#The frame is cracked due to their willingness to use others

[radiates-confusion]

I have things to do, I said. It'll be quick, I said. Then I started using the ropes to analyse the relationships within this small section of the family, and now I have a deeper understanding of my character. Wooo, Day 18: Relations! Giving me an unusual amount of insight into my character and a part of how they work!

(If anyone wants the full lore dump layout of this dude and his families background....... I am willing, like, a 2/3rds of the implications I've put in this image are the tags anyway TvT)

[cursedfortune]

Mortem's sleeping habits are generally really good. It's easy for her to sleep, just like it's easy for her to stay awake for days on end. Her spell of regeneration repairs damages done by resisting sleep, but she doesn't get as easily burdened as others with it. It'll catch up to her, just not as quickly. She's used to being up and moving for long stretches of time, thanks to the many years spent at war and on long marches.

When she does sleep, it's always a light state. It was ingrained in her since she was but a child that witch hunters will ambush a sleeping witch, so she is always perceptive of her surroundings when it's time to rest. That was before a time when she forged her spell, but those habits still persist because witch hunters are still annoying. While she can be resting peacefully, some part of her mind is always awake and aware. Monitoring her range of perception to intercept potential ambushes.

Tuning out sound is a frame of mind for her. If someone is crashing at her cabin and the get up during the night, generally she'll notice and quickly deduce all is well without ever cracking an eye. It takes a few seconds and she never feels deprived of sleep regardless of how many times it occurs. A deep state of sleep only exists in the form of Mortem passing out after using her energy in a way that it isn't meant to be used. Healing others, a strong spell (like teleportation), or accelerating her regeneration spell to recover her body if it was mostly destroyed are all examples that will lead to her passing out for three days straight or so.

She sleeps like she's dead, visually I mean. A quiet sleeper, shallow breathing, it doesn't help her body temperature runs a bit cooler. Yes, if she's on her back she may look like a very well preserved corpse. Despite all the harrowing things she has gone through (and caused), Mortem is likely one of the most peaceful sleepers ever. Both in terms of behavior and visually. There was even a hymn written by a bard about finding her sleeping in the sun beside a river.

Due to being on the colder side, if you're a warm body she will cat pile or gravitate to you. Which is why she tries to be mindful of where she sleeps when it's uncertain if someone will mind. It's normal for witches to just sleep in a pile, to make poor use of space for the sake of just sleeping comfortably with someone they enjoy. For Mortem, that applies but the twofold issue with her spell of regeneration leaving her a bit colder than most also contributes. Despite being used to very harsh and long winters, she still very much dislikes being cold for extended periods of time.

Sleeping around others isn't really an issue, because if they are a threat it isn't like they can really... kill her. And due to being a light sleeper, she's very alert. Still, she can be picky who she sleeps around - despite her willingness to just fall asleep in front of people boring/annoying her. Danger assessment and all that. But if she is comfortable, she'll gladly waste away a day (or many - after any chores that need doing) lounging and sleeping. Especially in the sun or by a fireplace. If the light is green, she'll be less hesitant to crawl over to someone and plot down, drag them down to her, or roll over and play big spoon.

She's a sleepy-time nuzzler, she likes to hold onto blankets typically - but if someone is there, it's their clothes she'll curl her fingers into. Sleeping beside a someone, regardless of the relationship dynamic, eases her loneliness and touch-starved nature in ways that's harder to quell in the waking world.

I'll always say, the kindest things one can do for Mortem is simply hold her hand or be sleepy/lazy with her. For her culture, those two things are ingrained in all witches. Even witches whose purposes clash will sleep side by side because they mean no ill will towards one another, they just simply have duties to perform. Being a part of an endangered species, Mortem doesn't engage with many things of her culture. Her language that comes naturally is nearly lost. She's of an age most don't comprehend. But these two little things feel a little like home, so she's always grateful when a soul takes a nap with her.

Because she is a good sleeper, she also can and will fall asleep anywhere. Which is an ongoing joke, in many regards. She can be comfortable in a bed, on a floor, on stone, tile, anything. Sitting up, laying down, half hanging from a tree - she doesn't care. If it's comfortable enough, it's doable for sleeping. And she likes sleeping. Not just likes it, but it's also the second best way (outside of meditation, which is better) to build up her energy reserves.

Place doesn't matter. She'll sleep in a cave, in the sewers, in a comfy room. It's all the same. If she can sleep, she will sleep.

Throughout this post, the term sleep does mean sleep - but to also be clear, half the time it's the same as when she meditates. The only difference is she's more present because her mind is both focused and relaxed. ...Which is why when she feels she has done enough meditating, she falls asleep while sitting there.

All of this contributes a lot to why Mortem has so much energy to fuel her. The tattoo on her chest keeps an open gate to magic, but all the energy she uses to do what she does comes from her work to build up and store energy within herself. It's very much the iceberg effect where she is standing there as the tip of the iceberg, but everything beneath is the reality of how much energy she accumulates constantly.

It's mostly so she doesn't burn out too easily or so she doesn't have to steal the lifeforce from nature (or mortals, if need be). And it allows her to be more free with using it when she needs, without having to think too hard on if she has the energy to spare. Mortem sleeping for a century straight? You don't want to know what she is capable of. Luckily, she uses her energy in everything she does - so while she has amassed a lot of it, she can still burn through and be weakened on that front.

[precuredaily]

Precure Day 198

Episode: Yes! Precure 5 49 - “The Dreams and Hopes of Precure 5!” Date watched: 17 June 2020 Original air date: 27 January 2008 Screenshots: https://imgur.com/a/qlReFMY Transformation Gallery: https://imgur.com/a/6k6SzS0 Project info and master list of posts: http://tinyurl.com/PCDabout

the end is nigh

It’s been an adventure these last few episodes! The team found the 45th Pinky and filled the Dream Collet, defeated Bloody, and then had the Collet stolen from them. They went to Nightmare’s dimension and fought Kawarino, where he tossed them around and Despariah used the Collet to restore her youth. Then, despite all odds, they found hope where there was none and pulled themselves out of despair, managing to defeat Kawarino and rescue the lost citizens of the Palmier Kingdom! Then and only then did Despariah finally stand up and begin her own attack on the girls. They’ve overcome every obstacle placed in front of them up to now, but how will they fare against the literal incarnation of despair?

The Plot

The cold opening is a quick recap of the previous episode and the final scene, with Despariah finally making her stand. After the opening theme, the girls proceed to take on Despariah’s kowainas, and the action cuts quickly from girl to girl as they kick, punch, and chop their way through the ranks. Lemonade remembers that they were able to defeat them previously by separating them from the ground, but when Aqua knocks them off their feet, they land right back on the ground no worse for the wear. Despariah taunts them, but Dream insists they’ll pull through, and they proceed to kick more ass. They do dispel some of the monsters, but just as quickly as they do, more pop up. Nonetheless, Despariah grows concerned, and she confronts Dream to personally push her into despair. She restrains Dream while a group of Kowaina attack the citizens of Palmier, but Mint blocks them, so she sets the squad on the other four cures, throwing them in the air. She hypnotizes Dream as she taunts that their power came from the now-useless Dream Collet, and Dream falls into a dream.

She awakens in Coco’s arms as he tells her to give up, as he doesn’t want to see her get hurt anymore, and reaches for the Pinky Catch. The real Coco, Nuts, and Milk watch from afar but Coco isn’t worried about Dream at all, he’s sure she’ll overcome this. Sure enough, inside the illusion, Dream recognizes Coco as a fake because he would never tell her to quit. Her Pinky Catch glows with the light of hope and several Kowaina in her immediate vicinity are destroyed. Coco proclaims that Dream is always optimistic and striving for a better future. She turns to him and says that his kindness to everyone is what gives her the strength to keep going, and that’s why she loves him. Then she faces Despariah herself and declares that she will make Coco’s dream come true, no matter what, and the other girls line up with her.

Now here’s where it starts to get juicy. Despariah starts to crack under the pressure. Rather than being intimidating, she sounds afraid. She asks the girls why they aren’t afraid of aging or their power waning, and she begins to admit that her new eternal youth hasn’t helped her the way she thought it would. Cure Dream, seeing her opponent breaking down with anxiety, does what she does best: she empathizes. She bravely steps forward and cancels her transformation, facing Despariah not as Cure Dream, but as Nozomi. Nozomi kindly and gently tells Despariah she just wants to talk, because she can tell the villainess is scared, which means she has a heart. Nozomi’s sheer kindness causes the kowaina to begin to disperse as she repels even Despariah’s despair, and the other cures decide to follow her lead and detransform. Thus they stand in front of their archenemy, vulnerable and powerless but happy.

The girls reaffirm their willingness to go along with Nozomi’s reckless abandon and Despariah realizes that their friendship is what keeps them from being afraid. Nozomi invites Despariah to really talk things out, but suddenly Kawarino reappears, alive but on his last legs. He insists that Despariah doesn’t need them, and begins to attack Nozomi, but Despariah blasts him away. She confesses that her newfound immortality has still not brought her peace and she wants to hear what the girls have to say. Kawarino can’t handle this, and begins to despair at the idea that everything he’s done for her was pointless. The Darkness of Despair opens beneath his feet and suddenly a giant hand grabs him. He recognizes the deformed figure beneath the black surface as Bloody and he gets slowly dragged down into the abyss, begging Despariah for help, but all she can do is watch in fear.

Seeing what became of her subordinates shatters Despariah’s already fragile mental state, and the entire Nightmare world begins to crumble as she loses control of her power. She orders Nozomi and co to seal away the Nightmare world with their powers, trapping her in it forever, because if they don’t then her unchecked power of destruction will tear their world apart, too. Despariah and Nozomi share sad looks with each other as they both understand what must be done, and the girls transform again, using the Symphony Set to seal away the Nightmare world. Despariah approaches Coco, Nuts, and the citizens of Palmier, returning the exhausted Dream Collet and apologizing for her actions before she turns away and walks back into Nightmare HQ. Despariah genuinely smiles and thanks the girls as the building is encased in butterfly wings and implodes.

When the light fades, the girls are back in the plaza in their world, at twilight, silent and sad. Dream in particular can’t even look at the others for a while and we don’t see her face, an indirect way of showing how upset she is by the events that have just taken place. No words are exchanged in this beautiful, tragic scene.

The scene fades to night at Karen’s mansion. An idle comment about Jiiya’s absence explains why they’re free to let all the Palmier citizens wander around the facility. Everyone is trying to unwind and catch up and make plans for rebuilding the Palmier Kingdom. Papaya, Coco and Nuts’s teacher, finally asks which of them will become king, and they’re visibly uncomfortable, but Milk explains how they’ve worked so hard together to survive in this world and get to this point, they should become kings together. Everyone agrees and the two princes seem happy.

Later in the evening as festivities have wound down, Komachi and Nuts are talking. She thanks him for pushing her further with her writing and supporting her, and he thanks her for her kindness and perseverance and saving him from his own self-loathing. Both of them have inspired the other to go farther and achieve the previously unthinkable. Nuts even gives Komachi his key to the kingdom for her to remember him by.

Meanwhile, Nozomi and Coco are having a much-needed heart to heart. Nozomi says she thinks him and Nuts as dual kings is a good deal, because they can compensate for each other’s weaknesses, and then the conversation shifts to the promise he made to show Nozomi the Palmier Kingdom. He reaffirms that vow, as she says that she looks forward to seeing the restored kingdom and he wants to build a kingdom worth showing to her.

In both of these cases, the words of love go unspoken, but not unheard.

As dawn breaks, the girls and all the fairies gather on the lawn to say their final goodbyes. Karen and Milk wish each other good luck in the future, rounding off our shipping pairs, and then all the girls begin to cry.  However, Nozomi reminds them all that it’s not farewell, and as long as their hearts stay connected, they’ll surely meet again.

Then Nozomi reveals to Coco that she’s finally found her dream: she wants to be a teacher like he was. He inspired her by telling her she was full of potential (a callback to episode 11) and gave her a lot of knowledge, drive, and motivation, and she wants to inspire the next generation in the same way. He responds in kind by saying he wants himself and Nuts to instill hope in his citizens the same way Nozomi instilled hope in him. With that, the girls relinquish their Pinky Catches, which turn back into the butterflies that are the Five Lights of the Palmier Kingdom. They form a ring, which absorbs all the fairies into it before transforming into a giant rainbow butterfly and flying away into the sunrise.

fly away now, fly away now, fly awaaaaaay

To wrap the episode up, we fast forward an indeterminate amount of time to check in on the girls post-Precure. In voiceover, they each express their difficulties in achieving their dreams: Nozomi still struggles academically, Urara still fails auditions sometimes, Komachi gets writer’s block, Rin has trouble coming up with designs, and Karen has doubts about working in medicine. Nonetheless, they all find comfort in turning to each other for help, and their friendship runs deeper than any obstacles. The final scene is the five of them posing together in a still frame.

The Analysis

At this point, Precure final episodes have established a pattern. The first half resolves the battle with the villain, while the second half wraps up any other loose ends in their civilian lives. Such is the case here, but it plays a bit differently from the finales of the Futari wa era. The peril never quite reaches the same depths of intensity, largely due to the immutable optimism of Nozomi and the team and Despariah’s growing uncertainty with her own cause. Comparatively, a longer time seems to be spent tying up loose ends, which I suppose, as with many elements of this series that seem more drawn out, is tied into there being five main characters instead of two. This is NOT a criticism, by any means. I think the story beats covered by the conclusion are appropriate and well-paced and properly wrap up everyone’s story arcs without rushing or overstaying the welcome. Accordingly, I’m going to subdivide this review into two halves, one for the conclusion to both the battle with Despariah and Nightmare, and the other for the girls’ duties to the Palmier Kingdom and the epilogue.

In this case, the fight with Despariah feels especially bittersweet, because for the very first time in a Precure series, the final boss was actually won over by the girls’ ideals instead of just outright blown to bits, but it was too late for her to redeem herself as her power was out of control. Compared to the Star Twinkle finale from early this year (at the time of this writing), which I found rather underwhelming with regard to Ophiuchus just walking away after enslaving half the galaxy, this episode properly redeems its villain without absolving her of the weight and consequence of her actions. Did she deserve her fate? That’s hard to say, it would be interesting to see her use her newfound immortality to walk the Earth, trying to find hope and peace and pay for her sins. On the other hand, it’s a beautiful tragedy for her to gain immortality and eternal youth only to immediately shut herself away forever because her own power has grown out of control and threatens the world she wants to be a part of. It’s similar in concept to the death of Dark Dream in the movie, although that one was much more of a gut punch than this for a few reasons. The redemption deaths are similar, however, in the catalyst for their transformations: Nozomi, the eternal optimist. She has set the bar for team leaders that will be hard to surpass (although I have a few other favorites). She constantly strives to better herself, refuses to bow to negative pressure, and has pulled herself and her friends out of the pits of despair. She turns enemies into friends with the strength of her hope and dreams, but her greatest power is her ability to know when to stop the fight and sympathize with someone in pain. She saw Despariah was losing her grip and instead of seizing an easy victory, she detransformed and approached her as a person. I can’t begin to describe how powerful of a gesture this is, but it’s the absolute best thing Nozomi could do and it perfectly embodies her best qualities.

Regardless of her poor wish, though, it was a good narrative choice to have her steal the wish, whatever she chose to do with it. Since the series was all about hope and despair, throwing all the characters into very despairing situations and then still having them defeat their demons with hope is extraordinary and perfectly encapsulates the message of the show. Coco and Nuts lose their wish and can’t use magic to rebuild the Palmier Kingdom? Fine, they’ll do it by hand! The lost citizens of Palmier Kingdom are actually Nightmare’s members? Thank goodness, they’re still alive and well after all! The Precures are all being forced into despair? But wait, we haven’t even realized our dreams yet, let’s talk about them! At every turn, the series and the climax in particular has been about hope overcoming despair, so subjecting the protagonists to the ultimate despair lets their hopes shine brighter than ever, really driving the message home, and that wouldn’t have been possible if Coco and Nuts had used the wish a little sooner.

While it’s not a particularly deep message, Despariah’s realization that eternal youth has not made her happy is still very important. Who among us hasn’t wished for some grand change in our lives? Now would that change actually make you happier, in the long run? I’m not suggesting there’s nothing you could have or do that would improve your demeanor, but it’s easy to see why Despariah wished for the wrong thing. She misattributed the cause of her depression, rather than trying to make the most of her life, and consequently she damned herself to an even worse fate. She could have wished for help, for companionship, or for the capacity to better understand people. Instead she wished for eternal youth and power, and then learned too late that this wasn’t what she needed.

The only thing that didn’t really work for me was Kawarino coming back, as that didn’t make sense. It was a catalyst to really throw Despariah into despair again after she was starting to make some headway with the girls, and cause her to lose control of her power. If they had at least hinted in the previous episode that he had an ace up his sleeve and wasn’t completely gone, it would have been more acceptable to me. However, it was good to see him react to Despariah embracing the message of hope, and see her assert herself over him. It was also very satisfying, though also horrifying, to see him get dragged down into the pits of despair by Bloody. Seeing how frightful Nightmare is from the outside was important to her development, but it also showed she was beyond salvation and it made her choice to self-isolate for eternity more tragic.

I like the symbolism behind her returning the Collet to Coco and Nuts, though. She knows it’s a hollow gesture and it doesn’t begin to make up for what she’s done, but it is about the only thing she really can do to show her remorse. You can also see that the citizens of Palmier aren’t exactly ready to forgive her for imprisoning them, but they appreciate the gesture. The whole farewell is full of bittersweetness like this.

I gotta hand it to the writers for this, making her repent but still be condemned to eternal solitude by her own hand instantly makes this finale twice as emotional as it would be if she just got beaten normally, and it’s more meaningful, speaking to the complexities of the good vs evil fight and of course the season writ large.

Now, for the cleanup. The second half of the episode is all tying up loose ends and putting the final notes on the subplots. How do they settle the issue of who gets to be king? Make both Coco and Nuts the co-kings! It’s honestly the only way they could do it, since they compensate so well for each other’s shortcomings. It’s a conflict that’s been present throughout the show, but never really dwelled upon until more recent episodes, notably 45. Coco is better with people, but Nuts is more studious and knowledgeable. Both of them bring important leadership qualities to the table. Honestly I always had Coco as the better ruler, with Nuts as his advisor, but making them equals really speaks to the theme of the franchise, that everyone brings different skills that complement each other, and it’s a callback to the first three seasons with the two-person teams.

The thanks and farewells between Komachi and Nuts, Nozomi and Coco, and Karen and Milk are all very moving. They demonstrate the growth they’ve all achieved since the start of the show. Nuts pushed Komachi to be a better writer, Coco inspired Nozomi to be a better learner, and Milk allowed Karen to be a better protector. Capping off their growth throughout the season with these heart-to-heart conversations really resonates and serves as a nice bow on top of their arcs. And as I said earlier, although they don’t say “I love you” out loud, you can tell they mean it. Some may criticize me for including Milk and Karen on that list, because their relationship isn’t as romantic as the other two, being more or a platonic friendship, but nonetheless there’s a deep compassion between them and as I’ve pointed out, they have a close bond that Milk doesn’t share with any of the others. Karen taught her to step back and smell the roses, Karen nursed her when she was sick, Karen has been instrumental in Milk adjusting to life in the human world and Milk helped Karen find her life’s passion. I’ve written a lot about NozoCoco and KomaNuts before, but Karen and Milk have a distinct closeness as well, and their farewell is important too. In fact I wish they’d gotten a true closing scene like the other couples got, but I can understand why they didn’t. They had a lot to cram into this episode. And let’s briefly recount all the other important friendships that were seen throughout the show. Urara and Komachi deepened their friendship over their mutual interest in art and storytelling. Rin and Karen bonded over their shared lack of ambition, and then found goals to strive towards. I really love that even within the circle of friends, they each found specific partnerships and reasons to bond with certain others.

So let’s talk about Nozomi. When the show started, she was presented as a bit of an airhead. She was more than happy to cheer on her friend Rin but she was introduced in the classic “late for school” sequence and we were told she didn’t have much in the way of dreams or a capacity for learning. Boy was she optimistic though.

After meeting Coco and making his wish to revive Palmier Kingdom into her dream, she really changed. Obviously her earnest perusal of that objective is what drew the other girls to her, but helping Coco allowed Coco to help her, and he gave her a genuine passion for learning. He helped her challenge her learning difficulties, and at the end of the series she has internalized that by making it her dream to pass on his teachings as a teacher herself.

This is the perfect capstone to her growth and development throughout the show. I keep coming back to her line from the movie:

“I’m better than I was yesterday! I’m better than I was an hour ago, a minute or even a second ago!” Well she sure improved, and now she’s found something she can pour herself into that will help her keep improving. From the girl with no dream to the girl whose dream is to help everyone reach their potential, surrounded by supportive friends. I just love to see it.

Finally, I really, really love the epilogue. It is perfectly staged and framed and composed. Each girl briefly talking about her struggles as she works towards her dream, the small everyday hardships they face is a reminder that they’re not perfect. They’re ordinary girls just trying to make their way in life. Their greatest strength, whether as Precure or as students, is their friendship and encouragement for each other. The way they each sit down at the table one by one, silently reaching out to their support network, is so encouraging. And the final sequence has a couple of callbacks to earlier in the show, like Urara’s unusual food choices and both Rin and Karen bringing their preferred juice (orange and grape.) It’s a small reminder of where they started to show how much they’ve changed.

Now they could end their development here, and I’d be happy, but fortunately we get an entire season that shows where they all go after this that I get to dive into after this, the last such time we’ll have that opportunity in Precure. So look forward to that!

Also, I want to note that the art for the final still frames is gorgeous.

I wish I could say that about the whole episode but unfortunately Kawano Hiroyuki is the key animator and animation director for the finale, and his weaknesses are on full display: flat faces with wide eyes and strangely drawn noses, minimal shading, oddly placed heads, and sometimes weird body proportions as well. When he’s good, he’s good, but when he’s bad, it’s visible. I wish the finale could have had some higher quality artwork but I guess the budget was stretched a bit thin by this point, or they were focusing all their attention on the next series. I don’t have a lot of insight into how this process works behind the scenes. Here’s a few examples of the art that I found a bit lacking.

On the other hand, there are some gorgeous visuals here as well, don’t let me make it sound like it’s all bad either. There’s a few symbolic shots I really like, such as the mirroring of the girls’ feet in and out of transformation, as they face Despariah first as enemies, then as friends.

There’s also the reflection of Despariah in Dream’s eyes that gets an A+ from me for shot composition.

As well as the Kowaina mask superimposed over the fake Coco in Nozomi’s illusion.

And of course, all the fairies of the Pamier Kingdom returning home in a giant butterfly, to cap off our symbolism.

Rewatching Yes! Precure 5 has been a wonderful journey. It’s a great ride from start to finish and an all new direction for the Pretty Cure franchise. It was filled with great characters to follow and I was extremely invested in seeing them grow and develop. This finale truly stands out in the franchise for its discussion of depression and immortality, dreams and hopes, and what’s important in life. It was the perfect conclusion to a fantastic series and I couldn’t ask for a better ending. However, our journey isn’t quite over! The adventures of Nozomi, Rin, Urara, Komachi, Karen, Coco, Nuts, and Milk will continue in Yes! Precure 5 GoGo!

Next time, on Precure Daily, we catch up with everyone after a few months when Nozomi receives a mysterious message, and they get caught up in another battle for the fate of the world. Look forward to it!

Pink Precure Catchphrase Count: 1 kettei! (in the preview)

[snowbellewells]

Face to Face in the Broad Daylight///  Chapter Five

Okay folks, I am so sorry it has taken me this long to update my CSSNS MC again, but now that I have finished my other two shot for the event and have my @csseptembersunshine piece well in had, I’m ready to get back on track with this one. Hopefully, I won’t leave you waiting this long again in the last stretch of chapters. If you have been waiting patiently and are still ready to keep reading along with this adventure, THANK YOU so much!!! It means the world to me!

Thanks again to @cssns itself for giving me a place for this story to be posted and shown, and to @branlovestowrite for the gorgeous story banner that I love to bits!!

Previous chapters on AO3: Prologue  Chapter One  Chapter Two  Chapter Three       Chapter Four

And now, without further stalling...

~ chapter five: by the light of the moon

Of course, later that night, when it became clear that they had missed the mysterious newcomer in her meeting with Gold due to their “more pleasurable activities”, both Emma and Killian felt more than a bit of blushing chagrin - if not regret. Sneaking back into her own home while unsuccessfully hoping to evade her ever-curious son, who was more than anxious to hear how their stakeout had gone and what they had found, was more than a bit embarrassing for Emma when she had nothing to report because she had been busy letting her werewolf man bring her to the brink of pleasure - twice - instead of keeping her eyes peeled for signs of their foe. 

Still, glancing over to Killian at her side, making sure that their front door was closed and locked and their little family ensconced safely for the night, his protectiveness and leadership showing even in the most mundane and everyday of tasks, Emma couldn’t quite make herself regret their stolen moments. Though nearly half a year into the relationship now, it still felt fresh and new, each touch or kiss still as exciting and enflaming as the first, and though there was never as much time as she would like, Emma didn’t want that to fade, couldn’t stand to neglect it, and so would take her precious minutes with her lover wherever and whenever she could.

Cheeks still burning, she tried to stumble through Henry’s questions on their stakeout results without either disgusting, confusing or scarring him. Henry was perceptive enough to sense his mom’s unease, though, and to catch that she wasn’t telling him everything. His stubborn inquisitiveness - which she had to grudgingly admit in times like these probably came directly from her - was almost certainly getting ready to latch on for dear life when Killian stepped in tidily and managed to distract and redirect Henry.

“What it comes down to, lad,” Killian smoothly interjected, looking at her for a moment in confirmation of her willingness to allow him to step in. When she gave a minute nod of agreement, the warmth and gratitude that flooded his eyes was overwhelming enough to steal her breath. Quickly, he switched his attention back to an increasingly impatient 11-year-old, and continued, “is that we waited there for hours, but the way that Gold and his accomplice can poof about using their magic and not having to visibly walk somewhere as you or I would, allowed them to come and go right under our noses, regardless of our surveillance efforts. Now, I am a bit chilled, more than a mite hungry, and in need of stretching my legs a bit. What say you to some of that instant packaged beverage you and your mum are so enamored of, and a walk about the yard under the stars after? I can point out a few more of the constellations you were curious about…”

Henry nodded eagerly, sidetracked for the moment at least by a more appealing offer. Emma turned to offer Ruby, who been over at their house to keep an eye on Henry until they returned, a shrug of her shoulders and a ‘thank you’ for being willing to hold down the fort, only to be greeted by a wide, devious smile from her all-too-pleased looking friend.

“They slipped by you, huh?” she scoffed, raising a perfectly sculpted dark eyebrow in a feminine iteration of Killian’s expressiveness. “Hmmm,” her blood red manicured nails tapped at her chin as if she were thinking over the likelihood of their excuse, all the while eyeing Emma as if waiting for her to crack.

“Yeah, I guess so?” Emma tried to hedge, not sure what Ruby was getting at, but knowing she didn’t want to give the vivacious drama queen any ammunition. “I mean, I don’t use my magic to flit here and there invisibly, but I’m sure Gold’s pretty good at it,” she added almost defensively, crossing her arms over her chest.

Ruby leaned in, as if taking a whiff of some new perfume Emma was wearing, and shook her head in mock sympathy at Emma’s attempt to stall her. “Oh Emma, who are you kidding? You can’t fool a wolf, honey.  You and Killian were so busy with each other that Gold and this mystery woman could have walked right up and knocked on your fogged up car windows and you wouldn’t have noticed. Admit it.”  

Emma’s eyes widened at being caught, and Ruby grinned widely, showing all her teeth in a way that almost made Emma able to see the sleek predator she could become without the brunette’s even having to shift. “Ha! I knew it!” Ruby crowed. “I can smell him all over you, you know,” she added raucously, patting Emma on the arm in good natured gloating, “and you him. I hope you two were careful…”

“Ruby!” Emma almost squeaked in her indignance, not wanting Henry to run back into the room and hear any of this conversation. 

“Oh relax, Deputy,” she smiled, slinging her red purse over her shoulder and sauntering toward the door. “Don’t worry so much. Henry’s more than occupied trying to help your man use the microwave.” She pointed to her ear as if to indicate that her hearing was every bit as acute as her sense of smell and bid her friend a laughing goodbye, making an exit out the front door before an amused and exasperated Emma could make any further comment.

Instead, she trailed into the kitchen where her two guys were pulling out cups and dumping cocoa packets into heated water. She shook her head fondly and restrained herself from mentioning that it was a school night and they had better not stay up too late. Moving to reach into the upper kitchen cabinet for their large Thermos, thinking that would work better than open mugs to keep their drinks warm and unspilled, she felt Killian’s warm frame pressed deliciously along her back as he placed a gentle, staying hand to her hip and reached over her easily with his greater height to snag the Thermos handle with his hook and retrieve it for her. He planted a quick kiss at her nape that made a tremor snake along her spine, and even though they had just enjoyed each other’s enthusiastic ministrations but an hour or so earlier, he gave a surreptitious thrust of his hips against her backside - thankfully unnoticed by Henry, who was leaning into the refrigerator in search of the whipped cream - that, though playful, made it blatantly obvious he still wanted her, and made her need to have him once again begin simmering in her veins as well.

Hot chocolate made, the two loves of her life were soon crossing the moonlit grass of the backyard, heading down to the dock Killian had built where their property met the water. They had a perfect, clear view of the night sky’s canvas there, free of tree branches, light poles, and other obstructions.

Having dragged a warm afghan from the surplus of bedding they kept in the mud room for camping trips and the like, Emma curled up on the porch swing to wait for their return and guard their drink. With the blanket wrapped around her shoulders and her feet tucked up beneath its warmth, she squinted toward where she knew her son and her pirate were, their voices echoing back to her over the water, and her heart swelling as she did so, glad beyond measure that Henry and Killian were naturally growing close, sharing such moments together; it was all she could have hoped for.

When they did return to her, Henry took a seat at the other end of the swing, having somehow gotten taller and lankier right before her eyes, and Killian slid in behind her, her back against him as she reclined comfortably into his side, his arm coming up to cradle her. It was clear that even for an over-exuberant and wise-beyond-his-years 12-year-old, the hour was growing late and her son was fighting off sleep. His eyelids fluttered, and he began to slowly slump, then jerk back into upright wakefulness three times before he finally leaned over against his mom’s drawn-up legs and succumbed to peaceful rest.

“I’ll need to take him up to his room before he takes a chill,” Killian said conscientiously, and Emma felt him beginning to shift to do so, but she put a stalling hand to his thigh.

“Thank you,” she murmured, “for caring for him so much. For… for treating him like he’s your own.” She paused, then let that heartfelt statement hopefully sink in as he pressed her hand within his. Then she added, “You’re right of course, Killian, but… can we just… stay here another minute or two? It’s so peaceful tonight.”

“Aye Love,” his voice rumbled, his whiskered cheeks rubbing along her hair line, his lips at her ear as he continued, the sensuous heat of earlier having settled into a gentler glow of devoted warmth. “As you wish.”

They sat in silence, content to simply enjoy each other’s presence and sip hot chocolate for a few long, perfect moments before Killian spoke again, gesturing up at the sky as he did so, directing her gaze to a constellation just visible past the edge of the roof. “See that formation there, Lass?”

Emma followed where he was directing her, seeing the cluster of stars he had indicated, and nodding drowsily, so relaxed and happy right then in Killian’s arms, that she could almost drift away to join Henry in dreamland if she weren’t so curious to see what her sailor wanted to show her.

“That’s Cygnus, Love...the Swan.” He breathed the words into her skin, their licking flames along her nerve endings awakening and igniting her once more, even as he was still offering the sort of flattery that might as well form sonnets on that honeyed tongue of his. “Your own constellation, Emma. Did you know that? Though none of those star’s brightness is an equal to you.”

“Smooth talker,” she scoffed easily, reaching up to run a hand along his bristled jawline, relishing the strength of it, and then trailing her fingers back to his rather adorably pointed ear, scruffing behind it almost as she would do to a true canine. The low rumbling of satisfaction that escaped Killian’s throat made her bite back a smile, sure that if he had a tail he would be wagging it in that moment. She felt the tremor in his wiry frame as she was this time the one to make him shiver with desire.

“Every word is the truth,” he returned sincerely, despite the rasp in his voice, as he ran a reverent hand through her long hair, fingers lightly brushing the silky strands as carefully as though he really were handling the sort of golden treasure a pirate such as himself would crave.

Shaking her head, not really knowing how to accept such praise, even in private and genuinely meant, she hauled herself to her feet and out of the cozy nest of his embrace on the swing. “Come on, you ridiculous flirt,” she directed, no real heat or irritation in her tone. “Time for us to get Henry to bed before we all end up spending the night in the chill.”

No fool, and able to read her every mood and mannerism easily, Killian knew what she was doing, but didn’t challenge her. Instead, he stood as well, stooping to lift Henry’s lax and slumbering frame over his shoulder and follow Emma to the lad’s bedroom as she opened doors and ushered them along the way without collision. Once the sleeping preteen, still dead to the world and letting out the faintest wheeze of a snore, was back in his own room, lowered to the bed where he curled up on one side blissfully unaware of his change in locale, Killian stood back to his full height, but lingered, looking on fondly as Emma pulled Henry’s blanket up to cover his ever-stretching body and swept a hand through his chocolate-dark hair to brush it off his forehead. To think that he could have this amazing woman - the Savior! - and her boy in his life, that he was now a part of such things as bedtime routines and algebra homework made his heart swell to such fullness that Kilian wondered how much it could withstand.

By the time they were slipping down the hall to their own boudoir, Emma’s hand in his as they opened the door and undressed quietly on opposite sides of the large, comfy bed, the flames of desire that had been licking beneath his skin had been banked to a steady, lingering ember. As Emma scooted across the mattress and curled into his chest, her old, thigh-length T-shirt cotton meeting his bare chest and flannel pants-covered legs, he was more than content to enjoy the calmer glow simmering between them. In fact, as his eyes closed, Killian couldn’t help feeling that this quieter, less appreciated moment was everything.

~~~**~~~**~~~**~~~

Some few days later, all the way across Storybrooke and in the midst of the woods, another of their hero band was finding much less peace. Well into the darkest stretch of the night, Belle was still wide awake at the small desk in the corner of the bedroom in Graham’s forest cabin. She was no less thrilled at being separated from her own library and apartment as she had been when Graham first suggested the precaution of staying with him, but she had since equipped herself accordingly and made do on restless nights. Sitting up a bit straighter and attempting to work a kink from her neck and shoulders after reading bent over the text in dim lamplight for so long, she winced sharply, bringing her palm to cradle the side of her stomach as the babe within made its displeasure known at her movement.

Though she logically knew it was much too early for the small fetus to be moving, or for her to be showing, both were happening all the same. She saw a small bulge even after donning her bright yellow dress that morning, and Graham had commented on it in equally awed and worried tones as he had served her breakfast when she came down the stairs. Not only that, but it would seem their pup shared its father’s restless need to roam and run if the near-constant shifts and kicks she felt against her hand whenever she rested it over her womb were any indication. There was no use doubting the heightened time frame of werewolf gestation now, not when she was clearly living it.

Regardless of the pangs and twinges she felt, Belle also had more weighty concerns pressing down upon her shoulders. With her boyfriend’s amiable help and handy muscle, she had managed to lug so many books to her temporary dwelling that Graham had playfully teased that there couldn’t be much left for the rest of the town to read. Still, though she had been somewhat vindicated in the sheer volume of materials transported by the fact that the seeming answer to what Rumple and his new conspirator could be after lay before her eyes, Belle couldn’t feel much victory over the new dread it instilled.

The pages of the dusty old tome open on the the desk before her detailed a magical object once rumored to have belonged to Merlin of Camelot himself. Supposedly it had been crafted by the fabled wizard to contain the vengeful powers of the Darkness after it swallowed the woman Merlin had loved and twisted her into the first Dark One. On the weathered old paper, it looked rather inconsequential, a metallic cylinder which could apparently open into what looked like a sorceror’s tall pointed hat, but Belle knew better than most that appearances were often deceiving. Consequently, she felt sure that if Rumple got his hands on it, the hat could quite probably do as the book said. Belle shivered at the probable repercussions the moment they entered her mind: he might well free himself from his dagger’s control without sacrificing his power. It was all he had ever wanted, she realized with sinking certainty, and without the tether Emma had used his dagger to place upon him, Rumple would without doubt wreck pain and retribution on them all.

Except maybe...Belle paused, reluctant to even ponder the chance that entered her mind, desperate for an avenue which might protect those she loved, and yet fearful that she might have to take the only one she could come up with. She might be able to go to him - alone - might be able to reach the man beyond the Beast, the heart of the good person Rumple had once been long ago, as she had done before.

She didn’t relish it; in fact, her skin crawled with disgust and dread, both in fear at how it might backfire and at the lies she would have to weave, both to manipulate the master of deception and fine print, and to her own heart and the father of her child, whom she would need to slip away from and leave behind to stand even a chance of enacting her plan. 

The child within seemed to roll over in protest at the very idea she was considering. Looking across the room to the bed where Graham lay deep in slumber, his lean, bronzed form sprawled diagonally over the mattress, sheet barely coming up to drape across his hipbone, making Belle flush at the delectable sight. His strong, calloused hands lay lax upon the pillow and his honeyed mass of boyishly youthful curls stood up like untamed corkscrews from his scalp, but he didn’t move. She placed her hand on the part of her stomach where their little one rested, needlessly shushing their restless pup. Knowing she didn’t have long before her man woke and his faultless lupine senses found her and brought her back to safety, Belle was already on her feet, dressed once more, and gathering a few needed items to take with her.

She had to try she reasoned with herself, attempting to quell the pangs of conscience troubling her over how beside himself Graham would be when he woke to find her gone. This wasn’t just for her own life and happiness, but for all of them. If Rumple might listen to her, if she could reason with the small part of him which had once cared for her - though never enough to win out over his magic, her mind cautioned unhelpfully - then she might stand a chance at stopping his wrath.

Looking back to the pages she had been studying on ancient Camelot and Merlin’s attempt to curtail the reach of the Darkness, she wanted to make sure that she understood how the talisman worked, the shape it would appear in, and what Rumple must intend to do with it. If she was really considering going to him, to try to make a deal of some sort or broker peace, then she needed to be prepared. She wasn’t naive enough to think that the move wouldn’t be dangerous - and yet her sense of duty and care for the welfare of others wouldn’t allow her to sit back and wait for attack. She had known Rumplestiltskin longer and better than most could claim, and she was no longer hampered by the rose-colored glasses that had once tinted her judgement of his actions and and intent with a falsely hopeful hue. The inability to go after Killian and Graham most especially, but all of those who had attempted to hold him back or control him had to have been festering inside, growing his resentment insidiously ever since they had found his dagger and Emma had used it to effectively neutralize him as a threat.

Belle knew better now; nothing could keep the Beast inside - the larger part of the man she had tried to change, the part she had disastrously attempted to ignore to her own pain and suffering - from his chosen course forever. She knew what she was after, and what she had to do, and she was the only one who stood even a chance of stalling Rumple long enough to make him listen. If she didn’t, Emma and Killian, both of whom she now counted as dear friends, would be in the immediate line of fire - and soon.

As far as she could discern from the information before her, the moon would be at its fullest in just a little over an hour. It would be the best time for Rumple and his shadowy accomplice to attempt the ceremony she dreaded they had in mind. If the accounting she had found at last, after a week of frenzied searching, was at all accurate, they intended to use this talisman to free the Dark One from his leash. He would retain all his considerable power - and the imminent threat it posed - but the dagger would no longer restrain him or bring him to heel. And she knew, certain as the sun rose, that he would be coming for all those she held dear.

Sighing regretfully, Belle made to sneak quickly from the room. She had purposefully waited until she had just enough time to reach the lake before the moon reached its zenith; that was how she had wanted it, so that if her Huntsman woke and hurried after to stop her, he couldn’t reach her before she could get to her destination. Aching to lean down and kiss his brow, smooth in peaceful sleep as it never seemed in wakefulness, and brush back his riotous hair, she refrained for fear of waking him, instead leaving a note that assured him of her love, and that she hoped to return as soon as possible. She hurried out the door before she could linger too long and miss her chance. He would want to go with her - no, go in her place - but he had been hurt too much already. He was always so noble and so selfless, but this time she meant to protect him.

The body of water she had chosen as her best option for finding their meeting place was not that far a trek in all honesty. Even on foot, as she intended to go to maintain secrecy and quiet, it wouldn’t take her more than twenty minutes to hike to the stand of trees keeping sentinel at its side. She might be a bit winded by the time she reached the small rise beyond which she hoped would give her a vantage point, but she was hoping the time spent traveling, and the open sky and fresh air, would steady her jangling nerves and steel her resolve.

Not only had Graham’s first sighting of the stranger in their midst been beside that small body of water, but Belle was beginning to fear - from both her research and the telling quiver in her gut - that the woman Gold was meeting with was none other than the ancient, and evil, sorceress Morgana leFay herself. For one thing, Morgana was the most likely villainess to have helped Gold locate the Sorceror’s Hat forged by Merlin, and could possibly even have brought it to him from Camelot, depending on how close their association or what the Dark One might have to hold over Morgana’s head. The medieval witch was also commonly known to have a tie to water and lakes - some of her most fabled exploits happening near them in the Arthurian stories of old.

Needless to say, it was the best hunch Belle had to go on, and by the time she crested the same bluff her lover must have stood on some days before, looking down into the valley awash with moonlight and starshine glinting off the gently rippling waters, she felt both impatient and hesitant for whatever sight might greet her below. Reacting to her heightened nerves and the adrenaline which had brought her that far, the little one within began kicking hard against her side once again in protest as Belle planted her palm against a tree trunk, leaning on it for a moment as she caught her breath. Once her pulse steadied, Belle crept forward, hoping to peer over the rise of the embankment without being seen herself.

However, what she saw chilled the very blood in her veins, her mouth drying out in frightened horror. As if awaiting her arrival for a reluctant witness, two shrouded figures turned toward the lake, one clearly Rumple in bearing with his signature cane at his side. Even as she watched, breathless, appalled that she might already be too late and have no way to stop what was in motion, Belle couldn’t help inching a bit closer to the brink, her curious mind still wondering even in the midst of her fear.

As she did so, small bits of dirt and pebbles shifted and fell down the rise toward the rocky shore below. She jerked backwards, afraid they would be noticed as larger rocks and clods were gathered in their wake, soft, pattering, falling noises sounding along with them as well. Though it was far from a tumbling avalanche, in the hush of the charged atmosphere it seemed incredibly loud. And the damage had already been done.

Both figures at the water’s edge swung around from the lake at the unexpected movement and sound behind them. Despite Morgana’s already having down something to make the surface swirl like an ominous whirlpool, lit at intervals by sinister lightning flashes from within and casting a greenish glow over the surroundings, neither one had missed Belle’s ill-timed blunder and were scanning the area sharply, on the alert.

Though she dared not stir further, or even breathe, it was all for naught. Whether by some sixth sense or vast magical skill, her location had already been pinpointed. Morgana raised her right hand with an almost regal ease, palm out toward Belle, and beckoned her forward, the gesture ultimately proving to be a command the petite librarian simply couldn’t fight. Compelled as if her limbs and motions were not her own, Belle found herself drawn forward from her hiding spot and down the gentle slope at a steady, unwavering pace she was unable to stop, and momentarily she found herself standing before her former guardian and his powerful compatriot, still held motionless and silent by whatever command had drawn her forward.

The enchantress chuckled lightly, a wickedly sharp-nailed finger raising the Belle’s chin to meet her maliciously gleaming eyes. “You are a pretty little thing, aren’t you?” she asked with false compliment. “No need for you to lurk in the shadows.”

Rumple drew nearer then, leaning in until Belle shivered despite her inability to move in any other capacity. She didn’t know whether to expect anger, gloating, wistful explanation or some mix of all of them from this man and beast she had once tried to show love. Shaking his head as if he could truly feel sadness or regret, he brushed a hand along her cheek in a lingering touch she wanted badly to shake off. Yet she couldn’t even narrow her eyes in warning.

“My, my, Belle,” he murmured at last, his voice soft and sleek, but no less dangerous than a coiled snake lying in wait. “I thought you wanted nothing more to do with me, hmm?”

She longed to spit  a response to that, to accuse him for whatever doom he was about to unleash upon his home and all of those around him just to get what he wanted, to snap out that though an actual wild animal resided beneath Graham’s skin, he was nothing like the beast Rumplestiltskin had allowed himself to become. Still, it was all trapped within her throat by the spell holding her captive.

Shaking his head slightly, the Dark One tsked at her as if he were a gently chiding parent with a wayward child. “Oh dearie, dearie, dear… you have gotten yourself into trouble this time, haven’t you my little bookworm?  Whatever are we going to do with you?”

Tagging: @kmomof4 @jennjenn615 @therooksshiningknight @gingerchangeling @laschatzi @spartanguard @resident-of-storybrooke @winterbaby89 @hollyethecurious @darkcolinodonorgasm @ilovemesomekillianjones @revanmeetra87 @teamhook @whimsicallyenchantedrose @searchingwardrobes

[matchesarelit]

A Good Old Fashioned Bar Fight

Jessica Jones X Gender neutral! Reader

A/n: based on a request from @dreamerrealm , Sorry it took so long.

Approx 750 words

Jessica’s elbows braced on the sticky mahogany counter, as she rose the whiskey to her lips. ‘Bad morning?’ Luke questioned as he filled her glass with the golden liquid. The clock on the wall ticked on, barely past the right angle of nine, the morning sun streaming in through the slate blinds. A slow nod was the only response the man received, letting out a sigh he proceeded around the bar cleaning as last nights crowd stumbled out the door and into the idle taxis outside.

The bell atop the battered birch door frame welcomed the friendly smile that sauntered through the door, ‘Lukey boy, how is my favourite business owner?’. The tall man chuckled before responding, ‘Happy to see you are still alive, y/n.’

At this remark Jessica couldn't help but let herself observe the new occupant of the establishment, they carried themselves in a way that did everything but out-right juxtapose the suggestion of them being a reckless person.

‘Yeah well trying not to let the stab wounds last.’

Shaking his head at the figure in front of him Luke reached for a glass, attempting to get them to stay longer so that they could at least go ten minutes without grazing their knuckles and littering the sidewalk with the lowlife’s blood. It wasn’t that he thought y/n was in danger, simply that they were cocky, occasionally that angered some more self-righteous criminals.

The room was quiet, the two clientele sipping from their glasses as Luke busied himself with receipts and forms.

The bell of the door was obscured by the loud chattering that accompanied the muddy footprints tracked over that stained floorboards. ‘Cage, you made a big mistake stealing from us.’

Whipping their heads around, they spoke in natural unison, ‘Luke you know these Assholes?’ both pairs of eyes flicked to each other before returning to glare towards those standing maliciously under the door frame. The cracking of their knuckles rang through the ears of those who stood opposing the three vigilantes.

Any onlooker may have been to busy fleeing or may have found their eyes locked on the blows landing within the bar. Yet both y/n and Luke had noticed how the raven haired woman, who fought but their side let her eyes linger on y/n’s features, facial and otherwise. This realisation caused a blush to grace Y/n’s features and a smirk to grow on Luke's lips.

Y/n was not blind to the knowledge of how ‘Bad-ass’ as Claire once said, they were. And being completely honest, Y/n enjoyed the eyes that traced their figure and found it shame upon finding all of their opponents lying on the sticky floor.

Luke was the first to notice the jagged top half of a bottle sticking out of Jessica’s side, with no delay, upon following his eyes, Jessica ripped the glass from her body. Thankfully, there was only a small amount of blood flowing from the wound due to presumably her faster than most healing. However this did not stop Y/n from rushing to the woman’s side, offering assistance. They had found themselves inferring early on that she was indeed the, super strengthened lady that the rumours had mentioned, yet still worried for her safety.

Jessica felt intrigued by the powered stranger, yet her willingness to suppress any weakness made that impossible, making her dismiss them with a freezing “I’m fine”.

Luke watched as y/n’s shoulders and confidence fell and they turned away, trudging back to the bar to finish off their drink, now weak after the ice cubes had shrunken. Luke could feel the firework between them just waiting for the spark and hoped that Jessica could fight her nature to convey the feelings he could see in her eyes.

All of his hoping seemed futile as Jessica returned to her seat to grasp her jacket, standing straight eyes flickering to y/n who examined the purple bruises forming under their skin.

Y/n was nursing the fresh glass that Luke had slid into their view with a smile when a slightly scrunched napkin fell into view, a messily written message catching their eye.

“Sorry for being a dick, See you here Friday at seven?”

By the time they had turned she was gone, looking to Luke, who only scoffed, y/n smiled to themselves. Looking forward to returning to the scene of the crime, so to speak.

[douxreviews]

Legends of Tomorrow - ‘Terms of Service’ Review

"The power is in the Palm(er) of your hands."

Is it rude to point out that the Emperor has no clothes, if you point out at the same time that the Emperor is super ripped and has been clearly doing a lot of cardio?

Because.... Damn, Emperor. You got it going on.

Which is, of course, my frivolous and subtextually homoerotic way of saying that there's an embarrassment of riches in this episode when it comes to things to like, but they all kind of rely on some serious glossing over of problem spots.

The problem in a nutshell can be boiled down to one thing. The basic opening foundation for this episode doesn't match at all with where things were left at the end of the previous one. I'm tempted to assume that I'd missed an entire episode worth of plot development, except that I know perfectly well that I didn't. It's almost as if the writers room broke a 17 episode series of stories and then just completely excised one of them when they found out they were only getting 16 to air.

For the love of God, CW, please start giving Legends a full boat of 22 episodes. It's getting embarrassing.

OK, so here's what I mean. A not insignificant portion of the plot development tonight entirely relies on the fairy godmother currently being under Gary's control. That's actually an inspired plot development, and his relationship both with Tabitha and with the next inheritor of the fairy godmother mantle were pure gold as far as both comedy and plot development goes.

The problem is, when exactly did Fairy Godmother bond herself to Gary? He calls to her at the end of the previous episode and she saves him from Mona as if their relationship was an established thing, but unless I missed something significant completely, that was not a thing they'd ever set up.

I'll be fair. I drink a lot of wine. If I missed something that explains this, please do let me know in the comments.

Additionally, at the end of 'Nip/Stuck,' Mona ate off Gary's evil nipple – not a sentence you get to type every day – and Gary was rushed out of the Time Bureau with unconscious Mona, Tabitha, and Neron in Ray's body. The implication strongly was that Gary's nipple was behind the mass hypnosis of the Bureau, and now that it had been destroyed the bureau was saved. Left behind to witness the bad guys escape was Nora, Ava, and Sara.

This week we open with the bad guys still in possession of the Bureau, only now it's due to Gary's influence over the fairy godmother rather than his fancy hypnotic nipple. Not only do we see no evidence of the bad guys leaving the bureau together, they aren't even all in a group anymore. Mona is imprisoned in the Bureau cells, which makes no sense if they were fleeing with her body ten minutes earlier. Neron and Tabitha aren't even there anymore as they're busy setting up 'PalmerX 2019,' a low key tech con with only one panel and one guest. Ava and Sara are back on the Waverider as if they'd never liberated the Bureau in the first place, and Nora is Die Harding her way to rescue Mona with no mention of how she got separated from them.

I'm sorry, show, but I have to ask. Did you smoke a gigantic bag of crack between these two episodes, or what?

It's all very frustrating, because I said earlier, where they take all of those plot threads is fantastic. Neron's plan to create fear using the monsters so that people will download an app in order to locate the monsters and in doing so sell their immortal souls through a lengthy terms of service agreement is both goat-shit crazy and completely brilliant. What's more, it would absolutely work. If you doubt it, just consider how much none of us noticed when the guests of PalmerX were shown agreeing to a terms of service agreement that they didn't read. Seriously, go back and look. The camera shots practically luxuriate on people swiping through the TOS as fast as they can, but nothing about that reads as unusual or sinister to us anymore and so we just blanked it out.

Similarly, Tabitha's plan to trick Nora into taking on her fairy godmother mantle was inspired, despite being lifted pretty completely from genie-lore, particularly Disney's Live Action Aladdin Soon in Theaters Near You. And God bless the show for keeping Jane Carr around as Tabitha. I absolutely expected that they'd find an excuse to recast Tabitha into the body of someone younger and sexier as soon as they possibly could, because that's the kind of gross thing that network execs tend to insist on. I love, love, love that they're keeping her around as Neron's love interest. And while we're talking about it, it's such a good choice for them to show that Neron and Tabitha do genuinely love each other. It would have been so easy to tumble into the cliché of a villain team eager to backstab one another.

But the best choice this episode made was in the nature of Gary Green himself. Wonderful reveal that Gary was perfectly aware the entire time that the fairy godmother was trying to get him to wish hurt on the Legends and so he was deliberately just focusing on wishing to hang out with them as a way of defying her. Even when 'Dark Gary' finally gets called forth, his glorious flow of vengeance never goes further than acne and tap dancing. Gary is a good man, fundamentally. And he's absolutely right, he does not deserve to be laughed at. I've been saying since the beginning of the season that the Legends need to face a consequence for the way they're played Gary as convenient bait that can be had for a little flattery. I think they finally learned that lesson here.

Which brings lastly to John Constantine, in a plotline I like to call, 'This should absolutely have been an entire episode all on its own.'

When they mentioned Hell's Triumvirate I briefly entertained the thought that they might be about to do the good parts of 'Dangerous Habits' that everybody always leaves out when they try to adapt it, but alas, no. It felt right that he chose Astra over Ray, as much as it broke my heart, and it felt equally right that Astra betrayed him. Can't wait to see what will happen there when Nora gets to Hell to rescue John. I do, however, which that they'd gone with the imagery from the comics and had Astra only have one arm.

Everybody remember where we parked:

There was actually shockingly little travel this week. The Waverider just hung around Washington D.C. in 2019, and a couple of our heroes went to Hell, which may or may not equate to the same time zone, it's hard to tell.

What is interesting is the reveal that Zari grew up a little outside of D.C. Did we know that already, or was that a reveal of convenience this week? Zari appeared to me to be in the 8-10 range, although I am a notoriously bad judge of age so she might be a bit older. That actually answers a couple of longstanding questions I was pondering last year about what baby Zari might be up to in our time period.

Zari mentions that it's only a few years away from when ARGUS takes over everything and creates an anti-Meta, anti-Muslim Dystopia. We're all kind of assuming they're just never going to deal with that, aren't we?

Quotes:

Sara: "Mick, Nate, do you think you can handle Tabitha?" Mick: "Granny’s dead."

Sara: "OK, can you guys stop being dragon baby crazy right now?"

Gary: "And now I have three nipples, because a spare never hurts." Having a third nipple was historically a sign of witchcraft. There is a zero percent chance the writers don't know that.

Calibraxis: "You’re dead, demon hunter!" Constantine: "I was gonna be a demon proctologist, but the pay wasn’t as good."

Calibraxis: "I’m a demon, not a pirate, John."

Zari: "It’s a demon app. I’m gonna read the fine print."

Charlie: "If I die, I’m gonna come back and haunt you." Zari: "I would love a ghost friend."

Nora: "Gary, you dick!"

Bits and Pieces:

-- This season has for some reason brought up a lot of embarrassing confessions from me. Adding to the list that already contains my love of semiotics and the assembly of flatpack furniture, this week I have to tell you how much I love logo design. Honestly. I bring this up because the PalmerX logo is a masterwork. The solid 3-D cube implied by the background framing device conveys an unspoken implication of solidity and dependability with the third implied square breaking the frame and shooting 'toward' the viewer implying a daring willingness to work outside conventional rules and by implication 'think outside the box.' The coloring, meanwhile, subtly underscores the 'Palmer' portion of the name, thus reinforcing the higher brand. Honestly, and with no ironic joking involved, the PalmerX logo is a f*cking masterpiece of work.

-- I actually have a startling number of opinions on the quality of logo design. Feel free to ask, but I warn you that the answers get lengthy.

-- I get that they were underscoring the connection between Tala Ashe and Zari's younger self, but that hairstyle just fundamentally did not work for her. That's actually kind of rare and notable for her. Just about every hairstyle they've ever given her has looked gorgeous.

-- Looks like Wixtable the dragon is hatching in time for the season finale.

-- I went back and forth on whether or not it was smart or stupid for Zari to have brought the egg with her on the mission. Ultimately, I think there was no guaranteed safe place for the egg, given how often messed up stuff happens on the Waverider when they aren't there.

-- I hope Nate is understanding about Zari leaving the egg behind.

-- So many questions about why Nate has a 'Kid Steel' costume hanging around. And why Gary picked it.

-- This week's fabulous dress watch. Jane Carr looked stunning in that evil black number she adopted once she'd ditched her godmother duties. Also, the designer of that asymmetrical sheath number that Nora wore to PalmerX is underpaid. Regardless of how much he or she is paid, they are underpaid. That dress was amazing. Please, please, Courtney Ford, tell me that you stole that dress and have it in your personal collection. Also, call me. We'll brunch.

-- They're really getting their money out of the Stein puppet. Bless.

-- Hell's triumvirate included Satan, not Lucifer. Which means a crossover with Lucifer is still possible. Fun fact, in the comics the triumvirate in Hell stepped in to rule when Lucifer left to go open up his nightclub in LA. Which means it all totally works together if they can get Tom Ellis to make a stop in the Waverider. And then possibly he and Matt Ryan could share a torrid embrace and... I'm sorry, what were we talking about again?

-- That's like the third episode in a row where they've mentioned Damien Darhk. Dare we hope to see him again next season?

If you squint at it and assume that we missed an episode of plot development, this would easily be a four. Sadly, we can't, and so I can't in good conscience give it more than three out of four fantastic logos.

Mikey Heinrich is, among other things, a freelance writer, volunteer firefighter, and roughly 78% water.

[theticokid-blog]

Today my friend confronted and endured a step in her life that was very difficult...a chapter which no one should have in their life story. I have been holding this in personally, as I have undergone something like this with GM, but now feel more than ever it is important to spread awareness so that other's understand their rights, understand the signs and get out as soon as possible from an indealistic situation resulting in stress or mental health degradation. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Afterwards of over approximately one year of employment through Starbucks Canada, my friend quit due to harrowing, unsettling and abusive practices. No worker in Canada, where we have *WORKING RIGHTS* deserves to be deliberately bullied, deceived and mistreated. Even less than ideal, is to have decisions put on a worker, that are not only applicable to these aforemention issues, but also venture into strictly illegal territories that other's are either not subject to, complacent with or undergoing themselves but fear to speak up about. The following business practices were and likely are still exercised by the manager of a Starbucks, which contravene Canadian working laws, the Employment Stanards Act of British Columbia and The Human Rights Code of Canada. The following practices and issues therein also infringe upon Starbucks Canada official Corporate Guidelines and Governance, within the full implication of the law.[ The disturbing nature of this manager's behaviour and her compliant relation with the district manager of British Columbia/Surrey would suggest that both have worked on or actively participate in fabrication of business practices, customer treatment and employment regulations within starbucks. ]

.Violation of ESA ( Section 27 Employer Wage Legislation ) .Violation of Subsection (3) Chapter 210 of the Human Rights Code - An employer may not hereby discriminate, differ or imply differences in wage allowances between employee's based on any systems, protocols or unrecognized controls which may contravene the minimum working standards of British Columbia .Violation of the Worker's Occupational Health and Safety Act ( Sect 115, ch.1-a and subsection (D).3,115-2 which specifically states the Employer's ( manager/corporation liability ) to address, prevent and understand harassment of a worker(s) .Direct intent to defame, cause lible and sabotage of a worker(s) Employment .Direct intent to refuse bonafied stable Employment within the confines of the Worker's Standards Act (section 33-34 which states Minimum working hours required by the Law ) and direct contradiction to Starbucks Canada minimum working entitlements, as per mentioned in Corporate Guidelines, in which the adjusted working period(s) of an Employee may not receed under twelve legal hours (minimum) per week. [ In this case, Teija was frequently dipped below 10 hours of shift work per week, on the recognized Employment scale of being stubbed in for full time work ] - therein a manager or business owner(s) must comply with and uphold sections of the law protecting the Worker's Standards Act and Associative Wage Entitlement as per defined through the HUman Rights Code. .Direct display both physically and verbally of intent(s) not therein part of an Employee's working rights [ Violation of Employment Occupational Health and Safety ] - Including, but not limited to: Dangerous workplace practices, unwarranted accusations/verbal threats, violation of safe workplace standards, violation of Employee mental health rights as per defined by the code of Human Rights and British Columbia's minimum employment standards, willingness to deceive/defame or otherwise mistreat a worker(s), willingness to create duress [ Illegal passing of aggravation in coordinance with anterior workplace/customer interaction issues. .Violation of Section(s) within Employer-Employee term's of service, payroll agreements and termination legalities, including intended decption of mandatory (ROE) Record of Employment and Working History.

The list, could honestly go on....it could go on and fucking on... .....how, HOW can a person who claims to be a manager, in Canada, where we have * RIGHTS* where we are not supposed to deliberately degrade our staff, get away with so much? How? because in the case of my friend, likely for other's and for what it's worth- she is prejudice and discriminatory. There is an unbalanced perspective in her mind, of which staff members deserve to have been treated like Employee's of this province and which one's wod better serve as lab rat- parallel to her incessant need to deceive and control. Yes, business owners reserve certain processes and rights in compliance with the law, yes business owner's/manager's may exercise certain workplace critiques, stabalization formats and protocols and yes, business owners/manger's may push for increased financial proficiency, which therein is pendant on worker (s) pratices as defined under law......BUT NO WHERE, literally fucking NO WHERE IN THIS FUCKING COUNTRY should it EVER be ok to go beyond these practices, to the point where one is actively involved in the principle and categorical process of abuse. Sometimes in life, we say "well because someone appears nice, how can it be so" ; " Because it isn't happenig to myself, why would it happen to anyone else?" Because one may deny the existence of maliscious practices, is that not in itself inherently a proof of honest work?" -- The answer to all of this , is simple- NO; Just because someone appears to be doing the right thing, just because something can't or wont happen to someone else in direct relative employment or just because one might deny any existence of negative business practices, doesn't mean someone isn't directly a victim of those ideas and workplace practices. Abuse , ABUSE is defined in our working laws and the Canadian Charter of Human rights. ... people say ' well, in lower/min wage positions, expect this ' ; 'want something better? get educated and a career' but this is divisive and dangerously arrogant circle talk- people deserve, in compliance with our working rights, the place of comfortable, relatiely safe work- any notion that service worker's, retail worker's, basic labourer's, etc don't work as hard as anyone else, is a load of fucking hypocritical shit- and the evidence is in manager's who attempt to befoul that idea. manager's, who don't possitively enforce a staff, but instead just walk in with their gut's poking out, chin held high and cracking the 9 tails every fucking time they see a slip. Any manager worth their salt in marketing/business practices, understands....no, FUNDAMENTALLY follows the understanding that worker's need to be appreciated if there's even going to be an iota of improvement and any human being worth their merit, doesn't deliberately degrade a staff member, take from them wage rights, violate their employment terms and attemt to destroy their character just to maybe bypass that one person for other's- it's rude, it's prejudice and it's not legal.

My friend’s experience is absolutely haunting. The boiling point was a three fold process, which culminated with Starbucks Canada themselves actually double-crossing the Employment Insurance distribution services of British Columbia, to the point where what happened would have stripped Teija of all her health leave coverage had it not been for a phone call within a very short time frame. If you don't find any of this sad, alarming or at the least questionable, thank your lucky stars and pray something like this never EVER happens to you.

I'm very proud of my friend..I am proud she can move forward and begin other working chapters and I hope she discover’s more about herself than she ever did before. We all deserve self worth in a workplace, we deserve proper treatment. If you or anyone you know is going through something like what my friend did, or if you even have the slightest knowledge that something is being conducted in an illegal, abusive or degrading matter at your place of work , please, don't be silent. If you are actively being discriminated against or having your working right's stripped, reach out for help. Understand your rights and the confines of the law- too often we become a product of the desires of purchase, not often enough to we look at the person serving us and respect the fact that they could in fact, be knee deep in mud. Next time you see a starbucks worker being yelled at by a customer when the manager is present but uninterested in helping, be that light the employee may need, to wake up the next day.

And if you manage any business and want thriving progress from your staff, you gotta' touch those people in the heart...you need to inspire change, by being a person of change.

As of Friday. September the 21st of 2018, my friend has moved onto better employment within a union, where her ability to feel relatively human, have dependable hours and wake up feeling ok is in process.

[tatooineknights]

Luke Skywalker; The Legend, The Myth, The Man (The Last Jedi spoilers included):

“Who are you?”

This is one of the first questions that Luke Skywalker asks, standing in front of this strange and mysterious woman begging him to heed the call of action. He’s cloaked in darkness, standing at the edge of the shadowy confines of the tree and the lush light of the world outside. He asks this to learn more of the woman, curious of who she was and where she came from, but even more curious of how she found the great hero of the Rebel Alliance and wondering what she thought of him and why she sought him out. He was a legend, a myth – he knew that – and he knew she knew that.

A long time had passed since he was the young boy standing underneath the binary sunset, staring out into the stars and wondering what existed out there. Surely there was more for him than just being the farmer’s nephew - there were so many grand stories, of legends, of myths, of individuals that fought for the cause of good and faced off against the cause of evil.

Luke Skywalker, just like any of us, is an ordinary man with positive traits and negative flaws. He is kind and empathetic, embracing pacifism when he can, and a champion for all that is good. He is quick to protect and defend his friends, as seen by his willingness to save Leia on the Death Star and his multi-faceted plan to rescue Han Solo from Jabba the Hutt. He is also willing to become a hero when it is necessary, such as when he mans an X-Wing for the first time to take down the Death Star and joins the Alliance. Luke is also an individual that wants to see the good in everyone. These are all traits that we embrace and idolize in Luke – traits that we might see in ourselves or ones that we wished we could have. After all, Skywalker is the very symbol of hope and peace in cinematic history. However, along with those traits, the flaws exist too; Luke has two major flaws that he struggles with throughout his life.

The first is his impulsiveness, which can be both a trait and weakness. Trying to rescue Leia off the Death Star even though he and Han had next to nothing to plan for, rushing off to an obvious trap in an attempt to save his friends, jumping to his death to avoid joining with Vader, turning himself in to Vader knowing it was a long shot at redeeming him. But there is other stuff too - attempting to strike down the (seemingly) defenseless and unarmed Emperor in hatred, inches away from murdering his father after he had been wounded, and yes, considering killing Ben for one second. 

The second, and perhaps the most critical, is his difficulty in letting go. He has all these pre-conceived thoughts on the Force, of the Jedi, of his abilities, of his potential throughout The Empire Strikes Back. Yoda tells him he is wrong – he must unlearn. He must look past the physical world that he has formed in all his years as a farmer and as a soldier, see the teeming life that grows in the ordinarily simple trees and rocks and water, and he has great difficulty in doing that in this film. He is greatly confident in himself and his skills – not arrogance but perhaps a dash of hubris. The X-Wing is too big because that is how it appears to him in his mind; he needs his lightsaber and blaster to feel protected when entering the cave because he is dependent and reliant on them; he seeks out Vader not just to help save his friends, but because of a small flame of revenge for what happened to his father and Obi-Wan. He loses his hand due to this. But this flaw also works to his advantage in Return of the Jedi, where his refusal to let go of his father leads to Vader’s eventual redemption. 

Unlike us, however, Luke was a Jedi Knight and son to one of the greatest Force users the entire universe had seen. This is both a heavy burden and a wonderful gift. It gave Luke the chance to do things far past the man he was, giving him the ability to help others and save the galaxy from tyranny. It also brought him great hardship.  

If there is one constant in Luke’s life, despite all the development and growth he has achieved, he still struggles with these two flaws. Just in the time frame from Empire to Jedi, we see the reckless boy grow into a confident and cautious man. He’s calculated and in control of his emotions, guiding them to where he needs to be instead of letting them guide him down a path he cannot control. He has a great air of resolution as he peels off his cloak, revealing a sharp and stylish black outfit, the boyish grin replaced by the smile of a hardened individual and the twinkle in the eye of a mystical figure. This is the first time we see Luke in command of The Force and see him truly demonstrate his powers.

But underneath the resolve he had fostered, the wise Jedi still had cracks underneath the surface. After all, no matter how much we develop and changed, our most basic characterizations still exist, no? We might try to hide them, perhaps under our sleeve or buried deep in our heart, but they still exist. In this same movie, we see Luke give in to the Dark Side twice; both due to a mixture of rage and because of a nurturing loyalty he feels for his friends and family. We see him attempt to strike the Emperor down in hatred, we see him breathing down at his beaten father, rage swimming in his eyes.  

That impulsiveness still existed despite the carefully crafted persona Luke had molded. Because despite the growth and change he had underwent, he is still the same man prone to the same mistakes. The difference here – and this is what we see from the end of Return of the Jedi onward – is that Luke becomes aware of this part of himself and rejects it. He has the lightsaber right up to Vader’s neck and pauses, his eyes glazing as he stares down at the man before him, seeing himself in defeated man. This is something he cannot do – perhaps Vader does deserve it, after all the pain and misery he has caused, but it isn’t Luke’s to decide. Despite it all, he loves his father. He wavers, holding the lightsaber, taking a few seconds to recollect himself before turning it off. He throws his lightsaber away and decides to stand firm in his resolve.

Now, nearly twenty years have passed, and Luke has grown stronger and more confident. He takes on a new batch of apprentices and prepares to rebuild the Jedi Order. Saving his father from the darkness and protecting his friends and sister from evil has made him feel safe, secure. He is accomplished and proud of his actions and wants to share that gift with the rest of the universe. There is only one problem – he senses something, dark and chaotic, sprouting from one of his apprentices. A threat to not just his order but his friends, his family, and to the galaxy at large.

This, he finds inside the head of his nephew.

What to do? All of a sudden those cracks begin to reform, reckless thoughts dancing and taunting him in the back of his head, as that happens to us all. He has a moment of weakness and activates his lightsaber and considers ending this threat – a threat that risked the lives of his disciples, his friends, Han, and Leia. But a second passes and he instantly realizes he was wrong. Just like the moment with his father in Return of the Jedi, he realizes that this is not something he can do.

The distrust in Ben Solo, soon to become Kylo Ren, had already been planted by Snoke. He was a ticking time bomb but Luke’s one second of weakness is what was needed for Ben to act. Luke becomes unconscious as he tries to subdue his nephew, trying to get him to understand what happened. But there is no time to explain – Luke’s world is shattered the minute he wakes up. His temple in flames, his apprentices murdered, and Kylo Ren created in its wake. He feels deep shame for Kylo’s creation, finding himself responsible for losing his nephew. He closes himself off. He hides.

But this doesn’t sound like the legend we build in our heads? Luke Skywalker was a hero, one of hope and light. Indeed, it was because of his hope for his nephew that he refused to act. Luke’s sorrow is not one of cowardice – it is because he still struggles to let go. What happened, in his head, is his greatest failure. His deep connection and sense of loyalty to his family causes him great heartbreak and sorrow.

There is the legend, Luke Skywalker, and then there is the man. They are two similar people but they are not quite the same. One is a perfect beacon of heroism and the other is more flawed, aware of the myths and swirling Force that surrounds his very name. Both are people desperately needed and both serve different functions. Due to Luke’s blame, he feels like he is unable to become the legend again, and unable to teach the woman at his steps. How can he become a teacher when he made a mistake that cost him his nephew?

Yoda reminds Luke, and us, that failure is what makes the greatest teacher. What he sees as his greatest mistakes are the best learning tool for both his students, and himself. He has tied himself down to a legacy that consumed and trapped him, chained, in many ways similar to his father, to his past. His former master uses this opportunity to free Luke from that by destroying the sacred tree, freeing him from that past. For the wisdom that he gave to Rey, both his teachings and his knowledge of the Jedi’s failure, will inspire a new age of Jedi Knights.

Let go.

He lets go of his fears, refills the cracks that formed in the past six years, and finds peace with himself. His legacy is all but assured, his confidence at an all-time high. Luke becomes a bastion of Force energy as he molds his image onto a planet lightyears away, showing us the greatest showcase of Force skills, becoming the legend once more as he faces his nephew. But just as Luke acted before in the past, he is unable to truly hurt his nephew. His love for his family is as strong as it ever was – and instead chooses to apologize to Kylo and himself, freeing himself and finally letting go. This allows his sister to escape and his Jedi Order to survive – the Skywalker’s live on and his legacy, the Jedi Knight Rey, will live on.

He collapses under heavy strain. This was the most clear and poignant moment in Luke’s life; just as he forgave his father all those years ago, Luke finally forgave himself. A second sun appears in the horizon, a binary sunset forming in the distance, reminding Luke of how it all began. How he started as this passionate young boy, desperately searching for adventure and a family and a legacy, and found himself completely at peace and fulfilled. He had went on the greatest adventures anyone could imagine, he found family that cared and needed him, and created a legacy that would live on for generations.

Luke Skywalker’s story is a human one, full of wonderful and tragic moments, that reminds us that our traits and flaws are always there and can both save the people we love and accidentally send people to darkness. It is a story about forgiving those who have hurt us - including ourselves - and finding peace with that. It is also a story about the expectations that we put on ourselves, on our fathers, on our nephews, on our legends, and on our hearts. 

And so Luke does let go – he becomes one with The Force, his physical body collapsing into the great robe that spun around him and fading into the light, becoming the great legend the galaxy needed. He does not die in this moment, but rather, he becomes a being more powerful than anyone could possibly imagine. He achieves total balance and ascends into the mystical energy above. Luke Skywalker, the man, has completely finished his journey and became Luke Skywalker, the legend, the myth, that the galaxy, and us, so desperately needs. 

[gathering-storm]

For the OC meme: 1, 5, 7, 10, 15, 16, 19, 21, 22, 29, 33, 34, 35, 36, 42, 50, 59, 62, 69, 71, 74, 75, 83, 85, 87, 90, 94, 96, 97, 98 and 99 for Casias and Heridan (was that his name? I forgot Dx But the one I drew you for Christmas)

Heridan

1. What do they smell like?

a mixture of burning embers, cave moisture and berry bushes

5. How do they deal with/react to pain?

he tends to conceal it until it becomes too much, after that it angers him

7. Which relationship has impacted them most positively?

that would be his bond with Luminari, the first full-blooded dragon he ever took under his care. Their connection, as is the case with all the creatures under his care, transcends owner/pet and is in fact extremely familial. unlike the rest however, Luminari has guided and advised him on matters ranging from the caretaking of other beings to importantaàa decisions in his own life. She is as much his mother as she is his friend.

10. What is their favorite food?

he enjoys venison seasoned with wild garlic

15. What is their greatest achievement?

after saving a pregnant and heavily wounded Aquis (water dragon) from a group of human hunters, he not only managed to mend wounds that would have normally been fatal or in the least crippling, but also succeeded in delivering their eggs the following day despite several getting stuck in the birth canal.

16. what’re they like when they’ve had too much sleep?

grouchy and ill-tempered but controlled

19. right or left handed?

left

21. what’s their favorite kind of weather?

he prefers sunny days

22. What’s his favorite color?

orange

29. Do they collect anything?

yes, he collects rare gemstones

33. Do they own any significant objects of personal importance?

he has two, a lock of black hair he assumes belonged to his birth mother and a crimson scale he doesn’t know why he treasures as much as he does

34. Least favourite food

he hates the taste of spinach almost to the point of vomiting

35. Least favourite color

magenta

36. Least favourite smell

blood or Sangui root

42. do they have any bad habits?well, in terms of drugs/self destructive behavior, no, but he does have a habit of judging humans based on what they are without really getting to know them at first.50. when is their birthday?June 30th59. what are their views on death?thought he sees it as inevitable, its not something he particularly relishes the idea of, 62. do they enjoy being outside?very much so69. is there anything they find really gross?not really71.   do they enjoy helping people?honestly, yes, whenever he helps someone in need, it makes him feel useful and accomplished74. are they quick to anger/what are they like when they loose their temper?

unless one of he or his family is directly attacked he’s almost impossible to anger. but once it happens, may whatever god you believe in help your doomed soul as he becomes an inconsolable engine of wrath.75. how patient are they?when it comes to the creatures he cares for, immovably so. when dealing with most humans....almost not at all.83. are they comfortable with how they look?none whatsoever, he sees himself as a freak.85. what kind of personality do they find attractive?kindhearted, motherly, caring, compassionate and affectionate87. what is their age? physically, he’s 27, chronologically he’s nearly 30090. do they consider themselves attractive?not even remotely94.   what is their outlook on life?it can best be summed up by the phrase “we are each here to care for our kind, mine is simply more powerful than most.”96. what is their greatest weakness?that title goes to how dense he can be97. what is their greatest strength?I would say its his fierce  and nearly unbreakable determination98. what is something they regret?never getting the chance to meet either of his parents99. what is his biggest accomplishmenthe has successfully built and terraformed a multi-environmental sanctuary within a sprawling cave system inside of a mountain lined with gold.   Casias1. What do they smell like?old books, bergamot or lavender tea and wine, with a hint of high-dollar cologne 5. how do they deal with/react to pain?depending on severity, he will either ignore it or, if it is intense enough, he flinches, faints or asks for help7. which relationship has impacted them the most positively? in-canon, that’s indisputably  the romance he had with his first wife, that woman changed what was a psychopathic remote controlled killer into one of the sweetest gentlemen ever to call Britain home.10. what’s their favorite food?German chocolate lava cake with red wine reduction infused strawberry icing, sprinkled with confectioner’s sugar and decorated with angel’s food cake roses.15. what is their greatest achievement? depending on timeline, that’s either the rescuing of his children and the related death of Makaida, finding the love of his life, and/or opening his own restaurant/winery.16. what are they like when they’ve had too little sleep?mentally foggy, confused and, if he tries to be romantic while in that condition, almost drunken.19. are they right or left handed?naturally a lefty, but he’s trained himself to be ambidextrous 21. whats his favorite kind of weather?either gentle spring rains or powder coatings of snow22. whats his favorite color?blue29. does he collect anything?he has a rather extensive collection of vintage wines and rare books33. does he own any objects of personal significance?three, a picture of his first wife still kept in its cracked frame, his first house key, and his honorary teaching degree34. what is his least favorite food?burgoo, he outright hates it35. what is his least favorite color?steel grey36. what is his least favorite smell?either factory smoke or foxtail pollen42. do they have any bad habits?he occasionally smokes a cigarette or two, but only when under great stress or trying to forget something50. When is their birthday?July 1st 59. what are their views on death?“death is merely the gateway to what lays beyond, no matter what that may be.”62. do they enjoy being outside?"more than the finest of dances, the soft breeze of summer or cool refrain of fall embraces my soul as an angels arms.”69. is there anything they find really gross?he abhors the sight of harsh physical deformations (i.e. large tumors)71.  does he enjoy helping people?there’s honestly very little he likes more74. is he quick to anger/what is he like when he looses his temper?under normal circumstances he’s nearly impossible to seriously enrage, but when it does happen he either becomes an exceptionally snarky smartass or, if the anger is caused by a threat to himself/those he cares for, a master combat humiliator75. how patient is he?extremely so, to everyone but Makaida83. is he comfortable with how he looks?

very much so, in fact, he’s proud of his unique appearance85. what kind of personality does he find attractive?caring, romantic, hardworking, fun loving, creative87.  how old is he?depending on timeline, between 42 and 57, though due to how well he cares for himself he looks to be around 2390. does he consider himself attractive?he doesn’t really see himself as sexually attractive, at least, not moreso than the average person94. what is his outlook on life? “Life is meant to be lived to the fullest, each moment a chance to live, learn and love as much as our hearts are capable of.”96. what is his greatest weakness?physically its the fact he’s actually majority blind while his eye-patch is on, personality wise his willingness to sacrifice himself for his loved ones without hesitation could be considered a weakness97. what is his greatest strength?his unshakable courage98. what is something he regrets?he has a multitude of regrets, but most prevalent is not being home when his wife was killed and his kids abducted99. what is his biggest accomplishment?transforming not only his life but also himself from what he was to who he is now.@tatzebea @onyx-rose88 @echoing-night @healingmemories @lil-brown-furred-boi

[404botnotfound]

SHOUT OUT TO @zacksfairest / @miitgaanar FOR LETTING ME PLAY IN THEIR SANDBOX.

SERIES: Original WORD COUNT: 3,131 CHARACTERS: Cassandra ( @zacksfairest ), Yalann Highever

She misses home.

Cassandra knows it’s a childish desire that crosses her mind, especially given that it’s such a frequent one, but she still can’t help it from presenting itself. She misses home, she misses her mother and father, she misses her boring but comfortable life.

She misses not being stuck in a town filled with people that stare suspiciously at her as she asks the local innkeep for a room to stay the night.

Some of them, even now, almost an hour after the fact, stare at her as she sits at the bar nursing a mug of mead. It’s odd that she can’t really feel their eyes on her, but she supposes that after two years of having the gaze of a terrifying, godlike being on her, mortal eyes really don’t phase her anymore.

That doesn’t, however, stop the stifling presence of discomfort she’s been stuck with ever since she’d sat down to drink. It’s a malevolent kind of ill intent, but it’s not the sort she’s gotten used to--and every time she sweeps her eyes around the patrons of the tavern (more, now that the sun has long since set for the evening), they’re all conspicuously focused elsewhere.

She’s just being paranoid, she thinks. She must be.

There’s a group of men in the corner that remain the only ones staring at her. All focused, all wearing similar garb. Her skin prickles, and she quickly downs the rest of her drink and then settles a few silvers on the bar for it, determined to leave and put the stares behind her for the night.

This village was only a port of harbor for her. She would leave in the morning.

Her barstool scrapes across the wooden floor as she stands, and she fails to notice that the group of men have stood as well until they’re nearly right in front of her. Gaze sharp, she opens her mouth to demand what it is they want, when--

“--Catelyn, darling, there you are!” A cheery voice suddenly calls from her other side, and she twists to see who it is and who they’re trying to get the attention of.

What she sees is an elf (or, perhaps, a half-elf, judging by certain human characteristics she can spy) approaching her, highly androgynous in appearance and with a thin frame. And to her surprise, the elf is looking at and addressing her.

She blinks, trying and failing to remember if she somehow knew this elf from somewhere, and if so, why they were referring to her as ‘Catelyn’.

Medium-cropped, sunny blonde hair, lightly tanned skin, and a blindingly bright grin are the first things she notices about the elf. Their ears are pierced with golden studs and hoops, and gilded bangles and bracelets adorn their arms; their clothing is finely made, in bright shades that mirror the color of a sunset, and an asymmetrical sash of a sky blue drapes over one hip.

A one-handed sword is strapped to a belt alongside the opposite hip, and in spite of the friendly smile on their face, the elf rests a single hand on the weapon’s pommel in an indication of willingness to use it.

Curiously, there also appears to be some sort of stringed instrument and a quarterstaff strapped to their back.

The elf steps up next to her and holds a hand up to her shoulder, palm hovering close but just far enough from actually touching her in a surprisingly considerate way she can only assume is to avoid bursting her own personal bubble. She tenses anyway, with no idea who this elf is or what their intentions are.

Cassandra watches them warily, staring into their utterly open and welcoming expression and waiting for that tell-tale pull in the back of her mind telling her that the Dungeon Master is once again toying with her--

--but the feeling doesn’t come, even as the elf turns their attention from her to the group of men that had stopped in front of her and are staring suspiciously at the elf in turn.

If anything, the elf’s grin widens at their suspicion. “My apologies, gentlemen, my cousin here likes to wander off on her own from time to time. Ever the free spirit, this one.” Then, to her: “Your parents have been worried sick, Catelyn, you’ve been gone for days! Come, now, let’s get you back home.”

She blinks as the elf tilts their head meaningfully towards the tavern door, and after a moment of hesitation as she struggles to believe that she’s not staring into the face of yet another mask, she steps past them and heads for the door.

One of the men steps into her path. “This woman--”

“--my cousin.” The elf interjects, firmly, without so much as a crack in their bright veneer.

The man in her path scowls. “Your cousin, was seen just outside the walls speaking with a man that used magic. We’d like to find out why.”

The elf blinks, cheerful expression becoming bemused. “I can assure you, my cousin here is deathly terrified of strange men; I highly doubt she would have been speaking to this dreadful magic-user you refer to.”

“I was the one that saw her, elf,” another of the men spits, clearly not fond of the elf, though Cassandra can’t tell if it’s due to racism or simply the fact they’d interrupted, “and I can assure you that it was her I saw.”

“I believe you should think harder on what you saw, my friend,” something in the way the elf says this causes Cassandra to turn slightly back to watch them; something silken, smooth, and honeyed in their tone. Something seductive. The elf’s eyes are narrowed, lips turned up at the corners, an elbow settled on an arm crossed over their torso and a hand resting lightly against their cheek. “Just to be sure. I’m certain you don’t want to accuse an innocent woman of such a grievous crime, no?”

The hair on the back of her neck stands on end; she recognizes the charge of magic in the air easily thanks to her experiences with the Dungeon Master, but by the non-reaction of the group of men, she can safely assume that they do not.

The one that had been confronted by the elf looks at her, gaze hard and so focused on her face that she half believes she might burst into flame from its sheer intensity at any moment.

The tavern around them is completely silent, she realizes, as this moment of the man staring at her drags on for an uncomfortably long amount of time. Finally, the man shakes his head and steps back, clearly frustrated. “You’re right. That woman looked nothing like this one.”

The rest in the group stare at him. “An hour ago you were certain--”

“I was wrong.” He says, now sounding disgruntled and embarrassed, his voice low like he’s trying to avoid being overheard by patrons in the tavern. Unfortunate, given the current silence surrounding them.

The elf claps his hands together, cheerful smile returning to their face. “Splendid! My cousin and I will be going now. Thank you, gentlemen, for being so courteous.” Without further ado, the elf holds their arm out and looks at her, obviously suggesting to her that she leaves before whatever enchantment they had just used wore off.

She lifts an eyebrow at them, but moves forward, stepping right around the man that had moved into her path and pushing the tavern doors open. The elf’s footsteps are on her heels, following after her even as she takes a sharp turn around a row of buildings.

She won’t lie, she appreciates whatever the elf had just intervened in, but she’s a little angry that she won’t be getting her coin back from the innkeeper; that had been the last she had on her. “I’m not your cousin, and you don’t know me. Why’d you do that?” She asks, still walking.

“Those men wanted to hurt you. Am I not allowed to simply be a concerned citizen doing a kind deed?” They ask in turn.

Her answer is to turn a pointed, disbelieving look at them over her shoulder. They shrug in response with a long-suffering sigh and muttering something about there being too many cynics about these days.

“Well, refuse to believe me if you wish, but it is the truth,” they say, their steps briefly speeding up so that they’re walking alongside her instead of behind. “I had simply been intending to cheer you up since you looked like you so dreadfully needed it, but then those zealots approached and I felt intervening had moved to the top of my to-do list.”

“ ‘Zealots’?” She asks at the rather damning title, looking up at them with a frown. She’d heard nothing of zealots when she’d first entered the town. It seemed like a dreadfully bland town entirely--with nothing so exciting as zealots.

“Might be best to avoid speaking with your magical friend just outside of this particular town’s walls, darling,” is the simple response she receives to her one-word question. “And I highly suggest you move on to the next town, in spite of the late hour.”

They keep calling her that--’darling’. It’s a pet name she’s grown to vehemently hate over the past few years, given that the Dungeon Master insists on calling her by it. Yet, strangely, she finds it doesn’t bother her so much as the elf refers to her in such a way. There’s a distinct lack of condescension and insult to the way they say it, which might make the difference. For this elf, it’s simply what it is--a pet name--whereas there always seems to be something more to it when the Dungeon Master uses it.

After she doesn’t respond to their suggestion, the elf adds: “They’re not too keen on magic, put lightly, and they likely overheard your conversation and saw him disappear in that fancy teleportation spell of his.”

“How could you know about that?” She asks, looking at the elf again, this time sharply. “Have you been spying on me?”

“I’m in the business of digging up dirty secrets, uncovering scandals, and sniffing out local gossip and hearsay wherever I go.” They reply in a matter of fact tone, efficiently swerving around her question, though the wide grin that breaks across their face betrays the joking nature underlying the reply. “Call it a hobby.”

“Somehow I doubt that.” She says skeptically.

In her experience, anyone that claimed to be in the business of digging up secrets and information rarely considered it a simple hobby.

“You wound me!” They say with a dramatic flourish of their arms, grasping at their chest as though in pain. “Coincidentally, did you hear about that civil war that erupted on the eastern continent recently? Very nasty business, I hear.”

She stops walking, causing them to stop as well.

And she stares at them.

The delighted grin and sparkle in their eyes don’t fade at all. There’s absolutely no way they’re implying what she thinks they’re implying. The sheer magnitude of whatever information they’d had to have dug up to start a civil war anywhere was… “You’re joking.”

In answer they roll their eyes skyward and shrug, whistling lightly.

Cassandra decides that this elf is exactly as aggravating as the Dungeon Master, albeit in a radically different way. Huffing, she begins to walk forward again and they fall into step as well.

Once again, she tries to feel whether or not there’s some kind of connection between the two, but there’s utterly nothing that’s prickling at the edge of her senses. To her, the elf seems to be just an ordinary person. One with an annoyingly cheerful and carefree disposition, but ordinary nonetheless.

The last few times she’s allowed herself to trust a stranger she’s met in her travels, it’s turned out to be her generous benefactor merely toying with her, and the ruse was only ever broken when she looked into their eyes. She’s stared directly into the elf’s eyes twice now, and yet has felt absolutely nothing.

So she tries, though it’s beyond difficult, to sequester the paranoia she’s lived with for so long in the back of her mind and allow herself to believe that meeting this elf was nothing but an ordinary crossing of paths.

Which it surely must be--the small town was blatantly devoid of elvenkind, and the elf’s clothes were far too finely made compared to the town inhabitants’.

“Where are you headed?” She asks, suddenly curious; she can certainly tell the elf is a well-traveled adventurer, but she can’t quite tell what kind or what their motivation for traveling is, which is something most of the other adventurers she’s met thus far typically wear on their sleeve in one fashion or another.

“Oh! Places. Everywhere. Nowhere. The straight answer is ‘I have no idea yet’, for the record. I tend to let the roads lead me rather than mapping out my paths beforehand.” Is the breezy, infuriatingly vague reply she receives. “On the subject, if you happen to visit Nevaarinn nearby, do stop by the keep should you have the time.”

“Are you inviting me back to your home?”

The question results in the half-elf doubling over in gleeful laughter. They shake their head after the laughter subsides, still smiling. “Gods, no, in fact I’m sure if you so much as mentioned my name there they might send you to the gallows by association. No, the Lord and Lady are simply lovely people to meet. Lovely place as well.”

“So long as you don’t make them mad, I’m guessing.” She says with a brow quirking upwards. She can only imagine what kind of mischief they had gotten into while in that city to warrant a standing threat on their head in addition to a threat on the heads of anyone that might be considered in league with them.

“You guess correctly.”

There’s a smile on her face, Cassandra realizes, and the half-elf’s words return to her; ‘I had simply been intending to cheer you up since you looked like you so dreadfully needed it...’

They’d succeeded in relieving her of her heavy thoughts, for what it was worth. She has to fight to keep the smile from dropping. “I never did get your name, stranger.”

“Of course--Yalann Highever, traveling bard and, occasionally, rescuer of damsels.” They offer the name with a graceful bow of admirable form, one arm behind the back, the other curled around their front, and one ankle crossed behind the other. When they stand upright once more the smile on their face is mischievous.

She actually manages to laugh at that. “Don’t flatter yourself, I would have been fine. My name’s Cassandra.”

“I’m sure you would have been, but your travels may have been more difficult should something unfortunate like stab wounds or broken bones have happened.” They say, tipping their head briefly in acknowledgement of her introduction. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Cassandra.”

She wants to get defensive of the skills she’s garnered over the past few years of travel and adventure, but she can’t argue the logic--even warriors that had trained for many, many more years than she had were susceptible to mistakes, particularly when faced by a group of enemies.

“That’s a fair point.” She reluctantly admits. She knows the Dungeon Master was utterly impartial to her own safety, and that thought makes her consider that the situation with the zealots may have been his purposeful doing, and she curses him for deigning to grace her with his presence only hours before.

But that begs the question: in spite of the lack of recognition she’s sensed, was Yalann’s intervention a part of the Dungeon Master’s web of influence as well?

Suddenly, she’s warring with herself, between the refreshing comfort their presence inexplicably offered and the paranoia and wariness she’s grown used to while spending years under the stifling gaze of the Dungeon Master. The tension that ripples through her doesn’t go unnoticed.

Yalann’s open grin mutes to something more solemn and understanding, further adding fuel to the war within her. Weight shifting, the elf reaches for a pouch on their belt and carefully unties it, then holds it out for her. “I believe I have overstayed my welcome; take this, use it however you need in the days to come.”

Hesitantly, Cassandra reaches out and plucks the pouch out of their hand and then blinks in surprise when she hears the gentle clink of coin within. She opens it and peers inside, finding it completely filled with gold coin and what she thinks are a few platinums, though she can’t tell in the dim light of a nearby torch. Another blink as she returns her gaze to the elf. “Why?”

Yalann offers her an unconcerned shrug in response. “Why not? I have more than enough, and your leathers seem to be wearing thin, which will do you no favors should you encounter trouble.”

After a long moment of staring disbelievingly, Cassandra ties the pouch to her own belt. “Thank you.”

“Anything for a lovely woman such as yourself.” They reply, giving her a wink before turning to leave. They stop after a few steps, however, and turn back. “The woods around this village are notoriously dangerous at night and easy to get lost in; should you not mind just a bit more assistance, seek out the fox that lives just north of here. It will lead you safely through the woods.”

Her eyebrows lift. How was a wild animal--particularly a species known for being incredibly skittish and cautious--going to aid her finding her way through the thick foliage of the woods?  “A fox?”

“It is a lot to ask, but trust me. Consider the fox a...familiar of mine.” They say, and she frowns at the pause in their statement. She feels like she’s missing some underlying meaning here, but she can’t tell what it is. Though, given the elf’s breezy attitude up to this point, she’s willing to simply chock it up to their effervescent and quirky nature and move on.

Eyes narrowed at them, she nods slowly in acceptance, still trying to decide whether to actually do as they suggest or not.

Sufficiently placated, Yalann finally turns to head off, a light swagger to their steps and a jaunty tune she doesn’t recognize on their lips. Their back to her, the elf gives her a farewell salute, and she, too, turns away to leave. “Safe travels, darling, and good luck on your journey! Oh--and tell your masked friend I said hello!”

The blood in her veins turns ice cold all at once. Her footsteps immediately halt, and she whirls around with wide eyes and her skin prickling with discomfort.

Yalann is nowhere to be seen.

[allyklapak]

We must take the right path

With each day, the stability of the Earth under current environmental pressures becomes increasingly perilous. As we approach the breaking points that scientists have cautioned world leaders about for years, it is increasingly clear that the near future will follow one of three paths. We may collapse, adapt, or reinvent. [^1] There is a great deal of uncertainty about the future, especially when considering the current coronavirus crisis and the immense impact that it has had on daily life and every facet of society in such a short amount of time. The looming climate crisis poses a similar threat to the normalcy we are hoping to get back to. If major changes are not consciously made to solve these adverse environmental issues, we remain vulnerable to a possible collapse or remain stuck in an unsustainable system.

The model that most of the world currently functions under is known as the consumer capitalist mode. [^1] It is driven by systematic positive feedback loops that invest money into innovation which capitalist societies depend on. [^1] Innovation is typically connected to a positive connotation. However, by funding a system that deals with energy waste and unsustainable practice by just investing more money into potentially worse band-aid technologies we are just “running to stay ahead” rather than addressing the original inherent issues. [^1] These checks are meant to facilitate adaptation to environmental obstacles and protect the capitalist system. Human resilience and ability to modernize can clearly be seen throughout history. [^1] Over the past five centuries, humanity has undergone change in an exponential fashion. [^1] The progression of man from the invention of fire to the invention of the internet has demonstrated the capacity to make increasingly larger leaps as time marches forward. [^1] Though, such rapid development should be assessed to uncover the environmental repercussions and role in a growing socioeconomic disparity across the world. By reinforcing the capitalist system, an emphasis is placed on turning human life into human capital. [^1] Advancements may allow for improved living conditions and yielded higher life expectancy, the lives of these people have become focused on conforming to a system where time is money and productivity has monetary value. [^1] Humans have been degraded to capital and buy into a system that considers them and this planet to be disposable. In order to persist in this mode, society must find a way to stabilize the unsustainable practice and persistent exponential trends. [^1] According to Lewis and Maslin, “the simultaneous rapid increases in the number of people, level of energy provision, and quantity of information being generated… suggest that our current mode of living is least possible.” [^1] Trying to maintain the system we have will not work. Thus far it has been the very reason there exists so many threats. It is imperative that the public is not blindsided by the dishonest corporations desperately clinging the consumer capitalist mode out of self-interest and greed. We are fed lies that this is the key to a successful and shiny future but there have always been cracks beneath the surface that technology won’t be able to fix forever.

A more probable, but bleak, fate that our world may succumb to is collapse. [^2] The model that we currently cannot continue on forever. The ramifications of our practices will catch up to us and if society finally has this epiphany too late then collapse will be inevitable. Expert estimate a degree and a half to two-degree Celsius increase in atmospheric temperature will prove to be catastrophic.[^2] Many nations of the world are aware of the immanency of this issue and have already started employing changes to decrease their contributions to this global warming. Although it is difficult to project the exact time frame for this climate tipping point and the likelihood of humans adequately responding, many nations have set a goal to try to stay below 1.5 degrees C by reducing emissions to near zero by 2050. [^2] Due to the dense geopolitical tensions surrounding fossil fuels it is difficult to seriously change course away from collapse as nationalized resources and interests may not bend for the greater good. [^2] Agriculture is an industry that has already faced the detriments of a failing climate. Historically farmers have utilized genetic engineering and breeding and technology to adapt to increasing temperatures and growing resistance to pesticides, but it will reach a point where this can go on no longer and the collapse of the food industry will lead to the perishing of many. [^2] We already face inequity in food distribution around the world as millions die of malnutrition each year. These issues of competition for food and clean water and work leads to unrest that brews the perfect storm for mass destruction. Even the pentagon considers this issue to be an “urgent and growing threat” due to the potential violence that may transpire. [^2] Humans are egotistical and uniformed creatures of habit. The lack of willingness to seriously heed the warnings of scientists and satisfaction of living in blissful ignorance will likely lead to the vain pursual of the first option. This course of action can only end in collapse.

The only way for humanity to prevail is the drastic yet necessary measure of adopting a new system. The authors refer define the Anthropocene to be an “epoch where the human component of Earth system is large enough to affect how it functions.” [^2] Humanity’s effects have proven to be detrimental and jeopardize the many interconnected ecosystems and social structures of the world. However, humans have always had the capability to change this doomed fate but are too reluctant and misled to upend the order established by manipulative capitalists. A new system would require a complete switch to alternative and renewable solar and wind energy. [^3] It is difficult to convince the public of the cost effectiveness of this transition due to integral discount rating which makes a larger return further in the future seem less appealing than instantly gratifying short-term profit. [^3] New system would also limit the dependency humanity has on unsustainable practice and increase agency in careers and finances. [^3] A key practice to accomplish this more liberated existence is ensuring a Universal Basic Income. [^3] Ideally, by ensuring this monetary equity across society, the structure of education, work and consumption can me reimagined. [^3] If people all have the necessary means to pursue and education, it is easier for those with a real passion and skill to take these positions and therefore refine the craft that may have been inhibited by the socioeconomic disparity in education. [^3] People can consider their futures without being restricted by worrying about making ends meet. Essentially, this would put an end to the rat race and would allow humans to escape their ties to unsustainable practice or jobs that are not environmentally ethical yet are reluctantly filled by those who need the paycheck to survive. [^3] Additionally, practicing a half earth model would protect invaluable ecosystems by designating an equal amount of space for natural species to flourish. [^3] Reducing humanity’s real estate dominance on earth would force us to reform unsustainable agriculture and actually deal with our problems directly. Abiding by a half earth practice would prevent the degradation of vital ecosystems that science can not recreate. [^3] The best option for the course of humanity is to reinvent our system rather than unsuccessfully trying to hold together the one that is not working.

The web of systems that run our world are delicate and driven by capitalistic interest and concession of the public. If we continue on the path we are on, the temperatures of the earth will rise far about the two-degree cap and in the very near future the fate of collapse will be sealed. The world is experiencing a crisis right now. With lives at a standstill and a sense of normal being completely obliterated, it may be just the opportunity to make these drastic changes necessary for the survival of humanity. The limits are being tested and it has once again been proven that humans can adapt well when given no other option. It is no longer an option, for posterity’s sake we must defy the consumer capitalist model and welcome this new change.

Word Count: 1380

Discussion Question: Although it seems that establishing a new system is the best solution, could undergoing such drastic change have its own set of ramifications?

Lewis, Simon L., and Mark A. Maslin. Human Planet: How We Created the Anthropocene. Yale University Press, 2018. Chapter 11, pgs. 369-377

Lewis and Maslin. Ch. 11 pgs. 378-399.

Lewis and Maslin. Ch.11 pgs. 400-415.

[linkspooky]

with all the backlash mutsuki got after rue island bc of his trauma and obsession i wonder if there will be a similar reaction to hairu once she gets back. Being revived must be one hell of a trauma and learning arima's fate should be enough to make her go in a rampage against kaneki (though hairu once a more popular character so maybe she will be seen in the same way seidou was)

I’m almost positive that the fan reception to Hairu will be totally different than Mutsuki. 

I could use Furuta as an example but Furuta seems more of a fifty fifty character with people so let’s go with Ui instead. 

Ui demonstrates the same kind of “I can’t stop, this is the only thing that will make me happy” obsessive behavior, and possessiveness over an individual who did not feel the same way about them.

I cannot stress this enough, as sympathetic as Ui’s willingness to plunge himself into total darkness for the small chance of seeing the person he loves again might be: 

Hairu did not love him back. 

This is important because Ui is obviously reviving Hairu with the expectation that Hairu in some way might satiate his loneliness. He’s using her, pretty much the same way that Mutsuki intends to use Sasaki. 

Both of them are just using the other as someone to fight for, someone to give them a sense of purpose and security, and also the imagined idea that they were loved. They both want to impossibly return themselves to their own rose filtered idea of the past .

Ui wants to go back to the old CCG where they were heroes of justice and did not suffer such horrible losses in oeprations, Mutsuki wants to go back to the old Quinx squad when they were a closely knit family not dealing with any loss. 

Mutsuki lost two people though, Shirazu and Sasaki, while Ui lost for, Hairu, Take, Arima, and Sasaki. However, the two of them only choose to obsess over one single lost person and deluding themselves into having much greater feelings for the other than they originally did, because this makes the loss easier for them to deal with in a way. 

“Everything would be okay if Sasaki came back.” “Everything would be okay if Hairu came back.”

Accepting that kind of simplified reality is a lie they tell themselves to make dealing with the current harsh reality easier, by almost avoiding it entirely. 

Honestly, to me Ui’s actions read as even more possessive. Mutsuki seems to just want to murder Sasaki, then maybe talk to the corpse?? 114 was weird let’s not get into that. 

Ui is not only disturbing Hairu’s peaceful death, but he’s giving the okay for a man like Kanou to experiment on her (look what he did to Seidou), and he’s injecting her with a ghoul’s kagune making her into a half ghoul Oggai. Which means Hairu will effectively become internally in her own body something she has been trained to hate her entire life as a garden child. Considering the instability of the Oggai surgery, Hairu might be forced to eat human meat too. 

It’s on a level worse than just stabbing her a whole bunch of times. It’s bringing her back from the dead without permission, and then changing her biological makeup into something of that she hates.

In fact it reminds me a lot of what Frankenstein’s monster wanted in Frankenstein, and begged Viktor to creat for him. Another female monster in order to soothe his own loneliness. That the monster after monologueing for so long about how wretched his existence is, could be so self absorbed as to not realize how horrible it would be to bring another monster into existence to deal with the same horrible existential questions he has to deal with… for the sole purpose of being created to love him with the implication that the being does not have a choice in the matter because the reason she was made was just to love him.

Anyway, all of that negativity and his sudden turn away from the hero of justice he once was is read as a natural fall for Ui’s character. However, for Mutsuki it’s always read as a sudden swerve and “Ishida not knowing what he’s doing anymore” with his writing. 

Which is just weird to me. Yes, there is a lot of uncomfortable implications of Mutsuki’s character, and it’s not at all progressive. If you hate Mutsuki’s character writing on those grounds you have every right to. 

It’s just I personally never read it as coming out of nowhere? It makes sense as a logical progression? 

I think part of the bias stems from (1) a fandom bias that has an inability to see Kaneki’s own actions in the wrong light and (2) a misunderstanding of Mutsuki’s original arc. 

People argue that Mutsuki’s violence comes from nowhere, but to me from the start Mutsuki was always the Q who cared the least about ghouls. I always saw Mutsuki’s growing confidence also growing in his ability to kill ghouls as a negative development. 

Entirely because of the second half of that sentence, Mutsuki was not really dealing with their internal issues, he was just simply learning how to fight better. Any confidence he gained at the behest of killing ghouls, was never going to be true confidence. I read that from the start of the manga, Mutsuki felt almost nothing about killing ghouls. He was compared to Suzuya of all people, and of the four he was the most fearful and nervous around the monstrous quality of ghouls. 

It goes along with the kind of illusion that the audience is told at the beginning of :Re. That things are much simpler, the only ghouls we really see in action are the Aogiri ghouls, or obscenely wealthy ones like the Tsukiyamas who attend auctions. We see none of the innocent ghouls who get dragged along like in the Rabbit case. Peaceful organizations like :Re are completely out of focus. The CCG are heroes of justice protecting their comrades and fighting ghouls, and ghouls are almost always terrible weird murderers, (Torso, Nutcracker, etc.). The cracks in this narrative did not really start showing up until the end of the Rose arc, when the CCG continued to pursue the Tsukiyamas because their message of total extermination meant they could not even let one single ghoul escape even when the rest of the family surrendered to them. 

If you add in the details of Mutsuki’s backstory, his turn to violence makes sense. Imagine you are in a horribly abusive household, every day is a walking nightmare and finally you have to act and kill your own parents to save yourself. However, you feel so guilty about this action of self defense you took, because violence on its own disgusts you. 

Instead of having this violent side of you treated through proper child psychology though, it’s the only thing that is encouraged by the people who take you in. You’re encouraged to be violent and to point that violence towards ghouls. 

Then finally, after years of your own parents abusing you, and other caretakers being cold or not caring at all, you get a nice loving dad. He is the best dad in the world, he cooks for you, he buys you poetry books, he is always patient, always encouraging. When you were at your most weak, he appeared from nowhere to save you, then gave you his jacket so you would be warm. 

Then one day your brother dies, you turn to your father to give you comfort but while you’re still dealing with that sadness your father just completely cuts you off without a word. The best dad in the world, and suddenly he’s as cold to you as everybody else in the CCG was. You are kidnapped and tortured, and he seems to barely care about you. You spend all of your time waiting for him to come save you like he once did and he never shows up. 

Then when you finally get home, after having to be violent again (the thing you most hate about yourself), you come home to the news that your father who you were still secretly hoping would return all this time, joined sides with the guys who kidnapped you. 

From Mutsuki’s perspective alone, it makes sense to have a great deal of anger and resentment towards Kaneki. 

I understand people not liking Mutsuki because he is a bad victim of these circumstances, but I at least can see the extremes where he came from and what fueled that reaction?

Once again it also comes from people not really able to see fault in Kaneki. I’m not sure how Kaneki waking up from Yamori’s torture, and the first thing he does immediately is break all of Touka’s brother’s bones right in front of her as a sign of his affection for her. And that somehow reads better than what Mutsuki is attempting right now. The parallels between Kaneki’s violent phase of lashing out and Mutsuki’s violent phase of lashing out are strong. Yes, Mutsuki is implied to be killing a whole lot right now but is that somehow any different than Kaneki’s first action after his introduction being to murder an entire room of 100 people he had just deemed bad without any due process? 

There’s also the fact that Kaneki’s refusal to explain himself after effectively abandoning Mutsuki, when he was the one to take the onus to put Mutsuki’s well being and emotional responsibility on himself is extremely neglectful behavior. It’s not like Mutsuki’s attachment to Kaneki came out of nowhere, this was something Kaneki wanted and fostered, until suddenly he did not with no explanation. Which is why I like to frame Sasaki as Mutsuki’s father in this situation, imagine somebody adopting a child and then a year later after dedicating themselves to nurturing and growing the bond of trust between the two of them leaving them on the side of the road with no warning or explanation. 

Anyway, to me Mutsuki’s character progression makes sense. I can understand totally if other people find it distasteful or even offensive, especially since Mutsuki is not a cis female like Hairu, a cis male like Kaneki, or a cis male like Ui. Writing does not exist in a bubble and there are already different sets of expectations the readers will have going into those characters. 

This is the most I’m ever going to comment on Mutsuki’s character, which is to say I try to make it a personal rule in this blog to only work with the text and sources closely linked to the text. 

Anyway, so as I said, both Ui, Mutsuki and even Furuta have reacted to the lack of love in their lives with obsessive feelings. As @kingkishou said in their own recent ask response about Hairu [x].

Hairu’s crush on Arima may be a cute character trait now, but one sided obsessive feelings have never been framed well in Tokyo Ghoul. Especially incestuous ones, as Arima is either her cousin or her half brother. 

These feelings always turn into feelings of destruction. It happened with Kanae, it happened with Furuta, it happened with Ui, it happened with Mutsuki. I doubt Hairu will be the first one to break the pattern.

Especially since Ui seems intent on only reviving Hairu, rather than both Hairu and Arima. I can hardly see Hairu agreeing with that once she is revived and conscious. 

There’s also a heavily unexplored aspect of Hairu’s character, which is to say her repressed violent side. We only see parts of it during the Tsukiyama Raid, but a revival will probably be the perfect time to explore it. 

There’s also Nico’s prophecy to consider, when talking about the nature of obsessive people.

People either live beautifully, or live for beautiful people. For those who can do neither, they go insane and die. 

There has to be a consequence for Ui violating the laws of nature like this to bring about Hairu’s return, and I can see if Hairu comes back sentient, this side of her desperate for Arima’s praise and willing to kill anything in her path to gain it being that consequence. 

Obsessive love, even in those starved for affection like Furuta and Hairu, and the other garden children has never been portrayed as a good thing in Tokyo Ghoul. The setup in Hairu’s character for it is already there. 

Especially with all of Ui and Urie’s parallels as of late. Just as Urie needs to grow up in order to confront Mutsuki and actually be able to conflict with him as a person instead of loving him from afar I can imagine a similiar arc for Ui eventually. 

[messymagician]

The Devil’s due

Sarah (Arcana OC) X Julian (Arcana) Follows the main plot story, with changes. 2.5k words. ________________________________________________________________

Chapter 3 : Theatrics.

It's barely any time at all before their meandering stroll leads the troublesome duo to their destination. A small spark lights in Julian's eyes; a beaten up and scruffy looking shop sitting quietly beside the street. It feels old and weather-worn, the windowless walls already carry a small air is mysterious security. Sarah mused quietly to herself, intrigued by why a 'teahouse' would be so closed up. Though she had suspicions that this wasn't really the type of place Julian's prior description would actually be.

What once might have been a gorgeous display of fresco style art was now worn and dilapidated. The paint strokes having cracks following thin lines and heavy discoloration of their 'romantic' scenery. "So it is still standing." He barks almost triumphantly, making Sarah giggle silently in her head. "I used to come here all the time, back in the day. It was an irresistible spot." His looming figure leaning just a little closer over her hadn't gone unnoticed. "High ceilings, great ambience… little booths, tucked away~" The innovation to his words made her shrink; desperately resisting the urge to turn beetroot red by staring ahead at the building in fascination. "And underground. You could lounge around for hours, just talking. And we, ahh, I've been meaning to say, we do… we do need to talk"

Do they really? Haven't they been trying to talk all morning? Not that Sarah has had much of a say the entire day so far, including this morning when they had left the house. And 'Just talking.' Why did she doubt that? An enclosed space likely containing some form of purchasable liquor was bound to rile some folks up and attract the secretive sort. Though, just thinking about it, that does sound awfully Julian… a renewed sense of danger tingled across her shoulders but it wasn't a frightening flight or fight response. Eagerness, perhaps? A willingness to adventure let's say.

He pushes lightly on the wall and it creaks angrily open. Not sounding rusted or underused despite the aged appearance it held, no dust flying from its hinges. Julian ducked under a low wooden beam while Sarah merely needed to briefly raise a hand to make sure she didn't catch her hair on any rough edges. She squints in the dark staircase, eyeing Julian's gloves as he tries to pry open a stubborn-looking iron door. Eventually managing to get it to budge aside before putting a palm on Sarah's shoulder and leading her in. "After you, my dear."

The atmosphere is immediate and undeniable. While it's very dim it isn't badly lit. Lanterns hang from old ropes here and there while all around them drape loose moth bitten cloths. Alongside them, the ceiling sports long dropping fabrics of bold complicated patterning and design. There's a heavy air fighting between smelling comforting and smelling boozy. The actual walk space is narrow, Sarah's hands instinctively appearing up at her chest in anxious support. All around them sit strange and unique looking artifacts and random piles of what might seem like junk to someone who didn't know better.

Julian, pushing her ahead slowly, regularly stops her in her tracks to check around an upcoming corner. Each time he leans over her head She catches herself looking up at his chin, trying to figure out what in particular he's looking for… 

It eventually hits, lighting a little bulb in her head. There are voices in here… as much as she tries to see the confined spaces and thin walkway make it impossible to tell where anyone is; though she's absolutely certain the place has other people in it. Julian's eye wanders from searching, down to Sarah's sweet if a little aimless look of confusion. "Well… this is all very unlike the way I remember it-" he assures quietly, not that she quite believes him. This place has his name all over it, from the awkward spacing to the dark but cozy atmosphere. "The place must have gone under… that's a shame." He sighs, heavily, a nostalgic look in his single lantern-lit eye. "They used to serve this smoky tea that I haven't been able to find since."

He sounds disappointed… yet keeps leading them further into the fray. More interesting items passing by as she finally takes note of a few to try and identify their use or origins. A big metal moon, clearly hammered together roughly, with a wise and timeless smile. Large swaths of fabrics laid haphazardly over a very high-backed chair. Many weapons, mostly a cluster of shiny tipped spears and a few open chests of assorted trinkets like messy feathers and old worn brass bells. "It seems to be some kind of… oddities… antiques… artefacts? Emporium." He drones out before she could say the same. "How embarrassing… it's still cozy though."

A hand had drifted idly down to her hip, which she hadn't noticed until he pulled just a little, tugging her closer. The raised brow and wide smarmy grin he wore made her snort; quickly covering her mouth from the awful noise and pushing him back away with faked anger. He goes to do it again when something catches his eye, causing it to widen. "Now what have we here…" Sarah, tracking his line of sight, looks over to a large mirror. The glass old and dusty, it's surface speckled with mold. And perched atop it… is a doctor's mask. Much like the one she'd watched him relinquish the night before.

He snatches it from its place, almost as if to hide it, while her perceptiveness catches sight of boots coming from behind the mirror. They too vaguely resemble the high leathery boots Julian has on, causing her brow to furrow. "What's this? It's not really a medical mask, is it?" He fumbles curiously to himself while examining the long bird-like apparel. Tapping its beak, peering intrigued into its glassy eyes, before flipping it over to look inside. "We used to stuff the beak with-" 

"Herbs!" She finishes quickly, a sudden jolt wrestling with her shoulders. "R...roses and camphor…." Her voice is barely over a whisper but the initial outburst must have been of quite a surprise as Julian stares at her with a wide eye. "It's… not a real mask. The lining is too thin, and it wouldn't cover the face properly... Those eye holes are too ornamentally shaped-" her hands reach over to point out the flaws, leaving him speechless in their wake. Just staring at her for a moment before all the colour goes to her cheeks and snaps him out of it.

"Er- yes- you're quite right I… didn't expect you to know quite that much about…" He frowns down at the fake mask. Looking into its sightless gaze in silent contemplation before Sarah swiftly changes the subject, feeling her ears burn red.

"Can you hear that?" There's a brief pause, both straining to catch what she meant. "Voices…" Another silence...And then it finally catches up. She wasn't lying, there are for sure sounds coming from nearby. The previous conversation seemed to have derailed Julian's cautiousness; which was now back in full force. His whole body beneath the angular clothes that widen his frame goes unmistakably stiff. She was sure should his gloves have been off she'd see his knuckles grow white from the pressure they were gripping the mask with.

"Yes." He hissed back, a notch quieter than her inquiry, nodding just past a long drawn curtain. "Coming from…. Over there?"

The soft background buzz of idly chatter quickly cascades into a mournful wail. It gives both of them quite the start, but… something about it puts its sincerity to question. It was warbling and almost tuneful. Comically fake sounding and very over the top. "Sounds like somebody's faking it." He huffed, halfway between relieved and unnerved. Fixing the false mask securely over his face much to Sarah's surprise. As if out of habit, almost, completely auto-piloted. 

Curling a free hand around hers he slowly holds the other up to the beak of the mask as if gently shushing her. Pulling her along towards the sound of the cries taking care to not knock over empty bottles that littered the floor. Towards a distant heavy-looking pair of curtains. They were drawn tightly, only a small gap, widening from top to bottom. Dust particles danced excitedly at the sharp beam of light coming through from the other side. Peering through, the source of the hysterical wails, from beside a heavily torn cradle on the other side, was… an actor.

Sarah's shoulders dropped at once, a heavy but silenced exhale of relief parting her lips. Taking a second to collect herself before peeking back through. The man too wore a mask, though very different from Julian's. Porcelain and only half-covering with exaggerated streaks of mascara that were smudged from 'anguish.'

"Wait up in my room? On my birthday?!" He mourned, loudly, "What do you expect me to do all night in here? Clomp around in my hooves? Beg the busboy for table scraps?! If I can't disgust anyone doing it, what's the point?"

"Oh my god." Breathes Julian, trying to hide his sneering expression with an even bigger grin. "That's fantastic, it sounds just like him." Him? She looked again out at the 'distressed' man, pouring his heart into the role of an angry, vengeful, and pompous bastard. Was that supposed to be...

"Count Lucio?" She whispered, still unsure of that answer, as Julian leant a little further toward the curtain. This must be a theatre! She didn't even know Vesuvia had a theatre. Even without word of it around town, the seats appeared to be absolutely packed with an audience. Laughing along to the cheeky dramatization of their former count. It seems to be quite a popular thing in this part of town.

"Well I'm glad to see the arts are flourishing. A renaissance may have begun while I was away." He cheered before looking suddenly quite stricken. "But… if this is about Lucio on his birthday then…. You don't suppose this is a show about the murde-"

Much like the rest of today Julian's thoughts never come to completion as everything goes wrong at once. The audience's roaring laughter is just barely outshined by a heavy sandbag that lands with a THUD between them, the curtains starting to close. During that same second the speeding rope quickly catches around Julian's ankle, hoisting him effortlessly high into the air like a deer caught in a trap. Sarah's eyes squeeze shut at all the sudden movement but when she dares open them again quite the sight is ahead of her.

Julian. Suspended upside down on stage in front of a silent crowd absolutely frozen for at least a heartbeat. She can see the split second it takes for him to plan his next move before he thrashes wildly. Wriggling like a snake caught by a bird; something small and shiny flying from his boot. Something he just barely has time to catch, a knife. With a hard grunt of effort he swings up to fold in half, only just managing to grab the rope at his ankle and swipe wildly, severing it- Falling clean out of the sky with a hard 'whump'. Not onto the stage. But rather Count Lucio's lap, the both of them looking mighty caught out.

"....Doctor Devorak! Here to cure my boredom!" The actor for Lucio cheers after a tense pause, rolling with the occasion despite its unusual nature. The crowd adores it, exploding into shrieks of laughter and applause, while Julian appears visibly nervous. Sarah can see his throat bob uncomfortably with a hard swallow.

Unable to watch, knowing he'll be more than embarrassed, Sarah backtracks immediately. Only getting a turn away before pacing densely back and forth without thinking. Oh my god what the hell just happened. Oh no he's going to die of anxiety-she should have done something about it! What would she even do?! Feeling jittery and suddenly confined she flees for the exit. Retracing their steps mindlessly in a speedy trot. Managing to get free of the building and immediately press herself against the stone cold mural of the wall.

Why would there be a play about the murder!?

That's awful. A real murder not even a made up one… and worst of all nobody has a clear memory or story of the event! She begins to pace immediately once again. Debating whether to run further away with a growing bubbling guilt. Luckily only a few steps into the pacing… 

"Sarah, there you are. What a trip, I'm still one foot in the meta realm." Comes Julian's usual comedic attitude as he fumbles noisily out of the door. Clearly just a little disturbed by what happened. "Well… the good news is nobody seemed to think it was really me." He huffed, sliding some messy locks of hair out of his working eye. "Was the neighbourhood always this sceptical? Probably…"

Realising that even here, where he is comfortable enough to walk the streets, Julian is a wanted criminal Sarah's face goes pale and shaken. The sight makes his smile drop a little. "So that wasn't what I had in mind…. Let me try again." An exasperated sigh escapes her tired mouth before both of Julian's gloves take her hands and hold them steady. Looking forlornly down into her eye, obviously asking for yet another chance to go somewhere.

Her feet hurt and heart was still hammering unhappily, but she took a deep breath and squeezed his hands softly. "I'd like to head to the raven for a bite… If you'd be so forgiving as to join me?" Owwhhhh, her weakness. Being polite. She puts on a clear pout to let him know she's unhappy, one he responds to by looking fairly embarrassed. But…. She doesn't say no, instead rolling her eyes. "My treat, of course. And… after that-" His thumb brushed over the top of her knuckles, almost forcing her to melt on the spot. "A… nice walk down to the docks. How does that sound?"

"It sounds like you're buttering me up." She grumbles, though not aggressively, avoiding eye contact for a good minute. Perhaps it would be a good idea. a free dinner and…

The idea of heading home felt like something to avoid. The thought twisted her stomach. She'd only been around him a day and a half but already his chaotic aura had pulled her into so much… mischief. Besides the past few days nothing much had been quite as fun as today, even with the interruptions seeming annoying at the time on reflection they were enjoyable. "Alright… but I'm paying next time."

[podcake]

Week One: The Bridge Review

In the spirit of innovation to start this fine month of September, I found myself in a mild panic over the summer to find just the right shows to discuss for my review month. These next five weeks are sure to be filled with audio drama galore that I personally deem one of the most creative by far, and even that is vague in itself.

I spend my days raking through the long lists and the little cracks, spelunking the deep archives of iTunes and Twitter bios to seek out the goods, the bads, and the meh emojis out there, giving each and every one it’s shot. But no matter the title, efforts in innovation seems to be something each and every audio drama producer seems to have in mind from the get-go.

When you throw yourself into a community reveling the plights of being a stand out, unique product, how do you properly pinpoint ones that utterly, truly encompass the concept? Simple-you focus on the teeny, tiny little details. 

Thus I found myself feeling dead set on talking about The Bridge, a podcast that emerged some time around the summer of 2016 but I have yet to properly cover despite me occasionally bringing it up. The Bridge tells the story of an alternative modern day where a Transcontinental Bridge is watched over by the appropriately titled Watchtower 10 in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. From here we get to know our main character Henrietta Perrault, better known as Etta, who much rather be telling spooky stories than giving her assigned traffic reports. 

Etta is also haunted by the disappearance of her mother, among other missing people, something that has plagued her childhood and followed her into adulthood and is the fuel behind most of her actions throughout the series aside from her own natural curiosity. 

I can’t help but give it kudos for avoiding the dreaded “strapped to a chair narrating over more interesting past events” formula, despite having all the qualifications to completely revel in it. Quite a bit of the exchanges happen in the safety of the broadcast room though it’s properly utilized to have it both be a place of Etta’s storytelling and her interactions with her crew. 

It’s more or less a framing device that makes way for some interesting and often humorous interactions and expanding lore. The bridge in question turns out to be a rather mysterious and eldritch location, providing a kind of suspense and spook factor the show transitions into rather seamlessly with a certain level of self awareness from the watchtower crew, as if they’ve been through this all before.

The eerie elements are not of the heavily grim and gritty variety and more in that slightly off-putting category that labels the bridge as something possibly not of this world or merely haunted or both. And that’s nothing to say of the villains in the first few episodes, providing some interesting psychological warfare with the heroes and even some grisly violence sprinkled in. Nothing on SABLE levels, though enough to elicit an uncomfortable shift in your chair.

All around, The Bridge has the same appeal as Wolf 359: providing a small but plucky cast we quickly get attached to as we slowly watch the layers peel back and whatever character type their filling to be picked apart. And of course there’s the crucial similarity of The Bridge easing its way into deeper, darker territory about its world without entirely losing its sense of humor. If this is a trend forming in audio drama is something I’ve been puzzling over for some time, but it’s certainly one I encourage if it means raising stakes while still keeping its heart in the right place. 

But, if there is any weak point in the show it’s in its audio editing. The Bridge comes with some pretty effective backing tracks and a cast of actors that are expressive in their deliveries, but the shifts in perspectives are a rocky boat. It can be hard to tell when exactly a character’s view point is being swapped out for another, mainly because the audio doesn’t properly communicate it. 

This may or may not be a noticeable detail to some, but perspective changes in an audio drama are normally signified by a variety of ways, normally as a break of silence followed by some sort of new sound effect that shows a transition to a new location or even a music cue. The Bridge has yet to fully establish changes of scene, which could make following dialogue very confusing. And given the moderate sized cast we have so far, it makes backtracking pretty much inevitable. 

The sound is clear and yet still feels messy due to the scenes seeming like they’re not entirely in relation to each other. It’s a bummer seeing as how this is much more of a problem with plot relevant dialogue than in its side missions.

A little detail I’d like to point out, and the main reason The Bridge is being marked for “innovation”, is due to its take on mini-episodes. What helps The Bridge breathe life into its world while still having an ongoing narrative is the clever inclusion of these little shorts that are just cool enough to be standalone projects. These are smaller and simpler stories shipped out in between the original episode continuations, some of which have little relevance to what might be going on in the linear timeline, and yet it’s easily the most effective way to have the best of both worlds.

The mini episodes may seem like filler and padding to others, and perhaps it was always intended to be, and yet I can’t help but be impressed by the simplicity and organization that these shorts provide for the story’s general lore while not weighing down the main story to shoehorn it in. It is by no means the ultimate highlight or the most exciting part, but provides a kind of flourish to what is within the realm of reality for this world.

If things like immortality inducing macguffins will be used later in the series as relevant plot points is its own question, though they make for neat little asides for now.

The Bridge is easily at its best during its tenser moments, “Oops! Part Two” still being one of its most intriguing episodes in terms of dialogue and an effective build in tension that might make way for some interesting confrontations in later seasons. Even it’s follow up episode works to strengthen the events presented before and makes way for a broader lens we are slowly being introduced to, opening up the audience to what could be a much bigger mystery about certain characters, their roles, and whatever secrets the bridge may be hiding.

For me personally, I’ve always been a fan of concepts about bringing life to usually inanimate landmarks and The Bridge certainly scratches that itch for me. It didn’t quite work for me in Mabel, though The Bridge manages this formula in a way that’s just subtle enough that any stranger events to come are anticipated. If what we are to expect from the bridge’s otherworldly nature is that of utter malevolence or perhaps something simply beyond the comprehension of our characters is something certainly worth tuning into. 

What makes The Bridge worth listening to, in a technical sense, is its simple but effective storytelling overall. If it plans to truly dedicate itself to its main mysteries and flesh out its world more for the better is something to hope for in the future. It still feels like the show is still in its training wheels and has yet to truly reach its ultimate peaks and reveals, though I enjoy the even pacing it has adapted so far. It’s patient and steady, unlike the fictional waters its fictional towers reside in, but seems to know the benefits of a climb that keeps listeners invested but not bored or rushed.

The Bridge has the makings to be a pretty impressive audio drama experience: a good set up filled with little hidden mysteries to discover, decent voice acting, and a willingness to progress and build from its focal point rather than letting its oddness consume its overarching story. As to where it plans to go is still up in the air but in a way that seems focused and could make for some cool and creative episodes overtime. In the mean time, I say The Bridge has a strong, and steady current that’s easy to get swept up in.

[mallory-a-bond]

Happy birthday Izuku Midoriya

Name: Zhalia [redacted]

Age: 15

Quirk: knight (Magica Defense)

Height: 5’11 1/2

Weight: 160lbs

Blood type: AB Positive

Hero name: Guardian

Overall abilities: a master hand to combat fighter and has mastery over all the weapons in her ancestral arsenal. As proven when using flaming broadsword against a Nomu and does not harm any of the surrounding areas and has successfully broken Toga’s arm when she had incapacitated Bakugo due to a villain’s quirk that caused him to go berserk.

Keen intellect and observation: she has been able to pinpoint multiple students when they were pitted against her while ‘deactivated’ and had been able to predict what they were going to do as soon as they attacked. Tomura had sent a few Nomu after her when with her class. Only to be dealt with her wide array of mysterious weapons.

Quirk: think of every kind of magical girl genre ever. Amp the firepower by 33 and spanning back centuries. Each new bearer has their own widespread abilities but can use the previous generation’s abilities (called suits). Zhalia has been the only one to access the entirety of every Knight that has been before her (called different things related to dynasty or legacy. Suits similar attributes such as fire or ice is such an thing while those unique and one of a kind have a name for themselves). She can change from each one of her suits with the pendant around her neck, called equip. Some suits give her certain abilities. Like a higher tolerance if not complete immunity to flame and frost. Enhanced strength or speed amongst others. (The support department still demand answers). The ‘suits’ change to fit the current bearer and has a ‘timeless look’ when it comes to fashion.

Appearance: Zhalia is a full figured girl with dark brown skin, Crystal rainbow quartz hair that changes length depending on the suit she’s equipped with but by default, it is incredibly long kept in an high ponytail with a plain black ribbon with A symmetrical bangs framing her face. Her almond shaped eyes are that of an onyx crystal that sparks different kinds of color depending on what she intends to do. Her hero costume is that of what she equips for the situation. But ‘her’ suit as she puts it. ‘Is incomplete’ so she has to use ‘The Silver Squire’ from generations prior…which gives both heroes and villains alike nightmares. The Silver Squire is a full suit of sterling armor with a silver hair band that would resemble the face guard and in her hair it is still in its ponytail braid but now has silver weaves into it and is armed with a rapier with diamonds within the hilt and around the armor. No skin is showing whatsoever and yet it is still form fitting. There is also silver and gray designs around her eyes and has metal studs in her ears.

Personality: she is a kind but secretive individual. She has secrets that she has admitted to the class that she does not want to talk about. She is determined and incredibly stubborn as proven when she kept her mouth shut when Endevaor demanded answers out of her when it was made known that she had information on a vigilante that all the heroes were hunting down. She kept her cool and kept silent. She has also proven to keep her head under pressure and cannot be cracked easily as Endvaor tried to intimidate her into giving up said information and she also stood up to Aizawa about it. She cares for those that she trusts and sees as friends and will see to it that no harm comes to them. But she does not take anything lying down and will jump to defend her friends and the innocent when the situation calls for it. Can be a cynical and vindictive bitch if someone were to wrong her friends or take something important to her and will not hesitate to retaliate violently. She had beaten down Bakugo when he kept mocking and being hostile to Midoriya.

Ancestral training: she has been trained by the literal ghosts of her past ever since she has gotten her quirk. Her training was brutal and had to become a walking army with the toughness to match in order to operate the suits properly without being overwhelmed or killed. One of the suits is the best at defense but in turn is the heaviest out of all of the suits put together. All of the swords are incredibly heavy, the lightest being the Sterling Rapier of the Silver Squire weighing as much as three of Bakugo.

Weakness: her mental state. If she loses it. Remember she has the power to literally give All For One a run for his money. Her mental state is what keeps the unbridled power in check along with the voices of those of past running through her mind as well as to keep EVERYTHING that was bestowed onto her in check. And her willingness to die, it scares Deku just how quickly she’ll jump into life threatening situations knowing that she might die and just brushes it off. There is no physical weakness…well, a wafer thin one but unlikely. Knock her out before she arms herself or equips…but her speed is unreal. Is known to get trapped in her own head.

I had been here for quite a bit. I know today is Izuku’s birthday. But I don’t know if the gift I have created would be enough. The gift lays in a pocket dimension having the final touches made to it as she waits for Midoriya to come through the door. The rest of the class has already come through for Midoriya was asked to have a chat with Yagi Sensei for a bit. I slam my head against the desk which gained the attention of my classmates. “Are you alright?” Asked Iida as he begins to approach the desk, “just peachy. Silently panicking but peachy.” I answer and I immediately regret that second sentence for now I am bombarded by questions by the rest of the class, even Aizawa peeked his head up from his sleeping bag, the question evident on his face.

I had to assure them multiple times that it’s nothing but none of them drop it & had even more vigor to keep pressing after I pinned Mineta to the ceiling with surikins when he got near my bag. I had to give in if I want to keep them out of my hair, “alright alright. You win.” I groan and they all had the glow of triumph as I summon the gift from the pocket dimension and into my open hand. “If you all must know I am a little afraid that Izuku won’t like my gift.” I admitted they all look at it star struck as I had the wrapping paper that of the stars in the night sky and the ribbon of the sun burning bright, “what is it?” Asked Ochako resisting the urge to poke it and see if it’ll snap at her, “a few things really.” I answer I then make vanish as it is not finished yet. Thank god that Midoriya came through the door before there was a further grilling. I got the stares of ‘this isn’t over’ from everyone.

We went through the day as usual and then everyone began giving Midoriya his gifts. I waited to be last because anxiety is fun. Once I plucked up the courage and smack Katsuki into the ground after calling him a nerd, I go up to him with the now full gift in hand and hand it to him. Any or all heroes that are present are astounded by this for no one in the [redacted] family has given anyone a gift outside their family. Not even my mother. With the most confident voice I can muster, “happy birthday Izuku Midoriya.” I say with a big smile, silently praising every divine that my voice didn’t shake or wobble, He smiles at me and says equally joyful, “thanks!” We all then went our separate ways. Myself into the unknown as the rest gather around the birthday boy to see what I had given him.

I wonder how he likes the All Might both his buff form and true form in the Sunlight Crusader figurine standing back to back as well as a few things All Might themed that do a lot more than they seemed. And as a finishing touch, a small Deku portrait with the same importance as the tapestries within The Archive walls.

I hold a lot of secrets. And I’ll be damned if I’m gonna let anyone, hero or villain get in my way.

((I know that I might be a little late to the party. Wrote the story on my phone. But happy belated birthday Izuku. Hope you like the story))

[nalu-week]

Just Beautiful

NaLu Week Bonus Day- Gothic

Up till now, all she had experienced in life was unhappiness from behind a gilded cage because her father had kept her sequestered, no tv, no cell phone, and limited internet access.  Studying and prepping her for the rigors of the business world was all he cared about because to him, she was just a means to continue the family company.  But now he wasn’t around to monitor what she did so like an animal being released from its cage, all that repression channeled into a rebellious attitude and style that was far removed from the pink Princess good girl image he had tried to groom.               

She and the company was left in the care of his father’s main partner Capricorn along with her maid Virgo to prepare her to one day take over as CEO.  But by the time she turned 16, they had watched as Lucy’s whole being changed and turned inward.  Most of her days were spent glued to dark internet chatrooms and blogs where teenagers like her could vent about their lives.  Streaks of dark purple weaved through her beautiful golden hair… Her clothing choices grow darker; black leather, corsets, straps, boots… A choke chain around her neck…  dark colored nails… Heavy lipstick, eyeliner and shadow…  Music blares through the walls of her room, sounds they can’t even understand; screaming, ominous, foreboding melodies.    

The pretty little emo goth…  

Whenever her guardians tried to talk to her about going out, making friends; she just wants to be left alone she’d always scream at them.  But they know they can’t do that for her sake… 

“Miss Lucy, you’ve only known the walls of this house, you’ve no friends to talk to and I don’t count the people online, maybe experiencing life as a regular teenager will be good for you.”

“Capricorn, does it look like I want to do anything of the sort!”

“Well we’ve already enrolled you at Magnolia High.  It’s a couple of cities away where no one will know who you are.  A house is set up for us there and you’ll be starting next school year.”

“I can’t believe you did that Virgo!  Who told you it would be okay?!!”

“As your guardian’s it is our duty to do what is best for you until you turn 18 whether you like it or not.”

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

“Class we have a new student joining us,” Lucy stands frowning next to Mrs. Connell, “Her name is Lucy Ashley, please make her feel welcomed.”  “Lucy I’d like you to sit next to Natsu, he’ll be your partner for the year.”  She points at an open chair next to a pink haired boy.

“Ugh, great.”  She plods over and drops onto the open chair immediately putting her head down.  She has no desire to be here, and even less willingness to interact with anyone let alone a boy. 

Natsu rolls his eyes, ‘how the hell could Mrs. Connell be so cruel!’  His friend Gray snickers at him to which he responds with a classic finger wave.  Other students around the room whisper amongst themselves, especially the girls.  Natsu is a popular guy and to be stuck with the weird goth girl; to them it was so, so wrong.

For the rest of the period, Lucy doesn’t say anything to anyone.  Burying her nose in the textbook, she does her work and as soon as the bell rings, grabs her stuff and walks out.  She finds a picnic table in the quad area and opens her book; reading has been the one comfort in her life where she could run away from her reality and into somewhere make believe. 

“Mrs. Connell got you good huh, sticking you with that girl.”  The two friends walk through campus.

“Ugh, I know; that friggin’ witch.”

“I have to say under all that black she’d be pretty.”

“Why don’t you take her as your partner then?”

“Nope, Juvia would kill me if I did or her.”

“Tch.”  They keep walking.  “Look… It’s her.”  Natsu points to the picnic tables.  Virgo had dressed her that morning after a fight and some concessions.  The final outcome; a dark red corset top, black cropped jacket with bell sleeves, matching skirt, and black 4inch heeled ankle boots.  Her shoulder length hair is half up in two spikey buns with some long bangs framing the sides of her face.  Dark red lipstick and nails.  ‘I do like the color she’s wearing.…’ he thinks to himself. 

Gray pushes his friend from behind, “Go talk to her.”

But Natsu plants his feet and pushes back, “What makes you think she’d want to be bothered?  She didn’t say jack to me in class.”

“Man, she’s new, don’t know anybody, don’t know you yet.”  He stops pushing and punches his friends shoulder.  “What’d she got to talk about unless you give her something”

“I don’t know…”

“She’s a challenge to crack and I’ve never seen you back down from a challenge.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Just sayin, that girl obviously needs a friend; you’re stuck with her at least in English class for the year, so you might as well try to make the best of it.”

After just a couple of days of silence Natsu can’t take it anymore and tries to strike up conversations with the quiet goth.  Mostly he gets yes or no with a few short answers in between.  But she did ask him one question, why does he wear a scarf when it’s not winter time.  He’s surprised to find out this Lucy girl is only a Sophomore but is in their Junior English because well, she’s pretty smart.  On the other hand, English is the one subject he absolutely hates so apparently, Mrs. Connell had put them together for a reason. 

Two weeks into the school year, it’s Monday again and for once her outfit is almost semi-normal; maybe because the weather was a little warmer that day.  A red and black plaid sundress with black leather straps and her hair is left down; but her make up is still the same, dark red lipstick and a heavy shadow. 

“I hope you’re ready for this class, it’s your first major assignment.” Mrs. Connell walks around the classroom handing out papers to the groans of several students.  “Along with your partners you are to collaborate on a research paper that will be due two weeks from today.” Finished handing out the papers, she walks back to the front of the class.  “The main topic may come from any period between ancient history till the middle ages.”  She writes two words on the board and points to it, “Famous Couple.  Your research paper should answer the questions I’ve listed on the assignment sheet.  Any questions?”

“Does it matter if the couple is real or not?”

“Yes, they should be real, historical figures, no couples from fairytales.  Any other questions?”  Silence from the room.  “Take the rest of the class period to decide on your topic and plan your work out.” 

Natsu sits back in his chair, “This sucks.  Why a paper so soon in the year!” he whines.  “Ugh, I was warned she’s a tough teacher; I bet she was an outlaw in her former life.”

“It’s not that bad,” Lucy whispers, “Look…”  He leans over and reads as she writes out the basic steps.  ‘Pick your topic, research the topic, write outline, rough draft, final draft’  “…See, easy.  First thing is we need to pick a couple to write about.”

He looks at her, “Yeah, easy for you maybe.  I don’t even know of any couples to choose from.”

“Well,” she taps her chin, “There’s Marcus Antony and Cleopatra.  Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn…”

“Ooh, what about Romeo and Juliet…”

“They aren’t real.”

“Oh.  Bummer.”

“There’s Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal…”

“Who?”

“Have you heard of the Taj Mahal?”

“The place in India.”

“Um yeah, Shah Jahan was the ruler and he built that for his wife.  Or how about Akhenaten and Nefertiti?”

“Okay, at least I’ve heard of them before from movies.”

She sighs, “Let’s stick with them.”  As she scribbles their names on the paper.

“Hey Luce?”  he leans in closer to her.  “Know what?”

“My name is Lucy.”

“I know, but I like Luce better.  So, do you realize something?”

“What’s that?”

“You’re being nice to me.” He grins, “And I think this is the most I’ve heard you talk, like ever.”

“I’m not trying to be mean… I just don’t like getting close to people.”

“That’s sad…”

“If I don’t get close to anyone, I can’t get hurt when they eventually leave.”

He just stares at her.  There’s likely a reason she feels that way but he doubts she’d tell him, so to break the awkward silence, he changes the subject.  “How about you come over to my house after school and we can start working on this stuff.”

She pauses, “I don’t know if I’d be comfortable with that…”

“We need to work together on this, and we only have a couple weeks to get it done.  My parents will probably be working but my sister will be home if that helps.”

“You have a sister?”

“Yeah,” he gives her a big smile.  “A little sister named Wendy.  She’s in middle school.”

“I guess it’ll be okay…”

“Great!  Give me your number and I’ll text you the address.”  She scribbles her number on a piece of paper and hands it to him.  He takes out his phone and sends her his address.  “If it’s easier, I could just meet you at the front of the school and we could walk to my house.”

“That would probably be better.”  The bell rings. 

Gathering up their belongings, “Okay, remember, afterschool.”  She nods at him.

On the way to his house, Natsu’s in a good mood now that he’s finally making some progress with the mysterious girl.  “I don’t mean to pry Luce, but why do you think people will eventually leave you?”

“Because they do.  People die, relationships break up…”

“Did something happen to you?”

She looks away, “my mom died when I was little, and my dad died last year.”

He stops walking, “I’m sorry.  I didn’t think…”

She waves her hand, “Don’t trouble yourself.  I only have vague memories of my mother and my dad, well let’s just say we weren’t close.” 

“Still, I feel like kind of an ass for even asking.”

“It’s not your fault.”

As soon as they reach the modest Dragneel home, a blue ball of fur comes running from the kitchen.  “What’s that?”  Lucy asks

“A cat,” he looks at her strangely, “for a smart girl, how do you not know what a cat is?”

“I know what a cat is but it’s blue?  Isn’t that kind of weird?”

He picks up the purring feline, “Says the girl with purple in her hair… right Happy?”

She’s about to respond when a girls’ voice calls out from another room.  “Natsu?  Is that you?”

“Yeah Wendy, it’s me.”

A pretty young girl with long blue hair walks around the corner of the hallway.  “Natsu…  Oh hi, I didn’t know he had company.”

“Wendy, this is my friend Lucy.  Luce, this is the little sister I told you about.”

Wendy- “You’re girlfriend?”

Both Natsu and Lucy blush.  “N-no” he responds, “She’s my English partner.”

Lucy- “We have to work on a research paper.”

“Oh” Wendy giggles, “Sorry I just got excited that maybe he finally managed to get a girlfriend.”

“Ugh!” he puts the cat down and grabs his sister. “What do you mean finally!” he starts tickling her.  “I can get a girlfriend if I want to!”

Wendy’s giggles turn shrieks fill the room, “Stop!  Please!” she’s laughing so hard her stomach starts to tighten, “I was just teasing!”

He stops his torture, “You just wait till you have a boyfriend, I’m gonna have so much fun getting you back!”

“Better not!” cries Wendy

“You know I will!” he laughs.  “But as much as I could keep messing with ya, we need to start studying.  Will you be okay by yourself Wendy?”

“I’m not a little kid anymore.” She crosses her arms. 

He pats her head, “To me you’ll always be a little kid.  Come on Luce, my rooms this way.” He grabs her hand and pulls her down the hall.  After seeing how he is with his sister she thinks, maybe he’s not such a bad guy…

They start off just staring at Natsu’s laptop to research their topic but it quickly becomes apparent to Lucy that he won’t be of much help unless she makes him work so she hands him her Macbook Pro, “I’ll do the leg work, you type out the notes I tell you.”

“Do I have to?” he whines. 

“That cute face isn’t going to work on me.”

He grins, “You think I’m cute?”

Her cheeks turn pink, “I-I didn’t say you were cute!” she stammers.  “I meant the act you’re putting on!”

“It’s okay if you think I’m cute,” he smirks, “cause I think I’m quite adorable!”

She rolls her eyes, “Oh brother.  Then Mr. Adorable,” she shoves the tablet in his hand, “get to work.”

“Fine.” He pouts while opening the screen, “I’ll win you over one of these days.”

“Uh-huh…” she mutters, fingers already whizzing through websites.  ‘he is kind of adorable…’        

~~Tuesday~~

The next day at lunch, she’s reading again in the quad when two guys walk up to her. 

Rogue- “Excuse me, Lucy?”

She looks up at the dark-haired male, “Yes?”

“Hey, um.  My friend and I were wondering if we could sit and hang out.”

“Why?”

Sting- “What he means to say is he thinks your cute and can he talk to you.”

She closes her book, “Come again?” she looks first at the blonde with one earring and then turns back to the first male.

“I’m Rogue, this is my friend Sting.” They sit across from her.  “Don’t mind Sting, his mouth doesn’t come with a filter.”

“Look, I’m not really interested…”

Rogue- “I think we have some things in common.”

“Such as?”

Sting- “Goth.  Just look at him, he’s into the music, the clothes… just like you.”

“Well actually, I wouldn’t call myself a goth.”

Rogue- “Neither would I.  We just happen to like the darker side of things, right?”

“And what about you,” she looks at Sting, “You into the goth scene?”

“Nah, I’m just here for moral support.  You see Rogue, he’s kinda shy with ladies but I looove talkin’ with them!”

“Look I’m not interested in any relationships right now.”

Rogue- “Neither am I,” he lies, “I just thought you could use a friend, one that might understand you more than other students here.”

Sting stands up, “Oh look, my girlfriend.” he lies.  “Rogue, I’ll see you later.  Nice meeting ya Blondie.”

“Lucy.”

“Whatever,” he waves as he runs off.

“So, what are you reading?”

“Prince Lestant.”

“Anne Rice huh; I haven’t had a chance to read this one yet but I heard he has a son in it?”

“Yeah, they were able to figure out a way for vampires to produce offspring.”

“I think Blackwood Farm was my favorite, though I like all of her stuff.”

“Really…”

That afternoon she’s back at Natsu’s to do more research and her conversation with Rogue has put her in a decent mood. 

“Good day today?”

“Yes actually, I made a new friend.”

“Oh… Who’s that?” expecting a girl’s name

“Rogue Cheney.”

Annoyance in his tone. “Sting’s friend?!”

“Um, yeah, that’s him.  Why?”

“It’s nothing.” He mutters and turns back to what he’s working on.

She looks at him curiously, ‘Is it me or does he sound irritated?’  “Then why are you quiet all of a sudden?” 

“It’s nothing.  He’s an okay guy.  I’ve known them both for a few years.” He responds without looking up.

“We have similar interests, that’s all…  You know, if I didn’t know better, you sound a little bitter that I was talking to a guy.”

“Me?  No…  W-why would I be, you can talk to whoever you want to.”  She continues to stare at him.  His eyebrows are furrowed and a frown still on his face.  “What is it Luce, I’m trying to concentrate.”

‘He’s lying to me…’  “Alright, well he wants to hang out sometime…” She sees Natsu’s mouth open as if he is gonna speak.  “…but I told him I’m busy so I’ll just see him around in school.”  He lowers his head further to hide it but she can see a smile form… 

~~Wednesday~~

The following day Sting corners Natsu outside of their English class.  “Hey pinky, I heard Lucy’s been at your house every night this week.”

“And, so what Playboy, we’ve got this damn research paper to work on.”

“Are you guys hooking up?”

Natsu narrows his eyes, “Why do you care Sting?”

“That wasn’t a no.”

“That wasn’t a yes either.”

“Look my friend likes her and I just wanna know if he’s got competition.”  Sting sees Natsu’s eye twitch.

“Lucy doesn’t want a boyfriend right now so Rogue might as well give up before he starts.”

Sting probes. “And how do you know that?”

“I just get that vibe from her.”

 “Are you sure you’re not just sayin’ that,” Sting taps his finger on Natsu’s chest, “cause maybe you’ve got the hots for her?”

“When have you seen me interested in goth girls?”

“Dude, I’ve never seen you with any girl.”

“That’s because I’d rather wait for someone special.  Now if you don’t mind, class is gonna start.”  Natsu walks pushes past.  Sting just smirks.  ‘He does have a crush on her!’

That afternoon, Lucy is on Natsu’s bed working on the outline for the paper while he just sits watching over her shoulder.  He’s so close she can feel every breath that he takes, the warm air tickling the back of her neck.

“Natsu, personal space; ever heard of it?”

“Yeah, you’re in my personal space, it’s my room remember?”

Sigh, “that’s not what I meant.”

“I know,” he leans back against the wall chuckling.  “I’m just messin with ya.”   “So, um Luce, I was wondering, if you’re willing to share, how did your mom pass away?”

She stops typing and looks at him, “She died of cancer.”

“What about your dad?”

“Heart attack.”

He’s a little taken aback by her bluntness.  “Well, did I ever tell you I’m adopted?”

A surprised tone in her voice, “No, you’ve never mentioned it before.”

“My sister is too.”

“What happened to your birth parents?”

“No clue.  The adoption agency wouldn’t tell us much, only that she died in child birth and my father I guess couldn’t cope with it all.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Don’t be, I’ve got awesome adoptive parents and a sister; I couldn’t be happier.” He smiles.  “Well…” a blush forming, “I could be happier…” he gazes intently at her. 

She stares back for a second before turning away, her cheeks are warming up.  “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“I appreciate beautiful things…”

“I’m not beautiful.” She can feel her heart speeding up

“You’re right…”

“I am?”  She looks up

“You’re gorgeous.”  Now she’s really blushing

“Y-you’re just trying to charm me.”

He smirks, “Is it working?”

‘Maybe…’   “No!”  He pouts and she quickly turns her head again when she feels her cheeks flushing brighter, ‘Damn it, he needs to stop doing adorable shit!’ 

“Then why are you blushing, Luce?” he teases her

Sigh, “Why are you trying so hard Natsu?  I’m sure you could get any girl you wanted in that school…”

“I don’t want just any girl.  I’m looking for the right girl…  Isn’t that what we all want in life?”

“Perfection doesn’t exist.”

“You don’t need to be perfect, that’s quite frankly boring.”

She smiles in her head…. 

~~~~

Thursday’s weather is gloomy so she goes to the library on her lunch break to read instead of the open quad.    

“That’s a good story.”

“I’m sorry?”  Lucy turns around to find a blue haired girl smiling at her.  “Are you talking to me?”

The girl nods, “I’m Levy.  Pleased to meet you.”  She offers a hand to shake.

“Lucy.”  Reciprocating the gesture.

“I like Anne Rice too, I love how she humanizes the vampires in her stories, makes them characters anyone can relate to.”

“Yeah,” Lucy half smiles.  “I agree. 

“Do you have a favorite character?”

“Um, Maharet.  I identify with how she’s been through so much in her life…”

“Yet she still managed to hang onto her sanity.  My favorite is Marius, I guess because he’s in a way scholarly.”  Lucy chuckles at the girl.  Levy sits down next to her, “Rumor has it you and Natsu are an item, is that true?”

“W-what!?  He’s just my partner in English class.”

“Yeah but people are talking about how you’re at his house every night.”

“To work on a research paper…”

“Hey look, I really don’t care… but I should warn you…” She looks around to make sure no one is eavesdropping.  “…There’s this girl, Lisanna.  She’s had the hots for Natsu for years but he always turns her down.  She can be a real bitch so just be careful.”

“Thanks… I guess.”

A rather large guy covered in metal piercings walks up, “Oi, Pipsqueak, let’s go, I’m hungry.” 

“Hold on Gajeel, I’m talking to someone.”

“Who’s he?”

“My boyfriend.  Don’t mind him, he acts tough,” Levy leans in closer, “But he’s really a big teddy bear.” she whispers

Crossing his arms, “I heard that.”

Lucy’s taken aback at the odd pair, the girl looks like a bookworm and he belongs in a heavy metal band.  “Um, okay…”

“Anyways, if you’d ever like to hang out, talk about books or something give me a call.”  She hands Lucy her number.

“Thanks, I’ll remember that.”

“It was nice meeting you Lucy.”

“Like wise, Levy.”

~~~~

Friday is finally here and just 8 more hours of school.  This week has had its up’s; she’s made two new friends, and her assignment with Natsu is going well.  In a good mood that morning, she’s thrown on a cuter outfit than usual, a Kei Jrock Japanese black and rose red skort, fitted black tube top with a long sleeve frilled jacket that matches the skirt.  She’s got her hair half up in pigtails and her bangs are left down to frame her face; Oshare kei.  Even her make up is a little brighter than usual.

Second period Chemistry, Natsu walks in with a smile and sits down next to his best friend Gray.

Gray- “Hey, you’ve been in a good mood lately.”

“What’s the big deal?”

“Does it have anything to do with that Lucy chick?”

“No.  What makes you say that?”

“She’s been over your house every day, anything, interesting happen…”

Natsu’s cheeks flush, “Not what you’re implying, we just work on the assignment.”

“Uh-huh, you tellin’ me you haven’t tried anything?”

“Look man, she’s very guarded about her life, doesn’t like getting close to people.  She lost her mom to cancer when she was a little kid and her dad died last year; that’s pretty tough to deal with.”

“It sure sounds like you two are growing closer.”

“Well she talks more, if that’s what you mean.”

“You know, rumors are starting to spread that you two are hooking up.”

“Let the gossip mill run, it doesn’t bother me.”

“What about her?  Some of the girls are calling her a slut.”

“What!” he almost shouts.  “She’s nothing like that!”

“Look, I’m just tellin’ ya what’s being said okay.  You know girls how they talk, they get jealous and say stupid things.”

“It’s not my fault or hers that I’ve never been interested in any of them.  But I don’t know what it is about Luce that makes me want to be around her.  She’s had a sad upbringing and… like I just wanna make her happy again, I wanna protect her.”

“Luce?  Oh man!  You’ve already got a nickname for her!” he slaps his friend in the back.  “You’re fallin’ for this one aren’t ya?”

“I don’t know… Maybe…”

Last period of the day for Lucy, she sighs as she walks into Art class and takes her seat in the middle.  Midway through the lesson she hears two girls talking behind her; Sherry Blendy and Jenny Realight; two of the most popular girls in school.  ‘Ugh!’ she laments in her head.  Most days she just ignores them but today’s conversation is meaner than usual.

“I know right, just look at what she’s wearing.” 

“Looks like something you buy at Kmart.”  Snickering.  “Stupid punk girl, she should just find another school to go to.”

“Yeah, she’s doesn’t fit in here.  Have you heard, she’s been spotted at Natsu’s house!”

“How the hell did she land him after he’s turned all of us down!  Wow, Lisanna’s gonna be pissed.”

“Maybe she’s some kind of witch and he’s under her spell.”

“Must be, I mean look at her and look at us, she’s not even in his league.”

“Or maybe she’s just a whore.” More snickering

“I’d say slut cause I’ve seen her with Rogue too.”

“Damn she gets around.  Minerva’s not gonna like that.  Double trouble!”  they giggle

Lucy can’t believe what she’s hearing.  Being teased about her clothes or looks is one thing but to be called a whore, a slut, a witch!… She wants to run out of the room but that would only give them the satisfaction of hurting her.  She holds back the tears but as soon as the bell rings she walks out and texts Natsu.

“IDK if I can study today.”

“Y not?”

“Don’t wanna talk bout it” the tears are starting to build.

“Something happen??”

She’s trying to rush to the front door.  “just don’t wanna…”  someone grabs her shoulder, she whips around.

“Luce, are you okay?”  It’s Natsu and he can see the glassiness to her eyes. 

“It’s nothing.”  She tries to walk away but he stays in step with her.

“You’re not okay.  I can see it in your face.”

“I just want to get out of here!”  A single tear trickles down her cheek, she speeds up her pace but he’s not gonna let her go that easily. 

By the time they reach the sidewalk fronting the school he manages to grab her arm to stop her.  “Luce, please just talk to me!”

“I don’t want to…”  She looks around at some students that have stopped to gawk at them.  “…not around these people.”   

“That’s fine, we can go somewhere private.  Just don’t shut me out.”

“Natsu why are you being so nice to me?”

“Because you’re my friend and I don’t like seeing my friends in pain.” 

She looks at him surprised. “You consider me a friend?”

“Of course!” he smiles his cheeky grin.  “There’s an ice cream stand in South Gate Park and you look like you could use a cone.”

Sigh, “Alright Natsu….”

He throws an arm around her shoulder and leads the way.

After getting two cones, they walk to his house talking along the way about minor things but he doesn’t broach the subject that upset her until they are safely in his room.  “So… are you gonna tell me what happened today?”

Sigh, “If I don’t tell you, are you gonna keep asking?”

“Yes.”  The serious tone in his voice surprises her in a good way.

Sigh, “Two girls were talking about me in art class,” Tears are welling up again.  “They often make fun of my clothes or makeup but today they were really mean, sayin’ I must be a witch and I’ve got you under a sp-spell.”  She weeps openly.  “They don’t under-under-s-stand w-why you’re ha-hanging with me but they a-also saw me with Rogue a-and I’m a wh-whore and-and-and a slut!”  Her chest is heaving from the heavy sobs.  “That I’m n-not in your league and…”

She stiffens when he pulls her onto his lap and into a tight hug but he doesn’t care cause she needs it.  “Luce don’t listen to those girls, they’re just jealous, heartless bitches who are mad cause I’ve turned them all down.”

“It still… hu-hurts…”  After several minutes of just letting her sob onto his shoulder her tears finally start to slow down and she has relaxed in his arms.  He looks down to see if she’d fallen asleep but her eyes are open, staring forward as if she’s thinking about something.  “I know people think I’m weird…” she sniffles.  “They look at how I dress or at my makeup…  But I just wanted to be different from my old self…”

He softens his tone, “What do you mean?”

“My mother would always dress me up like some kind of princess, and my father only allowed me to wear preppy, proper, boring clothes that he hand-picked himself.  So, after his death, I guess I just wanted to rebel against everything and everyone.”

“It’s okay to be different Luce, it’s what makes us all unique.” He tightens his embrace.  “And I know that what’s happening right now; you being here with me has caused some rumors to start going around but we know the truth, right?” 

“Yeah…”  she yawns.

“We’re just trying to write this paper for English class…” 

“Mmhm…”     

“We know there’s nothing going on between us……”  he pauses.  “…cause… you don’t have any interest in me… right?”  She stays quiet.   “Right?”  She still doesn’t say a word.  “Luce?”  he looks down and chuckles.  She fell asleep.

Two hours later a light mumbling sound causes her to stir… ‘Luce… stay…’ tightening feeling around her waist… ‘like y…’  Her eyes pop open in a slight panic; the room is dark now except from the moonlight.  ‘Did I fall asleep at Natsu’s?’  There is light snoring behind her and an arm around her waist holding her tightly.  She lifts her head to see a glimpse of pink hair.  ‘Shit! I did, was that him mumbling?’

Feeling her moving, he starts to wake up. “Luce?” he responds groggily.

She crawls out from under his arm and stands up.  “You were talking in your sleep… and why were you holding me like that?!” 

He sits up, “Talking?  Holding you like what?”

“Y-you had your arm around me, like-like…”

“A boyfriend?”

“Yes!  Like that.”

“I don’t know,” he scratches his head and yawns, “After you fell asleep I laid you down on the bed, and then I guess I fell asleep too.”

“That doesn’t explain you holding me.”

“I must have done that in my sleep.” He lies.  “I’m sorry I didn’t mean to overstep any boundaries.”

She sighs and sits on the edge of the bed, “It’s okay.  I think I’m just over reacting, especially after the comments from today…”

“Are you sure you’re okay…”

“Yeah.  Natsu… Um, I think you were saying ‘Luce stay’ and something about ‘like’ but I couldn’t understand the rest.” 

‘Oh crap I was talking about her!’  His cheeks turn red but luckily for him she can’t see it in the darkened room.  “I don’t remember, I must have been dreaming.”

She raises an eyebrow, she knows he was talking about her but didn’t hear enough to make sense of it.  “Well it’s getting late, I better call my ride.”  Standing up.  “Natsu.  Thanks for today.”

“You’re welcome.”  She grabs her school bag and is about to walk out.  “Wait Luce?”  She stops and turns.  “Do you have plans tomorrow?”

“No why?”

“Would you, um, wanna maybe…”

“Spit it out already.”

“Hang out with me at the mall?”

“The mall?”

“Yeah.  I need to, um, pick up some stuff, but the company would be nice.”

“I don’t know…”

“Please???”

“Alright.”

“Really?”

“What time?”

“Do you wanna meet here first and we can walk over?”

“Why don’t I just have my driver pick you up?”

“You have a driver?”

“Err, I mean my guardian… We can pick you up.”

“Sure, I’ll just have to take my pills but I should be okay; how about 10 am.”’

“Pills?”

“For motion sickness.  I don’t do well in moving vehicles.”

“Oh.  Ok, Well I’ll see you tomorrow Natsu.” She gives a slight wave and walks out.

“Bye Luce.”

~~Saturday~~

By 8 am Lucy’s up and nervous.  ‘Why’d I agree to go to the mall with him!’  She screams at herself.  ‘What do I wear?  Should I dress like I normally do?  Then I’d run the risk of being harassed…  But if I don’t then am I being true to myself?  Ugh, lately who I am has been a big question mark anyways!  Sigh.’  As she throws outfit after outfit around her Virgo walks in. 

“Princess, are you having a problem?”

“Could you stop calling me that??”

“Mistress, what are you doing?  Why are there clothes all over the floor?”

“Because I don’t know what I should wear!” she stomps her feet

“For once you’re considering dressing normal aren’t you?”

“Maybe…  Ugh, are you gonna just smirk or help me?!”

“Well you burned or threw away most of your old clothes.” Virgo starts searching the closet.  “How about these, it’s simple…”  she holds up a regular pair of flared leg blue jeans and a red tube top.    

“I guess that’ll have to do.”

After getting ready, Lucy pulls her hair into a single high ponytail and puts on black 3inch ankle boots.  Her customary red lipstick, but more of a strawberry color instead of the darker burgundies she normal sports, pink eye shadow and just a light black eyeliner for definition.  Frankly she looked like a different girl.  Sigh, as she stares at the mirror, ‘hopefully I’ll just blend in like this…��  

Natsu is already running down the sidewalk as the car pulls up.  Reaching over, Lucy opens the door for him from the inside and he hops in.  “Hey Lu…” He smiles before realizing… “Whoa, you look so different!” 

“Geez, hi to you too.”

“No, I mean it in a good way!”

“I just don’t wanna be harassed today that’s all… and I know how I normally dress attracts attention.”

He shrugs his shoulders, “I’m used to it.  You look pretty to me either way.”  Virgo smirks from the driver’s seat, she knows their plan is finally panning out.  She drops the two teens off in front of the mall and tells them to call her when they are ready to leave. 

“Okay Natsu, what was it you needed to do here?”

“Oh…” he cups the back of his neck.  “About that… I kinda just blurted out mall cause I couldn’t think of anywhere else in that moment.”

“Seriously?”

“I just wanted to hang out with you some more…”

Sigh, “What do we do here?  I’ve never just hung out at a mall before.”

“Seriously?  Well, um we could go window shopping, see a movie, there’s the food court…”  he grabs her hand.  “Let’s just walk around for now, maybe something will catch your eye.”

“You can let go of my hand though.”

“Wouldn’t want to lose you in the crowd.” He grins.  “Just have some fun Luce!”

The first store he drags her into is a GameStop where he’s jabbering about some new video game called Breath of the Wild she has no interest in.  After that they take turns.  She pulls him into a bookstore, the last place he’d ever shop at so he forces her into a Zumiez to check out their snowboard gear.  Having fun with this cat and mouse game she gets him back by dragging him to a Victoria Secret. 

“N-no way!  I’m not going in there with you!”  he crosses his arms.

“Why not…” she pouts

“It’s lingerie!”

“What’s the big deal, even guys wear underwear.”

“That’s not the same thing.  This is like lacy, frilly stuff.”  She laughs and pouts.  “Nope, Sorry, that cute face is not gonna work on me.”

Standing in front of him she runs a finger along the middle of his chest.  “Come on,” she leans close, “I know there’s stuff in there you’d love to see on me…”

He turns bright red, “Lucy, a-are you flirting with me?!”

“If I am, then you better take advantage before I change my mind.”

He drops his head, “If I get caught in there, the guys are never gonna let it slide.  But.  Since I like seeing you smile, I’ll do it.”

She takes his hand and pulls him into the store heading straight for reds and lacy cause she knows it’s his favorite color.  As she grabs some items to try on, holding the clothing against her body, she’d ask along the way, “Does this look nice?  How about this one?”  He’d give her short answers because he was trying not to look in the first place or rather imagine them on her.  But after choosing several she does exactly what he feared.  “I’m gonna try these on.”  Grabbing his hand again she leads him towards the dressing rooms.

“You are crazy, I can’t go in there!” he whispers.

“Yes, you can, I need you to tell me if they look okay or not.”

“No.”

A clerk walks up.  “Ah Ms. Lucy, I’m surprised to see you here during business hours.” 

“Oh hey Trevor, yeah I’m just shopping with a friend.”

“Shall I show you to the private rooms?”

“Yes please.”  Trevor leads the way

“Come on Natsu.” She pulls him along, “Please…”  She whines, “Don’t cause a scene.”

“Of all the times to…” as he shuffles his feet, “Luce are you trying to kill me?” he whispers but she just smiles.  Trevor opens one of the separate rooms reserved for specialty guests and she pushes Natsu in.  The man just chuckles at the pair and walks away. 

She gives him a sweet smile.  “You’ve never seen a naked girl before have you?” He blushes.  “Thought so.”

“How come you know that guy and why’d he say during business hours?  Do you come here after the store is closed?  And this room, it’s not one of the normal dressing rooms is it”

“Oh um… I know the owner of the store, o-old family friend…”  he can tell she’s lying but decides not to push.

“Just sit there, close your eyes if you want to.” and that’s exactly what he does.  Lucy starts to hum a little as she undresses and changes into the first bra and panties.  “Okay open your eyes now.”

“No.”

She leans down in front of him and forces his eyelids open.  “Holy shit!”  He has to quickly grip the chair to keep from falling off when the first vision that he sees is large breasts in his face. 

“What?!”     

“Don’t do that!”

“Do what?!”

“Stick your chest in my face when I’m not expecting it.”

“Oh,” she giggles, “Sorry I was just trying to open your eyes.  So?”  She stands straight and models for him, “How does it look?”

His eyes widen as something in his pants starts growing.  ‘Shit!!!!’  He snaps his eyes shut, “Looks great, buy it, let’s get out of here!”

“But I still have 2 more to try on.”

He sighs, “Luce I-I can’t do this, it was funny at first, embarrassing but funny, but now…  You…”  Exhale.  “…You’re a pretty girl and I’m a guy who likes..; don’t you realize how much of a turn on this is?”

She stares at the red-faced boy blinking.  All this time she thought he was just being charming, even the comments about being beautiful; she never took it seriously that he might have real feelings for her.  “I’m sorry Natsu, I didn’t realize you looked at me in that way.”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

“No one else does.  Everyone thinks I’m just the weird girl.”

He opens his eyes but quickly slams them shut again, “But no one else has gotten to know you like I have.”  Exhale.  “I’m glad that you can come out of your shell around me, I really do.  I love seeing what is probably the real you, but unless you have feelings for me too, this is just torture.”

Without saying another word and feeling like a total idiot she turns around and immediately changes back to her regular clothes.  Leaving the items on the go back rack, they leave the store without a purchase.

She looks down as she walks, “Maybe I should just go home.”

“Why?”

“I feel like a witch for putting you through that.”

“Luce don’t.  I’m fine.” He grabs her hand, “Let’s go do something else.  How about lunch?  Are you hungry yet?”

“Not really…”

“Hey.” He stops her and lifts her chin, “I didn’t mean to make you sad, and torture was too a strong of a word.” He squeezes her hand, “Please, stop worrying…” he searches her eyes. “…will you do that for me?”  His green eyes are hypnotizing her; she nods her head.  He smiles and puts his arm around her shoulder.  “How about Arby’s?”

~~Sunday~~

Sigh, ‘Girl what is going on in your head?!’  She lies in her bed trying to listen to music but despite the noise, her own thoughts are drowning it out.  ‘I think Natsu likes me…  No way, he’d probably get turned on by any naked girl standing in front of him.  I shouldn’t get my hopes up, I mean what about me would a guy like him want anyways?  Right, he’s better matched to one of the popular girls like Jenny… But he said he doesn’t like them, called them bitches.  Ugh!  It’s for his own good to leave me alone.  I mean he must be getting teased just for hanging out with me…  Except for English I think it’d be better for the two of to stop talking…’

He’s been lying in bed all morning without being able to get the images out his mind.  ‘Fuck!!!  Her body was just….Wow!’  He puts his arms above his head.  ‘I can’t believe she did that!…’  A new determination strikes him, ‘I’ve gotta make her mine!’

~~Monday~~

Mrs. Connell had given them their daily assignment to read the chapter about Romeo & Juliet and answer a few questions in the text book before she stepped out of the classroom.  “Come on; just give me one smile Luce.” He whispers to her.

“Why?”  She tries to keep reading

“Cause it’s pretty and you know I like to see beautiful things.”

Looking at him now, “Is that supposed to be a pickup line?”

“Worked on you before,” he grins.  “Come on, I’m being genuine here, Scouts honor” he puts up two fingers

She cocks her head, “What’s scouts honor?”

“Um, Boy Scouts…” she shakes her head, “you’ve never heard of it?” she shakes her head again

“No…. I was sheltered remember.” 

“Right.  Back to the smile then.”

Sigh, she puts her book down and props up her head with her hand looking at him.  “You just aren’t gonna give up are you?”

“Nope.”  He gives her the best puppy dog cutesy face he can muster.  “Pleeeeeasssse!”

She panics and covers his mouth, “Ugh fine!  If it’ll stop you from embarrassing me.” and gives him a fake half smile. 

His face grows serious, “No way, a genuine one.”

“Hey” she shouts before catching herself, “you didn’t set terms!”

“Then I guess I’ll need to change my tactics.”  She looks at the grinning boy confused but that quickly changes to shock when he grabs her left hand.  Leaning in closer to the side of her face he starts to softly whisper…  “I see past the façade you paint, the dark clothes upon your skin for beneath it all is a smart, beautiful woman waiting to be released…” his thumb rubs gently against her hand “…if only you’d see, what I can see…” a slight blush is developing on her cheeks “…a young woman who has been through something that causes her to hide.  But even if you lose everything, something remains and what I see is a star…” He moves his face so he can look directly into her now glassy eyes “…that when she is ready will burn brighter than any other star in the heavens…” the genuine blushing smile now on her face makes him smile “See, I told you… beautiful…” he caresses her cheek. 

They continue to gaze into each other’s eyes as if a spell had been placed upon them; almost forgetting they were in the middle of English class.  But the sudden realization of how quiet their classmates had become… too quiet, sets in for them both; they look around to see everyone gawking at them.  Quickly they turn back to their textbooks, both blushing and acting like nothing was happening.  But snickers and whispers and even a few snide remarks bounce around until the teacher walked back in.  The pair avoids any further contact for the rest of the period.

At the end of school that day, Lucy walks to her locker to grab a few things before heading home.  As soon as she closes it two girls stand ready to confront her, Lisanna and Minerva.  “Getting pretty cozy with Natsu and Rogue huh,” the dark-haired girl sneers.  “You best stay away from Rogue or else…”

“And I guess no one warned you that I’ve deemed Natsu off limits.”  The white-haired girl slams Lucy up against the locker.  “So here is your warning.  Stay away from him!”

“Kinda hard if we’re partners, you stupid cow!”  Lucy screams at them calling attention from other students.  “And Rogue and I are just friends!”

“Don’t call my friend a cow, friggin weirdo!”  Minerva slaps her in the face.  At this point Lucy is crying but still indignant.

“How about Bitch then, is that better!” she retorts.

“Why you little!”  Lisanna hauls back her fist to strike the sobbing blonde when her arm is grabbed from behind.

“Lis!  What the hell do you think you’re doing!”

“Natsu…  I um…” he pushes her away hard and stands in front of Lucy.

“And you Minerva!”  Rogue pulls her away.  “Leave her alone!”

Lisanna starts yelling and pointing, “She started it!  I heard all about what happened in English class today from Minerva and I know you two have been seen together outside of school!”

“I didn’t start anything!  You crazy, jealous bitch!”  Lucy screams back.

Lisanna tries to attack again, “Witch!” but this time her brother Elfman grabs her and holds her back. 

“I don’t know what you’re thinking Lis but I have absolutely no interest in you.  You can’t keep telling girls to stay away from me.”

“But Natsu…” he cuts her off.

“Leave Lucy alone!  And Don’t make me turn you in to Principal Makarov again.”  The girl hangs her head sobbing.  Natsu then turns back to the blonde.  He picks up her school bag that had been dropped next to her feet and gently takes hold of her hand.  “Let me walk you home Luce.”  Too shocked by everything that has just transpired she forgets all about her plan to stop talking to Natsu and just nods.

“Thank you.”  She mutters as soon as they’re out of the building and away from the crowds.

“For what?” 

She hesitates then squeezes his hand, “Everything…”

“You’re very welcome.” He smiles at her.  “So, um, where do you live?”

“Why?”

He chuckles, “Duh, So I can walk you home.”

There’s a brief sparkle to her eyes as she starts to laugh, surprising him, “Right, I um live on…  Oh, I’m not supposed to let anyone see where I live.”

“Is it like run down or something?”

“Err,” she bites her bottom lip, “actually the opposite.”

‘She looks so adorable right now!’  “No problem, I won’t pry.  How about we get a bite to eat instead, I’m kinda hungry.”

“That would be really nice; I haven’t been eating lunch.”

“Great, there’s a café in the mall called Fairytail I like to go to”

“Fairytail?”

He shrugs his shoulders, “The original owner I guess liked fairies.”

Lucy murmurs, “Do fairies have tails, do fairies even exist; nobody knows for sure.  An eternal mystery, an eternal adventure…”

“Hey that’s a quote they have hanging in the café!”

“It’s a line in my favorite book.”  She holds up her right hand and shows him her tattoo.

“Huh!  That’s the symbol in the bar too!  I never realized that.” He squeezes her hand grinning.  “Your favorite book, my favorite hangout spot.  What a coincidence…”

“Yeah…  coincidence…”

After being seated, Lucy excuses herself to go to the restroom and locks the door.  Sigh ‘What am I doing?  I was supposed to stay away from him…’  She leans on the counter and just stares at her reflection in the mirror.  ‘But he makes me feel so different that I don’t know who I am anymore…’  The dark eyed girl looking back at her really was a stranger, one she created to hide the pain that the real Lucy was running from, and more a stranger now than just a month ago.  ‘No, sigh, he makes me feel like the real me I’ve just forgotten…’  She unclips the choker from her neck and tosses it into the trash.  ‘I see past the façade… if only you’d see, what I can see’ Sigh ‘he hit it right on the head…’  She opens her purse and pulls out the makeup remover…

When she returns to their table, Natsu does a double take.  The girl who sits back down is still wearing the same clothes as Lucy but gone is all the makeup; he smiles, “Wow…” his voice breathy, “I think you’re more beautiful just natural like this.”  He reaches out to caress her cheek and for the first time, she doesn’t flinch from his touch but instead leans into it.

She blushes.  Exhale, “You’ve been so nice to me Natsu that I’d like to start over, with the truth.”  He looks at her confused.  She leans in and whispers, “My real name is Lucy Heartfillia, but you can’t tell anyone yet.”

His eyes widen as he remembers his parents talking about that name, ‘Heartfillia Corp… wife died maybe 12 years ago, the CEO died 1 year ago, 1 child orphaned but no description given.’    She repeats what he said to her in class, “even if you lose everything, something remains…  You made me realize, this isn’t the girl my mom would be proud of… and I wanna make her proud” she smiles.

He grins, “Now some things make more sense, like the private dressing rooms at the store, having a driver, designer clothing; yeah I know those girls didn’t catch on but I snuck a peak at a couple of the labels on your clothes and these are pricey stuff!  Like this outfit, what it cost you, $200?”

A little taken aback that he’d been putting the pieces together like this, “More like $800 for the whole outfit, $1000 counting the shos.”  His jaw drops making her chuckle.

Grinning, “Well I’m glad I could help you Luce.”

“Oh, don’t worry, I’ll need more help carrying all the shopping bags.”

He looks confused again.  “Shopping bags?”

She just smiles and pulls out her cell phone.  With the speaker phone on, “Cancer, it’s an emergency.”

“Ebi, what do you need?”

“A complete make over.”

“Just text me when you get to the salon…”

~~~~~~~~

The next day in class, a stunning girl with golden blonde hair walks in on Natsu’s arm.  Gone are the purple streaks, the punk clothes, the dark makeup…  She looks like she just stepped out of a glamor magazine.

Sting- “Whoa, who’s the babe with Natsu?!”

Gray slaps him, “That’s her stupid, that’s that Lucy chick!”

Everyone in the room- “No way!!”

“I told you…”  He grins at her smiling face, “…just beautiful.”