#Keri is being weird again.

[thegodthief]

Dreamt I was told a story, and the storyteller wanted me to share it with others. And for the most part, the story was one I was comfortable sharing, until it got to one certain point. I considered what other people have done with the stories I have shared before, and realized this wouldn't be a trivial anecdote.

I asked the storyteller if I could rewrite that portion, they declined. I had to write it the way it was told to me. I asked them if I could leave that part out entirely, and they declined that, too. That portion was the whole point of telling.

I asked the storyteller was it necessary that I share the story in the first place. They remained silent, but their face hinted at a feral smile.

If I did not share the story, they warned, then it would devour me instead.

It has been four days since the storyteller told me a story. It has been four days since I have declined to share it. I have considered the story coming and going. I see where my detractors will accuse me of bandwagoning and where they will accuse me of cultural appropriation. I see where my traumas made themselves known and the wishful thinking I thought was left behind but is still hooked to my legs. I see how the story is just one more in an ocean of words, but I also see how the story is unique to itself.

And each time I come to the scene that made me pause. I don't want to tell this scene as it was told to me. It's not that I am ashamed of my actions in the story. To be honest, my actions are no different in the story than it would be in any other event, waking or dream. It's not that the storyteller laid bare one of my fears. Those who have read my words from the beginning know all about my fears, and how I have worked to overcome them.

"You are a storyteller. Tell this story."

"I have a duty to those I tell stories to."

"The only duty you bear is the telling. What they choose to do with your words is their consequences to bear."

"If I leave a hot pan in reach of a child, and the child scalds themselves, whose fault is it? The fault of the person who knew better, or the fault of the innocent?"

"Do you write for children?"

"... No."

"Do you write for innocents?"

"... Heh, no."

"Then, who do you write for?"

"... I have been asking myself that from the moment I started telling stories. The answer has yet to reveal itself to me. I will sit on this story until I find the audience for it."

"It will devour you."

"As do many."

[mississpissi]

i was talking to keri the other day and i realized that the way carlos defined his intentions for being in night vale is very specific. 

in the very first episode, cecil reports: “Carlos told us that we are, by far, the most scientifically interesting community in the US, and he had come to study just what is going on around here.”

(this gets really out of hand so be warned)

i thought it was interesting that carlos highlighted that what was scientifically interesting was the community of night vale. that he came to study what is going on in night vale. i thought maybe this could just be weird wording, so i. i did read through every mention of carlos in the transcripts from episode 1 up to the most recent episode. 

the next time we hear about carlos’ reason for being in night vale is in episode 25, when cecil says, “[Carlos] came to us to investigate our town, because he said it was scientifically extraordinary, and downright bizarre.”

interesting that carlos is investigating the town, and that he finds the town extraordinary and bizarre. it is repeated multiple times that night vale is the most scientifically interesting community. “Community” is the word used every time.

also of note is how carlos describes the desert otherworld. he calls it “the most scientifically interesting place in the otherworld” (58). he also says that his time there is “the most scientific. I don’t think I’ve ever been more scientific, and you know how much I love science.” (59). 

i point this out because carlos calls the otherworld the most scientifically interesting place, not community. part of this could be that there wasn’t much of a community in the dow at this time, but there were still people out there with him, but i think this wording is intentional. he even corrects kevin on this later: “Kevin: I think you once called this desert otherworld ‘the most scientifically interesting community in the U.S.’ Carlos: Well…no, my exact words were–” (70a). 

i also point out that carlos emphasizes how scientific his time in the dow is because it seems as if it is a significant difference from what he had been doing in night vale- almost as if the nature of his research had changed from studying a community to a place.

later, when reflecting on his arrival in night vale, carlos says, “When I came here, I understood this town as scientifically fascinating” (111). again, the emphasis is that the town is what’s fascinating. the community.

in this most previous arc, we get even more insight into this idea. carlos has come to define for night vale what science looks like (which i could and will go on and on about at a later date). this is widely acknowledged- carlos is repeatedly referred to as the towns leading scientist, as the scientist (which, i know, its by cecil, not a reliable narrator, but thats the narrator we got and im taking his word as bible). when the uowii comes in and starts doing science differently, cecil contrasts their work with that of the night vale community college, saying, “See, this is what real science is all about. Dangerous, frightening experiments conducted on an unknowing populace with a vague aim and no clear end date” (223). and, yeah, this def sounds like a cecil/night vale little quirk, seeing that cecil is. intimately familiar with how the. top scientist does his work (sorry), i think it’s worth noting that he sees science as something done to a populace. i might be stretching with that one but i dont care.

then, when lubelle is directly addressing carlos, she says, “​​I knew you when you got it in your head that there was somewhere in the great deserts of the United States a town that was the most scientifically interesting community in the country. Oh the attention you got for this so called discovery, nonsense though it was. You got headlines, you got grants, an entire research team for this fully funded expedition” (230). she says again, community. he got grants and attention and headlines for discovering this community (which does make me wonder what he was putting out there to get headlines and attention. or how he found night vale to be credited with discovering it. again, a post for a later date). 

now to what im trying to get at.

i do think it matters that carlos is coming to study the community of night vale. when lubelle gets to town, she jumps right into trying to find the most interesting thing, the biggest scientific breakthrough. when carlos gets to town, one of the first things he does is call a town meeting. he tells the town why he’s there. he warns the town of things that might harm them, investigates that which is actively affecting the community. 

i think of the anthropological nature of that idea- of studying a community. of entering a community you find interesting, declaring your intent, and trying to learn what you can about how the community works. to learn about the culture. to be curious about how things move in that world.

i think about carlos trying to distance himself from marine biology, from the phantom ocean, and deciding that studying a community of people in the middle of the desert just might be different enough for him to reignite his passion for science and research.

i think that its really interesting how actively carlos resisted becoming personally entangled with anyone in town, with cecil especially. we know carlos liked cecil fairly quickly, but didn’t move as fast as cecil hoped. i think it’s really interesting that carlos defines home as “a grouping of objects connected by a shared personal experience of time” and a town as “a collection of objects and people, no more meaningful than any other” (100, 210). those definitions seem very distant to me. i think it’s really interesting that carlos was so resistant to the idea of calling night vale his home town.

i think, if someone had come to a town intending to study the community, they would be very wary of becoming too involved in the community, of putting their results at risk. studying strange phenomena would be excusable, especially for someone who deeply believes “science is a tool, helpful and dangerous, but we will use it only for our fellow humans, with the benefit of the least of us always in mind” (230). but becoming involved personally, allowing personal biases to sully the objectivity of the research, tainting the data with something as unscientific as feelings- this would be unacceptable to someone who saw science as the ultimate motivation.

i just think it matters that this wording is repeated. i think it matters that carlos spent years terrified of calling night vale his community, because it was one he was only ever meant to research. one he was only ever meant to report on. like. a certain someone who has also had to shift the nature of his work because of a man he fell in love with.

i think it matters that carlos recognizes when he has let his scientific integrity slip, when he calls himself “complacent” for “no longer see[ing] the strangeness, but only [his] home” (111). i think it matters that carlos comes to realize that sometimes, an explanation takes away the fun of things (it devours), that even if the sun doesn’t set at the right time, “the sunset was really beautiful, so at least there’s that” (111). that a magic trick doesn’t need to be explained (222), that every mystery of the strange community he is studying doesn’t need an explanation. that his focus was not on tearing apart the community in the search of truth, but “the science of discovery, of research, of humility, of using these tools to make our lives better” (230).

i think it matters that, even as carlos did become irrevocably involved in the community he was meant to study, he always made sure to keep “most of its mysteries… intact” (212). he still maintained that level of scientific integrity, and pushed to reinforce this when people threatened to do otherwise. 

i think it matters that carlos, when faced with someone from his past, someone who knew exactly why he was there and exactly what he had left and exactly what the correct scientific procedure is, says, “I speak now not to my adversary, but to my community” (230). his community. yes, the most scientifically interesting community in the united states. yes, the community he had come to study. yes, the community he had, somewhere along the way, become a part of. and yes, his community. 

i think this is such a cool example of character development, and maybe i just couldn’t fully appreciate or understand the importance of him saying “community” every time without what was revealed in this last arc, but i really like considering this angle. i love thinking of carlos trying to remain distant before realizing his community, his love, his family had all become one, and he could still find wonder and make scientifically interesting discoveries from within the community. i love that he found a home, one much more personal than simply a grouping of objects and people, but a community that is his.

[tayfabe75]

Hi :-) I'm 18-- and a half. I'm the girl who is best friends with a guitar and writes songs about everything and everyone that happens to me. Names included. ;-) Class of 2008. In my spare time, I like to conduct random baking experiments in my kitchen and write letters to people. I really love people who like my music. They're number 1 on my favorite things list. I'm not a big deal. At all. I love people who are nice to me, I've never been one to say things like "All you people think you know me, well you don't". Because I'm not that complicated. My complications come out in my songs. All you need to do to be my friend is like me. My middle name is Alison. And I'm extremely tall. Like, I'm that really tall person that is blocking your view at a concert. On behalf of all of us, we're sorry. My ideal outfit is a sun dress and cowboy boots. I love surprises and hardwood floors. I like people who are excitable. I think it's endearing when people cry when they're happy. I'm pretty excitable too. I've never been the kind of girl who needs a boyfriend. Plus, guys don't ask me out because they know I'll write songs about them. But I'm also the girl who still believes prince charming exists somewhere out there-- fully equipped with great hair and an immature sense of humor. I wear too many bracelets and I can't concentrate on the conversation if the TV's on. I grew up on a Christmas tree farm. Seriously. I'm fascinated by black and white pictures, I have them hung up everywhere. I like people who can be sarcastic and laugh about tense situations. I never assume someone's not being honest with me. I like to read up on weird medical problems, so if one of my friends ever complains of a headache or stomach ache, I'm probably going to spout off 12 different things that could be wrong with them. Because I'm way paranoid. I think Keri Russell and Ellen DeGeneres are the coolest celebrities ever. I don't like making decisions when I don't have to. So right now my toenails are painted 5 different colors. I will never straighten my hair to impress a guy ever again. There's never going to be a time when I'm annoyed by compliments about my music. I need everything to be organized. All the time. I think little kids are awesome. I'm a thinker and an over-analyzer. I'm not jaded. I'm a fan of fans. You are absolutely wonderful to me. I've got your back, just like you've had mine. To anyone who has gone out and bought my CD, or come to a show, or even turned my song up when it came on the radio, all I can say is thank you. Oh yeah.. My name's Taylor.

July 26, 2008: Snapshot of Taylor Swift's archived Myspace profile, highlighting what she looks for in a partner. (source 1, 2)

[darklydeliciousdesires]

The Dream - Chapter Four.

You guys! Thank you so much for all of your engagement on this! It especially means a lot to me since us content creators are suffering a distinct lack of visibility at present. Next update day is Thursday, you know what to do in order to make that happen, and on with the show we go :)

Previous chapters - Prologue  One  Two  Three

Tag list - In the comments, please DM to be added/removed (note: those not engaging will be automatically removed from the tag list, FYI)

Words - 3,327

Warnings - 18+ content throughout, minors DNI!

“It was weird last night.”

Frankie and Jaime had wondered whether they’d be consulted about yet another dream as they sat enjoying a few drinks at their local. Not that either was tired of hearing about them, they found it quite fascinating, but Frankie especially noticed how it was starting to wear on her friend a little bit.  

“Oh?” Jaime asked, swirling her gin and elderflower around in the large glass with a stirrer, the ice cubes tinkling. “How so?”

“Well,” she began, lifting her beer to her lips and taking a swig, missing her mouth a little and ending up with a foamy splash on her jeans. “God damnit!”

“Calamity Joe strikes again!” Frankie announced with mirth. If her bestie had a penchant for anything, it was spilling. Or making a mess with condiments. Or just general bad luck where being the agent of calamites was concerned.  

“I could murder Aaron for making that name a thing,” Keri huffed lightly, dabbing her jeans with a tissue. “Anyway, back to my dream. It was all pretty standard to begin with. We met and hugged each other as usual and kissed too. Then, though, and this is the real fucking ‘WTF?’ of it, he asked why I was invading every dream he was having!”

The girls' heads swivelled to look at one another with wide eyes, staring back at their friend, Frankie circling her hand in indication that she should continue, and quickly. “And?”  

“I told him that no, it was him appearing in my dreams, and I was the one who was real, not him. Then, this black wall came up and divided the room between us, and I shouted if he could still hear me, but nothing. I turned around, and there’s this old, blind woman sitting in the corner, and she calls me over and asks me if I sought answers, which of course I told her that I did. She then started writing something on a piece of paper, which turned out to be the words, and I quote, ‘find him in the lounge.’ Then she clapped her hands in front of my face, and I woke up. It was weird, to see another person in the dream apart from him.”

“She wasn’t a person, you weren’t visited by some mystic old lady,” Jaime stated. “The old woman was a representation over you being blind in all of this, not being able to see why you’re dreaming of him.” Her insight there was eye opening, Keri cocking her head curiously. Frankie, however...

“I’m sorry,” she snorted, immediately falling into hissed laughter. “Just imagine it if you’d gone downstairs, and there he is like ‘sup, baby? Here I am, literal man of your dreams!’ Oh god!” Keri might’ve not been so entertained, if Frankie’s put-on guy voice hadn’t been quite so comical, or if she hadn’t summed up what she’d so sillily wondered for a very fleeting second upon waking. “I’m sorry, I love you, I just...”  

“It’s a damned good job I love you too, you and your bro voice!” She paused to join in with the laughter, Jaime as well, although she scolded Frankie softly, slapping her thigh. “So, thoughts?”

“I don’t have a clue, beets, I’m sorry,” she began, composing her laughter.

Jaime turned to her, her face light with mild incredulity. “Erm, are you overlooking the main take from this dream, babe?” She waited to see if her girlfriend would cotton on, Frankie reaching for her beer, raising her eyebrows expectantly as she took a swig, licking foam from her lip. “They both think the other is invading their dreams, which spells one thing loud and clear. You’re sharing dreams with someone else! This guy, he’s a real person.”

“Oh no, that can’t be true!” Keri was quick to dismiss, waving her hand before picking up her beer, taking a couple of sips. “I mean... no! That’s just too spooky for comfort. He’s just a guy in my dream, that’s it. It’s making my head hurt, trying to discover if there’s a deeper meaning there.”  

Her friends happily let her move the conversation on, sensing that she needed it, their talk quickly revolving around Frankie’s grandparents, and their upcoming fiftieth wedding anniversary celebration, and the fact that for the first time in three years, Frankie would be seeing her estranged parents again.

After finding out their only daughter was a lesbian, they had completely turned their back on her, kicking her out of the house in disgust and refusing to pay her college fees until she got over what they considered to be a phase. Gay conversion therapy through their church was even discussed, Frankie opposing the idea greatly, pleading with them to listen to her that it wasn’t a big deal. She simply didn’t desire men, and never had.  

Toby and Henrietta Scarvo were both born again Christians, and through their new church’s teachings, frowned upon homosexuality, something that had disgusted Toby's very liberal leaning parents greatly. They were only just about on speaking terms again after the huge rift that had pulled the family apart three years previously, when Frankie had finally been brave enough to come out to her family.  

She had been so fortunate to have her grandparents stand firmly in her corner, both professing not to give a damn about which gender she preferred to date, as long as she was happy, also stumping up the money for her to continue at college and also contribute a little towards her half of the bills and rent at the apartment she shared with Jaime, whom they absolutely adored. Kathy and Homer Scarvo were truly, truly lovely people.  

“So, I went shopping with gramps and we bought matching suits to wear!” Frankie spoke, who had been intent on wearing a dress, until her grampie Homer had spotted the suits and suggested they should twin on their outfits. As much as Frankie did love a nice dress, she could never resist a nicely tailored suit.  

“Oh, that’s so cute!” Keri gushed, clasping her hands together as she beamed, imagining it.  

“I told him I’m still wearing heels, though, I gotta make it a little bit girly. We’re doing rainbow pocket squares, too!” In tribute to their beloved granddaughter, along with old glory on the Scarvo’s front lawn, a Pride flag flew. Her grandmother even proudly enjoyed wearing a hoodie with the slogan ‘My granddaughter digs chicks. Deal with it’ emblazoned across the front. “Oh man, look at all those bikes, wow!”

Turning her head, Keri looked up at the TV, where Frankie’s interest had been pulled to some special news report about outlaws, a bunch of them rolling into Vegas, it looked like, a line of motorcycles parked up outside of a casino on the strip, the shiny paintwork glinting in the bright sunlight.  

“We don’t really get those guys around here,” she commented, continuing to view the footage and listen to the statistics over crime and gun violence the men featured were allegedly responsible for. “I think I remember seeing some Hell’s Angels roll through once or twice.”

“Yeah, and then there’s the Sons of Anarchy up in Salt Lake City, but those guys aren’t them.” Frankie narrowed her eyes, looking at the kutte one of them was wearing. “Mayans MC. Hmm, never heard of those dudes before.”

The camera panned out along the long line of bikes again, the next image a close up of one of the men, who noticed he was being filmed, lifting his sunglasses with a look of defiance, raising his middle finger to the camera. It was when his face was revealed properly that Keri almost fainted.  

Find him in the lounge.  

“Oh Jesus Christ.” Her heart almost stopped beating. “It’s him!”  

“What?” Frankie spoke, picking up a handful of spicy peanuts from the bowl before her and throwing them into her mouth. “Who’s him?”

“The, the guy in my dream, he was just on the screen! He was the one who flipped the camera off, it’s him!” Her lungs tightened, her stomach turning over as she shot out of her seat, feeling her guts churn. Frankie was off the couch and racing after her in an instant, finding Keri outside the bar, throwing up into the ferns that lined the side of the path.  

“Hey, hey, I got you, it’s alright,” she soothed, gathering her hair away from her face, rubbing her back.  

“It isn’t alright, though! I mean, what the fuck?” she cried, heaving again, more of her lunch coming up.  

“Shhh, breathe, take your time,” she advised, her hand still circling her upper back soothingly. “Are you definitely sure it was him?”  

She took a breath, straightening, trying to calm herself down. Inside, she was utterly tumultuous. “Yes, yes it was him. I mean, I think it was, I...” Her entire body shook, her heart racing. “Why is this happening to me? How can it be happening, this is insane! Fucking insane! I feel like I’m going crazy, and I’m questioning myself now. Was it him, or did I just see someone who looked vaguely like him, and my brain is so adamant to find an answer that it made me believe that it was?”

“Okay, well we can discover that pretty easily. Give it a few hours and the news report will be uploaded to the CNN site, so we can look later on, pause it, and you’ll have more than a few fleeting seconds to study his face.” With that, they formed a plan, Frankie leading her back inside and taking her to the restroom so she could get herself straightened up, rinsing her mouth and cleaning off a few flecks of vomit from her jeans, going back out and ordering a shot of tequila. It likely wasn’t the best thing to pour into an empty stomach, but she needed something to steady her nerves.

The plan was to continue with their day before grabbing a takeout and then heading back to Frankie and Jaime’s place, all sitting down to eat while Frankie continued to refresh the CNN page on her laptop, waiting for the report to be uploaded.  

“Alright, here we go.” Those words made Keri regret eating quite so much of her food prior to viewing, Jaime making her laugh softly after vanishing into the kitchen, returning with a mop bucket.  

“Just in case.” She put it down at her side, Keri lifting the laptop from the table and resting it to her legs, pressing play, beginning to search through the video until she got to the part she recognised. As soon as he appeared, she pressed pause. Her friends waited expectantly.

“Yep,” she confirmed, letting it play again, waiting until he removed his shades and then pausing again. “It’s definitely him.”

“Oh, this is crazy,” Frankie spoke, releasing a long breath she’d been holding, combing her fingers through her hair. “I mean, how, how can this truly be real? Any ideas?” Turning to her girlfriend, she watched Jaime take the laptop from a freaked-out Keri, closing the browser and shutting it.  

“Destiny? Perhaps you’re meant to meet him?” she spoke, Keri’s eyes widening. She still couldn’t get her head around it, her brain not really knowing how to co-operate with this new information she’d learned, let alone begin to process it. Her friends saw it clearly, deciding that the best thing they could do was at least try to take her mind off it. Movies were watched, alcohol was poured, and cuddles were given, Keri eventually falling asleep, only to be roused by Frankie picking her up so Jaime could sort her a bed for the night upon the pull-out couch.

After bundling her in blankets and the spare comforter, they went to bed, hoping that maybe if she dreamed of him that night, she might be able to put her lucid dreaming techniques to good use and perhaps get some answers. As it turned out, she did.

The meadow she found herself in was vast, rolling hills stretching the horizon, the sky a vibrant shade of blue. “I want this dream to last, I want this dream to last. I do not want to wake up, I do not want to wake up. I want to ask him questions, I want to ask him questions.” She repeated those desires like a mantra, beginning to walk, turning as she did, birds chirping in her ears, the sun warm on her skin. One last turn back to where she’d first arrived and suddenly, there he was.

“Hey you.” He bit his lip, dropping his head for a moment before turning away, running his hands through his hair. “I've been too scared to fall asleep, the last dream I had with you in it freaked me the fuck out. You're real, aren't you Keri?” Moving to her, he rested his hands on her shoulders, watching her nod.

“I am, yeah. And so are you, aren’t you?” He nodded. “I saw you on the TV, and I threw up.” Instantly, she kicked herself.  

“I’ve had women react worse.” Immediately, she laughed. “I found your Instagram. When that wall went up between us in the last dream, this old woman appeared in the corner, and she wrote your Insta profile name down on a piece of paper. Well, I didn’t know what it was when she did it, but I Googled it and yep, there you were.”

She grasped his open shirt, tugging at the black fabric, her head resting against his chest. “This is insane, literally insane,” she began, the dream so vividly real, she could even feel the ribbed material of the black vest he wore beneath his shirt, the metal of the pendant around his neck cool against her skin.  

“I saw the same thing, an old woman who wrote something for me, too. She wrote the words find him in the lounge, and then I did. The Lounge is the name of my local bar, and that’s where I was when this news report about outlaw biker clubs came on, and I saw you lifting your middle finger at the cameraman who was filming you in Vegas.”

Angel snorted softly, shaking his head. “Shit, I wondered why that motherfucker was pointing a camera at me.”  

“Is this really real? I mean, is it? I still don’t trust it, that my mind isn’t making you up, that I’m not going crazy!” she cried, feeling something tugging at her.  

“Keri, calm down, or you’ll wake yourself up,” he advised, holding onto her as she began to slip away from him. “Shit, don’t go!” That was the last she heard before she awoke, growling with frustration.  

Opening his eyes, Angel sighed, looking over to the nightstand at his phone, picking it up. He called up Instagram, locating her profile and clicking follow, opening up a message.  

“Okay, what the fuck do I say to her? What if it's all in my head and this chick doesn't have a clue about any of it? Jesus, why me?” he thought, looking at the blank message he was about to send to her. Finally, his boldness kicked in, navigating him into tapping out a message and hitting send.

Keri had just returned from making herself a chamomile tea when she saw her phone illuminate through the darkness, setting the mug down on the coffee table as she picked it up, seeing she had an Instagram notification.  

Angel_Reyes85 started following you.  

She gulped, seeing that she also had a message request. Reaching back to the table, she stole one of Frankie’s cigarettes, lighting up and moving the ashtray to her lap, also lighting up one of the big, three wick candles on the table for a little light too before getting comfortable, clicking on his profile. It was private, so she sent him a follow back, going back into her messages and finding one from him. 

‘You aren’t going crazy.’  

It really, really, really was him. There was the confirmation, as if she truly needed it, that she and this random man whom she’d never met before in her life were appearing one each other’s dreams night after night.  

‘I really do feel like I am! This is so weird!’  

Her heart hammered when she saw ‘seen’ appear beneath the message, clicking on his profile again to find he’d accepted her follow request. She looked through a few of his pictures, mainly of a large, green Harley, the same one she’d seen him standing next to on the news report, lots of other guys from his MC. She halted her viewing when the message icon displayed again.  

‘It is! I’m still not sure if you being real makes it better or worse, you know. Have you ever heard of anything like this before, or experienced it with anyone else?’

Immediately, she began to type.

‘One of my friends is into all of this, and she told me that what’s happening isn’t inconceivable. She said that what we are having is something called a mutual dream, but that it's very rare to have them if you aren't close to the person who's in them with you. I just wish I knew why! Or why in every single dream I have, I end up kissing you! I feel embarrassed now!’  

‘You shouldn’t, you’re a good kisser.’

She made a squealing noise at that Especially when a wink emoji followed. 

‘And hella pretty. Seriously, your eyes. Woah!’

More squealing.

‘So, you mentioned vis-com on your stories. Tell me about that. I take it you’re at college?’

She calmed down, then, taking a quick puff on her cigarette before replying.

'Visual communications, basically its photography and film I'm studying. I wanna be a photographer when I finally grow up.’

‘I’d say from those amazing pictures of yours, you already are one. Seriously, those ones you took up in the mountains are awesome.’

She beamed at his compliment. Keri was very confident in her photographic abilities, but it always nice to hear praise.  

‘Thank you so much! So, what is it that you do? Is being in an MC a full-time thing? I don’t really know much about it.’

She had to wait a few seconds before Angel messaged her back, with him wondering how to word it. Obviously, since his club had appeared on the news about what the media were coining a growing epidemic of MC-related violence and crime, she knew he wasn’t exactly on the straight and narrow, but still, he wouldn’t reveal anything in confirmation to someone he didn’t know.  

‘Kinda. I work at a scrap metal yard though, owned by a couple of guys in the club. Mostly, I'm just a motorcycle enthusiast.’ From MC to MC the land over, it was the standard response.  

‘You know, I did wonder if you were a model at one point, or a metal musician, back when I first saw you in my dreams. I was trying to work out where I’d seen you before, because you felt so familiar.’

His ego went through the roof at reading that.

‘A model, huh? Hmm. Flattery will get you everywhere, mamas.’

‘Well, you are gorgeous.’

“Oh god, was that lame?” she spoke aloud, cringing a little. Her mouth broke into a smile when he sent a grinning emoji.

‘Thanks, you are, too. So... tell me more about you, then. Unless you’d rather go back to sleep. What it is, 3am there?’

‘It is, but I don’t mind talking a little longer. If I did go back to sleep, you’d probably come find me in my dreams and talk to me there anyway, right?’

‘Maybe. Or I’d just kiss you some more, not gonna lie.’

She’d gone from not knowing who he was, to discovering he was real, to flirting with him, all in the space of a day. Life was strange for Keri Watkins in that moment, but she couldn’t deny, now she knew who Angel was, she began to allow herself to enjoy it.

[fkyumerica]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lzswt008xHk john travolta/donald trump, joe bien/mary sue in the suit

kirstie alley

john travolta did the same thing, showed it by dancing with princess diana

83 and 7

38 and 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpjCvzmsugw there are only 4 grandma plastic surgery types, and 4-8 moms

and 7 men

to look like the same person

and the name

egg it

they did it, goodbye we live at the beach

scream

john travolta is gene simmons, ozzy

and the luitenet at boot camp in full metal jacket

rotc all had sex with him, then angela was in thirteen after having two more of his kids

i had to finish two papers this morning

and finished the second one 6 minutes before the assignment due time

i hate how people let out blow

sloooooooooooooooooowwwww it doooooooooooooooooooownnn for meeeeeeeeeeee

its usually meth, comet bleach, and they cut out the bottom of the can for it and put it on top, how much is left, i dunno sponge

squeeze it in there, syringe, in their arm already

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/xLQ1ZGhk8zw here is the family time line, and she comes from the front to the end with another new kid she just had again. 19ft tall, then back here again, fat

they say it

alix has the afro, and keri ann/stephanie behind her

denica/penny/keri ann

her daughter

angela in pink feathers, jessica/mallory behind her

the two girls in thirteen are them

then they all came out as old women again

in the end of the video

and im the guy with the personality, did it, inbred with a infant, child, his mom again

make me an actor, so his mom had to be a famous president first lady

he is ronald reagan

and elvis, tom

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsrnXh4YiTw his son with her vinnie being arrested as devin/adam bell/matt/mark

actual footage of wayde/prince phillip

and his daughter who was strong enough to mate with him, mary sue

so she chose her granddaughter

and she abandoned it and it was bill/david

alix's son, alix/princess diana

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5sTISPZHNs this was it after she gave birth

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2KYgvF6Ft0 then this gone with the wind and in prison

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeVvHnJKhdE then she was marsha brady on porn shows, alden would make her eye contacts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jegdyR3W080 he took her first

then dan then wayde then dan again

she was screaming for one

in her backyard, mated her inbred infant in a adult suit with her after

corbin house, then the infant was vinnie/devin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxJ8sXYrmro this is her

skin dick

increase

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEJg81ntjTU the men stood outside that did it, the women were crucified

they want you to know, thats her

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZx9DMz3Jrg keri anne on the horse knifed by her in the stomach to breed with her newborn

or throw it

alix in hospital bed

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRXeTF4gzu0 then she got to know kei anne after, it is keri anne in the video

she might be matilda/alix

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIvmP43Whic same weird bra family waiting for the same guy

and the guy thats whats the who fun

does em

tom cruise

plain

cant let in the steam, other people not them, cant mate outside the family

cant let a microphone touch em, animals feel like that now see them as animals

the ones who like inbreeding will just throw stuff

not cheer

jen married don i couldent tell it was the same guy

was it?

dated different name guys

they robbed me of my money to build a big party house and invited me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVu1BwnU8_c same boring face

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbD8qbcXjgw they were all tied up with wayde and they were untied

and anne marie had to look just like her on the right

just sit there its not me. thats my daughter!

no one is in trouble

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6OmvBNvMMs its your personal right to eat some berries in the woods 15:05

thats her daughter princess anne in the bikini

married ronald reagan

had those two daughters next to her

each have a skin penis

neither are police but dressed to fuck her

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=te9Jly0vGxU if they had a bed of girl wives it looked like this

and a group of naked black women, all date the same guy they inbred from

same with those girls

each a different one sad quiet smile

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7W36XK6wRmM when they drop them off is when they do it

old man

slide off

bye in a house

don on a ladder

jack and rose

wtf

she gave the big show an erection, and is their daughter together

jen and don had alix in gladiator, married it to him too old man

and if our kids fucked

and she fucked chris

say it like it to her

what is slang

what does it mean

oh k i blew their blow jo

whoa wtf they are like 50 now they fuck kids?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ct70a9r3kvM 2:13 then they all give birth to the same guys kids at once facing at each other and it all spirals out to look like some giant octopus thing to hide what they did

and others crawl in for the fun

and guys do it to say come on girls cheat with us

4:47 mission and video after white old man is him too

not leon

and whores kri anne back and forth from one block over to across dix 6 blocks all day everyday

radio signals nonstop

randy orton/wayde

alix shes dead? they make each area a dead area and build graveyards to move

there you go

fetus of a infant

the inbred men, their sons, they send chimpanzees to rape women

that are in their family

carlton is alix's family

planet of the apes star

stadium, they have a group of their kids left in the locker room

then flood it

ship on top

and they all leave

mary sue the who

and robbie abdo "sweetly." is elvis presley/don/david/roy, married with children was them

turns into tom?

them again

[infosnack]

STAT: Federal bill would keep addiction medication from triggering a child abuse investigation

STAT+: Federal bill would keep addiction medication from triggering a child abuse investigation https://www.statnews.com/2023/10/04/federal-bill-would-keep-addiction-medication-from-triggering-a-child-abuse-investigation/?utm_campaign=rss When Keri McCallum‘s doctor prescribed her Suboxone, she was told it was the “safest thing for me.” It would aid her in her recovery from fentanyl addiction. It would, like it has for others, help change her life, McCallum said. But, being pregnant with her second child, the Upton resident also experienced another impact of her prescription: It required she be reported to the state for potential child abuse or neglect. “It’s this weird scenario,” said McCallum, 33, now four years sober and a recovery coach herself. A drug like Suboxone can help people become “productive members of society again. It helps them in recovery. Then you go and have a baby, and you’re being told you’re being abusive or neglectful.” Continue to STAT+ to read the full story… via STAT Health - Science, medicine and healthcare news https://www.statnews.com/category/health/ October 04, 2023 at 05:57PM

[kerink]

dundeelemonade

I KNOOOWWWW i am just like. you know. sending vibes across time and space. hoping that he gets a clue and he can start figuring shit out sooner than later. au where he gets an inkling of how this place works a little bit faster and he gets over himself and he. and martin, martin he’s. he’s happy. keri, au where martin finds a niche for himself without all the pain and heartbreak and miscommunication. now i know that one of the tenets of the wtse au is that martin doesn’t get what he wants but i just think he could have fun running a thrift shop or smth, and being passive aggressively polite at people who dare try to shop there. britishly bitchy, in a way that brings him satisfaction, and he can come home at the end of the day feeling like he’s got a full life, instead of being dependent on jon & co to be the structure he builds his life around. idk i just love him and i am depraved enough to want to give him nice things, even just theoretically.

dee i am going to 🅱️ite you

between martin and jon, martins the one who ends up with a satisfying life. he's the one who heals and grows and changes the most. he's the one who controls his own destiny.

martin gets a job first, sure it's at carlos' lab, but he gets that job because of his knowledge and expertise. he becomes an adjunct scientist and is able to understand night vale's strangeness in ways that the other scientists can't because they have no foundation or frame of reference to work off of. to them, night vale is Strange and that's it. but martin knows this strangeness, he's familiar with this strangeness. and he is missed after he leaves because he is valuable, immensely valuable. and it's so corrective for him, to have a job where he's important and respected and he gets to tell people much more qualified than him that they're wrong and then he gets to quit

martin makes friends first. real actual friends, not the weird thing jon and cecil have going on where they connect through the hallways of the beholding's library and think each other's thoughts and feel each other's feelings. he makes friends the awkward and stilted and excited and anxious way real people do. he has his own calendar and does things the other's don't know about and has stories to tell at dinner.

martin understands night vale first. he refuses to be an unwitting victim again, he refuses to be a pawn again, he refuses to blindly trust jon again. he knows now that jon is the archivist before he's anything else. he's omniscient and thinks he knows best and will try to control everyone and everything. and he's not a bad person martin knows that, but, well. he needs to have a handle on his own shit. he needs to have independence. he can't just sit around the office filing paper and fetching tea. hes the man who walked through hell and murdered god. he wants to carry that power with him forever, cultivate it, nurture it. he wants that to be true. so he walks night vales streets and literally maps everything out. he tries to leave, over and over and over. he listens to NVCR until cecil's cryptic doublespeak makes sense.

martin grows first. he has to brave night vale and tolerate his interloper status. he walks the side walk, smoking but visible, corporal, there, because he won't be shut away again. part of being truly seen is risking being rejected and he knows he has to become okay with that. he knows that if he doesn't risk the mortifying ordeal of being known then he will end up being Lonely again. so he goes out and shows up over and over and over. he visits every shop, he (desperately) tries every tea, he goes to the grocery just to try to figure out what here is actually food. he brute forces his way into the community, hammering against his own desire to disappear and his need to make this new life work until he finally breaks through as a pillar of the community.

martin who formed his own bowling league, martin who's an active member of the PTA, martin who gets an authorship credit on the research papers coming out of carlos' lab, martin who has boys nights at big rico's speak easy, martin who gets car sick so he has to learn to drive

whenever benny and i talk about jon traveling through the doors, whether its the old oak ones to desert bluffs too or helen's, martin's always the door stop.

martin's not just a pillar of the community but he's the pillar of the family. he's jon's anchor, as he explores what it means to be a person, even if he's no longer human. he's cecil support person, as he begins to gain comfort in stories about his childhood, and how what his mother did to him changed him so irreversibly. he's carlos light house, keeping him firmly grounded in humanity as he keeps running away with night vale's madness.

and martin can be all of these things for them because in the first few months of them being here, martin took a good long look at himself and said "what is the life you want to have" and he did everything in his power to become the man he wants to be

[pithyorangecurd]

I posted 14,762 times in 2022

That's 14,762 more posts than 2021!

1,227 posts created (8%)

13,535 posts reblogged (92%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@damazcuz

@kerink

@lexaprogf

@petrichorvoices

@unyanizedcatboys

I tagged 3,716 of my posts in 2022

#dama - 109 posts

#long post - 107 posts

#benny - 98 posts

#keri - 97 posts

#chell and bourbon - 65 posts

#artyom - 52 posts

#bourbon - 51 posts

#cecil - 48 posts

#real - 47 posts

#my art - 41 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#and the spiritual successor of it in the furious little hot head who wants to burn a circus to the ground for stealing his brother from him

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

He was a kid once. Fifteen.

150 notes - Posted September 4, 2022

#4

If Elias found out there was a place that required you to fill out a form to have sex you wouldn't be able to remove him from it. No power would be able to seperate him from that wonderland.

156 notes - Posted May 24, 2022

#3

On the matter of Jon and Martin's descent into Nightvale Citizens I would say.

Jon's died three times now.

Once by Tim, buried in rubble.

Once by Elias, calling on the end of the world, calling all the powers that be into his mortal form, crushing him into a spec and a blip and then exploding inwards out.

Once by Martin, gouging his eye out, and severing him from the only thing maintaining him. Everything cut off again, but this time there's no explosion of power to bring poor little Jon back, just everything inhabiting and crushing him out of the way as it sucks into him.

Jon died, and he wasnt coming back, except Nightvale is a living beast and the roads pathe her body, and she Cares for the people she holds. And especially she cares for her Voice, who hates gore. Jon died, but he and Cecil are the same beast, so they can inhabit a single soul together, because Cecil died too. He's being inhabited the same as Jon, and what chaces Cecil is just as happy to haunt and linger on the sides of Jon's vision just out of the way, waiting for him to See It so he can be hunted.

Jon missed being hunted, I imagine it feels special. He's not alone anymore, and this one he can't help but to love because this hunting nourishes him. He just can't hunt back, lest it consume him.

That's his to deal with!

Anyways, Jon sharing CECIL'S soul, which is the hard to explain part to Martin. Do I love him?? I dont THINK so? But I feel like I'll die if I take ten steps away. Sharing Cecil's soul makes you less than human in a weird way. He shows you so much, and forces your eyes to glaze over the bad parts of things, he turns you stupid. Jon in s5 would have seen the bowing chipping painting of a sky and been worried, but wtse hardly notices the creak and blames the footsteps on bad weather. When he has paintchips fall in his ice cream he just makes a face at cecil when he leans over to lick it off and laugh and say its just sunlight its not going to HURT you, Jon.

Cecils making him oblivious.

It would take Martin noticing, and it's Martin's job to. But Martin was born of Jon. Sad!

Martin died of heartbreak, and accepted a seperation from everyone and everything. And left his soul attached to Jon, who accepted it. And then Jon died, and now Jon's soul is a distorted thing that hops and skitters and caws and is that a caw? It sounds like an owl, but it certainly isnt. It clicks.

Martin's turned weird, as Jon is turned weird. Martin's supposed to be Jon's Earl, but he's turning into his Carlos. Earl was made FOR Cecil, but Martin was made OF Jon.

They're turning into citizens quicker than either would care to notice, which is a lot quicker than they actually WOULD notice. Kinda cute!

158 notes - Posted May 10, 2022

#2

Bro the gossip in nightvale rn has to be insane fr

208 notes - Posted June 15, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Ill be honest i dont vibe w the jon was always in love with martin narrative

1,768 notes - Posted July 16, 2022

[mrs-harkness]

Ocean Eyes (Part 2)

Ocean Eyes (Part 1)

Pairing: Tammy x Fem!Reader

Word Count: 2.8K

Parts: Part 1

Taglist: @peggycarter-steverogers @imgayandmymomdoesntknow​ @millysmango​

A/n: Glad you guys are liking Tammy. She’s fun to write for, because I imagine her having a bit of a wild side ;) I’m thinking there will probably only be 5 parts, because I would like to get started on Delia’s, but things are just really busy with my new job! Always, thanks for the patience and love!

"I'm gonna kinda miss having you at the apartment everyday."

Sarah's voice ripped you away from the window, lost in your own empty thoughts. You smiled at her.

"I will miss seeing you every day, but I will not miss sleeping on your couch. It's lumpy. You really need a new one dude," you said, snickering.

"No way! My couch has got character, thank you."

"Sarah, I found a pack of fun dip from 1967 in the cushions."

Sarah opened her mouth to argue, but shut it. She gave you a side glare, trying to keep her eyes on the road while letting you see her wrath, as she called it. You laughed, it filling the car.

"Don't worry Sarah-Bee, I'll come visit you on my off days," you said, patting her leg.

You guys pulled into Tammy's huge driveway to find her and the kids waiting for you on the doorstep, standing there like a Home and Garden's ad. Tammy smiled and waved as well as her two smallest children. The oldest boy was obviously forced to stand there and looked like he was ready to be released.

You stepped out of the car and the family walked towards you. The little girl ran ahead of them all, nearly leaping to you.

"Hi! My name is Keri! You wanna play?" she asked, immediately taking your hand and tugging on it.

Tammy reached forward and put her hand on Keri's shoulder, giggling.

"Hold on sweetheart. She just got here and needs to get settled. You guys will have plenty of time to play. She lives here with us now," she said, never breaking eye contact with you.

You felt the blush creep onto your face. You weren't positive, but there seemed to be  a glint in Tammy's eyes, as if she saw it. You tore your eyes away from hers and looked back down at the little girl, smiling. She smiled back, grabbing onto her mothers hand to hold it and bring it close to her face.

Tammy cleared her throat and pushed the two boys forward. The little one had a mischievous look about him and the older one was just uninterested completely.

"These are my two men, Derek and Jeremy," Tammy said.

"I'm Derek! I'm named after my dad. He doesn't live here anymore!" the younger one chirped.

Everyone shot him a look, but he remained blissfully unaware at the fact of his oversharing. The oldest though, seemed more than angry, and reached over and slapped his younger brother in the ear.

"Stupid! You don't say that shit!"

"Jeremy! Watch your mouth and leave your brother alone," Tammy said, moving him to where he  was looking her in the face. He seemed to growl and jerk away. He sulked off towards the house.

You saw the concern on Tammy's face. He must not have been handling the divorce so well. Your heart ached for the boy, even though he seemed a little bit like a dick. Tammy sighed and turned back to you.

"Kids," she said, trying to chuckle and brush it off.

"Well! How about we get Y/n and her stuff inside and get her welcomed home?" Tammy asked the two little ones.

They both cheered with the excitement only small children seemed to have and ran to Sarah's car to help grab the boxes and suitcases that were in the back. Tammy came up behind you, placing her hand on the small of your back. You jumped a bit, feeling heat spread out through your body. Tammy leaned forward to whisper in your ear, but all you could manage to think was how good she smelled.

"Don't worry about Jeremy, give him time to warm up to you. He misses his dad, but he's a good kid," she whispered, her breath hot on the shell of your ear.

You swallowed and nodded, forcing a smile. She brought her face into your view, just inches from yours. She smiled and winked and her fingers seemed to drag as she brushed her hand from your back and walked to the car to help get your things.

Get your shit together Y/N. She was talking about her kids emotional state and all you could think of was her perfume!

You scolded yourself and went to help the family unload your old life to officially start your new one.

When Tammy had said you would have the entire attic and your own bathroom, you thought you would have a maybe enough room for a twin bed and a dresser, maybe a desk and a bathroom that probably had a shower and not much else. You were very wrong.

Your new bedroom was bigger than Sarah's entire apartment, with lush carpet and crown molding. The bed was big and plush with a down comforter that felt like a cloud and smelled like cherry blossom. You not only had a 8 drawer dresser, but a walk in closet that could hold your entire wardrobe and still have 98% of it be completely empty. There were shelves filled with books and free space that Tammy said you could put whatever you like on.

The desk was a solid piece of white wood that seemed like it would cost the same as a down payment on a car. Your bathroom felt straight out of a high class suite with a huge tub, amazing walk in shower, and not just one sink, but two. There was even a wall length mirror. But your favorite part of the whole house was the balcony. You had your own balcony. A set of french doors lead out to it and you knew you would have the perfect view to watch the sun rise over the trees in the morning.

This morning you were waking up on a smelly, yellow polyester couch to the sound of street construction and Sarah singing Taylor Swift as she burnt breakfast. Now, you were overlooking an amazing view of a beautiful, quiet neighborhood from your very own penthouse with an amazing job and the most beautiful boss you could have ever imagined.

You took a deep breath of the crisp night air. You were exhausted from unpacking and getting to know the kids and were looking forward to just laying in your new bed and dosing off when you heard a knock at your door. You had to jog from outside and across the room to reach the door, expecting to see one of the kids. Instead Tammy stood in front of you, smiling.

"Getting settled in okay?" she asked.

You smile and nodded, stepping aside to welcome her in. She walked in and looked around. There wasn't much difference, but you had put out some of your personal items and pictures. It would take some time, but it did feel a little bit more like yours after a couple of hours of work.

"Looks nice. More lived in than it has ever been. You've made it homey," she said, her voice warm.

"I hope that is okay," you said, unsure why you felt so insecure about her opinion. She whipped around to look at you.

"Of course! That's what I want more than anything. For you to make this your home. I know this is your job, but I want you to like it here," she said, stepping closer.

Your breath got caught in your throat again, and you forced yourself to breathe normally. You saw the corner of Tammy's mouth twitch, a tiny smirk showing for just a second. You brushed your hair away from your face and cleared your throat. It was becoming your signature.

"I definitely like it here. Don't worry. You and the kids are great. The room is amazing, I've never lived somewhere so nice before. And dinner was great. Its been a really long time since I sat down and got to eat together with a family."

Tammy's face softened a bit at the last bit, and while you could see curiosity in her eyes, she didn't ask any further. There was a moment of silence before Tammy got the conversation back on track.

"Well I'm glad you liked dinner and are getting settled. I got the kids in bed already and was actually wondering if you would like to come down stairs and have a glass of wine with me? Just you and I, so we could get to know each other more as friends rather than boss and employee."

You stood there, smiling, just staring at her. You must have been standing there for longer than you realized in silence because Tammy cocked an eyebrow, confused by your silence. You tried to recover like you were thinking, but you really couldn't save yourself here.

"Oh! Yeah! Sure! I'd love to!" you said, your voice a little too high pitched. Tammy giggled and nodded, heading back towards the door.

"Get in your jammies and meet me down stairs. I'll be waiting," she said as she closed the door behind her.

You released the breath you had been holding, your whole body relaxing. You didn't realize how tense you were. You were going to have to learn how to function around Tammy or you probably wouldn't have this job for long. Tammy seemed to find it cute for the time being, but once it stopped just seeming like you were awkward and nervous about a new job, it would be pretty obvious it was a bit more. The nanny crushing on her boss was so cliché to begin with, never mind how problematic it would be in this situation.

You got dressed in your nice pair of pajamas, not wanting to walk down stairs in a ratty t-shirt and shorts. It was mainly dark in the house, but the kitchen was completely lit, guiding you down the stairs and towards Tammy who worked on a wine cork.

Her pajamas were silk and red, hanging off her frame in a way that showed a bit of skin depending how she moved. The shorts barely covered her butt and you felt like you were being tested. You would make sure to keep your eyes either on Tammy's face or at the wall behind her because you were not going to make things weird.

Tammy smiled when she saw you and you swore she looked you up and down, but you just kept your eyes forward.

"Don't you look cute," Tammy said, popping the cork out of the wine bottle.

You sat on the stool at the kitchen island and watched as Tammy poured two glasses and handed one to you. You took a sip and were taken back by how strong it was. You were going to have to be careful or you would be gone rather quickly.

Tammy took a big sip of hers and smiled, licking the red liquid off her lips. You felt yourself cry on the inside. You wanted nothing more to spend alone time with Tammy, but you really wished you had gone to bed.

"So, tell me about the tree branch," she said, taking a smaller sip this time.

You looked up at her, confused.

"Huh?"

Tammy laughed, pointing to your hair.

"You said this afternoon you would tell me how you got the twig stuck in your hair. You also mentioned something about promising you bathed?" she said, raising her eye brows up as she twirled her wine glass with a smile that spread across her face.

You laughed and felt some of the tension leave your body. This was just a normal conversation and your boss really was just trying to get to know you and make it a more comfortable situation for the both of you.

"See what happened was, I got an Uber into the neighborhood but asked the driver to drop me off at the gate so that way you wouldn't see me get out of this particular car because it looked like it drove straight out of 'Dude, Where's My Car' and I honestly didn't want you to associate me with weed and old pizza."

"First impressions are important," she said, extending her wine glass towards you.

"Exactly. So I started walking but because I have never been here before, I got lost. So I called Sarah and she told me the way to your house, but if I took that way I would be late. So she told me, if I cut through the backyard of the house I was in front of and walked through the trees, I would actually be at the back of your house, so I found the houses fence."

"You snuck onto their property?" Tammy asked, her eyes lighting up. She leaned onto the counter and her pajamas moved, revealing her bra. You kept your eyes on hers though.

"I don't think its considered sneaking if the old woman who lives there sends her yappy dog after you for disrupting her yoga session as she swears at you. I ran to the picnic table at the edge of the fence and threw myself over it as I tried to convince her I really was a nice girl before complimenting the home I had just trespassed into, and dropped into the woods and ran so fast I'm surprised I didn't die."

At this point, Tammy was doubled over, cackling.

"I'm gonna pee," she muttered, crossing her legs as she laughed. You laughed along with her, Tammy's giddiness being contagious. You looked at her as she met your eyes and just looked at you as you both came down from your laughter. You smiled as you took a sip of your wine. You were glad you hadn't gone to bed.

It felt like minutes, but you and Tammy stayed up for four hours talking about life, your interests, your childhood. Everything seemed fuzzy and warm because you were both on your fourth glass and you couldn't remember exactly when you both had moved to the couch, but that is where you both found yourself.

"So when I had Keri, I was utterly exhausted. My husband was home with me for the first four days after we brought her home, but he left on a two week work trip after that and I was alone with three kids, two of which were under two."

You shook your head. Her husband sucked. You didn't like him. You didn't know him, but you didn't like him.

"So when Keri was 9 days old, I had to take Derek to the doctor for an ear infection. Jeremy was five at the time so he was literally everywhere, Derek was screaming, and Keri was just sleeping in her car seat. We got Derek looked at, got the prescription and left. We were halfway to the pharmacy when I felt like I had forgot something."

You covered your mouth, stifling the drunk giggle starting to come from your mouth. Tammy hit you on your shoulder.

"I would like to remind you I was basically a single mother of three kids and sleep was not a thing. But I forgot Keri, in the doctors office. Just left without her! Right when I noticed, a nurse from the office called me and I was just crying on the phone all the way there. The nurses tried to console me but that was definitely one of my worst mom moment so far. She still doesn't know that happened. Not sure she ever will."

You both laughed that kind of deep laugh that if you weren't careful, would choke you. You laughed and bent over, accidentally falling over and right into Tammy's lap. It took you a moment to realize you had done it, but Tammy noticed immediately.

She stared at you, but not with a look of discomfort on her face, but something else. You immediately pushed yourself back into a sitting position, your flush ten times worse due to the wine it your system. Tammy smiled and looked away, sighing.

"You know Y/N, I'm so happy you get to be here, with us. Not just for the kids, but for me too."

You looked at her, unsure what to say. You watched as she scooted closer to you, frozen. She brushed the hair that had fallen in your face to behind your ear. Her hand lingered on your cheek and you felt her thumb run against the edge of your jaw. You were sure it was visible how hard you swallowed and how you chest rose and fell rapidly.

She smiled and her eyes flicked down. She looked you over and hummed before pulling back.

"We are going to feel like shit in the morning if we don't get to bed. Especially because Keri and Derrek like to wake up at the ass crack of dawn."

You smiled at that and it caused Tammy to chuckle. You helped one another up and walked up the stairs. Tammy stopped at her door, but didn't go in. You climbed the stairs to the third floor, but felt Tammy starring at you. You turned around to see her leaning against her doorframe, her face dreamy.

"Goodnight Y/N. I'm happy you're here."

With that Tammy winked, and pushed open her door, stepped into the dark room, and closed it slowly behind her. You seemed to float up the stairs and straight into your bed, the soft plush mattress welcoming you. You drifted off to sleep with that warm fuzzy feeling of wine tingling through out your body and Tammy's smiling floating around in your head.

[thegodthief]

One of the reasons I stopped is because I was boring you. You wanted an exciting chapter each time, every time, but growth and recovery is not linear.

Sometimes I wrote of literally sitting in dust and ashes, reflecting on what had happened just out of sight. Sometimes I wrote of sitting on cliff edges, wondering what was the line between abstraction and physicality, while taking bets if this is the time that a death in a dream becomes a death completed.

When I failed to write what you wanted me to write, you wrote your own experiences to supersede mine. You wrote of walking the paths my feet had broken, and of conquering monsters that you didn't understand the nature of, and of becoming my better in every fantasy you had except the one that mattered most to you because it never happened: The one where I accepted your narrative as my own.

One of the reasons I stopped is because I had reached a point where trying to explain to you what I was going through was just another level of self-inflicted harm. You never wanted anything explained to you.

You wanted to be entertained.

You wanted to be distracted from your personal hurts.

You wanted justification to continue doing whatever it was that you were doing already.

So I stopped hitting my head against the wall and placed my words elsewhere, away from your sight.

And you got mad about it.

Cycles turn and seasons end and the path has always been there if you know how to see. I am not the person I was before, but I have always been a writer.

I have always held threads in my hands.

I don't know what will come tomorrow, much less today. If you decided to be here for it, okay. If you decide to take your attention elsewhere, okay. But realize that I am my own person, and that what I choose to share of my life is my choice to make, and what I choose to hide in plain sight is my choice to obscure, and that while you were never promised anything, you are always welcome to ask.

But I reserve the right to speak, or not, on my own terms, with my own terms.

[thestarwrites]

All Right, All Might: Ch 12

Word Count: 6,200

Rating: PG

Painting: Toshinori Yagi X FemOC

THIS IS A LONG ONE, FOLKS! at 6,200 words! Because Patho is not participating in the Sports Festival and it is mostly passive watching, I am going to try to get through the whole shabang in two chapters!

———————————— CHAPTER TWELVE: THE UA SPORTS FESTIVAL!

Part One...

“Where’s your girlfriend, All Might?” Nemuri purred softly as she leaned over to the lithe form of Toshinori where they all sat in the teachers box, waiting for the first year competition to start.

“Nemuri,” he blushed, “Aren’t you the Chief Umpire? Shouldn’t you be down there.”

Giggling she ran her whip over his shoulders, “I will be in a moment, now, where is that little darling you are seeing?”

Nezu looked over with a smile, “Yes, where is Miss Chairo?”

Toshinori blushed harder and cleared his throat, “I mean- I’m not her keeper,” he frowned and then spoke again, “Where do you think she is? She’s making the rounds with the kids, trying to help them to be steady and to calm their nerves… as if I could stop her from doing anything she was going to do.”

Aizawa grunted, “Stupid.”

“Why are you always so cruel to her, Aizawa?” All Might grunted, “She’s a great asset.”

“You’re just soft for her because you love her assets.”

All Might grunted, “Hey! That’s not true or fair,” he scowled, “She’s a great teacher and hero.”

“Listen. It’s like I told her a few weeks ago. She’s a second-rate support hero, and she’s coddling these children who won’t get that type of treatment in the field.”

His eyes widened, “You said that to her?”

“She didn’t run and be a little tattle tale?” He scoffed, “I really expected her to run and cry and tell you that I was mean to her.”


“No!” He glowered, “Aizawa, that’s a terrible thing to say to a coworker.”

“Truth hurts sometimes,” He shrugged, “I’m heading to the booth to sit with Mic. Have fun,” With that Aizawa turned and left, still mostly covered in bandages.

All Might sighed and rubbed his temples.

-----

“All the other courses, they’re coming for us with everything they’ve got,” Izuku grunted, “We’re all gonna have to fight to stand out. And I’ll be aiming for the top too.”

Shoto grunted, “Fine.”

“Tch.” Bakugo looked over his shoulder, staring daggers at Deku.

The door slid open once more, they were wondering who could be coming to see them at such a late hour before the start, when no one responded, she could feel more than the average worry or fear in the room, “Wow, the air is really tense in here!”

“Miss Chairo!” Kirishima grinned and stood up, glad someone was there to break up whatever was happening right now.

Izuku turned to look at her, “Miss Chairo, what are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be with the other teachers?”

The woman chuckled softly, sending out pulses of calm energy into the room, “I’m sorry to save your group for almost last! But I had a lot of classes to visit this morning. I just came from 1-B those kids are… something.”

Some of the kids laughed, feeling a little better, “You visited EVERYONE?” Kaminari blinked.

“Of course, I did the same thing last year, I got a little caught up though, a boy named Tamaki almost threw up and passed out before he went out,” she gave a small smile, “Not that I think he’s doing any better this year but… we had some meetings last week to talk about it — ANYWAY, how are my favorites in class 1-A doing?”

“I’m a little nervous, Miss Chairo,” Mina squeaked.

“Well, first thing I want to tell you all is that you CAN call me Keri, you know. I’m not much older than you guys and I understand what its like going through all this.”

“Tch,” Rang out into the room, “No you don’t, loser. You didn’t go to UA.”

“BAKUGO! Not cool man! Thats so unmanly of you!” Kirishima chastised the blond, “I am SO sorry Miss Keri, he didn’t mean it!”

Keri laughed softly, “It’s okay, Eijiro. I meant I have experience talking to the teens last year, but thank you, Katsuki, no I did not. But I know that when I was in school, I watched the UA festival. So make sure you all do your best, and don’t be surprised when kids from other schools start to notice you.”

“Kids from other schools, oh god!” Miineta gasped, “I hope you mean girls!”

She chuckled, “Okay guys. I have to run and talk to 3-A quick, but you will all do great. No matter what place you come in, I am sure with how amazing you are, and the way you handled the USJ incident, that you will all get scouted for great internships. Just remember to breathe, and to be kind to yourself between games, hm? I’ll be watching!”

“Thanks Miss Keri!” Ururaka smiled.

She waved and left the room just as Kirishima was saying how manly she was to encourage them so well, before defending that being manly isn't reserved to being a man. Keri laughed and hurried down the halls to get to where the Big 3 of UA were awaiting their entrances.

Coming into the room she smiled, “Ah! I made it just in time!”

Mirio turned around and beamed, “Miss Keri! Hi! It’s really nice to see you before the big event!” He was the only one allowed to wear a stripped down version of his hero costume, since - he would be naked on live TV if he didn’t.

Nejire turned and gasped, “Hey!” The girl ran over to their guidance counselor and hugged her close, “I’m so happy you came to see us! Did you come to wish us luck!”

Keri hugged the girl back and smiled, “Yes of course I did, I’ve been running around like a lunatic trying to see how each class is doing, I just came from 1-A. Its tense in there.”

“Why wouldn’t it be tense…” rang out the shaky voice of Tamaki from the corner, “Everyones gonna be judging them so hard… after what happened at the USJ… Man I hope there aren’t villains watching…”

Mirio smirked, “Lighten up Tama!”

Keri smiled and went over to Tamaki, placing a hand on his back, her form glowing pink.

Nejire leaned over to the tall blonde and whispered, “I don’t think it’ll ever stop being neat that she glows pink.”

“Yeah!” Mirio whispered, “Like Tinkerbell!”

“Why do… do you waste your time on me, Miss Keri…. I… I never learn anything or… or get better…” he sighed softly, still anxious even though he visibly started to unclench all of his muscles.

She smiled warmly and turned his head to her, “You’re not a waste of time Tamaki, you’re just like a stubborn little cat, but you’ll get the hang of it eventually. I believe in you. I always have. And you have an incredible gift, Suneater.”

“I… Thank you…. Miss Keri… You’re too nice,” He sighed, “Definitely too nice to be talking to me…”

Chuckling she gently rubbed his back, “You’re going to do amazing today, Tama, don’t worry so much,” she pulled out something from her hoodie pocket, “Here, take this, its some electric eel - maybe you can get some of that electricity,” she smiled, “Smile, Tama,” she lifted his chin, “Don’t think about it. Get out of your head.”

“I- I’ll try…. Miss Keri… But…. But I’m probably just going to… to disappoint you,” he whimpered.

Smiling softly she rubbed his back a few more times, “You could not and would not ever disappoint me, Sunspot,” she smiled, “I’ll catch up with you after, okay?” He nodded, cheeks beet red, and she smiled, turning to the other two, “Okay guys! Show em’ what you’re made of!”

Once Patho left the room, with the festival about to start, Mirio smiled, “Man, she is just the nicest isn’t she?”

“Yeah!” Nejire smiled, “And she’s dating ALL MIGHT!” She swooned, “What a hunk…”

“H-hey! I thought I was a hunk!” Mirio whined.

Tamaki walked shakily over to his two friends and took a deep breath, “You know what… what I found out… about her….?”

The two looked over and blinked. It was a long moment before Nejire sighed, “Spit it out, Tama!”

He flinched and looked down, “You know how I…. I’m interning with…. With Fatgum?”

“Yeah…” Mirio looked at him.

Tamaki swallowed, “Keri and him… used to date when she was in college.”

“OH MY GOSH WHAT!” Nejire exclaimed.

Flinching from the outburst he nodded and wet his lips, “Yeah… he was telling me about her the other day. I mentioned…. Her or… something. I guess…. He dumped her…. He said he was a jerk about it…. He still… you know… feels bad… apparently….”

Mirio laughed a little, “Woah, I can’t believe it. They don’t seem like a good match at all, really… Also, Fatgum being a jerk? That’s weird.”

“HEEEEYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!! MAKE SOME NOISE YOU RABID SPORTS FANS…. GET THOSE CAMERAS PREPPED MEDIA HORDES… THIS YEAR WE’RE BRINGING YOU THE HOTTEST PERFORMANCES IN SPORTS FESTIVAL HISTORY GUARANTEED!”

“Oh heck! It’s about to start!” Mirio smiled, “You better eat whatever Miss Keri gave you, Tamaki!”

“O-oh yeah…” the boy started to eat, hands shaking.

“I’VE ONLY GOT ONE QUESTION BEFORE WE START THIS SHOW! ARE YOU READY!? LET ME HEAR YOU SCREAM AS OUR STUDENTS MAKE THEIR WAY TO THE BIG STAGE!!!”

Keri ran into the teachers box, out of breath as she smiled, “I made it just in time! I didn’t miss anything!”

Nezu looked over with a laugh, “I’m surprised you didn’t, Patho, you talked to what? All of our students today? Also… you aren’t in your hero uniform or dress clothes…”

She blushed, “Sorry sir…”

“No matter,” he sighed, “You never are in office wear so why would I start nagging now. Please, take your seat, its starting…”

“THIS FIRST GROUP ARE NO STRANGERS TO THE SPOTLIGHT, YOU KNOW THEM FROM WITHSTANDING A VILLAIN ATTACK! THE DAZZLING STUDENTS LIGHT UP YOUR TV WITH SOLID GOLD SKILLS. THE HERO COURSE CLASS 1-A!”

Moving to sit down, she mumbled, “At least I wear UA merch….” She took the empty seat next to All Might with a small smile, “Hi baby,” she moved to put her hand on his and gently ran her thumb over his large hand, “Hey… earth to Toshinori…?”

Looking over he took a breath, “Hey Sunflower - sorry, I’m just… nervous.”

“Don’t be nervous, honey, I just saw Izuku, he’s determined and he’s gonna be fine. He’ll make you proud.”

He nodded and moved to hold her hand gently, leaning into her, “You’re a wonder.”

“THEY HAVENTT BEEN GETTING NEARLY ENOUGH SCREEN TIME, BUT THEY ARE STILL CHOCKED FULL OF TALENT! WELCOME HERO COURSE 1-B!”

“Oh hush, you need to unclench yourself before you have a heart-attack Toshi, honey.”

He chuckled and nodded again, “You’re right. It’s out of my hands for now anyway.”

“NEXT UP, GENERAL STUDIES CLASSES C, D, AND E! SUPPORT CLASSES F, G, AND H! AND FINALLY BUSINESS COURSES I, J, AND K!”

“I just came from the Big Three,” she smiled.

“Oh yeah? I don’t know much about them except for Mirio Togeta. Remember I told you they wanted him to be my successor?”

She nodded, “Of course I remember,” Her fingers were deftly running over the skin of his wrist, “Mirio and Nejire are doing just fine, but Tamaki Amajiki is a wreck,” She sighed, “He and I have had counseling for the last two weeks about dealing with today. He is absolutely terrified. Last year he didn’t even compete he was so afraid.”

“He has an internship with Fatgum, doesn’t he?”

She nodded and took a deep breath, “Yeah, I’m going to have to speak with Taishiro about his insecurities and everything soon… I don’t really… want to.”

“Taishiro? You’re on first name terms with Fatgum? Why don’t you want to see him?”

“Shh! It’s starting,” she giggled a little and moved closer to him. Toshinori allowed himself to relax a little and throw his arm around her shoulders.

“SILENCE EVERYONE!” The sultry voice of Midnight cut through the speakers, “AND FOR THE STUDENT PLEDGE WE HAVE - KATSUKI BAKUGO!”

“ — Oh god,” Keri clenched her boyfriend’s hand, “Please… Please Katsuki say something not offensive. We talked about this,” she whispered.

“Maybe he’ll say something… uh - no he’s probably going to say something offensive,” All Might whispered to her, “Hun, you’re crushing my hand.”

“Sorry,” she tried to relax.

He leaned into the microphone and spoke in his even-keel voice, “I just wanna say, I’m gonna win.”

“Oh my god,” Keri slapped her forehead as the entire crowd booed, including the students. She watched as Bakugo descended the stairs cool as a cucumber.

“WITHOUT FURTHER ADO - ITS TIME FOR US TO GET STARTED…”

The obstacle course was fraught with dangers most of the first-year students have never faced before, but for class 1-A, they had already learned to fight. Even those students in 1-A without flashy quirks were in the leading pack. 1-B wasn’t far behind, but it was clear who was the probable Big 3 of the first years would turn out to be; Todoroki, Bakugo, Midoriya.

Keri looked around while Toshinori stood, clutching the edge of the box the teachers sat in with white knuckles. She could feel him practically vibrating with excitement and pride. A small smile graced her lips as she finally spotted who she was looking for - Enji Todoroki.

“HE WON!” Toshinori jumped up, as everyone stood to clap at the first place winner of the Obstacle Race. Keri stood to clap as well until the blonde picked her up and started spinning her around.

She laughed and yelped, “Toshi! Put me down!”

He did as instructed and the grin on his face was one unlike she had seen on him before. He felt complete watching his protege win and do as he asked - declare to the world that he was here now.

As the fanfare died down, the students filed in, and soon there were only stragglers remaining. The first 42 students to finish would be the ones advancing. Mostly all from 1-A and B, though there were some support course and general studies students as well.

Toshinori watched, giving a silent congratulations to young Izuku, and Keri walked up behind him, running a hand over his lower back, “Toshi, I’m going to take a look around.”

He turned from his daze and blinked, “Keri - you’re gonna miss the next event.”

“I wont miss it,” she laughed, “I’ll still be in the stadium. I want to check out what pros showed up. I feel like snooping,” wrinkling her nose she smiled, “Is that okay, Toshi?”

The older man chuckled, “Of course its okay, besides, you don’t need my permission.”

She smiled and took his hand, “Give me a kiss?”

He blushed and leaned down to her, kissing her lips softly, chaste enough for the setting, “Happy?”

“Always when I’m with you,” leaning up she pressed another kiss to his lips, “Don’t get into trouble while I’m gone now!”

Blinking he called out, “You’re the one who needs to stay out of trouble, Ree!” He took a deep breath and went back to his seat as Midnight began explaining how the Calvary Battle would work. He groaned to himself to know Midoriya had such a high point value on his head, but this is what he expected - he after all had been through three Sports Festivals in his day too.

Keri walked around, saying hello to some of the pros and parents she already knew. She didn’t stop long because she knew who she was looking for; Enji Todoroki.

The cavalry battle was well underway, and Keri had found Shoto’s father and standing a ways away from him, she took some time to watch some of the game now that she was on the lower levels. It was certainly harrowing. She’d always watched the festival growing up, and every year into her adulthood. She had only missed it a handful of times due to clinic hours and exam schedules. She couldn’t imagine having to compete like this.

As a support course student at Ketsubutsu Academy, she remembered her own first meeting with the kids from UA, going to take the provisional license exam in first year. She first met Aizawa there. He was taking the test again as a second year - him and Hizashi both. She also had met Fatgum for the first time there, he had flirted with her and it was the spark going forward when they met again later. She was too bashful and unsure of herself at the time to do anything but smile politely and hide in the crowd. It was so strange to see these kids who she had seen on television.

She never actually had passed the provisional license exams. Which was just as well, she was never really trying to. Already on the path to researching how to get into a hero college for Psychology / Support Training. Keri never intended to do any hero work until she had met with principal Nezu to discuss her joining the staff.

Keri remembered that day fondly;

“Well, I’m sure you’re wondering why I’ve asked to meet with you a third time, Miss Chairo,” the calm voice of the principal sounded out.

The young woman nodded, “Of course, sir, I am both excited and afraid to be here.”

The man laughed, “Afraid?”

“Of rejection, I suppose.”

Chuckling, he took a sip of his tea, “Well good thing for you a rejection isn’t something you will be facing today. I would like to offer you the position officially as our first ever guidance councilor.”

“For real!? Oh my god are you serious, Principal Nezu, sir?!”

“Oh yes, quite,” he laughed, “Some of the other teachers are wary about hiring a woman who not only did not attend UA, but is also Twenty- Seven and has no Hero License.”

Her cheeks reddened, “Well, I was always too focused on my goal of becoming a licensed therapist. Besides, you’ve seen my quirk and it’s not fit for hero work, I can tell you that.”

He smiled, “And why not?”

“I’m not the strongest, I know how to fight well enough to defend myself - but I’m not fast either, all I can do is manipulate emotions, sir. I would be a liability on the field.” She looked down.

He let that hang in the air a moment before beginning, “You know what a liability is in the field for heroes? People who are panicking, people who are out of control or want to run into a burning building to save others, instead of letting the heroes and fire department handle it. People who need to have a sense of urgency to leave a building - or to evacuate an area calmly.”

“I… I don’t understand, sir.”

“What I’m saying is, no your quirk is not flashy, and you’re no fighter - but, your quirk is powerful enough for you to be a first rate support hero. Think of the possibilities for crowd control, victim aftercare, hero aftercare…”

“You… really think so, sir?”

Nezu nodded and smiled, “So, this is the condition for your employment. You work here for me and the school, and I will help you to get your Hero License before the start of your first term.”

“Of - of course, sir!”

“Well excellent. Welcome to the UA family, Keri.” He stood and crossed to shake her hand.

Keri shook it and beamed, “Its such an honor sir, thank you! Thank you so much! I will work the hardest I can to realize your goal of having a functioning and productive guidance office for the heroes of tomorrow! In fact - I’ll go beyond! Plus Ultra!” She smiled.

She was interrupted from her reminiscing when she saw something she wholly did not expect; Shoto Todoroki got cornered, and in his haste - used his Fire quirk. She blinked and shot an eye over to where she remembered Enji standing to see the hulking red-head smirk, arms crossed. The action turned her stomach.

Walking slowly over she hummed, “Hello again, Enji.”

He tensed, she could feel the anger wafting off of him, “You really have never had any respect, have you, little girl.”

“And obviously neither have you, Enji,” she punctuated her sentence with his name once more, “And the name is Keri, if you have actually forgotten it. I find people should be on first name terms with each other, it makes for a healthier working environment.”

“We don’t work together,” He responded flatly, never taking his eyes off the field.

Chuckling she leaned on the wall beside where he watched, “No but we do work concurrently.” He made a soft sound, “Your son is doing very well today,” she smiled, “He is a great kid.”

“He could have done much better in the obstacle course if he applied himself.”

She didn't look at him, “If he used his fire, you mean?”

Turning to look at the insignificant support hero beside him, he grunted, by her tone he could tell that she suspected something was going on with Shoto, something going on at their familial home that was untoward, “I don’t like your tone.”

“I suppose you wouldn’t. Not as the number two hero who prides on having a son who has both his parent’s quirks. Though I have noticed that he doesn’t use the fire quirk, why is that?”

“And what is that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing,” she smiled and finally turned her face to his, “Anyway, It was nice seeing you off the battlefield, Enji.” And with that she turned and walked away from him. An impish grin came over her face as she felt the older man seething behind her. She absolutely couldn’t stand Enji, and how defensive he became - she knew something was up.

---

Walking through the halls, the second event of the festival was over with the top four teams advancing - she smiled, knowing Izuku was in there with a lot of his classmates. She was greatly impressed by the fact that Ururaka was in there as well.

“There you are,” the voice of All Might rang out, “I was looking for you everywhere hon— Patho!” He beamed.

“Hey All Might,” she smiled warmly, “Enjoying the games so far?”

He chuckled, “Yes of course I am - why do you look like the cat that ate the canary?”

“Mmm… I may have just come from pestering Enji Todoroki.”

Toshinori raised his eyebrows and smirked, “My girl likes to live on the edge huh? Look at you, playing with something as dangerous as a live bear.”

Keri huffed a bit, “I just can’t stand that man, someone should put him in his place. He called me little girl.”

The mirth faded from his face and he put a hand on his hip, “Is that so? You think someone should put him in his place? Maybe that someone should be me,” the smirk he gave then was one unique to when All Might was pissed off. He was full of spite and contempt as he went to walk off.

Grabbing his hand she blushed, “Ah - Toshi, wait!”

Turning he looked down at her, “If your boyfriend can’t defend your honor, maybe the number one hero can,” he winked and pulled gently away from her, heading in the direction of Enji.

Keri blushed and tagged along after him, in case she needed to break it up - Enji was a dangerous man.

“Yo,” he started. Keri rolled her eyes, the straight up alpha male energy was off the hook, “Long time no see, let's catch up - Endeavor.”

The hulking redhead didn’t turn at first, “All Might,” he growled before turning and staring daggers into the blonde’s eyes. He didn’t even bother to notice the little rabbit at his heels.

“I haven’t talked to you since that press conference ten years ago! Been awhile - I saw you and figured I’d stop and say hi!” The smile never faltered from his face.

“Did you now?” He scoffed, “Well if that’s all you wanted then we’re done. Tch, chatting like we’re old friends - what a joke.”

Keri winced at the awkwardness of the brief interaction. It was very clear to her that he absolutely hated Toshinori with everything in him. She gasped as Toshinori started to laugh. It was so condescending. He suddenly launched himself into the air doing flips and spins down the stairwell.

He landed in front of Enji with another laugh, “Come on! Why the cold shoulder!?” He smirked, “You should be thrilled! Your son is doing very well out there only using half his power. You must be a great teacher!”

The men were locked in a tense stare as Toshinori’s girlfriend stared on. What was he getting at? Endeavor grunted, “Are you implying something?”

“NO! I want to know your secrets! How do we train the next generation of heroes?”

Enji scoffed, “Do you really think Id tell you anything Ive trained the boy? You’re all flash and no brains, as usual - out of my way,” he pushed past him, shoulder checking the man.

“Okay!” He sighed.

“Let me assure you of one thing, All Might. That kid of mine WILL beat you some day, I’ll make sure of it. That’s why I MADE him.”

Toshinori looked uncomfortable, “You did, what?”

The large fire hero grinned widely, wildly, “He’s in a rebellious phase right now, but he will take your place. I’ll make SURE of it,” Turning he moved to continue to walk down the stairs, “And tell your little groupie to stop meddling, got it? She’s not worth the dust on my boots.” All Might clenched his fists as he watched Endeavor disappear from sight.

Keri heard the confession of the man up on the balcony, covering her mouth as she held back a gasp. Thats why Todoroki wouldn’t use his quirk. She could feel herself tremble as absolute devastation filled her - she could only imagine what Shoto’s life was filled with as she fell to her knees.

“Sweetheart!” He moved to run back up the stairs when he saw her fall, “Keri - what’s wrong?”

She was glowing at this point, tears in her eyes as she covered her face, “God- Toshi - What has he done? He’s … he’s a monster… how can he even call himself a hero? Let alone the number two?” She shook her head, “Oh god - his poor children,” she put her head down and wept.

He felt his own tears prick his eyes from the effect of her quirk, “Shh… shh honey, calm down, it's okay Keri… it’s okay,” after he set her back on her feet he cupped her cheek, “Come on - lets go to your office and I’ll go grab some ramen and come back, we have an hour for lunch, hm?”

Looking up she wiped her eyes, trying to contain her quirk as people were starting to stare, “Tosh- Pull away from me, people are looking.”

“I’m doing no such thing. You’re upset,” he sighed, putting a hand on her shoulder, “Come along, let's get to the school and then I’ll get us some takeout. We can also talk about everything if you want.”

Nodding she allowed herself to lean into his side as he led her from the stadium with his hand on her lower back. She felt exhausted suddenly, “God I hate it when I go into overdrive like that…” She whined gently.

“I know exactly what you mean,” the pro smiled down at her.

As they walked, a few reporters ran forward, “All Might! Hey! How are you liking the festival so far!”

He looked up and smiled a little, not stopping, “THE KIDS ARE DOING INCREDIBLE THINGS OUT THERE TODAY! THEY’LL ALL MAKE GREAT HEROES!”

“And who is this you’re escorting? Do you finally have a girlfriend, All Might?” A female reporter crooned.

All Might looked like he was thinking of something to say, “Oh no,” Keri smiled tiredly, “I’m the UA guidance counselor - I used my quirk a lot today, kind of overdid it actually. All Might was just kind enough to help me to my office - he’s overly worried about his coworker passing out or something.”

He smiled, “Yes- and all of you should definitely know who she is! She’s Patho! The Support hero!”

“Oh yeah,” one of the other men commented, “That’s right, Principal Nezu did say he was trying a new program last year — Miss Patho, may my station come and do an interview with you some time? I’m sure everyone would love to hear from one of the first Student Hero Therapists.”

Blushing she smiled, “Of course - call the school and press five for my office, we will set something up,” she bowed slightly, “Excuse me please, I really need to go sit and eat something so I can make sure I’m of use the rest of today - and in case any students need me.”

The reporters all respectfully withdrew as the two of them continued. All Might smirked and leaned down a little, “Kitten, you’re a natural.”

Laughing softly she looked up, “I’m a guidance counselor, I act like this to everyone.”

“Not to me,” he winked.

She laughed, “Well because when I met you, I was shell shocked, and then we became friends so fast… but sometimes we get clinical together, you know. I’ve used my psychology powers on you.” She wiggled her fingers.

He laughed and continued on inside and up to the guidance office with her.

---

Closing the door and pulling down the privacy shade he knelt down, still in hero form, “Come here, Sunflower.”

Moving to turn and throw her arms around his large shoulders she sighed, “Oh Toshi… I feel so… devastated for Enji’s family… Shoto is so unwilling to talk. But I think he needs therapy probably more than any of his classmates.”

Holding her close he kissed the side of her head, “I know… I have never been very friendly with Enji - well, I have, but he won’t have it. And I know he mistreats everyone around him - even you, baby,” he gently rubbed her back, “Okay, I’ll go get us ramen - you want your usual?”

Pulling back to look at him, she stroked his face, “That sounds perfect,” leaning in she kissed him adoringly.

Humming into the kiss he slid his hands to her waist, “We should have a date night tonight.”

“Sounds good, hun,” she kissed his forehead, “Be safe getting our food,” he moved to jump out the window, “AND NO HERO WORK! WE ONLY HAVE AN HOUR FOR LUNCH!”

“Yes dear,” he winked, and with that he was off.

----

After lunch, Keri and Toshinori ran hand in hand back toward the stadium, “We’re late! We can’t miss this! Midoriya is first up!”

“Calm down Toshi - you have one lung for god’s sake!” She sighed as she was pulled along.

When they arrived, there was no time to go up to the teacher’s box, Toshinori pulled her right into an entry hallway and they stood at the mouth of it to watch the match between Hitoshi and Izuku.

“Oh no,” Keri raised her brows.

Toshi turned, “Oh no what!”

“Hitoshi - he’s from general studies. If he asks Izuku a question - and he answers - he’ll be bound to do what Hitoshi tells him. This match will be over before it even begins.”

“WHAT?!” Toshinori looked back out to the match with horror, “Come on, kid…”

“Poor thing… this is so painful,” Keri sighed, hand on All Might’s back.

Suddenly as a burst of wind came from Izuku both adults were absolutely gobsmacked, “WHATS THIS!? HE STOPPED JUST IN TIME!” The voice of Prezent Mic rang out. And in a matter of what seemed like seconds, the purple haired boy was body slammed out of the ring. Midoriya victorious.

All Might looked to his girlfriend, “What the hell was that?”

“Your protege won, what do you mean?” She smiled, “You can ask him later, don’t worry about it now, he’s advancing. I’ll have to make sure the kids in the finals all get appointments when school reconvenes, poor Hitoshi - he’s had such a hard time. He really should be in the hero course, he just doesn’t have the combat training… I know what that’s like.”

Toshinori looked down to her and sighed, “You know… I always forget that you weren’t in a hero course… to me you are a hero, but… you should know what kids like Izuku and Shinsou go through better than anyone.”

Nodding she patted his back, “Do you want to go to the nurse with him? Get some talking in?”

He nodded, “Come with me?”

“No no, you go on, I’m going to go find Hitoshi,” she smiled and padded off in the direction he had gone, while Toshinori followed Midoriya toward Recovery Girl’s temporary office.

“Hitoshi, wait up!” She called out.

He turned and let out a sigh, “Miss Chairo… I didn’t expect to see you so soon… Though, I should have known you’d talk to the losers.”

“Hey. Stop right there,” she sighed and put her hands on her hips, “I wanted to come and talk to you because you did an incredible job today. You know that I think you belong in the hero course, but it isn’t up to me, unfortunately. But even if you don’t, there are still ways to become a hero you know.”

“You think I did incredible?”

Smiling she nodded, putting her hand on his back and filling him with man echo of pride, “Yes. You should be extremely proud of yourself, Hitoshi. I know I’m proud of you - and your classmates are too. I’m sure the hero course students also think you are a wonder. And even though young Izuku won today, I’m sure he thinks of you with the utmost respect.”

He took a deep breath and nodded, “I’ll be a hero.”

“Yes you will, of that I have no doubt.”

The boy finally cracked a small smile, “I’m gonna go sit with my classmates upstairs, is that okay?”

“Of course it is, you’ll come see me when school starts up again?”

He nodded, “Yes Miss, I will… thank you for caring.”

“Thank you for giving it your all, Hitoshi,” she smiled and waved at the boy as he hurried off to sit with the General Studies students upstairs. Nodding she felt a little better about what happened, satisfied he would be alright, as she headed back to the stadium to watch the next fight.

Taking her glasses off and running her hands over her face, she sighed, “God, today is such a long day… I’m glad they only have these once a year…” Looking up she sighed, “Oh god, this is gonna be another short one… AH!”

She had to dive out of the way as ice shards came flying into the hallway she occupied. One of them cut through her pant leg, slicing her thigh, the other cutting her cheek, “Fuck!” She gasped as she covered her head from the rest of the blast.

When the dust finally settled she looked up, the entrance to the hall was blocked with ice, she couldn’t see anything, but she already knew who won. Sighing, she pushed herself to her feet and moved to head to Recovery girl for some bandages, “He must have spoken to his father,” she hummed tot herself, pressing a cloth to her cheek to stop the bleeding.

Knocking on her door, she called out, “Chiyo, it's me!”

“Come in dear!” She called out.

Opening and shutting the door she was met with a familiar husky voice, “KERI!? What happened to you!? Are you alright!?”

Looking up she smiled, “Just hit by some stray ice shards…”

“That’s what that was? Ice?” Recovery Girl blinked, “The whole building shook!”

She nodded, “I just need some bandages.”

“Here - let me,” Toshinori went and grabbed some supplies, “Sit on the bed, Sunflower.”

Doing as she was instructed, Recovery Girl couldn’t help but smile, “You know, you two are the cutest couple I have seen in a long time. I was hoping you two would realize you had feelings for one another, I just didn’t think it would take so long.”

Blushing hard, Toshinori gently stuck a bandage to Keri’s cheek, kissing it tenderly, before looking back at her, “Well… you know… with everything going on its hard to have time for a love life…”

Keri smiled and ran a hand over his cheek, “You take such good care of me, my hero.”

Chiyo chuckled, “Honestly, so sweet, don’t let that girl go, do you understand me, Toshinori? You two were definitely made for each other.”

Toshinori blushed harder and nodded, cleaning and bandaging her thigh, kissing that as well, “All better.”

Leaning in she kissed his forehead, “Have you been getting enough rest? Should we head back up to the teachers box? You’ve been in Hero Form a lot of today already.”

“She’s right you know, go watch the rest of the matches. Some of the others have been quick as well, but the second rounds will start soon.”

He nodded, “Come on, Ree, let’s head back to our seats.”

[nonasuch]

i watched a star war

And I have... some feelings? mixed feelings? some good feelings? ALL of the spoilers to follow.

okay so just to start with, I genuinely thought that opening sequence with Kyle was going to end with him waking up from a nightmare. like absolutely believed that was where it was going, because the Hammer Horror of it was so over the top. but then that turned out to be the actual plot of the movie? I was pretty taken aback by that, and I’m not sure I ever 100% recovered.

that said, there were things I did like!

Finn is definitely Force sensitive, fuck yes

Finn is also not the only trooper to defect, and while what I really wanted was for him to lead other troopers to turn on their masters, I am also very happy to have a band of ex-troopers who ride majestic space horses and make Finn feel less alone.

their opening bit was very good, the whole ‘of course you’re better at chess, you're 250 years old’ slice of life part. All of the small character moments like that were nice.

CANON LESBIANS IN STAR WARS. LESBIANS ARE CANON NOW. 

I am honestly super impressed by Adam Driver as an actor? like his body language in that last fight was SO different from how he’d been all along. i have no real strong feelings on Reylo either way, but ‘save her life, get one kiss, fade away into the Force’ was an acceptable ending for me.

I really liked Keri Russell’s whole deal, that was all very good

LANDO!!!

i very much liked the recurring theme of Rey being a person who is kind, who does small things for other people just because she can, whose first instinct is to heal and help. the way that was set up with healing the sandworm and then healing Kyle was very well-executed.

very good costumes, world-building, background characters etc. top-notch production design throughout.

super into the consistently diverse background casting. 

the final boss-fight battle being fought by just like. everyone in the fucking galaxy who owns a ship with guns on is very satisfying.

some very good Chewie content

I actually like the idea that Leia did Jedi training with Luke and when she was done was like ‘cool, never using this again if I can help it but useful to know, here’s my lightsaber’

Hux was deployed perfectly: betray everything he stands for just to get one over on Kyle, then die like a chump. A+ use of character.

...there were also things I did not like. the biggest of which being, the entire premise of the movie was so weird and huge and insane that I never quite caught up to it, and the execution of that insane premise made it harder.

like, I think I would have actually handled it better if they had gone full supernatural horror? take away the technological stuff keeping Palpatine alive, make him just a shambling corpse animated by malign power. turn his fleet into literal ghost ships crewed by the dead of all his wars. that would have made more sense to me than having actual flesh-and-blood people sign on for any of that nonsense.

and the other big ‘wait, seriously? okay i guess we’re doing this’ thing was Rey’s identity. and again, I think there’s a way to tell a similar story without straining my disbelief quite so much. make Rey zombie!Palpatine’s chosen heir, an exceptionally powerful Force user with, in his eyes, no inconvenient family ties that might hold her back. I mean, it’s worked for him before, right? that story would hang together better for me, and make Rey’s choice to be a Skywalker more powerful -- that she was offered two legacies, had no blood claim to either but equal claim to both regardless, and chose the Light.

The other big problem, and unfortunately the least fixable one, is that they really did not do a great job working Leia into the movie. Like, I understand and respect what they were trying to do, but I think even if I hadn’t known they were editing her scenes together from unused old footage, I would have found them weird and clumsy. I almost think they’d have been better off having Leia be already gone or near death for most of the movie, with her role in Ben’s return to the Light about the same, and used the footage as more complete flashback scenes rather than chopping it up the way they did.

tbh the hyperspace skipping Poe does early on feels like a very good metaphor for the movie as a whole: an extremely wild idea that jumps from one awesome-looking thing to another, contains some bits that were v enjoyable, but doesn’t actually make any fucking sense and comes in for a landing fully on fire.

Also: NEEDS MORE ROSE.

[rocksandrobots]

Of Rocks and Robots Ch.22 - Presents and Portals (Part 1)

“Hey, Miss Itamae, I hope you’re having a nice day. You, wouldn’t happen to have anything special today for someone's birthday, would ya?” Hiro asked the grumpy lunch lady before him with a nervous smile.

Miss Itamae only gave him her customary scowl and unceremoniously dumped a scoop of mash potatoes on top of his steak and gravy.

“Yeah...okay then.” He said wearily and moved out the line.

Varian slid into his previously held spot in line.

“Heeelllooo, Miss Itamae, looking lovely as ever! Did you do something with your hair? New hair net perhaps?” Varian flashed the woman his most charming grin but Miss Itamae looked as unamused as ever. Still Hiro had to admit Varian was far more confident in his attempts to butter up the lunch lady; maintaining his witty and suave demeanor even as she dumped his scoop of mash potatoes into his chocolate pudding. “Superb aim, as always.” He said with cheery sarcasm, before turning away.

“Let’s face it. She hates us.” Hiro whispered to him as they both walked away from the line.

“I think she hates everybody.” Varian observed.

“Then why bother with being so nice?” Karmi asked as they joined her at the lunch table.

“Oh, cause it annoys her.” Varian chirped.  

“Yeah, we’re trying to kill her kindness.” Hiro added.

‘Ooookaay.” Karmi rolled her eyes and then opted to change the subject. “Sooo, birthday boy, how's it feel to be fifteen?”

“Uh, not that much different from being fourteen, honestly.” replied Hiro, as he poked at his unappetising lunch.

“Got any celebration plans?”

“Well, Aunt Cass is holding a birthday party later today at the Luck Cat, if you wanna come.”

“I’d love to. What time?”

“It’s at six. It’s nothing special, just a dinner and some cake.”

“And I’m making the cake.” Varian excitedly added.

“And if it’s anything like his fish pie, you’ll want to skip dessert.” Hiro warned Karmi.

Varian looked offended. “Hey! I can bake a cake. Besides it can’t be any worse than these chocolate covered potatoes.” He gave a rueful look at his plate before taking a bite of the nasty connection anyways.

“Then why are you still eating it?”

“What!? And waste food?” He asked aghast.

Hiro rolled his eyes, “Anyways, how did your essay go, Karmi?”

“Great! I got an A, as usual, but I have to admit writing about bacteria’s evolving resistance to antibiotics isn’t nearly as fun as writing fan fiction.”

“What’s fan fiction?” Varian innocently asked.

Karmi’s eyes went wide with excitement and Hiro felt his heart stop as he knew what was coming next.

“Only the greatest thing ever! It’s when people write stories based on stuff they like, like books, or movies. I have this whole ongoing story about Big Hero Six that I’ve been working on!” She pulled out her phone and pulled up said story before handing it to Varian.

Hiro suppressed a groan. “Karmi, did it ever occur to you that maybe real life people wouldn’t appreciate you writing fiction about them?”

Karmi huffed, “Shows what you know. Captain Cutie himself said he liked my work.”

“Captain Cutie?” Varian asked, confused.

“He’s the leader of Big Hero Six, and he’s just the dreamiest.” Karmi explained with a wistful sigh.

Hiro felt like he was going to die of embarrassment.

Varian looked back and forth between Karmi and Hiro in surprise as he pieced together what was happening. Finally he burst out laughing.

“Cap..Captain, Cuuutieee!?” He wheezed, before balling up into more laughter.

Now it was Karmi’s turn to look offended. “You got a problem with that?”

“Nooo! Oh, no, no, N….not at all!” Varian tried to assure her between his fits of laughter. Once he had managed to compose himself, he looked her dead in the eye and said with the most sincere voice he could muster, “Captain Cutie, is the perfect name.”

He followed this up with a smarmy smile that told Hiro that he would never hear the end of this.

“Well, it should be, I came up with.” Karmi held her head up high to mask that her pride had been hurt.

“And it’s amazing !” Varian enthused. “If your story is half as awesome as that name, I’ll bet it’ll be even better than a Flynn Rider book!”

That was enough to placate her. In fact she outright blushed, knowing full well how much Varian loved Flynn Rider novels; though she herself had never read one.

“I promise to read every word.” Varian vowed.

“Weeell, in that case I’ll text you the link.” She took her phone back from Varian and stood up from the table. “It’ll be more than what Hiro does.”

“Hey, I’ve read all your stories.” Hiro defended himself. Karmi looked at him accusingly and he buckled under her glare. “I just... didn’t like them.” He admitted sheepishly.

And with that, Karmi turned her nose up into the air and stormed off in a huff. Hiro slumped down in his seat.

“Smooth move, Captain Cutie.” Varian teased.

Hiro kicked him the shin.

                                               ----------------------------

Hiro scrounged underneath the bed, reaching his arm out as far as it would go, but his hand grabbed hold of nothing but air.

"I did not find anything in the sock drawer" he heard a robotic voice proclaim above the bed.

"That's ok.. ouch… Baymax." Hiro crawled out from under the bed and rubbed the spot where he had bumped his head against the frame. He looked up to find Varian standing in the doorway watching him.

"What are you doing?" The other boy asked with a look of concern on his face.

Hiro was sitting in the middle of what was once Tadashi's side of the room. No one had bothered to touch his brother's things since his death, other than to occasionally dust or tidy up, so seeing both him and Baymax raiding the place was unusual.

"Uhmmm… just...looking for something."

Varian raised an eyebrow.

Hiro sighed.

"You'll think this silly, but, I was hunting for my birthday present."

Hiro searched Varian's face to see what his reaction would be. He blinked a few times in surprise, but other than that, the older teen was careful not to say or do anything that might upset Hiro. Instead he stood by patiently, letting Hiro have the space he needed to explain things on his own terms.

"Tadashi always liked to plan ahead for things. He'd gift stuff in advance and then hide it somewhere around the house until time to give it. I found one at Christmas, that he'd wrapped a year ahead of time, but, I don't know, I guess he didn't think that far ahead for my birthday."

Hiro looked forlornly around the room. He felt stupid now for having even bothered to look and self-conscious at having dredged back up bad memories on what suppose to be a fun day.

"Well, maybe he just hid it somewhere else." Varian reassured him. "Did you try the attic or the garage?"

Hiro shook his head.

"There, ya see? This a three story house and you haven't even searched a tenth of it. Once the party is over with I'll help you look. Okay?"

He offered Hiro a helpful smile and Hiro returned it.

"Okay."

"Speaking of which," Varian continued, "Megan called and said she's on her way and everyone else should be here soon. Aunt Cass sent me up here to get you. Also the cake's done." He flashed a proud grin at that last part.

"And what weird flavour did we come up with this time?" Hiro teased as got up to join Varian at the door. "Black pepper? Bacon? Licorice, again?"

Varian gave him an unamused look.

"It's vanilla with vanilla frosting, wise guy. Also I made sure to write in big bold letters 'Happy Birthday, Captain Cutie' on the top." He sneered.

Hiro rolled his eyes, not believing Varian's bluff, only to second guess himself as Varian gave a smug smile as he walked off.

"You..you didn't, did you?"

Varian didn't answer.

"Seriously, tell me you didn't." Hiro yelled after him as he rushed down the stairs.

Baymax was left standing in the bedroom as he watched the two teens leave. He looked around at the mess, unsure if to follow or to stay and clean up. If robots could sigh in frustration he would have just then. Eventually his primary programming overrode his cleaning operatives and he slowly hobbled after the boys.

                                              ----------------------------

Ding-dong

“I’ll get it!” Hiro yelled as he rushed to the door to answer it.

So far the only people to arrive at the party were Wasabi and Megan. They, along with Varian, were in the kitchen decorating the cake, which thankfully had no ‘Captain Cutie’ written on the front, while Aunt Cass busied herself with shutting down the cafe for the evening.

Hiro opened the door to find Karmi standing there, holding a present in her hands and shuffling her feet like she was unsure of what to do. Hiro stared at her in surprise, first, because he didn’t know if she would show up after getting mad at him during lunch and second, because she wasn’t wearing her usual sweater. Instead she wore a cute summer dress. It was purple with spaghetti straps and a flared skirt that cut off right above her knees. Hiro couldn’t help but feel his cheeks flush at the sight.

Damn it, why did she have to look so pretty? Why did he even care what she wore to begin with? What was his stupid body doing?

She gave him a nervous smile and held out her present to him. He took it numbly, eyes still fixed on her.

“I’m sorry for getting mad earlier today.” She said sheepishly. “I hope I’m not late.” After a slight pause she added, “You know, for the party.”

“Oh! Oh no. Not at all.” Hiro responded, finally snapping out of his stupor. “In fact you’re early. The party got pushed back to 6:30. Fred’s running late with the balloons. But there’s some of us already here, come on in.”

“Thanks.” She said with another small smile as she slid past him.

“Everybody is in the kitchen decorating the cake.” He pointed her down the hallway to the upstairs kitchen and was going to show her where to go when his phone rang.

“Hello.”

It was Keri.

“What do you mean stolen?” Hiro asked with concern as Keri blabbered on about missing project files.

Karmi paused and looked back at him questiongly.

“Look, do I have to come in now?” He tore the phone away from his ear as Keri started ranting instead.

“Okay, okay, I’ll be there soon.” He hung up.  

“What’s wrong?” She asked.

“Uh...looks like I need to go into the office today, just for a bit.”

“But what about your party?”

“Oh, it shouldn’t take long.” Hiro looked at his watch. “Thirty minutes, tops.”

“Hey, Wasabi?!” He yelled and his friend poked his head around the corner. “Do you mind giving me a lift to Keri Tech?”

                                              ----------------------------

“Wow. So she was behind you the whole time?”

Hiro looked at the surveillance footage of the theft. A woman with short white hair, dressed in a red and black leotard with her face covered in matching makeup, flipped silently behind Krei, downloaded files to a flash drive off his computer, and then cartwheeled away unnoticed.

“Can we have a little less mocking and a little more solving, please?” Krei huffed in defense.

“I have found a biometric match.” Baymaxed announced. “Celine Simard; a professional physicist from Lyontreal.”

Wasabi studied the read out on Baymax’s screen. “Says here she worked her way through college as an acrobat in the circus. Stage name, Sirque. I guess that explains the leotard.”

“It also says she’s wanted for theft in major cities from around the globe.” Hiro added. “Any idea what she took?”

“No idea.” Krei answered. “My personal computer has information on hundreds of top secret projects. It could’ve been anything.”

“And with a physics degree, that means she’s smart enough to use whatever it is she took.” Wasabi ominously warned.

                                             ----------------------------

Hiro and Wasabi arrived back at the Luck Cat just in time for the party. Fred and the rest of their friends had arrived and were just finishing decorating the cafe.

"Hey, so what did we miss?" Wasabi asked.

"Oh not much." Honey Lemon answered. "Karmi was just telling us the latest chapter of her story."

"Yeah the one where Captain Cutie and his girlfriend Lab Lady go on a romantic getaway. It's adorable." Varian mocked, and it took every bit of Hiro's willpower not to tackle him from across the room.

"Yeah, it's real interesting. I didn't even know ‘Capitan Cuite’ had a girlfriend." Megan got in on the teasing and Hiro wanted to sink into the ground and disappear.

Karmi however seemed to not to notice the meaning behind their words. "I'm glad someone likes my stories. Hiro doesn't think much of them."

"Oh he just doesn't know what's good." Megan encouraged her. "I think you're a great writer."

"Thanks."

"Yeah! I especially liked the cool new power ups you came up with." Fred added.

Fortunately Aunt Cass interrupted the conversation. "Food's ready!" She sang while carrying two trays of homemade pizza.

From there the party proceeded smoothly. They ate dinner and then played some games, with Hiro finally getting back at Varian with truth or dare. He dared the other teen to juggle some eggs, which all wound up landing on top Varian's head after only one attempt.

Next was cake and ice cream; which Hiro had to admit turned out pretty good. Even though he was loathed to stroke Varian's ego by saying so out loud.

Still, all went well, right up until time to open his presents. Hiro had opened most of them, save for Varian's and Karmi's. He got to Karmi's and had only just unwrapped it, when a loud booming noise from across the street was heard. Soon, the cafe shook as if hit by an earthquake.

Everyone ducked for cover as cups and dishes clattered off the table and shelves and pictures fell off the walls. Hiro though spotted a familiar figure run pass and duck into an alley. She was wearing a leotard.

As the shaking subsided, and before anyone could stop him, Hiro rushed out to see what had happened and hopefully to catch the culprit.

He saw the damage from, not an explosion, but an implosion. As if something had sucked everything inward with street lamps and a mailbox bent in on themselves towards a central point.

There was no sign of Sirque, but Hiro spotted some small metal balls lying on the ground in the center point of the wreckage.

"Hiro? What are you doing?" Megan came up behind him. "Usually people run away from explosions not towards them."

"And yet, here you are." He teased. She rolled her eyes in exasperation. "Also it wasn't an explosion that caused this."

He didn't get a chance to explain further as Gogo came up and told them to come back inside before Aunt Cass noticed they were gone. Hiro scooped up the clue he'd found and they headed back.

The cafe was a mess and the party was officially deemed over with. Everyone stayed to clean up but soon one by one they all left.

First Cruz picked up Megan. Then Wasabi offered Karmi a ride back to the dorms. Gogo and Honey Lemon took their leave next, both promising to go on patrol once they had time to get their gear.

Finally, once there was nothing left to clean, Hiro and Varian made up an excuse to Aunt Cass and rode with Fred to HQ to study the metal orbs Hiro had found.

                                              ----------------------------

"So..nice evening, hun?" Wabasi awkwardly tried to make small talk on the way back to the dorms. He didn't know Karmi as well as some of his other friends did and wasn't sure what to talk about.

"Yeah." Karmi dully said as she gazed out the window, chin in her hand.

"Yeah." Wasabi echoed in defeat.

He wasn't getting anywhere. He racked his brain for another point of conversation, when suddenly a swirling hole appeared in the air. It wiggled and writhed, crackling with energy, and a woman wearing a leotard jumped out and landed on the hood of Wasabi's car.

He slammed the breaks in surprise. She in turn responded quickly, nimbly rolling off the hood and running in the opposite direction of the portal.

Wasabi took a few moments to breath. His heart was racing. He looked over to Karmi who looked equally scared. However, her eyes were still fixated on the portal.

"Look out!" She cried.

Wasabi saw debris fly past and into the gaping mouth of the portal. It appeared to be shortcuriting, writhing even more erratically than before. Then, to Wasabi's horror, the wind picked up speed, lifted the car up, and hurled them into the portal.

Their screams were cut short as they entered and then the portal closed, leaving no trace that they had ever been there.

[professorspork]

today in the Andromeda Galaxy, *screaming*

so like listen. I had this whole PLAN for this post, about how the Brandeis motto is taken from Psalms 51, “truth, even unto its innermost parts,” and how my Ryder reflects that. I had a lot of last little errands I wanted to run before starting the endgame of the next big phase of main plot, and over and over again-- telling Maariko the angara astronomer that it was exiles who destroyed his stuff and hurt people, even though it turned him against humans as a whole; siding with Sid over Addison that we should go public with the fact that the Nexus was backing the Three Sabers even though it makes us look sus as hell; convincing the angara historian on Voeld that he shouldn’t whitewash the fact that the angara cooperated with the kett during early first contact-- I stubbornly insisted that what’s TRUE matters a heck of a lot more than what’s “convenient” or “inspiring.” I told the same to Keri, later on. 

but then like. WOW DID A BUNCH HAPPEN, the latest of which REALLY DOESN’T FIT WITH THAT WHOLE THEME.

so we went to Khi Tasira, and I brought Jaal and Peebee with me because of course I did. (in my defense, Big Kett Offense + Giant Remnant Place = perfectly good reasons to have them as my party, but lbr I probably would have taken them anyway). AND WHO BOY WHAT REVELATIONS. the Scourge is the leftovers of a superweapon explosion that went off here in a galaxy-wide terraforming accident! makes sense! we still need another widget because of course we do! and the big one: THE ANGARA WERE DESIGNED AND MADE. (sidebar: after that reveal, they had the sweetest little conversation of Peebee assuring him if he wanted to talk she’s there for him, and he was like “why because now I’m a remnant curiosity? ... SIKE lol ur FACE” and I just. don’t understand. why I’m not allowed to date both of them.)

once again, I cannot emphasize enough how much better and more thematically resonant this game would be if Ryder were quarian and instead of the human ark we were from the quarian ark. like, the parallels! the depth and nuance! the hard questions! it’s a bummer in general that they decided no quarians in Andromeda, but this really just does seem like an obvious and illuminating solution to so many pitfalls and half-problems. it makes me so frustrated.

checking on everyone after, I was really touched by Liam’s take, which is ‘fuck the people who made the scourge, minefields make life unlivable for civilians.” he’s such a good egg. Gil’s gonna co-parent with Jill, which is incredibly sweet. and Jaal was dreamy as all get-out, what with his “There's a peace in knowing that though the universe is beyond your understanding, it doesn't need your understanding to function” and his “I’m not broken, I’m excited” and his “this changes nothing except ourselves.” IF NOTHING WE DO MATTERS THEN ALL THAT MATTERS IS WHAT WE DO. he told me i made him feel safe, which is just. that’s some top-tier shit right there, and thank goodness, because later on bioware would TRULY TRY MY PATIENCE (lol spoilers). also he sent me an email with the subject line “from your romantic friend Jaal” which is just. my heart. i can’t.

so that was all great! i was having a good time!

and then I went to the Nexus and gave my next interview with Keri, and she was like “hey come cheat on your boyf at the bar with me.” and I was like well I’m sure not doing that but I do have to complete the mission so I guess I’ll have another agonizing conversation like I did with Vetra where I let her down easy. ONLY THAT IS NOT WHAT HAPPENED, BECAUSE THE GAME DID NOT GIVE ME A WAY TO TURN HER DOWN. LITERALLY ALL DIALOGUE OPTIONS WERE CONSENT TO CHEATING SEX. WTF??????? i really feel some kind of way about that, and like I get that I didn’t have to flirt with her and I guess I could have just not gone to the Vortex, I don’t understand the utility of a side romance you’re locked into. it made me feel super gross, and both violating and violated.  NOT EVEN PLAYING FIRE CHESS WITH DRACK, KESH AND VORN COULD CHEER ME UP.

Jaal tried to lift my spirits by choosing me over a fancy new job with the Resistance, but I couldn’t really get into it seeing as I was wracked with guilt over being forced to bang someone else. but he invited me to a date on Aya, so I went there and talked through all the angarans’ existential crises over the new ~revelations.

and then-- MY FAULT, REALLY, I COULD HAVE PICKED THE NO-SEX OPTION BUT AGAIN I WAS MOTIVATED LARGELY BY GUILT-- I had to endure the world’s most off-puttingly milquetoast Obligatory Act Three Side Boob (or as Helen calls it, the “pre-climax climax”). only IT WASN’T SIDEBOOB, IT WAS FULL ON BOOB. BOOBS LIKE A CHEST PLATE. IMMOVABLE, GRAVITY-DEFYING BOOBS. SOME MATRIARCH BENEZIA BADONKERS I HAVE BEEN CARRYING AROUND APPARENTLY. THAT STAND STRAIGHT UP EVEN WHEN RYDER IS SUPINE, AND ALSO I FEEL WEIRD THAT JAAL IMMEDIATELY UNDERSTOOD ORAL SEX WITH HUMANS????

I’m disappointed. which I figured would be inevitable given how poorly I think Bioware handles romance in general, but I was really hoping Jaal would be an exception because the only reason I romanced him at all was because his unique quirks took me by surprise and felt consistent and well-rounded. like! he’s so sweet and fuckin weird! where was any of that???  and then he called me TEMPTRESS in his follow-up email which I uhhh did not love.

luckily I was able to get the taste out of my mouth by having movie night with the crew my whole family, and Kallo reminded me why he is in fact my stealth fave. the body language in this scene was a surprise, but not an unpleasant one-- Cora leaning on Liam’s knees! Peebee cuddling Kallo! Helen said if I hadn’t romanced anyone I would have fallen asleep on Drack and that is Good, Actually.

only thing left is the end game! we’ll see how it goes. 

[tatooineknights]

The Rise of Skywalker

This isn’t a review but mainly just a checklist of the things I liked and didn’t like.

No spoilers will be hidden so this is your last chance.

The good:

We finally have a trio again and they spend more than half of the movie together to make up for lost time. Quality interactions and conflict.

The movie can be many things but it is undoubtedly fun.

Leia was trained as a Jedi. Yes, we knew that Luke initially took her on in the books but we actually got to see her in action. Her fucking lightsaber was beautiful. Also, that flashback was as fanservicey as it gets but my heart loved it. I screamed at how real Luke looked and... how... not so real Leia looked. 

Compelling acting by everyone involved but especially Daisy Ridley who I felt poured her heart and soul out into this.

I love the new (I think?) lore of the Sith using the rule of two to build off of one another, feeding off of the energy of their predecessors to become stronger and better. It makes a lot of sense and I dig it.

Always great to see Han Solo.

The new characters were good. Zorii screams an additional Disney+ show but you know what? I can’t complain. If you get Keri Russell, you use her. Loved the background of Jannah’s character and how she related to Finn. Her final scene with Lando was all kinds of cute.

I need to a television show of Luke and Lando on adventures.

Nice Jodie Comer cameo.

Lots of lightsaber action.

Threepio finally got his time to shine!!

And so did Chewie!

Luke appearing to Rey and offering her a final bit of advice was heartwarming and made some amends to their relationship in The Last Jedi, imho.

The final confrontation was just as epic as it needed to be.

Palpatine is one petty fuck. Picked up Kylo/Ben with his little pinky and yeeted him off a cliff like Vader did to him. 

Rey gets a yellow/orange/golden lightsaber. Bastila Shan realness.

Final image of Luke and Leia, beside one another.

John Williams’ best music this trilogy!

The bad:

Reviving Palpatine in the opening credits!!!

The first thirty minutes were J.J. Abrams at his absolute worst. Terrible editing and pacing as they jumped around and around, chasing objects like they were straight out of an early 2000s video game. Confusing.

The story is a pandering mess. Felt like a whole new trilogy crammed into one.

Kelly Marie Tran did NOT deserve to be ignored like that.

I didn’t mind Kylo/Ben’s redemption as much as I thought I would but it needed more content. Another movie or so. It is weird going from The Last Jedi, where he is basically being set up as the big bad and then nada.

Rey Palpatine sucks and, like Rey herself, I’m just gonna pretend that isn’t a thing because it is dumb. They could have kept the exact same storyline for her without bringing her identity down to Palpatine. Ugh.

“Holdo maneuver” is probably the worst line of dialogue this trilogy.

Not enough prequel content for a saga ending conclusion imho.

Leia worked but it was clear that they had very little footage of Carrie Fisher left. I didn’t mind the way she went out.

Rey kissing Kylo/Ben and then he died immediately ffff.

I ended up liking it a lot more than I thought I would. Judging from reactions, I was expecting to hate it but I would probably still rank it above some of the other movies. As garbage as the story could get, it was a fun ride.

And those are my thoughts for now.

xoxo

[shadowed-dancer]

Thoughts on the Cats Movie soundtrack

Still haven’t seen the film, but I thought I’d give my opinion based solely on the music of this MUSICAL film, ignoring the CGI and any story beats they may have added (also for context, I’ve seen the staged musical and I actually enjoyed it)

Fun fact, all thoughts were written as I was hearing the songs, so it’s entirely my first, gut based reactions. You are reading it exactly as it popped into my head upon hearing bits of the songs

This ended up being way longer than I thought so it goes under a cut. Enjoy

Overture

I wasn’t going to review the overture but there’s a weird synthesizer and I needed to point it out

Jellicle Songs for Jellicle Cats

It doesn’t sound right. The pacing at the beginning is off. Once the chorus kicks in it gets better (but it comes later?)

It got weirdly... techno? Idk if that’s the right word

There are a lot of solos especially during the “practical cats, dramatical cats” list. At first I didn’t like it cause I really love when groups of people sing together, but it grew on me

Although Misto (I think) quickly adding in “and magical cats” at the end of the list is really cute. I love my boy

Old Gumbi Cat

The man singing is great (Munkustrap? Idk if they changed it) but I miss Jenny’s preppy and peppy attitude from the musical

Also I miss the 3 girls who used to sing the “Buuuut when the day’s hustle and bustle is done”

There’s a part that I think is the mice singing? Not a fan. I’m scared

I don’t hear any tap shoes, hopefully she does get her tap solo in the movie but from what I’ve heard in reviews, I don’t think she does

I actually like the very end bit. I never liked the musical version where they sing “for she’s a jolly good fellow”. This one flows a bit better and rhymes when she says “thank you my dears”

Rum Tum Tugger 

Dang, this is funky! I actually don’t hate it

Is... is Grizabella the Glamour Cat cut? Or just not on the album? That was actually one of my favourite songs I’m sad it’s gone. I wanted to hear Demeter’s voice

Bustopher Jones 

It isn’t as bad as I’d feared. I was nervous about James Corden, but it’s pretty ok

It’s not my favourite song to begin with so it’s pretty meh. This version is good for what it is

Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer

This is so different and I miss the energy, but I actually don’t hate it. It gives off a very sneaky type of energy and I kind of like it

It’s hard to grasp a tune though

Also, I like Rumpleteazer’s voice. It’s cute

Old Deuteronomy

It’s pretty similar to the original tbh

Someone in the comments on the video said it’s still Munkustrap singing, in which case he’s doing a very good job!

I miss his duet with Tugger though

Also Old Deuteronomy no longer buried 99 wives, but instead lived 99 lives? Ok

Oh jeez I was not expecting her voice to sound like that

Beautiful Ghosts

It’s ... actually kind of nice?

I was worried, but so far I’m not hating a lot of these added “Oscar bait” songs (Never more alone from Les Mis, No one would listen from Phantom, Evermore from Beauty and the Beast)

“No beauty in my memory” is that a parallel to Grizabella’s line “I can smile at the old days, I was beautiful then”

She mentions “memories” a lot. Is she being set as a reflection of Grizabella? (wanting to be wanted and wanting to fit in)

“At least you have something” who is the “you?” Misto? The Jellicle tribe? A plural “you” referring to the world?

I feel like if she is singing this to Misto it will break up the pacing of the film, idk how to explain it. Like this song is nice but it’s slow, maybe that’s ok though cuz it comes right after Old Deuteronomy (the song)

Her voice is very pretty and I almost started tearing up. I was hesitant of them using Victoria as an audience surrogate (someone to have the cats introduce themselves to) but I like it. They seem to have made her an actual character

Oh shoot, epiphany! Is this song meant to replace the first “Memories” that goes before intermission? Because that’s not on the soundtrack. If that’s the case that’s actually smart

Gus

I miss Jellylorum singing about him. That being said, even though he doesn’t really sing, I feel it fits him fine

His Gandalf is showing. For some reason the beginning reminded me of Lord of the Rings where he is singing “the road goes ever on and on”

It’s odd not having Jellylorum sing about him. It’s less sympathetic when he sings about himself

Um, does Gus not perform a play about the Pekes and the Pollicles? I’m... actually ok with that thank you for cutting the run time down

For those curious, the Pekes and the Pollicles was moved in the Broadway revival and US tour to be after Gus’ song. It serves as him reliving his glory days by performing one of his old plays

Skimbleshanks

It’s kept the same fun, lighthearted energy that I loved so much

There are some weird pauses but I’ll let it slide

That weird electric/techno sound is in the background again

They cut it down... a lot. I don’t blame them though, it was a very long song. And the parts they kept are executed amazingly

Was... was that tap dancing? So maybe Jenny really isn’t a tap dancer any more. Dang it

Macavity

It’s no longer a duet... they’re really cutting all the fun duets, eh?

Where is Demeter? Is she ok?

Also Taylor Swift is British

Overall the performance is pretty good

“He’s outwardly respectible. I know he cheats at cards” ok that line used to make sense as a duet cuz it was like Demeter would say one thing and then Bombalurina would come and add to it/contradict it. Now it’s weird to be sung by the same person (at least I THINK that’s Taylor singing both parts)

Wait... is that Macavity saying “the Napoleon of crime”? Why is he present? I know something changed in the timing but does he steal Old Deuteronomy AFTER this song? Cuz that just seems weird. Like “Ok now that you know who I am, let’s go”

The alternative is that he returned after stealing her to taunt the Jellicles which might work? It may not have even been him who said the line though lmao

Mr. Mistofelees

Oh man they did my boy dirty

Why is he so breathy? Is he nervous? You’re supposed to be the greatest magician ever! What did they do to his character?

Also why is he singing about himself? Someone help him

The breaks after the chorus are starting to annoy me. It’s disrupting my jam

“Not long ago this phenomenal cat...” ok I know that technically that is grammatically correct if he gestures to himself, but because the whole song is now first person it just sounds weird

Wow, EVERY duet I cared about it gone. Like, I don’t even ship Tugofelees but I could respect it! And I obviously acknowledge they have SOME sort of relationship in the musical (platonic, one sided admiration, or otherwise) so why cut it? Also I loved Tugger singing this song. I’m just mad.

You know what? Scratch that, it didn’t even need to be Tugger, just SOMEONE sing with him holy corn

Oh ok wow so can Old Deuteronomy just not sing? I thought she was supposed to play Grizabella in the London production, why is her voice so scratchy?

This song in the musical was my favourite because of it’s fun energy and flowing beat. Well the beat doesn’t flow and the energy is gone so good news Skimble you’re my favourite song for this recording so far. Congrats

Ok but Misto singing “as meeeee” as the rest of the cast sings the chorus is actually kind of adorable

Woah woah woah wait someone else is introducing him at the end? Why couldn’t you have helped throughout the entire song?????

The meows... I can’t

Memory

Her words sound slurred? Is that just me? I know the song so I know what she’s supposed to be saying, but if I hadn’t known I wouldn’t understand a lot of it

Her voice is pretty solid aside from that though

I know people were mad Victoria sings with her, but with Beautiful Ghosts as her song, I think it’s thematically appropriate

Ok the climax is well done

Oh wait what? The energy just disappeared. Bring it back!

Off topic but if you want to hear a really good Grizabella, check out Keri Rene Fuller. I got to see her live and I legit cried her climax was amazing she belted it so loud it literally shook me, like I could feel the vibrations in my chest

The Ad-dressing of Cats

Oh no I have to listen to her sing a whole song

It sounds like she’s sing-talking. It worked for Gus, not so much here

Apparently she looks directly into the camera during this scene

Ok she did it before but I noticed it on this lyric. “To treat you as a trusted friend”. Old Deuteronomy used to go up on “trusted friend” but she goes down. It brings the whole energy down

She did it again on “Straudsberg pie”

I know she’s saying “aim” but it sounded like she said “end” which made the last lyric (name) sound like it didn’t rhyme. Oh boy.

To conclude, lots of changes. Not all good, but not all bad either. Some questionable casting and directions, but I’m excited to see it. Hopefully some of my questions are cleared up.

I may make a full review of the film once I've seen it.