#The 'Tail' of Tattle and Bear

[lovingempress]

#WHERE is the Disney movie??? #The 'Tail' of Tattle and Bear

Tags via @luki-fanfic

For more posts like this, follow Ultrafacts (Source)

[hoodievixen]

I've got an idea for a Fanaf Security Breach Human AU. Now, ik it's not an original idea, but it's for fun, and I like it.

Due to all the mishaps in the company's history they decide not to use any animtronics in their future endeavors. This leads to them being replaced with human performers. It started with mascot costumes, but come the time of the pizzaplex, they are more performers with animal characteristics. I.E. ear and tail accessories and face paint whiskers. (I did previously have the idea that all the "animatronics" where just robots controlled by a performer backstage, but I moved past that)

Now there are multiple workers who play the same character, but like in Disney land they choose people who look similar. Also cause they had mad advanced animtronic and robotics there's a device the performers wear so the all have the same voice, even though the performances are prerecorded. It's more for parties. The performers would always have the same shift with the same performers, tk keep a good chemistry.

We'd for us on what is called Main PM Team, which is as follows. (Note: the characters' names are still undecided)

Freddy Fazbear: He started working at the pizza plex in highschool, started as a busser in El Chips, and worked his way up to tech support for performances before becoming a performer himself. He's in his last year of college, and no one is sure why he still has the job.

Bonnie Bunny: F. F. friend. They started working their the same time, as highschool friend sometimes do. Come college their jobs were the only place they saw each other, as they went to different universities. He recently quit to focus on apply to post graduate school and finishing up college.

Montgomery Gator: He's a 20 year old theater major. He'd prefer to be doing actually plays and performances, but he dosent hate his job as much now that he's filling in for Bonnie while managment is looking for a new performer. (They suspect they aren't because there's been more traction since the change to Bonnie just being an attraction performer) Dispite the slight age gap, he gets along well with F. F. and likes joking about him being the bear dispite the fact he's not the gay one.

Roxanne Wolf: She was looking for a job waiting tables or manning the prize counters. When she was offered the position of a performer, she didn't turn it down, as she saw it as an opertunity to persue her interest in preforming and acting that she never got to previously in life. Doesn't mean she confident about it.

Chica Chicken: This had been her dream job since she was a child. She's the Fazbear equivalent of a Disney adult. She takes the role seriously and is great with kids. But outside the job she's rather timid and self conscious. None are aware she's studying robotics.

DJ Music Man: He is actually a DJ, who okays clubs on the night he dosent work. One of the cleverists people one could meet, but easily distracted.

There are of course the other workers:

Sun (that happened to be on shift that night) : They are also a Fazbear adult, and is going to college for a degree in children's development. They are very child's favorite Sun. None would believe that being the mask would be black died hair and piercings.

Moon (that happened to be on shift that night): He only got the job because they're friend's with Sun, who begged manaent to let them be their Daycare partner. He currently have a vaping problem, which Sun is trying to get them to stop. At work the only time he can sneak it is during nap time, so he is strict about kids being asleep at nap time. All kids are tattle tales.

Vanessa: The new night security job, who despite has one of the easiest jobs in the plex, is terrible at it. She likes to rush the performers out, sometimes with face paint still on. This has lead to just about nine of them liking her. Roxy swears she's heard her talk to herself.

Mike: The old night security guard. Despite the fact he smelled odd and looked just a s weird. Everyone liked him. It was a surprise to learn he was actually one of the owners, and was called. To corporate for an extended period of time. Which lead to Vanessa.

Gregory: Doesn't work there, dose live in the plex though. So he's the same. And a robot.

Everything else is basically the same. So it's a night of extreme Scooby Doo like shenanigans of a group of underpaid college performers trying to help Gregory survive their coworker who happens to be a serial killer. And discovers the old pizzerias under the plex filled with a living robot spaghetti and a living robot corpse.

(To give the situation more suspense, there is also a part of the plex which is a museum of the company's past. This enclude all the past anamtronics. Most needed to be rebuilt cause they couldn't find the or9ginpas. None of them function though and is behind cases of shatter proof glass. But then they get infected with Glitch Trapp, and set free by Vanny, so they're wondering the plex)

[chysgoda]

Causality

Spoilers: Endwalker 6.2 / Pandaemonium

Warnings: None

Words: 1445

Notes: so I did do SOME writing during FFXIVWrite, I just never got around to posting it or never got more than a few sentences in. September was a busy month and unfortunately write just never got to the top five on the to do list. So I’ll just post these as I get time to finish them

Summary: Bel has concerns about her mother’s visits to the past and no problem with voicing them

“You shouldn’t be going back there.”

Art’imis looked up from the goat she had just finished tying up. She handed the tether to the gleaner she had been helping who gave her a grateful nod before leading the stubborn creature off. The raen woman brushed her hands off on her pants. “The researchers tattled on me?”

“Mom, most of the time you don’t exactly take pains to hide what you are doing or plan to do.” Bel gave her almost the exact same look the Edmont did occasionally, the one of slight exasperation and familial fondness. 

“True enough, do you want to talk here or at the apartment in Ul’dah?” Art’imis smiled and looked over her daughter. The pinch between her eyebrows said that the younger woman would prefer somewhere besides the options given. Ishgard, if Art’imis had to venture a guess. There Bel would have options for backup to help talk sense into her stubborn mother.

“Does it matter?” Bel snapped. When her mother didn’t respond she continued. “You gamble every time you use that portal to the past. We don’t know enough to know if it’s stable, as far as G’raha knew that simulacrum of Alexander that you destroyed was the key to the time travel systems. That portal could collapse at any time and using it just puts stress on a system we don’t know the limits of.”

“They need my help,” Art’imis said gently. “And if it has already happened-“

“Time is NOT that straight forward.” Bel interrupted the barest hint of blue dragon fire sparking in her eyes. “The past can take care of itself. We need you here in the present!”

“I’ll finish what I’ve started Bel,” Art’imis’s voice hardened a hint of the paladin brought up to meet the angry dragon mage.

“What you’re doing is trying to assuage your own guilt for what happened to Elidibus.” Bel cast her words out like the lance she had once used and it hit just as accurately. 

For a moment Art’imis blinked in shock before finding her wits again. “Don’t presume-“

“I will,” again Bel cut her off. “You’ve taken Hydaelyn’s inaction as if it is a burden you must bear now that she is gone. You are not responsible for her failings. You do not need to give out your own blood in reparations for what you had no hand in.” 

Art’imis ground her teeth. She had always been proud of how observant and people savvy her daughter was. Having it turned against herself was a frustration she should have anticipated. The raen woman blew out a breath and focused on stilling her lashing tail. Bel did the same, though her ears remained pinned back against her skull. They stared at each other and Art’imis broke and looked away first. “Bel, inaction would be indol-“

“Don’t quote that indolence line at me.” In an instant Bel was tensed and ready to fight this battle with her mother again. “It is not indolent to recognize when you give too much of yourself and say no. You of all people have that right!”

 “I will not-“ Art’imis glared and and made a cutting gesture when Bel opened her mouth to interrupt again, “Let me state my peace Bel. I will not risk our present. How can you be any more certain that these actions aren’t necessary to maintain our timeline?”

Bel pressed her lips thin. Her eyes narrowed like she was trying to see something just behind her mother. “I can hear Ratataskor’s voice in the dragonsong sometimes. Not the echo, her voice and soul as present as Bianca is when we follow the other dragoons around to laugh at the trouble they get into and cause our own. The dragons experience more time than us. Yesterdays, todays, and tomorrows all blended together into a whole. The echos come from other times where she was not murdered, or where things happened differently. What I have learned from the Song, from tearing up my throat trying to sing with it, is that time is not a river. It is a bottomless sea. If I listen hard enough I can hear where other choices ring like harmonics in a choir. Other times that could have been and other me’s that could have been press against my entire being and ring like a crystal bell before the moment passes and all that’s left is the knowledge that it was there.” 

Bel took a long breath while her mother absorbed what she was saying and then dove on, “Our choices matter, we are not bound to a single path of causality. A ship can still move forward even if the wind and current do not favor it, it can change course to avoid a storm and still arrive safe at harbor. Our triumphs and vicissitudes and tomorrows are our own. Theirs are their own.” 

Bel refocused her eyes to meet Art’imis’s own. “Please leave them to themselves. You cannot save everyone.”

Mother and daughter, free paladin and dragon mage stared at each other. Art’imis reached out and pulled Bel into a hug. “I can’t stop.”

“Of all the things Hydaelyn left scared on your soul, I think I hate her most for that one,” Bel pressed her face into her mother’s hair, briefly wishing for the days when she was not several ilms taller than the small auri woman and could still see her mom as the invincible protector. 

“I’m pretty sure you can’t blame Hydaelyn for this one.” Art’imis smiled bitterly into Bel’s shoulder. She twisted her head to run the length of her horn against her daughter’s jaw as she stepped away. “What’s happening in Pandaemonium is part of my present now. I can’t abandon them.”

Bel sighed, “I’ll keep an eye on things here, for you.”

“There’s my girl.” Art’imis gripped Bel’s shoulder. “I need to eat, join me at Last Stand and you can try explaining that bit about the Dragonsong again.” 

Bel huffed a laugh and then mother and daughter made their way out of Labyrinthos. 

.

..

…

..

.

Our triumphs and vicissitudes and tomorrows are our own. Theirs are their own.

“What troubles you my friend?” Themis’s voice cut through Art’imis’s thoughts. She pulled her eyes away from the distant purple horizon she’d been staring at while chewing on Bel’s words. 

“How much are you prepared to trust me?” Art’imis closed her eyes as she gathered her courage and conviction, and most importantly her faith. 

Stay strong, keep the faith, at duty’s end we will meet again. We will. We will.

Our choices matter, we are not bound to a single path of causality.

When she opened her eyes the odd silver and gold locked gazes with Themis’s crystal blue stare. He cocked his head and did her the courtesy of considering the question carefully. “You have been nothing but a faithful companion. Wherever you are from, dear falling star, I’ve no doubt that they have need of the skills you have honed so sharply. That you lent us your strength in battle is an honor. That you also gave your friendship and compassion is humbling.”

Art’imis gave Themis a half bow in gratitude for his words and to hide the wince of memories from Nordvrant. When she straightened she gave him a soft smile, “Not buying the line that I’m Azem’s familiar anymore?”

“I know Azem well, and the creation of a familiar that would be only half as capable as you are, is well beyond her knowledge or interest.” Themis hid a chuckle behind his fist. “It is a good cover though and anyone who’s only experience is with the wild tales that come back to Amaurot will no doubt think it within her capabilities.”

Art’imis smiled, allowing herself to partake in Themis’s good humor for a moment before the weight of what she was about to tell him drug her back into its somber shadow. “Let’s find Lahabrea. I would prefer that you both knew and I don’t want to tell this tale more than once if I don’t have to.”

Themis cocked his head to the side again as he considered her. He nodded and gestured for her to follow him.  Walking in the wake of his white robes Art’imis felt her spirit lighten as guilt that had been clawing at her soul fell away.  When she left Elpis this time, she would heed Bel’s warnings and not come back. She could not be here when stars fell from the sky and consumed everything with fire. 

She could not save everyone. 

But perhaps she didn’t have too if she left them with the knowledge they needed to save themselves. 

[janeykath318]

The Avengers Zoo

“Since when did the Avengers compound become a zoo?” Darcy asked, flabbergasted to see a frog and a porcupine just chilling out while a hairless cat sat in a sunny corner relaxing. Jane had been summoned down to headquarters and she’d begged Darcy to come too.

“Since Loki showed up and decided to cause havoc, as he is wont to do,” Jane sighed. “Everyone is….not human right now.”

“Oh, dear,” Darcy sighed. “Have you figured out who’s who?” 

“Getting there. Hawkeye and Falcon are obvious, The bald eagle has to be Steve, and Thor is a golden retriever, which I have to admit, is kind of fitting.” 

A big yellow dog trotted over to Jane and sat at her feet, tail wagging and tongue lolling. 

“Hey there, big guy!” Darcy greeted. Thor barked and doggy grinned at her. 

“Yeah, it’s good to see you too, pal,” she returned, smiling at him. “Hopefully, we can convince your Bro to undo whatever he did.”

“We think they still have their human minds, but Leo and Jemma are running some tests to verify that,” Jane informed her, leading Darcy to another room, which contained a dozing black bear, a striking panther, an adorable floppy-eared bunny, and three large birds of prey.

Darcy’s jaw dropped and she saluted the bald eagle. 

“Wow, Cap. It’s a good look on you,” she said with a twinkle in her eyes. The eagle-Cap’s eyes narrowed, but he didn’t move a muscle. 

Talk about majestic.

The sleek Falcon next to him let out a sound that Darcy took to be a birdish laugh and preened his feathers. 

“Yeah, I see you, Wilson. You’re looking good, too,” she assured him.

Clint-Hawk flapped over to her and squawked a greeting.

“Hey, Clint. How’s the bird life treating you?” She asked, trying not to laugh. “If this wasn’t top secret, I’d have so much good blackmail material on you.” 

Hawkeye gave her a birdie glare and shook his brown feathery head. 

Darcy had to stifle a shriek when two large spiders suddenly dropped down in front of her. Of course, they were much bigger than any natural spider, but Loki had probably done that on purpose.

 “Natasha?” She asked nervously, looking at the one with the red hourglass symbol on its body and thanking her stars she wasn’t arachnophobic. 

The spider blinked at her and waved one of its legs, as if affirming her guess. The other spider was a solid black and much more wiggly than Natasha. 

“Let me guess: Peter?” She queried, laughing at the younger spider’s antics as he shot around webbing everything in sight. 

“Yep,” Jane sighed. “He makes such a mess.”

“King T’Challa looks every bit as regal in panther form as human form,” Darcy commented, watching the panther walking alongside one of the scientists, not making the slightest noise. 

“He’s trying his best to help us figure this out,” Jane said affectionately. “He’s quite brilliant even in large cat form.”

The bunny rabbit hopped over to them and looked up at Darcy intensely. In a flash, she was given a mental image of the transformation moment and all the human identities of the animals. 

“That’s definitely Wanda,” She informed Jane. 

“She showed me who everyone is.” 

One of the other scientists ran over eagerly.

“Ooh. Do tell,” he begged, looking like an excited puppy.

Jane rolled her eyes. 

“Darcy, this is Leo Fitz. He’s helping figure this thing out. Fitz, this is Darcy.”

“Nice to meet you.” 

“Likewise,” Fitz said. 

“Other than the ones we already know, the cat is Dr. Strange, the frog is Bruce Banner, the porcupine is Tony Stark…” She cut off with a giggle and Fitz and Jane grinned at the hilarity of Tony the Porcupine.

“Anyway, Wanda is the rabbit, and the bear is Bucky Barnes, bless his heart.”

Darcy looked over to the bear, who was now awake and watching her with quizzical eyes. 

“I’d stay away from that one,” Fitz advised. “He growls if anyone gets within three meters of him.”

“Poor Bucky really doesn’t like scientists,” Darcy told him. “He knows me. I’ll be okay.”

She walked over and sat down beside Bucky the Bear. He lifted his head, but didn’t growl or lunge at her. 

“Hey, there, Bucky.” She told him. “Can you understand me?”

The big bear head nodded clumsily. 

“Excellent,” Darcy beamed, then sighed, remembering their last very awkward encounter. “Now I can finally clear the air about us without you running off or interrupting me with self-flagellation.” 

Bucky bear made a mournful sound, but Darcy kept on track.

“I thought we had a good thing going, Bucky. The flirting was top-notch and you had me completely wrapped around your little finger. Then we kissed and suddenly, you freaked out and avoided me like I had the plague. It’s okay if you aren’t ready, but I want you to know I’m not scared of you in bear form and I’m not scared of you in human form, either. 

You’re a good man, Bucky Barnes. Believe it or not, you do deserve to be happy. Just think about that, okay?”

She could see Steve’s eagle eye watching them, and The Falcon and The Hawk were also gazing with interest. 

The bear snuffled and looked up at her with soulful eyes that were ridiculously cute in a large beast like him. 

Darcy had a strong urge to give him a pet, but figured it would be best to ask first.

“Do you mind if I touch you? That fur is really something.”

The bear didn’t seem to mind and Darcy slowly sank her fingers into his side and marveled at the feel. She gently ran her hand over his soft black fur, noting that Bucky bear had closed his eyes in bliss. 

“Oh, you like that, do you?” She teased. “I bet your human self would too.” 

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a commotion and Jane Foster giving a familiar mischievous figure a thorough chewing out. Loki was trying to be a smartass, but Jane was having none of it. Finally, he gave an exasperated huff.

“Fine! I have modified the spell to wear off in three days. There is no need for more threats. I am well aware of your expertise. You mortals have no sense of humor.”

With a poof, Loki turned himself into a snake and slithered away. 

Jane sighed. 

“Hear that everyone? You’ll be human again in three days. I have no idea what we’re going to do in the meantime.”

Turned out, Darcy added Avengers zookeeper to her resume during the next few days. She chatted to them, made terrible bird jokes, and helped make sure they ate. She got to watch Steve, Sam, and Hawkeye soaring regally in the air, which was a pretty incredible sight. Bunny Wanda liked to sit on her lap and nibble at lettuce while Porcupine Tony made ridiculous faces at Darcy and pretended he was going to poke Bucky with his quills. Bucky mostly snoozed at Darcy’s feet or watched the Birdy Trio flying around. 

Kitty Strange slept most of the time and looked disdainfully at the others when he was awake, goblin like eyes eerily watchful. Thor of course, followed Jane around with his undying loyalty, and the spiders chilled out in their webs, amusing themselves by building more and more elaborate designs. Bruce was given his own private enclosure away from the chaos and he hopped about contentedly. 

When day three arrived, they made sure everyone was in a safe location for a safe transition back to human form and waited it out. 

Darcy got a text from Jane while on a coffee run that simply said, “I forgot how annoying human Tony is. I think I liked him better as a porcupine.”

The avengers were chattering and joking around about their antics as animals when Darcy got back. 

“Lewis! I hear you’re switching careers to zookeeper!” Tony yelled. She flipped him off and ignored him. (She’d learned long ago this was the most effective method of dealing with him if Pepper wasn’t around to tattle to.) 

“I have now dubbed you three the Birdy Trio and nothing is gonna change it, so get used to it,” she informed Steve, Clint, and Sam. 

They all groaned and Darcy grinned in satisfaction. 

Behind her there came a rusty bark of laughter and she turned to see Bucky grinning from ear to ear. His smiles were rare, but they were so adorable, Darcy’s heart skipped a beat.

“Don’t be smug, Barnes,” she playfully chastened him. “You’re gonna be Bucky Bear to me for the rest of your life.” 

The smile did not diminish one bit.

“I hope that’s not the only thing I am to you, doll,” he said softly, making her blush.

Steve, observing their interaction, dragged Clint and Sam away to give them privacy and Darcy vowed to thank him later. Steve really was a good bro.

“You were right. I shouldn’t have run away like that,” he admitted, taking a tentative step toward her. “I’ve been kicking myself ever since. I’ve got more issues than National Geographic magazine, but if you’re willing to give me another chance, I’d definitely like to take it.” 

Darcy smiled and grabbed his hands in hers: both of them. He looked surprised when he saw her grasping his metal hand, but he gently squeezed back. 

“Bucky Bear, I’d love to. How about we start by catching up over dinner?”

“Sounds great, doll,” he said, beaming at her. 

[itsthemysterykids]

Full/Fuller House Quotes

Wybie: Lili, do you know how Stan’s car got in here?

Lili: Yes, I do.

Wybie: How?

Lili: Through the window.

—

Coraline: Your sister is such a tattle-tale.

Mabel: I am not and I'm telling you said that.

—

Raz: Gee, your hair smells like melon. What are you using?

Wybie: Oh, it's this new product called 'Gee, Your Hair Smells like Melon.'

—

Lili: Razputin, it's finally happened! He's cleaning liquid soap!

Dipper: Don’t be silly. I’m just cleaning my rubber gloves.

Raz: Dipper, there's no shame in therapy.

—

Dipper: Okay guys. Lets pick a name for our new puppy. Mabel do you have a name for the puppy?

Mabel: Yes I do. Mabel.

Dipper: That's your name.

Mabel: I like my name.

Coraline: Mr. Bear and I have the perfect name. Mr.Dog!

Lili: Mr. Dog? Coraline, when you have a kid someday what are you going to name it? Mr.Baby?

Coraline: Not if its a girl.

Norman: I think we should name him something that fits his personality. Like... Puddles.

Raz: I have the perfect name! Comet. Because he's fast and he has a tail.

Wybie: And he only hits the newspaper once every 76 years.

—

Lili: Cathy Santoni is a complete bimbo. She signed up for Shop Class cause she thought it was taught at the mall.

—

Random Guy: *strong English accent* You again. Who arrre you?

Wybie: *imitating his accent* The next-door neigh-barrr.

—

Raz: I never had them and I never will. I'm immune to chicken pox.

Coraline: You can't be immune to chicken pox, huh!

Raz: Ever kid in my school had them but me. I guess when you're an awesome physical specimen like my own bad self, germs take one look at my body and say, 'Hey, why waste our time?'

Lili: Women say the same thing.

Raz: That's right.

—

Mabel: Wybie, I have a question. What's a boy ladybug called?

Wybie: *thinks for a moment* Confused.

—

Coraline: Dad, with all respect, you can't send me to my room now. I'm a married woman.

Charlie: No you're not.

Wybie: Dad-

Charlie: Please don't call me that!

Wybie: What is it you do?

Charlie: I’m a garden magazine editor

Wybie: I will study hard...and when you die, I will take over the family business.

Charlie: … I will never die.

—

*Coraline enters with Wybie and Camilo dressed alike*

Coraline: Check this out! Try to tell 'em apart!

Wybie: You'll never guess, grandma.

Lucille: Ohhh this is a toughie, but I bet that the real Wybie is the one that just called me grandma. And you are Camilo.

Wybie: Aw nuts.

Camilo: Aw hoo..

Lucille: Bless you

—

Norman: Don't shake your head. Your story is read. Now, you must go to bed. To bed, I said.

Neil: Norman, you really gotta cut back on the Dr. Suess.

—

Wybie: I'm older.

Coraline: I'm younger.

Wybie: I’m taller.

Coraline: I'm shorter.

Wybie: I'm smarter.

Coraline: I'm... not falling for that.

—

Lili: Dude, lots of babies are bald.

Norman: Not me. When I was born, the doctor smacked my butt and gave me a blow dryer.

—

Dipper: Kissing a girl who smokes is like kissing an ash tray.

Norman: What ash tray have you been kissing?

Dipper: My Aunt Ida. I mean I love her, but she smokes so much, her Dalmatian is all black.

—

Rando: *after looking in refrigerator* This fridge is a joke! No Ding-Dongs, no Ho-Ho's, no Nutty Buddy's... it's bone-dry!

Wybie: I have raisins.

Rando: I'm allergic to raisins. My lips blow up and I can't talk when I eat raisins!

Wybie: ...raisins it is then!

—

Mabel: Neil’s a girl.

Lili: No, he's a women.

Coraline: An ugly women.

—

Wybie: Oh Mylanta!

—

Raz: You let Coraline punch a hole in your body? Why didn't you just fall on a rusty nail?

—

Raz: *after hearing about Gia's rumor involving Mabel* You should hide my smelly socks in her locker!

Norman: Raz, she wants to hurt her not kill her!

—

Coraline: Wybie here is a Shakespeare freak. Aren't you, my little Hamlet-and-cheese?

Wybie: *embarrassed* Whatever.

Mel: Wybie, you're into Shakespeare?

Wybie: Shall I compare thee to a Summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate. Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, and Summer's lease hath all too short a date.

Mel: … Wow, Wybie, I had no idea you had such a sensative soul.

Wybie: … Whatever.

—

Mabel: You think you're so cute.

Neil: Don't worry, be happy.

Mabel: Oh no! You ARE so cute!

—

Dipper: When I was a kid, the kids used to tease me. They called me 'Zorba the Geek.'

Raz: *laughs hysterically, then grows serious when he sees the killer look on Dipper’s face* Kids can be so cruel.

—

Lili: Raz said he heard a strange noise in the garage, but if you ask me, it's a desperate plea for attention.

Wybie: Lili, stop watching Oprah and start doing your homework.

—

Mabel: Are you gonna cook the baby?

Raz: We're changing her diaper.

Mabel: Oh, then how do you roast a turkey?

—

Raz: Uncle Raz doesn't want to play ballerina.

Random Child: Yes, he does.

Raz: No, he doesn't.

Random Child: Yes, he does.

Raz: No, he doesn't!

Random Child: *Fake cry* Yes, he does.

Raz: … How do you play ballerina?

—

Coraline: I want to look like these models!

Wybie: Why?

Coraline: Because they're pretty!

Wybie: I think you're pretty.

—

Wybie: I'm calling children's services to handle this.

Lili: Why?

Wybie: Because if I don't, I'm going over there to straighten him out myself!

—

Raz: That's it. Loosen up, be very fluid. Be very fluid-y. That's it! Now... once you get it going, you shift the weight and you go. *starts walking* And it's a strut, and it's cool, and it's a strut, and it's cool. See? Like that?

Steve Urkel: Very inspiring. *tries to walk, but instead of a strut, he walks sidways on his toes bouncing highly*

Raz: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's, uh, that's close.

Steve Urkel: Really? Well, oh. Well, that was a walk on the wild side. But, you should ty it with your elbows out. It's much better for circulation.

Raz: Oh, really? Like this? *sticks elbows out*

Steve Urkel: Yeah. *Raz starts to walk*!You're doing fine.

Raz: You, know? I do feel the blood flowing better. It's very - WHAT AM I DOING?

Steve Urkel: Well, here's another fun way to kill time. Let's share a life story. I'll go first. I was born on a cold night in Chicago, 1976, the year of America's bicenntinal. My mom was in a great deal of pain and I was charging through! And...

Raz: Uh! I think I hear the girls in the kitchen. Why, don't you just go and... yeah. Right in the kitchen area.

—

Wybie: Hey! You girls are the ones who drilled a peep hole in the boys’ locker room!

Rando Girl: Yeah, and you're the reason we plugged it up!

Wybie: The peep hole works both ways, Zit Butt!

—

Mabel: Forget it. There's no way you can make me stay.

Dipper: I can tell Stan.

Mabel: Okay, that's one way... I can't believe you'd squeal on me.

Dipper: I can't believe you'd put me in this position.

Mabel: What about all those times you snuck in after curfew and I never said a word?

Dipper: That's different. This is dangerous.

—

Wybie: *to Mel and Charlie* My grandmother would never let me go to a boy's apartment unsupervised, what kind of parents are you?

—

Dipper: We were in the same class, but I didn't talk to Mabel for six months.

Lili: Is that because she's an airhead?

Dipper: She's not an airhead. She just hates thinking.

—

Coraline: They don't even ask anymore; they just assume that their wish is our command.

Norman: And the worst part is I don't remember getting one thank-you, do you?

Wybie: Well, let's see - "Give me", "Get me", "Take me", "Make me", "Drive me", "Buy me", "Find me", nope; no thank-you.

—

Mel: *Knocks on the door* Coraline, are you in there?

Coraline: Yeah one sec mom! *clears off pillows off of her bed, and pushes Wybie under the covers*

Wybie: *Drunk* Wassup, Jonesy?

Coraline: Wybie, we're going to play a little game okay? Whoever stays quietest the longest gets to lipwrestle with the captain of the football team!

Wybie: Play ball!

—

Neil: Did you happen to get a picture of the front of the horse too?

Raz: This happens to be one of my relatives. If you wanna see yours, you could go rent "Gorillas in the Mist."

[watchtower-feed]

BatDragon

Batfamily ✧ 1 ✧

     The fight had run long and everyone is exhausted. While Bruce is away on a top-secret intergalactic League mission, all of his wards decided to work as a team to take down Black Mask and his men. Only because it’s been a particularly unusual job, unusual even for Gotham. Black Mask had outsourced manpower from Bane himself to protect his precious cargo, a single chest the size of a serving platter. It was enough for all of them to be cautious and actually work together.

     The Red Hood is making sure every single hired muscle is tied up and unconscious. “Damn. Black Mask sure gave us a fight for this one.” He rubs his gloved hands together while he walks toward the chest. “Makes you wonder what’s inside.”

     Nightwing, Robin, Red Robin, Spoiler, Orphan, and the Signal have been circling the cargo as well. Scanning it. Observing it. It’s not made out of gold or silver, just a metal chest with a few dents on it from being roughly handled and eventually dropped during the fight.

     Finally, cautiously, Robin and Red Robin squat down beside it to examine the locks. It’s nothing advanced. In fact, they were just multiple bulky old-fashioned locks. Quietly, the two of them worked together on opening it.

     The tension and anticipation are so thick in the air until Spoiler couldn’t stand the silence any longer. “What is it?” She asked as soon as Robin’s gloved hands are holding the lid and lifting it slowly.

     Red Robin is the first to see a glinting sheen. “Some kind of precious stone?” he remarks. When Robin has the lid all the way down, all of them could see the thing that’s inside. “Not a stone--”

     “An egg,” Robin finishes.

     “Ohmygod,” Nightwing interrupts, “Are we doing Eragon--”

     His mouth hangs open. All of their eyes are glued to the egg in front of them as it rocked in its place and then the sound of a tiny crack echoed inside the harbor warehouse and made their hearts stop. They watch the small intermittent ruptures extend until it finally formed a jagged piece. A piece that’s pushed out by you.

     “It hatched.”

     Your small black claws grip the edge of the egg as you slowly peak over the opening. There are seven gigantic figures crouching down and looking at you closely. They blink. So you blink.

✧ ✧ ✧

     “Who did she look at first?” Jason’s chest rumbles when he speaks and you find the vibration soothing. “Because she’s definitely imprinting on me right now.”

     Tim rolls his eyes as Jason secures you more firmly in his arms and against his chest. You nuzzle the tip of your mouth against the soft thin fabric of his undershirt. “After hatching from the egg she needs to be incubated. It only makes sense that she’d latch onto you ‘cause you’re the one with the strongest body heat here.”

     Your soft claws dig into Jason’s bear arms after hearing Tim’s voice, another soothing sensation to your newfound senses.

     Suddenly, a golden curtain sneaks up on your vision and you’re met with another one of your giants. “I have body heat, too,” she whines. Then, with a gentler voice she speaks to you, “Hey, little you. Wanna come to mama? I bet I’m a lot softer than this rugged old man.”

     Jason tries to tuck you away from her but you’re already crawling towards Steph. She snorts in victory as you settle on her chest. Her bare skin is a lot gentler on your soft scales.

     Two other heads lower down to look at you and you welcome them both by flicking out your tongue and touching the tips of their noses. Cass laughs at the wetness while Dick pouts.

     “How come she’s not acting like the dragon from the movie?” He reaches for your featherless wings, “She hasn’t even opened them once--” and tries to pull on them, causing you to hiss in fear.

     He quickly retracts his arm and spouts rushed apologies. From the few hours they’ve known you, they at least know that you do not like your limbs being pulled.

     Damian walks in with a scowl on his face while nursing his bandaged hand. “What did you do?” he accuses Dick right away.

     “He tried to pull on her wings,” Duke spits out right away. Everyone shifts their glares at him because he still hasn’t gotten rid of his instinct to tattle, a habit that’s gravely unwelcome among Batman’s wards.

     “Tsk.” Damian walks up to Steph to examine you closely, making sure you’re unhurt. He’s also close enough for you to lick his nose. Your smallest giant. The giant who helped you climb out of your egg and onto his harm.

     Damian was so curious at your mysterious physique that he couldn’t help running his fingers along your trunk and then pulling on the spiked ball that was the tip of your tail. So you bit him.

     Everyone shouted and Duke swatted you away making you fall on the ground. Scared and helpless. But it was Damian who extended his other hand again and picked you up to take you home.

     You’ve been staring at him long enough that Steph gently hands you to him. Damian carries you with both of his hands. You may only be a little longer than his forearm, but you easily extend beyond his embrace.

     “I’m taking her with me to Nanda Parbat.”

     Angry gasps fill the room and you watch tensely as your bigger giants quickly surround him. 

     “What?”

     “Give her back,” Steph’s the only one who stomps toward Damian.

     Damian doesn’t step back. “The manor is no place to raise a dragon.”

     “But it’s enough for a demon,” Jason quips, “and we’ve survived.”

     “The League of Assassins is centuries old. My family is the greatest source we have to find out more about her species.”

     “Good lord.”

     Everyone turns and freezes the moment they see Alfred in his robe and nightdress. His hands are shaking while he ties his robe around his waist and stares wide-eyed at you. You blink at the new older giant who’s standing underneath the doorway. He doesn’t blink back.

     “Alfred, we can explain--”

     “You brought home a baby dragon…”

     Finally, once the absurdity of it all has been voiced out, Bruce’s wards can finally feel the gravity of this single night.

✧ ✧ ✧

     Batman is too far out in another galaxy to be reached and his wards didn’t want the League to know about you. In their eyes, your giants are still children and they would take you away from them.

     Instead, another family member was called.

     When Ra’s Al Ghul makes it to the manor’s front door alongside his daughter, he stops. They turn to each other and wonder if they should just break-in. But they didn’t come here to intrude. Damian had invited them over and so they knock and wait.

     There’s nothing more surreal than the Al Ghul’s having tea with Alfred and Bruce’s wards, everyone out of their costumes and combat gear. Well almost everyone.

     “Why aren’t you guys in costume? That’s Ra’s Al Ghul,” the Signal whispers behind his cup of tea.

     “‘Cause he’s Ra’s Al Ghul,” Tim answers. “If anyone knows who we are, he would.”

     Jason leans in and gives the Signal his own two-cents, “Plus, they came to the manor and not the cave. That should’ve been your heads up.”

     Frustrated, he takes off his mask and sinks into his chair, letting the previous silence continue to grow in the Wayne sitting room.

     Then Dick breaks it, “So Damian told you and you came here, huh?”

     Talia smiles while her father continues to drink his tea with his eyes shut. “Wouldn’t you?” she teases, “I’m sure even beloved himself would come down from his perch if you had told him there’s a dragon in the manor.” Talia watches in amusement as Bruce’s wards swallow. She turns to Jason for confirmation. After having been raised by Talia after his resurrection, he knew he couldn’t lie to her so he looks away. “So you truly haven’t told him.”

     Finally, Damian walks back into the room with Steph who’s been holding you gently against her chest while you slept. When you pick up the new scents in the room, you immediately wake up and turn to them.

     To everyone’s surprise, Ra’s Al Ghul quickly stands. He stares at you. And very slowly he walks forward to meet you. He gazes down. Old ancient eyes study you deeply while you stare at him and blink.

     Of course, a living breathing dragon would be something the League is interested in-- something he’s interested in. After centuries on this Earth, he has never seen one and has at least once wondered if they truly exist. But today his grandson offers him that experience.

     Only to be disappointed.

     “This is nothing but a lizard.”

✧ 1 ✧

✧ Watchtower Masterlist ✧

[agentsofmarvel]

More Modern MPHFPC Headcannons

(becuase i’m bored & the last one did well)

⚠️ slight spoilers!!!! ⚠️

Jacob

watches gaming videos on YT a lot more than he would like to admit

cannot cook for ANYTHING. the most he can do is microwave something.

knows basic polish bc abe. curses & gossips in polish so no one knows what he’s saying.

your average floridian who wears hoodies & long sleeves no matter the weather.

shares a room with hugh (canon) & its an organized chaos that works very well.

Emma

writing notes >>> texting any day.

i feel like she cannot cook either. one little distraction and boom, the whole meal is up in smoke.

immune to spice. a spicy pepper is like a cucumber to her.

hates the cold, so she enjoys winter in florida.

starts to wear jeans & pants more and is falling in love with it.

in my mind she’s still dating jacob. i know.

Hugh

f r e c k l e s for days.

loves enamel pins & buttons, especially if they have little bee designs.

wants nothing to do with the wights & hollows anymore. just wants quiet quality time with his love.

knows a T O N of tik tok dances & nobody knows why or how.

avid hgtv watcher. enjoys “fixer upper” and a bunch of others & everyone makes fun of him for it.

Fiona

learns sign language to communicate now that,,, y’all know 👅🚫

has really expressive eyes & eyebrows. she uses her facial expressions to communicate what she’s thinking a lot.

can cook vegan meals like a goddess.

she’s also an amazing artist. she mainly paints landscapes with watercolors & ms.p loves to frame them.

likes modern day board games.

Millard

has been taking online college courses without telling anyone.

has accidentally spent a night in barnes & noble after being locked in while invisible.

avid booktube watcher?!? kinda wants to make videos like them, but.....he’s y’know invisible.

is also a great artist. he can paint with fiona for hours while hugh watches.

has a perplexous fan account that jacob made for him accidentally.

Bronwyn

gets way too invested in the plots of kids shows. the others will catch her watching disney or nick junior by herself.

is in a bunch of parenting facebook groups giving advice to a bunch of middle aged moms on how to treat their kids properly.

goes to ALL of claire & olive’s activity’s. soccer game? there she is in a homemade t-shirt with their names on it. school play? she’s in the front row crying.

barefoot 24/7 but wants to stop because claire & olive want to copy her & what if they get hurt????

has single handedly kept this family together during this quarantine.

Enoch

2020 as a human being. you think it can’t get any worse,,, but then....

“that’s what she said jokes” 24/7 and everyone HATES it.

used being in quarantine as an excuse for anything & everything. washing the dishes? “but, we’re in q u a r e n t i n e miss.”

likes hiding the others stuff and waiting weeks until they figure it out. “where’s my book?” “oh yeah, i tossed that two weeks ago.” “you what??”

has worn the exact same outfit everyday to the loathing of horace & ms.p.

Horace

loves horrible puns. “do you want to hear a ghost joke? that’s the spirit” will make him cry laugh for hours.

plays modern music on the piano.

“i don’t care if people see me or not, i’m wearing the suit.” - his quarantine motto.

absolutely horrible at video games, it’s not even funny watching him.

his camera roll on his phone is 99.9% mirror selfies of himself in different suits. the other 0.01% is a blurry picture of enoch.

Olive

avid watcher of disney tv animation shows. gravity falls & the owl house are her faves.

has made multiple powerpoint presentations (after jacob taught her how) on why they needed a dog.

has hid on the ceiling in the house and watched as people panicked looking for her for an hour.

has a single stuffed animal. it’s old. it’s falling apart, but she A D O R E S it.

wants to play minecraft 24/7 but miss.p says no.....

Claire

unlike olive, she has a billion stuffed animals and makes jacob drive her to build-a-bear often.

wants one of those princess-themed beds from rooms-to-go kids that they advertised in the early 2000’s. (y’all know what i mean.)

knows the plot of every disney movie and can guess them in a few words.

miss.p’s little shadow. she will follow her everywhere and take notes on everything like she’s seen millard do.

the BIGGEST tattle-tail. this is also 100% cannon.

Miss.P

watched the news once, turned it off ten minutes in, has not watched since.

likes modern day literature and talks about it with millard constantly.

when she’s not busy, which is very rare, she’ll sit in her room and knit or needle point.

the children got her social media as a joke, but now she has a ton of followers and no one knows how.

finds modern music “absolutely atrocious”. “what could he be needing to say with so many swears so fast!”

thanks for actually reading this far 🥳 let me know if you have any more, i’m trying to keep this fandom alive.

[marvinswriting]

rouge

hurt/comfort(/hurt?) fic four :0 GENERALIZED TW: death (fear of it, mentioned, and/or, actual death); cursing; blood (mention, description, thought) mg borrower (roommates) au

Rouge borrowers are a thing. When I described them to Damian, he pointed out that they're the equivalent of a homeless person.

I told him all borrowers are technically homeless.

You won't catch me paying taxes.

Rouge borrowers are more like travelers. Never stay in one place too long, never settle down. They're left to their own devices at a younger age too. They have a different culture and borrowing technique than a stationary borrower. They're more reckless, more violent.

They travel alone most of the time. Each man for himself.

My father would tell stories of rouge borrowers that kill off humans if they get caught. 

They travel to houses but don't stay for long. 

There's a good chance a borrower has shared their house with a rouge without even knowing. 

Houses are big.

But- I never thought I'd face one.

"What are you doing here." He called out. He was holding a meticulously sharpened rock as a knife.

I was on the kitchen counter just trying to grab food. Kevin was across the kitchen getting water, frozen in place as he watched the rouge approach me. Gretchen had slipped away before he saw her. I fucking hope she had enough common sense to get Damian. 

I put my hands up in defense. 

"I live here."

He raises his weapon. "You two are stationary borrowers?"

"Yes." I say.

"Take me to your hideout. I want your supplies."

"What?! No!" I step back, but the rouge just steps closer again.

"Hey, dude-" Kevin steps over. "What's your name. Maybe we can work this out- without the kife?"

"Shane." The borrower says, but he doesn't lower his weapon.

"Hey, Shane. I'm Janis, this is my roommate Kevin. I agree I think we can talk civilly without-" I gasp, taking a step backward as Shane gabs his knife at me.

Kevin's arm wraps around my shoulders pulling me close to him.

"Hey! No stabbing the girl!" He says, pushing me a little behind him.

Normally I would object to needing to be protected, but Shane looks strong as fuck for a rouge borrower and has shown he has no hesitation to fucking stab us.

"There's another one of you." Shane deadpans. "Where did she go."

"I don't know," Kevin says calmly.

"Where did she go?!" Kevin steps back so he's next to me. Shane is swinging around his sharp rock-knife-weapon-murder-dagger, like a mad man. 

"We don't know!" I say. "Honest truth!"

She could be hiding in her room like a baby, or getting Damian. Or maybe she fell off the counter and fucking died. Beats me I guess.

Shane steps forward again. He gets to closer for comfort. "Are you sure."

"Yes!" My hands are still up by my ears. My tool bag as fallen by my feet, our week's supply of granola tucked beneath it all. I hope he doesn't fucking take it-

"I don't believe you. Take me to your house."

"You're in it buddy." I say. Kevin kicks the back of my leg. Yeah, I should cut down on the sarcastic quips since this dude could kill me at any moment. 

"Where you store your supplies. In the walls dumbass. I take it you're not wandering around after befriending the humans."

"Ah, that's where you're wrong." I grin.

Shane seems momentarily frightened by the idea that we have a giant ally but decides I must be bluffing.

He shoves me. "Your supplies. Now!" 

Woah woah woah this is getting violent fast what the fuck?

I stumble backward, trying to grasp something to stop myself from falling. I yank Kevin's shoulder but just end up bringing him down with me.

"What the fuck, Janis?" He whines as we both land on our butts.

"Sorry!" I groan, standing up. "What's your damage dude?" I ask Shane.

"My damage is I need fucking food."

"Then get your own! Not in this house!" 

"Not when you have easy access to food in your storage."

"Our storage is empty!" I throw my hands up in exasperation. "Why do you think we're borrowing!"

Both Shane and I are very close to each other. I may not have a knife but momma didn't raise no bitch. I can throw a punch when needed. 

"Then shows me where you normally get food."

"Fucking starve." I spit.

"Janis-" Kevin tried to pull me backward but I'm livid.

Does this boy think he can come into our area and take out resources? Hell no.

Anger flashes in Shane's eyes as his arm thrusts forward.

I don't even feel the pain at first. It's only when he withdraws his arm- his stone-sword-weapon-bitch-thing covered in blood when my mind makes the connection.

Holy fucking shit.

That's my blood.

Kevin gasps as Shane steps back. 

The pain hits like a wave of nausea as I double over, my hands shooting to my side. 

Oh, fuck?

Fuck.

"Where's your food?" Shane's voice is calm like he thinks the answer will change now that he's made his point.

I grit my teeth, standing up. My shirt is turning red but I close my jacket to hide it.

Out of sight, out of mind. I've got ass to kick.

"We. Don't. Have. Shit. For. You."

The kitchen light flicks on and I smile, watching the color drain from Shane's face.

"Human." He whispers.

"Mhmm."

Damian stood in the doorway, Gretchen on his shoulder. On the outside, he looked pissed, but I could see by the way his shoulders tensed that he was worried as fuck. 

I step forward, trying to ignore the pain in my side and the way the world spins.

"What's going on here?" Damian asks. The bubbliness in his voice is gone. Its enough to make me a little nervous. Shane's eyes widened. "Nothing I just-"

"He attacked us." I say. I feel like a child tattle tailing on their sibling.

"I'd leave if I were you." Damian says, walking over to the counter. He places Gretchen down without removing his eyes from the rouge borrower.

Shane doesn't need to be told twice.

Fucking pussy.

He turns to run and I don't care where he goes because the world is spinning slightly.

Extremely slightly.

Its actually not slightly at all.

But who cares. It's only a bit of blood loss. The rouge borrower is gone. 

I turn back to Kevin, big grin on my face. He eyes where my hand is pressed to my jacket but doesn't say anything.

"You guys okay?" Damian asks.

"Yup!" I grin. Kevin just looks away.

"Kevin?" Damian tilts his head. "You didn't get hurt, did you?"

"No," Kevin says dryly. "I'm okay. It's J-"

"Our food is safe!" I cut of Kevin with a grin, scooping up my tool bag, granola still stashed away. 

Damian and Gretchen smile warmly both of them visibly relaxing. I almost feel guilty. But hey, I'll be fine. It's not that deep.

"I was freaking out when Gretchen came into my room," Damian explains. "Normally only Janis stops by. I'm glad you guys are safe."

"Yeah! You're okay!" Gretchen cheers running over to Kevin and me. She pulls me into a tight hug and I grit my teeth. Ow. Fucking-

"Gretch. Stop."

Gretchen pulls back, eyes wide. "Janis-"

Her hand has blood on it.

My blood. 

There's a lot of it.

Damian gasps.

Kevin is mumbling something.

Gretchen's got tears in her eyes?

Bitch I'm the one who got stabbed. Why are you crying?

The world is spinning a lot now.

"Oh- heh." I laugh but there's no humor. "That's a lot of blood."

"Janis!" Gretchen gasps. "What happened?!"

"I got fucking stabbed its not hard to tell." 

Hmm, I'm starting to think sarcasm might be my way to cover up fear.

Fun.

Kevin is oddly quiet. He always has some sort of remark for my attitude.

Damian is frozen too.

Probably because I'm dying.

I'm dying.

Shit.

"Well." I laugh softly, my hand pressed to my side. "This was fun."

"Don't talk like that." Kevin mumbles. The stern tone is gone though. "You're gonna be okay. Just- sit down. I'm going to go grab medical shit."

"Don't lie to her, Kev. She dying. Shes-" Gretchen is full crying at this point.

"No, she's not!" Kevin snaps. "No- no shes not. I- I'll be right back."

I am dying, though.

I don't say it out loud. I don't want it to be true either.

I sit on the ground. My legs feel weak. My eyes feel tired. My side is burning yet ice cold at the same time. 

Blood is sticky. 

That’s a fact I would live without knowing.

"Jan, no." There's high panic in Damian's voice. "You need to stay awake."

Kinda forgot Damian was there. I don't want him to see me die. That's too sad.

Gretchen kneels in front of me. Her hand pushed down on my side above my hands. I cry out in pain but I know shes trying to stop the blood. "C'mon Janis. Kevin will be back. You need to stay awake."

Despite everything Gretchen is telling me I let myself fall backward, staring up at the ceiling. 

I was losing blood fucking fast I guess. I went from 10/10 hiding it to laying on the ground staring at the ceiling in seconds. 

Of all the ways a borrower can die, I get stabbed. I had family members drown in sinks, eaten by pets, starved from unpredictable human schedules- and  I’m killed off my another borrower.

Fucking great. 

"Janis." There's panic in Damian's voice. "Please. Sit up. Stay awake."

It's too hard. 

I’m tired. 

I can’t.

"Janis!" Gretchen is full sobbing. 

I'm sorry, Gretch. Sorry for being a bitch ass roomate. My bad.

Everything sounds muffled. I think I can hear Kevin returning. There are more hands.

Everything hurts.

I don't have enough energy to push them off.

"Jan, Love. You need to stay awake."

Damian.

Thanks for telling me all about your world. They were fun stories to hear. 

Love you.

"C'mon Janis. You're stronger than this. You really gonna let one rouge borrower take you down?"

It appears I am, Kevin.

Sorry guys.

If I were to quote bear, oops. Lol. Tags! @realmisspolarbear @musicallygt @sourishlemons @smallsoysauce

[unicyclehippo]

prompt where lena gets coles online deliveries and kara is her regular butch delivery girl

the luthor’s are a strange and terrible lot, so the public decries. they are terribly smart and terribly ambitious and they lie. lena learned that the first two of these traits are usually good, except when they are joined with the luthor name.

she can’t disagree with the third, though she sometimes wishes the lies she tells were more exciting. not necessarily the type those shit stirrers churn up, but something. as it is, she’s on her nineteenth lie of the day and it’s only—her eyes flick from the large television screen where she’s streaming the conference call down to her watch—8:17am.

‘are we boring you, miss luthor?’ jackson “just jack” spheer asks. he’s not smiling, exactly, and he’s definitely not teasing but to someone who knows him well, as lena does, it’s close enough that that’s precisely what it is. it makes these whole tedious affairs bearable, having him around.

‘no.’ make that twenty. ‘i was merely wondering if we had enough time in this session for me to bring up a project my assets division has begun to work on, but we only have thirteen minutes left and i really would like to talk more about the projected vision of our, ah,’

‘collaboration,’ jack offers.

lena nods. ‘collaboration.’ hes the only one she would take correction or suggestion from, and it’s not because he’s good looking, though he is. the fact is, he’s one of the good ones. one of the truly good ones—a man who wants good things for the world and the people around him more than anything else. it’s unfortunate that he’s had to become a business man to do it but like everything else he attempts, he’s rather good at it.

‘i’d be happy to bore you with the minutiae. if you would all like to move to the section titled “l-corp assisted projects”, i think you’ll be pleased with the ideas my team has come up with.’

the meeting drags on to well over the half hour mark, and this time when lena is pulled away from the screen, she does so entirely.

‘gentlemen, as productive as this was, i do have another meeting lined up,’ lena tells them. the urge to apologise rises up and she smacks it down. it’s not her fault that gareth and trent blabbered on and wasted twenty minutes at the beginning. ‘send any notes to my assistant, and if you have anything you want to discuss next week, put your interest forward in writing.’

the screen blinks off, and lena is careful to make sure that it is disconnected and her computer closed—she’s heard horror stories of calls continuing post disconnection and being recorded and she’d rather the board didn’t see the way she sits on her couch, throws her head back and groans for a long minute.

8:48am and her brain feels like someone has been using it for a pincushion.

water. panadol. some stupid electrolyte drink. then back to work.

despite the trauma of an upbringing utterly absent of love, and the betrayal and incarceration of her beloved brother, and the repeated trauma of bearing the luthor name, there are some perks to being lena luthor. one of which is the kitchen.

beautiful, pristine, cleaned by a lovely woman named susan, and meals prepared by a professional chef once a week.

the fridge is gleaming stainless steel and lena goes over to it, leans her forehead against the metal. it’s not terribly cool but the position relieves the ache at the base of her neck so she remains. without looking, she opens the other door of the fridge and pulls out a water bottle.

‘good thing i always put it in the same place. you might’ve picked up the vinegar or something, otherwise.’

lena shrieks, jumps back and away. she’s met by the repentent and stunningly blue eyes of kara, who cracks a grin.

‘sorry, mate. thought you heard me.’

‘i - no, i didn’t.’

‘i can go out and walk back in, if you want.’ kara nods her head down the hallway, toward the garage, and it is then that lena realises that the other woman is carrying her delivery in short sleeved, muscular, straining, sweating arms.

‘um.’

‘only a joke. mind if i squeeze past? this is the cold stuff.’

‘certainly,’ lena breathes. she’s tempted to stay precisely where she is and really have kara squeeze past. she thinks better of it, which is another flaw of the luthors.

‘busy day already, miss luthor? it’s not that late. but i suppose you’re probably calling people from all over, right? i have to get up early to talk to my sister sometimes—she’s in america at the moment for a conference, so she calls me at, like, two in the morning.’ kara looks out from the fridge where she is stacking various drinks and yoghurts in perfect neat rows. ‘time zones, right? the worst.’

‘absolutely. what conference?’

lena recovers rather well from the surprise and the instant nerves that come from being face to face with kara. she takes her bottle of water and moves to sit at the kitchen bench to listen and chat with kara, her eyes lingering on the movement of strong muscles beneath the red polo shirt tucked into blue jeans that, despite being perfectly work appropriate, is now the constant feature of incescent MA15+ daydreams. as is the woman wearing it. kara danvers, coles delivery driver, fitness buff, journalism student, and utterly utterly lovely and ordinary woman.

‘well, that’s all for today. small delivery,’ kara comments. the fridge door closes lightly with a dull thunk, the muted rattle of glass.

‘last month i had a number of hosting requirements,’ lena explains. ‘a guest or two as well.’

‘ah,’ is all kara says. she seems not to know what to do with herself. scrubbing her hand over the recently trimmed hair at the side of her head, she straightens her glasses and then clears her throat. ‘is that a good brand of yoghurt?’

yoghurt?

‘i haven’t had any complaints. or made any.’

‘great, great.’

‘have you heard of any?’

‘complaints? no.’

‘wonderful.’

‘yeah. alright, well, i’ll be off,’ kara announces. ‘very nice - ah, lovely - ah, nice to see you again, miss luthor. best time of my week.’

‘early monday morning is the best time of your week?’

‘delivering to you is the best time of my week,’ kara corrects her and, rather boldly, meets her eyes and grins. it isn’t her too wide grin when she knows she’s made a truly awful joke, nor self conscious, but rather a new and rather inviting grin.

lena has been on the receiving end of many of these particular looks before. kara wears it well. oh yes.

‘lena.’

‘no, i’m kara.’

lena rolls her eyes, stares up at the ceiling. ‘you’re really not funny.’

‘so says you. my mum says i’m very funny.’

‘she’s lying, darling, mothers do that sometimes.’

kara’s grin shifts into something easier, warmer. more amused. she folds her arms over her chest and lena realises that she’s leaning against the opposite bench. she looks rather at ease in lena’s home. it’s a look she likes. one she will promptly incorporate into her daydreams.

‘call me lena,’ she tells kara, dragging her eyes up from suddenly tense and well-defined forearms and biceps. ‘are you tensing?’

‘i’m flexing,’ kara says with a bit of a grunt. ‘you were staring.’ lena doesn’t deny it. ‘sorry, i mean, you were staring, lena.’

‘oh you can follow instructions.’

‘very well.’

‘is that a promise?’

‘could be. could be an invitation to find out.’

‘enticing. you’re still flexing.’

‘oh, am i?’ kara asks, feigning surprise. ‘i didn’t notice, ‘cause i’m so strong.’

lena’s laughter is loud and, well, her mother would call it her ugly laugh but kara doesn’t seem to think so.

‘don’t you have more deliveries?’ lena asks, hiding her nose and mouth behind a delicate hand.

‘i—yeah. yeah, shit, oh i do!’ kara pushes away from the bench where she had been leaning, a look of shock jolting through her. ‘i have to go! sorry! see you next week!’

‘already looking forward to it.’

//

she is worried when the red polo shirted worker appears on television, carrying a box into some strangers house. the reporter is trotting after kara—god the camera angle makes her shoulders look broad—and asking question after question and lena finally finds the mute button on her remote and clicks the volume on and, as her assistant had told her, the questions are about lena.

‘have you seen any suspicious activity in miss luthor’s house? has the presence of gregory wurst been evident at all?’

lena glares at the reporter. a muck taker of the lowest order. and an idiot.

kara stops at the door, sets down her box with a sigh. ‘look, miss,’

‘ward.’

‘miss ward,’ kara says. ‘i’m not permitted to discuss anything like that. and i’m just a delivery person. i see the fridge and that’s it.’

‘what can you tell us about the deliveries? anything suspicious?’

‘i’m not permitted to discuss that,’ kara says firmly. then, crushingly, she hesitates.

lena feels her stomach drop. not kara too. sure, she doesn’t know the woman but, surely not everyone in the world has to be a tattle tail and an idiot.

‘there was one weird thing.’

lena’s thumb hovers over the off button.

miss ward is nearly salivating. she presents kara with the microphone eagerly. ‘yes?’

‘ten kilos of ligma.’ kara’s face is a study in a control. smooth. serene. at miss ward’s next question, that control wavers and then breaks.

‘ligma,’ miss ward repeats. ‘what’s that?’

[hyunmintae]

Days in atiny House

Installment Au 2

Ateez Poly Hybrid 

“Hoongjoong-ah!” 

“Yunho-ah!” 

“Where are you guys?” Y/N asked, after yelling the names of two of her loved hybrids, wondering where they had run off to.

“Y’N-ah, what are you doing?” Yeosang had asked as he walked from the kitchen after hearing her yelling. 

“Looking for Joongie and Yun. They need to take their medicine...” Y/N mumbled, looking inside some of the bedrooms as the bear hybrid followed her. 

Yeo frowned when Y/N frowned and he hugged her from behind, walking with her just like that as she searched. “I thought Jongho-ah made them go for a bath when he gave them their medicine?” He questioned, tucking his face into her neck as they waddled around.

“He gave them their medicine already? Which bathroom?” Y/N asked, stopping and turning around in Yeo’s arms. 

Yeo pointed up, signaling they were in the upstairs bathroom before he looked back down at Y/N and smiled and pecked her lips before scurrying off somewhere else.

Y/N titled her head in confusion as she shrugged and began walking upstairs, before hurrying a scream and whimpering. Y/N’s eyes widened at the whines, instantly recognizing them to belong to San. 

“Sannie?! Where are you?” Y/N cried as she reached the top of the stairs, being met halfway in the hallways by a fleeing San. 

“Y-Y/N-ah! Hongjoong hyung isn’t happy. He’s yelling and I think he might hit Mingi!” San cried as he ran into Y/N’s arms, hiding his face in her neck as he fell to his knees after tripping over his own feet. 

“What happened? Why’s he angry?” Y/N questioned after patting his head and helping him up, walking toward the room he was fleeing from and where yelling was coming from. 

“He was in the bath with Yunho and Mingi kept trying to get in with them, but there wasn’t any room and he stepped on Joong’s-” San stopped explaining, pointing down to try and get her to understand, his face reddening with a blush when she glanced down.

“Ohhh.” Y/N nodded, smiling at him and motioning him to go downstairs while she handled the situation.

Y/N huffed as she walked into the bathroom, rubbing her hands together softly before stepping inside the closed room. 

“I told you to stop! Look what you did!” Hoongjoong was yelling at a cowering Mingi as he a towel around his waist, before groaning and leaning over a little.

“You- Aish!!” Hongjoong began to yell before he bent over in pain again.

“Joongie. Calm down, I’m sure he didn’t mean to step on you.” Y/N said, announcing herself. 

Yunho immediately getting up and running to her, loose jogging pants and no shirt on as he clung to her.

“That doesn’t mean anything! I still told him to stop, if he listened it wouldn’t have happened!” Hongjoong yelled at her before his eyes widened and he turned to her with a sheepish smile.

“Did you just yell at me?” Y/N mumbled, tilting her head to the side.

“N-no, course not Jagi! I was just-uhh mianhae, my love.” Joong smiled, sheepishly walking over to her and kissing her forehead before jumping back as she began to swat at him.

“Yah, yah! Don’t hit me! Mianhae! I love you! I’m sorry! Yah! Ah! oW! Jagi!” Hongjoong cried as Y/N kept swatting his arms and smacking his bare thighs. 

Y/N glared at him as she hit him one last time before pointing at him, “Go get dressed. Leave my Mingi alone.”

“Jagiyaaa!” Mingi cooed as he reached out for her, still cowering in his corner as Hongjoong looked back at him and glaring.

“Jagi, he’s glaring at me again.” Mingi tattled, Hongjoong’s eyes widening and bolting from the bathroom before she could reach him again.

“Aish, that boy.” Y/N shook her head before walking to Mingi and helping him up and pecking his lips before leading him and Yunho into the bedroom. 

“Your hair is still wet, and it’s cold. Come here.” Y/N scolded, pouting as she had Yunho sit on the bed and her behind him so she could dry his hair. 

She softly rubbed his hair and ears with the soft towel that was around his neck, “Make sure you dry your hair when you get dressed, or come get me and  I will. I don’t need you getting sick, it upsets me.” Y/N pouted, kissing the top of Yunho’s head and then Mingi’s when he sat down.

They both smiled up at her before tilting their heads and kissing her cheeks, “Thank you Jagi, we love you.” they said, before getting up and walking out of the room.

“Now, where is that wolf?” Y/N asked her self as she went to find the wolf in question. 

Hongjoong was hiding away in his room, now dressed in an oversized, black sweater and grey sweat pants, attempting to dry his hair with his towel, wincing and hissing each time he hit his ears a bit too roughly, which was every time.

“Joongie, let me do that. You’ll hurt yourself worse again.” Y/N scolded as she took the towel.

Hongjoong stared at her wide-eyed as he brought his arms up to shield himself, staring at her.

“I’m not going to hit you, babo.” Y/N sneered, pushing his softly to sit on his bed. 

She straddled his lap, his hands going to her waist on instinct, she began to rub his hair and ears softly with the tail to dry them. Joong smiled and nuzzled his head into her hands as she did, smiling and letting out small pleasing sounds.

“All done.” She said after a few minutes and kissing his forehead.

Hongjoong smiled as he wrapped his arms fully around her and nuzzled his face into her chest, scenting her. 

“Joongie~” Y/N cooed, kissing his head again. 

“Sleepy.” Was all he said in reply.

“Mianhae... I didn’t mean to get so angry at Ming or to scare San and Yunho.” Joong apologized. 

“It’s okay Hyung. We understand.” The other hybrids said from the door, having been watching the exchange and fidgeting to join them.

Y/N waved them, along with the others who were behind them into the room.

“Bedtime, come on.” Y/N whispered as she let Hongjoong move into the bed with her still on his lap before sliding off and getting under the covers, the others following suit. Some were lying on top of the blankets and using thighs as pillows. 

Everyone cuddled together as they went off to dreamland.

[derangedroyalfae]

Jan 30, 2020 - 11:25 PM

This song is kinda a big mood right now with my oldest sister. 

I was trying to keep everyone in the loop about my op today. My partners ordered me a hysterectomy cake for my surgery, and so I found it delicious and offered to bring some for the fam.

However…my oldest sister separately texted me about her disapproval.

t’s 100% official, Bear (my oldest sister) is transphobic.

I did cry a bit because of this...and that’s been incredibly hard for me to do right now...to shed tears…

Here’s a kicker with it, she purposely did it in solo instead of group (because she knows she’d piss people off)

Kitty mentioned why she realized it pisses her off so much that Bear said she was offended: She’s offended that I’m happy. More or less.

She wanted me to not close the door and share etc, got on my case for keeping the transition secret at first, and then says this

And honestly, I really should let this bother me the way it does. but it does, it hurts. 

From refusing to use my name until it was legal, from insisting not to ever use masculine terminology, to this...

And some other stuff when she had a convo with Kitty, comparing allowing people to wear Pride gear (during pride month) almost being the same as allowing white supremacist to wear racist stuff 

“It might make people uncomfortable to see pride gear”

On the other hand, my ma was actually using he/him pronouns, apparently today. I didn’t hear her do it (except maybe once), so that made me happy to hear about. 

She’s almost only exclusively used she/her, so that really touched me.

Just something I've got to accept. It's a good thing I don't live there anymore.

even my parents aren't bigoted like this and my dad identifies as Republican

my ma actually went to court with me, has gone to several of my trans-related appointments, and then drove me to and from my surgery

And I know she doesn't understand, maybe not even approve (at least of some of it), but she cares and wants to help me at least be safe and careful and make sure I'm not alone

and my ma was on the opposite spectrum on the "pride gear at work thing," where she was all for it

Kitty and some other employees had gotten in trouble at work for wearing a "pride shirt" on the first Friday of Pride month

and my ma was like, "you wouldn't say that to someone wearing a pink ribbon on breast cancer awareness month" and even turned to my dad who runs a business and he was agreeing that they technically don't have a right to restrict that

but when Bear heard, and saw that Kitty was now wear pride enamel pins every day for the month (or at least every Friday, can't recall), she called her out as immature, saying that was childish and spiteful and that wearing pride stuff could make someone uncomfortable, and if we allow LGBT+ people to wear pride stuff, we should let white supremacist wear racist stuff

and it's just like "n-no…LGBT+ people are a protected class and this isn't anything hateful or harmful on their stuff, as opposed to racist stuff being bigoted and harmful with hate"

"it's bringing sex into the workplace"

uhhh…being gay =/= sex

if that's the case, than wearing "I love my husband" or those "his/hers" shirts are also sex

she got on my case for telling our neighbors (they're not mine anymore) that I changed my name (not my gender, just my name) and in front of their children who weren't paying attention

but you know what, my neighbor immediately took it well, stopped her children and said "This is Li'l King now" and they were cool with it

like, I doubt the kids even remembered my name cuz the oldest was around 2 anyway and my sis was like "IT'S GONNA CONFUSE THE CHIIIIILDDDDREEEENNNN"

no, no it's not. Kids get this stuff easily, it's adults who struggle

and you know what else, their neighbors are doing better at gendering me than they are

And she's an educator: SHE SHOULD KNOW THIS

and I also said it had nothing to do with gender, just my name

one of my other sisters, Bunny, overheard Bear scolding me for that one and told our ma and then messaged me as well to see if I was OK and what it was about, but I didn't want to be a tattle tail. Later that night, my ma checked on me and I told her everything and she was like "I'm willing to fight her for you, cuz that's not OK" and that's when she told me that Bear had been refusing to call me Li'l King up until I finally had it legally changed etc

I'm gonna tell my ma about the cake thing too, but in private and in person. People were saying I should have posted the screen shot to the group chat, but tensions and stress are really high in their household right now, and I don't want to add to it.

A bunch of people that I talked to about this also kinda grilled her for the fact that she messaged me that whilst I'm supposed to be recovering and literally just had surgery

[jess-the-vampire]

Sky And The Forces Of The Multiverse, Chapter 20

Previous / Next

Celeste glared at landon, geez well this was a trainwreck, she was trying to think up some lies in her head to tell the boy but the more quiet she was the more she looked like she was searching for a fake excuse. She glared at him harder as she stood up, "Dude!? Stop coming into my room like this! It's super weird! I'm not your go-to when you wanna hide away from whatever you got going on right now i got my own stupid stuff to worry about and you're just....butting in!". "Well apparently you're doing things that my own brother doesn't know about and considering you don't have any other reason to leave your room, i'm guessing whatever it was....i just caught you in the act...", Upon closer inspection Celeste could still see he had been crying, though his tears were dryer now. "You know, i just came in here cause judas has been trying to talk to me all day and i just wanted to be left alone, but i guess i could just go and force myself to speak to him and tell him you're doing some stupid shady stuff...". "Try me, i was gonna tell him anyway!". "Oh, so you WERE doing something shady?".

Welp, she couldn't back out now. Dangit why did this boy have to constantly be so nosy or walk in at the wrong time? And she was technically related to him too? His face was still mad but he raised an eyebrow at her knowingly, she almost wanted to spit back about how he liked to hid his secret about spending his freetime watching performers in a coffee house but she couldn't seem to get it out this time, probably because landon wouldn't take the bait anyway. "It's not your business Landon, you're not the only one whose got things they need to worry about. Look, can you just.....", she was about to try and push him out but landon didn't budge, "No, i'm not going...i needed somewhere to hide and sunny'll never let me hide in HER room, so i'm staying here for now thanks...". He walked away and took a seat at the foot of her bed, "You might as well tell me what you were doing, or what? Are you gonna erase my mind?". The girl snorted at him and sighed, taking a disgruntled seat next to him, "For the record.....you only caught me because i was bailing out at the wrong time.....". Her legs swung off the bed, "I swear something out there was after me....". She slipped off her raincoat and tossed it on the floor, "How'd you even get in here anyway? The guards just let you walk into a girl's room in the middle of the night just because you're the prince of this kingdom?". "Uh...teleportation?", he said, giving her a look. "We don't need scissors to travel so we just kinda teleport around when we need to get somewhere fast, though that tends to always be a problem when we teleport into rooms at the wrong time so we don't always do it.....", his facial expressions told Celeste he'd probably had seen some things from entering rooms that he wished he hadn't, but landon shook his head and got back on subject. "Oh right, you know being able to do that wherever you want seems like a REALLY bad idea...". The boy snorted, "Not nearly as bad as giving you scissors, you were outside.....you know that's kinda a bad idea to go anywhere alone when there's some weirdo with a doll mask running around right? You get kidnapped and my parents are gonna freak...." he huddled up, pressing his legs against his chest. "Running around in the forest of Certain death in the middle of the night rarely tends to end well for most people around here, is your forest back home just laking the "Sudden death" part?". "Look, i just had to help luna out...". "Wait....luna? You mean stick in the mud, blonde, kinda annoying half sister luna?". "How many other lunas do you think we both know?". "What the heck are you helping HER for that apparently my brother isn't supposed to know about? She's not doing anything weird right?", sighing, Celeste folded her arms, "No it's more like, we're doing our own stupid investigation cause your brother isn't really doing squat to help us. He's so busy with other things and the guy refuses to do any of our ideas that we'll all probably be 50 by the time we find a way back to whatever universe we're from...so...luna wanted me to help...". She kinda expected Landon to scoff at her helping Luna but to her surprise Landon seemed to understand fine, "That's because he doesn't think about the rest of us most of the time...what any of us wants, he makes his own decisions regardless of what we want....". His tail slipped out of his pj pants and swished behind him, "You can't make your own choices around him cause he won't let anyone else make the calls or whatever, and it's so annoying...he'll help some people, but only if it's important to HIM.". The brunette took note of his frustration, "Geez, that bad huh? Sounds like you've been dealing with this a lot...". The boy crossed his arms, his face red, "Not like you have any idea, but yeah, and everyone loves him...everything's about him, his stupid arm, him being king, mom and dad can't bear to treat him like me or mason cause he's got that stupid arm. Like he's still 17, arm or no arm that doesn't mean they can't ground him or anything...". "Sounds...fun...". "He thinks he can just apologize and everything will be fine, and it's just like, it's not like that! My family just seem to care a ton more about him then me or mason...cause i guess we weren't important enough to treat as important as he is...". Celeste turned her head away from him, before licking her lips and turning back to him, "Well, you wear your mom's hoodie a lot it seems....so i kinda doubt you're not at all important to your parents in some degree....". "Don't patronize me...",  the pink demon sighed, "My mom and I just have a close relationship, since they want me to be more confident and stuff.....but that's not the same thing. My family doesn't really talk about my talents, or things i'm up to...they care more about Judas and everything about him. It's like....I don't even exist! Not surprised though, it's not like the rest of the kingdom even cares much about me being here either.". Celeste raised an eyebrow at the demon, seems this conversation had stopped being about "Landon AND Mason". "Well i mean, if they asked to hear your songs or ask about your boyfriend, would you even really say anything anyway?", Landon grumbled at her, she could almost barely make out him telling her not to call Bernard his boyfriend under his breath. But his silence on her question continued and the girl stared dagger at him, "Just saying, you wanna sorta talk about these things but also not really because you don't even like showing this stuff off much except like...when you feel comfortable with it...". "Ok fine, maybe I just want judas to leave me alone, i'm sick of hearing him try and say sorry...". "Yeah...I've been there....families are so annoying". He turned his head, "got any siblings...?". "Yeah, but it's not what you're thinking...trust me...", she elbowed him, "Anyways i might just give up on this alliance, i just wanted to do something and i already almost got killed out there. She freaking made me go out there all by myself and who knows if she's doing ok right now....". Landon almost smiled at her, "Well at least you're trying to hurry it up as soon as you can, can't say you didn't try anything at all once you get back home to your parents...". "Right....parents.....", her hand covered her mouth a little as she looked off into the distance. "You ok?", technically he already knew the answer to that but he couldn't help but still ask her, even if he wasn't expecting a real answer. And as expected, Celeste seemed to not be listening to what he was saying, thinking about things, probably about whatever was going on back home. Landon had his own thoughts, about what she wasn't telling him, but saying something almost guaranteed he was being kicked out of this room almost immediately. "Hmm?". "You seemed kinda upset there...". "It's nothing...", she was clearly lying about whatever it was and he knew it, but he also probably had to save it for another day. There was silence between them and landon clapped his hands together, "You know, you don't have to tell judas if you don't want to....if anything it'll probably cause another stupid fight between him and luna. And then she'll get on your case or whatever...." The girl looked over to him like he was crazy, "So what? You're not gonna tattle on me sneaking out anymore? What happened to telling your brother about me and luna working together?". "I'm too mad to talk with him anyway...", he pressed his legs against his chest, "In fact.....i'll let you know if i find anything....or whatever. Team's kinda useless if it's just the two of you anyway, especially since you aren't allowed to go anywhere without guards on your tail...". The princess next to him looked him over and her expression dropped, "Wait? You're asking to...help us? Geez, you must be really mad with your brother if you're going that far...". "Well, what am i really hurting? You guys wanna go home, my brother's not doing squat, not like i have anything better to do anyways...."., He clearly still seemed heartbroken about his friend and Celeste sighed, "Can't you just...teleport to him? I don't think your parents will really notice if you head out for a little bit to see him...". But to her surprise landon shook his head, "I'm....not much of a...."Rule-Breaker "Guy if that wasn't obvious enough....and besides...he knows i'm grounded....he'll be mad with me, my mom will be mad with me...". "Why do you care so much about what other people think about you?". "Because i do, why don't you?". "I got my own problems...". "Do they got anything to do with why you don't seem to like my mom very much when they're also YOUR dad?", nevermind, he WAS going to bring it up now, his glare at her was full of frustration, guess she sorta had it coming after kinda being rude to him anyway. "Look, if you wanna help us, you can start by not getting so nosy in our lives or whatever....you stop talking about my parents and i'll stop talking about your boyfriend....". But landon didn't seem happy with that last bit, still mad, with an added blush. "How many times do i have to tell you we're not dating!", he lept off the bed and started pacing, "Look, i really think he's super cool and i'm still really anxious about hanging out with him, but we're not boyfriends, ok? He's...just my earth friend..". Celeste snorted at his words though, "You don't gotta deny it dude, i've been in a similar boat, trust me it's way better just owning the stupid thing and wearing it on your sleeve then acting like it doesn't exist..". "But it doesn't!". She raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure about it? It's not weird if you are...I mean i think it's kinda weird you won't admit it to yourself already but the crush thing itself isn't weird". "What happened to you not talking about it and me not talking about your parents?". "Well, you haven't agreed to it yet, buuuttt....does this mean you do like him? Cause it kinda sounds like you just confirmed you did." Landon crossed his arms, his tail swishing and his back turning to the girl, "Ok, fine? So what if i do? I just think he's...cool, he's one of the few people i know who really likes hanging out with me....and I like hanging out with him and talking about earth stuff.". He turned his head and for once, Celeste was smiling , something she rarely seemed to do in the first place. "Yep, i called it, eh, to be honest he seems just as weird as you anyway, so i guess you two secretly are a match made in heaven.....or hell i guess.", her smirk didn't seem to amuse landon. "Zip it, i'm not asking him out...we're just friends right now and....I don't wanna scare him.", his three eyes took a look around the demonic bedroom, "Not a lot of mortals adjust down here, besides like.....my mom and my grandad but they're the rare exception. Most mortals kinda freak out about the underworld, it's not exactly the most comfortable or the most fun place for them to be most of the time. Not to mention the heat cause yeah that's.....ugh..". "Well like, how did your mom and grandad overcome them?" Landon blushed and grumbled, "Because they love their partners enough to adjust, ok? But don't try to pull that on me, you don't know bernard. I don't know how much he likes the idea of spending so much time around....demon stuff , he's like....he's an earth kid, and sometimes...demons are kinda seen as...evil. But what....no wait what am i doing? We're getting off topic I don't wanna talk about this stupid stuff right now when we're supposed to be...i dunno, teaming up or something?". Celeste stopped smiling, going back to her usual unhappy self, "Welp, fun's over......look, if you wanna help, i'm not gonna stop you, but you also probably should speak to luna, cause she'll fuss if she's not treated as the leader of this lil group. Just, don't think optimistically....I think she has a bit of trust issues anyway. And don't ask her about her stupid private life cause i guess that seems to really get under her nerves when you talk about it...". "She sounds like you..." Celeste made an inappropriate gesture at him and he smiled, "Whatever....i guess i'll text you and we'll see about this but uh....can i still stay here in the meantime?". Celeste feel over on the bed, tired, "Fine, whatever, but you're not sleeping anywhere near me...just sit in a chair or something and leave before i wake up, ok?". Landon didn't say anything as he took a seat nearby, making himself comfortable, he may be mad with his brother for now, but it wasn't all bad. Taking a breath, he closed all his eyes and rested. - Finding the passageway was hard enough but trying to be silent while traveling through it was worse. If a guard caught luna in here, she was deader then dead. Worse then her soul being forever tortured in the underworld kinda dead. Therefore, she BETTER get some answers out of this. She even had her wand out, just in case she needed it, the memory erasing charm on the tip of her lips in case she needed it. The worst case scenario was janna was on the other side or she had some sort of security system, but then again if anyone was quite familiar with security charms, it was luna. She continued to crawl in the tunnel until she hit a clear end, pressing her ear against the wall to listen for any signs of life on the other side. Hearing nothing, she got her wand ready. She pushed the painting aside and breathed a sigh of relief that she had found her way in here without any issues. Leaping down from the hole in the wall she took a good look at her surroundings, man Sky's mom was still kinda creepy, even if most of these things were probably fakes and didn't even work. Probably. Her first step was the shelves of obscure items, monster tusks, lemon, crystals, whatever weird stuff the queen seemed to be into. She could even spot supernatural books on display as well, as Janna seemed to be into the occult quite a lot. But a lot of this stuff wasn't anything to arrest her about, in fact there was no reason for this masked person to use most of this stuff, unless some of these potion ingredients were perfect to use to keep Lucy's scent off her tracks. Luna took a mental note of that before taking another look around, and then she noticed something she swore she saw the first time she was here by paid no mind to. While janna had no creepy doll-looking mask, there was a mask on display, just a clearly plain looking one. Luna glared at it, janna didn't even label the thing so it was impossible to tell what it even was, but then again if she owned one mask, she could have more somewhere else around here. She moved on to check the drawers, putting on some long gloves, and using magic to open them up and go through the Queen's files. She couldn't exactly expect Janna to just have incriminating evidence right where luna could find them but at the same time if she missed a single drawer she had the potential to miss something she'd regret. She just had to hope Janna didn't have anything hidden away too deep that she couldn't access it without a map or list of secrets. There were matters on taxes, letters from earth, and...photos of queen lucitor? But there didn't seem to be anything worthy of suspicion, well, actually photo's of judas's mom was kinda creepy but not the creepy luna was looking for. The vault was her next best option in here unless there were some secret compartments, however knowing mewni, this vault wasn't guarded by a normal code, but by a little bit of magic to keep criminals out of  it. Boy, it was gonna be hard to open it silently wasn't it? But then again, if someone non-magic like JANNA could get in here...that meant there had to be a way for her to access it without just having Star join in and use her own magic to remove the spells. Luna found herself pulling out her want and using magic to examine the magic being used around the vault. Yeah, this wasn't gonna be solved with the flick of her wand, this vault was locked unless presented with a certain....smell? Because of course it was. The girl took another look around her surroundings, grabbing some items off the shelves and making some quick work for a basic mixture of....a stink bomb? She plugged her nose as she slowly grabbed the handle of the vault and before anything could happen she held out the stink bomb. The door swung open, the magic protecting it fading due to the familiarity of janna's character, magic was weird sometimes but boy wasn't it great when the craziest things worked. The bomb was poofed away as Luna made quick work of the vault. It didn't look like much at first glance, full of a ton of papers, and when she starting inside she almost found nothing of interest. Only to find... More...documents on...criminals? Peaking her interest, luna browsed through the files, some criminals she knew, some she didn't. But most if not all were convicted already and some were files of investigations on some criminals. Leave it to janna to be the one to keep tabs of the criminal side of mewni of all things, the problem was that none of these people seemed to be quite what luna was looking for. But then again if it were that simple sky's parents would've already known who their target was. And as expected, there was no one in this listing who was known for wearing a creepy mask, there were monster criminals who stole baby clothes, a mewman known for dressing up like a bird, there where even a few who attempted to use Yada Yada berries on some political figures but there didn't seem to be anyone to place this. Mostly because the dead giveaway was them being good at magic and every criminal listed was unable to do it according to their profiles. She found herself a tad disappointed, she'd gone a long way to not find anything out about their case. Just a few antics of Janna's and some criminals that weren't very important to know about at all. She grumbled to herself as she breezed through the profiles and closed them all one by one. She broke into a queen's office to search through her stuff, hoping to find out something she could use to further help her get home, and what did she get instead? Nothing, she had gone through all this and had nothing to show for it. Then she stopped and paused, none of these profiles had particularity given her anything remotely interesting to work with at all. However. What WAS interesting was among the files, there was one in particular that caught luna's eye. Eclipsa's. Taking pictures of any info she might need later, luna put everything back as she found it before opening Eclipsa's file and browsing through it. But her ears perked up, there was someone coming down the hall , their boots getting closer. Taking a picture real quick, luna moved fast, replacing the file perfectly and closing the vault, the seal for it returning as she checked her surroundings and dived behind the portrait, sealing herself into the tunnels and heading out before anything happened. It wasn't exactly what she was looking for, but it was something. - "Why didn't you tell me anything about this sky?". "Luna, it's 3 in the morning.....can't you wait to talk about any of this?", she rubbed her eyes, her bed was covered in tissues and stains from days of being mad and upset about judas, she was in no state to be woken up so early to talk about eclipsa, especially not with luna. The older girl's eyes glared at her, "No, it can't wait, seems to me your...our mom had a good reason for not being fond of letting eclipsa teach you anything, she wasn't doing it to be bossy...". "Look, i was 2 or 3 apparently if you're right about this, i don't remember squat about eclipsa accidentally almost getting me hurt with dark magic....ok? Like, if she did, i would've probably have said something by this point, ok?", her response didn't seem good enough for the blonde though. "You don't seem to get this, she has a criminal record, she almost ended up hurting the princess, your mom had her reasons for being so nervous around here....in this universe....she's not being mistreated just because of the globgor thing...". "Look, eclipsa's weird....but it was probably an accident, and ...I'm not hurt....", the dark haired girl yawned, "This really was not worth waking me up so early, you could've waited, i mean like...I've kinda done stupid things that almost hurt people too....". Luna grumbled, "Sky, we need suspects, don't you think eclipsa is at least a little bit suspicious? At all?". Sky shot the girl a dirty look and was almost considering pushing her off the bed for a second. "Luna look, i'm tired....i'm upset, i get you wanna find this guy but we need stronger evidence then that...eclipsa's just....not....a bad person. She made my mom upset yeah, but she still lives here with us, i mean it's still weird when she runs off to do things or creeps in the walls but that doesn't mean she's doing anything evil....like luna....let's just go to bed, we can talk about this stuff in the morning.". Her half-sister sighed, "Well, at least i've been doing something....can't say much for the rest of you...". "Uh...what?". "Forget it, We're talking tomorrow...er today, and bring judas...I need to speak to him as well, you both better be up and ready to speak to me...". Sky mumbled, remembering tomorrow...er....today.. was the day she and judas would see nora together for the first time, "Yeah....fine...". Luna nodded and left as soon as she came in, man she was such a stick in the mud, couldn't it wait till everyone was up and had the energy to talk about this kinda thing? Sky didn't even have time to really process much about what she was talking about. Though one thing was for certain, she was going to be speaking to judas again. Hopefully for the better. She turned over and fell back asleep. - Judas's arm was still....well it was still transformed and the boy couldn't help but feel frustrated, it'd be so easy if he could just will this thing away but that would only be so simple. And magic was never simple, especially spells like this. Nora was not perfect but someone who was trained in some kind of healing was better then nothing at this point, though he kept his shocker very close just in case he needed it. He was considering shocking his arm right now, thinking that would do something but maybe it was better to save for actual emergencies. He wasn't even sure if it wouldn't just make the thing angrier at this point. It did make it harder for him to sleep though, a giant tentacle arm stretched out next to him on his bed. His body just felt so heavy and it was hard to sleep with the fear his arm would attack him or something while he was out. Most people might think it's incredibly silly to be scared of your own arm attacking you but for judas it was a very real fear, though luckily his arm was rather docile as it usually was since it appeared. His parents  of course were upset but they were more then used to it. Judas really just wanted to talk to his brother, and even sky right now. Landon was still in the wrong but, he might've had a point. And Sky, well it might be unhealthy but judas didn't meant to make her opinions feel unimportant if he did. He just needed to work things out with them as soon as possible, the sooner they were all talking again the better. He sighed as he looked at the ceiling, counting the shadows that were bouncing among the walls and placing his normal hand on his chest. He tried closing his eyes again when he heard his bedroom door open, light coming through and a small demon with giant wings stood on the other side. Mason was staring at the floor, still sad, still anxious. "Mason? Hey...what are you-". Judas didn't have much time to react as his younger brother closed the door and ran up, hugging his older brother and wrapping his wings and arms around him. "Mason? hey.....is everything ok? Did you have a nightmare?", the boy was only 13 but he was still only a kid, he was still young and was prone to have scary thoughts. The boy nodded, "I had a nightmare and mom and dad are a little too far away and your room was the closest and...". His brother smiled, hugging him with his one normal arm, "Hey it's ok....you wanna keep me company? I'm having a hard time sleeping..". He nodded softly, "I dreamed you and landon were fighting and my plant attacked you and....", he seemed to still be wiping tears from his eyes. His older brother tried to sooth him, "Hey it's ok, it was just a bad dream, we all get them....me and landon are fine....". Well, as far as them both being alive and safe they were fine, as far as their relationship goes it seems there were things they needed to talk about between the two of them. Even mason seemed to know that. "He's mad at you....". "Landon snaps at everyone sometimes...". "Yeah but.....he's really upset with you, more then usual....", His wings stretched out then folded back against him, "I'm sorry....it was my fault, i shouldn't have been planting anything mom and dad said were too much to handle for my garden....now you guys are fighting and dinner is weird and....i'm sorry..". He sounded so small, so upset, and judas was reminded how young he kinda still was, how upset things like this always made him throughout his life. He tried patting his back with his one normal arm, sighing and trying to find the right words. "No mason, look, the seeds were a bad idea but....whatever is happening right now isn't because of you, i think landon's been waiting to say something like that for a long time. And i think he would've said it to me soon enough, even if your plant wasn't the cause.", his eyes were still to the ceiling and he tried to keep himself as calm as he could for his brother's sake. "It'll be ok mason, we'll talk it out and things will go back to normal.....landon just....he just needed some time alone...we all do sometimes. Don't worry about it, it's not your fault.", the smaller part demon seemed to understand and sighed against the pillow. "You think he's gonna ask his crush out soon?", the sudden shift of this question left judas slightly perplexed for a moment before he shook his head and got back in focus, "Wait, what?". "I'm supposed to be his matchmaker....remember?". Oh right, he DID do that didn't he? "Well, like i said mason, landon-". "Doesn't handle crushes like how i do....I know, it's just, i want to help and he keeps pushing me out...maybe i'm not as great as i thought i would be at helping him...", He rolled over onto his back, being mindful of his wings, "You like helping people judas....what should i do?". His small brown eyes matched the boy's three red ones, waiting for an answer as judas turned back to look up on the mattress, looking for a good answer. "Well, sometimes, some people....don't want your help, and maybe....maybe sometimes you do need to learn to give them space to figure things out on their own...", his bit his lips, "Sometimes that's the best way you can help them, by leaving them be..". "Is that what landon is doing? He's leaving you all be so he can help?". "Maybe....". Mason sat up, "I don't like you guys fighting, i like when our family hangs out all the time, and we get to play games and have fun and laugh. When mom and dad give us hugs and laugh and our grandparents are having a blast. But when you and landon get mad, i get upset....I feel like when you both get mad at each other you might never be friends again and i don't want you guys not to ever be friends again. I like hanging out with my brothers and stuff...". "We'll work things out mason, we always do....things will pass and we'll be hanging out with mom and dad and having the best day ever together, ok? We'll all be playing games together, laughing, and mom and dad will be so happy and we won't be fighting.", he went silent for a moment,  "I hate fighting with landon too mason, i know it's not weird for siblings to bicker sometimes i just wish me and landon didn't bicker so much....I don't...I never mean to hurt him.". "Do you think he knows that?", Mason laid himself back down on the bed yawning and sinking into the soft mattress. "I-I'm not sure mason...but i'm gonna make sure he knows anyway.", he could hear the faint sound of the ticking of a wall clock and he sighed, "We better get some sleep though, we all have things to do tomorrow and we both need to try and get some rest...". He reached over to give mason a hug, only to realize sometime during his talk, his arm had returned to normal. He looked over it and snorted, "Huh, well what do you know?", and mason smiled before yawning and making himself comfortable on the bed. "Thanks judas...". "It's ok, thanks for talking to me little bat...i needed that.."., he pulled the covers over both of them, "When we get up we can go get some pancakes from the kitchens together, sound good?". The demon smiled as his wings wrapped around him and both managed to drift off into a delightful sleep. Judas's mind was still conflicted and he had a lot to take care of within the next 24 hours, but at least talking to his younger brother did help him feel a bit better. Hopefully talking to the others would be easier, and this could be hist last night thinking about nothing more then apologizing to everyone the next day. Hopefully. - Unlucky for Luna it seemed, finding time to talk to Sky and Judas was harder then it seemed. Jackie seemed to have taken a liking to her and wanted to see her train more often, resulting in her spending more time in the gym then she wanted that morning, and between sky's class with angel and other actitivites finding time where she could speak to judas and sky in private was increasingly difficult. Especially since judas was caught up talking to his parents about his coronation. Sky didn't mind on the other hand, she wasn't entirely looking forward to meeting judas right away, even though she knew she needed to. Though was it weird she was starting to somewhat get along with Angel of all people? Well, she still kinda thought he sucked in a lot of ways, but for some reason, he seemed to think she was actually a capable person. Well, judas and eclipsa and a lot of people that knew her thought she was capable, but it felt weirder coming from the guy she beat up way too often for her liking. She was still keeping a close eye on him because she still didn't really trust he wouldn't pull something and go to another extreme to get what he wanted. But she supposed in a time where she was kinda doubting herself it still was kinda nice that weird dude thought she was more powerful despite them not liking each other. She almost waved to him as class dismissed, almost. Though she was a little more focused on eclipsa, luna's rambling wasn't entirely unjustified.  And to be honest sky had always kinda wondered why her mom was so antsy around eclipsa despite the fact they usually seemed on good terms, but then again if sky had been her mom in that situation maybe she would've freaked out too. She almost wanted to ask eclipsa but was that even appropriate to bring up? It was all kinda in the past anyway and eclipsa seemed more careful now. Then again... "Sky, darling? Class ended, do you have a question?". Oh yeah, sky WAS just kinda staring at eclipsa for no reason now wasn't she? "Oh uh.....not really, i just uh.....", Eclipsa smiled and leaned against one of her tables, "Any mother issues you wanna talk about? boy problems? Or is there anything else you want to tell me but think i might be worried about?". She rubbed her arm and diverted her head, "I mean, i dunno, maybe something like the first but also...not exactly?". Her strange expression was followed by the biting of her lips,"It's just uh....uh, how do YOU feel, about my mom?". "Me? Oh well, of course i adore your mother, she's a powerful and capable queen. I do think she sets out a lot of unfair expectations on you and maybe doesn't always do the best to help you out and make your life easier but i still think she's a good queen and a wonderful person.". Sky leaned against the wall of eclipsa's room, not entirely satisfied with her answer, "Do you think.....she likes you?". Eclipsa blinked at her, confused before going to surprised instead. "Likes me? Well, your mom tends to like everyone sky, is this because your mother wasn't sure about me being your new teacher? I'm sure she didn't mean to make it sound liked she hated me or anything...she just cares about your safety and what you learn....". But the more she looked at sky, the more her smile dropped, "Oh dear, you found out about the accident, didn't you?". Sky nodded, "I mean, yeah, but i don't know what happen or anything, i guess i was too young to remember..". "Sky...". "I don't think you were doing anything harmful, i'm just kinda....well it's just kinda weird..". Eclipsa sighed, "Well no, it was not intended to do anything to you, it was just....i was being trusted to take care of you for a moment, i tried to do some magic....things got outta hand....and you almost ended up hurt. Your mother hasn't trusted me the same since then, though she still lets me stay here and everything....". Sky nodded, "Yeah that.....that explains a lot...is that why you kinda don't seem to well...our balls and parties as well? Y'know?". "Something along those lines yes...sometimes things like relationships are just complicated, i think your mother was worried if she told you about the accident she'd be forcing you under her rule and well, your mother never liked so many of those.", she then grew a sad smile, "Does that help make you feel a little better?". The princess simply nodded and looked off to the side, "I guess it just feels better being trusted , to uh, know all these things or whatever..". "You're still worried about not being respected?". "Maybe....". Eclipsa's face became more sad and sky grumbled, "Look, it's not easy, it seems so easy to just tell someone they're great and they'll do great and they're overthinking things. When people don't like your ideas, or don't tell you everything, and you just feel so useless the whole time. Like i know you wanna help, and so does judas.....i guess it's just hard....when even you feel like you kinda suck most of the time and you're not the person people want you to be....". "Darling, you don't need anyone's approval but your own...". Sky didn't answer. "Now of course, we all need support to do what we want and feel confident in ourselves but at the end of the day you need to trust in yourself to do these things. Pushing yourself down never quite....ends well for most people.". She walked over to pat the girl on the shoulder, "I should've said something sooner about my carelessness, but we all sometimes have secrets and things we don't like to talk about. Don't take it as a sign i don't trust you sky....you're a wonderful girl, but even I have things I don't like to talk about and I don't want to trouble you with...but that's only because I care about you....". She bit her lip, "Wait....", heading over to another part of the room, she pulled out a book, "I mean, i was planning to give you this another time but maybe you'd enjoy seeing it now.". The book was quickly recognized as a photo album, and of who? Sky of course, who else would it have been? Sky looked a little stunned, especially since her and eclipsa had never been all that close to each other. How long did eclipsa take to make her a gift like this anyway? There was no way she would've gotten all these pictures unless it was from... Her moms. "You made me an photo album...?", she stood there in disbelief, "Wait......why did you make this for me at all?". Eclipsa almost seemed to cry for a moment, "Well, i may not technically be your grandma, but, i still consider you my grandchild. And well, what kinda grandma would i be if i didn't make you something nice? You're 15 sky, you're growing up and you deserve something nice for all the things you've gone through, it's nice watching you grow...". "Eclipsa....". "Sorry for making today rather emotional, but trust me when i say, you can do this...I mean, you can't do any worse then me.", she winked and it got sky to laugh, "You took me talking about all this way better then i thought you might've.....uh, sorry for dumping my weird emotional issues on you. Just....got a lot on my mind these days and there's so much pressure.". She made some weird hand movements as she spoke and eclipsa sighed, " Don't let anyone tear you down sky, be yourself....and you'll do great things..". "Thanks eclipsa....". "Anytime dear, you better get ready to head off, Oh and uh....skyler......before you go, is there....anything else you wish to talk to me about, anything else troubling you?", the woman looked at sky with a serious stare and Sky could've help but maybe shiver in her place, Sky was tempted to almost confess to her about everything happening but that was something that was not worth the risk. Instead she shook her head, and readjusted her outfit as her eyes wandered to the pages of the book. "No Eclipsa, sorry, that's it...thanks". - Sitting next to judas again felt weird, wondering who should speak first between them and wondering what the other one was thinking and so much else. Luna was in front of them, leaning against the wall in her bedroom, she was still in her knight gear, because as soon as she left she managed to get the two of them in a place where she could talk in private. Though the whole thing made sky feel like she was being scolded by her own mother of all people. Luna had the face of a disapproving mother. She wondered what Luna was like back home with an attitude like that, did all of her friends back home feel the same way she did? Were they as bad as her? Though she sure hoped whoever Luna hung out with didn't have to deal with this side of her as often as she and Judas seemed to have to. "So, you wanna tell me sky?". Ugh, she even SOUNDED like a mom. "How do you know?". "I hear things.....so, fess up...". "Look, i talked to eclipsa, it was just an accident, she didn't do anything to me...", sky said gently, "You're losing it luna, like i get it.....it's just, you need stronger evidence to go against eclipsa to do anything? I mean, did you even find anything else to be suspicious of?". Luna's face didn't change but her lack of an answer made judas smirk and sky sigh, "Ok, so maybe we haven't been of much help but we're looking out for strange stuff, it's just hard when we don't know what to find....". Then she tugged a little on her hair, "I guess i could contact Katrina? I just.....i don't know if i'd be wasting her time or if it's a good idea. I feel like if i have a chance to talk to her, i might not get another one so easily...and what if she doesn't know anything and i go there for no reason and-". Then she thought about what eclipsa told her, "Ok maybe i can just pick a day and go and speak to her, see if she knows anything, i guess it can't hurt to try.". "Yeah, might as well, uh....is it ok if i come with to see her as well?", sky looked over to the demon who was rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly, "She's kinda always been like our weird older sister, and I want to see her again. Uh...but it's ok if you don't really want me to come.". He was doing that thing again, he probably got it from his parents, where he was so guilty that all confidence he'd have at times was completely drained from him, leaving him a little mopey and blank. Guess their kinda sorta fight was really getting to him too. Luna grumbled, "You know, this conversation isn't going to get any easier unless you two actually speak to each other. I don't know why you're both having such a hard time looking at each other in the face but i suggest working it out because I can't spend all night here trying to speak to both of you when your both won't even speak to each other.". The teens were silent for a moment, thinking about things and deciding what to say to each other, one of them needed to speak and get this over with. "Yeah, you can come.....", sky made a smile towards him and she could just feel luna giving them a glare, but she ignored it.  It was nice to see judas again, even as worried as she was to talk to him now that they were in the same room she felt a lot more comfortable. He didn't seem to be mad, and he looked just as happy to see her. "Thanks, i uh.....hey i uh...I'm sorry if i was being kinda pushy or rude last time, i didn't mean to hurt you or anything.". "No, you were kinda right, i might've overreacted a touch or something to...y'know...", she slightly looked over to luna remembering what judas told her, "But uh....i didn't mean to like....accuse you of not caring or anything, that was kinda rude....". They exchanged a smile and a laugh and luna sighed, getting their attention, "Listen, we have work to do, now that you both are looking at each other again, is there anything else you guys have even found out? Or have you decided there are more important things then finding this creep?". "We're royals, not crazy.....we can't do a ton from our angle.", judas stood up, "We can't exactly risk doing something if our parents find out, not to mention what if this guy overpowers us? It's like this luna, let's say we do find this guy? What then? Are we expected to fight him? Her? Them? What if they kidnap us, almost kill us? Maybe back home you have the authority to boss around people and have them do dangerous tasks for you but that's not the same here..". "Well what exactly are you doing to help?" Apparently the tone of her voice had hit a nerve for the demon prince, walking over to the princess and staring deep into her blue eyes with a serious glare. Luna wasn't the least bit scared of him of course but Sky could tell Judas was really getting sick of Luna's behavior around him and everyone else for that matter. Though at the same time he still seemed to be getting a hold of himself, his voice remaining calm despite how mad he seemed to be. "Listening to my parent's work on the matter, keeping the group updated, attending all meetings my family has so i can figure out what they know and where they suspect? Just because i don't have a ton to say doesn't mean i don't do anything luna. We're all busy people with our own lives, we want to help, we really do.  But we can't just fix everything so easily, find everything we want in the span of a day. Look, i'm sorry nothing's come up but did you really expect this to be fixed so easily?", luna glared at him before grumbling and tugging her hair. "Things don't get done unless you put in the work to do them.", she said, staring harder into his eyes. "They also don't get done right if you don't wait for what you need first before going for it, you can't bake bread without knowing the recipe...or otherwise it ends up a disaster.", he shot back at her, still somehow remaining calm. "Well sometimes if you wait too long people get hurt and things only get worse!". "And other times you end up doing something reckless and stupid and end up regretting it entirely!" Sky sighed, here they went again, arguing. "HEY!". Her yell got their attention fast. "Look, maybe me and judas could be doing more and maybe you are way too bossy about this whole stupid thing. But is this really helping? At all? Like you guys wanna be good rulers but you both kinda...have a hard time just..talking to each other.". Luna looked to her, then back to judas, "it's normal, just because we have a similar mindset does not mean i agree with him in every way. We disagree and i'm quite used to dealing with people like that back home thanks.". "Then let's agree to disagree thanks...", judas took a breath and nodded to sky, "Thanks for talking to us luna, about this whole thing, but me and sky have other things to get done today. We'll call you if we find anything, ok?". He gave her s skeptic look, he didn't seem to entirely trust her to do as he said and he probably had every reason not to trust her. Though then again he also might be slightly annoyed he got roped in here to talk about something that lead nowhere and then was being accused of not caring. Could go either way. Luna didn't answer, turning her head away and judas bit his lip and started heading out. Sky didn't really want to admit feeling kinda bad for luna, but even though she was kinda bossy and rude, she was also kinda desperate for answers to get back where she belonged. Geez, maybe luna and angel could go to therapy together, going to such extremes out of desperation and hurting the people around them in the process. Sky attempted to follow judas out as fast as possible but then luna called out to her. "Sky, i saw my mom...". So close, and yet so far. Sky stopped in her tracks and turned her head around to face the tall blonde, "Yeah, what about it?". "What can you.....tell me about her?". Sky turned completely around now, eyes glancing to the door where judas was waiting for her no doubt, "Uhhh....well, she's our head knight, she's usually not here most of the time cause she has missions, my moms love her a whole lot. I think she dated Jude's mom awhile back? I think she's still single? I mean, are you sure you even wanna know about any of this? I mean, you don't talk about your universe at all and well....it's dangerous to know too much about them since it might well....make you have a crisis, I've kinda maybe been there.". "I don't care about her love life sky, i want to know how she works. Is she assertive? How many people has she captured? Is she smart enough to discover i'm not just another mewman? She's taken a liking to me and i need to be careful around her-", she closed her eyes and folded her arms together, though sky was sure there was more to what she was saying. "Look, i'm not the kinda person who y'know, looks into people that much? I don't know luna, you're just gonna have to handle that yourself..". "But you know her here, you live here, you grew up knowing her. You need to give me more then that..". "Me and judas were young when we first met her, and like i said, she wasn't always around much. Sorry luna, handling her is just gonna have to be your problem because i really don't know all this kinda stuff. She's like, a great knight and does a lot of work but if you're going to fool her, you're gonna have to be creative , but then again, i dunno how many people on mewni would just assume you're her daughter from another alternate timeline.". There was a silence between them. "I should go, sorry it's just....i'm not exactly much of a strategist, just....don't get too involved with her or anything....keep your distance i guess. I mean, you don't suspect HER of doing anything right?", luna didn't say anything for a moment, "No, but....I don't entirely trust her either.". Sky gave a knowing glance, "Well, I guess let us know if you find anything interesting.....we'll...we'll see you later I guess....uh...sorry this meeting didn't go better?". "Just go, i have matters to attend to as well...". Sky gave her one last look as she headed out the door, luna pulling out her compact and sighing as she texted someone else she needed to have a talk with. Luna: "Celeste? My room, now - "Hey.....i'm glad we're uh....talking again, I was SO worried y'know and...", judas laughed it off, playing with his hair and smiling, "I know I shouldn't have been so worried, I guess with everything going on and my brother being mad at me I think my anxiety caught up with me.". Sky walked alongside him, she almost felt like a huge weight was lifted off her chest, "Yeah, I guess we just don't really fight all that often now that I think about it, things have just...gotten complicated.". "Well, yeah.....we're older then we were....we're growing up....we're not the young kids who'd do stupid stuff like we used to.", he seemed to be thinking back to fonder memories as he said that, "I'm sorry if me wanting to hang out with nora so much made you feel......weird. Maybe i'm just...putting too much of myself into nora these days....and it's just making things harder for everyone. I guess it's just....she's just so nice to me and I feel obliged to help in a way...". Sky snorted, followed by weak laughter, "You get it from your parents, trust me, they rub off on you a lot. My moms sometimes talk about how your folks feel inclined to do their best to help even in issues that don't involve them so there's no further conflict, i mean your mom loves being a hero and getting to do crazy adventures. Though maybe don't tell your family too much about nora cause knowing them they'll start setting you two up on dates more then anything...". "Yeah, when my mom started dating my dad, my grandfolks went ALL OUT to set them up on perfect dates together and that made things weird for awhile. Though after they got them to back off things worked out just fine, but yeah, better not say anything, they might get the wrong impression. ". He suddenly thought of something before looking to sky, "Hey? How are classes with angel going? Is he on his best behavior the whole time or do you think he's still up to something?". "He asked me to beat him up." Judas stopped walking and gave her a strange look. "Uh.....what?". "I told him I sucked at magic, he didn't buy it, and he said for me to use magic on him like we always did when we had our regular fights. And yes, he ASKED me to fight him, so....don't freak out too much I didn't attack him in an attempt to hurt him.". Judas's stare still remained though, his hands out in front of him, "Sky!!! I told you you can't just do stuff like that, imagine if he got really hurt and you got in serious trouble because of it! That wand? out of your hands and even out of ours until we figure out why it sent these girls here!". "SHHHH!", sky placed a finger to his mouth, "You're supposed to be the careful one here mr loud mouth, might not wanna talk about some of that stuff out loud.". Judas held a moment of embarrassment as he moved sky's hand away from his mouth, "Look, i get it, but he's fine....honestly i didn't even want to do it, he just sorta flinged a web at me and i sorta.....well, hit him with a narwhal on instinct. It's like, I do spells better when i'm not really thinking too hard about them...". "And angel...helped you huh? Hmm, i knew he always had some good in him....i just had no idea he uh...well he even wanted to help you. I always got the impression you two were almost impossible to stick in a room together without you fighting like kids....", sky gave him a look but sighed in response, "Well, don't get me wrong I still think he kinda sucks, but I at least think he sucks a little LESS for sorta, being weirdly supportive of me for whatever reason?". "He cares more then he lets on...". "I still kinda think he's using this class as a way to talk to my mom and convince her to help him though...". "And you kinda still have every reason to think that...", they resumed their walk, "Truth is, angel has not given you much of a reason to think otherwise. But that's because he's kinda stubborn and has no real reason to feel like he needs to change....then again, maybe we could...". Sky raised an eyebrow at him, "Judas, you know you can't help everyone right? I mean, no offence it's just that we already have a ton going on and if luna already found out we're talking to nora she'd be mad as is..". "Well, not, actually....it kinda involves nora....", he reached behind the back of his neck, "Sky? Did your moms ever tell you about where the land of the spiderbites came from exactly? How it got into their hands?". Sky shook her head and he nodded, "Well, when the first mewman settlers arrived, that land used to kinda be owned by angel's family, they were renowned spider creatures who well, lived in a forest full of spiders that they were considered to be friends and lived in peace with...". His voice sounded sad, his head turning away, "And when the mewmans took over, they saw his species as untrustworthy and dangerous foes, so they drove them back using the wand and took away all of that land, the forest. But when they found out it was infested with spiders, they refused to live in it or make it apart of the Butterfly kingdom. So they handed the land off to one of their allies, the man who helped lead the charge and took the land from the Arachfords.....Sir Cornelius. And as he loved the forest despite it's dangers, he renamed himself as the king of Spiderbites, and the land itself became his kingdom. A kingdom for a bunch of mewmans who live under the conditions of creatures who had been living in peace in that land for ages...". As sky thought about it, she did realize over the years how strange nora and angel's families were to each other. Angel's folks were polite of course and seemed to get along with the queen and slimy monster king, but angel seemed to have a weird relationship with nora. Nora either seemed guilty or afraid of him to some degree, and angel got tense and weird whenever he ended up running into her. Sky really hadn't questioned it much beforehand but if what judas said was true...it made sense. "You have to remember sky, mewmans were not native to this land, the monsters lived here first, you can't believe that kingdom full of mewmans outside of the butterflies had existed long before the first mewmans arrived, could you? Considering the spiderbites never minded monsters I'm surprised they hadn't tried to work things out sooner between the kingdoms but at the same time maybe the tension between them just makes it hard to make the first move and just speak to each other....", His tone was soft and his mind seemed to be wandering. "How.....did you find out all that?". "Demons live a long time, i have some relatives i could ask about the history of mewni, thought not all of it is very pleasant. I mean, your family nearly drove his species to near extinction and starvation where his kingdom ended up in ruins, but he also kinda has a beef with nora as well he doesn't entirely act on. I'm saying this, because i think if we want to help him, we might need to just, separate you and her from the mistakes of your ancestors...and maybe....nora...could help...with his mom..". "Uh...you're asking a lot of nora to cure your curse and his mother you know, it's....no offence, it's just it's already hard enough for her i don't know if putting a life on her shoulders is a good idea too .What if she can't be cured? Like i know it'd be amazing if she could be cured so easily, but if she can't?  You've seen his mom, like.....his dad's weirdly right, if anything were to happen.....he kinda needs to have support and friends or he might....get worse...", man, and now she was agreeing to HELPING him? When did she go soft? "Maybe but.....think about it, we resolve the tension between those families, and angel might change his mind about the things he's been doing.". "Maybe...". "We have priorities and other things to focus on, but i also think something is up with angel....and i think we're better off being his friend then his enemy right now. I'm still suspicious of him being found in the castle in the middle of the night and we can't entirely rule out his patience at your lessons as something else in case he is still up to something. Either way I think we need to finally put things to rest between him, which we were going to have to do eventually if we want to make the alliance work when we take over..", he turned to look at her straight in the face again, "We need Nora to help if she can...". His tone was serious and sky seemed to fully understand what he was talking about as they kept walking. When she really thought about it, maybe she and judas should question angel at some point on the masked character. Not that he'd probably tell her, he was brutally honest at times but that might be the one thing he'd probably want to keep his sharp toothed mouth closed about unless he wanted to get into even more serious trouble. "Well, we can work on it then, i guess...I mean, the dude already seems to sorta kinda like you? and maybe sorta kinda respect me? Maybe we can work off of it or something so we can get him to admit what's really going on with him and all of this...", judas snickered as she made hand motions as she spoke, "Yeah, i think maybe we can work something out later and figure out if something else is up with that prince, well, after we talk to nora of course.". They stopped in their tracks and sky grabbed judas's arm, "Speaking of nora, we better get a move on soon, we don't wanna keep her waiting..". The friends turned to each other and nodded, "Yeah, i think that's one thing we can both agree on right now." . They smiled and the fire engulfed them as they vanished from the hallway, unknowing to them that someone was watching from down the hallway, the figure moving off somewhere else as fast as they came.

[vagrantblvrd]

Breathe (1/1)

Summary: “Hey.”

Trevor looks up to see Alfredo leaning against the open doorway, frown on his face as he takes in Trevor’s no doubt alluring appearance. (Strange how self-care falls to the wayside in times like this.)

“You look like shit.”

Notes: Prompt fill for Anon who wanted Alfreyco in my Stargate AU. :D?

(Read on AO3)

Trevor presses the heel of his hand to his eye as pain spikes in his head, darts a glance at the bottle of aspirin sitting there all nice ad tempting but can’t remember the last time he took some.

Can’t remember much of anything, really, other than this impossible task he’s been given. (Gave to himself, because half his team is missing and that just won’t do.)

Snatched away from a research site while Trevor was overseeing the transport of samples and fancy alien technology to their labs back at the SGC.

Not even half an hour gone by and a cut off distress signal and staticky broadcast from Michael before they lost contact, the Stargate on their side shutting down without warning.

By the time they reestablished contact, sent a probe through, they were nowhere to be found.

Ample evidence there was a fight of some kind, dead scientists and several military personal. Ryan and Michael missing and some odd little alien gadget left behind Trevor hasn’t been able to make heads or tails out of.

“Hey.”

Trevor looks up to see Alfredo leaning against the open doorway, frown on his face as he takes in Trevor’s no doubt alluring appearance. (Strange how self-care falls to the wayside in times like this.)

“You look like shit.”

Such sweet nothings from his dearest Fredo.

“Well,” Trevor says, and doesn’t quite know how to follow up with that. “Yes.”

Alfredo snorts, pushing off against the door frame. He looks tired, like the General’s been sending him and every available volunteer out to look for the rest of their odd little team at every available opportunity.

Team after team of volunteers streaming through the Stargate in search of their missing people and nary a clue as to their whereabouts to be found.

Alfredo and Lindsay leading the charge, as it were, pushing themselves harder than anyone else out there because they know better than anyone else the odds stacked against them with each passing moment.

All the enemies the SGC has amassed over the years and more waiting in the wings to be discovered.  

Unintentional cultural misunderstandings that spin out of control in the blink of an eye, or devil’s deals with the Goa’uld the SGC doesn’t know about until it’s too late and a trap has been sprung. Other variables and it’s enough to make a man wonder why they keep doing what they do. (Almost.)

Ryan and Michael out there who knows where by now in the clutches of someone or other and not a goddamned thing anyone can do about it except hope.

There’s a soft snuffle from the couch against the far wall, and Trevor and Alfredo look over. Watch Gavin sleeping fitfully after Trevor forced him to get some rest after who knows how many hours awake. Starting to make stupid mistakes, hands shaking and this desperate look to him that was hard to bear.

He doesn’t wake, and Trevor breaths out a sigh of relief. Gavin's earned his rest, needs all he can get because he has poor sleeping habits as it is and this latest crisis is doing him no favors.

“Hey,” Alfredo says, gently taking the scanner Trevor’s gotten a death grip on out of his hands. “We’re going to find them, okay?”

Trevor snorts, because the odds of their teammates being alive are slim to none by this point.

Too stubborn, mouthy, those two. Likely to sass whoever grabbed them one time too many and humans are ever so fragile.

Can take a beating and keep on ticking, sure, but they’re not invulnerable and there are so many ways to kill them. (So many enemies who’d draw it out just for the hell of it.)

“Of course we will,” Trevor says, hears the exhaustion in his voice as he does. “And we’ll find a stockpile of ZPMs we can send on through to Atlantis while we’re at it.”

Come up with a surefire plan to defeat the Goa’uld, put an end to the threat the NID poses. Solve every problem the SGC has faced in its existence all at the same time, good guys save the day.

Hooray.

Alfredo stares at him for a long moment, and shakes his head. This tired little laugh and a hand coming down on Trevor’s shoulder, gently little squeeze meant to convey reassurance, understanding. All those things and more besides, thumb brushing Trevor's neck..

“Okay,” he says, soft, wry. “Alright. Time to take a break, Trevor.”

He can’t. Too much work to be done still, crack the mystery of this little mystery gadget that had been left at the scene of the crime, so to speak, in the hopes it might give them some answers.

“Yeah no,” Alfredo says, firmer this time as he bullies Trevor to his feet, no give to any of it even though he hasn’t lost that smile. “You let Gav have a break.”

That’s different.

Gavin works harder than people realize, runs on less sleep than Trevor does half the tie and anyway, anyway, he’s not the reason  -

“Trevor.”

Trevor’s train of thought derails, screeches off into oblivion at Alfredo’s tone of voice. Firm, unyielding, not about to to let some stupid little scientist overrule him.

“You need a break,” Alfredo says, catching Trevor’s eyes. “Just for a little bit, okay? Let that big ol’ brain of yours recharge, and then you and Gavin can get back to it.”

Trevor blinks, glances at Gavin and sees Lindsay talking to him quietly. Sees the curve of her smile from this angle, snorts at her threat of tattling to Michael on him if he doesn’t get up and Gavin’s sleepy protest.

“One hour,” Trevor says, because he’s so tired, and he trusts Alfredo to know his limits better than he does sometimes. “Just a little nap, Fredo, and then I’m back here figuring the doodad out.”

Scientific term, that.

Alien doodads and doohickeys, a specialty of his these days. (Sometimes he dabbles in thingamabobs.)

Alfredo nods, makes this little noise in his throat like yes, yes, absolutely Trevor as though he isn’t humoring the half-mad scientist under his watch.

“Why don’t we give Harper a crack at it until then, yeah?” he asks, tipping his head towards the door to Trevor’s lab where said scientist is standing.

Knows how much is resting on their shoulders if they hope to get the others back and more than capable of bearing the weight for a short while. There are others behind her in the hallway, more volunteers because their people are counting on them and this is the best part of the SGC, he thinks, these people.

Trevor looks up at Alfredo, feels himself smile at the raised eyebrow.

Cocky bastard, Alfredo.

Thinks up his crafty little plans and all the confidence in the world they’ll work.

Trevor gets his feet under him, lets Alfredo take over for a bit. Go over to Harper and the others while he helps Lindsay get Gavin up and moving. Still half asleep, hair going every which way and they’re quite a motley little group, his team.

That vise that’s had a grip on his heart since they got word something had gone wrong squeezes just that much more because they’re missing a few key pieces, aren't they.

“Stop thinkin’ so much, Alfredo says, easing up next to Trevor to place a guiding hand on his elbow as he escorts him to the elevators. “You’re going to break something.”

Trevor rolls his eyes, reluctant smile tugging at his mouth for the old joke between them. (Trevor and Alfredo exploring another planet and all kinds of new shinies to play with and no idea what any of it was beyond exciting as hell.)

“I’m a scientist,” he says, careful, deliberate enunciation. “Thinking is what I do, man.”

Alfredo slides a look at him, and yes, okay. Not his best comeback.

Not back then, and certainly not now.

“Yeah, well.” Alfredo shrugs, stepping back to let another group of scientists out of the elevator when the doors open. Polite little greetings and the like, and then he's gently ushering Trevor inside once it's empty, Lindsay and Gavin slipping in behind them. “Take it down a notch for now, okay? We’ve got it covered.”

Trevor sighs, because Alfredo’s not wrong.

The SGC only recruits the best and brightest, and anyone not up to the job?

Well.

The learning curve here is far too steep, and they’ve lost far too many good people over the years. The ones who are still with them have proven to be remarkably resilient and resourceful. Harder to kill than most out of sheer pigheaded stubbornness. (Ryan and Michael are prime examples.)

“I’ll see what I can do,” Trevor says, ignoring Alfredo’s tired little laugh because it really is the best he can promise for now.

[smolstrawberrychara]

Klance Au Month - Day 6 - Supernatural

I’m not sure how I got to writing a fluffy kid fic when my initial idea was an estate agent trying to sell a haunted house lmao, but here we go! 

Tiny Little Ghost Hunters

Some kids collect bugs. Keith collects ghosts!

Read on AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17683712

Lance swung his legs on the large wooden chair, gulping down the last of his burger. It was warm. And the sun was bright. He’d abandoned his cap ages ago – it made his forehead wet – but that meant his eyes were suffering now. The plates shone like mirrors and he squinted at the picnic table. Didn’t mum say there would be another kid? So why was he stuck here eating with boring adults who talked non-stop about how nice the neighbourhood was and kept asking whether the Kogane’s needed anymore help moving in?

“Lance.” Came a commanding voice beside him. “Eat your tomato.”

“No.” Lance mumbled, folding his arms and frowning down at his knees. Tomatoes were gross. And Veronica was being bossy.

“Lance.” His sister repeated, sending him a glare. “You're being impolite.”

“Don't care.” He said, throwing his head to the side. Who was Veronica to tell him what to do? She was still a kid like him. Five years meant nothing. He hated being the youngest.

There was a growl and then Lance’s arm was yanked violently upwards.

“OW!” He yelped, ripping it back.

“That hurt.” He spat into her face. Then he shuffled to the edge of his seat and pouted down at the grass. “Moronica.”

Veronica let out a harsh gasp. “What did you just say?”

Lance sneered up at her, “I said, Moronica.”

Hah. His sister hated that name. Her nose wrinkled in disgust, anger bright in her eyes. Lance gave a smug wiggle. That’ll show her.

“MOM!”

Argh, she was such a tattle tale.

“Lance is calling me names!”

“Hey! She-!” Lance cried but was quickly interrupted.

“Lance.” His mother snapped, piercing him to the spot with a glare. “Be nice to your sister.”

Lance sank into his shoulders as he waited for the woman to turn back to her conversation. As soon as she did, he shot back to Moronica, tongue out in the universal sign of defiance. Veronica seethed. Before Lance could even flinch, her arm flew out like a whip and his skin screamed as it got caught in a pinch. Lance squeaked, wriggling to the edge of his chair and away from the demon. Sisters were the worst. He hated family barbecues.

Rubbing his arm, Lance looked around the foreign garden. The grass was yellowed, dandelions popping out in random places and there were those sharp weeds that attacked Lance’s feet like bear traps everywhere. He frowned. It was like this whole place was designed to offend him. Lance leaned out further, peering behind him. There were dark green bushes sat around in patches, masking the exposed soil surrounding an apple tree. And underneath it was a boy. He had plasters on his knees, a cut on his face and a red jumper tied around his shoulders like a cape. He was sneaking. Lance could tell by the way his knees were bent close to the ground as he crept forward.

Lance hopped down from his chair.

“What’re you doing?” he asked, peering over his shoulder.

The boy jumped. Whipping around, he threw dark wide eyes at Lance before shoving a sticky palm over his mouth.

“SHUSH!” He half shouted before turning back, leaving his hand there. Lance craned his neck to follow the gaze but the boy didn’t let up. “You’ll scare it away.”

A mess of black hair was blocking Lance’s view and he shook his legs impatiently. What would he scare away? He wanted to push the kid down to see. But if he was telling the truth then Lance might miss whatever the thing was. He decided it best to play along and nodded against the palm. The boy finally released his face and began unscrewing the lid of a large jam jar Lance hadn’t noticed he’d been clutching. Then he turned around, bent his knees, tightened his face in concentration and, like a cat, he leapt forward.

“A-ha!” He yelled, throwing the jar to the dirt. He scooped the lid against the soil, lifting it up to the sound of gravel scattering. Then he turned around, grinning widely. “LOOK!”

Lance gasped. Inside the glass was an orb. A large white circle with a wispy tail – like smoke from a birthday candle. It hit the edges of the jar with sharp clinks and seemed to have shiny black eyes like pebbles freshly born from the sea. Lance pressed his face to the window.

“Woah.” He breathed, steaming up the glass. “What is it?”

“Ghos!” The boy announced proudly, “think it was a moth.”

The ghost of a moth? Lance stared in awe, squishing his nose against the surface. Then the jar pushed hard against him and he found the other boy’s eyes on his, warped like a fish’s. “Wanna see more?”

More? Excitement rushed through Lance like a tidal wave. “Yeah!”

The boy sprang back. Then the coolness was ripped from Lance’s face and the jar getting tucked carefully under a chubby arm. Lance’s hand was caught by another and he was grinning again. “COME ON!”

Then he was running. Cutting straight across the grass, he fell after the boy, arm straining against its socket.

“Keith, honey-”

“Sorry mom, can’t talk. Busy.”

Lance felt his cheeks tighten as the boy, Keith, refused to stop. He tucked his face into his collar, trying to hide the giggles. His heart was racing by the time they hit the back door. Keith let him go to tug at the thick plastic handle and heave it aside. Then his hand was smothered in heat once again and Lance being pulled inside.

The two ran past the looming kitchen counters, ducked under the wooden dining table and whooshed past the cardboard boxes piled high in the lounge. Keith pulled open another door at the end of the hall and suddenly they were plunged into darkness. Lance found himself clattering down hollow steps that creaked with every foot. He clung to Keith’s arm, slowing suddenly. He didn’t like the dark. Or stairs. He held Keith’s arm for support as he carefully began climbing down, scared his foot would fall between the wooden slats. Keith fidgeted ahead of him, jumping down the steps one at a time and bouncing on his toes whilst he waited for Lance to join him. It threw him a little off balance, but Lance refused to let go. He didn’t want to lose his chance at seeing more ghosts. When they eventually got to the bottom, Keith rushed them around the corner. Lance’s breath left his lungs as he caught sight of why. He dropped his arms, jaw falling slack.

In front of him, was a glowing wall full of ghosts. Haphazard shelfs made from broken slices of wood and large pointed nails held up hundreds of jars and bottles filled with the same tadpole-like creatures as they’d found in the garden. Some spun like tornadoes, whipping silver against their tops, whereas others were like fish bobbing in their tanks, softly glowing like lava lamps.

Keith crawled up on the stool in front of the desk, carefully placing his latest find on the table top. Then he tugged over a thick book and flipped over the heavy cover with a thud. Lance wrapped his fingers around the table ledge and pulled himself up, tiptoeing to see the pages. The corners were wrinkled, tears and creases lining the paper. But Lance was too distracted by the content to mind. He let out a gasp as he found each page covered in sketches of the creatures on the shelves, all painted in delicate watercolours. Thick inked writing titled each page and little notes surrounded the pictures like diagrams in a science book.

“Classification.” Keith explained, sliding a smaller notebook out from under a mess of rustling papers. He grabbed a crayon from a pot and stuck a finger to the page.

“This one. Moth.” He said, flicking through the jotter. “Can tell by the genie tail.”

Lance nodded, peering between the book and the rooms latest addition. It did bounce off the glass like how a moth bounced off a lampshade. Keith’s crayon began earnestly scraping against paper, and Lance scooted over to watch. His tongue slipped out of his mouth as he drew letters, writing the date, location and type. Then he looked at Lance.

“What d’ya wanna call it?”

Lance blinked, pointing to his chest. “Me? Name it?”

The boy nodded and Lance sucked in a breath. He got to name the ghost? That was a big responsibility. And a great honour. Pride swelled in Lance’s lungs as he accepted. Wracking his brain for a suitable candidate, he chewed on his thumb, brows furrowing to the point he was sure he could see them. He needed to get this right. And after a moment of painful deliberation, Lance reached an answer.

“Lance two!” He cried. “Because I’m Lance too!”

Keith grinned, eagerly adding the information to his log book. “Perfect.”

Then he looked back up at the shelves above. “You wanna choose a spot for Lance two?”

He got to choose a place for him to live too? Lance couldn’t contain his excitement, bouncing eagerly on the spot. Keith shuffled over on the stool and helped him up. Then they both crawled onto the table to stare up at the jars. There were so many. Some contained single clouds, others multiple dandelion clocks that spun around each other in a game of chase. Keith must have been collecting for years. Lance breathed in awe as he tried to find space. Then his eyes landed on the perfect spot. Three shelves up, there was a blue plastic bottle, containing a long spindly ghost that resembled an eel. A couple of dried flowers fell on the wood next to it and there was a decent gap between it and the next jar which contained a pearly coloured, jelly-fish type.

“Got it.” He announced, pointing to the space. Keith gave him a nod of approval before passing the jar containing Lance two over. Lance took it in both hands, taking a steadying breath. Okay Lance Two, he thought, time to meet your new home. Then he reached up. The jar clattered against the shelf below. Lance wasn’t quite tall enough. He stepped back with a huff, glaring at the wood. It was not going to win today. So, he stretched up to his limit once again, grabbing onto the shelf for balance. Attempting to haul himself up, he didn’t quite get the boost he’d hoped for. Instead, the wood flipped upwards.

Lance stumbled back with a yelp. The world tumbled around him, shining objects flying. The sound of shattering glass filled the room as white wisps tore through the air above him like shooting stars. He let out a screech. The ghosts! They were escaping!

Lance scrambled to sit back up. Above him, the shelf was empty. The desk around him was covered in tiny shards like diamonds. And most importantly, there were no whooshy wisps. Lance felt his eyes turn into pools. He looked to Keith who stared back open mouthed. Lance’s eyes overflowed. His throat felt tight and he let out a sob, burying himself in his hands. He’d let the ghosts escape.

“Are you okay?” Keith asked, carefully tiptoeing closer. “You want me to get my dad? He’s a firefighter ya know.”

Lance shook his head, scraping at his cheeks.

“m’not hurt.” He said, hiccupping as the emotion jumped up his throat. “It’s just- all your hard work.”

The tears spilled once again, and he was sobbing hard into his palms. Keith’s beautiful collection. He’d ruined it.

“It’s okay.” Keith said, landing at his side. He reached out to pat Lance’s arm and Lance finally looked up.

“It’s okay?” He asked, shoving his sleeve against his nose and staring up at the boy’s dark features.

“Mmhmm.” Keith hummed, giving him an encouraging smile. “We can just start again.”

Lance blinked against the tears, watching as Keith reached his hand out. “Together.”

Lance felt is cheeks pinch near painfully. Together. They could collect them together. He rubbed his knuckle against his eye one last time, relief flushing out the tears. Then he took Keith’s hand, squeezing the warmth as he got to his feet.

“Together.”

[iamheadphones]

June 9, 3027

The car passed the black and white checkered line. Glory flowed through her veins as she jumped up and shouted. “Let's go! I won!” Addie exclaimed as a few people chuckled. “As you should. Keep going queen.” Laura said as Emily held out her hand for a high five. That's when the creak of the stairs summoned her attention. “Bye guys I'm heading to work I’ll be back by supper.” Elliot said before the door abruptly closed behind him. Addie let out a smirk before putting her controller down. “I'm going to go play on my phone now.” “Not going to try to go three in a row?” Marina teased as she leaned further into the couch. “Nah I'm good.” Addie said as she got up. “Well, does anyone else want to play?” Emily asked. “Lapis do you want to play?” Marina asked as Addie slipped out of the room. She let out a grin as she made a right turn at the stairs before hitting a hall. She looked to her left to see a single window. She looked out of it. The neighborhood is filled with big two story houses with great lawns and walls blocking almost everything from behind their lawns. She looked down at the driveway. Looking out at the cars. Of all the cars that had been parked. There were several missing, but the very ones she had been watching for weren’t there. She turned back and raised her fist before bringing it back down. She made a walk back down the hall towards the stairs. Yet moved past them towards two doors. She reached out for the knob on her right ready to open. “Addie.” She jumped as she snapped over to see Julia. Her eyes wide and she had that childish curious look. With a tilt of her head she asked. “What are you doing?” Addie crossed her arms. “I was just going to get Elliot for something. What do you want?” Addie snapped as Julia took a step back. “I just wanted to see if you wanted to play with me and Ella.” Julia said as her tail wagged back and forth, and a smile came on her face. A sudden bridge of annoyance hit her. She growled before staring down at her. “You really had to interrupt me about asking Elliot something to ask if I wanted to play toys?” Addie snapped. Julia held her teddy bear close to her chest as she made a quick step back. “I just wanted to see if you wanted to. Because we got new toys, and maybe you were bored. Besides Elliot is at work did you not hear him leave?” Addie rolled her eyes. She recalled him dashing out the door. However the very minute Julia knew what she was about to do she would get her all in trouble. “Well not all of us are stuck in our forms Julia.” Addie said as she leaned down to look her directly in the eyes. Julia’s eyes watered as her mouth quivered. “I just wanted to see if you wanted to play with me and Ella again. You did so when we were younger.” Julia whined as Addie groaned. “Well too bad. I’m not younger.” Addie shouted as tears began to fall from her eyes. “What is going on over here?” Addie looked over at the snapping voice only to see Rain. They’re expression showed aggression. “Addie yelled at me when I asked if she wanted to play with me.” Julia tattled. “Well I don’t want to play with you, go find someone else to play with someone else tattletale.” Addie snapped before Rain yelled. “Listen here if y’all can’t get along or work this out, then y’all can go to y’all’s rooms.” Addie looked at them. Anger swelled as she looked at the person who thought they could boss her around. “You're not the boss of us.” Addie snapped as she bared her teeth at them. “Elliot isn’t here, and he’s not the only adult in the house. Meaning you have to listen to everyone else as well.” Addie’s eyes widened as she knew Rain had her in a corner. “Now to your rooms.” Rain didn’t have to speak twice as Addie slammed the door behind her. Her body shook as tears dropped from her face. She screamed as she threw her glasses across the room. She clawed up the ladder before grabbing her stuffed pig. Sobbing rivers into her pillows.          

[orderoftheavengers]

Accio War Machine! 

Summary: Gryffindor Prefect, turned into a merman

House: Gryffindor

Species: Merman, formerly human

Blood Status: Pureblood

Broom: Hijacked one of Tony's earlier models

Wand: Rowan, 16 inches, unicorn tail hair

Patronus: Greyhound

Specialty: Flying, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration

Sorting

"Hold the freaking phone," cries out Albus Severus Potter. "So Hawkeye, and original Avenger and Order of the Shield Agent, is in Hufflepuff, and Bucky Barnes, who joined the army and defended dweeb Rogers and held his own under torture multiple times, is also a Hufflepuff, but this generic sidekick is a Gryffindor? What's your logic on that one, Hat?"

The Sorting Hat takes a long swig from its flask of Firewhisky, and clears its throat with a long belch. "My logic, Four-Eyes, is that I sort by defining traits. Hakweye is first and foremost a family guy. Becoming a secret agent takes balls, but he's still not front of the line. He's fighting from a distance. And he's too much of a one-trick pony to be a Ravenclaw. And as for Barnes, he's too much of a freaking cinnamon roll to be anywhere but Hufflepuff. Rhodes on the other hand is first and foremost a soldier--even when there's no war going on."

Green-haired Teddy Lupin throws in, "But he's a flying soldier! He fights from a distance like Hawkeye!"

"But he doesn't get to hide like Hawkeye," the Hat argues. "He's out there in the sky, like an X-Wing pilot, and he's doing that with no special abilities sans his equipment. And if he's in the middle of a drunken civil war, he'll probably pick his side based on his chivalrous duties, rather than his personal feely loyalties. He stands up to his best friend a lot better than most people, and that's including people whose best friend isn't Tony Stark!"

Hawkeye protests, "But I stand up to my friends! ...when....when I'm part of a whole team that's standing up to another team....'kay." He quietly sits down.

"Know what I think?" Rose Potter says. "I think Hufflepuff and Gryffindor are pretty much the same house, except you put all the badasses in Gryffindor and all the fluff-potatoes in Hufflepuff."

"Well aren't you clever," the Hat snaps.

Under the hat, a patient James Rhodes asks flatly, "Can I go to my table now?"

"Yes. You're in Gryffindor. Get lost!"

"Don't mind if I do."

An Unlikely, But Very Necessary Friendship

James Rhodes came from a long line of Gryffindors and Aurors, and was more than eager to carry on the family tradition. By fifth year he was a Prefect, and, due to his superior sense of responsibility and common sense, Head of Gryffindor House (over Cap and Thor!)

Not content to simply fight with Slytherins like Harry Potter, Rhodey took on the Herculean task of befriending and talking sense into the Serpent House's most insufferable and unstable member. (Edit from Tony Stark: "T'hehe, 'member!'") Rhodey wound up becoming a Bloody Baron to Tony Stark's Peeves. As it happened, Tony already had a Gryffindor study partner named Happy Hogan, but even Happy failed to be much more of a yesman to Tony.

An Unlikely, But Very Necessary Ass-Whooping

When Tony began using his broom and wand whist intoxicated, endangering his fans, Pepper tattled to Rhodey. Rhodey, knowing that the Hogwarts adult staff was still as incompetent as it had been for the last thousand years, didn't bother alerting any teachers, and simply hopped onto a table with his wand out, declaring, "Party's over. Tony, get off you're broom, or I'll get up there and knock you off, with your other broom."

Tony slurred at his friend, “Only I can summon any of my brooms!”

Rhodey raised his wand and said flatly, “Accio War Machine.”

“Who the f*ck is War Machi--?” Tony was cut off when the end of the silver broomstick arrowed into his forehead, sending him off his own broom and against the wall.

Rhodey explained from where he hovered aboard War Machine, “I had a chat with this broom a while back, and it likes me better. It’s not a Stark Broom anymore.” "You're dead to me, Mark-2!" Tony slurred, shaking a fist at the silver, bristly traitor. Rhodey ordered calmly, "Give up, and sober up."

“F*ck you!” Tony drunkenly waved his wand at his friend. "I'll shrink that big Black broom of yours, Rhodey! Er.... what's the opposite of 'engorgio?" Rhodey dodged the spell Tony unintentionally set off, which wound up hitting Scott Lang (in ant form) and causing him to grow into an ant large enough to crash through Rosmertta's roof. Rhodey and Tony then dueled. Rhodey won, and Rosmertta threw Tony out of her bar. The two wound up making up, and Rodey felt bad to learn that Tony had thought he was dying at the time of that duel, but Tony still also had to feel bad about endangering other people's lives like that. The two completely got over the fight, and were on speaking terms again and fighting together by the end of the week. When asked what the secret to maintaining a friendship after such a violent fight, Rhodey replied, "There are several factors that come into play. Like, the ass-whooping and scolding being deserved. And leaving the ass-whopped friend in his warm castle, rather than, say, f*ck-freezin Siberia. And apologizing with your own words, instead of syrupy cliches."

"For chrissake, am I EVER gonna live that down?" Steve Rogers screamed. "We were all drunk and high and playing Quidditch with literal Idiot Balls! Galdalf's dick, I saved Vision and Wanda how many times, I called Tony Earth's best defender, and I said 'I am Steve Rogers!' WHAT THE F*CK DO YOU WANT FROM ME? And for your information, every time I shed a tear, a bald eagle DIES!" He then left the Gryffindor commonroom's lobby and made his way up to the boy's dormitory, slamming the door behind him. Cosmetic Magic

While Rhodes was normally great at standing his ground, he did occasionally let Tony talk him into drinking underage. In a drunken confession, Rhodes complained, "I want a cosmetic magic makeover. I'm sick of looking like that dumb stupid tool from 'Crash.'"

Tony nodded. "You wanna look like your own unique person."

"No, I wanna look like the badass guy from 'Crash!'"

Rhodey eventually got his wish, and was literally unrecognizable to everyone until they heard Tony call him "Rhodey." They quickly got used to the new Rhodey though, and soon found the old one waving irritably in older (wizarding) photographs, and flipping "new Rhodey" the bird.

Loss of Legs

During a fiasco Quidditch match, Rhodey took a badly-aimed and drunkenly-worded spell from none other than Vision. No one, even Vision, knows what spell the humanoid Care Bear was attempting to cast, or which one he did end up casting; only that Rhodey was irreversibly transformed into a merman. Tony fretted and angst over his BFF being unable to walk, trying on clamshell bras, combing his hair with silverware, and singing about his collection of "human stuff."

Despite all the bad blood, Rhodey was not bothered at all when Steve Rogers and others apparated into the Gryffindor commonroom. (While Rhodey had graduated, he'd already had a summer internship lined up with the Flying department.) Rhodey had been in the middle of a fireplace phone-call with Professor Thaddeus Ross, the Head and embarrassment of Gryffindor House. Ross said some angry things at the Cap, that no one remembers, because Ross is a tool who no one wastes time listening to. And Rhodey was only happy to see everyone, Cap included, because that horribly mis-managed drunken brawl didn't deserve any more continuity nods than absolutely necessary, as far as Rhodey was concerned.

King T'Challa, on the other hand, Rhodey had a wee bit of bitter sass for.

“It’s too bad I don’t know a Brother with lots of money and influence, from the most advanced wizarding country in the world, in the Mother Land, that just announced they want to share their advanced magic with the rest of the planet! It's too bad there's no king around like that, who could commission his genius little sister to help a Brother get his legs back!”

"Alas, 'tis not that simple," the king sighed."

“WHY THE F*CK NOT?"

"Alas," T'Challa sighed again, and the scene changed.

Wand, Patronus, etc.

Rhodey's wand is Rowan, a very strong European wood associated with defense against malevolent forces, and guiding the lost. Unicorns are quiet, elegant creatures associated with chivalry and royalty, known for both aiding people and whooping their asses clean off. Ditto for his Patronus, the Greyhound. The Patronus's species goes beyond the whole "loyal BFFs are dogs" and Rhodey being tall and skinny; Greyhounds are hunting dogs, that fought with and befriended royalty. They are specifically known for their speed and eyesight, which are both traits of an Air Force member Flyer.  

While Slytherin Tony flies around on Gryffindor colors, Gryffindor Rhodey's broom is a greenish-silver. The two of them enjoy using each other's House colors, to f*ck with people.

A/N: But seriously, why HASN'T Black Panther helped fix Rhodey's paralysis yet?