#While also needing to put more things on my credit card for upcoming plans

[absoloutenonsense]

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[quillyfied]

Hellaverse Theories: Helluva Boss S1E3 and S1E4

Welcome to Quilly’s Hellaverse Theories, where I overthink the entire Hellaverse! Moving forward with Helluva Boss this evening, visiting s1e3 and s1e4. I’m on a timetable now, wanting to get these done before the new episode comes out, but since we don’t know when that will be…just gonna have to hope for the best!

Now, jumping into s1e3:

There’s a detail from last episode that I did forget to mention: in a letter that Fizzbot holds up saying Loo Loo Land isn’t copyright infringement, Mammon calls Lucifer “my friend and ruler,” so I guess my speculation on whether or not Lucifer was King of all of Hell or just of Pride in one of my Hazbin Hotel analysis posts can be put to rest! Lucifer is King of all of Hell and not just Pride, I can move on with my life.

Blitzo singing along to dad rock and forgetting half the words: the greatest Mood.

Blitzo and Verosika’s banter is…enlightening. Lots of little tidbits to pick up on. I am SO excited for the opportunity to get to know more details in Apology Tour (PLEASE), because while it’s grade-A vile bickering, it’s the venom and bitterness that drenches their every interaction that really shows that when things were good for them…they were probably really good. As my Hellaverse friend sagely told me, you don’t hate someone that much unless you loved them that much first. Verosika’s BlitzO tattoo isn’t obvious yet, but notice that she’s the only person in the entire show (except maybe Barbie?) whom Blitzo doesn’t correct on the silent O. His choice of opening salvo is petty and gross, just as we expect, but Verosika’s is biting and weird: “and I should have known you’d be here when I heard the Amber Alerts.” Some people have taken that to mean that maybe Blitzo wanted kids when they were together (which could be supported by his adoption of Loona and how he calls Octavia “sweetie” in the second episode, though outside of that there really isn’t much to go on for building a theory about Blitzo wanting explicitly to be a father), and this could also just be a very crass and demeaning joke about Blitzo’s character (calling him a child kidnapper at best, a pedophile at worst), but. I dunno. It’s the first unusual thing Verosika says, but not the last. The second happens at Ozzie’s so we’ll wait until then to get into it more, but here’s the point I’m driving at: Verosika was way more hurt by their breakup than Blitzo was, and she’s still hurt by it. I may posit, given that one of the upcoming episodes is literally named “Apology Tour,” that Verosika lacks closure from their train wreck of a relationship and Blitzo might need to apologize just as much as she needs to hear the apology. Not to say Blitzo is entirely at fault, because I’m sure she gave as good as she got, but she knows about Blitzo’s sister when none of the rest of IMP, not even Loona, seem to know about her (which is funny because there’s a giant poster of her in the office; it was there in the pilot episode so congrats folks this was always the plan, to bait people in with what I’m told is Invader Zim energy and then wallop us all with feels), she gets away with calling Blitzo by his full/former name, and she was clearly someone important enough to him that he still has pictures of from when they were together on his phone. He does feel BAD about how it went down, even if he won’t even admit it to himself.

And how did it all go down? Let’s listen in: “run off, leaving someone else to pay for the hotel room, steal their car and run three rings to Wrath and max HER credit cards on shitty horse-riding lessons.” Ouch. Let’s look at the layout of Hell, which we don’t know yet but will soon: Pride, Wrath, Gluttony, Greed, Lust, Envy, Sloth. Three rings away from Wrath? Lust. Not surprising, seeing as how Verosika is a succubus, but think about it. A relationship that is likely on the rocks (or, knowing Blitzo, maybe getting too serious and he’s uncomfortable either way), so they take a night in Lust at a hotel (maybe after a performance for Verosika?), and maybe whatever Blitzo was doing (I have seen here and there that he was doing bodyguard work for Verosika but I don’t know about that tbh, I’m willing to bet the flashback we get from s2.5 involving Millie and Blitzo fighting might give us some insight there but it’s likely Blitzo was either still working at Loo Loo Land or had just left it) would have allowed him to pay for the hotel room or at least help pay, and Verosika wakes up with him gone along with her car and her wallet. After she got a tattoo of the guy’s name on her arm. Verosika’s behavior towards him might lend some viewers to believe she deserved that, but I’m not so sure, actually; I don’t think she’d be so hurt and Blitzo would feel guilty about it if she fully deserved that kind of treatment. Yes, yes, this is Hell, everyone is shitty, but there’s something about that scenario that goes beyond shitty into just…ouch. Couple that with her Beezlejuice addiction and all of Blitzo’s fucking trauma…match made in Hell would be too cliché here, right? I’m probably better than that?

I’m not. Match made in Hell, indeed.

Dammit. The HR joke makes me laugh every time.

“I wasted so much time with a bag of holes like that.” So this was a relatively lengthy relationship, then. Making the whole…leaving and stealing thing…worse, actually. It feels less shitty somehow if it was a fling or a hookup, but something that dramatic probably only happens after a longer commitment and WOW I want to know all the details of that train wreck PLEASE VIV AND BRANDON PLEASE.

Side note that I have finally noticed the stickers on the back of the van, that’s ADORABLE Blitzo you absolute SAP.

Also Tex is too good for all of us. Appreciate him. Appreciate the HECK out of him.

(Blitzo protecting his employees because he cares about them, nbd, I’m sure this affliction won’t get any worse for him at all.)

(Blitzo having the exact same thought process I have when I realize I use the same notable words too close together and already posted something, it’s FINE)

There’s something about how the banter flows with Blitzo and Moxxie sometimes that makes me wonder if they improvise this stuff, at least in the writing stages, because “Why don’t YOU take an art class?” “Why don’t YOU see how EXPENSIVE they are?” kills me dead every single time. It’s just. It’s such beautifully comedic escalation into further absurdity. This show is poetry sometimes.

So I think it’s been confirmed that the scenes in the 2.5 trailer in a fancy Pride room with the Goetia and the Sins is a trial; there are little hints here and there that some sort of unrest is building, that Blitzo and IMP going topside is causing wider-spread issues that are slow-burning but there. I think this is the first episode where we lay the foundation work, beyond the actual first episode where Stolas reminds them that their use of his grimoire is technically illegal: not only is it illegal, but they’re supposed to be in human disguises on top of that. And they’re not supposed to be obvious about what they’re doing. Or causing giant fish monsters to grow out of the ocean and attack humans. It also makes me wonder if the killing of humans themselves is also illegal, but somehow I doubt that; I think they’re just supposed to not be obvious about it. Pretty sure this will be popping up more in future episodes, which I’ll list as they appear, but I think it’s a good bet that what IMP is doing is not just piddlingly illegal, but actually a big hecking deal.

Also a first showing of Blitzo’s surprisingly strategic and smart mind: they aren’t supposed to be seen, and loose shots will cause a panic. Sensible. Absolutely correct to use Loona as bait to lure away their targets. It becomes more and more obvious the longer the show goes on, but the ways Blitzo’s bizarre brain is actually kind of a genius at strategy and violence to get to his preferred outcome are both entertaining and gratifying to see. Until his care for Loona completely overrides his sense, but, y’know. Can’t win ‘em all, can’t fault Blitzo for being worried about her (especially when she has a YEARLY SHOT that she can get only EVERY FIVE YEARS, that feels AWFULLY POINTED, HEIRARCHY OF HELL).

And, yeah, Verosika has SO much room to be talking, when she’s throwing a flask of Beezlejuice into a crowd of humans, and from my understanding, that stuff is toxic to humans. The thing falling into the ocean and mutating a fish isn’t as discreet as humans dying from ODing on a hellish liquor, but it does seem more like giving them a fighting chance. Additional question: succubi and incubi (unsure if there’s a difference in the Hellaverse or not) in lore, to my memory, get something out of encouraging sexual appetites in humans and killing them for it, dragging their souls to Hell; at the very least, they feed off the sexual energy until they kill their host. What exactly is the succubi’s purpose in the Hellaverse? Because it doesn’t seem to be killing humans. And they’re adept at inspiring lust, but to what end? Probably doesn’t really matter, but I’m curious anyway. Wonder if it’s ever going to be explained (because much like the Envy demon who will be showing up in Ghostfuckers, I assume there is an actual reason for them doing what they do, and I wanna know why hanging around and messing with humans is so beneficial to them. Can’t be for their souls; all sinners go to Pride and they have their own issues to be dealing with, and it seems only sinners can own and barter souls anyway).

Listen, I know Blitzo isn’t nearly that awkward around other people, but something about Loona being so nervous around people and stumbling and being adorable (to us, at least) just screams “yeah this is Blitzo’s kid” to me, somehow. IDK why. Maybe the yearning for connection while being kinda hopeless at making any. Especially with each other. Though in a way, Blitzo managed to do exactly what he wanted: he made a stable, safe place for Loona. She relies on him, she cares about him, and while she’s closer to him than almost anyone else, she does have very much a kid’s view of their parent: he’s always fine, he’ll be okay. It was just a dumb fight. He’ll get over it. He’ll be there for her when she needs him (and often when she doesn’t). THAT’S FAMILY BAYBEEEEE.

(Heeee Drunk Possum Moxxie :D :D :D)

“Would be a shame if anyone found out y’all were behind a giant monster fish in the human world.” “Oh Satan! You’d all be so FUCKED!” …yeah that trial ain’t gonna be a good thing, is it, fam. My gut feeling that IMP, or at least Blitzo, is gonna be on trial for everything he’s doing in the human world continues to gain traction in my own head.

“Let’s get you some friends, girl.” TEX IS TOO GOOD FOR US.

Listen I’m more sensitive these days to fat jokes but sometimes…sometimes the fat jokes are just really funny. “Let’s go park our FAT FUCKIN CAR in our FAT FUCKIN SPACE” dammit why is that funny. Why am I laughing. (Maybe because it isn’t using fat in a derogatory way, more a victorious to neutral descriptive way? I don’t know.)

The fact that the chorus of the song that Blitzo is singing in the credits goes into the tune of HEAVEN IS A PLACE ON EARTH BY BELINDA CARLISLE ABSOLUTELY *KILLS* ME. MURDERS ME DEAD. OMG.

So, in my first journey through these episodes, the showing of care between Blitzo and Loona helped me get through this. But the next episode…that one was kinda hard for me to plow through. It’s easier now, so let’s go!

To episode 4!

First things first: heeee Cherub Towne and Imp City. My brain does love its symmetry.

Second things second: wow Collin gets thrown into all the crap situations, huh? I’m so excited to see them again in s2.5 (I KNEW CHERUB AND DHORKS WOULD BE WORKING TOGETHER OKAY I KNEW IT. I KNEW IT. I’M NOT GONNA STOP SCREAMING ABOUT THAT), because even this early, Collin deserves better and already seems kind of at odds with his teammates.

Also interesting how Hell seems to get Heaven’s commercials. Makes me wonder if anybody in Heaven gets Hell’s, and what that might mean if any of them saw the Hazbin Hotel commercial. (Ooh. Wouldn’t that be fun, if the commercial actually does something in Hazbin Hotel s2? Like…alert a certain spider-shaped winner that her twin brother is alive in Hell and attempting redemption? HMMM.)

I’ve been pondering what to call Blitzo’s gun, since I don’t know gun types. “Flintlock” is what I kept seeing most, but that puzzled me, since flintlocks are single-shot firearms that need loaded a specific way and the show doesn’t do that. EXCEPT IT DOES. RIGHT HERE. IN THIS EPISODE. Which makes me kinda happy, because “flintlock” is a badass and kinda sexy word.

Also, Wally Wackford as a recurring background character makes me happy.

Aaaaaand the advent of the Fat Jokes About Moxxie That Make Literally No Sense Because LOOK AT HIM Train. Lovely.

Y’know, on the subject of Moxxie, actually, which I was maybe saving for a later episode but screw it I’m thinking about it now because of the frame I paused the episode on to write the previous paragraph: he doesn’t have any scars. His freckles are there (and freckles and tattoos are also white on imps, though there is every possibility that Moxxie and his mother weren’t freckled, but…scarred…specifically…), but no other white patches on him. I find that fascinating.

OKAY HERE WE GO, 1:41 INTO THE EPISODE: a nice long shot of the poster of Blitzo and Barbie Wire, the Amazing Imp Twins. Clearly made before the accident. What precisely their show was meant to be, I couldn’t say, because Blitzo is the one in clown attire and Barb just looks sort of normal, but it looks like early concept art anyway so we’ll let them have it. Millie later pops up in this empty space, but the fact that we get such a long uninterrupted view of the background makes it clear that this is important information we the audience are supposed to pick up on. HB does this often, actually, and it makes the rewatch rewards SO GOOD.

“I am eccentric and must therefore do eccentric shit!” Mood.

You heard it here first, folks: Moxxie finds eternal torment hot.

Okay, here’s another building block for my “IMP is in deep legal shit” theory; the “three tacky stalkers about to attempt a Murder” scene. Where there are many pictures taken of them. And their disguises are…okay. Humans don’t typically see the imps and immediately think “devils” (see “possum”), but that’s still photographic evidence that at least one earthly agency and any hellish law enforcement could use against them. Which just makes me question the whole “human disguises” rigamarole, how Loona got one, and how far we can plausibly stretch “IMP doesn’t get any” before it becomes ridiculous past the point of humor or belief.

Blitzo losing his cat sock puppet in a holy explosion: the most poignant story of loss in this entire show.

Okay actually who sent CHERUB to save Lyle Lipton? I know they say “on behalf of all the people benefitted by your amazing technological advances” but…like…who???? Who was the poor naïve person who sent CHERUB to go stop that man from committing suicide? Unless it was more calculated than that, but I doubt it.

“Commit die” should be what took off instead of “unaliving.” Only children’s show animated Deadpool gets to say that word. Heck.

“He’s classier than that!” NO ONE IS CLASSIER THAN A KATANA, COLLIN.

The costumes that IMP is wearing all episode are incredible, though. I know Blitzo’s first one is a character by Brandon Rogers, though I’d love to know who/what Moxxie and Millie were supposed to be (more characters by him?). The second round is pretty obvious: it’s Cats. Which is only funnier given the movie abomination. I know nothing about it but Blitzo as Rum Tum Tugger feels appropriate on a vibes level. But the third round…WHO ARE THEY. WHERE ARE THEY FROM. THEY SEEM SO SPECIFIC BUT I DON’T KNOW WHAT IT IS. IS IT HEATHERS? IS IT MEAN GIRLS? IS IT HAIRSPRAY? WHAT IS IT.

So imps seem about as mortal as living humans, if a little hardier, and it doesn’t seem as though cherubs come packing angelic steel (…Heavenly classism?), so getting threatened by some golden crossbows seems about as dangerous as anything else; it does make me wonder if cherubs have the same mortality rates as imps, though.

Keenie showing her own bloodlust and rage issues and Cletus going along with it feels…foreshadowy, now that we know they’re coming back for sure. Saying it once again: Collin is not gonna be on board with them and how far they’re willing to go for vengeance (though admittedly getting locked out of Heaven because their fight with IMP caused them to accidentally kill the mark is a pretty good reason to go looking for vengeance; however, a human agency outfitting and working with angels to invade Hell is NOT gonna look good for IMP if and when the law comes calling).

Nice to know that Helluva Boss is just as clueless for what gets someone into Heaven/Hell as Hazbin Hotel, only it matters so much less and their guesses for getting into Hell are much more on the mark, I think :P

Also, is this the only episode where the credits aren’t bloodstained? I haven’t been paying enough attention.

And that’s the end of this batch of episodes! Next batch coming soon!

[vampireantihero]

The 2023 Great Fridge Debacle (Newsletter)

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a fantastic weekend. I’m back with a bit of a story, some plans, and the weekly schedule as promised. As you can tell from the title, the upcoming story involves refrigerators. I’ll get to that in a moment. First, let’s talk about this weeks’ plan.

Here’s this week’s daily schedule:

As you can see, this is a lighter week. I’m really putting my pedal to the metal and trying to make progress on the mood and composition class despite big mental distractions and busy-ness that keeps getting in the way. So, the Twitch streams say we’re going to be working on the mood and composition pieces, but I’m hoping to be further along than what these topics suggest. What I’m planning for is that I’ll be past that point before the Twitch stream is scheduled. However if I’m not past that creative mark by the time the Twitch stream is supposed to go live, then we’ll be working on that thing during the Twitch stream. I’ve been working rather slow the last month or so because of 1) taking the time to do studies in the mid-afternoon in order to improve my skills and 2) fighting a pretty intensive art block from all of the personal stuff happening. You know I’ve been open and honest with you all, and I’ll continue to do the best I can with the energy and resources I have.

Next week, I’ll go back to planning new merch and getting stuff up into the Redbubble store and the website store. I’m once again thinking about whether or not to source limited run prints of some of my art, but I’ll talk more about that once we get to that point. For this week, I want to get the class to you all. My goal is to have it finished by the end of the week, but I don’t want to write a long message apologizing if I don’t hit that goal, so we’re planning a different, easier video for the end of this week. I’m hoping to start uploading Youtube videos at least once a week for you all, so this is my push towards that goal. If I wind up not getting the video done, then I know that’s too ambitious and I’ll stay at bi-weekly uploads. I’m trying to find a balance, still.

The 2023 Great Fridge Debacle

In other news, let me paint you a picture depicting a harrowing tale of overwhelm, unplanned purchases, and luck amidst insane misfortune.

Alright, so maybe not that dramatic, but it was definitely a stressful situation that I don’t ever want to repeat again. As I mentioned last week, my theatre troupe is back in full swing, and we’ve been having rehearsals. That means I work from about 9am to 5:45-ish, eat, and then we’re at rehearsal by 6:30pm and usually there until around 9:30pm. So on Wednesday, we get home from our rehearsal and I decided I wanted some ice cream. I go to pick up the carton, and the bottom is just… Liquid. Straight defrosted ice cream. Cue the panic. We go into the fridge and try to adjust the temperature. Our fridge is only about 15 degrees below room temperature. So, we made a snap decision. I bought the cheapest fridge that fit our needs that could come in the shortest time window.

Luckily, Lowe’s was having a sale that happened to be ending at 2am the next morning. Luckily, they offer haul away service. Luckily, we live in Wisconsin, so it’s cold outside— it was about 20 degrees that day. Also luckily, my husband can be forgetful over certain things, and we had some frozen jugs outside full of water from the summer months when he typically gardens. So, we grabbed some of the jugs, wiped them down, and put them in the fridge/freezer. And get this — it actually worked. None of our food spoiled. It was interesting watching the techs bring the new fridge in and take the old fridge away, because they had to take the doors off to get it inside. I’ll have it sitting on my credit card for a while. Where our fridge lives in our kitchen makes it so that one door won’t fully open. But that’s all okay— we have a working fridge.

Ultimately, it’s only March and I’ve had enough excitement in a negative way to last me the next five years, but I’m hoping that the rest of the year has this weird string of luck for us. I don’t know what the cards hold for the future, but it’s alright. This week, I’ll leave you with this — no matter what the universe throws at you, if you handle it with grace and stride, and lean on your support systems, things will be okay.

Take care of yourselves. Drink your water. Do what you can. I love you all.

(Just a reminder that if you want this blog post directly to your mailbox, you can sign up for my newsletter here.)

[apocalypticgargoyle]

𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐊𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐑𝐎𝐎𝐌 𝟒. ♡ 𝐠𝐞𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝

"Hi! I hope u have a lovely day :] I was wondering if I could request an imagine where you're online friends with Gogy and one day you send him a picture wearing his merch and he can't stop thinking about it and finally ends up telling you he has a crush on you?? Thank you in advance :] I really enjoy your writing"

pairing: georgenotfound x reader

warnings: Zoom Video Communications none :)

links: | ao3 | request | masterlist |

⋆ song recommendation: Slowly by Josh Gilligan

(streamer bf gogy brainrot brrr) hello sweet anon! thank you for much for this request :) I love love love all the geo simps and their ideas. also thank you to my dearest LB for helping me with the plot help. happy reading, everyone! ♡ ᵍᵉⁿᵉ

You tapped your fingers on your desk, nails clattering at you waiting to be let into your third Zoom meeting of the day. Usually, you got off with only one lecture, but because of upcoming exams, you were finding yourself in and out of virtual meetings and office hours. Sure, it was better than jogging from building to building, fighting the crowds, and searching for a seat in a packed lecture hall, but it was still wearing you down beyond belief.

You rested your chin in your hand as your window went from white to dark grey, the square with your name getting wedged in beside the professor. Everyone’s cameras were off, a thankful sigh leaving your lips as your head slumped down to lay against your arm, the danger of falling asleep suddenly becoming more prominent.

You jumped slightly as your professor cleared their throat, sharing their screen and beginning to ramble off facts listed on the slideshow. You played with your keyboard, focused on removing a crumb from beneath your spacebar that was almost unreachable. You usually took notes in the class, but today was just one of those days.

“... And with that in mind, I’m going to put you all into breakout rooms…” Your professor trailed off, eyebrows furrowed as they peered at their screen and clicked frantically to assign all of you to rooms. You yawned, smacking your cheeks and sitting up. You were determined not to be a shitty partner, at least. The white box popped up, inviting you to join breakout room four. That’s always lucky, you thought to yourself as you joined.

Once again, you were cursed to look at the buffering wheel of death as your internet struggled to sustain all your opened tabs. Please, just a little longer, you groaned internally, eyes dashing towards the receiver and exhaling in relief as your computer connected to the breakout room. You turned on your camera, eliciting your partner, George, to do the same.

You flashed him a smile as you struggled to open the article from the previous night. “Hi! How’s it going?” You greeted, not yet looking at him.

“I’m good, actually. How are you?” He engaged, his voice deep and tired.

You finally managed to split your screen enough so that you could see him and the article. “Yeah, I’m good too. Thanks,” you chewed the inside of your cheek, eyes skimming some of the notes you’d etched into the margins. “So, did you have any idea what,” you paused, squinting at the author’s name, “Robert A. Schneider means when he discusses how ‘men of letters’ fear the lower class more than anything?” You asked, as your eyes trailed across your screen to finally gauge his reaction, you were taken aback by his appearance.

His soft features and dark eyes made you feel safe. As he smiled softly, running his fingers into his hair, he seemed to be racking his brain for an answer. He opened his mouth to begin, detailing what you had previously thought with better articulation.

The two of you got through the basic questions the professor had scripted for the students, then finding yourself still stuck in the breakout room. On a normal day, your professor would have pulled everyone back into the call after the first few questions.

George swiveled in his chair quietly as he listened to you briefly explain your area of study. His kind smile made your heart flutter slightly. Deep down, you hoped the two of you would be stuck in the room for a while.

Soon your topics blended into what kind of movies you both watched, a debate on where you could buy the cheapest bread on campus, and what kind of party people the two of you were. After an hour, instead of worrying whether or not your professor was dead, you were swapping numbers and planning out how the two of you would turn the Florida Keys into the headquarters of your new cult where the members would all worship a separate bitchy philosopher.

You pulled one of your legs to your chest, resting your cheek against your knee as his laughing died out. “Okay, this might be a weird question, but I need to know why your webcam is so clear. Is it like an OnlyFans thing or…”

He chuckled. “Yeah it’s definitely OnlyFans,” he joked, making you laugh. “I’m actually a ᵐⁱⁿᵉᶜʳᵃᶠᵗ ˢᵗʳᵉᵃᵐᵉʳ” he mumbled.

Your eyebrows perked playfully. “You’re a what?”

He pursed his lips to fit the grin stretching across his face. “ᵃ ᵐⁱⁿᵉᶜʳᵃᶠᵗ ˢᵗʳᵉᵃᵐᵉʳ”

You snorted slightly. “Sorry darling, you’ll have to speak up. What was that?”

He wet his lips, rolling his eyes as he bashfully groaned. “I’m a Minecraft streamer.”

You giggled, him basking in your disbelief. He smiled a bit brighter as he shrugged, leaning back in his chair as you rambled off questions. “There’s no way! Nerd!” you chaffed, making him smile as if he liked it when you playfully teased him. “Are you super popular?” You asked, catching your breath.

He bit his bottom lip swaying his head slightly as if deciding not to answer. “Mmmm. Not really.”

“Well, come on, Georgios! Give me your Twitch user and I’ll be your biggest fan, I promise.” He laughed at your response, digging out his phone to send you a link.

“I’d like to see you try,” he mumbled.

After the class had finally ended, you’d learned that your professor was on the phone with their credit card company. In the following weeks, you and George were in constant contact, even becoming part of each other’s daily routines.

As you studied for finals, you’d turn on his stream, letting his voice alleviate some of the stress of your exams. He knew you were watching and would even drop hints for you in what he was saying, or he’d blatantly just ask what you were talking about in your essay for a certain class. After the stream would end, he’d call you either on Discord or the phone, just so it felt like the two of you were studying together.

Jokingly, you badgered him to send you some of his merch, threatening to buy it from a bootleg online store if he didn’t. He had only brushed it off at the time, but shortly after, you received a hoodie in the mail with his gamer tag printed across it.

It was late at night when you’d received it, the tiredness of your eyes and George’s dulcet tones lulling you towards the idea of a dead sleep. Yet, you were drawn from your pleasant relaxation with the shrilling of your doorbell. You shrugged out of your blanket cocoon, grabbing your phone and trudging down the stairs. As you tore open the bag, your phone buzzed with a text from George asking if you’d seen something that one of his chat members. You chuckled softly and dug your hand into the material, holding it out in front of you.

You snickered to yourself, running your fingers across the red patch in the center. You slipped it over your head, letting the softness of the fabric brush against your skin. You snapped a photo of yourself and stumbled back upstairs before sending it to him.

When you returned, George was focused on something he was crafting. His eyes darted down to one corner of the screen where his phone was probably sitting. His eyes flashed back up with a smug grin on his face as if he knew exactly what you were going to say. Your “Thanks sugar daddy xx,” probably didn’t help either.

“What, chat?” His voice came out slightly uneven as he bit back a smile. You skimmed what people were asking. “It’s not a nude. A friend of mine got something I sent them,” he answered nonchalantly, finishing up what he was doing. The chat began to spam quietly. “No, it’s not a maid costume. Jesus Christ.” He leaned back in his chair, grabbing his phone and opening your message.

A grin spread across his face, alongside the light dusting of rosy pigment settling in his cheeks. He chuckled to himself, quickly replying before getting back to his game. You scoffed at his response.

George (H325) Anything for my silly little baka

You curled up again, putting away your schoolwork and devoting your attention to watching his stream as you drifted off to sleep.

Once again, you found yourself at the mercy of your internet as you attempted to join the breakout room assigned to you. You almost jumped out of your chair when it finally connected and you found George waiting for you. You smiled slightly as he scrolled through his phone. “What are the chances?” You asked, pulling his eyes to you.

He grinned, clicking off whatever he was looking at. “I was just about to raid your inbox.”

You chuckled. “I almost wore your merch to class, just to out you to whoever my partner was,” you joked, making him roll his eyes.

“I’m glad it’s me then,” he responded. You began scrounging around for your article. After a beat of hesitation, George spoke up again. “Hey, I’m glad you like the sweatshirt…” You perked an eyebrow in his direction. “I actually haven’t been able to get that picture out of my head. I know it’s stupid,” he stated lightly, chuckling nervously. You could feel your heart beating in your ears. “It’s so lame, but I think I have a crush on you.”

You sat back in your chair, stunned. “I mean, the feeling’s mutual. Even if it’s lame,” you mirrored, winking at him. “I mean, maybe it’s not lame because I know I like you.”

He smiled to himself at your answer before chuckling, “Should we Zoom date or something?”

[losingitinjersey]

Such a weird, amazing, feeling to be in-between jobs!  My last day of work on Friday was lovely and was the perfect closure to that chapter of my life.  

I crossed off every little thing on my to do list, transferred over all my admin rights and removed myself from distribution lists and websites.  I collected my credit card, garage pass, office keys, newly wiped work phone, laptop, computer, wireless dongle, monitors and loaded them all up in my car to give back.  My boss was at the office so I had a really nice chat with him which was exactly what I needed to feel ready to move on.  I wrote him a card beforehand that I was able to hand him, thanking him for his support, confidence and trust.  

At 4 p.m. we had a farewell Zoom party with the staff and I got to hear everyone say the kindest things about me.  I certainly wasn’t expecting the outpouring of love, and man was it touching.  I explained my upcoming busy year, that in 32 days we’ll find out where we’re moving, in 33 days my parents will be visiting for the first time in a year, in May Kevin will be graduating and his parents will be visiting - getting to meet erp for the first time ever.  They’ll also be helping us move wherever we’re going.  And that in August I’ll be giving birth to my second child - pause for effect.  No one knew I was pregnant so that was a fun way to tell everyone and hear their excitement for us :)  

I took this extremely happy car selfie on my way to return my work equipment - documenting the joyous moment.  My co-worker friend got me this tumbler that says, “Good luck finding co-workers better than us” which I had to share with @zerocarb whose response was, “LOOOOOOOOOOOL. If only they knew.”  Love feeling so good about going into this next work chapter with someone who loves their job and co-workers so much - definitely helps knowing I’m making the right decision.  

Check out how empty my home desk is now!!  Not that I showed you what it looked like before.  There previously were two monitors, keyboard, mouse, and laptop.  Curious to see what my new work equipment set up will be.  

While I didn’t decorate or do anything special for erp on Valentine’s Day, because would she know the difference?, I did dress up myself in red with red lipstick and her in the most adorable outfit my mom sent.  I was majorly skeptical of how those pants would look on her and I pretty much refuse to put bows in her hair, so I can’t believe how obsessed I am with her in this.  Kevin and I celebrated by getting way too much food delivered, but thankfully I didn’t eat too much and will happily enjoy leftovers today and hopefully tomorrow.  

Here’s to six more days off with zero plans :)

[fantasyinvader]

Beat Binding Blade tonight

So, right off the bat I'm going to admit. I abused the arena and save states. This is a really, really hard game. And while I enjoyed it, I'm going to give three things I didn't like about it.

1)Enemy reinforcements arrive at the end of the player phase, and can attack during the enemy phase. That is unfair, especially when I assume that parking a unit on the spawn point will prevent them (It doesn't) or my healer just happens to be in the area. I like difficult games, but when I fail at something in those I want to feel like it's my fault for doing so. When I die in Bloodborne or lose a unit in Fates Conquest, I'm willing to accept it because I felt it was fair (plus I'll just restart the chapter in Conquest anyway). I could have not died if I had played a little better. This game was not fair when it did that.

2)The supports. A lot of the stuff about the characters is locked away in their supports, since this is one of the old Fire Emblems where it throws units your way because it's assuming you didn't reset the game when one died. They don't get cutscenes to be important, and with only five supports per character (barring if one dies, then any unit that had supports with gets those supports back). And even then, getting an A rank doesn't pair up any units except for Roy. So you don't get to play love doctor here, it's only really there for the stat boosts. But in the case of my boy, he needs those supports in order for his character to fully come through.

3)I can take 8 units into the final battle, and they're the only ones who get full ending cards. Everyone else just gets a single line. Kinda weak if I use someone like Fir for most of the game, but bench her at the end to give Rutget Durandal.

Even with my cheating, I still enjoyed this game. Mostly for the story. When Fire Emblem first appeared in Smash Brothers Melee, as a kid it instantly caught my attention. Roy and Marth just looked so cool with their swords and armor (true fact: My favorite design for Link is the Skyward Sword design, simply because it has chainmail under the tunic. I get it, the tunic is iconic but SS's Link just looks practical), and I preferred Roy because I though his fully-charged shield breaker hurting him was cool. I even keep a Cipher card of his in my wallet for good luck. I wanted to know what Fire Emblem was, what kind of game it was. My friend showed me a screenshot of the upcoming GBA game in Nintendo power, which I got for the following Christmas (sadly, I didn't get Sacred Stones as I got a PS2 the following year). I loved that game, but the idea that I was playing as Roy's father always was a bit of a sour point for me. It's because of that game when I got a 2DS a decade later, because I wanted to game but kept getting pulled away from my console, I eventually went back to Fire Emblem.

And, I'm going to admit, Binding Blade hurt me because I played Blazing Blade first. It really did. I mean, Hector dies early on, Lyn is presumably dead hell a lot of my old comrades probably died in this war, Eliwood's wife dies shortly after they are married while Eliwood is more useless than ever, the kid I saved in Bern becomes a genocidal maniac, and the fact that the characters of Blazing Blade kinda caused this to happen by releasing the seals on the Legendary Weapons in their own quest... It kinda bugs me that the Legendary Weapons I used in Blazing Blade are in their trap filled storage places. Like, who returned them there? And if I have characters from that game returning in Binding, I find it strange they don't comment on needing them again. But this is a case of the game trying to be a prequel to a story that wasn't written with it in mind.

But at the end of the day, one thing just kept popping up in my mind. Binding Blade is the antithesis of the Crimson Flower route from Three Houses. I know they said Genealogy of the Holy War was an inspiration, but I can't help it. I've seen so many people try to praise that said route as some sort of denouncement of the rest of the franchise. That it's about putting power in the hands of the people (it's not) instead of having some Lord be the good king. Granted, the Mandate of Heaven seems like it's a running theme of the series, so without understanding what that is I can understand why people don't grasp what that part of the message. But Binding Blade, it just hit so many things on the nose that I needed to say something.

So without further adieu, I'm just going to bring up a few points.

With Regards to Humanity

It's interesting how both Zephiel and Edelgard come at this from different angles. Sure, they both lead wars of conquest across the entire continent, and I'm guessing Zeph didn't tell his troops what he was planning on doing once he won so there's likely a level of deception going on there as well. He really doesn't care for his fellow man, and the game goes out of it's way to show us why. Hatred, greed, or even selling out your people in the name of self-preservation. The game doesn't shy away from showing us any of this, saying that it's wrong and thus why Roy has to kick some guy's arse. Zephiel knows this, but in Edelgard's case? She's out there fighting for absolute power, destroying anyone who won't bend the knee to her while those who do out of self-preservation like House Gloucester are rewarded for it.

In essence, Edelgard is everything Zephiel saw wrong with the human race, she is why he felt we needed to go extinct. The very things he condemns humanity for are the things she reward. Zephiel would have actually handed over power to those he felt deserved it if he had won, whereas Edelgard is demonstrably shown to hold onto power until near the end of her life. One wants humanity dead, the other wants all the dragons. They even oppose each other in their classes. Edelgard is based on the red emperor archetype, she wears red, her class is the heavily-armored Emperor and her weapon of choice is an axe. Zephiel is a king, armoed but wearing purple and he uses a sword in battle.

Even if they both have screwed up history with their family's due to their father's inability to keep it in his pants, they're both presented as villains despite being ideologically opposed which goes to show with Fire Emblem the method IS the message.

Ancient Wars, Super Powered Weapons and Lies.

War of Heroes vs. The Scouring. The former is an event where the full details are shrouded in mystery, up to the player to piece together the clues and figure out the truth for themselves...or in Crimson Flower's case, ignore the truth and act out in your ignorance.With Binding Blade though, when the truth starts coming out, it hits hard. I mean, right from the beginning of the game we're told man was the one who broke the peace by attacking the dragons, but then we learn that those legendary weapons messed up the environment, resulting in dragons needing to use human forms only to be slaughtered by man. Dragons were blamed for the environment, the people who used those weapons were revered as heroes. We don't know why mankind launched their attack, but we do know that they weren't able to slay the Demon Dragon, one who had her soul destroyed in order to control her, because the Heroes felt sorry for her. It's making dragons out to be the victims here, much like the dragons in Three Houses. But Crimson Flower only serves to demonize them, acting like they can't understand humanity when the dragons in that game are a lot closer to humans emotionally than the ancient dragons in Elibe.

The Elites in comparison weren't heroes, and that lie has been confirmed as Rhea trying to make peace.

The good ending for Binding Blade is being able to save the dragon whose soul was destroyed, whereas Crimson Flower ends with slaying a dragon after you've spent the entire game triggering her (and is the ending that leads to oppressive rule under Edelgard, in addition to the only ending without sunlight. What? You thought you'd get the good ending when her final boss theme was playing on the last stage?). Also, you need all the Legendary weapons in order to unlock the final stages, which all play into the big mystery. Crimson Flower requires the player to not understand that the world-building was done to support fighting against Edelgard instead.

Merits of a leader

Let's not beat around the bush here, Roy will not carry you through Binding Blade. His bases are low, and while he has good growths he is unable to promote until the very end of the game. Even then, you need to save the Binding Blade's usage to ensure you get the good ending. Roy is also very unsure of himself, thrust into a position of leadership despite his young age. But look at what happens when he succeeds, he manages to overcome the odds and take down the mightiest army on the continent. At the end of the game, he's shown himself as more than capable of leading. Not to mention, he also believes that humans and dragons can live together, even seeing this in Acadia (and if Ninian was his mother, he's unknowingly proof of this as he is 1/4 dragon himself. May explain his poor bases). If he marries Liliana, he even becomes a King for likely much of the same reason Byleth does in SS/VW (most leaders are dead following the war, plus combining his territory with Ostia which had already taken over Lyn's land after she abdicated/married Hector). Roy learns the truth as already established.

Compare this to Crimson Flower Byleth. Byleth leads the Black Eagle Strike Force, but credit for it goes to Edelgard. Byleth never gets any recognition for this, no position of authority despite proving themselves, instead that goes to Caspar Jenkins of all people, and ends the war continuing to fight TWSITD from the shadows to support Edelgard's regime. And if you read between the lines, Edelgard is NOT a good leader, resorting to bribes, threats, cronyism, secret police, propaganda, and even TWSITD's support and later stolen tech in order to maintain her rule. Byleth lost whatever emotional development they got from White Clouds during this route, once again becoming the Ashen Demon, and is even willing to let themselves die if they can't keep their “humanity” in check showing a distaste for their own draconic heritage (showing humans and dragons can't live together in this timeline). They didn't grow into being a leader, they devolved into being Edelgard's unthinking muscle. Byleth never learns the truth in this route, falling for Edelgard's manipulations resulting in them losing Enlightened One/Nirvana status.

Not to mention, Heroes Relics have really low weapon levels. In theory, they can be used by anyone but only safely by those with Crests and most fully with a matching Crest. Legendary Weapons, on the other hand, can be used by anyone with an S rank in their type. Your characters have to EARN the right to use those things and you'll need them to deal with all the Manaketes during the final level, whereas Relics aren't exactly that level of broken.

Honestly, seeing the ending of Binding Blade and Idunn recovering put at least one tear in my eye. Crimson Flower's just made me feel like the game was calling me an idiot (which considering the Nirvana/Enlightenment thing, it kinda was). I would love if Binding Blade got the Echoes treatment, or even if they just did a GBA collection for the Switch. But after all these years, one thing is as certain now as it was when I was a kid.

In this house, ROY'S OUR BOY!

[dakotacrisis]

Cherry Blossoms (4)

And I am back in time for another update right at the end of pride month. Plan was to get this whole story posted during the month but that did not happen. Oh well, people are still gay in July. Just a whole lot less corporate pandering.

As far as things with Kagami and Marinette are going...well...plans go awry fast.

Read on AO3

---

Adrien was not joking around with what he called Operation Cherry Blossoms. A.K.A. Operation Get-Marinette-To-Fall-In-Love-With-Kagami. He had even called in reinforcements. When Kagami showed up at his house as he requested Alya was also there with a full slideshow presentation prepared. They went over Marinette’s likes and dislikes. Her favorite things and places to go.

There was even a theory discussion about Marinette’s sexuality and why she never seems to fall in love with anyone. The long standing belief was that she was possibly somewhere on the Ace spectrum but that was a whole other thing to get into. Right now they were working with the hope that Marinette did want to experience romantic love and hopefully that romantic love spread to girls. They all knew Marinette wasn’t straight but she never gave them a definite title so the mass consensus was that she was at least bi.

“Guys,” Kagami stopped them, “This is all very thoughtful of you but isn’t this a little weird?”

Alya paused her presentation to turn to her. “What about this is weird?”

“You are literally showing me a presentation on what Marinette is like. I know what she’s like. I don’t need to know that her third favorite ice cream flavor is Very Cherry Chocolate Swirl. I need advice on how to get closer to her so that I’m not stumbling over myself trying to talk to her. The fact that I am nervous enough to stammer around her is baffling to me. I never hesitate to go for stuff that I want but with Marinette...I…”

Adrien sighed. “We know and you’re right. We need a different approach. Giving her a Marinette quiz isn’t gonna help her win her over.”

“Fair enough,” Alya closed out of the powerpoint with a small frown. “What should we do then?”

“Well we can go over the different tactics we used to try and woo Marinette.” Adrien shrugged, “They didn’t work obviously but there was stuff that we did that she liked. Ironically enough she really liked getting flowers in my experience.”

“Yeah, doing little stuff like buying her favorite candy or sending her pictures of cute hamsters worked when I was trying to flirt with her.” Alya said.

“Okay, this is good, tell me more about this kind of stuff.” Kagami started taking notes on her phone.

“She appreciates when you plan something.” Adrien said, “I planned this big day together where we went to a bunch of places I knew she loved to shop, got lunch at her favorite cafe, and topped it off with seeing a movie she had been raving about. She really seemed to love it. Of course while I was trying to flirt and stuff she was only seeing it as a nice day out with a friend.”

“That is a dangerous line to walk,” Alya sighed, “You could plan the most romantic date ever and she would only be able to see it as a friendly gesture if you aren’t straight up with her about your intentions. I love her to death but the girl is so oblivious it actually hurts.”

“So how am I supposed to flirt with her without making it obvious that I am in love with her?”

“You can’t really. That’s the problem.” Alya said.

“Then why are we even here? If she’s too oblivious to notice someone is flirting with her and she gets spooked when someone is upfront with their feelings then how am I supposed to get anywhere with her?” Kagami asked, flabbergasted by this never ending cycle of pining and failure that was the pursuit of Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

“Schemes. Romantic schemes. Like they do in romantic comedy movies.” Adrien said proudly.

Kagami turned to Alya, deadpanned, “Is he serious?”

“I think you two are underestimating how well this can work.” Adrien pulled up his own powerpoint presentation titled, Romantic Comedy Schemes and Why They Worked.

“Oh sweet baby swiss cheese,” Alya sighed, “Adrien, I told you this wasn’t a viable plan.”

“Hear me out!” Adrien pleaded.

“Fine!”

“Seriously?” Alya gaped at Kagami, “You want to actually hear this boy list off how the note cards from Love Actually was the ultimate romantic gesture or some crap like that?”

“It’s not like I have a whole lot of options.” Kagami threw her hands up, “It’s either romantic comedy shenanigans or trying to flirt with Marinette on my own. Neither seem viable but at least this one is less likely to make me puke up flowers. Go ahead, Agreste. Let’s hear your attack strategy.”

“All right!” Adrien beamed as he clicked to the next slide, “Let’s start with the proper setting.”

---

Kagami could not believe that she was doing this. She had agreed to it but it still seemed ridiculous. No. It didn’t ‘seem’ ridiculous, it ‘was’ ridiculous! This whole plot Adrien concocted with the help of Alya and a watchmojo top ten list of most romantic movie dates was utterly insane. If Kagami wasn’t desperate she would have said no. But she was. She was desperate and in love and desperately in love with the most wonderful yet naive girl in the world.

Adrien was walking with Kagami towards the Dupain-Cheng bakery. Right into the belly of the beast. Adrien kept a reassuring hand on her shoulder as they got closer. Kagami balled her hands in the fabric of her jacket. She can do this. They stopped outside the bakery and Adrien turned to her.

“You okay? You got this?”

“I’m okay. I can do this.” Kagami nodded, “And you’re sure this will work?”

“Only one way to find out.” Adrien said, “Quick cough, make sure there’s no loose flower petals that are gonna come popping out.”

Kagami grabbed her handkerchief and coughed into it a few times but no petals came up. They were good for now at least. She stuffed the hanky back in her pocket and followed Adrien into the bakery. It was fairly slow at this time and Marinette was standing by herself at the counter and flipping through a magazine. Kagami’s stomach flipped upon seeing her and she could swear she felt that tickle in her throat again.

Adrien ushered her forward with a hand on the small of her back. “Hey Marinette,” Adrien greeted her cheerfully, “Working hard as usual I see.”

“Oh hey guys,” Marinette smiled at them. She slid her magazine away. “What brings you by?”

“Well Kagami here wanted to order a custom cake for an upcoming special event and you know more about this stuff than me so I figured you could help us out.”

“Of course, I love assembling custom cakes,” Marinette pulled out a large binder from behind the counter. “First thing is first, how many people does this need to feed and what is your budget?”

“Budget is unlimited,” Adrien handed her his credit card, “and you can get all of the rest of the details from Kagami. Unfortunately I cannot stick around. I have a photoshoot I gotta run to but you two have fun. Kagami, get my card back to me after alright?”

What? This wasn’t part of the plan! Adrien was supposed to stay! He wasn’t supposed to leave her alone. Was this his plan all along? Oh she was going to kill him later! That hopeless romantic airheaded jerk was gonna have Kagami’s foot so far up his butt her foot would stick out of his mouth by the time she’s through with him.

Adrien patted Kagami on the top of her head and whispered into her ear, “Relax, you’ll be fine.” He bid the girls goodbye and left without another look back.

“Okay then,” Marinette was completely unperturbed by Adrien sudden departure, “Let’s get started on that cake.” She turned around to shout to the back of the bakery, “Mama! Can you come run register? I gotta help take a cake order.”

“Sure thing sweetie,” Mrs. Cheng came up to the front, “Oh Kagami, how nice to see you again. Are you ordering the cake? We’ll be sure to put it at the top of our list just for you.”

“Thank you,” Kagami said. She followed Marinette back through the bakery and into the apartment stairwell.

“We’ll have more privacy here,” Marinette sat down on the step, “Now how many people was this going to serve?”

“Uh…” Kagami racked her brain. She really didn’t need an actual cake. She wasn’t even that big into sweets. Adrien was paying for it too so she didn’t want to go overboard. Since Adrien was paying for it she supposed she could just assemble something she thought he would like and give it to him and Alya as a sort of thanks for helping her out. “Two people.”

“Smaller cake then, alright,” Marinette jotted down the information, “Did you want something like a tart or a cake?”

“Cake.”

“One or two layers?”

“One.”

“And specific shape? We can do a circle, rectangle, square, we can even do a heart if this is for something or someone special.” Marinette giggled. “Or maybe you just think little heart shaped cakes are cool.”

“Circle is fine.” Kagami choked back the petals in her throat trying to escape.

“And what kind of flavor were you thinking for the cake? We have lots of different options.”

“Uh...vanilla?”

“Simple, classic, love it.” Marinette continued on. “And what about filling? We have a lovely cherry filling that I think you would adore. I know how much you like cherry and we do use real chopped cherries in the filling.”

“Sure,”

“Great. I gotta know, what is this cake for? Adrien said it was for a very special event you were planning. What’s going on?”

“Oh it’s nothing really.”

“Come on, tell me, I’m curious,” Marinette scooted closer with her chin resting in her hands, “You said it was for two people. Is this maybe for a romantic date you have planned?”

“What? No! That’s not--” Kagami tried to back away but her back was already pressed into the stair railing, “Definitely not a date. This was--this was um--” Quick Kagami! Think of something! Anything! “Actually,” she said, “This was supposed to be a present for Adrien but then he offered to pay and I couldn’t tell him that it was for him cause it was supposed to be a surprise so now I’m kind of in a box about it.”

“A present for Adrien?” Marinette asked, “That’s sweet. Why are you getting him a present? Is there some sort of anniversary coming up?”

“No. I just thought it would be a nice gesture since we’re good friends and all.” It wasn’t a complete lie.

“Well that is just wonderful.” Marinette said, “If this is for Adrien then maybe we want to change the filling to passionfruit. I know that’s his favorite. Did you want to do that instead?”

“Yeah. Sounds good.” Kagami breathed out in relief. Dodged that bullet.

The girls spent the rest of the time constructing the perfect cake that they thought Adrien would like. It wasn’t the most romantic setting but it did give them ample time alone. Kagami hadn’t even noticed how fast the time was flying by as their conversation kept drifting from the cake form to other topics. At some point they had started leaning on one another with tears in their eyes as they laughed about a croissant eating contest Marinette’s school had put on and the disastrous results that ensued.

“I am telling you,” Marinette took a moment to breathe, “We had no idea where she was putting them all. Alix just kept downing croissant after croissant like she was pac-man. For someone so small she has a huge stomach.”

“I bet that angered Kim to no end.” Kagami laughed.

“Oh you have no idea. Poor guy was trying so hard to keep up but just couldn’t do it.” Marinette shook her head. She laid down so her head was resting in Kagami’s lap. “I need a minute. I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time. I can scarcely breathe.”

“Me either.” Kagami’s hand automatically went to Marinette’s hair and started running her hands through it. “How did we even get to this point? I’m fairly certain we were trying to create a cake for Adrien before this.”

“We were,” Marinette closed her eyes under Kagami’s attentions, “I’m just using you as an excuse to not have to wait on customers. That’s why I keep prolonging this.”

“And here I thought you just enjoyed my company.”

“I do. I love hanging out with you.” Marinette sighed, “I love it even more when you play with my hair. I feel like a little kitten getting lovies and pets.”

“You would make an adorable kitten.” Kagami said. The urge to cough came upon Kagami and she tried to swallow it back. It was a miracle she hadn’t dissolved into a coughing fit while she was laughing earlier. Marinette’s eyes were closed so hopefully she wouldn’t notice.

Kagami gave a quick cough to clear the petals but they were stuck and weren’t coming loose from such meager means. Crap. She tried a few more tiny coughs but it was only aggravating her more.

“You okay?” Marinette sat up, “Allergies again? Or do you just have a tickle in your throat.”

“I’m fine,” she turned away as her coughing got more violent. Stupid flower petals! Stupid disease! Marinette ran a hand up and down her back to ease the ache.

“Are you sure you don’t want a glass of water?”

“Water would be good,” Kagami answered in a hoarse voice. At least with Marinette gone she could get these petals out without her noticing. Marinette ran off to get her some water and Kagami started coughing hard hoping to dislodge the petals quickly before Marinette got back. What Kagami did not count on was Marinette being so darn fast and racing back to their spot with a water bottle in hand just as Kagami got the petals out. She had a hand clamped over her mouth with the petals settled in her palm.

She closed her fist around the petals and stuffed her hand in her pocket to hide the petals. “Thanks Marinette,” Kagami took the water.

“No problem, oops, you got a little something there.” Marinette reached a hand out and plucked something from Kagami’s chin. Double crap! One of the petals must have gotten stuck to her chin.

Marinette turned the petal over in the light. The recognition of what it was hitting her and the realization settling in as she put the pieces together. The cough. The petal. There was only one explanation.

“Oh dear,” Marinette frowned with worry, “Kagami? Are you alright? Please be honest with me, do you have Hanahaki disease?”

There was no point lying now. Marinette already knew. Might as well get it over with and end the suffering now.

“Yes,” Kagami pulled the petals out of her pocket, “I have for a while now.”

“Oh I am so sorry!” Marinette cried out, “I know how much that sucks. It’s such an unfair disease.”

“I am painfully aware,” Kagami scoffed, “At least they’re small.”

“Pretty too,” Marinette handed her the petal back. “So you have an unrequited love?”

“Big time.”

“Have you confessed?”

“No. That’s why I’m here. This, ordering the cake, it was supposed to help in some way. It seems silly now. I’m usually so upfront with people about what I want and what I feel but this whole ordeal has thrown me for a loop.” Kagami kept her head down. She didn’t want to see Marinette’s face when she rejected her.

“I see,” Marinette pulled her in for a hug. “It’s okay, Kagami. I don’t think it was stupid at all.”

“You don’t?”

“No.” Marinette pulled back  far enough to look in Kagami’s eyes, “I think telling someone how you feel over a delicious cake is a swell way to go about it. The fact that you are going to all this trouble for Adrien is so heartwarming.”

“Adrien?” Kagami looked at her confused. Why was she talking about Adrien… “Oh sweet baby swiss cheese,”

“Was this Alya’s idea?” Marinette asked, “She says that a lot so I figured that’s where you picked it up. Alya is great, always prepared for everything. Might go a little overboard but she’s a good person to go to for stuff like this.”

“Marinette, about Adrien--”

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell him anything.” Marinette hugged her again, “This will stay just between us. And do not worry about the cake. This one is on us. We will make sure it is perfect for your confession date, whenever you have that planned. Adrien would have to be insane not to fall in love with you.”

“Uh huh, this whole thing is so insane.” Kagami muttered. Operation Cherry Blossoms just got a whole lot more complicated.

---

(First) (Previous) (Next)

[nuatthebeach]

New Ginny

Link to AO3 for comments/reviews

"You know this was not what we had in mind for a low budget vacation, Winston!"

"You said you wanted to go somewhere you couldn't find at home."

"So, why would you take us to the beach all the way across the country, man?!" Sand shot in the air as an angry kick on the shore was executed effortlessly by the man Schmidt himself. "We live in freakin' LA! There's beaches crawling out of everywhere! And you wonder why no one lets you choose any of our vacation spots anymore, ya freak."

Cece threw up a hand in exasperation, diamond ring winking in the sun. "Yeah, why didn't you just tell us we were going to the beach, Winston? We could have saved a lot by just taking a car nearby instead of you surprising us with these 'low cost' plane tickets."

"See, you guys don't get it. I told y'all we were going on a cheap trip we ain't never done before, right?" Winston's smile brightened, the look of misguided, twisted comedy overtaking his expression with alarming speed. "And then, boom, I took y'all to the beach. On the East Coast. Ha! You just got Bishoped!"

Nick shook his head, right hand rubbing wearily against his face, looking just as tired as the rest of them. "You've gotta stop with your pranks, man."

"Y'all should've seen the look on my face - "

"Y- Seen the look on your face?"

The only word to describe the look on Schmidt's face was 'flabbergasted.'

" - When I swiped y'all's credit credit cards last month as you were all arguing with Nick over that Flat Earth theory video on YouTube - "

"When they asked the guy about his qualifications, he answered 'critical thinker'! Does that sound like someone who would just lie to you?!"

" - And for your only holiday weekends too! And, man, Nick is so broke right now! I was trying so hard to hold it in!" Winston was absolutely beaming with mirth at this point, reducing his friends' sense of camaraderie towards him to a terrifying low. "You know, you guys should really be checking your billing history more often, for real, someone could really be stealing from you, and you'd have no idea."

Before Winston could register Schmidt's increasingly tomato red face, something else in his periphery caught his attention. "Damn it, Ferguson, don't go near that water! It is not your friend, baby!"

"What type of idiot lets a cat roam free on the beach!"

While Cece attempted to alleviate the pressure between Schmidt's tightly clenched teeth, an irritated look overpowering her own, a low voice spoke from behind. "Are your friends always like this?"

Ginny, who had been laughing at her loftmates' antics and was surprisingly not feeling as bothered by Winston's tendencies as the rest of them (this vacation is, after all, well-deserved after the shitty week I've had, and every second counts, even if they are each spent planning Winston's upcoming ultimate demise), turned around to see an incredibly fit man her age speaking to her directly.

Sweeping her eyes over his form once, she leaned closer. "I'm afraid they are, yes, but I've got to warn you I'm not much better."

He seemed equally as amused as her. "How so?"

"Well, as you can tell from my completely American accent," she deadpanned in her British accent, amused when the stranger rolled his eyes in response, "my sense of humor is a bit dry. Superior, of course, but I'm told some people can't handle it."

"Natural selection will handle that, I hope," he chuckled.

"If we're lucky," she smiled. Feeling particularly introductory that late afternoon, she gestured halfheartedly to the obnoxious chatter several meters ahead of her. "My loftmates here, on the other hand, each have an equally questionable sense of humor themselves."

"Who, those few?"

She rolled her eyes, failing to prevent the corner of her lips from quirking upwards. Pointing to the man who was now dragging an increasingly wet and agitated cat from the Atlantic ocean, his jeans completely soaked from the knees down, Ginny drawled, "That idiot over there who cost us a proper, well-earned vacation is Winston. The only thing this man loves more than crazy pranks is his even crazier cat, who I'm pretty sure doesn't even know he exists. Needless to say, I've really never been more envious of a cat's attention span myself."

Moving on to Schmidt and Cece who were lying on the shore as far away from Winston as much as possible as a form of spite, Ginny explained matter-of-factly, "Schmidt and Cece don't have a cat, but that won't stop them from also making ear infection-inducing noises at six in the morning through our paper thin walls."

Pointing to the last couple on the beach, she continued, "Not like Nick and Jess are any better, though. They like to make weird noises too, but it's not always during sex, and that scares me more than it should anyone, really."

She gestured to herself. "And last but not least, you have me, whose most normal experience of today is having a fit guy at the beach wonder out loud about how five idiots managed to drag their even more fit loftmate out of her comfortable bed and into an expensive five hour flight. Just to do the same things that I easily could have done if I just took a simple albeit very long stroll outside. And I would have had a much better view, too, no offense to your rather peculiar looking ocean over here. What shade of contaminated gray would you call that hue, by the way?"

"No, that's a pretty accurate way of describing it, actually. I'd like to think there is some green in there, though. Just to give it the illusion of appearing to be clean." Reluctantly, Ginny had to agree.

The stranger's lips pressed firmly in amusement the entire time she was talking - ranting, more like - clearly trying to not give her the satisfaction of knowing how funny and charming he thought she was.

She found that endearing. They all try at first.

Eventually, he settled with: "So you and, uh, Winston, are the only two people in the loft who are not coupled up?"

She raised an eyebrow, impressed by his nerve. "Pretending to ignore your intentions for asking such a tactfully worded question, no, actually, when Winston's not too busy canoodling with his cat, he's canoodling his girlfriend - Aly - back at home, but she couldn't make it here today, lucky girl. So it's just me."

Finally smiling now, the stranger ignored her challenging look ('why are you so curious about my relationship status, you hot, inquisitive, none-of-your-business stranger?') and asked her teasingly, "Aren't there a lot of people to fit in just one loft?"

"I mean, we're from LA. Rent there is mad, so we need all the help we can get," she shrugged. "But, yeah, most definitely breaking some housing rules here or there. Is that something that bothers you?"

He smiled, something akin to arrogance taking over his face. She found that look more stirring than she'd like to admit out loud. "You'll find I'm not really the rule caring type."

"Oh? When would you imagine I'd be finding that out?"

She was beyond the point of caring how brazen she must have sounded to a complete and utter stranger. And if she was being honest with herself, she never did care, really. Besides, if she was going to fit a hot summer romance in the span of a whole day, she thought she might as well get on with it.

He cleared his throat, his gaze silently indicating how much he'd like to agree with her on that one, too. "Okay, Miss Dry Humor. I guess I know everything there is to know about your loftmates without risk of my mind being fully blown apart, now. What's your story?"

"What's yours?"

He chuckled at her retort though immediately furrowed his eyebrows afterward, as if he was confused by this question himself.

Ginny did not know what to think of that, though she found a strange fog overtaking her when she tried to ponder on her own personal history too.

Strange.

Instead, she prompted, trying to clear her mind, "You're a lifeguard here, right?"

He looked down at his form, a lanyard draped across his increasingly interesting collarbone and a whistle resting just above his bare chest.

"I can't swim."

She blinked.

"What?" she laughed. "Isn't that, like, a hazard for what you do?"

"Probably," he said sheepishly, rubbing his hand against the back of his neck. "I don't mean to, like, put anyone in danger or anything. It's a long story, but basically, I'm covering for my friend while he's, um...making noises with his girlfriend, as you said. Hence, the whistle right here. So I'm not really a lifeguard. But if anything happens, my other friend - an actual reliable lifeguard - can help you out. He's right over there nearby."

He pointed to another dark-haired, attractive man standing farther away from them along the shore. At first, Ginny thought he was winking at her, but when she saw the tension building along the shoulders of the stranger next to her, she knew who that teasing look was meant for.

"Sorry about him. He thinks I'm trying to make a move on you."

"Oh? Is that not what's happening right now?"

His cheeks flushed slightly. Ginny found it amusing how this man could be so confident but also so shit at flirting too. It strangely caused warmth to expand, but this time it was not through her lower belly.

"I don't want him to think that, though. I'd never hear the end of it."

It was not a direct answer to her question, but his eyes were so soft and mischievous that she had no doubt as to what he really meant.

She rolled her eyes anyway. "I thought you Americans were supposed to be more direct than that."

He scoffed, eyes lighting up at her jibe. "Oh, I see. You're one of those. Dry humor doesn't have to equate to being mean, you know."

Ginny laughed. "Well, that's why my loft arrangement works out so well with this lot over here," she jabbed her thumb to her friends, watching as Ferguson was attempting once more to drown himself in the ocean to escape his owner's clingy attentiveness. "My sense of humor is mean and dry, and their sense of humor compensates by being mean and wet."

He coughed. "Wet?"

She raised an eyebrow at him, pretending like she hadn't made any suggestive comment whatsoever. "Well, occasionally we do like to alternate, though."

"Of course."

"If I was always dry, and they were always wet, we'd have a different problem altogether."

He barked out a laugh, his cheeks flushing again. "How are you even real?"

"Well, anything's possible if you've got enough perv."

The man's breath hitched, his green eyes staring at her intensely. Despite her earlier insult, Ginny thought the color reminded her exactly of the ocean they were at now, something much stormier than the one back in California.

She found herself growing fond of this beach in a way she was not before.

"Do I know you? I swear I feel like I met you before."

She leaned closer to him, fighting feeling flustered herself. "I've probably got one of those memorable faces or something."

"Something like that." His eyebrows furrowed, but his lips were still upturned. "I'll certainly remember it much later today anyways."

His ears promptly reddened.

She gasped playfully, smiling as she hit him lightly on his very fit arm. "You are much smoother than you look. And randier."

He laughed. After a short while of them standing in a silence filled with smirks and silky sheet-like possibilities, he finally asked, "Okay, Miss Dry Occasionally Wet Humor - "

"Nice."

He bit back another chuckle. "What's your name?"

"What's yours?"

He rolled his eyes ("stubborn too"), he relented, "I'm Harry."

She chuckled, shaking his hand that was offered to her mockingly. She tried to ignore how well it fit in her own small one.

"Ginny."

He watched her nose crinkle, a deep smile spreading across both of their lips contentedly.

It was something tangible, she thought, as her insides fired up, not out of lustful heat - though certainly that too - but something warm, like receiving hugs after being shoved outside in a freezing tent in the woods for months and months, with nothing but a piece of marked parchment to keep one sane.

Parchment?

Something within her squirmed, and she thought that if she listened closely enough, the sounds of seagulls cawing in the distance could easily be replaced by something akin to an audience crooning in sympathy.

As if watching a pair of hopeless lovers on a silver screen.

Suddenly, Nick's comically high pitched scream filled the air, allowing Ginny to shake her head at her crazy thoughts.

"It's just a ghost crab, Nick!" Jess yelled from far away, annoyed as her boyfriend jumped on her back in fright, almost causing her to topple over herself.

"Why are there crabs and ghosts, Jess! You can't have both! You know I always told you that crustaceans are the cockroaches of the sea! It's a crazy world out here!"

At Jess's blank stare, Nick chuckled incredulously, his last brain cell firing meekly. "Wait. I get it. You're teasing me, Jess. Ghosts aren't real. Psh. Nice try."

Nick's neck cricked as he glanced around in paranoia.

Jess rolled her eyes, attempting to drop him down from her back but failing badly, his legs wrapped around her like a vice. "Ghost. Crabs. Nick. I don't know why you're even scared of them - they even walk sideways like you do!"

"They should not be blending in with the sand like that! They're all spooky ghosts! It's not right!"

"You. Are. So. Infuriating, Miller!"

As Nick hopped off of Jess to moonwalk away from the ghost crabs, a thought came to Ginny.

"They kind of remind me of..." Both Harry and Ginny said at the exact same time, causing them to stare at each other hastily.

When neither of them finished their sentences (what even was I going to say anyways?), Ginny huffed. "Right," she said, "Well, I've got to head back now before Nick finds out that it's getting late, which can only mean that more ghost crabs are bound to be crawling all over the place soon."

He laughed but quickly became alarmed when she made to leave. "Wait."

She turned around, hand cupping her forehead to squint at him through the waning sun. Harry swallowed, eyes drifting to her red hair in a daze.

Before he could say anything, however, Schmidt and Winston's obnoxiously loud voices were shrill above the sounds of the waves crashing ahead of them.

"Of all places for a prank!" Clearly, Schmidt's ability to let things go was about as weak as Ginny's right hook. "Why did you decide to take us here in the end?"

"As in, why the East Coast and not a beach in a whole other expensive ass country? Damn, now that would have been a better prank."

Four legs reached out to kick sand in Winston's face, Ferguson following with a screech.

"But to be honest, I couldn't wait to see what the sunset looks like on the other side of the country."

Pause.

"Winston! We are on the East Coast! The sun falls west at night time! Look at where the sun is now," Schmidt gestured aggressively behind him, where towering beach homes covered the view. "You can't see the freakin' sunset on this beach, man!"

"Aw, damn, my bad."

"How are you actually one of the more intelligent people I know in my life?!"

If there was one thing she and Schmidt shared, Ginny concluded, it was their inability to handle rage.

Her eyes flitted to Jess, who was trying to catch her attention.

Ginny chuckled, holding up a hand to let her loftmate know to wait there when she saw her smiling knowingly towards her and Harry. She watched as Jess's eyebrows waggled dramatically, stuffing her index finger through a hole she made with her other hand in repetition as she chomped down on her lip.

Completely unfazed by her loftmate's quirks at that point, Ginny turned to Harry again.

"If we can't do that sunset, I suppose I'll have to make plans for a sunrise tomorrow before we head back to LA, then. Join me?"

His answering smile could make a grain of sand feel alive.

She had the strangest feeling that the sound she could have sworn she heard a while ago was ringing faintly in her ear once more.

This time, she thought she heard boisterous whoops instead, clapping cheerfully as Ginny smiled one last time to Harry before finally walking toward her friends.

…

Click Here to Play the Next Episode - >>|

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[gremlin-writes-angst]

Attack on Tuition

An Attack on titian Modern College au

Sorry if it's too American, I’ve only ever lived in America so that’s all I know.

Let’s start off with the main three Eren, Mikasa, and Armin

So in high school, Armin got a job at a Starbucks inside a target, eventually, Mikasa decided that she also needed a job and Armin told her they were hiring at his work so they then worked together, they are often the only two who work during their shifts.

They still have these jobs when they move to a college close to their hometown. By now Armin is a shift manager of Starbucks. And Eren has realized that he needs a job and his friend always talks about their job so he tries to get a job at the same place.

Eren tried his best but he ended up works at target instead of Starbucks in target. He hates that he has to wear red, he thinks it’s a stupid color and that being a target cashier is the worst job.

He spends his break at Starbucks complaining that he doesn't get to work with his friends

Back to Starbuck pair. Armin often works the cash register because he's better around people while Mikasa makes the drinks. Armin actually attracts some people, he's the cute barista at Starbucks that you think likes you back( he doesn't).

Even older women see Armin as the cute barista and try to flirt with him. he plays along for tips and is afraid that if he doesn't they'll Saturn Karen on him. I've actually thought of a small scenario that has 100% happened

Scenario

Older divorcee soccer mom who is also a regular

Armin: Good afternoon Karen, how can I help you today

Karen: Oh I guess it is afternoon Armin, I'll have my regular for the kids, and I'm gonna try something new, any recommendations

Armin: Well of course are you looking for something bitter, sweet or maybe something fruit based

Karen: Definitely something sweet, do you guys have anything that is as sweet as you, I doubt it, your are just too sweet

queue Mikasa rolling her eyes

Armin: oh why thank you, I would suggest the strawberry funnel cake frappuccino

Karen: Well if you’re suggesting it then, of course, I’ll try it.

Mikasa: Armin I don't know how to make that yet

Armin: oh well ill make her order, just finish ringing her up

Karen looks back to the cashier, after checking on her children and getting her credit card out.

Karen: Oh where'd Armin go

Mikasa: He's making your drinks for you. I can finish ringing you up ma’am

Karen: Well you don't have to take that tone with me I was just wondering

Mikasa: *sigh* Sorry ma’am, what size would you like that frappuccino, and will that complete your order

Karen: A grande and Yes that's all for today

Mikasa: Your total is --.-- ( idk)

Karen: that's outrageous, it’s normally less than that

Mikasa: well today you ordered something different

Karen: but I got a small size than normal so it should cost less than normal

Mikasa: well the frappuccino cost more than your regular drink because there more ingredients along with it being a special item

Karen: well it shouldn't be that high

Mikasa: would you like me to edit your order, maybe change the size of something

Karen: no ill just pay for this, and you should smile more and talk nicer, people will like you better that way, like Armin.

Karen pays for her drinks and goes to sit and wait. Mikasa now avoids the cashier job as best as possible.

Moving on to Ymir and Historia

Ymir and Historia went to the same high school.

Ymir’s parents were both military and moved a lot, at the end of 8th grade they moved to a small town, where they stayed for four years/ till Ymir graduated.

This small town was historians home town, and she had never gone far out of the county her town is in.

In high school the two meet and fall in love, becoming high school sweethearts.

in junior (11th grade) year the two already plan to move in together after graduation. But things go amiss when Historia is forced to go to an ivy league college across the country and Ymir, doesn't have the grades or money to follow her.

the two break up and don't stay in touch. It’s too painful for the both of them to only be friends.

Ymir takes a year before going to college, earning money for the future, she applied to as many as she could, and by some fate ended up at the same college as Eren, Armin, Mikasa, Jean, Sasha, Reiner, Berthold, and Annie.

She becomes close with these people, and eventually builds a band with 2 of them, as much as she didn't expect or want she was in a band with Eren and Berthold. Ymir is a bass player and singer and she needs at least 1 guitar player along with a drum player, and Berthold was the only person who wasn’t just decent but surprisingly amazing at the drums. While Eren tried to be a drummer thinking it was cooler. But he has no talent as a drummer but when Ymir asked if he already knew how to play an instrument he plainly explained that he plays guitar, and she had him play and as much as she disliked it, he was better than the other guitar players she was looking for.

Also, Mikasa will sometimes help with duets or background vocals. And later on, they meet Annie and she becomes their second guitarist.

storytime

So Ymir’s band has started to grow some fans and historian finds out about this band and watches a video only to find that the leader and singer is her ex. Historia still loves Ymir and now that she knows that there is a way to see her again she had to try. so she researches the band’s upcoming shows, and plans a way to get plain tickets without her parents knowing it’s too visit her ex.

She decides she wants to surprise Ymir so she doesn't tell her.

Historia watches Ymir and her band performs, she’s so enthralled by Ymir and the love that she feels for her. shes doesn't even realize the songs are mostly about her.

At the end of the show, Ymir is sitting at the bar ( not drinking) when a short blonde female approaches her, started flirting. the short blonde isn't Historia but Historia can see and hear this interaction. So when Ymir not so kindly rejects the girls by saying

"I’m not interested girlie"

Historia hears a flirtatious tone behind Ymir’s voice, the same tone that Ymir used to use on her. So Historia doesn't approach her, she just leaves, realizing that she has no claim to Ymir.

the truth is Ymir put no flirtatious tone behind that sentence, her flirtatious tone and serious tone are basically the same, Historia was mistaken.

Ymir only realizes that Historia was at one of her shows a few weeks later when she receives photos ( that were taken of the band and crowd for future posters) and recognizes her ex-girlfriend in the crowd. She is unsure how to feel, she was happy but also disappointed and angry that Historia never approached her

Oh also Jean, Connie, and Sasha all went to the same high school but Connie goes to a fancy private college that's less than an hour away from jean and Sashas collage, jean and Sasha make fun of how he has changed ( he has elbow pads on all his sweaters).

that's it for now and I made a playlist of what I think Ymir’s band sounds likes

Ymir and the Cadets link!!!

[adenei]

Auror 99 - Chapter 11

AO3 || FFN

 Finalizing Plans

“Finally, we’re a step ahead of Gerteso!” Boyle said after Harry and Ron had explained everything. 

“What do you think the plan should be?” Rosa asked. “The sooner we wrap this up, the better. Not that I haven’t enjoyed all this time with you all, but I’m itching to get on with a new case. Plus, Sarge is starting to go nuts relying on Scully and Hitchcock.” Rosa’s seriousness was interrupted by a brief laugh, as she was no doubt imagining Sarge and Gina losing their minds at the duo’s stupidity.

“We should be able to apprehend him tomorrow. I don’t think it’s a good idea to wait too long because he’s going to find out sooner or later that his brother’s records aren’t where he’s looking. He’s bound to check the immigration records in an upcoming visit,” Amy reasoned.

Hermione agreed. “I know you’re going to pull the, ‘you’re not an Auror, Hermione,’ card again, but I think Amy’s right. We can contact Kingsley and MACUSA to get permission to apprehend him. This needs to be done tomorrow.”

“If you’re careful, you may even be able to get him to rat out his brother, too. If he wants to take him down, this would be his last chance when he’s in custody,” Jake said.

“You know what, that’s actually a good idea,” Ron agreed. “Hermione, you, Rosa and Amy see what else you can find on Martini. We’re going to need a location for the MACUSA Aurors to bring him in. I think we can play the angle of getting Martini to come in and verify the suspect, so we don’t tip him off. That way we can give both of them the shock factor of seeing each other.”

“...Especially since it doesn’t sound like it’s going to be a cozy little reunion,” Charles said. 

“Exactly. So how’s this? Harry and I will go meet with Kingsley to see if we can gain permission for a sting in the Wand Records office. Jake and Charles, you should go inform Holt of the plan. There’s only the one stairwell down from the lift. Hermione, we should station you with Rosa there, and then Jake, Charles, and Amy can be covering the main entrance to the Woolworth and the alley he disappears by, just in case.”

Everyone nodded and went their separate ways to gather a plan. It didn’t take long for Kingsley to respond to Harry and Ron. They took their time detailing everything they’d discovered and their idea for a capture.

“Are you sure it’s him?” Kingsley asked them.

“Positive,” Harry said. “Jake and Charles watched him drop the disguise or disillusionment charm in the alley before he disapparated. Jake confirmed.”

“But didn’t Ron obliviate him after their first meeting?” Kingsley asked skeptically. He and Holt didn’t know that their true identities had been revealed to the rest of the team.

Harry recovered quickly. “Yes, but we’ve since spotted him on surveillance, and have still photos to work off of. Charles was able to snap a few pictures on his phone, too.”

“Okay. I will check with MACUSA. Should I request backup?”

“That wouldn’t hurt in case he manages to get up the stairs or to the lift. As long as we get questioning rights first,” Harry agreed.

“I don’t think that will be an issue, especially if we’re aiding in bringing in The Cryptic.”

Ron nodded. “We’re hoping that we can get Gerteso to crack. We’ve got too much evidence to put forth with the Wizengamot to put him Azkaban for a long time. This could be his only chance to strike a plea to lessen the sentence. If he’s trying to take down his brother out of spite, he just might give away what he knows.”

Kingsley nodded. “I’ll meet with them and be back shortly. Do me a favor and check on Hermione’s status with the articles. I have a feeling MACUSA will want any evidence she’s collected with the other detectives,”  he said just before he left the frame.

“I’ll go check if you don’t mind waiting?” Ron asked Harry.

Harry shooed him off as he sat on his bed, and Ron returned to the common area. “Any luck?” he asked them.

“Amy’s managed to find a list of all the names of orphans Martini has ‘taken in.’ None of the kids ever make it back to the Orphanage. I’m cross referencing the names to the list I have from the Ilvermorny database. Most of the names are matching those on this list,” Hermione explained. “Even if a child is not fully magical, their name still appears, and there’s an ‘S’ next to their name, presumably for squib.”

“I’m also looking up to see if any adoption records come up for these kids, or if there are any money transfers in an attempt to cover any of it up,” Rosa added.

“Good, good, Kingsley will appreciate the information,” Ron said.

 “Oh, my God,” Amy exclaimed as Ron was about to head back to Harry.

Various forms of ‘what’ chorused from everyone, and even Harry popped his head out of the doorway to see what was going on.

“It’s not just Squib trafficking. I checked the names Hermione didn’t find a match for and some of these are high profile missing persons cases.” Amy looked at Rosa. “I need to call Jake.”

“No, wait. Let’s see what Kingsley says. We shouldn’t move too many units in. It might spook him, and that’s the last thing we want.” Amy nodded and Rosa looked like she wanted to argue, but Harry called him back.

“Kingsley just appeared in the portrait.” Ron moved quickly to join them. 

“You have permission from MACUSA to set up the sting tomorrow. They’ll provide extra coverage, but not until after he enters. Once you have him in custody, I’ll join you for the investigation. The MACUSA Aurors are appreciative of any information you can give them on Martini. They’ve hit dead ends with the Squib trafficking ring for a while now. Make sure you bring any information about Martini tomorrow to be ready to hand over.”

“Yeah, about that. Apparently, he hasn’t just been taking squibs from the orphanage. Amy said there are some muggle missing person cases that some of the names and descriptions are matching. This is going to get messy.”

Kingsley was quiet as he thought about this new development. “I will discuss with Holt and see what he thinks. First and foremost, Martini is a wizard, and will need to be convicted as such. Of course, the matters are out of my hands, as this is strictly American territory, though I’m sure MACUSA will be willing to work with and see if they can help locate any of the muggles on that list.”

“Thanks, Kingsley.”

“You’re welcome. The last thing I need you to do is see what you can find for background on the Guarnieris. Any additional information will be helpful for questioning. We need as much of an upper hand as we can get. Hopefully, I will see you in person tomorrow.”

Harry and Ron said their goodbyes and made their way back to the rest of the team to get the information Kinglsey said they needed. The girls were just finishing up their research connected to Martini, and then the group of five grabbed some lunch before diving into a deep search of the Guarnieri name. 

~o~

Unfortunately, their searches didn’t yield the detail they were hoping for. They did find out that Lorenzo and Leonardo Guarnieri grew up in London where they were orphaned at a young age. Apparently as Voldemort’s influence was rising at the beginning of the second wizarding war, there was a Death Eater attack on the orphanage. Bellatrix had intel that there were Muggleborns in the orphanage and Voldemort had ordered an attack on innocent children.

 Leonardo and Lorenzo must have been separated during the attack, as the orphanage’s cook was credited with saving one of the boys, Lorenzo, who would one day become The Cryptic. It was clear from the articles that the cook had taken a keen interest in the Guarnieri twins, which caused Hermione to think that she, too, must have been a vampire, since why else would she take him to the Sanguinity. The article talked of the tragedy, and the cook had stated it broke both the boy’s and her heart because she was unable to go back and rescue Leonardo.

Hermione was then able to find more on Lorenzo from published Sanguine journals in Italy. After verifying his descent, the Sanguinity took him in and he studied under them until they shipped him off to join the New York division. He was only 23 at the time, and he moved his way up the ranks quickly. The former leader died suddenly when Lorenzo was 25, and he was chosen by the Sanguinity to take over. Ironically, this was around the same time Leonardo started working at Gringotts.

Ron and Harry were less successful in finding any information on Leonardo, which wasn’t surprising considering how he was able to pass through the system. Since he was presumed dead, Hogwarts never came for him when he turned eleven, and he only knew he was a wizard because the cook had discussed it with him and his brother. They found an article in a muggle newspaper about the mysterious orphanage attack that interviewed a lowly shopkeeper nearby, and it was Jake who noticed the small boy peeking out from behind a crate in the picture.

“There! That’s got to be him, right?” Jake pointed to the screen.

“Yes! That’s definitely him. You can see the resemblance to the boy in the other article,” Ron agreed.

After finding the article, they’d hit a dead end. The team felt a little down because of the lack of information, but Charles, ever the optimist, reminded them that “because you know his real identity, and his motive, and that’ll be enough to seal the deal.”

“Charles is right,” said Amy. “I think we’ve got enough for tomorrow, and the plan is ready to go. Who wants to binge more of the HP movies and try and relax the rest of the day?”

“That sounds good to me!” Hermione said eagerly.

“Do we really have to watch more?” Harry asked, not even bothering to hide his displeasure.

 “The first one wasn’t terrible, mate,” Ron said. He could tell Hermione was anxious to see more, and if he was being honest, he was too.

Rosa opted to head back to the precinct to get some paperwork done for a bit while the rest of the team settled in on the couches. Charles  had barely sat down when he realized they would need ample food to fuel their movie marathon. So, he ran out to get snacks and pick up sandwiches for everyone later. He insisted they start without him, since he’d seen them before. As the resident foodie of the group, he had taken it upon himself to give them the ultimate snack fest for their binging party.

Amy hit play and settled in a seat next to Jake, where Ron noticed she was sitting quite close to him and had to hide his smirk. He and Hermione shared a knowing look at the two of them, while Harry was watching the opening intently.

“Man, did Dobby really cause all that havoc at your Aunt and Uncle’s?” Jake asked.

Harry nodded. “Yeah. Hey, mate, thanks again for the rescue mission. Things were not looking good,” he turned and said to Ron, who simply smiled and nodded.

“One of the few times Fred and George actually worked with me and not against.”

They settled in for a while until the Ford Anglia made its second appearance and they watched the movie Harry and Ron fly into the Whomping Willow. Ron couldn't help but laugh at the scene. "Well, Hermione, you always wanted to know what happened when we weren't on the train. I'd say this is a pretty good reenactment!" Everyone laughed at Ron’s words.

Things were going well until the scene where Ron was puking up slugs. That wasn’t the issue. It was what movie Hermione had said. Hermione was beside herself when she looked at Amy and asked, “But, why did I get those lines? I had no idea what a Mudblood was!” 

“Well, at least they got the slugs right,” Ron tried to remain optimistic.

 Charles returned from his snack purchasing excursion just as the polyjuice potion scene was playing out. He was about to ask Hermione what it was like to be a cat, but Ron gave a firm shake of his head, indicating that it would be smarter to not ask the question.

Ron had to get up and walk out at the scene with all the spiders, mumbling something to the effects of, “I lived through it once, I don’t need to watch it again.”

Harry couldn’t help but take the mickey out of him a bit, saying that, “this Grint character’s facial expressions are brilliant, though! It’s almost like he shares the same fear.” Hermione tried to be sympathetic and not laugh, but she did admit it was funny.

“Oh, but Rupert Grint is terrified of spiders, too!” Amy confirmed.

They watched the remainder of the movie in relative quiet, and once it had finished, everyone turned to Hermione for her overall thoughts, while Amy got up to switch to the third movie.

“Well, aside from giving me several lines that I didn’t actually say, I suppose it wasn’t terrible,” Hermione said.

“It’s interesting how they interpret some of the events that happened,” Harry chimed in. 

“Were they close, at least?” Amy asked. 

“For the most part.” Harry didn’t care to go into much more detail than that.

“Was Lockhart similar to his character?” Amy asked.

Hermione nodded. “The actor did quite a good job with him actually.”

 “Oh, please, Lockhart was more insufferable in real life. You liked him, so you shouldn’t be one to judge,” Ron cut in.

Hermione rolled her eyes. “That’s not-!”

“Don’t even try and deny it, Hermione,” Ron laughed. “It’s okay, I forgive your twelve year old self for your poor taste.”

“Oh, no!” Charles cut in, preventing Hermione from any defense she may have had from Ron’s statement.

“What? Did you forget the stuff for nachos?” Jake asked, looking alarmed as he glanced to the kitchen.

“No, I just realized I missed the slug scene!” Charles lamented.

Everyone stared at him, not really knowing what to say. Finally, Ron spoke up. “Er, was there something you wanted to know? Seeing as how I lived through it, I may be able to help..”

Jake groaned. “Wrong answer.”

Amy agreed. “Yeah, Ron, take it back while you still have the chance.”

Before Ron could ask why, Charles began shooting out a litany of questions. “What made you choose slugs to jinx with? What did they taste like? Was it like escargot? How would you rate the mouthfeel? I’ll need to do some research to see if slugs are actually a delicacy somewhere around the world…”

“Charles!” Jake snapped him back to reality. “Leave him alone. No one cares about slugs. Besides, we’re not supposed to know they exist, so you shouldn’t be questioning him about this.”

“It’s fine, Jakey, I’ll just say I did extensive research on it and the movie sparked the inspiration for the new blog article.”

“Charles, no one is going to want to read about the mouth feel of slugs on your blog. Just stick to rating obscure restaurants.” Amy said.

“I have so many questions…” Ron finally managed to say. “What is mouthfeel?”

“Oh, you see I write a food blog!”

“Yeah, I gathered that..” 

“Mouthfeel is one of the twelve categories I rate a dish on. The inside of your cheeks are very sensitive, right? It's like the inside of your thighs except with a tongue-” 

“Charles!” Jake and Amy both groaned.

“Alright, alright! Ron asked, so I answered. The slug thing just gave me an idea for my next blog if you wanted to share your experience.”

Ron didn’t know how to answer. He was twelve when it happened, and thankfully he hadn’t had to relive that particular moment. Thankfully, Amy came to his rescue.

“Okay, enough, I’m starting Prisoner of Azkaban. If you want snacks, go grab them now.”

“I’m going to get a drink,” Harry said. 

Ron and Hermione looked worriedly at him. They knew he was probably apprehensive about seeing Sirius and Remus portrayed on screen. Amy said she’d wait until the end to ask any questions, and advised them all to do the same. Charles was banned from any questions related to food.

When their second movie of the day finished, Hermione looked at Amy. “Is this whole, me getting everyone else’s lines going to get worse?”

“Do you want the honest answer?” Amy asked through a grimace.

Hermione sighed. “As much as I still hate Rita for starting this whole thing by publishing the books, at least they were accurate. I’m starting to lose faith in these films.”

“Do you want to keep going?” Amy asked.

“Might as well.”

“Can we take a break and eat first?” Harry asked. 

“I think that’s a good idea,” agreed Jake.

“Harry, if you don’t want to watch the next one, we’ll understand,” Hermione told him. It was bad enough seeing Sirius and Remus again, and watching Pettigrew get away, but now he’d have to watch the Triwizard Tournament, no doubt watching someone play Cedric die, and see the fake Moody’s deception. It was going to take a dark turn.

“I’ll be fine,” Harry said.

“You could call Ginny if you wanted,” Ron suggested.

“You know as well as I do we’re not supposed to contact anyone while on a mission,” Harry said. But the toll of having been away from her and his family for longer than a week was starting to weigh on him. 

“Can you imagine what she’s going to say when we tell her?” Ron said. The trio all had a laugh at imagining Ginny’s reaction over the whole thing. 

“Hey, I have a question,” Jake said as they sat down to eat. “How did you two not pick up on the whole time turner thing for an entire year?” He motioned to Harry and Ron.

“I did notice!” Ron defended. “That was actually close to how it happened. I’d notice her appear almost out of thin air in classes, but she’d always wave me off or ignore me when I’d ask.”

“I couldn’t tell you. We’ve been over this a million times,” Hermione scoffed.

“Well then, why didn’t you use it to catch up on sleep?” Jake asked.

Amy looked at him as if that was the dumbest question in the world. “Well, obviously she couldn’t. McGonagall told her she should only use it for attending all of her classes. You have to use it sparingly.”

“Yes, Ames, just because McGonagall says something, it’s Hogwarts law,” Jake shot sarcastically back at her.

“She’s not wrong,” Hermione clarified. “I was warned that if I used it too much I could run the risk of affecting the timeline, even if I wasn’t seen. Time turners are a funny thing, er, were. I didn’t want to risk messing with time too much. I was also fourteen and insistent that I could manage it all, too. Ron was the only one to make me see that I couldn’t actually manage it.” The three detectives nodded, though Jake didn’t seem satisfied with the answer. 

“I don’t like how the actors who are playing Remus and Sirius and Snape are so old. They would have been in their thirties. We don’t look that old, do we?”

“No, I think it was more about securing acting prestige when they signed them. It’s not something I thought about, but you’re right,” Amy tried to explain. “Kind of like how they hired kids and had to hope their acting would hold up as they grew with the series.”

“Yes, well, I’m still holding out an opinion, but I’m not sure how well I like Emma Watson.”

“Just wait,” Charles said as he took a swig of his beer.

“What’s that-” Hermione started to say, but Amy cut her off as she jumped up and went over to the entertainment area.

“We should get started if we’re going to finish this at a reasonable hour.”

They cleaned up and settled in for one more movie that evening. Ron could tell that Hermione wanted to speak several times, and there were a few moments when Ron thought she was going to cut off the circulation in his leg at how hard she was squeezing.

 The credits barely started rolling when Hermione let loose. “They completely cut out Winky and S.P.E.W.! Which completely changed Barty Crouch Jr.’s whole storyline! And why would they make Durmstrang all boys and Beauxbatons all girls? That’s complete rubbish! Oh, if Fleur were to see her portrayal here...it’s completely awful! They messed everything up.”

“Hermione, I know it was bad, but they kept the integrity of the main points,” Ron tried to calm her down. “Personally, I really enjoyed Movie Harry dribbling water all over himself as he gushed over Cho.” He burst into a fit of laughter that did manage a chuckle out of Hermione.

“Oi! That did not happen, so don’t you dare tell Ginny about it.” Harry warned.

“Won’t have to tell her anything mate, not if she sees it for herself.”

Harry groaned. “Well, I’m personally disappointed that your row didn’t happen in front of loads of people in the common room like it did after the Yule Ball. They really missed the mark on that one,” Harry shot back.

“Well, they certainly got your sour attitudes right,” Hermione told them both, “and the pig-headedness of your own row.”

“Yeah, well, that’s nothing compared to what’s coming in sixth year. Can’t wait to watch how they did that one,” Harry said. Ron and Hermione knew he didn’t really mean much by it, but they both still turned faintly red at the memory.

“Harry,” Amy tried as gently as she could to change the subject. “Is that actually what Voldemort looked like?”

Harry was silent for a moment. “Er, sort of. His face was much more snake-like, and his voice was more chilling than that. But the graveyard scene was accurate, minus Bertha Jorkins absence.”

Ron and Hermione were quiet. It was the one time they weren’t with Harry as they had to remain in the stands while he completed the final task.

“I still can’t believe Fudge just administered the Dementor’s Kiss on Crouch without bothering to hear his story,” Charles said, shaking his head.

“Yeah, well Fudge was bloody buggering-”

“Okay, Ron,” Hermione cut him off. Harry nodded in agreement at what Ron was about to say. “Maybe it’s time we turn in. We need our rest for tomorrow.”

Everyone agreed. “As much as I’m ready to catch this asshole, I’m not ready for this to end,” Jake admitted.

“Well, we’ve still got questioning and all that, so it’s not like we’re just going to disappear tomorrow or anything,” Ron reassured him.

“You aren’t going to obliviate us when this is all over, are you?” Rosa asked. She’d just walked in the door. “Oh good, movie night’s over.”

Jake, Charles and Amy all looked at the trio, waiting for the answer to the question only Rosa had been brave enough to ask. They knew with the Statute of Secrecy that they’d have to. The sympathetic looks emanating off of Harry, Ron and Hermione said it all.

[sharperthewriter]

Chapter 12 of Possible-y Utah

Chapter 12 - The Agreement II

(2:18 pm)

A pink convertible pulled up into the driveway of Richard's house and two girls, both seniors, got out of the car.

The girl who was driving the car was Genna Majenta. She, whom had recently graduated from MHS, had long shoulder-length black hair, brown eyes and was slightly taller than Kim. She was dressed in a blue croptop shirt, a silver star necklace, Club Banana dark baggy denim overalls with the bib folded down and straps hooked and a belt to hold them up and white sneakers. She was co-captain of the Middleton Golden Dancers dance team in her senior and the girlfriend of Richard.

The other girl whom was the passenger of the car was Jeanna Montana, the girlfriend of Jack. Like Genna, she was approaching her senior year at Middleton High and was also on the Golden Dancers. They were also of the same height. But whereas Genna had brown eyes and black hair, Jeanna had blonde hair and blue eyes and had a tattoo of two starts on her midriff. She was wearing a pink tubetop, silver hoop earrings, black carpenter jeans, and pink sneakers.

"Ugh...do you wonder why Richard called us here, Gen?" Jeanna asked while popping her strawberry bubblegum.

"Dunno. Maybe both he and Jack could get lucky with us tonight!" Genna replied, texting away on her phone.

"You wanna take Jack upstairs or in the basement?" Jenna asked, popping a medium-sized bubble.

"Since I went upstairs with Jack last time, I'll take the basement for a little 'extra-session' with him!" Genna replied with a very vapid grin, licking her lips. "I am wearing my 'special' panties for him!"

She opened the door to the house and saw that, to her surprise, that Bonnie and Rebecca were sitting on the couch.

Jeanna reacted with disgust at the sight of a cheerleader in her boyfriend's house.

"What is this...?" she asked with a slight growl.

Richard gasped in horror at his girlfriend appearing. "It's not what it looks like, Jeanna! They were the ones who called us up to come here.

Jeanna stomped to the living room with her left hand clenched in a fist.

"I am going to give Miss Rockwaller a piece of my mind!" she exclaimed.

Bonnie saw the approaching, and very POed, Jeanna but she stood her ground. She jumped out of the couch right in front of her.

Rebecca exclaimed, "B! Please!"

"If you even dare come closer to me..." Bonnie insisted, her shoes digging deep in the carpet, "...I will make sure that my mom will give you a good paddling with her Swatter!"

Genna also intervened, "Jenna...I'd hate to say this, but Bonnie's right! You do NOT want to cross paths with her!"

Jeanna stopped herself in her tracks. She knew all about the reputation of Veronica Rockwaller and her infamous wooden paddle.

"You're lucky that your mom is the head disciplinarian of the entire school district, Rockwaller! I would've given you a black eye if I had the chance!" Jeanna sneered.

Richard tried to intervene.

"Ladies! Ladies! Let's chillax!" he nervously chuckled, "Let's not fight here! Let's be reasonable before someone calls the police on any of us!"

Jenna unclenched her fists but turned her anger to her football-playing boyfriend.

"Richard, I am going to have a very long talk with you after this..."

"You know, this may be just be a mistake...just like what you two losers did with 'The Incident'!"

Rebecca, however, was still confused.

"Okay, I'm totes mixed up."

"What is it now, R?" Bonnie asked.

"Why do you have beef with the Golden Dancers?" Rebecca questioned.

"It all started about six months ago. We were about to hit the showers after cheer practice one day." Bonnie began to explain "The Incident."

Jenna then smirked, "Oh yeah, now I remember! One of our Dancers turned off the hot waters to the showers!"

"I have never taken a shower that cold in my life...about as bad as the time Possible pulled that same trick on me last year at Wannaweep." Bonnie muttered. "Good thing we had our towels on."

"That was only Part 1 of our little 'fun' against you cheerleaders!" Genna giggled.

"Oh yes, the other part of their prank against us!" Bonnie continued, "Another one of your little Dancers poured Stoppable's Mad Dog banana cream foam down our cheer skirts!"

"We had a very good laugh after that!" Jenna grinned. "Celebrated at Mr. Swirley's that night."

"I, along with the rest of the squad, had to wash my uniform thoroughly to get rid of Stoppable's gunk!" Bonnie bitterly complained.

"He should have stored the foam in a more...secure...place!" Genna cackled.

Bonnie huffed before saying, "I wish if I had punched you in the face right then and there...but Possible, being the Miss Goody-Two-Shoes she is, banned the squad from ever engaging in violence or any criminal acts against you Dancers. And your little Dancer who poured the foam in our skirts got kicked off!"

Genna sighed, "Yet, a couple weeks after that, someone on your squad disobeyed Kim's orders! Stole our hairsprays for an upcoming dance competish! To my recollection, didn't Kim kick her off the team?"

"Truth be told, yes!" Bonnie replied, while darting her eyes around.

Jenna then turned to Rebecca. "So you see, due to 'The Incident' , a brawl was inevitable between the Dancers and the Cheer Squad."

She then continued on the aftermath.

"A few days after that, me and Kim agreed for the Cheer Squad and the Dancers to set up a truce that we won't carry our rivalry on the school grounds during school hours. It's now pretty much limited to mean glares and taunting. No practical jokes or physical contact that would draw the ire of the school board."

"It's a controlled rivalry, then?" Rebecca asked.

Jeanna, Genna, and Bonnie all nodded their heads.

Genna then intervened on Rebecca and Bonnie's intent of visiting.

"So now that we've got the deets of 'The Incident' out of the way, I am going to ask again, Rockwaller. Why are you and..."

Jeanna then whispered in Genna's ear on who the other girl was with Bonnie.

Genna gasped, "That so can't be! That's Rebecca Starlet, the billionaire heiress to the Starlet family oil fortune!"

"OMG! I totally loved your reality show about what's it's like being rich and all..." Jeanna exclaimed breathlessly before having a forgetful moment. "Oh man...what's that show called again?"

"Being Rich with a Starlett?" Rebecca guessed with a smirk.

"That's the one!" Genna said in between breaths. "Oh man...I'm so amazed that we have a celeb here that I forgot what we were talking about!"

"You were about to say, 'Why are you here', Genna!" Richard corrected his girlfriend.

"Oh right!" Genna replied before taking a deep breath. "Forgive my fangirling, but why exactly are you and Miss Starlet here for, Rockwaller?"

"We're here because we need your BF's help to not only humiliate Possible, but also break the loser couple up for good!" Bonnie replied on their real intent of their visit. "Since he has already graduated from Middleton High, he won't have the threat of Barkin dangling over his head."

"Yeah, before I met this lovely lady here..." Richard said, turning his head towards Genna, "...I did have a blind date with Kim last year...only to be rejected by her dad, all because I was 18 months older than she was!"

"And I also only had one date with that redhead around that same time..." Jack snarled, "Just because I made a pass at Jeanna does not mean that she has the right to splash water in my face!"

"So we have at least something in common...hatred against the wannabe for at least something" Bonnie grinned, "Well...except for Rebecca because she's not on Possible's radar...yet."

"Yes, but what is in it for me and Jeanna if we go along with your little plot of breaking up the couple?" Genna asked.

Bonnie shifted her teal eyes to Rebecca.

"R, would you like to demonstrate?"

"I sure can, B!" Rebecca grinned as she took out two credit cards with a $100,000 limit on each to Country Club Banana.

Jeanna gasped, "That is genuine Country CB?"

Rebecca nodded her head.

"You would have to pass a credit card check just to even get in the place!" Genna exclaimed, her jaw dropping.

Rebecca continued, "My daddy gave it to me last Christmas, but I still haven't figured out to do with them. So may as well put them to good use!"

"Rebecca will give you the Country CB credit cards IF the plan to break up Possible and Stupidable is successful." Bonnie explained. "If you fail, you get nothing!"

"In exchange, me and my Dancers will not play any practical jokes on you or any of your cheerleaders for the rest of summer except for the intended target of Miss Possible!" Jeanna replied.

"Do we have a deal?" Bonnie asked grinning, extending out her hand.

Jeanna also extended her hand and shook hers with Bonnie's, sealing the agreement.

"Now..." she began, "...here's the plan."

And the six teens began to discuss at length Bonnie's vile plan to break up Team Possible.

[loverofpiggies]

Mini nervous rant under the read more:

Oh boy. Ooooh boy. So, the Corona virus is definitely making me nervous. Like, it wouldn’t so much, if I stayed at home most of the time, but convention season is starting very soon. Also, me and my other con art friends hear things through the grapevine all the time. Like, one convention had 70 artists drop from it, in fear of Corona virus stuff. There’s a chance large conventions might have to close, if it gets bad over here.

I get updates involving airlines, because of course I take them everywhere, and I’ve gotten updates stating, that to be prepared in case you’re flying somewhere, and the place you’re at gets quarantined and then you can’t leave- the chances of being stranded in places and flights apparently just-- dropping, are very high, and I’m very scared I might get completely stranded somewhere far from home.

Also, I have my anime face mask I bought like a year ago (so don’t worry! I’m not purchasing any that health officials might need!) and I have hand sanitizer, and I’ll be careful as all heck, even with all the travel I have to do....

But. If attendance at conventions drop-- will I even be able to pay my bills? I’ve been practically surviving off of ramen and the good grace of my room mates for months, prepping for this upcoming convention season. But. Will I be able to make it to all those locations? What if flights just shut down? What if so few people attend conventions, that I start ending up in the red for the first time in three years?

The end of this last year, I had some emergency flights I had to make, that cut into the savings I usually have to survive the winter, otherwise it wouldn’t have been so bad. But I thought to myself, ‘ah its okay, convention season is coming up, then you can pay off those credit cards, it’ll be fine’.

I was hoping to start truly saving up for my own home, save every extra penny for that, and if I have to put it off for a while longer because of a definite global issue, I understand completely. Like heck, this is scary for a lot of people, not just me! Even so--

I’m just so nervous. I know being nervous helps nothing? Like, logically, what could it even do to help? But at the same time. I can’t help it.

I know people who have done full-time convention work for 30 years. I know things ebb and flow. But this year was my first year having like, 12 conventions prepped by January! Two months later, I’m in 16 conventions! I’m so proud of how many I’ve been able to gather, to get into, and make very successful! It’s taken a lot of hard work, lots of research, trial and error, planning....

Of course I’m worried about the sick people, and if shows have to be cancelled for people’s safety, I understand. But what if I get stranded on the other side of the country? What if my monthly income drops? I’m not too scared of getting sick, since most cases are mild, but. I mean, what if I get sick? No way in hell can I be around people, I wouldn’t DARE put anyone at risk of getting infected if I got sick, but I think the incubation period is like, 2 weeks, maybe 3? Of isolation?

I’m sorry everyone. But my nerves have been getting worse and worse about this. I’ve been counting down the days my first major convention of the year hits (Planet Comic Con Kansas City) then right after, Lexington Comic and Toy Convention, then after that, Sabaku Con in Albuquerque. Like, I’m literally going to be in like 14 different states this year, minimum. If.... everything works out, I mean.

If I get stranded on the other side of the country, with an account in the red, I don’t know what I’ll do.

My thinking has become rather cyclical now, I apologize. I needed to let this out somewhere.

Will probably delete later, if I remember to.

[aloalovera]

The week boasted no irregularities at Night Raven College, an unusual feat for an institution of its background. You however, having lived every week since your arrival shrouded with stress if not by the overblottings, then a troublesome class assignment, rather enjoyed the silence and appreciated it(while you still could).

It was Friday and the last bell of the day had rung, a cacophony of relieved sighs following the loud ringing alongside the rustling of materials being put away. You, as well as your irritating, arrogant cat roommate packed your bags as the teacher gave one last reminder of the homework. As it was the weekend, you would concern yourself with it until Sunday night.

You turned to Grimm as you both stood in the hallway, Ace and Deuce having just exited the classroom amongst a throng of final period students eager to return to their dorms. “I was about to tell Grimm, but since you’re both here, I’ll let everyone know,” you said as Deuce and Ace arrived to your standing point, “I’m not sure I’ll make it to movie night this evening so you guys can start without me.”

The four of you had planned a perfect and relaxing evening with enough food that would be enough to satisfy your craving for junk. Needless to say, you were annoyed to have missed such an opportunity. Especially as your guys’ schedules had uniformly lined up after a very long time of deliberation. Crowley sure had a knack for ruining your opportunities to relax.

Ace shrugged, “It’s not a big deal, let’s just reschedule for another day.”

“But we’ve been planning this for weeks! For once we all are not super tired after a single day. Besides, we already have all the snacks and finally convinced Headmaster to let us borrow his projection device-“

“Like Ace said,” began Deuce, interrupting Grim on his whining tirade, “it’s not like we can’t reschedule. Though I’m a little disappointed, I wouldn’t want you missing your errands.”

“By the way Prefect, since we’re on the subject, where are you going?” Ace still had that carefree smile, it eased your nerves for what was to come this afternoon.

You pulled out your student ID and pointed out what set it apart from regular students’. “This stamped crest at the bottom right corner recognizes me as an official Dorm leader, it will also let me into the room where Dorm leaders hold their meetings...”

The stamp in question was just like the official school crest, except the crow was positioned differently and instead of black print, it was red. You stared at it shortly before pocketing the laminated identification card.

“So, if I am understanding correctly,” Deuce muttered, “you’re attending a Dorm leader meeting?!” You winced at his booming words but nodded, a little confused with his outburst. He didn’t let you linger with confusion, “It’s just that, and these are just what the rumors say, but apparently Dorm leader meetings are incredibly violent. They begin arguing and escalate to a full blown magic battle.”

That didn’t sound too good.

“Then it makes sense that the door is sealed, Headmaster wouldn’t want students witnessing the Dorm leaders in disarray, huh?” Hummed Ace. You had a vague hunch the sealing was there for other reasons besides privacy but Ace suspected it too. It may be exactly as he said...

You could all but calm your jitters now, just what did you get yourself into? Or more like, what did Headmaster Crowley want from you this time? He was the one who asked you to attend mind you.

“Rest easy Prefect, you have your phone so if anything goes wrong, call or text us.” Deuce always knew what to say.

“Thank you Deuce, that’s very reassuring,” you smiled sincerely for you did feel much better. With a temporary silence, where all four of you stood awkwardly until you decided it was inevitable, you said your goodbyes, “Well, I’ll be off now. Wouldn’t want to be late on my first Dorm leader meeting.” You tried to put on a cheery smile but all that came out was one that looked eerily similar to how it would if someone had stitched the corners of your lips to lift them.

You exchanged “Goodbye’s,” some “good luck’s,” before ultimately starting down the hallway. The three magicians stood behind as you, their magicless friend, disappeared into a different corridor.

Ace then after said, “Well, can’t help it, we’ll just have to find a different day”

“You try to sound like you don’t care but you were actually very eager to show Prefect the movie you chose, huh” teased Deuce. And so, another round of bickering ensued as the desolate and ignored Grimm tried to regain their attention.

.

From the moment you stepped away from the comfort of your circle, the heaviness in the pit of your stomach increased tenfold. You could not imagine the refined and respectable Dorm leaders would really break the rules in front of the Headmaster, this logic gave you some semblance. Alas it could only last so long when you remembered how far Leona had gone just to remove from the Magift tournament your good friend Malleus.

Indeed a worrying amount of bad blood existed amongst the Dorm-heads but you hoped it would be subdued with the authoritative presence of Crowley. You’d hate to be caught up in any more magic spectacles. The sheer negativity from an overblot was enough to overwhelm a magician, so one could only fathom your exhaustion at such an exposure without an ounce of magical blood in your veins.

When you stopped in front of the designated door, your thoughts also stopped. Instead you realized how paranoid you’d become, so much so that you were thinking about a potential overblot during the meeting. It was silly to be this nervous, you had spoken with all of them and had befriended a few. How difficult would it be to sit through a likely mundane talk that would regard upcoming events?

Maybe there’d be bickering of course, but that was expected as not everyone would be in agreement at all times. They each were very unique individuals with equally unique thought processes. However knowing them, they would go onto personal territory and begin insulting one another. Which could lead to pent up frustrations being released and a whole blown out magic battle-

Slapping your checks gently, you deescalated the situation that had felt all too much like a premonition. From the pocket of your uniform, you pulled out your student ID.

Now, you’d dealt with magical tools before but that didn’t mean you were never at a complete loss when introduced to something new. You thought to bring it up like a scanner, but to no avail were you granted access. You fiddled with the door and the ID card for a couple of minutes, spying the time was five minutes before the meeting began.

At the moment your eyes landed on your wrist watch which was elevated to the level of the door’s knob, you noticed a small slit right above it. You slid the card in, first turned up, second time turned down.

Your third try you did face up again, with the end where your picture was located at tucked in first. An electronic beep followed, and as the door opened, you cheered at having bested the admittance tool that was much like a credit card machine.

The room seemed dark at first, or well that was more of your impression of it. Much of Night Raven College followed a dark, gothic type architecture as well as aesthetic. You weren’t surprised that everyone was already here, seated around a circular table with papers, pencils, and other materials laid askew.

You’d never been to one of these, so all you had on you was your backpack. That should work as it carried your writing utensils though. One more thing you noticed that set you apart, was that you were still in your school uniform. It seemed everyone else was wearing their dorm uniforms, even Malleus who never attended a meeting due to poor invitation etiquette(from other dorm leaders) stood out less than you, and he was well over six feet tall.

And it also seemed like Vil had made Captain Obvious his role, “Look at this potato, absolutely inconceivable that you would come to a meeting in those dirty rags.”

“You practically wear the same thing,” you pointed out, but the next attack swooped in so quickly and ridiculously you were left flabbergasted.

Riddle had been the orchestrator of the attack, having stated in his harsh tone, “You’re late.”

After twisting your eyebrows, you argued, “Even the clock says it’s 2 minutes before 4-“ You wanted to say that their little tea party didn’t seem too important but held your tongue. You had a feeling Riddle wouldn’t allow you access to the snacks if you spoke back anymore and frankly, you were starving.

“You should have a seat Prefect, Headmaster is very particular about everyone being in their place when the meeting begins.” Azul was kind enough to inform you.

You found it funny how Crowley demanded order in the meeting room but couldn’t do the same in dire ordeals involving a certain group of Dorm leaders. But enough about that, you needed a seat quickly.

However, there was no empty seats. You looked wayward into the room and found a sad little stool in the corner. It so happened to be made of the heaviest metal. The head splitting noise of the feet of the stool dragging on the floor filled the vicinity. You could feel a number of gazes on your back as you tried not to focus on the other occupants.

Whether it was by mercy or annoyance, definitely the latter, you were suddenly lifted and sat on the stool, you held on for dear life as it floated at a rapid pace to the table and then haphazardly twisted so you were facing everyone. You were squeezed between the floating tablet that had its own chair and Kalim.

Vil huffed as if exasperated and drolly commented as he leaned his chin on his palm, “If you are to continue to attend these meetings, you have to wear appropriate attire that represents your dorm.”

“But Ramshackle dorm doesn’t even have a crest(or clean water), there’s nothing to represent-“

“Up up, you will not argue with me. Make sure to have a uniform next time you come or I’ll personally make it so that you cannot enter this room.” Vil was always very harsh with you. Unlike everyone else who seemed to care less about the garbs you had on, he seemed especially offended. “You think you can look however as a Dorm leader? How can you call yourself an advocate for Ramshackle Dorm when you can’t even put the minimal effort into your appearance.”

You didn’t think you looked as awful as Vil criticized. Maybe your hair was a little frizzy and unkept at the hairline and your shirt wasn’t as tucked in as earlier but it wasn’t like you came in caked in mud either. Vil had impossibly high standards. However now that you noticed, you looked notably more unruly than the rest who had not a wrinkle in place and didn’t look like the standard tired student after a long day of classes. But then, suddenly some help-

“Ah, just knock it off. All your whining is getting on my nerves,” huffed Leona. He was leaned back with his eyelids closed and that angry look on his face. Whether his intention was to help you or not, you had to be thankful for his very honest character. Some disliked his bluntness and called him lazy, but questionable morals aside, you actually thought Leona was quite efficient. As they say, “lazy” people aren’t lazy, they are simply smart enough to come up with a more convenient and trouble free process. You were brought back from your thoughts by the lion himself, “Besides, he’s gonna arrive soon-“

“More like now-“ at Kalim’s excitable tone, the shrill of shattering glass engulfed your ears and you knew immediately, based on that very wasteful entrance, that Crowley had arrived.

As said, he stood before you as a flood of heaven’s light from the sizable hole in the window entered the murky, dank walls of hell. Crowley scanned the room and did a double take on you.

Your stool was much shorter than the high chairs everyone else had been graced with, you were also more or less slumping in an attempt to make yourself smaller. This was unconsciously done of course, try as you might you couldn’t stop acknowledging how little you fit in with the rest of the room’s inhabitants.

Crowley’s mouth opened and closed like a fish, as if he was at a loss for words. If you didn’t know any better, he was probably at a loss for words.

He said while his beady little eyes settled on your face, “Oh, well look who’s here early!”

“It’s ten minutes past the meeting time,” Riddle said rather snarkily.

“Ah yes...” the man in question mumbled, then after shouting, “BUT, we shall get started immediately!” Crowley had declared. “Come then Dorm leaders, let me listen to your complaints”

“I’d hardly call them complaints, they’re more like issues that need to be resolved for the sake of the student’s safety,” said Azul after a clean rearranging of his papers. “Octavinelle can deal with its own problems, however when those problems transcend outside of our plumbing abilities, we will request help from a third party source.” He pushed his glasses up his nose bridge and with finality said, “That third party source is you, Headmaster”

The pressure was on in a matter of seconds. You knew Crowley’s tune too well to understand that he had probably procrastinated on a lot of the topics that would be mentioned today. Half of you couldn’t wait to see his ear chewed off for once and the other half dreaded the length of this meeting for this was a meeting that involved Crowley and responsibility. Two elements like those simply did not mix.

And you were right... His first response?

Evasion.

“A-ah, I see. But Azul, was the flooding not fixable by magic?” The crow man said. You looked between the two, Azul’s eyebrows jutting down almost immediately after that statement.

“Headmaster Crowley, you should know that magic is not the solution to all of our problems. Besides, it’s only a temporary fix that is becoming more, and more frequent to see to. Please contact the plumbing company and have them fix our flooding problem-“

“Stupid.”

Oh dear. Dear, dear lord. You hoped he hadn’t any more insulting elaborating for your premonition would become very true if a certain octopus’s temper wasn’t moderated.

The single word had come from Leona. You had all paused to listen to the lion who chuckled mockingly much to your dismay. “You live underwater and you’re complaining about a flooding problem? To me it sounds like all you need is a custom pot and you’ll feel right at home”

Was Leona still annoyed that his deal had been for naught during the magift tournament? Definitely. Was Azul still brimming with irritation that his contracts had been reduced to dust? Without a doubt.

“Maybe you should concern yourself with that flea infestation from your own stye” Azul replied coolly. Your eyes widened as you looked down, feeling an awkward tension suddenly rise. You weren’t surprised an argument was being instigated between these two. Based on a couple of previous mentioned incidents that is.

You just wished nobody else would warrant any more input. Alas, it seemed these days all you did was hopeful and useless wishing.

“Cease your mindless bickering, you sound like fools. There are actual topics in need of discussion and exchanging insults won’t resolve them,” Riddle was the one who had mentioned.

But then he was in the line of fire, “If we’re bringing up issues that need discussion, then I’d like to put in a formal complaint against Riddle.” Riddle sputtered at Leona’s words. “He overworks his students and forces them into useless tasks like painting roses red. It makes it worse when you find out that he dictates the outfits they wear and makes them do it under the blistering heat.”

“I most certainly do not!” Riddle had shouted and appeared to be gaining a red hue to his face. “The weather in Heartslabyul is regulated”

“So you don’t deny that you exhaust your students regardless of the weather?” Leona added another quip, “ You wouldn’t be so defensive if you weren’t with any faults, your tomato face gives it all away.”

“Now now, do not insult Riddle for wanting to make his Dorm a beautiful place. We should praise him for putting in the effort of making it look so gorgeous unlike that barren wasteland of yours Leona. It’s an absolute eyesore,” drawled Vil.

“What’s an eyesore is that your face looks more like cake than cake itself Vil,” the lion fired back. Vil was readying his rebuttal. You clenched your teeth and looked helpless between both, looking to Crowley who had taken to sipping delicately out of a tea cup. Bastard.

It’s not that you were concerned for their strained relationships, it’s what their strained relationships entailed for you. Crowley wouldn’t herd his students into peaceful territory, instead he’d leave you to it. Once again the responsibility would be dumped onto you at the expense of having Crowley look for a way for you to return to your world. You sighed dejectedly as you watched the unfolding ordeal.

Before you knew it, Azul had jumped back into the mix and was berating Leona for always instigating fights with his “childish” comments.

“If I’m so childish for stating the obvious, what does that make you guys for stringing along?” His rhetorical question seemed only to further fan the flames of rage in the three Dorm leaders. You looked at Kalim besides you who was laughing loudly.

So carefree and free spirited...

He pointed excitedly and said to you, “It always seems to go South, just enjoy the show while it lasts!”

“I don’t remember it always being like this. But I suppose things changed in my absence.” Malleus chimed into yours and Kalim’s discussion.

“They did. A lot of us don’t have very good chemistry with one another. It always ends up in a big fight if Headmaster doesn’t intervene” said Idia on the other side of the floating tablet.

“But is it okay to simply sit back without doing anything to put a stop to them?” Malleus questioned, looking quite troubled. From what you were told(that he wasn’t ever invited to these meetings), you discerned Malleus had been quite looking forward to interacting with his peers.

Ah but there was no way to when more than half of the Dorm leaders were engaging in a verbal battle with one another.

Idia had said what you and Kalim had both been thinking, “If you try to stop them, you’ll just be dragged into their mindless argument like Riddle and Vil”

“It’s so easy to get lost in the rage. Idia and I have both fallen victims to the petty behavior,” Kalim said with a wicked wide grin. You don’t understand why he looks so proud of himself...

“Yes, it’s like this room is cursed or something,” Idia remarked.

You sighed wearily, “I don’t think the room is the problem...”

The lot of you watched on as the insults grew more and more personal. Unbelievable that they were so egotistical and prideful. Vil really felt like he was above all others(which you found ridiculous; beauty was subjective and as far as you knew, he only adhered to a selected society’s beauty standard). Riddle really believed he could exercise control over the rest(it would be better if he would try to coax the others into a compromise like an equal but instead he decided to shout commands like an arrogant, tyrannical brat). Leona was prideful and that bluntness you had praised not even ten minutes ago was becoming the bane of your existence. Speaking of banes, Azul couldn’t be more insufferable with his know it all attitude.

You had not realized that Crowley’s demeanor had shifted to something much darker and sinister as the arguing winded along. Finally he broke. Just like his tea cup.

“SILENCE,” the crow man shouted, effectively silencing the Dorm leaders, “YOU ALL HAVE ME SICK AND TIRED OF YOUR CONSTANT SHOUTING MATCHES!”

“Headmaster, you are shouting yourself,” Kalim said, matter of factory, scratching his temple with a single digit.

“Ah. Ahem, excuse me,” Crowley let the components of the tea cup he shattered crumble to the floor. They landed with a clink in the quiet room. “It’s been consistent arguments from you all and it’s very disappointing to witness this kind of behavior from you, who are considered elites at this already elite institution. I will not tolerate this blatant insubordination. You are Dorm heads and as such, are expected to conduct yourselves like so under all circumstances. You’ve disrespected and defiled your titles with your selfish and childish behavior and have left me no choice but to give a punishment of the worst severity.”

.

A heavy quietude hung in the air. The threat breathed down all your necks as you all waited with bated breaths. You hoped Crowley wouldn’t dish out the very formidable punishment to you. After all, you’d done nothing wrong. Crowley wouldn’t know what was coming his way if he even considered involving you in any more Dorm leader altercations.

Riddle braved up a few ass kissing words, “We understand Headmaster and will accept any punishment you give us”

“It was completely juvenile of us to act in such a way that defiles the good image of a Dorm leader,” Vil followed up.

“Yes, we profoundly apologize and will not do it again.” Azul bowed his head in shame.

Leona said nothing, for he had been truthful with his feelings and felt no remorse in expressing them. He thought the other three looked quite like boot-lickers offering suck up statements. Whatever Crowley had to offer, he could take it.

Bring it on he mentally challenged the bird man.

“Your punishment is,” Crowley sucked in a long breath, purposely leaving you all with the suspense. “So horrific you’ll spend every single day in complete and utter agony. Every moment will be a torturous reliving of your worst nightmare. You will come out changed men... traumatized changed men.” A few had nervous sweat drops rolling down their temples and others looked comically stone faced. “You all will be subjected to the cruelest, most severe repercussion.” Crowley said, “You will be subjected to...” and you all stood at the edge of your seats. The time came when he revealed the long awaited words, “A sleepover.”

.

.

.

“Huh?”

Leona was wrong...

HE COULD NOT TAKE THAT! Bring it back! Sweet sweet and noble ancestor, reverse this curse-

“WHAT!?” Vil’s shrill scream was enough to make you wince. Azul was stunned to silence much like the rest of you.

In all honesty you didn’t think it was that bad. Until-

“In Ramshackle dorm-“

“WHAT!?” It was your turn to scream as you stood up, knocking your stool over and causing a cry as it made harsh contact with the floor.

“For seven days-“

“WHAT!?” You all shouted in unison, baffled by the unexpected turn of events.

Crowley had nerve.

“To offer my dorm like that,” you sputtered in disbelief, “it’s unacceptable Headmaster!”

“Fufu, it’s the only place big enough to house you eight and isolated enough to keep you from interacting with anyone but each other.” Crowley explained as if you had all accepted it and come to terms yet. You would raise hell before you even considered allowing it. And you did.

“I refuse-“

“I override your refusal. This is for the benefit of the school and my decision is final.” That piece of no good dog shit. Bird brains were small with high capacities however this one seemed to only be small and know how to only be small. “I am very busy so I cannot police the Dorm leaders into acting civilized enough to not embarrass the school. However I will provide Ramshackle with all the necessities to host the additional seven temporary students for I am gracious.” He goaded.

“No Headmaster, you are not being gracious at all,” you fired back, “I don’t understand why you have to lump me in with all of them. Never mind that I am a Dorm leader, you never recognize me as an official one except when you need something from me. On top of that, why is Kalim, Idia, and Malleus being punished as well?”

“Kalim and Idia have previously participated in the discourse. As for Malleus...” Crowley rubbed his chin, “Well, I suppose it would be a learning experience for him. I’m sure Lilia will approve.”

“You still haven’t answered why you’re lumping me in as well- Hey!” You cried as you ran after the bird man who had hopped out of the window and was falling fifty feet. “Headmaster you can’t just leave without an explanation!”

“But I have explained already,” his voice echoed as you leaned out the cavity in the stained glass pane, “You are an impressive beast tamer! I trust all will go well in your hands! And be sure to have Ramshackle dorm ready to receive its new students by 7:00pm tomorrow!”

Ah... he was gone just like that. What do you know, he didn’t even let you chew him out...

The room that had been in chaos suddenly descended into a space void of any sound but breathing.

.

.

.

“Don’t say anything,” you weakly mumbled as you glared at the spires of NRC, the wind blowing through the flags and essentially masking Crowley’s location. You were sure that everyone had heard the crow man’s last few shouts of information, but had probably missed the one that pertained particularly to you. Defeated you turned to the rest and said in an eerily calm voice, “I need to make the preparations, please be on time tomorrow evening and make sure you have everything you will need for a week”

“But wait, aren’t you against this? Why are you suddenly giving in?” Kalim uttered, probably put off by your change in demeanor. In truth, you were still definitely against it but you took Crowley’s words like a threat.

Fingers tapped against your chin, “I think all of our hands are tied. You guys can’t disobey Crowley and I can’t afford to put him in bad graces with me.”

“Still, for him to just declare something like that and disappear without elaborating...” Vil seemed exasperated as the rest of you. You could hear Idia’s nervous breathing through the tablet as Riddle spoke up.

“With or without elaborating, it’s like you said,” he gestured to you, “we cannot disobey. Especially as he is correct in the fact that we have acted out of line.”

“Regardless of how quickly things have happened, I’ll have you guys know that I lock the doors at 10:00pm sharp. Be on time please.” You were already picking up your bag and heading out the door dejectedly. “Also, don’t forget anything!”

•———•••———•••———•••———•••———•

Ahaaa this chapter is super rushed and choppy but I’m looking most forward to writing interactions between the characters as they all settle into their new lifestyles for a whole week.

[friendofspidermannedleeds]

Fictober - Day 16

Prompt #16: “I never wanted anything else”  Fandom: Spider-Man (MCU) Rating: G Warnings: None Characters: Ben & Peter Parker, May Parker/Ben Parker, OCs Cleo and Mark Hudson.  Words: 2805 Summary: Raising Peter has brought some financial strain into Ben and May’s lives, but they wouldn’t have it any other way.  Author’s Note: This fic is to blame for my inability to catch up on these prompts. It was supposed to be nice and short, but ended up being quite the one-shot in length. Whoops.  Also, Peter going for a sleepover at a science museum was 100% inspired by my favorite field trip from elementary school. We really did get to camp out in the exhibits, and it was as amazing as it sounds. 

---

Incalculable Worth  

Cleo and Mark are coming over for the weekend, and Ben’s not looking forward to it.

“It’ll go by fast,” May insists the Monday before, “It’s not even three full days. Besides, it’ll be good for them to see Peter again—it’s been years, he’s probably unrecognizable to them at this point.”

Ben knows she’s right, and it will be good to see Cleo and Mark again, the couple who served as the Maid of Honor and Best Man at their wedding. They were best friends with the pair before moving to New York, and staying in touch has been difficult ever since. So when Cleo and Mark announced they were planning a visit to the city, May enthusiastically offered to let them stay at the apartment.

But if Ben’s honest, he just doesn’t feel much of a connection with the couple anymore. When the two of them were in his and May’s wedding, they had so much in common. They all loved traveling, trying foods from various cultures, and seeking out new experiences on weekend trips. Then there was the shared life plans that truly brought them together in the first place—neither couple had a desire to be parents one day.

Ben knew it wasn’t fair to Cleo and Mark to resent them for doing what they’d always said they’d do—living a carefree, kid-less life—but the fact that they were living out their plan while May and Ben had Peter made it harder to relate to the couple.

“I just feel bad that we don’t even have a room for them,” Ben says. “That’s my main concern.”

“Yeah, well, it’s only for a few days.” May says. “And they knew they were signing up for a futon when they asked to visit.”

Ben glances at upcoming dates on the kitchen wall calendar.

“The science museum sleepover next Saturday—you get that worked out?”

“Oh, yes! Yes, they were so understanding.” May smiles. “They waived the deposit and said we could just bring it all at once when we go to drop Peter off.”

“Thank goodness.” Ben breathes. “I know how much he’s looking forward to it. He talked my ear off last night about how he and Ned already have a game plan to make sure they get to camp out in the astronomy exhibit.”

It had been a difficult month financially. May’s car had broken down, and the repairs depleted their emergency fund completely. Peter’s overnight field trip was momentarily forgotten as they paid other bills, so Ben was relieved the school had made an exception to their rule that kids couldn’t sign up without paying the $50 deposit two weeks before. Peter didn’t deserve to miss out just because of a broken-down vehicle.

“I better go pick him up from Ned’s.” He leans over to give May a goodbye kiss. “Be back soon.”

---

Cleo and Mark arrive Friday after Peter’s bedtime and have breakfast with Ben and May Saturday morning. Peter’s taken to sleeping late on the weekends, and they decide to let him rest.

“So, how was your summer?” Cleo asks after finishing one of Ben’s famous waffles. “Did you guys go on a trip for your anniversary?”

“Not this year,” May answers, “It wasn’t in the budget. But we had a lovely dinner and Peter made us the sweetest card—it’s there, on the fridge.”

The couples turn to look at the masterpiece, and Ben’s heart still swells at the sight of it. Peter had obviously put so much time and effort into the card, writing “Happy Anniversary” in painstakingly careful cursive and drawing an adorable couple in a white dress and tux that bore a slight resemblance to May and Ben. It isn’t perfect—their kid’s a genius, but not an artistic one—but it isn’t a throwaway project that was patched together in the nick of time, either.

“So cute.” Cleo says, turning back to the table with a smile. “He must be so big now. What grade will he be going into?”

“Fourth,” Ben says proudly, “And he’s at the top of his class.”

“Good for him,” Mark nods. “And good for you guys for doing such a great job with him.”

“Thanks,” May replies brightly, “We do try. But he’s just always been such a wonderful kid, we can’t really take credit for him.”

Mark helps himself to another waffle. “So no anniversary trip this year—when’s the last time you guys traveled? Any good stories to share?”

Ben suppresses a grimace, not prepared to relay that their financial situation afforded no opportunity for such luxuries.

May takes on the question. “We haven’t been much of anywhere in recent years, actually. We’ve been busy here, with—” with Peter, Ben thinks “—with work, and school stuff, and everything. You know.”

“Yeah, of course. Totally understand that.” Mark grabs the maple syrup. “I mean, I guess we don’t really understand—not like you guys do, at least. Cause of the whole, ‘no kids’ thing.”

Cleo jumps in. “Yeah, I’m sure it’s hard to think about taking trips with a kid tagging along.” She’s speaking earnestly, not unkindly, but Ben’s still a little on edge. “Kids can tie you down.”

“It’s not that we can’t travel with Peter,” Ben says quickly, “that’s not it at all. He’d travel fine, it’s just…financial stuff. Can’t quite make it work.”

“I get that.” Mark nods. “My brother and his wife, they talk about it all the time. He wanted a boat, she wanted a trip to Italy, but now they have babies, and well—kids are expensive.” He catches himself as he sees Cleo’s mortified expression—it’s as if they’ve both noticed at once the insensitivity in their words.

“Oh, May, Ben,” Cleo says, “we didn’t mean to say you’re missing anything, or—or that you’re—”

“It’s fine, Cleo, don’t worry.” May smiles. “We totally understand. But the thing is, we’re just so happy. We haven’t been anywhere special in a while, and I miss it, sure, but Peter is worth it.” She looks at Ben, her eyes shining with sincerity. “Right, Ben?”

God, he loves her.

“Absolutely, May.”

“Speaking of Peter,” Cleo starts, clearly relieved to be moving forward from her gaffs, “where is that little guy? We need to see him before we go out into the city today!”

May looks at the time. “Oh wow, it is getting pretty late. I’m surprised he’s not up by now. Ben, do you want to wake him?”

“Yeah, I’ll go see if he’s up.”

Ben’s glad of an excuse to leave the table. The conversation had begun to sound too much like the ones he and May first had when Richard and Mary passed—could they take on Peter when they had so many other plans? Should they take on Peter when they’d never felt cut out to raise kids of their own?

It makes him feel incredibly guilty to look back on those uncertainties now that Peter is firmly a part of their family, and the central focus of their lives.

He knocks gently on the door of Peters’ room.

“Peter? Are you up?”

Hearing no response, he gently pushes his way inside. Peter’s lying face down on his bed, on top of the covers, with his pillow over his head.

Ben sits and pulls the pillow off.

“Hey, sleepyhead, wake up.”

Peter turns over, squinting almost a little too much, like he’s doing it for comedic effect.

“Morning, Uncle Ben.”

“Good morning, buddy. Why the pillow over the head? Could you even breathe under there?”

Peter sits up and rubs his eyes. “Yeah, I could. I just wanted to sleep more and the sirens were loud.”

Ben grins. “Ah, yes. I heard those.” He stands up. “Well we’ve got waffles for breakfast, and Cleo and Mark are here and would love to meet you, so get up and get dressed, okay?”

Peter nods, and Ben heads back out to sit with the company.

The truth is, Cleo and Mark were right. The unexpected nature of raising Peter has made finances tight. And Ben would be lying if he said he’d never thought about how their lives would be different if they hadn’t made the choice to adopt Peter after they lost Richard and Mary. Choosing Peter had meant sacrificing some of their previous life plans and goals, and it wasn’t always easy.

But waking up his kid with the ridiculously ruffled, messy hair and bright brown eyes solidified what he always knew—though they’d never planned to raise a kid, Peter was an absolute gift. Ben wouldn’t have it any other way.

---

A week later, Ben knocks on Peter’s door again.

“Peter? You finished packing for the museum sleepover yet, bud? We’re leaving in an hour.”

“Um, no. I’m not ready.”

“Need some help?”

“No.” Peter’s voice sounds tight. “I’m good.”

Ben frowns. “Can I come in?”

“Yeah.” He says after a pause.

Ben opens the door to find an empty overnight bag on the floor, an unrolled sleeping bag, and no other evidence to suggest Peter’s been packing.

“Peter, what’s up? You really should be ready by now, let’s get a move on.” He kneels down and starts to roll up the sleeping bag. “I’ll do this while you grab the clothes you want to bring, let’s go.”

“I don’t want to go anymore.”

Ben stops what he’s doing and looks up at his nephew. He’s sitting on the edge of his bed, feet barely touching the floor, avoiding eye contact.

“Why not?”

Peter shrugs. “I just changed my mind. I don’t think it’ll be fun.”

Ben knows there’s no way Peter’s suddenly lost interest in science of all things, so he presses further.

“Are you feeling okay?” He lays the back of his hand against Peter’s forehead, and, feeling no heat, switches to his palm so he can brush the boy’s curls back. “Did something happen to make you nervous?”

“No.” Peter says, turning to look in Ben’s eyes for a brief moment. “I just don’t want to go, okay?”

Ben sighs and sits on the bed. “Peter, please. You were so excited about this, I know you wanted to sleep next to Jupiter. Talk to me, I want to help.”

His plea is met with silence, making him uneasy. It’s not like Peter to be so closed-off.

Ben’s about to speak again when Peter beats him to it.

“I’m expensive.” He says quietly, eyes glued to his lap.

Ben’s confused. “What do you mean, buddy?”

“Kids cost a lot of money, and then grownups can’t go on trips or have nice things or…or do what they want. Kids tie them down.”

The phraseology sounds all-too-familiar to Ben, but he asks for more context all the same.

“Who told you that?”

“Nobody,” Peter mumbles, “I just know.”

Ben brushes a hand across his mouth. Guilt sets in as he realizes why Peter’s sleeping stance had been so strange when he “woke him up” last Saturday. He hadn’t been asleep.  

“Did you…did you maybe overhear us talking with our friends last weekend?”

Peter shakes his head, but Ben can tell it’s a bluff. He waits, knowing his nephew’s inherent honesty will kick in any moment.

“Maybe—maybe I did,” Peter admits shortly, “But I already knew I cost money, I just didn’t think about how…how much.” His eyes remain focused downward, and Ben moves closer to put a careful arm around his shoulders.

“Peter, bud—”

The boy jumps up from Ben’s embrace and heads to his desk. Ben lets him go, watching with concern as Peter logs on to an old laptop they’d salvaged and repurposed together. He returns as soon as the screen has loaded, sitting back down, but noticeably further away from Ben.

He flips the screen around, revealing an Excel spreadsheet.

“I calculated the numbers. I know money is tight, and now I know why. It’s me. I cost more than $100,000 total to raise.”

Ben wishes momentarily that his kid wasn’t top of his class. No nine-year-old should know how to calculate their financial expenses on a spreadsheet.

“Peter, how did you come up with that number—”

“The internet.” He’s still not looking at Ben, just staring at the laptop as he points to the screen. “And that’s way more than you and May make in a year, so—”

“Whoa, whoa.” Ben interrupts. He sees a decent estimation of his and May’s salaries listed under an “income” column. Peter’s right, but he doesn’t know how. “Where did you get that information—”

“The internet.” Peter says impatiently. Ben’s stunned, unable to form a coherent reply to all of this, so Peter continues.

“May also lets me look at grocery receipts cause I like the math, so I know how much food costs us. And I looked everything else up and plugged it in here—”

“Peter, Peter stop, we don’t—”

“—and I know that it was really expensive when I went to the doctor so much last year, and I know special school trips are expensive,” Peter’s voice begins to waver, “and I just don’t want to go because you and May should get to go somewhere. You should get to go on a vacation like Ned’s mom and dad but you never have. And I know it’s because—it’s because of me.” He chokes out the last few words as tears come to his eyes. He quickly wipes at them with the back of his sleeve, and Ben’s heart breaks in two.

Slowly, gently, he takes the laptop from Peter’s hands and closes it. Peter doesn’t try to hold onto the device, his shoulders only slumping further. Ben moves off the bed and kneels in front of him.

“Peter, listen to me. I know how smart you are, so I’m not going to lie to you.” He sighs. “You’re right about a few things. Kids do cost money to raise. And maybe your spreadsheet math is right, buddy, I don’t know. You’re probably better at calculating all of that than I am.”

Peter’s still brushing away tears, and Ben wishes his kid would meet his eyes, but he isn’t going to force it.

“But here’s the most important thing, Peter. I need you to listen to me closely, okay?”

He’s still looking down, but nods with a sniffle.

“These numbers do not matter. Your worth, Peter?” He takes his thumb and softly wipes away some of the tears on his nephew’s cheek. “Your worth is incalculable.”

He exhales. “The thing is, buddy, it doesn’t matter how much it costs us to feed you, or to take you to the doctor, or to buy you new clothes, or let you go on a school trip. You’re worth all of it and more. We love you more than anything, and we are so lucky to have you. I’d trade every trip or fancy car or boat—every nice thing in the world—everything I own, all the time I have left, so you could be ours.”

Peter finally looks up at him, lip trembling.

“But I shouldn’t even be here. You and May didn’t want a kid. You didn’t choose me.”

The words catch Ben off-guard, but he’s not entirely surprised. He’s wondered if, or when, Peter would make that connection and bring it to light.

“But we did, Peter. We did.” He smiles, desperate to soften his boy’s broken expression. “You could have gone with Grandma Lorraine, or to another family. But we wanted you. We chose you, and we will keep choosing you, because you are worth it, Peter. We love you.”

“But you’re not sad you can’t go on trips?” Peter asks. “You don’t wish you had more money?”

Ben takes his hands. “I have you, and I have May. I never wanted anything else.”

Peter truly breaks at that moment, launching himself off the bed and into Ben’s waiting arms. He rubs Peter’s back as tears puddle onto his shoulder, and they trade “I love yous” unsparingly.

After they finally break away, Ben looks at the clock and startles a bit. He grabs for the sleeping bag.

“Come on, buddy, we don’t wanna be late! Grab your PJs, some clothes for tomorrow and your toothbrush, let’s move!”

Peter doesn’t hesitate for even a second, scrambling to do as he’s told and pack the overnight bag. Everything’s set in five minutes.

As they’re heading out the door, Peter grabs Ben’s arm.

“Wait—you’re sure we can afford this?” He asks earnestly.

“Yes, we absolutely can. But you don’t have to worry about that, okay? You’re worth it.” Ben kisses his forehead.

Peter relaxes. “Uncle Ben?”

“Yeah bud?”

“You’re worth all my money and all my time, too.”

[shra-vasti]

Assets

Word count : 1.4k

Pairing : wonwoo x reader

Warnings : mention of death, drugs, club and crime

Genre : Crime fanfiction, angst, fluff, romance, drama

Chapter : 04 l previous l next

Synopsis : After getting arrested for allegedly killing 2 people you find yourself joining CIA to find out who the real culprit is. With a criminal background yourself how will you gain trust of the CIA and find out the real killer?

A/N : Hello everyone. This is my first time writing on Tumblr and I still don't know how it works so please bare with me. Any sort of gifs and photos used in this book isn't mine it's credit goes to their respective owners except for the cover of book. This idea is purely based on my imagination and any sort of resemblance to any other book or imagine is purely coincidental. I hope you will enjoy the book as much as I will enjoy writing it. Thank you. Enjoy the reading <3

After reaching the CIA headquarters Seungcheol left you in your lonesome to carry out some work which needs to be taken care of by him.

You were currently seated on a large couch placed at the lobby. Your baggage was sent to a condo you were going to live for the upcoming days.

You took a look at your surrounding, not many people enterainted this area of the headquarters.

'Maybe they are too busy in their own work to come sit at the lobby' you thought.

Unconsciously your feet started tapping on the floor as you bit your lips nervously since it was your first time stepping in the CIA headquarters.

You decided to get up and have a look at the room till Seungcheol comes back.

The headquarters were well planned and it felt as if the machineries and equipments used here were 100 years ahead of today's technology.

You were so engrossed in looking at the surroundings that you didn't realise you were going to bump into someone.

Two delicate hands grabbed both of your shoulders making you stop your steps and you turn around.

"Oh sorry I wasn't looking where I was going."

You bowed politely as soon as you turn without sparing a look at the person in front of you.

"It's totally fine."

You straightened yourself taking in the appearance of the girl standing in front of you.

She was a bit shorter than you, her hair wavy which reached till her mid back, her eyes were round, small lips and a small nose.

She smiled gently at you. She looked really delicate and friendly making you smile back at her.

"I'm Cynthia, what about you?"

You repeated her name complimenting her as you told her yours.

"You seem to be badly bruised, are you okay?" she asked as she looked at you concerned.

"It's fine. I have been taken care of." you replied as you laughed to make the awkwardness less.

"Why are you here, given that not anyone can enter the headquarters without any supervision?"

She tilt her head, getting confused as to who you were and what you were doing in the headquarters.

"She's the girl whose case we have been handed to and she's a part of this case now."

Both of you turned around at the voice of Seungcheol approaching you.

He handed you your ID card which you will be using from now on whenever you were going to enter in the building, you took it and immediately put it in your back pocket.

Cynthia's eyes widened at that looking at you in alarm and then back at Seungcheol in confusion.

"I'll tell you everything once everyone is already here." Seungcheol continued.

"Everyone is already here? I thought only both of us were given the opportunity to handle this case?"

"This isn't as simple as it may seem Cynthia. You'll know once the meeting will start.

Meeting Room

You were seated on the chairs of the gaint table placed at the middle of the meeting room which had a gaint projector screen at the head of the table where Seungcheol sat.

You look at Seungcheol who was explaining the story of how you got involved and how he wanted you along with your friends to join the CIA to Cynthia, who kept looking in between you, your friends and Seungcheol who were present at the meeting room.

"Why do you need us for this case is beyond my understanding." exclaimed Woozi after Seungcheol was done talking with Cynthia.

"This isn't a simple murder case as far as I know and I think it's digs more deeper so I want you guys to help me in this case because you have a criminal background and you know how to hide well so you guys will work for us and give information about the things going inside the criminal world if necessary also I have heard great stories about you from your friend here you would be of great help. "

"Shall we continue with the observation and evidences found by police for further investigation?" everyone nodded at Cynthia's words.

The door of the meeting room opened with a loud thud as a group of girls and boys of maybe your age entered.

They were thirteen in number as you did the head count.

You could clearly hear Cynthia gasp at their arrival as you looked at her in question.

Each of them proceeded to take the remaining empty chair. Their whole auro could tell they were professional with everyone of them eyeing each other in confusion.

"Meet the whole team of Special CIA officers amongst the whole world. They are the chosen ones you can say."

Aside from you and your other four friends everyone nodded at you guys as they looked in Seungcheol's direction.

Why was the entire special officers team would be needed for this case?

"Each one of you will have a file which will contain all of the information about the people in this room and also about the evidences and clues about the murders. We will be working on this case together so make yourself familiar with each other."

You took the files and pass it around till everyone had one with them.

"Half of us present here are official CIA officers while the other half are the people chosen by CIA's special officers for the help or ethical experts as I may say. Woozi you and your team is a part of ethical experts now and I hope you guys will cooperate with us if you don't want to be wrongly assumed as murderers and go to jail."

Woozi rolled his eyes but nodded in agreement Seungcheol actually went ahead and recorded your interrogation and your confessions and you really have no clue where he kept it for you to erase the evidence of you being the criminal.

Just how much more stupid were you going to get?

"Since there are many of us we will divide each others in team and different people will lead the different team but I'll be the general leader of you as per the orders."

Everyone nodded at Seungcheol's words and opened their files.

"Jianqiao, Wonwoo, Woozi will handle the intelligence department. You guys will collect all the information you can find through databases and hacking. Wonwoo you will be handling this team."

You assumed the guy with glasses was Wonwoo since he nodded at Seungcheol's word. You caught your eye the moment he stepped in. You can tell with his nerdy yet cool form that he is good at what he does along with the girl Jianqiao who was seated beside him.

You were quite good with your memory so it was easy for you to memorise their names.

"Next up we have Sharon, Seungkwan, Chan, Jeonghan and Vernon as our snippers, you'll help in investigating the areas and protecting through weapons if needed. Sharon I hope you will be okay with leading this team?"

"For sure." the girl has her hair in a bob and voice so soft that no one will expect her to be a Snipper.

You looked at everyone whose name was called laughing as you saw Jeonghan's pained expression. His lazy ass would never like doing things aside from sleeping.

"Ivy, Minghao, Mingyu, Me and Hoshi will be the Melee team. And I hope you know what you will do I don't think there's any need of explanation. I'll be leading the team."

Everyone nodded their head. They will be the incharge of fighting hand to hand whenever in need as in the lookout so that everyone else is protected.

"Cynthia will be in charge of the hospital aid aside from being a Snipper and Evelyn will be the makeover artist along with being with intelligence team."

"Now the last the remaining will be our undercover agents."

You look towards the people remaining.

"This team will have Jun, Dk, Joshua, Suzy and you as our undercover agents and will help in getting information about the victims and go undercover of necessary." He said pointing at you.

You nodded you could do that if provided enough guidance.

"The people who don't have training will be given the training about their respective teams and since we have 10 official CIA officers those 10 officers will be assigned one with one non official member so that they won't try any funny business and guide them throughout the case understood?"

"Yes leader." everyone of us screamed as Seungcheol flinched due to sudden noise making everyone else laugh at his misery.

"I'll assign you your partner after we discuss about the case."

[go-events]

GO Rom Com Spotlight: @epi-vet​

The most excellent @epi-vet​ (also Epivet on AO3 and epivet on Spotify) has claimed Persuasion to adapt for Good Omens in the Good Omens Rom Com Event.

For reference, here’s a little background about the source material!

About Persuasion: Eight years ago, Anne Elliot rejected Frederick Wentworth, the man she loved, out of a sense of duty and obedience. Now an ignored and faded spinster, she follows her financially stricken family from their home, only to be reintroduced to the now successful and wealthy Captain Frederick Wentworth. With their roles reversed and Captain Wentworth the eligible and wealthy bachelor, Anne navigates the scheming society that still tries to keep them apart.

We spent some time chatting about how the adaptation is coming so far, as well as future plans for it! Now, get to know @epi-vet​ a little better!

* * *

goromcom: You know how if you open a Tumblr chat with someone you haven't chatted to before, Tumblr tells you two things they post about? I wanted to tell you that yours reports that you post "about #geeky data and #good omens". I can appreciate someone with an affinity for geeky data. Can you share any sort of interesting geeky data with us?

epi-vet: #Geeky data is fun, but my favorite homegrown tag is #QuantifiedFandom. In the real world, I work with a lot of data for modeling and prediction. I liked the idea of using those skills to understand the fandom better by looking at the data crumbs around it. Right after I saw the show, I was intrigued by how quickly Good Omens playlists multiplied on Spotify. Then I did what any totally health sane person would do. I downloaded 300 Good Omens themed playlists and started crunching numbers. Throughout the summer and fall, more and more playlists were popping up. I did a second pretty exhaustive pull of 1400 playlists in December. I analyzed the most common songs, length of playlists, artists, differences between playlist themes (Ineffable Husbands versus Demon Crowley), and more. Two of the top four songs weren’t even in the show (#1 Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy and #4 From Eden). Bob Dylan’s You Angel You is the most underappreciated Ineffable Husbands song. “You angel, you; You got me under your wing...” Really. Google the lyrics, we’ll wait.

I’m epivet on Spotify where you can find the top 100 songs from Good Omens-themed playlists, the top 50 Ineffable Husbands songs, and my own scene by scene playlist with links to a Google doc explaining each selection and identifying key lyrics because, again, totally healthy sane person here. I’m also running the GORomCom discord-created playlists as well.

goromcom: And I listen to those playlists a lot! Thank you! But on to your rom com! You chose to adapt Persuasion. Has this story been a favorite of yours, or is there some other reason you chose it?

epi-vet: I’m a longtime Jane Austen fan. I love how she pokes at the constraints and absurdities of her time. Persuasion is my favorite because the characters are more mature, more human. Anne breaks off her engagement with Wentworth, and while she regrets how things have turned out 7 years later, she also can still see the reasonableness of her choice. The story has one villain and some unsavory characters, but many of the characters are complicated people who make the best decisions they can (except for Anne’s father who is ridiculous).

The 1995 movie is infinitely better than the 2007 one; I will brook no argument.

goromcom: I wouldn’t dare! :) What's your favorite moment of the story, and are you looking forward to presenting it in your adaptation? Any loose plans for that scene that you can share?

epi-vet: Wentworth’s letter to Anne in the dramatic climax:  You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope. Tell me not that I am too late, that such precious feelings are gone for ever. I offer myself to you again with a heart even more your own than when you almost broke it, eight years and a half ago. *swoon*

I’m still working that scene out, so I’ll instead share some fun I’m having making poor Gabriel my comic relief. The book opens with the Anne’s father reading his own entry in the Baronetage. His rank defines him, so reading a Who’s Who provides him the reassurance he needs. Gabriel begins my RomCom loudly reading his visitation of Mary, especially loving the “Fear not, Mary” line. He soon after complains to Michael “[the humans] don’t even cower before us. Really, when was the last time we had to say, ‘Be not afraid?’” He also serves as my Lady Dalrymple in the Italian concert scene from the 1995 movie. Aziraphale is trying to keep Crowley from leaving (due to genre typical misunderstandings), and Sandalphon is pulling him back saying Gabriel needs him to explain the buffet – he’s worried he’ll Fall if he eats shellfish.

goromcom: Oh goodness, so many angel/demon shenanigans. I can’t wait. Other than those details, do you plan to stick very closely to the beats of the original story, or make bigger changes?

epi-vet: I think one of the best Jane Austen adaptations ever is Clueless. When we watch a period drama, we view everything through a buffer of temporal distance. Everything is slightly foreign, and it can soften the impact that a contemporary reader would have felt. I suspect viewers of Clueless, in some ways, have an experience much closer to Jane Austen’s readers’ experience of Emma.

I’m taking the plot of Persuasion and applying it as closely as I can to our characters from the moment the tv show ends. I did lots of character mapping and tried to stay true to the heart of the work, like Amy Heckerling did to Emma in Clueless. I did end up with one original character because I just couldn’t figure out how to work the plot with only Good Omen canon characters.

goromcom: I’m actually a big fan of Clueless as an Austen adaptation too, so I like where you’re going with this. 

Let me see if I can get one more tidbit out of you before I stop! What's an interesting decision you've made in your planning so far--a notable casting decision, a changing of venue, or some other plan you have to paint Good Omens all over your rom com?

epi-vet: Since I’m writing it as post canon in the Good Omens universe rather than putting Aziraphale and Crowley into Regency Britain, I get off easy there. I am trying to take a lot of the dialog between Aziraphale and Crowley from the show and flip it. So Aziraphale is the one who needs to do something or Crowley will never speak to him again. Aziraphale is unforgiveable. Also, I’m including some nods to the Good Omens book. Crowley takes the properly demonic activity of gluing coins to the sidewalk into the tech age with an app. It, of course, backfires spectacularly. I also have a hopefully charming and funny Golden Girls reference.

goromcom: Always down for a Golden Girls reference. Rose is my homegirl. But let’s leave some things undiscovered until your story debuts, and move on to the final question. I am blatantly stealing this last question from The Good Place: The Podcast, but here goes: Tell me something "good". It can be something big or small. It can be a charity you think is doing good work, or you can talk about how great your pet is.

epi-vet: RIPMedicalDebt. For pennies on the dollar, you can wipe out someone’s medical debt. For everyone outside the US, this is a completely bizarre concept, but it’s a big deal in the US. Medical debt happens when you lack health insurance or have limited health insurance. You didn’t charge too much on your credit card. You didn’t buy a house you can’t afford. Something happened to your health, you sought the care you needed, and you are now destitute. These debts don’t get paid back often so they get bundled and sold to various institutions. RIPMedicalDebt buys those debts cheaply and then forgives the balances owed. Individuals, community organizations, churches, and other groups have used them to do immense good.

goromcom: So important, and I had no idea this existed. Thank you for sharing it with us. 

And also, thank you for sharing details of your upcoming GO adaptation of Persuasion, coming very soon now!