"Can you see it in my eyes?“ she mastered up the courage to ask, "The fear.“

Kya swallowed, because she knew that it would be easier if she couldn’t.

"As clear as the love you claim to see in mine,“ she paused then added. "Not just your eyes, though. You move differently. You have for a while now.“

Lin shifted, drawing her knees even closer to rest under her chin. "I really wish you couldn’t.“

"I know.“

"What if it breaks me? My strength is all I have.“

They both knew that she had more, but Kya understood what she meant. She couldn’t imagine Lin without the powerful elegance she carried herself with. It had been the constant in her life.

"You won’t break.“

"How can you be so sure?“

Kya wasn’t. "Because I’ve seen broken people.“ It didn’t make a lot of sense, but it seemed to help.

"I don’t feel like myself since we’ve talked and I don’t know how to get back to that.“

She hardly remembered the time she had spent at work that week. Like she hadn’t been there but watched her body work on reports and arrests. Her mind had been busy thinking about the panic attack and the helplessness she had felt at the lack of control.

She slightly raised her voice again, "I have always had control until I met you. They aren’t joking when they call it 'falling in love‘. I don’t mind that anymore. But this…this feels like loosing a different kind of control.“

Kya was surprised. Even though it still felt like Lin carefully assembled her sentences before saying something, so as to not disclose it in the wrong way – whatever that meant – she was talking freely, nonetheless.

Kya used the next silence to speak. "I don’t think you lost control. It was rather taken away from you. By your feelings. I don’t know…to me that’s different.“

Lin’s brow furrowed. She didn’t understand what Kya had meant.

"I couldn’t even bend my armor away,“ she exclaimed, changing the course of the conversation. "When I had nothing else, I always had my bending.“ Almost always. As she heard herself say those words it felt as though they had come from Kya. It sounded like something she would suggest.

"Well, fear is a powerful mind blocker. Your qi must have been affected. You once told me how your breathing influences your bending and how you breathe deeply before swinging the bigger rocks,“ she thought out loud, recalling the conversation they‘d had a long time ago about their differences in bending-style. "I was a good listener. Even back then.“

Lin smiled, thankful for the light comment, keeping her from tearing up. "I know. I can only repeat myself: quite the catch I landed with you.“

Kya smiled in response but didn’t want to change the topic. "It only makes sense that you loose the connection to the bending, when your other senses are overflowed as well.“ And back was the tension.

"How do you know what it’s like?“ Lin marveled. "You haven’t had one, have you?“

Kya shook her head slowly. "No, but I’ve read about them. The mind convinces the body that you’re in immediate danger, so your senses are more alert, causing you to feel and perceive things more vividly and unfortunately overstimulating your nervous system.“

Lin nodded as she thought back. "Everything was so bright all of a sudden…and the room started spinning so badly. And time passed so slowly, while it felt…like…like something was wrapped around my neck.“ She put her hand to rest underneath her throat.

"I can’t imagine how scary that has to have been.“

"I hope you never experience that. I sure don’t want it happening again. Imagine if that happens at work. I wouldn’t be able to bend.“

Kya interrupted the train of thought. "How about we don’t imagine that for now. I don’t think it will happen again.“

"But what if it does?“

"Remember when Ammon had taken you bending away,“ Kya began. "You still got all the criminals you set out for. You weren’t helpless. Your strength exceeds your bending ability. And if you find a way to reconnect to yourself you won’t even have to think about that again.“

Lin scoffed, "So you do think it might happen. How am I supposed to 'reconnect to myself‘ when I don’t even know how to express what feels off?“

Kya tried to stay calm. She had no idea either and it wasn’t fair of Lin to keep coming at her like that, but she reminded herself that it was in fact new to Lin and the pain she had accumulated over the years would in consequence spill out of her as soon as she opened up.

"I can’t see the future, but I’m trying to tell you that you’re already stronger than you think. We can all be. Sometimes we don’t even find out how strong, until we’re faced with a stupid situation like this one.“ Her frustration was clear, yet Lin stayed put, not lashing out.

She continued, "I can only rely on the experiences I’ve had, just like you. I’m not all-knowing.“

"I don’t ask you to be. You’re just... So in touch with your feelings. You probably don’t even  have to think that hard before saying those smart things and analyzing.“

Kya felt embarrassed at the underlying jealousy in Lin’s tone. People had always told her to be less emotional and that it was overwhelming when she rambled on about her feelings. Lin seemed to come from a different angle. Kya hadn’t thought that the trait she had found to be a strength, rather than a weakness, could also be seen as such from someone else – Lin of all people.

"You have to give yourself a break. You’re trying so hard to overcome the uncomfortable feelings that you don’t give them enough room to exist for a while,“ Kya muttered.

Lin’s face let go of some of the tension that had built up throughout the past minute. "But I don’t want that. The more fear I feel, the less I can bare.“

"Well, you can’t shut them off. You see how that turns out. I don’t want you to increase that distance inside yourself. You feel it, too, you said. Just give it time. It will fall into place.“

She didn’t know what else to tell her.

"The way people praise 'talking about feelings‘, it just seems like a pill you have to swallow and afterwards everything’s fine,“ Lin growled. "But it’s not. It just leaves you confused and angry at yourself.“

"Talking isn’t the easy way out,“ Kya agreed, closing her eyes. "It’s the hard way through.“

"I’m going for a walk,“ Lin announced, getting up. When Kya stood up as well, she signaled her to stay. "I need to be alone for some time. I’ll be back before dinner.“

Kya swallowed but knew she had to give Lin more space – even more. She didn’t want to.

"See you then,“ she said while making her way to the kitchen.

[steve0discusses]

Yugioh S4 Ep 27: Joey Punches Valon to Death and Seto Kaiba buys a Car.

My favorite character is back!

THE STORYBOARDER.

Like clockwork, the best storyboarder of all of Yugioh saw in the episode notes “This is the one where we shall Destroy Joey Wheeler” and he was like “Yes! this is extremely my thing!” and he’s back at it again, destroying Joey Wheeler with such finesse.

Like it’s so hard to explain in caps because you can’t see stuff move, but this animator is so good at the Yugioh vibe--he makes these character designs WORK for him (or her? No idea the identity of the mysterious storyboarder (or team of storyboarders--maybe this was one little group they freelance out to that worked really well together? I dunno) ) they really capture what Yugioh IS in a really unique way and still remain fairly economical in the animation sense. They do not hold back on any pose, and go completely ham into this ridiculous concept of a card game where you put on a special suit and punch eachother in the face.

Mind you, it’s still a card game and I skipped all that, but man...this is such a good storyboarder and I know that next episode they’ll be gone but for now I’m just gonna bask in it.

First off, Rebecca manages to figure out Seto’s 6-letter password in order to access billions of people’s personal data off of a satellite (we don’t get to find out what the password was) and although the storyboarder is great--they did make one fatal mistake.

The bane of every Californian who leaves California. LA is like a completely different country to San Fransisco but everyone only knows of two Californian cities and assumes we’re right next door to each other.

And it’s like...no, man. I don’t have Disneyland. Do I sound like a cheerful person that lives next to Disneyland? Do I say “bruh” and smile with the force of 1000 suns as we surf the coast on the backs of Lisa Frank dolphins? No dude, I have a strong Bay Area accent that makes me sound like a dry sarcastic asshole and I wear sweatshirts to the freakin beach because it’s very cold and filled with great white sharks.

(Sorry I just had to delete like 10 k words where I compared the entire cast to US cities by saying cryptic stuff like Joey Wheeler : Seto Kaiba is like LA : San Fransisco and like it was the biggest random tangent that only makes sense to me. Quarantine brain, y’all, I got SERIOUS quarantine brain. Anyone else? Anyone else just find themselves wasting like 2 hours thinking of which cities match the personalities of different characters on a show that came out so long ago? Man I need distractions right now.)

But back to what’s happening on the show, Yami is coming to terms with Joey’s struggle about as well as Yami does.

Which is mostly Yami saying “I’m pretty sure I killed Joey in that card game with Bakura in S1 and Tea had to bring him back from the graveyard so like wtv.”

(read more under the cut)

This was like 2003??? I think I keep forgetting when this season came out but we had printers at this point. We had google maps and a printer.

I don’t think I’ve touched a map like that since the 5th grade, where we had this competition to make a hypothetical road trip across America. It was Awful, and if you won the competition to get from SF to New York with the shortest distance, you would win something like pizza and a cool engraved name plate. We did not win pizza, because I could not even unfold this asshole map.

And now we have Google so like thanks, Mrs. Lambert, it was cool, but I’ll never use that information again. I hope. It was such a vivid frustrating memory that these maps still fill me with anxiety to this day, hearkening back to my 5th grade self just desperately trying to use string to measure how many miles the freeways across the midwest contain. (spoiler: a lot)

How OLD is this kid? Rebecca’s like secretly a 68 year old. She’s secretly Mrs. Lambert.

At this point we had a swell in the music as each friend of Joey joined in to announce their willingness to risk danger and save him.

Were they...not going to join him the whole time? It just seemed like a weird thing to bring up sooo after the fact.

Yami then turned to Duke and was like “but not you. You stay here” and he was like “Oh, thank gods.”

Rebecca stayed behind because the animators don’t want to draw her. Honestly, she’s incredibly helpful and they were mad stupid to leave the only smart one in the car. But youknow...this team loves being mad stupid. It makes the show more entertaining.

As they left we had a weird aside where Arthur Hawkins reflected “Rebecca is having just a REAL hard time trusting Yami” and it’s like--Arthur Hawkins! You’ve been dumping on Yami for like an entire season, that’s why. Like don’t pretend you’re all on team Pharaoh now. Why ever stop dunking?

But youknow, character development, Rebecca is going to learn the trust the ghost that possessed her crush/best friend that she’s had for 2+ years on a kid who’s been living in Japan this whole time who literally forgot who she was 2 weeks ago. You trust that ghost, Rebecca.

Or not. I mean you really don’t have to. You don’t owe Yami anything, dude. You don’t need to blindly trust idiot men, Rebecca. You just do you. Trust that instinct of “is this guy not trustworthy?” because yep. Chances are if you’re having that thought, that he’s totally not.

Storyboarder!

Storyboarder what ARE you???

STORYBOARDER!

after this followed a scene that I’ve seen gif-ed just so, so often that I assumed it was in a Yugioh Spin-off. I don’t know why I thought it wasn’t in this OG series, but I didn’t expect it to be here, in the Dartz season. But, it does make sense that this scene was under the best Storyboarder‘s direction because *chef’s kisses * it’s perfect. Every frame is a joy. The amount of sinister expressions on Mokuba, the level of sass coming off of Kaiba. It’s such a freakin shame that this man’s best work so far only lasts like a few seconds.

PS my bro looked it up and this car salesman has a wikipedia page.

He also looked up if anyone has shipped this car salesman and it’s our lucky day because this ship does not exist with any human ever in the world. Thank you, humanity. But, they DID make a wikipedia page so maybe we’re just putting off the inevitable?

I’m not even gonna cap it because I KNOW this is a gif you can easily download from everywhere but mm--this is a SOLID piece of animation. This animator is just flexing so hard, man. Yugioh did not deserve this much care and attention to detail.

Shippers rejoice, Seto Kaiba did briefly consider helping out Joey (before he absolutely drove away in the opposite direction)

(They’re clearly in the financial district already, PS. They are driving 5 ft to Dartz’ house.)

At some point Joey nabbed Valon’s card and so now he also gets to wear a bunch of stupid armor outfits.

This one is weird! It’s very Kamen rider-ish...but it’s a color scheme that feels very valentines day. It looks hard to wear. Good thing it’s animated.

I may need to capture this walk sequence though...if I still have the energy...the picture does not display his very energetic arms-in-the-air walk cycle I haven’t seen since that one Season zero episode. I dunno if it’s a reference to that, but I can’t think of any other reason why Tristan is walking like that.

This is when Mai finally shows up.

Valon lost his helmet during this fight, which lead to this:

What a good note to end on.

Anyways, I have no idea what my update schedule will look like or be, so if you’re new here and you want to start reading these from the beginning, I have a link for that:

https://steve0discusses.tumblr.com/tagged/yugioh/chrono

[lettingmydreamsspeak]

The Heart Knows Best: Part III

Summary: They still can’t get each other off their minds. Little do they know that even though distance plays a huge factor in ever knowing one another, something is bringing them together.

Pairing: Chris Evans x Female Reader

Warnings: None

Word count: approx. 2300

Author’s Note: If this is your first time reading this series, catch up with Part I and Part II here. Thanks to those who have read the series so far and have sent messages. It is great to hear from those who are reading it. It is my hope to have Part IV up shortly. 

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

You couldn’t be happier to be home. You already felt like you needed a vacation from your vacation, but the demands of work would quickly occupy your mind. As you turned on your phone upon arriving at the airport terminal, the number on your email app grew. It was your boss inquiring about the timelines for various projects. She must have tracked your flight and knew that once you arrived it would be hard for you to avoid all the emails that she would be sending. Since taking an entry level position as a junior illustrator for an international publishing firm, you had worked your way up the ranks to work directly with the lead art director, as the senior illustrator. Because of your talent and determination, this position allowed for you to gain some of the highest profile accounts that came through the firm, working with some of the most well-known authors. Who knew that all those years of drawing since you were a little girl, would lead to this dream job. Even though the demands of the job could be overwhelming at times, no amount of pressure would take away the love you had for it.

Your brother Ben offered to pick you up from the airport, knowing that you would like to see a familiar face at the other end of customs when you arrived. He wasn’t wrong. The two of you were only two years apart. He was older than you, and as a stereo typical older brother to a sister, he protected you. As you passed through the doors to find what seemed to be a sea of thousands of people, Ben’s smiling face greeted you.

“Welcome home sis!” 

Ben gave you the biggest hug, as if he hadn’t seen you for months on end.

“Thank you for coming to get me. I would much rather sit in the front passenger seat and control the music for once!”

You both had a good laugh, because you both knew all too well that you were the one that would control the playlists while on road trips with your family and friends.

As you slowly made your way to Ben’s car, you were a lot more quiet than usual. Ben was used to you talking his ear off, telling him all the stories of your adventures you had while you were away.

“Is everything ok, Y/n?”

You knew that he would ask you that very question and debated on whether you would tell him the truth, or tell him the smallest of lies. You felt compelled to tell him the truth, but it would take some time to get there.

“I’m definitely tired. Do you think that maybe we can go for ice cream? I’m not quite ready to go home and just want to hang out with you Ben.”

“I’ll never say no to ice cream! You must want to talk about something though; we never just go for ice cream. Wait a sec……what is his name and do I need to beat him up?”

Not sure how to respond yet again, you stop and look at him before crawling into the car. Looking at Ben’s stature, with was tall and skinny, you weren’t sure that he had the muscles to withstand a fight with anyone.

“You might not want to pick a fight with him, Ben. And if you really want to know, you already know him. His name is Chris…...”

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

Chris laid down on the grass, staring up at the clouds through a clearing the in the trees that towered above him. Dodger ran circles around him, stopping every once in a while to lick his face or nudge him in the arm so that he would play with him. He was grateful for the energy of this dog, keeping him on toes and distracting him from what was really going on in his life. He was avoiding his phone and emails for the rest of the day, knowing that he had some work to do.

“Dodge, what am I supposed to do?”

He stopped making circles around Chris and proceeded to lick his face again. It’s like he knew that Chris needed a little extra love and support that day.

“Alright, that wasn’t really the answer I was looking for, but I appreciate all the love you are giving me today, bud. I need it.” 

Chris sat up and pulled Dodger in to give him a hug before getting up to make his way back into the house, where Scott just finished making supper for the two of them.

“Hey Dopey, are you ready to eat something?”

“Yeah.”

Chris quietly took a seat at the kitchen table as Scott dished out some food for him, one scoop at a time, seeing if he would tell him when to stop. Chris sat there just staring at the food piling up, as Scott captured it all on video, figuring that one day Chris will need a good laugh at his own expense.

“Do you know if the kids left any books around here last time they came to visit?”

“I’m pretty sure they did.”

“I need to pick out a children’s book to recommend and I would love it to be one that they like.”

“Why don’t you make it a little more personable and it be one that you always read to them. I’m pretty sure they left the books in your office on the bookshelf, thinking that Uncle Chris might need some easy reading material when they aren’t around. Also, you better eat entire pile of pasta…”

Chris looked down as he dropped his fork on the table, laughing at the sight before him, causing him to shake his head. He picked the fork back up, took a few bites and pushed his plate away.

“Thank you for supper Scott. Just leave the dishes and I will clean them up later.”

“You didn’t even really eat! I’m telling mom!”

“Go ahead!”

Chris left the table on a mission to let his mind escape. He entered his office and b-lined it to the bookshelf that lined the walls across the room from his desk. Starting at the middle of the bookcase, he scoured the shelves for the kids books. He stopped for a moment and realized he was looking in the wrong spot. He turned his eyes downward to the bottom shelf, where the kids could safely reach the shelves. There they were. Nicely placed, looking at if they were meant to be a part of the collection, standing upright thanks to the bookend. Chris sat on the floor against the shelf, looking through the books. There was something about those books that made Chris feel sentimental for a moment. He loved those kids and he loved those books. There was one in particular that stood out to him. It had a picture of a dog on the front that always reminded him of Dodger. The kids loved that book so much because of the dog in the story. You could see the love for that book with the bent corner and chocolate pudding stained pages. This had to be the book that he was going to use for his project.

Scott and Dodger snuck into the office and sat beside Chris, looking through the books with him, noticing the book that was in his hands.

“The kids really do love that book. I should record you reading this book and we should send it to them!”

“You know, that’s not a bad idea. They would love it. Funny voices and all.”

Scott pulled out his phone and started to record the video. Sounding very stately as he started reading; he introduced the author of the book, then the illustrator.

“This book is illustrated by Y/N  Y/L/N………I love how the dog in this book looks like Dodger!!! Here we go. Once Upon a Time…”

Without even noticing, he had said her name aloud. If only he knew…

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

It was time for you to show your face at the office. You figured you could just sneak in without anyone noticing, as you were determined to have a productive day, without any distractions. You felt inspired and ready to create some images for the books that were coming across your desk prior to your vacation. Knowing that it would take a few hours to really get the ideas down on paper, you put your head phones on to help you focus. The hours passed without even taking a break. Your boss scared you out of focus as she reviewed your progress and was pleased with the results so far. She was always amazed with your work and your overall work ethic. As she left you to you continue with your work, you noticed that your phone screen was lighting up. It was best that you took a break for a late lunch and to catch up with the messages that were left for you. For the most part, it was your clients wanting to touch base and see how the illustrations were coming along. There were also a few messages from Haley. She usually sent you random jokes or quotes to help you get through your day, but it seemed as if there was something a little more urgent. 5 missed calls and one text stating that you should call her when you get the chance.

You were feeling a little selfish at that moment, but now was not the time for you to get into a serious conversation with her. You ignored her messages, placed the phone out of sight, and got back to work, knowing that all the drawings wouldn’t finish themselves.

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

It was a new day, and it was certainly feeling like it for the first time in a few days. With an early start to the day, Chris was productive on answering a series of emails from producers and his agent. Taking a break from this work, he found a spot in the sun filled living room to do some recreational reading. His brother sat across the room from him, staring at his phone, as if he were in a deep text conversation with who knows who. With a lack of desire to spend his time catching up on social media, little did Chris know that Scott had made a little post that morning, captioning it: “Story Time with Uncle Chris”. 

Just as Chris had suspected, Scott was reading through text from friends and a multitude of messages in response to the post. There was so much love for this video, but who wouldn’t fall in love with Chris reading yet another children’s book. Sorting through his direct messages, he saw one titled “I Need Your Help…”. Typically these kinds of messages were from people asking for some kind of hand out to help with their cause and would easily be passed by, but for some reason Scott felt compelled to read this message.

Hey Scott, I know we don’t know each other, but we might have an unexpected connection that I need your help with. My friend Y/n happened to be in Manhattan recently, and was helped out by your brother Chris on a rainy morning in Central Park a couple of days ago. I know she is forever grateful for what your brother did to help out. If you can pass on her thanks to him, I know she would appreciate it. 

Thanks so much, Haley.

Ps. You know that book Chris is reading in your most recent post…Y/n illustrated it!

“Shut up.”

“I’m being quiet, why are you telling me to shut up?” 

“Sorry! I was just reading texts from friends. I thought I said that in my head.”

In complete shock of the message he just read, Scott started to formulate a reply to Haley. With zero confidence in what to say back to her, his response was short and to the point.

Hi Haley, we should chat…

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

“You have reached Haley! Sorry I can’t answer your call right now. Either I’m ignoring you, or I’m actually busy. Either way, just text me and I promise to get back to you!”

Her message always made you laugh, as her phone went right to voice mail. She was actually busy on the other line. You felt a little anxious about what she needed to tell you. It was a long day and it felt like you needed a glass of wine to calm your nerves. A nice spot on your balcony looking over the waterfront was the solution. The perks of your job found you living close to the office, in a condo looking over Coal Harbour. It was the dream and you were living it. As you sat down and put your feet up, taking a deep breath, you saw that Haley was now returning your call.

“Hales, I’m sorry that I didn’t return your call earlier. It was a busy first day back at the office.”

“Hi to you too, can you please look at the text I just sent you. But make sure you have me on speaker…please!”

A little puzzled by her request, you put her on speaker and loaded her message.

“What the heck are you sending me? Is this just another gif of a cat dressed up at an old lady?”

“Just watch it.”

The video came up. It was Chris. A smile came to your face. You see him sitting on the floor of what seemed to be a home library or office, with Dodger snuggled in against his leg. He was holding what appeared to be a book. Not really paying attention to what he is saying at the start of the video, you finally focus in on it.

“This book is illustrated by Y/N Y/L/N………I love how the dog in this book looks like Dodger!!! Here we go. Once Upon a Time…”

Your heart stopped. He said your name without even realizing it. You sat in shock as you closed the video, not needing to watch any more of it.

“So…..?”

“He said my name.” 

Staring blankly at the phone, you aren’t too sure what to make of all of this. What were the chances that this would happen?

“Should I bring you more wine?”

“Yes please.”

To be continued in Part IV

[notgonnarememberthis]

find your way (back to me) - chapter four

Merry Christmas Eve! This chapter took an unfortunate amount of time cause of shopping for my little siblings but I finally had the night away from anything to do and was finally able to punch something out. Hope y’all have a lovely, safe Christmas! The next chapter is already written so that’ll be coming soon!

cw - religious content

Gil tries to contain his unease as the lock to the cell echoes in the halls. The pit in his stomach only seemed to grow as he makes eye contact with no other than Martin Whitly himself.

He made Malcolm the promise that he would find Jess, he intended to keep it. No matter the price. They’re nearing the 48 hour mark, only 5 hours away. Malcolm only grows more frantic, analyzing every small detail, Ainsley grows more agitated at her lack of freedom to roam at her own risk. 

Their limited resources are growing thin and the media is chomping at their heels for answers to the two bodies dropped in the park. Since a “letter from the killers” was dropped on the media’s doorstep, the questions of “The Needle’s Eye” haunts his every move. Colette herself collected the letter, but even with their top analysts on the case they’re not sure. Nevertheless every piece of news imaginable had attached to the name and rolled with it. Every print, every broadcast, it’s eating at him.

In other words, he’s desperate.

“Gil!” Martin’s face cracks into an almost jovial smile. One that he witnessed firsthand the vicious nature behind. “I have to say when Mr. David said I had a visitor I wasn’t expecting you. My children haven’t gotten themselves into trouble again have they? Can’t seem to get a hold of anyone these days.” Gil bites his tongue waiting until he exhausts himself. “Where is my boy? Not keeping him from me I hope? Didn’t turn out too good the last time, hm?”

“Dr. Whitly-”

“And I haven’t seen Ainsley on broadcast in two days! I was so happy when they let her back from her sick leave,” he speaks out the side of his mouth with a sly wink. As if they’re sharing some fucking gossip over brunch. “They aren’t questioning that decision are they? Because I can still pull some strings if need be, I mean she was made for broadcasting.”

Gil clears his throat and that seems to catch his attention long enough to get off of the topic, “I’m assuming you’ve heard of the needle’s eye?”

“Oh yes, tragic. Point for creativity though” For a moment, he’s not sure whether Martin means the name or the act itself. The thought tastes like venom in his mouth.

“And you’ve heard that they’ve moved their hunting ground to New York?”

He nods but Gil can see the shift as he begins connecting the dots. He straightens taking exactly three steps closer. Any fake smile or sympathy is gone in the split of a second. “Where are my children?” He asks again, this time the question feels more like a threat. It’s almost accustory the way he bares his teeth. Still he doesn’t waver.

“Malcolm and Ainsley are at the precinct. They’re under strict watch until we catch the men responsible.” Martin relaxes, nodding. “I’m here about Jessica.”

“She didn’t fuck him too, did she?” He barks out a laugh. He runs his tongue across his top teeth with a huff. The comment is a dig and it takes all of his power not to turn it right back at the smirking man.

“Two days ago we found her car at the scene of a wreck. Her driver Alphonso died on impact and we found evidence that she was taken by two men pretending to be paramedics.” Gil delivers the case with the most professional tone he can muster with the anger building in his chest. “The license on the car that caused the wreck matched ones connected to the FBI’s case against the killers.”

He’s not sure exactly what he expected but the laughter booming from deep within startles him. The sound bounces off the walls mocking him to his core. It screams with pointed accusations, his failures to protect her yet again dig in with pointed teeth.

He’s slamming Martin against the wall before his brain catches up to his actions. Anger clenches his jaw, wanting nothing more than to pull every damn answer out of him. The sound stopped with the movement, replaced with a taunting grin that doesn’t make it to his eyes. Martin leans his head back against the concrete looking down upon him. 

He played exactly into what Martin wanted.

He lets go before Mr. David can even open the door, retreating back behind the line in defeat.

He won’t help Gil, even with Jessica in harm’s way. The mere thought brings back to bloody, impulsive rage yet again but he tampers it this time. A lump forms in his throat at the thought of her somewhere; hurt, alone, terrified.

He thinks of Malcolm, eyes hollow with misplaced guilt. Driving himself into the ground until it’s too late. He thinks of Ainsley who would burn the city to the ground to find Jess if she could. He remembers his promise to them. No matter the price.

Gil turns back to Martin, who’s still grinning at him like the devil himself. “Malcolm and Ainsley need you.” He bites his cheek so hard that he can taste the blood in his mouth. It’s better than tasting his own words.

Martin’s jaw drops, for the first time he believes The Surgeon is speechless. He gapes, trying to collect his thoughts a few more times. “The Needle’s Eye, possible religious background. I believe the phrase goes: it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. Now, I think that a little harsh but that’s beside the point.” 

“And the other bodies?”

“No doubt connected to the killers, don’t let the ol’ switcheroo fool you. These men believe the rich to be the epitome of sin. Greed, lust, gluttony the whole nine yards. He’s proving a point. Making them choose who lives or dies. Them, or a perfectly innocent stranger.” 

“They’re partners.”

“Clearly there’s a dominant. The one who enacts the brutal killings, and the one who disposes of the victims. The dominant wouldn’t show remorse for the innocents, they’re simply the sacrifice of his mission.” He curses internally because it makes sense. “But there’s a twist. If they choose to live, they die a brutal death. If they sacrifice themselves, the stranger dies. Judging by the news. Jessie’s making the wrong choice.”

“So she’s alive.”

“At least until she changes her answer.” Gil tries to swallow but his throat feels like the desert. Two bodies, who knows if the killer has found a third victim to capture. It’s only a matter of time before Jess makes the connection to the answer the killer wants, at the cost of her life.

The clicking lock draws both of their attention. Mr. David hovers there with a stern look on his face. “You’re needed at the precinct.”

“What happened?”

“Malcolm just punched a journalist.”

“Oh, good for him.” Martin grins. “Don’t tell Ainsley, but a lot of them can be so pushy.” 

He grits his teeth following Mr. David out of the door. This will not help Bright’s case with Colette. She already struggled letting him in on the case in the first place and it’ll be a struggle keeping it that way. He ignores the calls of Martin as he walks down the hall.

“Do visit again Gil! It was lovely talking with you!”

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The flooding of sudden light makes Jessica wince, hand instinctively trying to shield herself. After god knows how long in relative darkness the brightness stings her eyes. She squints watching a figure in black stumble into view.

“This is all your fucking fault.” Her heart dips as her eyes adjust. His knuckles are bloody and his footprints he leaves are crimson. The thought sinks in all at once. The partner, the one who had just been pleading and arguing with the man about killing innocents. The one who was young and stupid and impressionable was likely dead at the hands of this evil man. “If you weren’t such a stupid bitch!” 

The backhand across her face stings but the aftermath gives her the opportunity to truly see her captor, even through the mask. Her stomach does a flip as she realizes in horror that she’s all too familiar with the black uniform. One she’s had the misfortune of seeing too many times for her liking over the years. One that matches Gil’s long before he was a Lieutenant. The badges and markers are covered or removed but she recognizes it regardless.

The glint of silver catches her gaze next, the knife is clutched in the man’s hand with a death like grip. She wonders briefly if he actually intends to kill her this time. “You’ve fucked up everything.” He spits before bending over to be on her level. “So I’m going to have to improvise.” With his face this close she can smell the cheap vodka on his breath. He grips her chin between two fingers forcing her eyes to meet his. “I’ll just have to get one of your kids. Maybe they’ll make the right choice. Dear mommy or a poor stranger.”

Whatever energy she still has flares in her with her protective instincts. She rears back and smashes her forehead into his nose before he can react. His drunkenness helps the clumsy instincts. The hit makes her head spin and her side ache with a new flare of pain that spreads all the way across her chest. 

It’s almost worth it to see him bleeding.

He yells both in pain and in anger, raising the knife high in the air. She braces for the kill, it would be worth it to spare her children the pain of that choice. One that they would no doubt in her mind, make to save her in a heartbeat. She closes her eyes.

She screams when the knife pierces her leg. She opens her eyes again to see it deeply embedded in her thigh and the man stumbling back away. The lights flick out again as the tears escape uncontrollably. The pain of it chokes her until she can’t help but weap. All of the energy that had taken over to protect her kids flooded out. 

Tipping her head back she let out a final scream. All of her frustration, anger, fears piled into one as she mentally berated whatever higher power was out there. Afterwards with her throat sore and head heavy, she allowed herself to be pulled into the welcoming darkness.

[hanjizung]

The mansion. [PAR T I]

✞༒The Mansion.༒✞

[PART I]

SKZ x Reader.

Word count: 2.8k

♡ Warnings ♡: None. (for now...)

A/n: here’s the first part of this new series im so excited to post! all of this is based in a dream i had. hope you enjoy it! ♡

You checked everything in your backpack for the last time before reuniting with the rest of your friends. 

"You have everything?" Chan asked, closing his own backpack and smiling when you nodded at him. 

"Let's get going then, the night is just starting." Minho announced, keys in hand. The rest of the guys followed him, talking among themselves.

Where were you going? Exploring. You've always been a curious soul, always wondering if abandoned places held something hidden to the human eye. That curiosity guided you here, with these guys that you grew very close to in a short time. 

You called yourselves 'urban explorers' and as the name indicated, you visited empty and sometimes scary buildings just because you thought it was fun. At first, you started alone.

But one day, you happened to coincide with them in an old house by a lake. The first impression was… something else. They confused you with a ghost, you confused them with a dangerous gang and that provoked a lot of screaming. But after that death scare, Chan explained who they were. 

They called themselves ‘stray kids.’ And you found it fitting to the hobby that they all did together. At the end, you asked Bang Chan if you could join them, since exploring by yourself had its dangers, and sometimes the loneliness was too much for you to handle. Chan happily accepted, and that's how you ended up here. 

Today you were going to explore a mansion that Minho found by the outsides of the city, it seemed very appealing, especially because Seungmin had gotten a new recording camera and was excited to film the upcoming events. 

Everyone was super excited to visit said mansion. Everyone, except Changbin. 

Frowning, you waited for the guys to walk ahead of you, walking slowly with the shortest of your friends, a smile on your face corresponding to his own when he saw your worried face. 

"Changbin, we've done this a lot of times, there's nothing to worry about, you know? Even Jisung and Jeongin don't feel scared anymore. Besides, we're just going to explore, not summon a demon" you joked, taking his hand with your smaller ones to try and reassure him that everything would go smoothly. 

"I know, Y/N. I kinda had gotten used to it but… I can't help but feel like this one is going to be different" he replied, shrugging. 

You could understand that. Not all the places you visited had the same energy, it was normal to be more scared of one or more excited to visit the others. All of the buildings had their own distinctive aura. 

"I'm sure everything will be okay as long as we stay together" you hugged his arm, walking to Minho's car. You had divided yourself in two teams, one would be going with Chan, and the other with Minho. 

Each team had the same supplies for filming. In your team (by team you really mean who you're in the car with) was Minho, the driver; Jisung, in charge of carrying snacks; Seungmin, the best camera man of the gang, and finally, Changbin and you. He was in charge of the heavy stuff, like extra water bottles and such, meanwhile you were responsible for the team's flashlights, walkie talkies and batteries. 

Of course, Chan assigned you as the most responsible one since you explored by yourself and never got lost or injured, and just like Chan, you were also in charge of carrying bandages, rubbing alcohol and enough materials to clean a bad injury. You also made sure to always remind the guys to carry their bottle of water and portable chargers for your phone just in case that your flashlights died on you and you lost the batteries. 

Better be prepared than sorry, you always said. 

Minho started the engine, telling you that he found out about the mansion because of a story that one of his neighbors told him about an old woman who died there and cursed the mansion decades ago before her death.

You couldn't help but laugh at the story, getting an arched eyebrow from Jisung who told you to 'be skeptical' because as far as you knew, magic could be real and you were disrespecting that old woman's curse by laughing at it. 

Seungmin proceeded to laugh at him and ask him if he ever listened to the things he said, Jisung tried to hit him from the front seat for making fun of him. It was all fun and laugh in the car thanks to Jisung, but next to you a quiet Changbin distracted himself by looking out the window. 

You were worried about him, he was being more serious than usual, so you decided to stick with him the whole time, only to make sure he felt okay with going on with the exploration.

Two hours later, a huge building could be seen from afar, the roof of the old mansion being what made the mansion really stand out from the forest surrounding it. Upon finally seeing the place that you were going to explore, Changbin audibly gulped to your left. Jisung and you left out a surprised wow. Seungmin, who was sitting on your other side, took out his phone to take a photo of it,while Minho smirked, his eyes never parting from the road in front of him as he parked in front of the old place.

Jisung was the first one to leave the car, slamming the door shut gaining an angry shout from Minho, who got out the car after his friend to scold him from closing the door like that, meanwhile you waited for either Changbin or Seungmin to get off the car to finally be able to breathe the clean air and stretch your legs. 

Apparently, Changbin still wasn’t as excited to explore the mansion as your other friends were. You watched the rest of the guys taking their own backpacks and talking from the window after Seungmin left you and Changbin alone.

You closed the door after Seungmin left and looked at Changbin, placing your hand on his shoulder gently to make him look at you instead of the mansion behind you. 

You could tell something was troubling him, but opted to not say anything. Changbin inhaled and exhaled, his eyes closed and then he returned your smile, opening the door next to him and finally getting out of the car. He waited for you to get out too and Minho, waiting on the back of the car, handed you both your backpacks, closing the trunk of his car. 

You reunited with the rest of the guys who were just getting out of the car and took out your phone. Chan shouted for them to come close to him and make the usual check of having everything. 

"Do all of you have your walkie-talkies?" he counted the nodding head with a smile. You had yours on the pocket of your hoodie. It was almost always there. 

You counted the flashlights in your bag and handed them to the guys, they thanked you and waited for Chan's next question. 

"We're going to test the walkie-talkies and then we're gonna choose a number to see who we're going to be paired with" while Chan talked, Felix and Jeongin tested if the walkies worked, but it seemed like they didn't because Felix looked troubled. 

"Chan, the walkies don't work. We only hear static when trying to receive, it's not clear. Are we going to proceed without them?" the rest of the guys looked at Chan, waiting for his answer. He shrugged. 

"it would be better if we had them, but if you say they don't work we'll just leave them in the car. We can scream if something happens or if we find anything interesting" he said. 

"it's kind of scary going without the walkie, though " Hyunjin said, giving his device to Jeongin who took the most he could back to Chan's car. 

"Nothing bad is going to happen if we go without them, Jinnie. Y/N explored alone, with no walkie for months and she's here with us now. If something had happened maybe she would have quitted urbex" Felix pointed. You laughed at him, the boys loved to pull the 'Y/N used to do urbex without us' card when someone chickened out before an exploration. 

Hyunjin rolled his eyes and sighed, taking the container with everyone's name. 

That's how the pairing system worked. Every time different people had to choose who they were going randomly assigned with, but since you joined that system had to be readjusted, so the person whose name wasn't chosen had to pick a number from 1 to 4 and join them, the groups made from playing rock, scissors, paper and the one who lost had to pick first, their companion and them becoming the number one for the next draw. 

The first round of rock, paper scissors began and after a few minutes, Jeongin was the loser. 

Hyunjin picked Jeongin's name and shook the container for Jeongin to pull a name out. He did and unfolded the little paper. 

"It seems like I'm going with… Seungmin" he said, showing the name of the second youngest to everyone. 

The second round began, Hyunjin lost and he picked his companion; Chan. The next pair was Felix and Jisung, and the last pair was Changbin and you. 

"That means Minho has to pick a number to see what team he's going to join" Chan said, mixing the papers with the numbers on his hand and letting Minho choose one. 

He opened the little piece of paper, everyone holding their breath in anticipation of his words. A little smile creeped on his face, his head turning to look at Jisung and Felix who were resting against Chan's car. Apparently, his number had been three. 

"Alright, now that everyone has their companion we're going to explore. But first, do you all agree on filming the whole exploration or just take photos of the place?" Chan asked. You had a little go pro camera, the one you used when you explored alone to check if anything happened or moved and you weren't aware of it. 

Seungmin loved filming things, so he had gotten a better camera that he was very excited to use that day, giving his old one to Jeongin who seemed kind of interested in capturing paranormal things on tape. 

Meanwhile, Jisung had a modern voice recorder but he only used it when he heard noises and wanted to record anything that he thought was suspicious. It was kind of hard for him to catch up on noises that you didn't make, but he was always the first one to hear steps that didn't belong to any of you, asking to the void if anyone was there, his hand extended trying to record any possible answer. 

Chan, unlike you, didn't have his own camera. Instead he had some gadgets he bought to make contact with possible ghosts. 

Because yes, Chan believed in ghosts, and that was the reason he started exploring abandoned places, to try and communicate with spirits from the other side.

Hyunjin did have a camera of his own, but unlike Seungmin's, his only worked with night mode during explorations, that annoyed him because he preferred to see everything like the first time he was in the explored place in person, not all black and green. 

"I'll start filming everything once we get inside like always, so if you guys don't want to film we at least will have my recordings" you said, pointing to the camera resting in your chest. 

"I'm going to film everything for sure, I'm super excited to try this beauty" Seungmin said, holding up his camera with a proud smile making all of you laugh. 

"I'll bring my camera just to film if Chan manages to make contact with some ghost” Hyunjin said, guarding his device in his backpack. 

Jeongin didn't say anything, but since his partner was Seungmin there was no need for him to film anything, so he walked to Felix and gave him his camera to use if they happened to find something exciting. 

"Alright, then I guess we can get inside now. You know how it goes, we go wherever we want to and in this particular case with no direct communication we'll have to scream if anything happens. Jisung, give me the spray can please" Chan made sure to remind you. Everyone listened to him, he had this image of leader and a reputation of always helping you with anything you were struggling with. He was an excellent friend, and an even better leader. 

Jisung stopped looking into his backpack, tossing the oldest a black spray can. Chan caught it and that was when all of you followed him to the enormous front doors of the mansion. 

"It's a beautiful door to be vandalized like this…" you sighed. Chan looked at you with understanding eyes, but that didn't stop him to do what you all knew was coming next. 

In the middle of the wooden doors, Chan's hand hovered, his finger about to press the spray to draw the logo you got so used to seeing when you explored a new place. 

The initials, SKZ were used to mark places that you visited. They first started using it around the abandoned building near the city where you live, some rumors of a new gang were heard here and there, every time you overheard people talking about that mystic gang that didn't do anything except leave their logo you almost wanted to laugh. 

Almost, because the things people said weren't good things, so you always had to resist the urge of snapping at them and explaining what exactly did the logo mean. 

But you never did, because you had insane self control and tried to focus your energy thinking on what your mother could do for dinner, deciding to be hungry the rest of the day instead of angry. 

To your surprise, Chan moved his hand. You heard him sigh, and he walked to the wall on the right side, marking that place instead of the beautiful door. When he was finished he looked at you with one of his beautiful dimpled smiles. 

"She's right, the door was too beautiful to ruin with our logo. Let's get in now, the place is big enough for us to investigate separately" he said, trying to open the doors. 

He grunted, then he pushed both doors with all the strength in his body to be able to finally open them. Bang Chan succeeded and everyone clapped, he moved and allowed everyone else to get inside before him, like the amazing leader he was, always looking out for all of you. 

You stepped inside, turning on your flashlight and looking around, taking in your surroundings. The light coming from your friends and illuminating the place more, giving you the ability to see more clearly in the darkness. 

On your left, Minho and Jisung were looking closely to the framed pictures on the wall. You glanced at the framed photos and paintings, they looked incredibly old and gave you a sense of fright, your back felt cold and something in your head told you to get out of there.

Walking away from Changbin who hadn’t left your side, you pulled the door and tried to open it. But it didn’t. And you started to panic, a nervous laugh leaving your lips, grabbing the attention of the guys who were mesmerized with the gigantic mansion. You stared at all the boys, looking if anyone was missing and blocking the door from outside as a cruel joke. But you couldn’t concentrate and count who was inside and who wasn’t. Much to your panicked state, the guys weren’t saying anything when you tried to pull the door open again, they opted to look at you as if you were crazy.

“Haha, you’re very funny, guys. Who’s blocking the door?” you asked, voice trembling. Hyunjin walked slowly to you, as if to not alarm you even more. He moved your shaky hand from the doorknob and tried to pull the door open himself.

“Y/N, there’s nobody outside. We’re all here, together. Look, here’s Jeongin, Felix, Minho, Seungmin, Jisung, Changbin, Hyunjin, you and me” Chan said, taking your hand when he was close enough to you. You  looked at each of your friends that Chan pointed while saying their names to you and you felt a chill run through your back.

Felix took your hand from Chan’s and wrapped his arm around your shoulders, but you pushed him gently, indicating to him that you didn’t want a hug in that instant. Instead, you turned to look at Chan, squeezing the blond’s hand to let him know you weren’t feeling okay at all.

Chan and Hyunjin tried to open the door together, but after some tries under your anxious gaze, there was no success. Sighing and finally giving up, Chan turned to face all of you who hadn’t moved and said:

“Guys… we’re trapped.”

【ＮＥＸＴ　ＰＡＲＴ】