#ah. parts of my teenage years i actually miss

[stressedjester]

funny I just scrolled and saw 2-D after mentioning eye fractures since I learned abt 8-ball fractures from really getting into Gorillaz bc I used to get soooo mad whenever ppl said he didn't have eyes. Bc he does they're just Fucked Up

[wonkawinka]

we’ll meet again

“we’ll meet again… don’t know where, don’t know when…”

alastor x angel!daughter!reader

CHAPTER TWO: smile like you mean it!

— — CHAPTER THREE: weak ankles!

warnings/notes: EPISODE 6 SPOILERS! not proof read, no use of y/n, used she/her pronouns, reader is on the fem side, maybe vaggie x reader and maybe emily x reader if you squint but its all platonic

chère- french for dear

remercier dieu- french for thank god

court reporter- someone who transcribes everything said during a court meeting

wc: 2336

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

ROLLER skates. flashy lights. bursting colors. street jazz at every corner. twists and turns.

NEW ORLEANS had it all. all you could need in your heart. soft, live jazz rung through the tiny diner that everyone got their morning coffee from. skating through the diner, you tipped your hat from one couple to another. there was the occasional (and by occasional you mean somewhat often) jerk who flirts with you, a teenager, but you brush it off.

ever since the stock market crash of 1929, people have been living off the hook ‘round these parts. you were lucky enough to snag a job, let alone have a father that's able to put food on the table for you.

the bell of the door rings exactly at 9:01 am, you don’t even need to turn around to check who it is.

“good mornin’ ladies! fine morning today, isn’t it?” alastor’s voice rang through the diner, sound waves bouncing the walls and into your ears. his presence was certainly not something anyone would miss. your coworkers nodded in agreement, saying their tiny welcomes, the occasional giggle for one of them.

pouring out straight black coffee into a medium sized cup, you skated towards the counter and slipped your dad a napkin and his cup.

“mornin’ papa.” you said with a smile, taking his coins and filing it into the register.

“good morning, my dear!” he said with his chipper smile, one that made the men grumble and ladies swoon, but it just made you happy to see your father happy. “day treating you well, i hope.”

he took the coffee and took a sip. a sound of satisfaction left his lips “perfection! you know me so well, chère.”

“pa, you drink the blackest coffee on earth. it’s not hard to mess up, dontcha think?”

“ah, don’t sass me now, little miss. i’ll have you know this is the best coffee i’ve had since yesterday mornin’!”

“i made that coffee yesterday morning.”

“hmmm, did you now? seems i dont remember…” he grinned teasingly, pushing up his glasses in ‘thought’.

“yeah, course ya’ dont, ya old man.” teasing back, slipping him a slice of pie “i know you didnt eat, pops, cant have ya flopping dead during your morning show. who knows, maybe the cannibal will getcha. then i’ll have to take over the show.”

he smirked at her words, ha, if only she knew.

“well, aren’t you the sweetest little thing?” he said, taking the to-go box from her hands.

“well, you raised me, so you tell me.” you smiled brightly

his laughter rang through the diner, and soon yours as their vocals mixed together in a medley of sounds. they nearly mixed together perfectly. nearly.

some people looked at you weirdly, but you both never really minded. everyone in town knew you were his daughter and everyone in town knew he was your father. the talk of the town, especially when people found out your father of all people adopted you all those years ago.

he smiled at you wholeheartedly, something you only get to receive from him. “thats my girl.” his hand cupped your face, thumb brushing against the skin.

you placed your hand on top of his and smiled. “love ya’, pa.”

“love you more, my dear.”

you patted his hand, signing him to let go. “now shoo, before you’re actually late. you got an audience waiting for you all ‘round the area. can’t have them sitting for too long, hm?”

with a tip of his head, he bidded you and the ladies of the diner farewell, grabbing his coffee and pie, slipping out the door.

one of your coworkers called out your name “hunny, you better help a girl out! is your fatha’ up for grabs?” she giggled, winking at you.

“oh hush, lonnie! that's my dad..!”

——————— PRESENT.

“OH, don’t worry, it’s really not that hard! you just flip the book and let them in! see? simple.” st. peter directed you to the golden podium of the pearly white gates.

“are you sure i’m even allowed to do this? look.. i’m happy to help. i just don’t wantcha to get in trouble with the Seraphims.” you floated down onto the podium, scanning the big book of entries.

“it wouldn’t be for long! thank you so much, by the way. you really are heaven’s little helper, huh?” he elbowed you and gave that big smile he had. it was almost blinding. literally.

“haha, yeahhh… if you say so.” you turned and flipped through the pages for what seemed to endlessly go on.

“who names their kid breakfast?”

“now, now, we dont go and judge what those humans name their offspring!” he placed his two hands on your shoulders in reassurance. you cock an eyebrow at his word choice, but next thing you know hes already flying off to do who knows what. ‘saintly duties.’

“huh.” you continued to flip through the pages to examine the very odd name choices, nodding at some and… skipping through others.

minutes, maybe even hours went by until sudden echoes from down the golden pathway filled your ears. they shoot up in reaction to the newfound sound.

“uhhh, heelloooo? helloooo!” the blonde hair girl called out

“hiya!,” you call out , “how may i help ya’? well, getting into heaven i guess, huh?” you laughed at yourself, watching the girl’s nerves calm down a bit. behind her was a recognizable individual. you know, it nearly looked like vagg—

“OH— uh, uh, uh— hello! my name is charlie morningstar. heh.”

“alright, lets see…” you flipped through the alphabetized record only to find every name known to man BUT a charlie morningstar.

panic fills your core when you cant find it, scanning the page over and over and over again to no avail.

“uhhhh, you see, slight problem, hun...” you start, throwing in a name to ease her name. “i, uhm, can’t find your name… but you know! the trek all the way to the uh, other place, is a long way. maybe i can like… sneak ya’ in—”

“OH, no, no, THAT won’t be necessary. uh— see, my dad got me this meeting, so maybe try lucifer… morningstar..”

THAT CERTAINLY RANG A BELL.

“OH, uh.. uhuh.” you nod “i see.” you nod quicker. your eyes darted to the gray haired girl who looked at you with the same tense expression.

“i think there may have been a, um..” you put your hands together “mishap… but i am SURE it is a just BIG misunderstanding, haha!”

a mighty voice called out to you, one that could shake all of heaven’s foundation.

“remercier dieu…” you say, quite literally.

“don’t worry, we can take it from here.” sera’s voice reassured, the normal call smile present on her face. you bowed your head in respect which she kindly returns.

behind her was an excited emily which shot you an ecstatic wave. her smile was about to explode with happiness which only grew more as she approached charlie, the princess of hell.

st. peter pops out of nowhere and of course, starts singing his welcome song.

see, you didnt think it was bad, it was quite good, but hearing it over and over again for the past century really takes a toll on your ears.

after his musical number, em is basically ready to explode into a pile of rainbows and sparkles. “oh, oh! i gotta show you! the zoo, the petting zoo, the aquarium, the- the EVERYTHING!”

her and charlie jump for joy as they start running off.

“oh come on, do we need to ru— yEUP okay.” you’re dragged along the crossfire, em tugging on your wrist.

you catch a glimpse of adam and lute. they did not seem… very ecstatic.

hm.

“em. emily. emmy. e.” you bring her to the stop. her happiness was contagious, a sickness, her happiness basically flooding into your veins.

“i know you’re excited, sugar,” you start, “but maybe, i show them their room first. how's that sound?”

with some reluctance, emily allows you to guide the two girls to their temporary room.

“here, let me get that—” with an easy spell you learned, you pick up their bags weightlessly.

“follow me, i’ll show ya your room.”

— — — — — — — — — — — —

on the way there, you’re bombarded with questions from the princess. not that you were complaining of course, you found it quite endearing.

“wow, your sprinkles have RAINBOWS in them?!”

“yup, those are just rainbow sprinkles,” you chuckle lightly at her innocent excitement, “so.. about this hazbin hotel you were talkin’ about, mrs. morningstar…”

“oh, please, call me charlie!”

“charlie,” you smiled ,”i really do love the idea. quite innovative! you have my support. do you already have people staying?”

“oh, we only have.. two residents. but we do have lovelt staff! we have a maid.. nifty, she’s harmless, most of the time.. and a bar-tender, husker, he’s great, grumpy, but great! vaggie, my lovely girlfriend keeps the hotel safe,” she smiles brightly at her partner, “oh, and our host, alastor! he’s uh.. the radio demon, BUT HE MEANS WELL! i think.”

the name rung in your mind, bouncing off the walls and causing them to shoot jolts through your head. it was like a migraine, but worse. radio demon. it was strikingly familiar resemblance to your father (father?), but who knows! there are probably many alastors that loved radio.

“i see,” you nod, “well i wish you luck on the growth of your hotel.” you opened the entrance of there room and landed their bags perfectly in the corner.

“wow, okay, i LOVE heaven! everythings so clean and nice! AHH, and emilys going to bring me to a zoo where everythings fluffy and soft!” you zone out the rest of their conversation before charlie bids her goodbye.

“safe travels, charlie.” you bow your head in respect, earning a giggle from the princess.

“thank you sososososo much for your help! heh, alright SEE YOU LATER!”

silence filled the room.

“vaggie.” you started, not bothering to around and fully face her. “knew that was you, cant hide from me under all that hair. looks good, though.”

“uhhhhhhhhhhh—” she says your name in a frantic manner, causing you to cock your eyebrow “ah, fuck, i can’t think of an excuse.”

“look, vaggie, i dont know.” you sigh “you disappear for your ‘yearly outing’ to god knows where then you go missing for years, now you come back to be dating lucifer’s daughter.”

“i know, i’m so—“

“no no, don’t apologize. i get it. im happy for ya, vags, but damn, years. i dont know what you do on that one day, but adam and lute didnt seem very happy when they saw ya today.” pinching the bridge of your nose, you turned to her.

“look, adam tried recruiting me to god knows what when you went missing. said i got good aim or something. im just telling ya to be smart. i got no idea what he was trying to do with me, so im telling ya’ to not give in to that prick. i’ll be at todays meeting; i work as the court reporter.”

she pondered your statement for a bit, snapping out of her thoughts once you handed her the room key. you offered her a smile, which she hesitantly returned.

“ah, come on, smile like you mean it! though a smile may not mean everything, you’re never fully dressed without one.” that phrase rang in vaggie’s ears. that was oddly familiar.

a little too familiar.

it was your time to bid farewell, but before you did, she called out to you.

“thank you.”

“ah, don’t mention it. we’re friends, arent we?”

and with that you shut the door.

— — — — — — — — — — —

SCRIBBLING. writing. swirls of ink as you titled the paper in preparation. COURT ISSUE 36789127. it made you think, whos counting all these issues?

“WHAT’S UUUP, BA-BY!” the annoying ring of adam’s voice filled the court room. he was like a toddler, ironic as he is the oldest human soul known to mankind. he was mankind. a sick joke for it too.

every little thing he said you were required to write down, even if it was a dumb, immature response.

“we are gathered here today to determine whether or not a soul in Hell, can be redeemed into heavenly realm by the means of this Hazbin Hotel… Princess Morningstar?”

the blonde takes a stand and clears her throat,

“Webster’s Dictionary defined redemption as—”

you scribbled that down.

“..incredible progress..”

scribble.

“… the porn demon …!”

scribble.

“well, if you know so much, what do you think it takes to get into Heaven?”

that puts a halt in the discussion, causing you to lift your head and wait for an answer. she had a point. how did you get here in the first place?

a copy of adam’s terms were presented to your table: act selfless, don’t steal, stick it to the man.

well damn, if those were the terms, even your father (father?) would be in heaven, right now.

evidence was presented, words have been thrown, objections were made. the endless back and forth of right and wrong being thrown around the courtroom. not even the written word could convey the thick tension lathering the walls of the heavenly court.

all the evidence weights to charlie’s side, and yet, the judges say otherwise.

“wait, none of you know what gets someone into Heaven?”

this sparks a musical entrance from emily which you would say was surprising, but you would be lying to yourself.

good thing i took band and choir you thought. perfect pitch came in handy as you noted every chord and pitch in your work.

at this point, you were ready to combust. it was clear who won but the rulers of heaven seemed adamant to keep it from happening. it was suspicious, ironic even.

“..don’t you care, sera…”

scribble.

“..just because someone was dead..”

scribble.

“he blew the shot like the cocks in his…”

scribble.

“..come down and exterminate you..”

your quill snaps in half as you look up from your paper. extermination.

murder.

genocide.

from heaven itself.

[sunlightmurdock]

My Future In You | 2.2 | Bradley Bradshaw x Reader

Previous Chapter | Next Chapter | Masterlist

Synopsis: Bradley’s twenty-two years old and not where he’s supposed to be. He’s supposed to be out of the academy by now. Instead, he’s retaking his senior year of college and praying to god that he gets into flight school. Mav’s gone, his mom’s gone. He’s mad at the world. Then, a hook up at a Halloween party changes his future even more than he could have imagined.

Warnings: accidental pregnancy, references to abortion in a few chapters, angst, will be fluff eventually, enemies to lovers kinda thing, requited love but they’re idiots your honour, smut, pinv, unprotected sex, mentions of pregnancy / birth complications

…

A little past 1am, legs stretched out ahead of you, draped across Bradley’s legs. Some old straight to TV movie playing, giggling like a couple of teenagers. Bradley loudly voices his complaint as he picks up a m&m that had been thrown at his forehead.

He’s in just a pair of shorts, his hair dry now and his curls a little shorter than normal. Navy regulations. You kind of miss the length that he used to have on the back and sides, but this look suits him too.

“I’m just saying, you’re the one who fucked my roommate.” You shrug, mock-nonchalantly, and pretend to focus back on the movie in front of you. It’s some dumb story of a small town cowboy.

In the mood for dramatics tonight, Bradley throws his head back and groans.

“Before I even met you!” He chides, sitting forwards and snatching the candy from you before you have opportunity to turn any more of them into projectiles.

“Then you texted her after you’d already knocked me up.” You remind him, playfully calm.

“Ah, ah — She texted me, it’s not like I would’ve fucked her again — and let’s not forget that you had a whole boyfriend until you were in your second trimester.” Bradley points out.

“And stop saying knocked up. Makes me feel weird.” Grumbling like a discontented teenager, Bradley nudges your leg with his so that you have to look at his face and see his little frown.

All of that seems so far away now. Ryan. Your roommates, who you’ll probably never see again. Christmas with your family. You’ve barely even thought about it all since you got here.

“I’m sorry, Bradley — how should I be phrasing it?” You tease.

His lips tug at the corners, threatening to disrupt his dramatic frown and disarm his little act. A small shrug of those broad, tanned shoulders.

“All those couples at the parenting class keep saying ‘when we found out we were expecting’. That works.”

“Mm, but when I found out I was expecting I cried for three days and when you found out you implied that I was a whore and offered me money. Our story doesn’t really sound like theirs’.” You remind him. He presses his lips together in a line. That feels so far away now too.

He remembers the anger he felt towards you back then, which is a complicated thing in itself. He remembers why, and how — and everything about that first week, actually. He remembers being so furious at you for making that choice without him. A complete stranger, complicating his future when he had just stepped out of his complicated past.

The anger still makes sense to him. He doesn’t feel it anymore, he isn’t proud of the way he acted, but he can look back now and know that it was all just fear.

Going from being a scared little boy and looking after a sick mother, to being an adult and having nothing to care for but himself, to then meeting you. It hadn’t felt fair to have that all stripped away before he had started it.

But now, when he thinks of this living room being empty, or that small room being an office instead of a nursery, it makes this all seem so much more bleak.

The movie credits roll, leaving you even more confused about what the plot was supposed to be. Bradley sits up and pushes himself onto his knees, then parts your legs for him to dip between. You’re sighing softly now, contented as he presses his lips to yours.

“I don’t think you’re a whore,” He mumbles against your mouth, making you chuckle softly against him. “And I’m glad that I knocked you up, for the record.”

Another soft chuckle. He presses his lips warmly to your skin. Cheeks, jaw. A gentle tour of your face.

“You are?”

“Yeah, you’re hot pregnant,” Bradley beams at you, earning himself another little laugh. “And — y’know, I’m excited for the kid too.”

Looking up at him, your fingers circle over his smooth, freckled shoulders. A few moments of silence pass between the two of you before a commercial comes on and disturbs the bliss.

“Time to put the baby to bed, don’t you think?” He asks. You glance down at your swollen stomach and back up at your new boyfriend. Smiling at him, you give a defiant shake of your head.

“We aren’t tired.” You decide.

A soft groan and he cups your belly in his hands, feeling soft fluttering kicks to unfortunately support your claims. Smile growing into an embarrassingly amused beam, you watch Bradley as he pushes your shirt up and peppers kisses across your stomach.

“Tell him to give his old man a break, some of us have to be up in a couple hours,” Bradley murmurs into your skin, earning himself an applause of his new favourite sound. He looks up grinning at your laughter. “What?”

“You, being somebody’s old man,” A quick scrunch of your nose and a shake of your head, laughter still bubbling through you. “Weird to think about.”

His cheeks redden like the tops of his ears, then he grins. Sitting back on his heels, his hands slide along your stomach to rest at the very bottom. Again, he feels a soft little kick against his palm.

“Y’know, I think he’s nocturnal. I barely felt him this morning and now he’s wide awake.” You explain.

Another shrug, smiling as he leans down and kisses your stomach once more. “Wanted to stay up and watch a movie with his folks.” Bradley muses, making you smile. Absentmindedly, you card your fingers through his fluffy, air-dried curls. His lips press warmly to the underside of your belly, “No harm in that.”

Fingers trailing from his auburn curls, down over the tanned muscles in his shoulders as he peppers kisses across your stomach.

“He’s got you wrapped around his finger already. Old man.” You tease, nudging at his leg with your foot. He chuckles softly, cool breath tickling your skin. Another kiss, then he looks up at you.

“Me? — Mama’s the one letting him stay up late.” Bradley prods, sitting up and bringing his mouth to yours once more. The kiss is slow, lazy, his hand cupping your hip. When he leans over you now, your stomach always bumps into his middle. He’s going to miss it when it isn’t there anymore.

Turning his head, he presses his face into your neck and nips softly at your skin. You hum, keening towards the feeling. It becomes growingly tender, lips replacing teeth, tongue soothing over the warm spots left behind.

Finally, he sits back up and kisses your lips chastely. “Will you come to bed with me?”

“You can go ahead, I won’t wake you up.” You promise.

“I know, but I like falling asleep with you.” He squeezes softly at your hips, remembering to be gentle with your sore joints these days. He sits forwards and kisses your mouth again, then again after that. It doesn’t take a genius to realize that he isn’t going to stop until you agree.

Pushing against his bare chest, he sits back on his heels and raises his eyebrows at you.

“Fine…” You huff, extending your arms for him. Slipping his hands into yours, he’s on his feat with an annoying level of ease that you can no longer manage. He tugs you up with him.

“I’ll lock up.” Ducking around you and kissing your neck, he leaves you with a gentle pat on the ass and then moves to make sure all of the doors and windows are locked and that the lights are off. You pad along the hallway to your shared bedroom and peel your shirt over your head.

Over the past month, you seem to have really popped. The kid is really making himself known in there. Enough so, that you’re well into the stage now of wearing exclusively maternity clothes or stretching out Bradley’s old gym clothes. Tonight, given the lingering heat, you opt for an old basketball shirt that Bradley hasn’t fit into since high school. Before he grew a foot and lost eighty pounds in his junior year.

It’s not huge on you at this stage of your pregnancy, but gives you the reprieve of a waistband pressing into your stomach.

Bradley’s chest hits your back before you even feel him approaching, turning his face into the crook of your neck, almost knocking you over with his weight.

His hands skim under the shirt and up over your stomach, making an all-too-familiar beeline for your breasts. He groans softly into your skin, growing half-hard against your back.

“Mm-mm,” You’re smiling and shaking your head at him all at once. “You need to go to bed, remember?”

“Fuck,” He breathes out, eyes closed, soft skin under his palms. If he pressed any harder into your back, he would knock you onto your front. “I do.”

Your palm slips between the two of you, reaching back to cup him over his shorts, stroking just loosely over the length of his hardening cock.

“Would be pretty difficult to sleep with that, though.”

“You’re such a tease.” He mumbles into your neck, kneading softly at your breasts. He rolls his hips forwards slightly, using your hand for friction on his increasingly hard cock.

“Are you flying tomorrow?” Your head falls back to rest against his shoulder, his lips sucking softly at the curve of your neck. His realization courses through him like relief, you can practically feel it.

His head shakes quickly. “In a classroom all day.”

Your palm squeezes softly around the tent in his shorts, a quiet hum, mock consideration, leaving your lips. His hands push at the shirt, slowly dragging it up your middle and tugging it over your head.

His eyes feel heavy on you, hands trailing featherlight along your sides. Bradley reached out slowly, pressing a soft kiss to your shoulder as he takes hold of the band in your hair. He’s especially gentle as he takes it down and turns his face towards your hair.

Illuminated by the soft light of the bedside table, Bradley’s becoming increasingly gentle with you — each time that you’ve slept with him recently, you can feel that he’s being more careful than he would normally be. He knows that you’re sore and more tired than you would normally be, but he never once declines the opportunity to have you.

Today is no exception as he turns you towards him, palms skimming along your back, squeezing at your ass as he holds you against him. Laying you down slowly on your shared bed, he notices your lips quirk softly as he covers your body with his.

“What?”

“Nothing.” You give a small shake of your head and lift to kiss him, still smiling when you pull back. He squints at you, studying the amusement on your features. It just makes you want to smile, is all. Him being so wordlessly soft; knowingly gentle. It doesn’t take a conversation or a warning. He knows your limits.

He knows you so well these days. The kind of shampoo or deodorant to pick up. Exactly which spots to press his fingers harder into when he’s giving you a foot rub. Exactly how to make you scowl at him and melt into his arms moments later when he’s being annoying. Your chest heaves with a particularly deep breath.

Bradley’s lips are on your chest, his hands skimming along your thighs, kneading at the flesh.

“Tell me you want me.” It’s a pant, really, just breathless. He rocks himself against your core, sitting back on his knees and squeezing at your hips. He takes that plush, pink bottom lip between his teeth and just stares down at you with the prettiest mahogany coloured eyes you’ve ever seen.

Teasing at an almost smile, you bite the inside of your cheek to contain it. A soft shake of your head and he smiles back at you. You glance down, watching him palm over the tent in his shorts. Finally, you meet his gaze once more. “I don’t think your ego can handle being any bigger than it already is.”

“It can take a little more,” Bradley hums. He exhales, adam’s apple bobbing in his throat as he watches his ring and index fingers dip through your folds, gathering your excitement on the digits. “Tell me you want me.”

You do. So badly that it makes you hot. Makes your muscles go tense. Makes your chest tighten.

“I want you,” It’s an admission that you never would’ve given him months ago, weeks ago even. There’s a lot about you now isn’t the same as it was a few months ago. It’s right on the tip of your tongue. I love you. It’s insane — terrifying, actually. You swallow and stick to what you know, “I want you.”

It would slip so effortlessly off of your tongue. When he’s buried into you, breathing hard into your ear, your face buried into the curve of his neck and god — he still smells exactly like him, now mixed with your body wash that he’s adamant he doesn’t steal. So natural, just another breathless, meaningless exhale in the middle of sex.

“You feel so good,” Bradley groans out, his thick fingers sliding along the nape of your neck and up into your hair. He curls them into your roots and flexes his fist just softly. Just the right amount of tug, a gentle pull that has you moaning against his jugular. “Fuck, baby… you…”

He turns his head, lips grazing your jaw and working lazily along to your lips. When he gets there, finally, it feels like your heart is going to explode out of your chest. He kisses you slowly, his tongue in your mouth and his hand in your hair. In your shared bed.

The mattress is softer here and he never wakes up with a sore neck because of the shitty pillows. Sometimes he wakes up with a sore neck because of how his body is wound around yours, but he doesn’t mind that as much. Moaning into his mouth as he fucks into you slowly.

“You’re so fucking hot.”

A breath catches in your throat and you aren’t sure whether it’ll turn into a laugh or a cry. Ultimately, it settles into a soft moan, your breath tickling his earlobe and making him shiver. Then, it becomes a laugh. He sits back on his knees to get a good look at that grin on your face.

Stretching out his shoulders, he guides your thighs over the tops of his. He gives them a soft squeeze and slows down a little, giving a breathless nod. “I mean it. You’re so fucking perfect, just like this.”

He wets his lips with his tongue, eyes trailing ever so slowly along your body, rocking his hips forwards tenderly. Briefly, you think that he’s going to say it. It doesn’t happen. Just more expletives, shallow breaths, eager grunts. More kisses, his hands on your skin.

After, when you’re settled into his old basketball shirt, under your sheets, and he is wrapped around your body from behind, his big palm sprawled out over your stomach — you’re okay with it. The silent knowledge that he must be on the same page.

The next morning, he has to be up before the sun is even halfway risen. He’s growing proficient at doing it without waking you. Showering silently and dressing in the bathroom, laying his clothes out the night before. It always makes you stir when he slips back into the room and leaves you with a chaste kiss on the lips, and a soft peck at the top of your rounded stomach. Still, you’re okay with that too.

You squirm a little, laying back against that perpetually uncomfortable plastic-leather mix exam chair. The gel is a lot more uncomfortable when you’re still hot from the mid-day Florida heat than it had been on those snowy mornings back in Virginia. Still, it’s all routine by this point. The cold jelly on your stomach, comfy pants that can easily be pushed down a little, warm sweater to combat the always high air conditioning.

You’re missing the part of your routine that has always made you comfiest: Jake sitting outside in the waiting room. He’s states away, Bradley’s stuck in work, you’re all on your own. It’s just a routine check up — just to check if he’s breach. You’ve been telling yourself that all morning. It hasn’t stopped you from sitting on the carpeted floor of his nursery and staring at his crib, still in the box.

Your heart swells at the idea of meeting him. You’ve been picturing him a lot recently. Your nose, Bradley’s lips. Soft morning cuddles, sleepless nights, constant diaper changes — it’s easy enough to tell yourself that you’re ready, it’s just more of a complicated thing to be certain that you are. Even if you’re not ready, he’ll be here in a few short weeks. You need to remind Bradley to pick up screws for his crib.

The doctor’s brows knit together, she adjusts her glasses and wiggles the wand a little bit, then looks back to you. “Hm, have you been experiencing reduced movement at all, Miss Seresin?”

The question throws you. Blinking at her, chilled from the whir of the air conditioning, you shake your head. Your throat squeezes. “No, not at all. He was kicking a lot last night.”

Both of you look back to the screen. He’s moving now. Little legs just kicking softly in that familiar black and white hue. A quick glance across, you stare at your sweater on the chair where Bradley should be sitting. It’s too cold in here. You’re not sure if you’re allowed to move to get the sweater.

“Hm,” She nods her head slowly. Her face is calm enough, her tone doesn’t give you any clues. The thought that crosses your mind hits you like a speeding semi. Blunt force, speeding — out of left field. Six and a half months of no contact and all of a sudden, sitting alone in this exam room, too cold, you want your Mom.

It’s clear that you’re panicking, and the doctor continues with as much caution as she can. She speaks to you like she’s trying to soothe a crying child, but it isn’t patronising. Her neatly groomed brows raise at you, “Any fatigue, bleeding, stomach pains?”

“I’ve been tired, I guess.” You squeak. She softens, reaching out and placing her hand into yours. Your throat tightens. “Is he okay?”

“Yes, he’s just looking a little bit smaller than we would have expected for this stage in the pregnancy,” Your heart sinks, and the side of the exam table suddenly feels especially empty without Bradley there. The doctor continues on as comfortingly as she can. “I’d just like to run a few tests while you’re here — just to make sure that we’re prepared to make the end of your pregnancy as safe and comfortable as possible.”

As she turns and leaves you trapped in that little grey room with the closed blinds, shutting out any semblance of sunlight, all that you can think about is the first appointment that Bradley ever came to with you. Everything going on back then and how badly you had wanted him to not even show up. How confusingly nice it had felt to have him holding your hand through it. Your head falls back against the exam chair and your eyes burn with tears.

You leave the office with a pamphlet on fetal growth restriction, potential causes and side-effects. It might not be that, she tells you, some babies are just smaller and that’s just fine. They just want to keep a close eye on you these last few weeks. Early delivery is a possibility.

You’re dialing the number out of pure instinct. Flowing tears, running to Mommy — there’s a natural link there. Some kind of hardwired impulse, probably. Chest heaving, blinking back searingly hot tears, you listen to it ring and ring. It’s just a Wednesday morning, maybe she’s at the office. It just keeps on ringing.

Bradley frowns as he listens to the busy dial tone, pulling back and checking his phone. You’d promised to call him when you got out of the appointment. He checks down at his watch. Maybe Jake got a couple of minutes to call you. He has to be back in class. He texts you that he’ll catch you at home and turns.

If his mind were clearer, he might have noticed the stare on him as he turned. The familiar blue eyes, blown wide open. Maverick pales at the sight of the boy at the end of the hallway. Familiar sandy brown curls, a brief look at Bradley’s face. The mustache he had been trying to grow when Mav saw him last has grown in now. Maverick swallows.

He hasn’t seen this kid in almost two years. Not a single phone call or text. He hadn’t even known where Bradley was living after he moved out of the house in Norfolk. And now he’s here, standing at the end of a hallway in a random Navy base that Mav wasn’t even supposed to be at this week. Dressed in his khakis, he’s a kind of familiar that makes Pete Mitchell’s stomach churn.

“Bradley?”

…

@chaoticweirdogeek @alanadetigy @itsmytimetoodream @oldnatgwenaccount @khaylin27 @bioodforbiood @luckyladycreator2 @mizzzpink @cherrycola27 @unordinare @shanimallina87 @marvel-f1-and-more @heli991113 @pauv-0414 @ghxst-heart @momc95 @asteria33 @lilyevanswhore @diamond-3 @galaxy-moon @jostyriggslover96 @forgiveliv @shawnsblue @little-wiseone @lovemesomevesey @alm334 @averyhotchner @diorrfairy @thedroneranger @batdanceq @wkndwlff @littlemissobsessedwitholdermen @sunflowerziva @cassiemitchell @himbos-on-ice @bradshawseresinbabe @damrlovq @fudge13 @xoxabs88xox @mak-32 @slutfordw

[fakescenariosbeforesleepblog]

Could you pretend you love me? Pt.1

Soap x Fem Reader (single mom).

Let me introduce Mr. And Mrs. Blackwood, the newlyweds and new neighbors.

This is just the alibi, a false marriage with normal jobs and a normal and traditional family, Why? Oh, just to take a look at the enemy.

Warning: only grammatical and spelling errors. Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters nor do I claim to own them. I do not own any of the images used nor do I claim to own them.

Pt 2

You and Soap argue all the time, for everything and for nothing, both work well together but before every successful mission there's always a previous discussion.

The boys are accustomed already so they just let you argue and complain. «I told you we don't want to attract attention, we will be discreet!» «we need to create a distraction so they can take the hostage without someone noticing!» «No!» «Yes!»

Price acted like a Father trying to stop two teenagers, every time. Both of you are efficient but also a headache.

This time is not different. Price already explained to you the mission, observe, get close to the enemy, put some hidden cameras or microphones, trackers, all the necessary to obtain information and capture them. That was the easy part, the hard part was Price's proposition.

- What? Sorry cap, but I think Ghost or Gaz or even you, would play a better role than Soap.

«Oh no, here we go again» ghost and Gaz muttered while rolling their eyes.

- Excuse me? You don't know what you're talking about y/n. I'm such a perfect husband material.

- You're everything but a husband. Seriously Captain, we have to considerate someone else. Also I have my daughter, what will I do with her?

- Y/n, I understand you're mother now, but I also know the girl is in a private school... A boarding school, am I right? she will be fine and if she needs to visit I'm sure she won't be in danger, that could help us a little.

You simply nodded but then you stared at soap, you observed him head to toe, you're sure he's not the right person for this kind of mission, his hairstyle, his personality, you think he's inadequate.

-Alright... but... He's not the right person for this mission, that's all I'm saying.

Soap is not angry, he's actually making fun of this, he put a hand over his chest and opened his mouth, pretending to be offended by your comment.

- Y/n, I feel offended, I'm a very charming man, clearly I'm the best option. The lieutenant is too serious, he certainly won't be very friendly with our target, Gaz is maybe an option, but there's not much chemistry between you and him as a fake couple and our Captain... He simply has better missions to attend.

«Agree» «Sorry Y/n, Soap's right» «he'll do it fine, trust him»

You just rolled your eyes, you feel ridiculous trying to make them understand your point of view.

A few days later after that discussion, you were looking for someone around the base. Emma, your almost 7 year old daughter, was visit day and you couldn't get a nanny for her so you brought her with you to the base, the little girl is now lost and you're desperate to find her.

- Did you Lost something Sergeant?

Ghost's voice took you by surprise, his giant form always makes you a little bit anxious.

- Ah! Ghost, I mean Lieutenant, I... I'm actually looking for my daughter... I told her to stay in my office but she disappeared.

And just behind him, Emma appeared, holding your lieutenant's hand.

- I think I found her.

You kneeled in front of your girl and hugged her.

- Emma, why did you do that? I told you, you can't walk around here alone.

- But Y/N, I wanted to explore!! Ghost found me, he accompanied me, he's very sweet.

You stood up and took your little girl's hand.

- I'm sorry Lt; thanks for finding her.

You started to walk back to your office while Emma muttered to you «I think Ghost is very handsome...» you sighed «you're just like your mother...».

Indeed, Emma is the mini version of your best friend, you miss her, her loss was the most painful moment of your life, but Emma needed someone, your friend always said you would be her Legal representative if one day the worst happened. Now after a year, you're trying to be a mother for the little girl.

Both were getting ready to leave the base when a Knock on your door interrupted, Emma ran to open, it was Soap.

- Y/n, I just came to give you the files with the location of the house and other important stuff, oh, I think it would be good if we arrive together...like a happy family.

- Thanks Soap, ah... Can we discuss all this later?, I have to take her back to school...

You pointed at Emma who's still on the door observing at Soap with sparkling eyes, you continued talking.

-This is Emma, my daughter. Emma, this is my friend Johnny.

Johnny smiled at the little girl and shook hands with her.

- Heyyy, future daughter, Ghost told me about you, you're certainly a sunshine.

Emma blushed but instantly the curiosity captivated her.

- Future daughter? Are you Y/N's boyfriend? Have you seen Ghost's face? I think he has beautiful eyes.

Your red face was enough to make Soap's laugh, but he was quick to respond.

- I guess your mommy will talk to you about this later, and Yes, I've seen my lieutenant's face, not so bad but I think I'm more... Attractive.

He blinked an eye at Emma and then to you, he said goodbye and disappeared. On your way to Emma's school you explained to her what Soap was talking about, you never saw her so happy, excited to 'help' you in this mission.

While she was at school, you packed all your clothes and some stuff necessary to take to your temporary home. Soap was kind and went to your apartment to help you with the boxes, after all, it was better if both arrived together.

It was a short drive, you also discovered the location is not so far from Emma's school, the house is not so big but also not so small, white and yellow with a beautiful garden, certainly looks perfect for a family. Before leaving the car you decided both needed to put some rules.

- First of all, when Emma is around don't insult or say a bad word

- Copy...

- Second, we will sleep in the same bed... But, if you get close enough I will send you to sleep on the floor, okay?

- Fair enough.

Why is he so calmed? It is annoying how he simply smiles and is not complaining? You're not understanding what he is trying to do.

- And... Why are you agreeing to everything I'm saying?

- You said I'm not husband or dad's material, I will show you you're wrong my sweet wife... Let's start the show, Sweetheart!

He opened the door and got out of the car, you stayed speechless and followed him, he handed you the keys to open while he was bringing the boxes with you and his stuff.

You wanted to help but he refused, you were starting to complain when a man, your new neighbor, and technically the enemy, appeared, smiling pretending to be nice.

- I want to help! You're being a...

- Hello there! welcome to the neighborhood!

Both looked at him, he started to walk to you, Soap put the box on the floor and held your waist softly, you didn't know why but you felt shivers.

- Hey, thanks man! I'm John and this is my wife y/n

- it's really good to have new neighbors, I'm Jeff. I live in the house next to yours, feel free to visit whenever you want.

- Oh man, you live in a palace, it's a wonderful house!

- I Know, I think it is a good place to raise kids.

-Certainly it is, not only the house but the entire neighborhood, that's why my wife wanted to buy this house, no baby?

He kissed your forehead and squeezed your waist softly, you jumped in surprise.

- Oh, yes, sorry, I'm distracted by all this beauty, I can't wait to start to unpack! Jeff, how long have you been living here?

- I moved here 6 years ago, it's wonderful, my son loves this place, do you have children?

- Ah...

- Yes, our little princess, Emma, she's not here but will visit us soon, she's excited to see her new bedroom.

- Oh, where's she?

You started to worry, you never thought about the real danger you were putting on the little girl, but before you could think about a good lie, Soap spoke for both.

- She's visiting my parents, they have a small farm and Emma loves the horses.

- I see, well, I hope I can meet her soon, my son will be happy to have a new friend...

- For sure, Anyway, it has been a pleasure to meet you Jeff, we have too much work to do, we want to end all early, to have some time for us.

Jeff, was looking at both, there was something in his eyes that made you think he wasn't very convinced, You hugged Soap by his waist and put your head over his chest

- Ah yes, it has been a pleasure Jeff, but as my husband said, we have to hurry up if we want to... you know, do some newly married things.

He nodded and started to walk to his house, before you could speak again, Soap carried you and yelled «Home sweet home, my lady» you made a loud fake laugh and tried to make some sweet comments. Once the door was closed you jumped from his arms and looked for your phone and sent an encrypted text to Price. «Phase 1, Success, we'll start to install security around the house and ASAP we'll try to install microphones and trackers on the enemy». Soap was quick, he started to work in all the security system, you were surprised when you saw him installing on Emma's room.

- What are you doing Soap?

He looked at you and continued his work, you noticed Emma's room was the safest around the house. Then, his voice caught your attention.

- If your daughter will be staying here some days, I want to be sure she will be safe, you and her are my responsibility at the moment, it means that keeping us safe is my priority, more than spying on the enemy.

You blushed, his words caused you goosebumps and a strange feeling in your stomach, you weren't sure about why you were feeling all that so you decided to say thanks and leave the room.

- Thanks Jhonny, umm, dinner will be ready soon, wash your hands.

- I'll be there in a minute.

You ran out of the room, your heart beat was racing, after the dinner both were working a little, talking about your daughter and when she will visit you, it was strange for you, but for a moment you forgot this was all fake.

[tea-potato-gt]

Kæmpe Stor’s life part 4:

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4.5

Welcome to High School Stor!

Puberty is hitting Stor like a train. He’s also growing rapidly now. Ah yes… the awkward teenage phase! Stor still has a baby face COVERED in acne. He’s very self-conscious about his acne because one pimple about the size of a human fist👊 and hard to miss.

The bullying has increased in the last few years, with people realizing Stor is just a big push over. Literally. He would never retaliate or raise a hand to anyone who mistreats him. Both out of worry he might accidentally hurt them and because Stor doesn’t have it in him to hurt anyone on purpose.

Thankfully, Stor has Yilan to stick up for him, and he does. Constantly. (Strega can’t do much, she’s still in middle school.)

By now, Yilan’s father ran out on them, he sends money, but they haven’t been in contact in a few years. Yilan HATES his mom’s new dead beat boyfriend, so he stays away from home. Yilan practically moves in with Stor, staying after school and on weekends. Luckily for Yilan, Stor has two dads who love Yilan.

——————————————————————————

It’s in his freshman year of High school that Stor meets Mizu Rivers for the first time…

She was in his 3rd period English Lit class. At first Mizu didn't stand out from the rest of the class, she stared at Stor or acted nervous when he was near. Not an unusual reaction, Stor tries to not take it personally, he can only imagine how intimidating he looks to others. But it still hurts. A lot.

----------

It's not until Stor gets (reluctantly) assigned to a group project with Mizu and her two "Friends" Nero (A water nymph & Mizu's cousin) and Lilith (a Succubus), that Stor finally interacts with Mizu.

Nero and Lilith slack off on their work and largely ignore Stor as he's trying to get the group on track to write their paper on the book "Gulliver's Travel's." Mizu doesn't make eye contact or talk to Stor so he's left at a loss for what to do.

Stor: H-hey, maybe we should actually start working on the project like the teacher said…

Nero: If you want it done so bad, do it YOURSELF. You’re a big boy…

Nero: (looks down) …literally…

Stor: 😟😵‍💫😧

Nero: Whatever. Let's go girls. 🙄

Nero stands up and leaves the classroom. While poor Stor is left red in the face and realing.

In his shock he looked at the other girls at the window. Lilith dngaf and just walked after Nero. And Mizu--- did... is Mizu making direct eye contact with Stor for the first time?

He could have imagined it, in fact he probably did, but she held fast. She quietly mouths the words "I'm sorry," and quickly runs after her friends.

Stor was left sitting alone, dumbfounded, and at a loss of what just happened and what to do next.

—————————————————————————

That night, Stør contemplates telling the teacher of his peers unwillingness to do the assignment, when he gets an email from Mizu:

"Hey Store, Stør, Stor? (However you spell it, idk ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)

sorry about Nero and Lilith today, they never want to do their work. But don't worry about the assignment! ;D I'll type My part and their parts. Just worry about yours!

See you tomorrow!"

Stor quickly messaged back:

"Hi M. Rivers,

Thanks for reaching out, and explaining the situation, I really appreciate it!

I think it might be better if we split the assignment between the two of us?

I can write Lilith's part and you can do Nero's?

I don't want you to get overwhelmed with extra work!

See you tomorrow,

PS. My name is spelled "Stor""

A little later, Stor receives this email:

"That would be lovely!

Thank you, Stor!

Ps. just call me "Mizu" ;)"

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

4.5 here

More about “The Biggest Heart” world here

[literaila]

Heyy so I've readed your fanfic A Typical Family and I can't stop re reading it because, well, let's just say that the manga is not at it's finest (Prettysureyouknowwhatimean.) and your fanfic is doing a great job helping me with my mental stability caused by Gege Akutami 😀 so thank you!

I love everything, I sure as hell needed that fluff. But one of the things I like the most is actually y/n's past, I like that you didn't went into details about what happened to her and it was just mentioned like two or three times. I like that a lot because it makes the character more intriguing and you give the reader the posibility of being as creative as possible when it comes to her past, I atleast came up with a few ideas of how she used to live.

But after Chapter 29 I couldn't help myself but wonder what really happened to y/n with her family during her youth. In details. Because I felt that there was A LOT going on-

So yeah, that's why I searched for you in tumblr, fell in love with you after scrolling down your account for a bit (which means hours) and decided to ask you if you could specify more about her past? What happened to her? How was her daily life living in a place where she was missunderstood by her own parents? How did her parents treated her? Did she always felt lonely? Is that why she's so insecure when she became a mother? I REALLY am intrigued.

Thanks again for everything and let's hope to find that annoying cat's hideout 😄🔪

(idoindeedunderstandexactlywhatyoumean)

ah. my dear reader.

she started as just an archetype of sorts, i suppose. like a person in my head but not enough of a person to interfere with the story in any particular way

the focus was abandonment issues so that satoru/suguru leaving could actually have some purpose.

but as i’m sure everyone is well aware—i don’t do simplicity, and i wholeheartedly believe that each and every character (in any media) should be a little… messed up? hurt? battling their own demons??

i think about things in the ways that it’ll improve or harm a story. and satoru leaving reader after being left by everyone else—that’s what i latched on to originally

(actually originally originally it was just a one-shot of megumi calling reader mom and being upset about it… ah how things change)

so i continued with that idea and im not sure when exactly i decided that her parents were awful, but they were. it made it easier for her to avoid talking to satoru about any issues, and easier to understand why she would care so much about these kids and them growing up with (no offense to gojo) a child for a father.

and at the beginning you can tell (or maybe only i can idk) that she is less self conscious about herself, and more worried about the kids. how are they going to react to this? how can a recently graduated person become a mother in under an hour? so it’s not that she’s insecure because she didn’t have a good childhood—that’s just how she is. too thoughtful, a bit anxious.

(mostly just to tie in satoru and readers relationship because i figured they’d need some balancing somewhere)

but then as the characters become more of their own, i needed more from her character. why does she care about these kids so much beyond just having morals? why do they trust her almost immediately?

and this began in the part where she’s consoling tsumiki—because i wanted to give baby a moment sorry not sorry. suddenly she missed her estranged parents and understood how sad miki felt. how much losing your mother matters.

but i’ve always made it fairly clear that tsumiki is just trusting. so easy one there.

but with megumi—reader is more worried that satoru is going to raise him under his wing. and obviously, that’s a horrible decision. satoru is barely a normal teenager to reader so… yeah she doesn’t trust him with megumi. who is obviously impressionable and easy to persuade.

plus the boy is rough for a six year old—needs a gentler hand than some people (ahem, satoru) can give him.

but unlike tsumiki, megumi was going to take time. so instead of a moment they have lots of little things—like the fact that she can read his emotions even when he’s trying to close them off, or that she watches him interact with both tsumiki and satoru very differently.

their trust is built on silence—but once megumi can depend on someone there’s really no going back.

and none of this has anything to do with reader necessarily—but her foundation is made from the two children, and satoru.

and then i had to push some more on the two of them. because—they are in love (they don’t say it ever, but it’s obvious), but they need a reason to hide it.

for satoru it’s because he has been raised to be the most important thing, and to not really trust anyone. and when suguru leaves he realizes that no matter what no one will understand him—he’ll always be a level ahead, a step too high.

so for reader it has to be different. some echoes of pain. and as soon as i realized how scared she was for megumi—i had to give her a reason to be scared. i imagine that she’s always been terrified of jujutsu, not because it’s difficult or because there was some nasty curses, but because it essentially ruined her life.

i imagine her parents to be average, run of the mill people. i think she depended on them when she was very young, and was naturally trusting (like tsumiki) as a child. she’s the type to believe that her parents are the best people in the world.

but once a little girl begins to see things that aren’t there—to scream and hide in closets, or cry while being dragged into the kitchen—things shift.

i don’t think it was bad at first, but when her cursed technique manifested, her parents understood that she was something other.

outwardly, they provided everything a child needs. food, home, clothes, education. but they refused to listen to her when something was wrong, they would leave the room when she entered—because she carried that negative presence with her.

so, i think to reader, they treated her like she was the curse.

and when yaga shows up, rattling about jujutsu high and these strange things that only the two of them would be able to understand, there was no returning back into the child her parents had loved.

she was different. too different for them to understand—or want to even try to.

i doubt they gave her a choice in going to school. if they could get her out of their house, get her curse out of there—they were going to.

(not to mention that there’s no reason for her to stay at home—not with two people who couldn’t care less about her).

so she was essentially sent away at fifteen and (like reader says) they were gone not too long after that.

(i think both the first and second years found out about this because yaga was trying to be nice and tell them not to push and accidentally revealed too much information. also he’s a gossip oops).

with the type of childhood she had—bad but not awful, nothing to run from—it makes it hard for her to connect with other people. and reader truly does believe she is the curse because that’s all she’s been taught.

but everyone at jujutsu high can understand, even if it’s the smallest amount. going there changes her life, simply put.

with at least five other people there to understand the things that she does—the burden is divided equally among all of them. she doesn’t have to hold it all alone.

so she connects with suguru, begins to realize she was just a child and not a problem. she learns how to control her cursed technique and is no longer scared that she’s doomed to forever push people away.

and she makes friends. friends make all the difference in the world, obviously.

plus, there’s satoru and he’s a burden of his own.

but at least she gets to choose it this time, no matter how difficult he makes it.

[yellowocaballero]

it's called stress writing?

Ah. You know how sometimes you're really stressed and writing stupid shit helps relax you and you've had an idea in your mind for forever? But nobody will ever see this story because it's so cringe?

FE3H OC kids time traveling. In my defense, the urge to cross over your own AUs with canon is famously irrepressible. Or I haven't been able to repress it, which might as well be the same thing.

Here's a bit of it.

“Do you think they can smell fear?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. They can only sense it.”

Luca rubbed his staff, dragging a finger over the smooth curves. “Subconscious perceptions of stimuli such as smells can often feel like extrasensory perception…”

“Do you use words I don’t know on purpose?”

“It calms me down.”

“Extrasensory perception?” Mother asked. “What’s that?”

“Worry about it in twenty years.” 

Sara resisted the urge to pet Mother’s head or something. There was no need. She barely looked any younger than Sara’s actual mother. Uncle Felix once estimated that she stopped aging in her mid-to-late twenties. Sara had corrected him - she looked like she stopped aging. Royal anti-aging cream was effective, but it didn’t work miracles. Uncle Felix had looked a little pained.          

“I studied abroad in Almyra for a year,” Luca said apologetically. Wow? Did he? Sara had only heard about it fifty times. “Look, Mother. Is this really - I’m sorry, do you mind if I call you that?”

Mother shrugged. Her expression didn’t change. She wasn’t famous for her expressions, but this was so, so, so much worse than usual. Normally you could catch her by the tone of her voice, but even her voice was empty. She was like a doll. “No. But you ought to call me Professor in public. Everybody else does.”

Just to be safe, Sara hazarded, “How do you…feel about all of this?”

Mother looked at her blankly. Blanker than usual. Much blanker.

“About two teenagers showing up in your dormitory saying that they’re your children from the future, and that now you have to hide them in your classroom until Sara figures out how to un-time travel us.” 

“It’s a problem.”

“Mother, that’s not really what I asked…”

But Mother just stared at them. Goddess, it was so creepy. “What do you want me to say?”

There was no time. Or far too much of it, or far too little. The first Blue Lion filtered in, and class had begun. Or, as Luca muttered under his breath - ‘showtime’.

The Officer’s Academy looked mostly the same. It was missing an entire classroom, but Sara hadn’t gotten a good enough look to see if it was missing anything else. Sara knew for a fact that the first floor dormitories were exactly the same - Felipe said his friends would moan about how old and crappy the ventilation system was. The elite kid dormitories were, obviously, shiny and new. Felipe had bitched about the inequality until Terry pointed out that he lived in the elite kid dorm. Derrick had mildly shared trivia on how it was disproportionately Kingdom nobility.

Sara hadn’t gotten the opportunity to see the rest of the monastery. Until today, Mother had only moved Sara and Luca around in the dead of night. She had smuggled them downwards in Abyss, driving Headmaster Yuri wild. The remarks flew in a bombardment of barbed arrows. Mother had serenely ignored him. Meanwhile, Sara and Luca were realizing that Headmaster Yuri actually wasn’t exaggerating about how bad Abyss used to be. She’d have to apologize later. 

Laying low in Abyss fending off Uncle Balthus’ questions and requests for card games (Balthus and Constance had insisted on the aunt and uncle honorifics, Headmaster Yuri and Miss Hapi had forbidden it) wasn’t how she had imagined her first time travel experience. She had imagined a lot more monastery exploring. She knew that the entire monastery looked very different. Uncle Felix and Father always dragged their children around and loudly pointed out which parts were the same and which had been reconstructed. They had both marveled over the new pagan area of worship in the chapel. Headmaster Yuri had said that it was to make the international students feel welcome, but he had said it in kind of a ‘that’s my story and you better just nod along’ way.

Headmaster Yuri was like that. He had protected Sara and Luca, as he protected all strays. From discovery and Rhea, obviously, but from mostly one little thing that was only the most important thing in the world.

Sara and Luca hadn’t run into anybody they were certain Mother and Father had killed yet. Guesswork yielded to comfort, but reality was impenetrable. 

Reality today, in this unreal time and place, was warm. There was a roaring fire, and light streamed in through the narrow windows. In the courtyard, teens laughed and yelled. Sara saw a girl running past the open doors, yelling and reaching out for a boy running in front of her. He was holding a red ribbon in the air and allowing it to fly in the wind like a flag, and he was almost breathless from exertion and laughter. Sara wondered idly if those two were married with five kids by now. She wondered if they were dead. 

In a week, this classroom may be Sara’s. She had no idea where Headmaster Yuri would place her. Water Dragon, Fire Horse, Earth Ox, or Metal Tiger - it didn’t matter. It would be filled with a lot of talented and hard-working kids. She’ll never know who she was missing. If the best person in the world should have been born to parents cleaved in two, then she’ll never meet them.

That wasn’t the meaning of war. But it was only the meaning of the long, empty years that stretched on afterwards.

“Good morning, Petra.”

Aunt Petra - nope, she was a baby, just Petra - straightened. She was probably always the first person to arrive. Sara scrutinized her closely but subtly, and she knew Luca was doing the same. 

“Good morning, Professor. Who is these?”

What was with that accent? It was worse than the Brigid exchange students, and Sara usually met those two weeks into their first Fargus experience. But Mother just nodded, as if the eloquent Aunt Petra’s broken words were normal. “New students.” Petra stared at Mother. “I didn’t steal them. I’ll explain later.”

Petra slowly sat down at the back of the room. She busied herself with her books, but her attention didn’t leave Sara and Luca. Luca clutched his staff to his chest. Sara automatically elbowed him. Royalty didn’t show fear. 

Aunts - Annie and Mercie were the next to enter the room, clutching their books and giggling to each other. Annie looked fucking Luca’s age. Mercie was so soft looking. Sara wanted to pinch her cheeks. Even worse -

“Holy shit,” Luca whispered under his breath, “Terry and - her are identical…”

“Untrue,” Sara whispered, “that little face can’t contain evil.”

“What was that?” Mother said. 

“Nothing!”

Annie and Mercie also stopped and stared. Sara was sensing a theme. 

Their faces were blank for a second. Sara didn’t recognize the expression at all. Derrick might. But then they both smiled, exactly in sync and exactly the same smile. 

“Professor!” Annie cried. “Who’s this?”

“New students,” Professor said. “I’ll explain once everyone is here.” 

Mercie smiled, giving Sara and Luca a shy wave. “It’s nice to meet you. I’m Mercedes.” 

“Oh, duh! Forgot to introduce myself!” Annie bounded up to Sara, who fought the urge to lean back. She curtseyed to Sara, very improperly - not nearly low enough - and Sara automatically curtseyed back. “I’m Annette! Where did the Professor find you?”

“I didn’t steal them,” Mother said blankly. 

“Of course you didn’t,” Annie said, obviously placating Mother. Mercie hummed in agreement. 

“Sit down, please.”

They sat down at a table in the front next to each other. They didn’t look at Sara and Luca. Yet, somehow, their eyes didn’t leave them. 

Sara and Luca were extremely used to being stared at. Even the polite ‘all of my attention is on you but I’m a polite subject who doesn’t stare’. It shouldn’t have phased her. Yet…somehow…

Luca clutched his staff to his chest. Relatable. Sara elbowed him again anyway. 

Captain - Ingrid and Ashe arrived next, heads ducked together and giggling. Did they have a buddy system or something?! Mother said they should be arriving straight from breakfast - maybe they just ate in twos?

It was reassuring to see that they were still completely gross, and had been gross since the beginning of time. Even if Ashe’s haircut was…it was awful. How often did he wash that uniform? It wasn’t enough…and even Sara could see that he was wearing it out of regulations…wow. He was kind of embarrassing. Ingrid was clearly a beautiful girl, where the hell did she - oh. Her hair was full of hay and her boots were half mud. There you go. 

They also stopped and stared. Sara had always assumed it was the two decades of familiarity that made them all act exactly the same. Were they just…naturally like that…?

“They’re new students. I will explain when everybody is here. I did not steal them.” 

They hustled into their seats. Ashe was the only one who openly gawked at them. Petra lightly cleared her throat, and Ashe hurriedly began doodling on his page. 

It was just in time - loud voices filtered in, and Sara knew who was approaching before they came. Uncle Sylvain was a loud talker who never shut up, and judging by Uncle Felix’s matching passion they were talking about swordplay. Sure enough, when they entered they weren’t even looking at the front. Goddess, Felix looked dorky. 

Sara didn’t know whether or not to be thankful that almost none of her cousins looked like their parents as a kid. When they did, it was downright uncanny - Ashe was identical to Sigurd, except if Sigurd was some pathetic peasant child who didn’t take care of himself at all. None of these people groomed themselves like proper noble kids. 

“They’ll always be inferior weapons,” Felix was heatedly saying. He sounded so squeaky and angry about it. “And an inferior weapon is always the sign of an inferior wielder. Any noble brat with a sparkly sword is dangerous only to his own left hand.”

“Your points are solid,” Sylvain said, tossing his bag on the desk, “but consider this - guys with sparkly swords get more ladies.”

“Who cares, you absolute -”

“Absolute what? Charmer? Handsome dish?”

Felix turned a little red, dropping his bag on a table forcefully. Luca obviously resisted the urge to make a face. Ugh. They were flirting again. “I was not about to say that.”

“You were thinking -”

“At least I think at all - hey, who the hell is that?”

As if Felix’s words had given them permission, every eye on the place snapped to Sara and Luca. 

It wasn’t just the stares. It wasn’t even the fact that they were in sync. It was just something about the way they looked at them. It was…Sara couldn’t even put words to it. She felt like she was alone in a cave of bats, and she had just looked upwards to see their glowing eyes peering down at her. If bats were carnivorous. 

Patiently, Mother said, “They’re new students. I didn’t steal them. I’ll explain when everybody arrives.”

Sylvain whistled, rubbing his chin. He was looking at Sara. He was looking at Sara in ways that one should not look at a princess. “Why, hello. Where’d a dish like you come from?”

“Never speak to me again,” Sara said.

“Whoah, touchy!” Sylvain sat down, easy grin unaffected. “I can’t even ask your house? No commoner girl has that beautiful porcelain doll look.”

“And let me guess,” Ingrid said, absolutely withering, “you know every noble girl in the Kingdom?”

“That’s just good sense,” Sylvain said cheerfully. 

It was strange. That was good sense. It was good sense to know the faces of every noble child in the Kingdom, and it was better sense to clock her as a noble from a look. Secret noble children usually had an extremely messy history - sometimes dangerously messy. But Sylvain had dressed up the important question like he was hitting on her. Why the hell would he bother doing that?

Felix pointed at Sara and Luca, absolutely incensed. “Since when do you drag outsiders into our classroom? You couldn’t even warn us?”

Annie coughed something that sounded a little like ‘plant’. What kind of plant?

“At least we knew she existed.” Felix turned back to Sara and Luca. His eyes fixed on Luca’s staff - on the weapon. “Is this really the time to introduce unknown variables, Professor?”

“Every battlefield will produce unknown variables,” Mother said serenely. Completely ignoring how Felix kind of sounded like they were plotting a murder. Or fraud. “We must learn how to adapt. Please adapt by taking your seat.”

“But Professor -”

Mother stared at him. Felix hurriedly sat down.

Satisfied, Mother stood up and looked around. “Have any of you seen Dimitri and Dedue? It’s not like them to be late.”

“Let’s start without them!” Felix said brightly. Ingrid, Sylvain, and Annie gave him severe looks. “Ugh, shut the fuck up.” 

“You are not allowed to say that when we didn’t even say anything.” Ingrid’s withering looks had different flavors for different audiences. Her ‘Felix is being inappropriate again’ look hadn’t changed in twenty years. “Isn’t now a good time to mind your manners?”

“Fine.” Felix rolled his eyes, leaning back in his chair. “Sorry, Annette.”

“Aw, you’re forgiven!”

“Favoritism!” Sylvain cried. “How are you so nice to her and so mean to me? What does she have that I don’t?”

“A functioning brain, for one -”

Luca giggled. Everybody’s heads swiveled to him. He blushed, holding his staff up as if it could cover his face. Sara had to quickly hide her own smile. 

“What’s so funny?” Mercie asked mildly. As usual, the mildness held far too much.

“You guys.” Luca lowered his staff, holding it close to his heart. “Um…you’re just funny, is all.”

A strange silence pulsed through the room. Sara risked a glance to her left. Mother was unreadable, as always, but several of the Blue Lions just looked a little thoughtful. 

“It’s nice to find two people who Felix hasn’t driven away in the first two seconds,” Ingrid said wryly. “I’m happy to know that you already feel welcome in the Blue Lions.”

Somehow that sounded a little ominous. Maybe pointed - this bunch obviously weren’t very welcoming at all. No matter how they acted. The faux-friendly deceit was -

“Sorry! Sorry, I was caught up - it’s not Dedue’s fault, he was fetching me. I’m here!”

And Father skidded into the room, sweaty and panting for breath. He looked frazzled. His feelings were on his face - the stress and anxiety in his wide eyes, the cheeks red from exertion and embarrassment. He was still buttoning up his jacket. 

Dedue walked in after him, far more regally than Father. Sara recognized Father by Dedue - without him, she wouldn’t have recognized him at all.

The princess face saved her, but Luca’s prince face needed work. He was actively gaping. Sara didn’t blame him - as Mother was reassuringly identical in appearance, Father’s extra eye sat awkwardly in his face. Mother was making far less facial expressions than usual and Father was making far more.

Sara’s sluggish heart was galloping in her chest. Luca’s overactive heart jumped into his throat.

Father stopped in the middle of the room, finally exhaling and fixing up the last buttons of his jacket. “My apologies. I lost track of time training again. I hope I haven’t held up the class too severely.” 

His voice was fucking squeaky. 

“You’re fine,” Mother said, absolutely detached from the situation. She truly gave the air of not giving a shit about anybody or anything. “Dimitri, meet our two visiting students.”

Father’s attention snapped to Sara and Luca. His eyes - plural! - flickered to Luca’s staff, then at Sara. Luca was dumbstruck. Sara was better at hiding it, but she was probably even worse off. At least Father was still a scary late teenager to Luca. Father was her age. And she still only came to his shoulder!

Manners maketh the lie. Sara curtseyed, and Luca hurriedly bowed beside her. She remembered just in time to bow foreign nobility-to-foreign royalty. “Greetings to His Holy Royal Highness Prince Dimitri.”

“Oh, there’s no need for formalities. I’m just Dimitri here.” As if Father had ever been just Dimitri. He bowed back as foreign royalty-to-foreign nobility. He didn’t see most of the class roll their eyes. “Welcome to Garreg Mach monastery. May I ask your names and country of origin?”

Fantastic question. As always, Mother swept in. “They’re Sara and Luca. We can’t disclose their country of origin right now.”

Ashe leaned next to Ingrid, probably under the impression he was whispering. “How did His Highness know they were foreign…?”

“Nobility stuff,” Ingrid said, bizarrely apologetic. “Don’t worry about it.”

“I try not to…”

As usual, Felix cut to the heart of the matter. “Why can’t you share where you’re from?”

“Can’t say,” Professor said stoically. 

“Sorry, Professor, but I asked the newbies.” 

It was stupid of her to assume that they wouldn’t prod at Mother’s story. In fairness, people didn’t tend to question Mother. Quickly, Sara said, “It really is confidential. It’s for our safety. Lady Rhea -” Headmaster Yuri, Lady Rhea was going along with whatever Mother wanted for unknown reasons. “ - has kindly offered us sanctuary. That’s all we can afford to say.”

“Sanctuary from what?” Felix demanded. Hadn’t he heard her? “From the Western Church? The dark mages?”

The class sharpened. They were practically at the edge of their seats, eyes following every move and tracking every micro-expression on their face. If Sara misstepped, she’d be eaten alive. 

And Father was looking at them. He was looking at Luca - Luca, who had leaned a little closer to Sara. And, in a nauseatingly familiar move, he looked at Mother. ‘Here’s my recommendation - you decide whether or not to make the decision’. 

It had always been a strange whiplash to Sara - how Father’s word was absolute in public, but how among the inner circle he always deferred to Mother. In some ways they had never truly left this classroom. The idea was strange.

“I trust them,” Mother said, and the room finally fell silent. Father looked a little impressed. “Is that enough for you all?”

The room nodded frantically. Father straightened and nodded too, far more regally. Dedue just looked at them, eyes unblinking. 

Mother nodded, moving to the podium and taking a book from its shelf. “Then let’s start class. We left off at page twenty four. Does anybody want to give me the solution to its battlefield problem?”

Sara and Luca were about to shuffle off to the back, but Ingrid and Ashe swept their things into their arms hurriedly stood up, gesturing towards their seats.

“You sit at the front,” Ashe said cheerfully. “It’ll help you see the board better!”

“We insist!” Ingrid said. Smiling.

Sara and Luca sat down at the front of the room. They felt eyes boring into their backs for the next two hours. They had specifically shepherded Sara and Luca into a spot where everybody could keep an eye on them - how paranoid were these kids? 

In many ways, these children were Sara’s adults. Paranoia and all. But those adults had lived through a war. Why were these kids acting as if they were at war?

At the fifteen minute break, Sara felt a very light poke at the back of her shoulder. She jumped in the air, quickly turning around. But she only saw Father, smiling awkwardly. 

“I realized that I was far too impolite to you, and I never introduced myself. It’s Dimitri Bladdyd, and it’s a pleasure to meet you.” He nodded at Dedue. “This is my trusted vassal, Dedue Molinaro. He doesn’t speak much, but I assure you his Adrestrian is perfect.”

Sara wondered how many people assumed that Dedue was quiet because he didn’t speak Adrestrian. It must be so annoying and belittling. Dedue was quiet because he was always watching you. 

Sara put a hand to her chest, bowing as a woman to a man. Luca did the same with a fist, as a young man to an older one. In Duscuran, Sara gave him the customary greeting to higher class Duscurans. Luca copied her. His accent was way worse. Father’s jaw nearly dropped, and even Dedue’s eyebrows raised. 

“It’s a pleasure,” Dedue said firmly. “But there’s no need for that.”

“There’s always a need for respect,” Sara parroted. Luca nodded beside her. Uncle Dedue said that all of the time. Felipe had philosophical differences with the sentiment. Listening to them argue was like sitting in a courtroom. 

“I couldn’t agree more!” Father said, oddly overjoyed. Sara realized too late that he had only bothered to introduce himself because he wanted to introduce Dedue. Father had once mentioned he used to do that. Sara couldn’t remember why. “Oh, I almost forgot. Give me a second.”

After some fumbling, he finally succeeded in holding out a stack of textbooks and a notebook towards her. There was even a pencil and eraser on top. He was smiling awkwardly. It wasn’t such a foreign expression. But the embarrassment and faint traces of hope - that was new. 

“I noticed you didn’t have any materials,” Father said, strange and earnest. “I apologize. You’ll have to share - I don’t have any more copies.”

Sara dumbly took the materials, placing them on the desk between her and Luca. He had turned around too, gawking at Father with wide eyes. “Thank you, Your M - Highness.”

Father leaned forward in his seat, arms crossed on the table. His eyes were clear and bright. Dedue watched them silently. “I hope it helps. Our material is rather difficult. I can only imagine what a shock it is.”

“It’s difficult!” Luca cried out - just hair too loudly. “It’s tougher than what I learned in Almyra! How do you guys do this? I couldn’t understand half of it!”

Thank the Goddess, it wasn’t just her. She had felt like a disgrace for the entire class. 

The royal family was the best. They had to be the best. Every time, in everything they did, they had to be the best. Sara had to win every swordsmanship tourney; Luca had to rank highest in the spellcrafting competitions. Luca was early into his tenure at the Fhirdiad school of magic, but he had to rank first in the grade. 

They had to be the best because they had the best. Sara’s tutor was Uncle Felix’s tutor, who famously produced Uncle Felix; Luca apprenticed to the famously talented Lady Lysithea. Mother herself had tutored them in tactics. There was no reason to fail. But she did, again and again. 

Because Terry outscored Luca half the time. Derrick outscored Sara every time. And that was just inside the castle. Sara wasn’t looking forward to her first traditional classroom experience at Garreg Mach - she had no idea how she was supposed to be better than everybody else too. 

Their parents had eaten this incredibly dense and complex material for breakfast. Goddess, no wonder they thought their kids were lazy slackers. 

But Father just nodded, nothing but supportive and friendly. “Professor Byleth’s curriculum can be…challenging. But trust me, she’s a wonderful teacher. If you need any help, she’ll be more than happy to give you individual tutoring.” He halted, shifting in his seat, before he finally said, “Or I could - I am more than capable of offering any tutoring you may need. It’s my duty as head of house. Not to say that it’s a burden! I am always happy to help.”

Sara maintained a regal and blank face, mentally cursing the Saras aged two to fifteen. She thought she worked hard in princess behavior, but she could see now that it wasn’t hard enough. She could not let her feelings show. Father could not know that she wanted to pinch his cheeks so badly. He could never discover how adorable he was. His bangs flopped over his cheek like a puppy’s ears flopping over their snout. 

“We appreciate it greatly, Your Highness,” Sara replied smoothly. “The Professor said she wouldn’t give us any grades, but -”

“She doesn’t give anybody grades.”

“Huh?”

“She doesn’t - ah, she believes that grades get in the way of learning.” Father nodded sagely. Dedue’s eyebrow twitched. Sara knew that twitch. That was Dedue’s eye roll. “And tests. And assignments. It’s all a part of her accelerated curriculum.”

“Um,” Luca said, “are you sure? Because it…um, she just might not know what they are?”

Father laughed, light and easy. “That’s quite funny, Luca. Professor Byleth is a teacher! Of course she knows what tests are.”

Luca stared at Father. “Didn’t you have to tell her what homework was?”

Father’s smile was only pleasant. “And how did you know that?” 

“She told us,” Sara said quickly. She elbowed Luca. “And goodness, Luca, will you speak correctly? Stop stammering and speak confidently.” Luca muttered something about hypocrites. “What was that?”

“That takes me back,” Father said, a little amused. “My parents used to say the same thing to me. I always hated it.”

“Oh?” Luca said. “You hated it? That’s funny. Look, Sara. He hates it.” 

“Wow, you two really must be siblings!” 

Then Ingrid was in front of them. Too late, Sara realized every Blue Lion was in front of them. No - they were circling them. Most of them looked pleasant and friendly, as if they had surrounded Sara and Luca to give them a big group hug. Don’t worry about our namesake. We’re your friends. 

If it wasn’t for the look in their eyes, Sara might have believed them.

“My brothers and I always talk to each other like that,” Ingrid said, smile a lot faker than Father’s. Ingrid was a terrible liar. “But I’m the one always on their case about speaking correctly. So you’re noble siblings, right?”

“I’ve never seen a noble with green hair before,” Annie gushed. “Is it, like, dyed? It’s so cute!”

Sara self-consciously tugged at a lock of her thick and stylishly unruly hair. Big hair was in, but it took her servants thirty minutes every morning to wrangle the thing into an artfully styled mess. Without servants here, it was just a natural mess. “It’s natural…”

“I’m, like, so jealous of it. Red hair’s super strong in my family.” Only Lailah was black haired, so it was true. “Is it strong in yours? The only people I know with green hair are Lady Rhea, Seteth, and Flayn!”

“Have you met Flayn yet?” Mercie asked. “She’s the sweetest girl.”

Sara sweated a little. She’s known Auntie Flayn since she was zero. “I’ve met Flayn a few times, yeah.”

“Really? She’s never mentioned you!”

Fuck. Goddess, she wished Derrick was here. He was a smooth talker. He’d get them out of this. All she had was stupid Luca. Luca was freaking useless. He was only good for blowing shit up or breaking and entering. “We’re keeping our residence at Garreg Mach quiet. I’m sure Professor asked her not to say anything.”

“Where are you staying?” Sylvain asked, leaning on Sara’s table. She leaned back. “I would have noticed you in our dormitories, that’s for sure.”

“Um…” Luca clenched his hands, obviously wishing his staff was on hand instead of leaning against a back wall. “We’ve been…staying inside…”

“Back up, everybody. Give them some space.” Then Father was standing, his voice finally bent into something familiar, and most of the Blue Lions obediently shuffled backwards. Father smiled down at them apologetically, and Sara felt her heart settle. Luca hesitantly smiled back. “Sorry about that. We don’t meet new people very frequently. They’re just a little excited.”

It was a blatant lie. They were grilling them, and Sara had never received anti-interrogation training. Sarah craned her head, looking over Ashe’s shoulder, and saw Mother sitting at her desk. She was watching them, eyes somber. This was the familiar ‘I can’t help you with this one’. She was right - stepping in for them now would only make everything worse. 

Luca smiled at Father, small but shining. Luca’s smiles always made him seem like a kind person. He was, in his own way. “Thanks, Your Highness. You’re really nice, you know.”

Father stared at Luca. He seemed a little struck. Dedue looked at Father, tilting his head. 

“Congratulations,” Felix drawled, crossing his arms. “You’ve hooked another one. A few textbooks and some performative kindness are all it takes, isn’t it?”

Father subsided, as if his world had returned to order. He looked away, slowly sitting back down. “It’s my duty as head of house and crown prince to help out those I can.”

“Not even denying that it’s performative, huh.” Felix looked around at the Blue Lions around him, who were beginning to look a little exasperated. “Am I the only one who caught that? Or am I just the only one who cares?”

And, before Sara could think better of it, she said, “But he misdirected us twice.”

Father froze, but Felix just looked intrigued. “Does the new girl have functioning ears? What’d he do?”

Even more surprisingly, it was Luca who popped up. “F - His Ma - His Highness doesn’t just do nice things because it’s his job. His Highness is nice because he wants to be nice. It’s not complicated.”

As always, Sara and Luca were thinking the exact same thing. Sara could complete his thought easily. “At the end of the day, somebody who’s nice naturally and somebody who’s nice because they work hard to be nice are both nice people. I don’t believe it actually matters much.”

“Never mind,” Felix said, “I’m still surrounded by morons. Shouldn’t have gotten my hopes up.”

Before Sara could react to that at all, Mother announced the end of the break. The rest of the class returned to staring at them, even more intently than before. 

Unlike before, Sara could feel Father’s eyes stronger than anybody else.  

The second half of lessons were split into groups - one half of the class on the Authority side, the other half on the Magic side. Everybody watched avidly as Luca drifted into the Magic side, and Sara hurriedly took a seat next to Petra on the Authority side. Luca gave her mournful looks from across the room - Sara got to sit with Mother and Father, and Luca was stuck looking into the eyes of teenage Felix. 

Who, as it turns out, was the worst Felix. 

Sara slipped into the seat next to Petra as Byleth began writing out supply lines. As it turned out, Petra was a very studious young woman. Sara arbitrarily mentally declared her the favorite Teen Auntie, if only because she hadn’t closed in on Sara and gone for her throat. Father stopped awkwardly near her desk, saw that Ingrid and Ashe were sitting behind her again, and hurried to sit in front of her next to Sylvain. Who was also the worst Sylvain. 

It took a shocking amount of courage, but Sara managed to lean in closer to Petra. She summoned her best Princes Smile #3: ‘Let’s be friends, and I actually mean it!’. “What’s your name? You never introduced yourself.”

Petra looked up, blinking owlishly. “I am Petra, from Brigid. And you are Sara from no place, yes?” 

No place? It was all wrong and true enough. Sara from the Fargus Empire - the Empire that didn’t exist. Sara from the Fargus Kingdom - a kingdom missing thousands of souls. Sara from home - far from home. That, at least, Petra had to understand. 

“For right now, yes. I’ve been to Brigid a few times.” Visiting you. “It’s a lovely country.”

Petra perked up, her face clearing. It was an expression Sara had seen a hundred times, on a face very different from Petra’s own. “Yes? I am glad! What place in Brigid you visit?”

“The capital. The water was gorgeous, but I was bit to death by a thousand mosquitos.” Sara stuck her tongue out, and Petra giggled. “Luca almost drowned in the beach. Our father had to jump in and rescue him.”

“Ah! Yes, our water is very danger. If you not careful, you drown. What is the word…” Petra made a large swooshing motion with her hand. “These. Killer water.”

“Waves?” 

“Like waves! But much of waves. Killer much of waves.”

“A tsunami?”

Petra snapped her fingers, beaming. “We have tsunamis! They destroy whole towns. Beautiful to see.”

Sara wanted to be best friends with Petra so bad. She had always seemed impossibly cool, but Sara could count the number of times she’d spoken to the woman on her fingers. The Petra here and now, smiling cautiously at her, almost felt like somebody new. 

And somebody familiar. The way she held herself, the way she walked - strong, dignified, with an upright chin and straight shoulders. But it was small too. Petra made herself small. Sara had only seen it on one other person. 

It shouldn’t have been surprising. But some part of Sara had filed that small strength away as ‘just Derrick’. Seeing it in Petra too…

Sara leaned in, lowering her voice slightly. Everybody was carefully not-staring, but she didn’t really care. “You would like my best friend from back home. He’s like you. Politically, I mean.”

Petra’s eyes widened. Sylvain obviously leaned back in his chair. “Yes? And you are best friends?”

“He’s my favorite person,” Sara said. “Don’t tell him I said that.”

Petra smiled. “That is my promise!”

“You guys whispering about boys?” Sylvain asked loudly, and Petra and Sara sprang apart. He was twisted around in his chair, elbow resting on the back. “Which ones in the class are cutest? Come on, you can tell me.” 

As always - and surprisingly - it was Father who came to Sara’s rescue. He twisted to face Sylvain, waving a hand in front of his face. It was so teenager and deeply adorable. “Sylvain! Leave them alone and focus, please!”

“Whoah, whoah, touchy!” Sylvain straightened, and after a second he grinned at Dimitri. “Wait a minute. Wait a minute -”

“Please refrain from finishing that sentence.”

“You’re blushing!” Christmas had come early for Sylvain, and he raised his voice again. “Everybody look, His Highness is -”

“Paying attention,” Mother said. That was the end of that.

[drarry-soulmates]

Analyzing the few villains I actually like

Inspired by my Draco reddit post from months ago that got some hate because apparently Draco is utterly irredeemable and the worst-ever villain according to some so-called fans on a Drarry subreddit of all places….. lol…. Some fans were literally mad at me for this post bc apparently I was glorifying Draco or something idfuckn know (it wasn’t even a Draco post… It was literally an obvious Drarry post on a Drarry subreddit… like???):

They were bringing up all the bad things he did that i was apparently overlooking……………… First of all, I know he’s not perfect, i know he’s a bigot. But like ???? Should that be all i focus on? He is far more 3 dimensional than that. And as if I don’t love WAY WORSE actual villains lol……. Sometimes I can’t with Reddit. :i

So I decided to compile a list of ALL the villains* I liked.

*I left out very obvious antiheroes/non-villains, like Light Yagami from Death Note or Venom.

These are literally the only "villains" i like though, since I just don’t tend to like bad characters, which was why originally before reading the books, I did not like Draco becos the movies just made him look like a simple bully.

MY VILLIANS LIST (incl Draco, not in any particular order):

1. Draco Malfoy from Harry Potter:

Kill count: NONE (the ONLY one with no kills on this list…. Irredeemable my ass.)

Redeemed: YES. <33 Tbh, in the original 7 books, Draco is more a tragic antagonist than antihero, since antiheroes make bad choices for a bigger goal or personal gain. Draco's not like that—his story is more about fear and trying to survive, not purpose or redemption.

But apparently some supposed Reddit "Draco fans" & JKR think he is irredeemable lol. :V He’s literally just a troubled teenager. (There’s another troubled teen on #4 of this list that makes Draco look like a literal saint.)

What did he do: Was a giant bigot (in childhood only). Accidentally hurt people in his quest to kill a single person or else his family dies. He could not even go through with killing in the end because bb felt bad. :’| (Irredeemable where?)

Why i like him: He is just such a complex character, smart, canonically a good person deep down (unicorn core wand), only misguided by his family, & so terribly gay for Harry Potter LOL. Oh, and he acts tough but is just a giant softie deep down >///< He just needed a hug. :‘C Was very lonely boi. (He says so in HPCC.)

2. Hannibal from Hannibal:

Kill count: 23 (that we know of).

What did he do: Murder and consume people in horribly gorey, disgusting, wildly creative/artistic ways.

Redeemed: NO, but he’s in a cute gay relationship with Will. lol. So i give him a pass.

Why I like him: he is an interesting guy, super intelligent, incredibly polite (he eats the rude), witty, calm, collected, calculating in an insanely hot way, charming, got style, oh, and really loves Will so much. The whole show was just their dark and literally insane (on Will’s part) love story tbh.

3. Crowley from Supernatural:

Kill count: thousands

What did he do: Torture countless people in hell and kill many others on Earth over the span of hundreds of years.

Redeemed: YES. <33 Lovable King of Hell turned antihero that even the good guys end up missing!! </3 ;___;

Why I like him: he is HILARIOUS, amazing personality, a true hero in the end ;__; Became a softie in the end. <33

4. Tate Langdon from American Horror Story:

Kill count: 15

What did he do: Was a 17 yo school shooter (Draco’s age), raped & impregnated his girlfriend’s mom, set his mom’s bf on fire, and loads of other things…. X:

Redeemed: YES. (but not to the extent of turning into an anti-hero..)

Why I like him: He is sooo sweet to Violet, his girlfriend (who forgave him for raping her mom– yeaaaa that’s AHS for ya!) Their love story was pretty epic, as she made him a better person in the end. He was just so lonely, complex, & misunderstood (only forgivable because he’s fictional THANK GOD!)

But also in the end, we learned that his reasons for being evil was due to the Murder House he was living in, where supernatural forces would amplify negative emotions and encourage malevolent behavior. Tate’s connection to the house and its spirits fueled his evil tendencies, so it wasn’t reallyyyyy his fault. :|

Plus as a ghost, no longer controlled by the House, he did become a better person and regretted shooting up the school. He just becomes a big softie. lol. :3 thankfully he and Violet were one of the few to actually get their happy ending on such a twisted show. :’))

5. Klaus Mikaelson from The Vampire Diaries universe (spoilers for The Originals):

Kill count: thousands

Redeemed: Sorta. He still kills people as a vampire hybrid, but he becomes less of an antagonist & he willingly dies for his daughter.

Why I like him: He is COMPLEX, wild, impulsive, rash, immensely powerful, has an alluring & totally charming personality, witty, hilarious, absolutely fearless, wicked smart, fun, heart of gold (when he’s not tearing people limb from limb). One of the most powerful characters in the series. When he loves, he loves VERY strongly (his love interest Caroline was a very lucky woman…. although he stabbed her in the stomach but then later healed her and they had a moment lol >///<). He is loyal to a fault and ended up willingly giving up his life for his daughter. He was over 1,000 years old.

6. Vaas Montenegro from Far Cry 3:

Kill count: hundreds

Redeemed: not a chance…. :V But that’s what i actually like about him.

Why I like him: he’s funny, HILARIOUS, sexy, batshit crazy, psychotic, super strong, skilled warrior fighter pirate, hot, psychopath just for the fun of it, impulsive, and pretty gay with the protagonist LOL

That's it. Those are the only villains I like lol. Hard to believe I had to explain on a reddit post that just because a fictional character isn’t morally upstanding, doesn’t mean you can’t still love them. Villains tend to be super interesting. Although all but 2 on my list were redeemed. V_V

[mbirnsings-71]

*looks at how many new different fandoms I've gotten into/old fandoms I've been revisiting this past week* Ah fuck okay so I should probably make an actual bio post-

Hi! I'm Madi/Angel, pronouns are They/she, and This is my tumblr blog where I tend to be a little bit of a menace- not really but like I tend to get very silly on here! Now with that out of the way, I should probably tell you guys my fandoms and certain tags I use! the fandoms I'll put under the keep reading but here's the quick stuff about tags I use!

Tags that frequently get used here:

#Madi's art :> - What I tag all my art with! This is where you will find all of it that I post on tumblr!

#Madi's writing :> - Literally exactly what my art tag is for except for my writing if I ever do write-

#WAADW AU :> - That is for my Wedding planner!Grian and Florist!Scar au that I've been brain rotting about for a solid two months?? it's been a long one and I have plenty of stuff planned for it!

#ESRMT AU :> - This one is for my newest snowbugs au because something about Necromancer Scott got a hold on me and now I'm world building for it it's awful the doc is long and I promise you guys will get more content for it eventually-

#madi's 9-1-1 DC au tag - What it says on the Tin, for my DC x 9-1-1 au because good god those firefighters got a grip on me and back when I was super into DC I had to mush those two hyperfixations together-

Fandoms that I might reblog/make content for on here, in no particular order:

- 9-1-1 (Both The main series and Lone star but Lone star never ends up on my dash so I forget to reblog stuff from it-)

- Minecraft content (Parkciv and Life SMP are spinning in my head constantly)

- Whitepine (PLEASE GO WATCH IT IT IS ONLY AN HOUR OF YOUR TIME PLEASE-)

- Critical Role (I WAS ON TOP OF IT BUT THEN I FELL BEHIND ON CR3 AND I NEED TO PLAY CATCH UP SO BADLY AAAAA)

- DC comics (Stares at my gigantic reading pile that's threatening to squash me-)

- D20 (Love Dropout and the chaos those campaigns bring very silly and love being able to watch them in my own time-)

- Pokémon (Love Pokémon sm man-)

- Sonic the Hedgehog (Big childhood special interest you can try to pry it away from me-)

- Welcome to night vale (I NEED TO CATCH UP MAN I NEED TO-)

- The Magnus Archives (again need to finish it cause Raaah-)

- Supernatural (I miss you Castiel you did not deserve superhell-)

- Ace Attorney (I miss my gay lawyers occasionally-)

- Danganronpa (I'm not as big of a fan of it as I was back during covid but some of the characters come back to whack me with a stick and remind me they exist it's wild-)

- Gravity Falls (God this show is part of the reason why I have such a love of supernatural/horror concepts amen-)

- The Owl House (Magic? Found Family? A silly cast of characters? Sign me up honestly-)

- Miraculous ladybug (these teenagers are traumatized and I feel the need to immensely give them therapy because hey! No 14 year old should have to hold that much responsibility on god!)

- Ouran Highschool Host club (the Nostalgia and also reading the Manga now has been wild and I still stand by Haruhi being my favorite character ever-)

- Blue Exorcist (I MISS MY GUY RIN OKAMURA I MISS HIM A LOT-)

- Vocaloid / Kagerou Daze / Evillious chronicles (Putting this all in one category cause the stories are primarily told through Vocaloid BUT GOD I love Kagerou daze and Evillious Chronicles so much it's insane-)

- Madoka Magica (the Magical girls are so sad man they make me SAD)

Now if you made it this far, congrats! You made it through my long list of fandoms! If you think my blog is kinda fun and end up following it, well that's just great for both of us! I can't promise regular content but I can at least be silly and fill your notifications with reblogs occassionally-

[sandcobangevent]

Art by @tsukihasnolife Story by @scoobydoo-ghoulschool Read it on AO3!

INT. WATSON’S ROOM

JOHN Hello, Hello, Hello! It’s Doc Watson here to uh- or just John, John is fine too. Um, but I am here to share another spine chilling case with you lovely listeners. This was a dark one folks, so be cautious. Warnings for death, a couple of those, uh parental abuse, some light usage of the S word, and one inflammatory F bomb by yours truly. If none of that is enough to scare you off, well then, good luck and enjoy the adventure of the Speckled Band.

AUDIO CUT

INT. WATSON’S ROOM

Door opens with a bang.

SHERLOCK Your presence is required in the living room.

John gasps awake. Sherlock removes John’s bed covers.

JOHN Huh? What?

SHERLOCK We have a client. In the living room. Ms. Hudson informed me at 6:45, I let you sleep an extra half hour but you really must be up now.

John yawns.

JOHN It’s 7:15? And you’re awake?

SHERLOCK (darkly) Like I said, Ms. Hudson woke me.

JOHN Alright, alright, uh- let me just get some trousers on.

Sherlock moves to leave.

JOHN (CONT.) Hold on, is that my microphone?

SHERLOCK I assumed you’d want it.

JOHN (pleasantly surprised) Well, uh, yes, thank you.

SHERLOCK You’re welcome. Now come along, Ms. Hudson is bringing up tea.

Intro music plays

INT. 221B BAKER STREET - LIVING ROOM

John enters the living room, trousers successfully retrieved.

JOHN Hello there. John Watson, nice to meet you.

HELEN (quietly) Helen Stoner.

John takes a seat.

JOHN So you're a fan of the podcast?

HELEN Sorry, what?

JOHN Oh I just- the Sherlock & Co podcast. It’s my, well, part of our business. I assumed that’s how you found us.

HELEN No, uh I found you on Reddit actually. r/Holmes. I read about a case with these missing opals, from the account FarintoshRed. I thought Mr. Holmes might be able to help me too.

SHERLOCK I vaguely remember the name Farintosh, the opal tiara even more. Now Ms. Stoner what is it that brings you all the way from Surrey this early in the morning?

HELEN I- Did someone tell you I was coming?

SHERLOCK The return ticket is sticking out of your purse.

HELEN (nervously) Oh, right.

Mariana enters the room.

MARIANA I have several cups of very caffeinated tea and a couple of day-old scones. They're only half rock hard.

JOHN Ah, Mariana, you're an angel.

SHERLOCK Yes, thank you. Although I’d prefer something a little stronger than caffeine…

JOHN Not this early in the morning, please. I’d at least like to keep the substance abuse to an afternoon activity.

MARIANA (to Helen) You can just ignore them.

HELEN Um, thanks.

SHERLOCK So early train, and by the mud on your coat, a taxi before with an unexpected rain shower. A little dangerous to be out by yourself before the sun's up. I assume you took this trip without permission?

MARIANA (whispered to Sherlock) Sherlock, that's a little patronizing.

SHERLOCK It would be if our client wasn’t a teenager.

JOHN (also whispered to Sherlock) Mate she’s got grey hair.

HELEN No he’s right, I’m 17.

JOHN Oh! I’m- God, sorry I just didn’t. Blimey.

HELEN I get that sort of reaction a lot. The hair’s genetic or something. My sister had it too. But that’s sort of why I’ve come. Not because of my hair but um… My 18th birthday’s in a couple weeks and… I think maybe I might be dead before then.

MARIANA (tentatively) And… why do you think that?

HELEN Because it happened to my sister, 2 years ago.

Pause.

HELEN (CONT.) I live with my step father, Greg Roylott, uh in this old family estate of his, Stoke Moran. My mum married him when my sister and I were both two. And you know, everything was fine, we were a totally normal family, but when my mum died, when we were about eight, uh, well Greg got really depressed. We were all torn up about it, but he… he could get really, really angry. The last couple of years my sister and I had to get him out of a lot of bad situations. Julia- my sister, she had a really hard time with it. Kids at school could get pretty nasty about it all, and I mean everyone in our village talks. It was a lot, still is a lot. But she decided, two years ago, that she'd had enough. She snuck off one night to stay with one of my mum's old friends, Honoria Westphail, for a couple of weeks.

SHERLOCK And you stayed?

HELEN Greg is- he's the only father I've ever known. I thought you know- everyone deals with grief differently, if I just gave him enough time... He never touched me or Julia.

SHERLOCK But Julia ran away.

HELEN Yeah, and not just. Ms. Westphail was helping her file for emancipation. We were both 15, and she didn't even have a bank account yet, but she wanted to get as far away from Greg as possible. She needed the money from our mother's inheritance.

SHERLOCK Which neither of you receive until your 18th birthday.

JOHN Or you're legally declared independent.

HELEN Right. But then Greg, he, well he reached out to Julia, said he wanted to make amends, that he'd been talking with people, trying to get better. I thought he was telling the truth, I mean at that point it had been weeks since he'd gotten into a fight in town, or come home drunk from the pub.

Helen pauses.

HELEN (CONT.) (voice choked) I convinced Julia to come back when he asked her over for dinner.

MARIANA If you want to take a moment-

Helen sniffs.

HELEN No it's- I can keep going. Dinner went fine, I mean Julia and Greg were never the closest, but you could tell he was trying. He didn't even bring up the whole emancipation dealings. We all went to bed around the same time, but Julia had come into my room complaining of a headache pretty soon after that. Greg likes smoking these Indian cigars before bed, and Julia and his rooms have connected ventilation, and she, uh, was always sensitive to smells like that. I didn’t mind the company, there was this awful storm going on outside, and in a house as old as ours, it gets kind of spooky.

JOHN Old manor house on a dark and stormy night? I bet.

HELEN Exactly. And um, Julie only stayed for a bit but- she asked me if I'd heard any whistling at night while she’d been gone. Like a tea kettle going off, I remember her describing it. It was such a weird question, and I know I hadn't heard anything like it before, but like I said the house is really old, and we don't have the money for many repairs. I just told her it had to be some drafty part of the house. I don’t think she actually ever believed me… and then uh, that's when she went back to her room. I watched her lock her door.

SHERLOCK Did you both routinely lock your doors at night?

HELEN Yeah, force of habit I guess. When we were younger we were always scared the Cheetah or Baboon would escape in the middle of the night.

Weighted Pause.

JOHN Er- Cheetah and Baboon?

HELEN Sorry, yeah, Greg's dad, back in the 80's was mad obsessed with India I guess? He lived there for a while, and he decided to like- make an attraction of the old Manor. There used to be a pretty massive menagerie of Indian wildlife attached to the house. Honestly it's why Greg had no money coming into the marriage with my mum. His dad spent it all. These days all that's left are the Cheetah and Baboon. Just one more reason for people to talk, you know?

MARIANA I can imagine...

SHERLOCK So the door was locked.

Helen takes a deep breath.

HELEN I woke up to her screaming. It was- I've never heard anything like that scream. Then there it was, a whistle, like a tea kettle, and uh then this large metal clang, and it shocked me enough I was able to get myself out of bed.

SHERLOCK The locked door-?

HELEN She was able to open it herself. That’s how I found her, the door opened before I got to it. She was- her eyes were bulging, and I could- I could see the veins in her forehead. The storm had knocked out the power by then but she was holding her phone flashlight. I- I caught her there, in the hallway. She fell into my arms and I could tell she couldn’t breath, she couldn’t- but she managed to tell me “Helen! It was the band! The speckled band!” That’s how Greg found us, I don’t remember much after. I think he tried to do CPR, and I called 999… She was dead before they got there.

MARIANA (very sincerely) I am so sorry.

Helen continues as if she hasn’t heard.

HELEN I was… shell shocked. Everyone was pointing fingers at our step-dad, and even then I couldn’t, I couldn’t really believe. The windows of her room are barred, the fireplace was bricked up, the door was locked. There’s nothing he could have done to her.

JOHN The coroner couldn’t find anything? No foul play, no poison in her system?

HELEN I know they did a thorough search, like I said everyone was sure Greg had something to do with it. There wasn’t anything. Eventually they marked it down as a “cerebral embolism”.

Helen gives a very sharp laugh

HELEN (CONT.) She was 15!

Heavy pause. Helen collects herself.

SHERLOCK This all happened two years ago, you’ve had time to doubt him, to look for help elsewhere- but something changed recently. Ms. Stoner, what happened?

HELEN Last week, Greg said that- there was some work around my room that needed to be done. Structural stuff that needed to be fixed. He moved me into Julia’s bedroom and- (Helen takes a shuddering breath) I heard the whistle. Last night, Mr. Holmes, I heard the whistle again.

AUDIO CUT

Interlude music plays briefly.

INT. 221A BAKER STREET - MARIANA’S OFFICE

MARIANA I’ll make sure she gets to the train station alright. I have a bad feeling about leaving her alone.

JOHN Thank you, Mariana… God I can’t- doesn’t this feel a little wrong? That we’re her last line of defense I mean?

MARIANA I suppose, it is frustrating that it’s taken all this for something to be done. But there’s no one I trust more than Sherlock to help her. She only has us, but at least it’s us.

JOHN Right. No you’re right.

Pause.

MARIANA I’ll see you in a bit.

JOHN Be safe.

The front door to 221 Baker Street opens. The sounds of the street filter in. The door closes and it is quiet once more.

JOHN (to the listeners) So, we’ve taken the case. Obviously. There’s still a part of me that can’t quite believe it, but well- it was hard to say anything but yes.

John enters the flat.

INT. 221B BAKER STREET - LIVING ROOM

JOHN I’ve got us train tickets leaving in an hour. You better start packing.

SHERLOCK I’ve already finished. I’ve got noise canceling headphones, my pistol and my toothbrush.

JOHN (john laughs) Ah, planning on shooting your mouth off then?

SHERLOCK (baffled) What? No, of course not.

JOHN No its- it’s a joke from M*A*S*H. Ya know- Frank took his gun and his toothbrush, there he goes shooting his mouth off again… I’m realizing, suddenly, this was one of my more obscure references so I am… going to stop.

SHERLOCK Good.

Pause. John takes a deep breath in.

JOHN You don't think we're being pranked do you? I mean, that was all- a little mad. I mean the Cheetah and Baboon detail? It sounds like something that would go viral on TikTok.

SHERLOCK You’re only saying that because she’s 17. It was the truth, every detail of it, there's no doubt in my mind. Besides, the Indian menagerie in Surrey is about the easiest detail to corroborate, here look.

Sherlock hands over his phone.

JOHN “They Bought a Zoo Before it was Cool: the sordid tale of Surrey’s oldest family and their lost fortune” Jeeze, okay. So not a TikTok prank then.

John sighs.

JOHN (CONT.) Maybe I just don't want to imagine someone willing to kill a 15 year old girl. I mean… why?

SHERLOCK Why else Watson? Money. In both instances, Julia’s emancipation, and Helen’s 18th birthday, he loses the money from their mother’s inheritance.

Pause.

JOHN You don't think Helen was lying about Roylott not... not hitting them do you?

SHERLOCK (carefully) No, she was telling the truth there too, I assume that would leave too much evidence for the courts. There are other ways to keep someone under control...

JOHN Well Roylott better hope we don't meet up with him anytime soon, I swear I see his face and it's one, two lights out.

SHERLOCK You may be getting that wish sooner than later.

JOHN What do you mean?

SHERLOCK Greg Roylott is on our front stoop-

The downstairs door slams open. Muffled yelling. Heavy footsteps.

JOHN Oh God, I forgot to lock it when Mariana left.

SHERLOCK (harshly) Get back from the door. The heavy footsteps approach faster.

JOHN Well this one is locked- The door to 221B is thrown open with a crash.

JOHN Shit!

DR. ROYLOTT Where is she? Where the Hell is my daughter?!

JOHN Sir you can't just barge in here-!

DR. ROYLOTT Which one of you is Holmes?

SHERLOCK That would be me, but I'm afraid you have the advantage, I don't know you.

DR. ROYLOTT Dr. Gregory Roylott, as if you don't know you slippery bastard.

SHERLOCK Of course Doctor, please have a seat. We were just finishing our morning tea.

DR. ROYLOTT I'm not here for tea, my step-daughter's been here. I tracked her phone so don't try and lie Holmes. She was here not 4 minutes ago.

JOHN Now hold on-

SHERLOCK You know, it is a little cold for this time of the year.

JOHN (under his breath) What?

DR. ROYLOTT What's she said to you?!

SHERLOCK But I have heard we'll be getting an early spring, the crocuses are close to blooming. I have a feeling it's going to be quite lovely.

DR. ROYLOTT Oh come off it, I know what you’re doing! I looked you up online, you're a couple of con artists looking to make a buck off my girl, huh? Put her on your bloody podcast right? She's 17, what are two men of your age doing letting her into your flat? I could have the police-

Sherlock laughs. It goes on longer than it should.

SHERLOCK Your conversational skills are entertaining, when you leave, mind closing the door. Like I said, it is cold for this time of the year.

Pause. Dr. Roylott chuckles darkly.

DR. ROYLOTT Alright, have it your way. But hear this, stay away from my girl, I'm a man of means, I wouldn't take my threats lightly gentleman.

Dr. Roylott turns to leave.

JOHN (very sarcastically) Great meeting you Mr. Roylott.

DR. ROYLOTT It’s Dr. Roylott to you.

JOHN Yeah well, it’s Dr. Watson to you, you pratt.

Dr. Roylott leaves. The door is slammed with tremendous force.

John lets out a very relieved sigh.

Sherlock laughs again.

SHERLOCK Fine fellow, we’ll have to have him round again.

JOHN (not paying attention) I think he broke the door hinges!

SHERLOCK I suppose it’s best it didn’t come to anything physical, but I’m fairly certain I could have taken him. He lagged slightly to the right.

JOHN (still not paying attention) He definitely broke the door.

SHERLOCK Grab your stuff Watson, I think it’s time we were on our way as well.

JOHN You know I’ll have to call Mariana about this.

AUDIO CUT

INT. LONDON WATERLOO TRAIN STATION

The noises of a busy train station. The intermingling of engines, voices, and footsteps.

JOHN Yeah, I know- clear off the hinges. Forced the lock through the door frame- (pause) Alright. Thanks Mariana. Yep. Yeah. Talk soon, bye. (to Sherlock) The whole door’s gonna have to be replaced, can you believe that?

SHERLOCK Yes, I think you’ve mentioned it once or twice now.

JOHN Sorry, I’m just coming to the realization I live in a world where a man can literally break down my door in one go.

John sighs. A distant intercom plays.

JOHN (NARRATING) I suppose now is as good a time as any for some shout outs. I’m still new to Tumblr but the community on there has been nothing but supportive, so I’ve some awesome people I’d like to mention from there. So special hello to @tsukihasnolife who I’ve already commissioned to do some incredible art for this episode. We’ve also got @eardefenders, @starfruitsomething and @littleoceanbabe who I hear are all working hard on a flash bang for other fans of Sherlock & Co. Not sure what a flash bang is, but I appreciate the publicity and support! And lets see maybe some people from Twitter or er X now-

SHERLOCK Watson the train.

JOHN Oh God, yeah. Uh, bye! Thanks again.

AUDIO CUT

INT. UBER

The car drives alone on the road, engine humming softly.

JOHN We are back in Surrey listeners, you may remember the last time we were here was for the case of the Solitary Cyclist. (to Sherlock) You know maybe we should check in with Violet-

SHERLOCK I sincerely doubt Ms. Carruthers would enjoy seeing us Waston. We were at least slightly culpable in her brother's outburst.

JOHN (muttered) I wasn't the one with the gun. (John coughs) But Uh- yeah, yeah that's probably for the best.

DRIVER So where are you guys headed exactly?

SHERLOCK (in his just-one-of-the-mates voice) Stoke Moran, I've heard it's a real piece of work.

DRIVER Yeah, the place should be demolished if you ask me, it’s a death trap.

SHERLOCK Well that's why we're here, come to make a couple of estimates for the bloke who lives up there.

DRIVER Fair warning mate, lots of contractors have been through there. The Doctor, Roylott, he doesn't have the money to pay.

SHERLOCK Really? Big family estate like that with no money?

JOHN Sherlock, look-

SHERLOCK Sorry, would you mind stopping here?

DRIVER We're still a mile out-

JOHN We like the fresh air, thanks for the ride. Uh- five stars!

John and Sherlock exit the car. The car drives off.

EXT. THE GROUNDS OF STOKE MORAN

JOHN That is Helen over there isn't it?

SHERLOCK (in his normal voice) Yes. Probably best we catch her here, I don't want to get too close to the house until we're sure the good Doctor is nowhere near. (voice raised) Ms. Stoner!

Sherlock and John walk to catch up with Helen. Helen approaches, slightly out of breath.

HELEN Hi. I was hoping I’d catch your car on the way in.

SHERLOCK We had a visit with your step-father this morning, just after you left.

HELEN (taken off guard) What but I- he’s barely ever up by 11, and no one would have told him-

SHERLOCK You’re phone Ms. Stoner, I’m afraid he’s been tracking your phone. I would suggest checking your settings for the parental controls he installed without your knowledge.

HELEN If he knows that I- that I came to you-

SHERLOCK If he makes any motion to harm you Ms. Stoner we will personally escort you to Ms. Westphail’s house tonight. But I doubt with the way things are turning out he will try anything that obvious.

JOHN Like busting down a door.

HELEN What?!

Sherlock clears his throat pointedly.

SHERLOCK We’re getting ourselves a room at the village Inn, we have no intention of leaving you alone. Now Ms. Stoner is it possible we could enter the house undetected? I would very much like to see your sister and Dr. Roylott’s rooms.

HELEN Yeah, yeah I can manage that. He had work in London today, I thought- anyway he won’t be back till this evening.

SHERLOCK Lead the way Ms. Stoner

AUDIO CUT

EXT. STOKE MORAN

JOHN (out of breath) We are just now approaching the manor. It's uh- it really is something to see. Which since you can't see listeners, you'll have to take my word for it. Stoke Moran is uh grey, and big. Uh- I can do better than that, hold on. It's... lichen-blotched stone, with a high central portion and two curving wings, like the... claws of a crab. Sort of. Like if a crab had its pincers raised, you know? The left crab claw has broken windows blocked with wooden boards, and the roof is partly caved in, a uh picture of ruin. The middle bit- the body I guess? It’s in okay shape, it’s got some large observation windows near the ground floor. The right-claw looks to be the only section of the house that's still livable. Pretty modern, at least it's got blinds in the windows, and appears to be standing on its own.

HELEN What’s he doing?

SHERLOCK Narrating. He does it when he’s nervous.

JOHN I do it because a podcast is an auditory experience. Can’t exactly wave a camera around to show them- hold on, what’s this over here?

HELEN Oh I wouldn’t-

An animal screeches, a mammal howl, and it slams itself into its glass walled enclosure.

John screams.

The microphone falls. Helen and Sherlock break out into surprised laughter.

HELEN (through laughter) That's the menagerie. Sorry.

The Baboon calls out softly through the glass. There's rustling as John quickly retrieves the microphone.

Sherlock and Helen continue to laugh.

JOHN Seriously, how is this even legal?

AUDIO CUT

INT. STOKE MORAN MANOR - JULIA'S ROOM

A door creaks open slowly. Helen, Sherlock and John enter the room, footsteps echoing loudly.

HELEN So this is- this is Julia’s room. Mine’s just next door to the right, and then to the left is Greg’s room.

SHERLOCK And this is where you’re currently staying because of the restoration work?

HELEN Yes.

Sherlock walks around the room.

SHERLOCK These bed drapes- were they Julia’s?

HELEN Uh- no. No they weren’t really her taste. I think Greg had them put up when she was living with Ms. Westphail.

JOHN (darkly) He seems to have a habit of making living decisions for you.

Sherlock steps up onto the bed, bed springs squeal.

JOHN (CONT.) (pained) Sherlock, your shoes on the bed-

SHERLOCK (ignoring John) This ventilator, right above the bed, does it work?

HELEN Oh that, no, at least not since I’ve moved in. It’s completely freezing here at night.

SHERLOCK Interesting for such a recent refurbishment. Do you remember when this was installed?

HELEN Uh- it- it actually may have been around the same time as Greg hung the bed drapes. When Julia was gone.

Sherlock jumps down from the bed.

SHERLOCK I think I’ve seen enough here. Would you mind leading us to your step-father’s room?

HELEN Sure, like I said, It’s right next door.

Helen, Sherlock and John leave the room.

INT. STOKE MORAN MANOR - DR. ROYLOTT’S ROOM

The door to Roylott’s room opens. John gives a low whistle.

JOHN Well. This is- something.

HELEN Yeah, it’s a lot. Mostly stuff he inherited from his dad.

JOHN For our listeners, the Doctor has, well lots of… collectables lets say, I am presuming from India. Almost every wall and shelf is covered in Hindu icon paintings and sculptures.

SHERLOCK Murtis, not icons. They’re meant to be used in homes and temples for worship. Not... as collectables.

JOHN Yeah, so- it’s extremely distasteful. Not like I needed another reason to dislike this guy. Besides all of the uh- memorabilia in the Doctor’s room, there’s this massive safe- and uh, a bowl of milk is set on top. Helen, do you happen to have a cat around here?

HELEN (pause) No. I’m allergic.

JOHN Could be for the Cheetah, maybe?

SHERLOCK Perhaps… Helen, is it your step father that deals with the animals?

HELEN Er, not really. He feeds em, but he stays out of their enclosures. Honestly he doesn’t pay much attention to them these days. He’s got a vet who comes to see them every couple months or so- but she comes by with her own equipment.

Sherlock moves further into the room.

SHERLOCK Have you ever seen him use this?

HELEN No. What is that?

SHERLOCK It’s a catch pole. Normally these are used by professionals in animal control.

HELEN Right- well maybe the vet left it behind last time she was here?

Pause.

SHERLOCK Possibly… Well Ms. Stoner, I have seen what I’ve needed.

HELEN Well, do you know how it happened? How he did it?

SHERLOCK I can’t answer that quite yet. But we will be back tonight. Your old room, you can still comfortably sleep there at the moment?

HELEN (guardedly) I could…

SHERLOCK Good. Tonight, when your step-father falls asleep, shine a light through your bedroom window, and then leave to sleep there. Watson and I will be spending the night in your place. We will see for ourselves what plans he had for you.

AUDIO CUT

Musical interlude.

INT. SURREY INN - JOHN AND SHERLOCK’S ROOM

The room is quiet. John taps absentmindedly at the microphone. It is super annoying.

SHERLOCK You have a question?

JOHN No. Nope, just… thinking.

SHERLOCK (begrudgingly) I’m not certain what it is.

JOHN But you have a pretty good idea.

SHERLOCK I’ve been wrong before.

JOHN (skeptical) Rarely. If ever.

SHERLOCK You have theories I’m sure.

JOHN Not- not really. The new heating vent that doesn't work… that’s unusual, and purposeful. I thought maybe a nerve gas agent-

Sherlock makes a quiet noise of dissent.

JOHN But- I know that makes no sense, so I’ve got nothing. And then there's the whole issue of the speckled band... a clothing item, a poison...

SHERLOCK You’re picking up on the important details.

JOHN So are you going to share with the class what's actually going on?

SHERLOCK We’ll see tonight. Or we won’t.

JOHN (joking) I see how it is, plausible deniability. Can’t be wrong if you don’t say it out loud.

SHERLOCK John.

JOHN Yes?

SHERLOCK I think you should get some sleep before tonight.

JOHN Right, yeah. (pause) You’re not wrong though, whatever you're thinking, I know you’re not wrong.

Pause.

JOHN (CONT.) Goodnight.

Pause. John settles into bed.

SHERLOCK Thank you.

AUDIO CUT

Musical interlude

SHERLOCK Watson. Wake up, Ms. Stoner has given us the signal.

John shifts in bed. He yawns.

JOHN I really hope this isn’t a habit you're developing. Waking me up in the early hours of the morning I mean.

SHERLOCK Come along, Watson, no time to dawdle.

JOHN Dawdle. Funny word, dawdle. Dawdle. dawdle... and now it just sounds fake. (pause) Hang on… where did you get a cane?

AUDIO CUT

EXT. STOKE MORAN

JOHN (out of breath) We are back on the grounds of Stoke Moran, making our way up to the house. And- I am really wishing we could pick cases that didn’t require so much walking in the dark.

SHERLOCK We’re close to the door Helen said she’d leave open for us. Keep quiet, and keep your flashlight down.

JOHN Yep. Yep got it. Uh- aren’t we also close by to the-

Something thumps against the glass wall. Sherlock yelps.

The Baboon gives a howling laugh, tearing away from the window.

Sherlock takes in several gasping breaths. John snickers.

JOHN See? Not so funny when it’s you, the Baboon jumps.

SHERLOCK No. Comment.

John laughs quietly. He moves forward.

JOHN The doors over here by the way.

AUDIO CUT

INT. STOKE MORAN MANOR - JULIA’S ROOM

JOHN So we took a back entrance that Helen showed us early today. We have safely made it into Julia’s old room. So… now we just wait and listen for a whistle I guess.

SHERLOCK I’ll take the bed, under the vent. For your safety, the rocking chair in the corner is best.

JOHN You just don’t want me to accidentally fall asleep on a stake out again.

SHERLOCK (whispered) It is imperative we stay as quiet as possible now.

JOHN (whispered back) Of course.

SHERLOCK Which means we’ll be sitting in silence for a good portion of the night.

JOHN Yeah mate, I know how quiet works.

SHERLOCK I thought a warning might be nice.

JOHN Well, thanks, I appreciate that. (to himself and the microphone) Of all the things he chooses to warn me about and- oh Christ, the listeners, right-

AUDIO CUT

JOHN (whispered) It is… currently four in the morning. We haven’t heard a peep. I don’t know if we scared Roylott off today, or threw him off his game, but I don’t know if it’s happening tonight.

SHERLOCK Watson.

JOHN What? Did you hear something?

SHERLOCK No.

JOHN Alright. Yeah, quiet. I can do quiet.

SHERLOCK Watson...

JOHN Sorry yeah-

SHERLOCK No, listen!

A high pitched whistle blows softly from above.

SHERLOCK Stay back.

JOHN Hold on, let me get my camera light on, I can’t see.

SHERLOCK No, John the vent is opening!

A large CLANG as Sherlock’s cane hits the vent. A hiss, something slithers back through the vent away from them.

Dr. Roylott SCREAMS from the other room.

JOHN (panicked) What on Earth was that?

SHERLOCK We’ll need the light Watson, hurry.

INT. STOKE MORAN - DR. ROYLOTT’S ROOM

Rushed footsteps. A door bursts open.

Roylott moans.

JOHN Fuck! Is that-?

DR. ROYLOTT (strained and slightly slurred) Get it off me!

JOHN A snake, the speckled band was a snake?!

SHERLOCK Hand me the catch pole. By his leg, there!

JOHN Right-

John moves, he grabs the catch pole. Sherlock takes the pole. The snake hisses, Roylott blubbers in panic and pain.

SHERLOCK The safe, open the door to the safe!

JOHN The- oh! There’s a whole terrarium in there.

The snake hisses again. Louder.

SHERLOCK Watson!

JOHN Got it!

The safe is forced open more. Sherlock places the angered snake inside. John closes the safe with a loud METALLIC CLANG.

John gives a sigh of relief. Roylott moans again, and then tumbles to the floor.

DR. ROYLOTT (gasping) It’s- Swamp Adder- the venom- it bit me.

JOHN Oh God, right, okay, just, hold on- Dr. Roylott, I need you to stay calm. (to Sherlock) Call emergency services! He’s going into anaphylactic shock, I can’t-

SHERLOCK (seriously) They won’t have the anti-venom.

JOHN Just call! I don’t- Maybe I can do another tracheotomy, there’s got to be a pen around here, maybe a letter opener.

John stands. He looks frantically for tools to help.

SHERLOCK John-

JOHN I’m thinking!

SHERLOCK John!

JOHN What?!

SHERLOCK He’s dead.

JOHN But he- (pause) His pulse stopped.

SHERLOCK I’ll call now.

JOHN Um- yeah. Okay. (pause) I’ll- I’ll go get Helen. I’ll see if we can get a hold of Ms. Westphail.

Tense pause.

SHERLOCK He did it to himself, John. He did this to Julia, and he was going to do it to Helen.

JOHN (strained) You’re right, yeah. (John sniffs) I’ll go get Helen.

John leaves, the door closes softly behind him.

AUDIO CUT

Musical interlude.

INT. JOHN’S ROOM

JOHN Well folks, that is the end of the case. Say au revoir to the speckled band, which is now, along with the Cheetah and Baboon being safely handled by some animal conservationist group. Apparently cheetahs are a very endangered species so, Roylott was definitely keeping that illegally. Um, as for Helen, she is now happily settled with her aunt. Obviously, this was a bit of a shock for her but… she’s, she’s in a better place now thank God. And Roylott, well you all know how he ended up. I don’t uh- I don't have much else to say other than that. The Swamp Adder venom really-

The door to the bedroom opens. Sherlock walks in.

SHERLOCK Oh, you’re not done yet.

JOHN Nope, just doing the wrap up.

SHERLOCK Do you mind?

JOHN No, come on in. I was just talking about the Swamp Adder.

Pause.

SHERLOCK You know... there’s no such thing.

JOHN What?

SHERLOCK He misidentified the snake, there’s no such thing as a Swamp Adder.

JOHN But we saw it-

SHERLOCK We saw an Indian Saw-Scaled viper, Echis Carinatus if you want to be technical, and while extremely venomous, it is by no means the most venomous snake in India. That would be the Common Krait.

JOHN You know all that, but you couldn’t name one Madonna song last week at the pub?

SHERLOCK Well the next time Madonna gains the ability to inject 12 milligrams of venom into her victims in one bite, then I’ll try my best to remember her discography.

JOHN Right okay, well you heard it here folks, world class detective, violinist, podcast co-host, Sherlock Holmes, can also add snake expert to his list of accomplishments.

SHERLOCK Herpetologist.

JOHN What?

SHERLOCK An expert in reptiles and amphibians, a Herpetologist.

JOHN Okay that- that can’t be real.

AUDIO CUTS. OUTRO MUSIC PLAYS.

END OF PART ONE OF ONE

[spopsalt]

C*tr* fans:

me: 1) the part of " all C*tr* did was apologize and she still was inmidiatly forgiven " it's true, even she only apologize to Adora and Entrapta, the others forgive her as nothing happens like. Then when did C*tr* sacrifice her life and her free will to a mind-wipping empire to save the life of her enemy ? wehn only see how she abused Adora also she DID NOT become a better, she just choose it because there was nothing left for her and for guion power. 2) no because i'm not an abusive toxic person as C*tr* who is obssesed with her sister Adora and again i remind that C*tr* did not apologize and/or took resposabilities of her actions because the show says so and C*tr* was not afraid of die because on the portal episode we watched that C*tr* didn't seem to be afraid of dying and nop, i don't have a deep heart down to able to do what C*tr* did because i'm not an abusive toxic person.And finally 3) key word " kids " C*tr* is a kid ? nop, she's a teenager who knew what was doing and still do awfull things to Adora, kill and hurt innocent people and destroy cities and use the terms " kids who are victims of abuse CAN break circle and have a happy ending " is in between because yes it's true that some kids are victims of abuse but we are talking about little kids not a teenager who knows what are they doing and C*tr* did wanted to continue the cicle of abuse so it's her fault for staying in the horde and not go with Adora that if she really loved her she could easy go with Adora to brightmoon but decided to stay in the horde and for what ? " have a happy endingg, and that no one is truly undeserving love " agreed kids who has suffered abuse deserves so much better and a happy ending excetp of C*tr* she deserves worse and deserve to have a punishment or at least call out for all the mess she has done!! " it is such a poweful menssage of the show that i love so much " dude idk what menssage is that you forgive your abuser sibling that murder and hurt people, destroy cities, home and families and still got a happy ending when actually deserves to be on jail or are you going to tell me that Palestines will forget what Isr*el are doing and give them a happy ending too just like in she-ra ?? ( i'm sorry my hate for C*tr* got out of my nerves sorry sorry )

friend, sorry for the long post but this is all my thoughts on this post that really don't make sence but well now i'm gonna try to post glimmadora, tell me what do you think about what this C//A stan says about C*tr* and her rushed redeemtion ?? do you agree with me about what i think or you think i miss something ??

DO NOT HARASS THE PERSON IN THIS POST

Ah, I do love seeing bad takes in the fandom. For the first one, does she really deserve applause when she only left after there was nothing left for her in the horde? She had so many choices to better herself beforehand but chose to do it only after the rebellion was quite literally her only choice. For the second one, I'm pretty sure most catra antis didn't attempt to kill their sister 2 times and abused their sister for years. She literally committed war crimes. She's not some kind person. For the last one, we know abuse victims can break the cycle. All the antis I've seen love Adora and she's an abuse victim people seem to forget that. Also we aren't saying Catra doesn't deserve love?? We just think she shouldn't of date her sister whom she abused for years.

[faroreskiss]

The Power of Understanding / Part 2 (v2)

Read on Ao3

Rewritten v2 posted on: 2023/09/10

Cheat Sheet

Chapters: Pilot, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9

Summary: You have been with the Chain for a while now, as their "scholar" and translator. You know everything about them, because you are from our world. But do they know the truth about how you can understand everyone? Loosely based on the same reader in my NSFW fic, which is a very loose prequel to this one, and a work in progress. More background info to come, if I feel like it :D Isekai reader, but she doesn't know about the Linked Universe. Warnings: None. SFW. Maybe Teen? Points of interest: This is your thing if you are into the mystery of chain being able to talk to each other. I am an actual trained linguist IRL, hence this HAD to be written! Some fluffy Twilight x Reader content in this chapter.

So, what was happening to you today? You just couldn't stop thinking about Twilight for some reason. You even carried your work over the stables, having to inhale the smell of horseshit around you. 

But he was just... there. Not like he has been far away lately. You’ve literally been stuck with him (and the rest of the chain) for around two years. Your ‘situationship’ with Wild was still there, and the rest of the chain was aware of it, you were guessing.  You both weren’t exactly super subtle about it, hand holding and such and sometimes a small kiss here and there, but you were never explicit with it either. Nobody questioned anything, everybody had their… quirks, you guessed. 

Did they think you were just in a relationship, you wondered sometimes. Were they even familiar with the word, situationship? Gods, what would they think of the involvement of you, Zelda and Link at the same time, if they knew? Technically, everybody had their room in the house in Hateno, but, well... Ah, you really missed Zelda too, and her delicate fingers on… You took a breath and then sighed. You were getting distracted.

Anyway, nobody owes anyone explanations in the Chain that you learned. That was the agreement of the Links, in which you were indirectly included. If they don't want to tell, you don't force them.

Except, you pretty much knew everything. Well, you weren't really familiar with any game where all the Links were together except maybe some fanfiction where they met in the afterlife, but Wild didn't "exist" back then, from your perspective.

Now, Time was out with the others, getting some business done in Castle Town. Wild also joined him to get some ingredients for the recipes he learned from Malon.

Back to Twilight... You were watching his strong arms, brushing the horse gently. He definitely had a tall stature compared to the other Links. The Links you are in contact with are ranging from their mid to late twenties, maybe early thirties (except Wind, though he was still almost a 16/17 -year-old teenager). So, most of them were fully adults.

"Hey, I can feel ya starin', ya know, Trivia Queen,” he said with his Ordona drawl that occasionally made an appearance, sighing, while still brushing his Epona.

Right. That was your nickname. When you first arrived, you kept spouting things about them that you supposedly should not "know" about, which made the Links (except Wild, he was used to it) extremely suspicious. Over time, they got used to it, especially after finding out about your "job" at Wild's world, as a historian, linguistics scholar. So they left it at that.

The other rule was that you were not supposed to discuss one Link with another, unless you are sure you are not revealing any secrets.

...which was a rule that was established right after you revealed that Twilight is Wolfie, to Wild. Seems like the Old Man already knew (you and Wild joined the chain pretty much as the latest additions), and it was his idea to come up with it. And it was kind of unfair because Wild said he already knew Wolfie from his initial adventure! Hah, good riddance. It did end up being revealed to everyone anyway, after his near death experience.

Fair to say, you were the persona non-grata for a while. And that nickname was not Trivia Queen, but it was Trivia-something else for a while (Thanks, Vet).

"Mhm," you idly replied.

Twilight raised an eyebrow, catching you lost in thought while the stables filled with the scent of horse dung. "Hey," he called out again, his voice carrying a mix of amusement and curiosity. "Lost in your own world again?"

You sighed, blushing slightly, and tried to shake off the daydream of you and him in a big bear hug. "Yeah, just got a bit distracted," you admitted, turning your attention back to the ranch's budget paperwork. "These numbers can be quite mesmerizing, you know."

The rancher chuckled, his eyes warm as he continued brushing his Epona. "If you say so," he replied playfully. "But I have to admit, you manage to make even the most mundane tasks seem fascinating."

You couldn't help but smile at his compliment, feeling your heart flutter slightly. "Thanks, Link. You know how to make a 'trivia queen' blush," you teased back, trying to keep the conversation light-hearted.

His grin widened, and he leaned against the stable door, looking at you with that undeniable twinkle in his eyes. "Oh, really? Well, consider it a skill I've honed over time," he said, winking playfully.

You playfully rolled your eyes, trying to hide the butterflies in your stomach. "I suppose I'll have to keep my guard up around you, then," you replied, feigning a serious tone.

Twilight chuckled, and for a moment, the two of you locked eyes, a silent understanding passing between you.

"You wish you could," he winked.

There was an unspoken awareness that, despite the friendly banter, there were lines he would not cross. You respected his relationship with Wild, and he respected your history with him. And of course, the fact that everybody's existence is but a flicker...

Yes... Who knows how long you will still be here anyway? Even the stuff with Wild and Flora is as dangerous as it is. You can literally disappear and get back to your own world, leaving them behind.

This was the thing that was stopping you from the other type of "feelings" you could catch. You never spoke about this with Wild or Flora. To be fair, not like there was any time to. You… literally had the most intense moment of intimacy one night, and less than 24 hours after that, you and Link were taken in via the portal and met with 8 other Links. Poor guy even hesitated to sleep with you in the same bedroll, literally the night after. 

 And since the adventures with the Chain started, there was this weird gloom between you two sometimes (both missing Zelda), but the respect you have for each other never disappeared. That was another unspoken agreement.

The moment you want to speak about this awkward issue of you having a heart big enough for love for other people, the reality of your existence would be bare.

Anybody can disappear, forever, anytime.

Time's return broke the moment, and you both quickly resumed your tasks, acting as if nothing significant had transpired. "So, what were you two chatting about?" Time inquired with a sly grin.

"Just discussing the ranch's budget," you replied casually, keeping things vague.

The Old Man raised an eyebrow but seemed to take your word for it. "Alright then, just remember we've got some preparations to make before the next portal appears," he said, his eyes flickering with a knowing but serious glint. It wasn't the first time he witnessed something like this.

You nodded, grateful for the diversion. "Of course, I'll get back to work."

As the day went on, you couldn't help but steal glances at Twilight, his presence always managing to captivate you. Though you were the "translation magic" of the group, your understanding of him went beyond language. It was a connection that had been forged through shared experiences and unspoken feelings of the last couple of years, despite the initial incidents you had.

And as you continued to work alongside the Chain, you held onto the hope that, in the midst of all the chaos and adventure, there might be a chance for your paths to intertwine in a more profound way. For now, you would cherish the friendly banter and the secret glances, knowing that no matter how many worlds you traveled, Twilight would be a part of your heart's journey, for now.

[sukirichi]

Okay! Back on my phone battery died ahahha

Well you can say my resentment for her is big cause as a proud tooru fucker i went ahead and reread the first chapters to find this

This is from chapter 7 what basically summarize why tooru was always cold to her. I remember something more but i might be misremembering due to my hate lmfao but i always saw this as Tooru being forced fo marry someone he didnt love and ultimately have his 'freedom' stolen hence why he resented her so much and honestly made me resent her too ahahahha also the whole obsess theme playing again when he went to her room as kids and she had this huge ass painting of him hanging there...

Bruh i dunno i know im biased but i rereading old chapters and seeing how tooru is all soft to us and hates to be shackled to maiko just makes me want him to be happy 🥺 with us

Oh and also i would never EVER invite iris to my sanctuary like nah ah nope never bitch would sleeo at the beach outside, i would not let her step a foot inside my house after she KNOWINGLY fucked a married man

'but i was here first' he was still married and YOU DIDNT EVEN LOVE HIM

I would maybe feel a bit bad if she loved him like a tiny tiny bad still would hate her for the fact that it doesnt matter if she was there first HE WAS MARRIEDDDDDDD

But knowing she never even loved him 🙂🙃🤡

Also i have the feeling the whole 'lets be friends' bs is because she wants us to ultimately petty her since shes pregnant now like somehow she knows we can destroy her. Or her marriage with omi. I totally dont see her doing that out of the kindness of her heart. OR ACTUALLY she feeling pressure from the queen in some way since the queen wanted us to play friends with iris and well the queen can fuck iris up aswell.

But thank you iris for confirming rin does love us <3

Im just scared the iris kid will fuck rins head up.. And shes also been sickly and shit if this isnt grounds to manipulate rin.. After all she did manipulative him until now in a way.

I wanted to say something else about rin but i kinda forgot since im pissed dhdhahhajsj 🤣🤣🤣🤣

Thank you for the update! As usual love your writing and the first part really made me happy.. Made me imagine the trip to the house with rin very vividly 🥺

cackling at little maiko casually having a portrait of tooru in her room 😭 and yep the whole “forced” thing was how he feels towards their marriage. maiko and tooru were actually arranged by the queen to be married, although it isn’t really known or officially stated that it was arranged because they already knew each other since they were kids + it had been maiko’s fleeting thought that like, “oh, your majesty, i like tooru. it’d be wonderful if i could marry him.” just a silly little musing of a teenage girl, but the queen saw it as an opportunity that’d be good for the crown and presented the idea to tooru 😔 and at that time he needed the extra power and stability to be a more well-respected prince, so he went along with the marriage. and yes omg !! i do miss our tooruyn days… unfortunately, i had to scrap away the ideas I had for that because it was quite a popular demand to make him and maiko work out 🫡 I wasn’t opposed to that and I think it’d be great to focus more on omiyn <3 SO SORRY IF THAT WASN’T WHAT YOU LIKED BESTIE IK TOORU IS YOUR NUMBER ONE BUT I HAD TO DO IT FOR THE PLOT 😭🙏🏻

‘but I was here first’ nobody asked iris lmfAOOOO

and yep, iris asking to be friends was not done out of the kindness of her heart at all lol. i don’t even think she has any kindness in her heart… but she’s not doing it at all for rintaro lol. she’s trying to be on yn’s good side because she knows her marriage with omi is falling apart. for the five years they’ve been married, kiyoomi has always been neutral and uncaring – he knows iris is cheating on him, but he doesn’t care 😹 not once has kiyoomi shown that he plans on divorcing her. he just avoids her and acts like she doesn’t exist, and that’s fine enough for iris, as long as they’re married. but now that she’s pregnant with rin’s baby AND kiyoomi is having feelings for yn… yeah, iris is feeling anxious. we’ll see though what she’ll do with her pregnancy!!

and aww thank you so much, I’m so happy you enjoyed the latest update! I HOPE YOU KNOW that I always appreciate you taking the time to read and send in all your thoughts, they make me super happy and warm knowing you’re so supportive. SO THANK YOU BESTIE SENDING YOU LOTS OF LOVEE 💫🌷💕

[lxmelle]

hi xmllex!! I've been curious, are you japanese or just speak japanese? :-o

cuz your analyses often mentions the meanings of japanese names/words and such... it adds another layer which makes them so interesting and unique in my opinion !

if it's the latter, where or how did you learn? u don't have to answer tho !

while I'm here, do you have any drawing requests? I would love to draw something for u ! ^__^

Haha, thanks for being curious!! I’m happy to answer anything within reason, although my answer is likely going to be long and may not be particularly interesting! 🤪

Ah, I am hardly fluent in Japanese, nor am I Japanese! I try my best to be careful with how I interpret phrases and words, but I think there is a lot that I miss because of the loss of cultural understanding/context 😔 sorry if I’ve misled in any way.

Some people have a natural talent when it comes to languages and - alas, I am not one of them 🤣

I took some Japanese language lessons back when I was a teenager, did some self study (with manga, magazines, novels, cds, dictionaries & workbooks), and when I entered university, I did two years of Japanese as part of my electives.

Nothing since!

This was actually kind of quite some time ago. Until I stumbled upon the jjk fandom, I hadn’t practiced any Japanese. I’m rusty 🥲 kanji is difficult to learn. It is infinitely easier with new tech these days, but in all honesty it makes me lazy so I don’t think I progress/improve much.

So now… I get by through passively reading the language, use google translate liberally, but don’t tend to speak it because I lack the confidence to do so.

Especially when it comes to interacting with people who speak it online, I’m not confident when it comes to polite Japanese anyway, and it’s a bit of a minefield trying to grasp the online etiquette of the Japanese 😵‍💫 so I tend to avoid conversing in it, unless it’d be rude not to attempt.

I’m like this with other secondary languages too. I’m really only fluent in English 😓

As for a drawing request…...

What - Really!!? 🤩

Ooh - would you be so kind as to draw something for me? 🥹😍😃 ahhh!! I’ve been thinking about a few scenarios for the longest time, but they’ve definitely beyond my scope to produce 😂

I’m excited! Shall I give you options?? I don’t want to request something too much… 🥲 although I’m greedy and excited

Hmm, I’m in brainrot heaven/hell with satosugu, so i hope that’s okay with you!

You can choose whichever inspires you... Or please don’t hesitate to ask for another suggestion!!

So, maybe…

1. Little Mermaid/Prince Eric? 🤭

2. Blushing Gojo? ����

3. Blushing satosugu??

4. Hanging out on the dorms’ rooftop in the middle of the night!

5. Geto tucking his fringe behind his ear 🥰

6. I like teacher AU too!!!

7. Someone styling the other person’s hair!

I hope one of those ideas tickles your fancy 💕

[starboysbrainrot]

Another day in the red room

situated in episode 17 of season 2, it’s a bit of a shit post, and it’s not meant to be serious 😭

inspired by one of @sillydeafwitch ‘s post where B&J can see what they’re doing in the real world

characters : og mystery inc (minus Pericles), mayor jones, Ed machine, Darrow family, nova etc etc, in the red room

another day in the red room.

-What in the living hell did you do this time ?

Cassidy was watching over a mirror-like window serving as a link between the red room and the real world, where mystery incorporated was already facing a new mystery.

-I honestly don’t even want to know.

Judy sighed, glancing over Cassidy’s shoulder.

-It looks like he found another way to waste my money…

Both turned their head, spotting an understandably pissed younger Ricky, sitting in one of the room’s seat.

-Can you even imagine how much hundreds of mutated cows cost ?! All that money, to track down teenagers and to find a stupid disk !

He sighed.

-Beside, I never wanted to hurt anybody… and yet it still happened…

Mrs Darrow put a reassuring hand on the boy’s shoulder, trying to comfort him.

-Honey, nobody here wanted to hurt anyone… Don’t be too hard on yourself.

-Beside, nothing that’s happening right now would be happening if some interdimensional creature whose name I will keep silent had deigned to mind their business and had left the human race alone.

Ed Machine growled, glancing at Nova who simply ignored him by walking to the center of the room.

-We have to be patient, the new mystery incorporated will be able to beat the demon, we have to trust them.

-That’s easy to say for you, said Cassidy, scoffing. You have nothing to lose, it’s not even your world that’s gonna get destroyed !

-I don’t see the problem, even if it’s not my dimension, I can still care about your world.

-Ah ! Shouted Danny Darrow, the kids have trapped the Queen, they are taking it out of Crystal Cove !

A sigh of relief was heard from everyone in the red room.

-See ? You have to trust them.

-Oh cut it out ! Jones snapped, before curling up on one of the red sofas in the room, that’s easy to say for you. Your body’s not being used by an evil entity who’s acting like a freak and neglecting your son !

He sighed.

-My meddling Fred, I hope he’s okay…

-Eh, I don’t think so, well, surely not after that.

Judy and Jones simultaneously turned their head to Cletus Darrow, who was worryingly watching trough the multi dimensional window.

-Brad’s launching a missile at Fred and their friends.

-I’M DOING WHAT ?!

Brad had been a complete mess since the Krampus incident and who had spent the week in a corner whimping and crying, no longer able to stand seeing himself in the real world. Seeing himself betray his son, snap at his wife, and blindly follow a mad parrot who had betrayed him years ago made him want to strangle himself. Literally.

-Why do we even HAVE a missile ?! And why on earth would I launch it on Fred ?!

-I don’t know, but you did. But you missed it so I guess they’re okay.

No answer came from the ex-redhead who had once again curled up in a corner, whimpering.

-Oh for god’s sake Bradley, Judy scoffed, clearly annoyed by her husband, stop whining, your son nearly died !

Another sniffle, coming this time from the mayor, accompanied those from Brad.

-My poor Fred… my meddling Fred…

Cassidy sighed, before shooting an exasperated look at Judy.

-You should go talk with those two stressed out whining idiots before I whip their ass.

-Got you.

Nova observed the rest of the room with an odd look, before clearing her throat.

-Well, the important part is that we have to trust the new mystery…

But before she could actually finish her sentence, the whole room turned to her, shouting their lungs out.

-SHUT THE HELL UP !

[doom-dreaming]

The More The Merrier: Ch. 2 - Preparation

“I’m being taken out for drinks.”

“You make it sound like you weren’t given a choice.”

“I wasn’t.” Sarah had always assumed the whole “butterflies in your stomach” thing was reserved for teenagers passing their crushes in middle school hallways, so she’s not entirely sure why she’s feeling it now. People offered to buy her drinks all the time. Hell, she usually accepted. Free alcohol, right? But something about their insistence had been so… God, what was the word…

“Who would be so bold?” Tom jokes, still not looking up from the datapad in his hands, oblivious to the metaphorical insects in Sarah's gut.

“Kelly and Linda.”

That does it. She sees his head pop up in her periphery. “As in...Blue Team Kelly and Linda?”

“Do you know any others?”

“...that seems strangely sociable of them.”

“It does, doesn’t it?” She runs her fingers through her hair. Was that too much? Should she just pull it back like she always did? She huffs, reaching for the elastic band she’d just taken out.

Slowly, Lasky’s attention returns to the datapad. “When are you going?”

“Tonight.”

“Ah. And…is that why you’ve been standing in front of the mirror for ten minutes?”

“It hasn’t been—” she checks her watch. “Whatever. Hair up or down?”

He sighs. Sets the datapad on the table. Rubs at his eyes. “Do whatever’s comfortable, Sarah. Am I missing something here? You don’t usually put this much effort into…” he gestures toward her.

Before she can answer, the room's holotank glows a brilliant gold and Roland’s avatar appears in a swirling flourish, arms crossed, looking suspiciously cheerful. “Based on the elevated heart rates of all three Spartans during the time of their conversation, I’d say you’re missing something significant, Captain.”

Two seconds tick by. To Sarah, it feels like two years.

Roland grins.

Tom blinks. “Sarah, is this a date?”

She’d be lying if she said she hadn’t considered the possibility. “If that’s what it turns into, I won’t complain,” she concedes with a shrug and a gentle glare in the direction of the holotank. “But I wasn’t gonna mention that part unless it actually went somewhere—thanks, Roland.”

“You’re welcome!”

Tom’s face morphs into something close to that kicked-dog look he got when his usual strategies of garnering sympathy weren’t working. “I know we keep things pretty open between us, but do we need to talk? Am I not enough for you anymore?”

Oh, a joke. She bites her tongue for a second as the word she’d been searching for earlier comes screaming to the forefront of her brain. Arousing. Their insistence had been arousing. Suddenly, the butterflies make sense…and instantly become wasps. “You know I haven’t fucked anyone my own size since I became a Spartan?” She might as well approach this for what it was. Or what it could be. What she wanted it to be? "...Miller doesn't count."

Some of the surprise drains from Tom’s posture at the mention of Miller, replaced by resigned agreement. “No, he doesn’t. But do you really think that’s where this is going to end up?”

“Again, wouldn’t say no if it’s offered.”

“...that’d be something to see,” Roland mutters.

Sarah turns on him. “You wanna watch?”

“I—um, meant it more in a rhetorical sense, Commander. But…of course, if you’re open to the idea…”

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, okay? I don’t know that we’ll be doing anything besides drinking and trading war stories. If—and only if—it ends up being something else…we’ll figure out the logistics." Her eyes flick between Tom and Roland, narrowing on the latter. "Until then, stop getting my hopes up."

"Sure thing—just one question. In the "hypothetical" event that you do end up…involved with the lovely ladies of Blue Team," he makes a big show of miming the quotation marks. "Could I…maybe ride along sometime? Just for curiosity's sake?"

There's a near-simultaneous sigh from both humans in the room. "We let him join us the one time…" Lasky starts.

"Actually, Captain, I've been included in your sexual escapades no less than three separate times and I find it exhilarating—"

"That’s my point.”

"And you can hardly fault me for that!" Roland retorts with mock indignation. The holotank flares brighter. "It's in my nature to seek new experiences and a threesome of Spartans would certainly be—"

"Okay, okay!" Sarah cuts them both off. "Roland, shut up. Right now this is not a date and there is no plan for a threesome. Right now it’s just drinks. Got it?” She doesn’t know who she’s putting more effort into convincing—the two of them or herself.

Roland shifts like he wants to say something but, wisely, stays quiet.

Palmer tightens her ponytail. “Good.”