#alan was fine tho he did well i wanted to see more of his little dance moves

[catboybatman]

I saw the barbie movie btw. I have... opinions...

[otakumagicmusicgamer]

Spoilers Ahead for the first season of My Next Life As A Villianess <3

Oh where to begin. First of all, when the summary said it was a comedy of misunderstandings, I got scared. I have really bad second hand embarrassment and it’s a very fine line of Dense Misunderstandings For Comedy and A Cringefest of Pain For “Comedy” (even playing an anxiety spiral itself for laughs). But oh! How I was happily surprised! It really goes with the flow and doesn’t rely on ridicule or anything. There’s just Catarina, dense weird wonderful Catarina, and everyone in some fashion accepts her for her. So this is actually pleasant to watch!

Now, Catarina- what a delight. What makes her interesting is she takes Fortune Lover Catarina and humbles her. Takes selfish and mean and spins it 180. If she puts out mean into the world, it comes back at her in the end. She knows she has the potential for a ‘scary face’ and actively chooses not to use it. And her feelings on the matter are not just for survival, theyre genuine too. But what makes this fascinating is her lack of accounting for things *not* in the game. She doesn’t consider, by blazing a new path in the game -where Catarina is nice- that new ‘routes’ form. She focuses on Maria’s pov so much, she doesn’t see her own. She doesn’t see the good she’s put out, cuz she’s supposed to be the antagonist. She’s so focused on the doom flags, she doesn’t realize there *are* no doom flags. There’s nothing for the game to doom, no punishment for cruelty. What’s more, even by taking the place of ‘The Suitors’ in scenes with Maria, she doesn’t consider /any of them/ having feelings for her. (Geordo kisses her neck for crying out loud.) Why? Because Catarina Claes is not a romanceable character in Fortune Lover. There are a lot of paths, but she is not one of them. She has no successful romantic relationship, nor any. Which makes this whole anime downright Fascinating. By taking out the antagonist, there is no doom. By inserting a reborn earnest friendly kind tree-climbing high school girl in her place, there is no Fortune Lover. The fact that she is aware of Fortune Lover makes her almost omnipresent, and putting all her points into Survival and Durability and Craves Sweets and nothing else, makes her human. No high marks, denser than bricks, but damn if she ain’t the prettiest embodiment of a Nokia phone. She’d be an apocalypse survivor. “How did she survive a landslide in a volcano? Idk it’s Catarina.” Oh, and the last scene? The friendship ending? Yeah, she’s not wrong. It is a friendship ending.... for Maria. She ends up with none of the interests and stays good friends with them, no bad blood or nothing. Cuz again, Catarina isn’t a love interest. It just so happens that the entire company present in the area is so fucking in love with her that they say the Line Of Romance to her and, while they may bicker, they do not hold bad feelings for each other. If all of them could be married to Catarina and live in a big ol house together, they’d be so fuckin content. And best part? None of this is condemned. No “ya gotta pick one and only one”. They saw a harem and went ‘ya know? Let’s embrace this’ and now the characters r so chill with their plant growing, tree climbing gf. (I’m sure her mother wishes *something* good could rub off on Catarina lol) You hear that? That’s the sound of a Polyamorous nerd feeling validated. (It’s me, I feel validated by this Polyamorous romcom anime, this is my home now)

My thoughts on the rest of the cast aren’t going to be as long. The anime does a good job of going through each characters thoughts and arcs. And I adored Anne’s POV on things as well, how she is also moved to tears by Catarina’s good heart. Even her mother, who is harsh but only because she cares. (I would have loved to see the look on her mother’s face when she was in the coma, how she would have grieved, what she would have reflected on. Her father is a bit more transparent in emotions, but he would have been great to see too). I also would have loved to see Mary and Maria in the book of desire. I figure Maria would kinda be like Alan, but oh, what would Mary have done? (Guess I need fanfiction to answer that lol.) Keith’s role as a love interest for Catarina is the only least liked thing I have on here. And honestly it’s cuz they keep *calling* them brother and sister. I know they’re not actually siblings, mostly that’s left over from Fortune Lover, and “distant relative” can and is shorthand for a lot of things so like it’s even possible they aren’t related at all. And the characters don’t find it horrible that he loves her, and probably know he’s a Distant Relative so they’re like whatevs. So like, it’s not incest. It’s not even as potently close to incest as anime can get. But it’s the only thing that could be deemed a Flaw about this anime, so it stands out. I do wish the ending couple of eps could have been a little more Maria, and her having a bit more importance in general. Also her light magic having an effect a bit in the ‘fight’ with Sirius. Although I do want to think the green glow of hope was Maria, tho I’m pretty sure the assumption is Acchan.

Which btw can I say was an absolute treat? I suspected something was up with Sirius but I did not suspect that. I wonder what his base magic is, if it isn’t dark magic? I had thought he saved Sophia and Catarina and thus also had wind/light magic. But oh man, when he started lashing out on Catarina cuz he thought she was also faking kindness? That she was purposely saving people? That a part of his resentment of nobles was being projected? That somewhere he also caught Feelings and thus the mage doubled down on his control? That when Catarina looked at Sirius and touched his hand and face, her (Nerd™️) instincts kicked in and pieced everything together and also saw him in such pain and misery? That she holds herself to the antagonist title, that she’s there to ruin and thus can’t *save* anyone, (a bittersweet sentiment) so she’s not intimidated by the burst of dark magic and just honestly wants his friendship and sit with him through his pain? MY HEART! IT SCREAMS! (I love this sort of dynamic yes Ive loved Fruits Basket for years don’t look at me like that).

What else.... the little peppering in the fact that Oh Yeah She’s Dead hit like a truck. The little bit with her family, of her past life? Yeah, ouch. Got me crying. Don’t think to much into that rabbit hole, you’ll get sad. I fucking ADORE the twist of Sophia being Acchan, or at least part of her. Her being so scared of loosing her best friend (and love of her life) again? Yeah, tears man. Catarina accidentally mending the relationships between Geordo and Alan and Maria and her mother was great. Having Mary and Sophia dance with Catarina at her birthday party was a delightful touch, as was not having all the romance novels be m/f, and none of it was a joke or negatively placed- just *there*. I do enjoy the interests butting heads with each other over private time with Catarina. It was mostly Geordo and Keith (“they’re such good friends” girl if they had a tenth of lil Alan’s Fight Me energy you’d have to put them on leashes) but I loved the little bits of Geordo vs Mary and Sophia cheering on Nicol and I reeeeally hope to see more of that. To provoke subtle sass from Alan and Maria would be a great sight, and more of Raphael joining the ranks. I laugh at all the times they mutter “gotta protect her, she’s seduced another one” cuz like, girl ain’t doing shit but running into people that happen to be Moron-sexual, holding their hand and refusing to leave. And they KNOW that. And it’s great. edit: HOW COULD I FORGET HER MAGIC! God I want Catarina to get better at magic. More than just Earth Bumps pls

All in all? I love this anime. 9.5/10. Tis good stuff. And if ya read all my late night/oops it’s 4am ramblings, good on you! I feel bad tagging this cuz it’s long but I’m also on mobile so god knows what this actually looks like but I needed my thoughts down so hey, thanks

[asocier]

🎰 !!

( five random connections; not accepting! )

Grace & Thatcher 

          this was random i swear alksjdALDJALS these two tho ,,,, truly, there’s so much potential. we’ve been hinting and plotting a bit about what direction their dynamic could go in, and honestly, i think it’s really funny how the whole faking thing would even brought up. like, yeah grace asked thatcher to be her fake bf but did she pay him? was it a bet? like was she teasing him by saying he wouldn’t be able to last a month with her as his girlfriend because she’s so high strung or vice versa and so they were like “alright bet.” and did the thing? teenagers being lil shits to each other is so funny and honestly, i feel like as soft spoken and soft thatcher can be, grace gives him the safe space to be a little firmer and she won’t mind bc she can take a lot. her having to navigate being a girlfriend when she literally doesn’t know what that means is also really funny actually alkjsdlkas

          but also the amount of genuine care she’d eventually develop for thatcher, especially when he gets hospitalized often and she just ,,,, cares him so much, both as a friend and a boyfriend even if she doesn’t know it ,,,, it makes me heart soft 

Cedric & Apple

       first of all, reading apple’s bio made me sad, how dare you. second, i feel like apple’s the type of person cedric needs in his life to make him not be such an asshole, maybe he could learn a thing or two from apple about being nice and loving other unconditionally because cedric certainly do that shit enough !!!! i love pairing cedric with like, lighthearted muses because cedric definitely has the potential to click really well with him; he just pretends like he isn’t a big softie at heart for that wealthy, princely, stern persona that gets him attention. but let’s be real — cedric actually is a big fucking dork at heart and i think apple and him having tea time together is actually really cute and would be good for him. 

Emile & Sachiko

          an interesting matchup!! i think sachi would be the type of woman emile would admire. her work ethic would be something he wishes he had, and seeing as how there’s a loose connection between her job as a a detective and his as a legal assistant ( very loose — they work in the same realm in the sense that their jobs involve the law but it’s likely they don’t really overlap otherwise ), it might be something they could relate to . i’m kind of curious as to how sachiko would fair in the spy verse i have on this blog? emile isn’t super fleshed out in this verse, but i’ve always headcanoned that he would be part of the agency’s legal team ( though i could see him working a detective role too, something that connects the agency to the law or rather, helps them find loopholes within the law ). i kind of feel like there’s some potential for a plot where sachiko and emile work together, especially if it was a legal case that the agency is trying to push to cover their asses or something. a very, very, broad idea, but if you wanna give the verse a read through, feel free! and you can always ask me if you have any questions. 

Leah & Ame

          i think this would be an interesting matchup, particularly if it was in a high school setting because i always associate leah with a level of two-facedness due to how she carries herself in private/to those she can trust outside of family and how se carries herself in public/to her family and those not close to her. ame seems to also embody the ability to act a different role to get what he wants, and while leah isn’t acting to gain an edge or anything ( unless she’s in her angel verse ), i think there’s interesting potential for this pairing if it was like, ame started suspecting that leah isn’t who she says she is or vice versa. leah’s “secret” tends to lean towards a more lewd direction, and honestly, it’s a lot more frivolous compared to what ame is capable of, but mixing angel leah into his world could always makes things interesting too. just some thoughts! 

Aito & Adalinda

          oh boi, is adalinda/alan ready to deal with aito’s nonsense lmaooo i don’t really know how these two would fair, but if it was a matter of realm hopping, maybe aito could be a tour guide of sorts or at least the type of person adalinda would voluntarily hang out with when she’s “in town” to have a bit of carefree fun because hanging out with aito is very much “leave your braincells at the door, you don’t need them where we’re going” but also snow leopard shifter ???? aito loves himself some cool supernatural shit so if that were to ever come up he’d be all for it tbh. let him have a snow leopard in his house, that’s fine. he’ll deal with it. she can stay on the bed, it’s fine asjdlksajdlksa

[starship-squidlet]

As You Like It: Chapter One

Story Summary: Modern/Theatre!AU. Jack Kelly and Crutchie Morris finally make it to Santa Fe, where they find employment at the World Theatre. There they meet a diverse cast of characters who rapidly become friends and family, making Santa Fe into the home they've always longed for.

Chapter Summary: Jack and Crutchie arrive at the World, where they meet the rest of the crew.

Word count: 4,058

Warnings: none (a few swear words I guess tho?)

A/N: Hey, y'all! So, I'mma say it now: 75% of the reason I wrote this story was for catharsis. It's absolutely based off of my current job in a theatre, as well as past jobs in other theatres, and I miss my job SO MUCH as we've been laid off for 6 months now thanks to COVID, and won't be back before January at the earliest. I miss my job and all the people I work with, so I decided to write a story about it, and projected it onto my current obsession: Newsies. Is Elaine a self-insert? Pretty much. Are the characters of most of the boys more based on the guys I work with than their actual depictions in media? Generally. But this was a lot of fun to write, and made me feel better about life. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!

Disclaimer: I don’t own Newsies or any of the characters you may recognize from it, but I do own this story, Elaine, Alden, Alan, etc. Cross-posting to ChocolatteKitty-Kat on AO3 and FFnet.

Tags: @the-cowbi

Next chapter: Chapter Two

“The World Theatre,” Jack murmured, squinting up at the metal sign shaped into the words, mounted over the door of the auspicious building. The World looked significantly newer than many of the other buildings they had passed on the drive in, but had also clearly been built in some kind of older or more traditional style than most of the other new buildings they had seen in the city.

“We finally made it.”

Jack glanced over at his passenger. His best friend and honorary little brother, Crutchie, was leaning forward as far as he could, straining against his seatbelt to take in as much of the huge building as possible. He didn’t spare a glance to Jack, focused entirely on the view in front of them. Jack smiled to himself and turned off the engine. “We sure did.”

“Come on, Jack,” Crutchie laughed. He leaned back far enough to unfasten his seatbelt and reached for his crutch and the door at the same time. “How long have you been wanting to move to Santa Fe for? And now that we’re here, I’d swear you want to go back to New York already.”

“Yeah, well, maybe I miss the pollution. Don’t go anywhere.” Jack grumbled as he undid his own seatbelt and clambered out of the van. The old-as-heck fifteen passenger had only cost him a few hundred dollars—to purchase. Repairs since then had totaled in the thousands, and Jack truly regretted not just spending more up front for a vehicle in better shape. Despite all odds, however, the piece of garbage had carried them both all the way across the country, and even loaned her converted back section—the first thing Jack had done was rip out all but one row of seats—as a temporary living space for the journey. The outside of the van had at some point somewhat recently been white, probably, but was now mottled with so many colors, between coats of paint, scrapes and scratches, and even a few rust patches and strips of duct tape—not to mention dried mud and more—, that Crutchie jokingly called its color “abstract art”. Somehow, this all seemed appropriate, though. Jack made his way around the van to open Crutchie’s door, and offered his arm up to his friend.

“Jack, I don’t need help,” Crutchie rolled his eyes. He slipped his right arm into his crutch and braced the other on the door before sliding off the seat to land on his left foot on the asphalt.

“Yeah, tell that to your arm and knees,” Jack eyed a nasty scrape along Crutchie’s forearm. “I don’t want you falling again. I don’t need that kind of stress in my life.”

Crutchie laughed and gave him a playful shove. “I fell one time. How many dozens of times have I gotten in and out of this car? And I fell once. It happens. It would probably happen even without this thing.” He waved his crutch to illustrate his point. “Anyways, the only reason I fell was because it was raining. The door was wet and my hand slipped. But, right now, it’s completely dry, so I’m perfectly safe.”

Jack rolled his eyes and shut the van door. “Sure. I get that. But I still worry.”

“Since when are you my mother?” Crutchie laughed, poking Jack lightly in the side, his eyes crinkling up as he beamed up at his friend. “Come on. We’ll be late.”

Jack rolled his eyes, locked the van door, and followed Crutchie up the low stairs to the door of the World. Inside, the air was cool, a blissful respite from the aggressive heat outside, and Jack paused a moment to take in the theatre lobby. To either side, wide staircases with more low-rise stairs wound up a full flight to small side balconies, then continued up another whole flight to a wide balcony that spanned almost the width of the room. In front of them was a long counter with a handful of people behind it, all in smart uniforms of white button-down shirts, blue ties that matched the theatre’s logo perfectly, and black vests.

“Good morning!” one of the uniformed clerks called. “Can I help you?”

“Hi,” Jack jogged up to the counter. “I’m Jack Kelly. That’s Charlie Morris. We’re supposed to start work here today. Uh, we’re supposed to see Hannah Martin?”

“You can have a seat over there, and I’ll call Hannah and let her know you’re here,” the clerk smiled cheerfully, pointing at an uncomfortable-looking couch by a wall to the left, underneath a sign with an arrow indicating the direction of a women’s restroom.

As Jack and Crutchie took their seats on the couch—which proved to be even more uncomfortable than it looked—the clerk picked up a phone and spoke quietly into the receiver. The lobby was quiet overall; the only sounds were the soft voices of the three clerks speaking into their headsets, clacking of keyboards as they typed, and the almost imperceptible whir of the air conditioning system far overhead, ever present behind the sounds of the clerks.

After a few moments of awkward silence on Jack and Crutchie’s part, a woman appeared at the top of the stairwell across the lobby from them. She made it halfway down before spotting them, then waved and smiled. “Jack and Charles? You can come on up.”

They stood up and headed for the base of the stairs, but a psst from one of the clerks caught their attention. “There’s an elevator under those stairs, if that’s easier.” He pointed to a small sign under the stairs the woman—presumably Hannah—was standing on.

“Nah, we’re fine,” Jack smiled.

“But thanks!” Crutchie called over his shoulder, already well on his way to the stairs, which he navigated easily, hopping up on his good foot, while Jack trailed along behind, constantly worried that Crutchie would land wrong and fall back down the stairs. Not that that had ever happened, of course, but Jack still worried. Hannah led them up the second flight, and through an unassuming door—labeled ‘offices’— off to the right, next to a small set of elevator doors. Inside, they smiled politely as they passed a middle-aged woman seated behind an impressive, L-shaped wooden desk. Hannah led them around a few small cubicles, constructed by low temporary walls, to a pair of folding tables surrounded by folding chairs.

“Sorry, the conference room is in use today, so we’ll have to use these,” Hannah chuckled a little too loud as she took a seat, gesturing for the boys to do the same. “Alright. I just have some final paperwork for you to sign, mostly about benefits and such.”

For the next few hours, Hannah walked them through quite a few different documents, mostly, as she had said, about insurance and benefits. She explained each document thoroughly before handing it to them, and answered any questions that they had before moving on to the next item. She split the completed papers into two stacks, which grew steadily as they went through each item. “Okay, I think that’s it!” she said finally, offering a bright smile. “These are for you”—she handed them each a blue-green folder—“Inside I have copies of our employee handbook and all of the documents you’ve just signed, for your records. Do you have any more questions?”

Both Jack and Crutchie shook their heads.

“Excellent!” Hannah smiled. “I’ll call backstage and have someone come up to walk you back. Or, actually…” She trailed off as a door, somewhere on the other side of the cubicles and unseen from where they were sitting, opened and a pair of loudly-chattering voices burst into the still quiet of the room. ��Elaine?”

The voices quieted for a moment.

“Yeah?” a voice responded hesitantly.

“Can you come over here for a moment, please? We’re at the break tables.”

There were a few murmurs, one sounding suspiciously like good luck, before another door opened and closed, right around the same time a face popped around the cubicle corner that blocked the break tables off from the rest of the room. “Hi, Hannah,” the young woman to whom the face belonged chirped brightly, stepping fully out from behind the wall. She was small, with long, dark hair, and oversized green glasses.

“Hi, Elaine,” Hannah smiled warmly. “These are our two new hires for the crew. Would you mind taking them backstage with you?”

“Sure,” Elaine smiled. She waited as the boys stood up and headed towards her, then led them out of the offices. “Hi, I’m Elaine,” she turned to offer them a bright smile over her shoulder.

“I’m Jack Kelly, and this is Charlie Morris,” Jack replied, leaning around Crutchie to shake Elaine’s hand when she offered it.

“Wow, New York,” Elaine laughed. “Sorry, that probably came out wrong. I grew up in Boston and PA. It’s been a while since I heard a full-bodied New York accent on anyone around here. Well, besides Spot.”

“Spot?” Jack arched an eyebrow.

“Our house manager,” Elaine explained. “You’ll meet him sooner or later. Oh, do you want to take the elevator?”

“Stairs are fine,” Crutchie shook his head, already starting to hop down them. Jack hurried after him, even though he knew that his friend had an even easier time going down stairs than up them. Elaine bounced along behind them, her curly hair bobbing with each little hop down the steps.

“So, if you’re from the east coast, how did you get all the way out here to New Mexico?” Jack asked as they made their way down the double flights of stairs.

“I could ask you the same question,” Elaine teased. “My brothers are performers, and I used to be too. We moved around a lot for a few years, but decided to stick around Santa Fe, at least for a little while. We like it here.” She shrugged. “Your turn.”

“Jack’s always wanted to come to Santa Fe,” Crutchie said over his shoulder, hopping off the last step. “Never said why, though.”

“Yeah, well, I just kind of picked the furthest place I could think of at one point when I was a kid and promised myself that someday I’d get there,” Jack squirmed uncomfortably at the attention, and Elaine’s piercing gaze.

“Fair enough,” she shrugged. “Hey, Tommy, hey, Dutch!” she waved and grinned at two of the clerks behind the front desk. They waved back, and the one who had greeted Jack and Crutchie earlier offered them a second wave. Elaine led them through the spacious lobby, past a gift shop, located behind the front desk, and a concession stand, tucked into the wall by the theatre doors. She threw the double doors open dramatically, and the boys followed her into a small, unlit anteroom. The doors were about halfway closed when she flung open a second set of doors.

These doors opened into a wide room, full of arched rows of padded seats, with gently-sloped aisles leading down to a four-foot-high stage. “Welcome to the World Theatre of Santa Fe,” Elaine grinned, stretching out her arms and spinning as if to show off the huge room. “Seats about sixteen hundred; the booth for the sound and light ops is back there”—she pointed—“and, if you follow me, I’ll show you backstage.”

They trailed along behind Elaine as she made for the stage, then went up five steps built into the side of the stage, next to the wall. They walked through the side stage area, past a rail with several pegs with ropes tied to them. After that, they passed through a door, where they saw a small alcove with several washer and dryers set up in it—along with:

“What is that smell?” Jack nearly gagged.

“Oh, sorry, I forgot to warn you,” Elaine said breathlessly, already on the other side of the machines. “Something in the system backs up and, uh… yeah. That. Trust me, it’s worse when you’re the one standing there for the whole show.”

She led them up another long stairwell—Jack would have guessed it was a triple flight, if he wasn’t so winded by the top—and into a long hallway. “It’s technically lunchtime for crew, but I think I should take you to see Weisel first. I’m sure he’ll have something to say to you…” she trailed off, glancing down the hallway, then grabbed Crutchie by the arm and pulled him into a small, dark room off to the right, beckoning Jack to follow. “Just as a… heads up: Weisel’s a jerk. Like, obviously there’s at least one of those everywhere you go, but Weisel is his own special breed. He sucks, but he’s good at faking nice, so people tend not to notice, at least not straight off. Just don’t let him see if he gets to you. And he’ll probably be nice to start off with, anyways.”

She led them back into the hallway. “Okay. So that’s dressing room five. This is Spice’s office—don’t ever go in there unless you’re invited—and that’s the sewing room… men’s bathroom… cutting and receiving rooms for costumes, and Weisel and Medda’s offices.” She pointed out each room as they passed, stopping in front of the one she had named as Weisel’s office. “All that’s down that way is the rest of the dressing rooms. And that hallway leads to the green room and elevator.” She knocked on the door to Weisel’s office, opening it far enough to poke her head in when a response came. “I’ve got two new hires from Hannah, Mr. Weisel,” she said cheerfully. “And I need to clock out for lunch.”

“Oh, come in.”

“Cool. Mr. Weisel, this is Jack and Charlie.”

Elaine opened the door and slipped into an oversized computer chair, her fingers flying across the keys of the computer at the desk as she logged into it. The boys squeezed in behind her: the office was narrow, barely six or seven feet wide. The two “desks” were actually a wide counter built into the wall, two workspaces divided by a fancy copier, each with a desktop tower and monitor. At the back desk sat an older man, with salt-and-pepper hair—more salt than pepper—and a thoroughly displeased, unshaven face. He looked the two boys up and down, his face darkening further as he took in Crutchie; Jack instinctively wanted to step protectively in front of his friend, but couldn’t fit between Elaine’s chair and Crutchie to do so.

“Hannah said she hired two new crew boys for me,” Weisel turned back to his desk and took a bite of a sandwich, chewing slowly as he swiveled back to face the boys. “So, do either of you have any theatre experience?”

“No, not so much,” Jack said. “We just needed jobs because we were moving out here, and this is what was available. But I’ve done plenty of physical labor, and that’s what she said to expect, so I’m sure I’ll be able to sort it out quick enough. And she said something about… a spotlight operator or something for Charlie?”

“Yeah, yeah, the spot op position,” Weisel nodded, turning back to his sandwich. “Not sure what I’m going to do with him for builds.”

“Charlie, have you ever done any sewing?” Elaine piped up from the computer, where she was effectively trapped by Jack and Crutchie squashed behind her. “Wardrobe always needs help, and even if you haven’t, I don’t mind teaching. We never have enough hands to do all the little things, like buttons and hooks and name tags.”

“Alright, you can have him,” Weisel shrugged. “Next cue-to-cue they run, you can take him up to spot and teach him the follow spot.”

“Okay,” Elaine chirped. “Since it’s lunch now, do you want me to take Jack and Charlie downstairs and introduce them to everyone?”

“Sure, whatever,” Weisel waved his hand dismissively. “Jack, you come find me after lunch, and I’ll get you started. Elaine, you can take Charlie.”

The boys squeezed out of the little office and Elaine followed them. “I’ll show you downstairs, but I have to grab my lunch first. Do y’all have food?”

“Ah, no, we were gonna run out and grab something,” Jack said.

“Well, you don’t have much time for that right now,” Elaine said. “There may be a lot of places to eat around here, but it can easily take well over half an hour to get through them, plus driving back and forth, and we have less than forty-five minutes till we have to be back. But don’t worry, there’s some leftovers from the last concert in the fridge in the green room. Just follow me.”

Jack and Crutchie followed Elaine first to the sewing room, then to a large room, painted sage green, which she called the green room. “When we have concert tours in, we set up their catering in here. The upstairs staff usually eats in here on non-concert days, but Sarah—the other dresser—and I prefer to go downstairs and eat with the crew. Better company.” She opened the door to a tall, industrial-looking stainless steel refrigerator. “Here, there’s a bunch of stuff leftover from the concert the other day.” She produced a half-empty deli tray, along with some other food, and set it on one of the two long tables running through the center of the room, and grabbed some bread from a windowsill next to the fridge. “I know sandwiches aren’t much, but, hey, it’s free food. And way easier and faster than going out for lunch.”

The boys made their sandwiches in silence while Elaine microwaved her own lunch—“Quinoa with black beans, Ragu, and a little bit of cheese. It’s like spaghetti, but better!”

“It doesn’t smell better,” Crutchie wrinkled his nose.

“Yeah…” Elaine sighed, looking sadly into the container. “But I guess that’s the trade-off.”

Once they were done with the food, Elaine helped them load it back into the fridge and took them back out into the hallway. “Elevator,” she said as she punched a button on the wall. “It’s four flights to the basement, and I have bad knees. I try and take the stairs at least a few times a day, but my legs won’t let me all the time. Lunch is when I give myself a break.”

The elevator was painfully slow, and creaked alarmingly as they rode it down. “I don’t trust that,” Jack arched an eyebrow and stared up at the roof.

“Well, I’ve only heard of it getting stuck once, if that helps,” Elaine laughed.

When they reached the basement, the doors slid open—groaning as they did—and a wave of stale but cool air that smelled like beef hit them. The basement walls were made of white-painted cinderblocks, while the floor was the same painted grey concrete that the cavernous upstairs room behind the stage—where the washers and dryers were housed—had, although less stained and cracked. Elaine led them around a corner, past chain-link-fenced cubicles stuffed with fake Christmas greenery, and up to a small room created by two half walls, and an L-shaped row of old lockers, many of which were covered back and front with stickers advertising tours that had (presumably) come through the theatre in the past. There were three tables packed with folding chairs, on top of a filthy, old rug. In the back of the “room” were a small, free-standing sink with just enough counter space for a dish-drying rack, an ancient refrigerator with a freezer on top, and a rickety table with a microwave, old drip coffeemaker, and boxes of plastic cutlery and paper plates. On the back wall was a wide half-white, half-cork board; on the whiteboard side was scrawled, in faded green and red dry-erase marker, 

DEFINITIVE LIST OF THE TOP 10 DISNEY ANIMATED MOVIES EVER:

Tangled The Lion King

Aladdin

Great Mouse Detective

Moana

Mulan 

Sword in the Stone

Black Cauldron

Robin Hood (should be #2 but whatever)

Cinderella II

Lion King 1 ½

There were also several notes and arrows drawn on the board, seemingly trying to correct whoever had initially written it, but Jack and Crutchie didn’t have time to take those in—in fact, they barely had time to take in anything else, because as soon as they rounded the corner created by the lockers, they were met by a deafening cheer of “ELAINE!”

Elaine jumped, nearly dropping her container of quinoa-spaghetti, and yelped. “Dear lord, boys, don’t scare me like that!”

“Look, we fixed your list!” a voice laughed.

“You didn’t fix it, you made it wrong!” Elaine cried. “The Lion King SUCKS, and is definitely not the best animated Disney movie ever!”

The room immediately dissolved into chaos, each of the dozen occupants yelling over one another, mostly about the movies they felt should be on the list. Elaine set her food down on the nearest table and waved her arms. “Everyone, SHUT UP!”

The room slowly quieted, the shouting replaced largely by laughter.

“Come on, boys, we have to make a good impression on the new guys!” Elaine yelled over the continuing noise. That shut the boys up, and they turned their attention to Elaine. “Thank you!” She grabbed Jack’s arm and pulled him forward. “Everyone, meet Jack Kelly, and that’s Charlie…”

“Morris,” Crutchie stepped forward and waved his crutch, his other hand full with his sandwich plate. “But you can call me Crutchie.”

“Sure,” one of the boys laughed.

“Weasel has officially given Charlie to Buttons and Snipe as their new follow spot op”—

“You mean you’re bailing on us, Elaine!?” One of the boys in the back cried.

“Not by choice, Snipe,” Elaine retorted. “By decree of Weasel. Anyways, we always knew this day would come, especially after Barb and Carla quit. But don’t worry, I promise that I will miss you terribly.”

“Yeah, right,” the boy rolled his eyes. “You’ll forget about us in a week.”

“Five days, max,” Elaine said. “Anyways, Jack is on run crew with the rest of y’all, so be nice to him.”

“We’re always nice,” the boy in front of Elaine leaned his head back and batted his eyelashes.

“Sure you are,” Elaine laughed, rolling her eyes and giving him a playful shove on the shoulder. “Jack, Charlie, meet the crew boys.” She pointed to each person in turn as she introduced them. “Race is our deck chief—which basically means he’s in charge backstage, second only to Weasel—and he runs the fly rail. Albert is regular run crew, like you, Jack. Buttons is our L1, which means that he runs the light board and supervises the spotlight operators, namely you, Charlie, and Snipe over there. Elmer here is our A1, which means that he runs the sound board and heads up audio. Finch is the A2–a.k.a. Elmer’s backup and runs the backstage board—, and Henry is the A3–Finch’s backup. Mike and Ike over there are the twins; they’re run crew, and don’t worry about trying to tell them apart, because they’re always switching places anyways and still answer to the wrong name if you use it. The last two over there are Jo-Jo and Romeo, also run crew. And that’s Sarah! For concerts, she’s the hospitality coordinator, and she works wardrobe and dresses for our original shows.”

“And what do you do?” Crutchie asked as they squeezed into the last open seats at the same table as Elmer, Finch, and Sarah.

“Elaine does everything,” Elmer laughed.

“My title is production assistant,” Elaine said. “That just means that, yes, I do everything. I’m mostly a stitcher and dresser, at least for original shows. For concerts, I run for the tours and back Sarah up on hospitality. I also swing in for spotlight, and I’ve even done run crew a few times, and I’m the only person with experience with wigs so I do that, and I help Weasel out with props. But mostly I swing dressing tracks and spot op.”

“Swingers have the most fun,” Elmer teased.

“Gross,” Elaine rolled her eyes, but smiled despite herself. “Speaking of bad jokes, Finch, you wanna hear one?”

“No,” Finch groaned.

“What does a boat do when it doesn’t feel good?”

Finch glared at her.

“It goes to the dock!”

Sarah covered her mouth to hide a smile, and Elmer snorted into his water bottle.

“Thank you,” Elaine beamed.

[judgement-free-sideblog]

Dancing lessons.

Barry Berkman x reader

Hi there! So I was watching Friends yesterday and I came across the one where Joey speaks french, and then I was thinking about how in season 2 Barry already has his Headshots, and I wanted to write something about a false ability he could have put on his resume.

So this will be an 8 part series, and I will try to update it at least twice a week but can't promise anything.

Summary: Barry is finally cast in a feature, the problem? He said he could dance and now he can either disappoint Sally or found a way to learn some steps.

Warnings: Swearing, cheating maybe.

Part 1 ● Part 2 ● Part 3 ● Part 4 ● Part 5 ● Part 6 ● Part 7 ● Part 8 ● Epilogue

Part 1

A sharpie written ad in the door said: "Joe's friend callbacks" that could give him an idea of how unimportant this character was, because so far he didn't even had a name, nevertheless he was happy that they had call him back for a reason other than "You look good on the poster"

Although he was suspicious the "minor" changes Natalie and Sally had convinced him to do to his resume was the reason, he could not blame them, at first the page was empty and depressing, and now he appear to be a very compelling person, maybe someone he would like to be. Someone who could speak french and Italian, and had formal training in at least three styles of dancing, tango, salsa and tap.

Worst case scenario, they had said, there is someone better than you first and is just another bad audition. And so far it hasn't been a problem, people usually overlook that because they didn't need that on their movies.

But now it was different, there was at least three men in front of him and four behind all of them more or less his height and complexion, waiting to re read the lines for the upcoming movie, a place to dare dreaming. As far as he understood it was a drama about a men seeking meaning in life, and Barry was trying to be the best friend's best friend, he would have five scenes in the whole movie and was merely an excuse to make exposition questions and be gone for the rest of the movie.

Not a bad place to start, Sally said, and he might actually make connections and even find an agent. So he was there for some reason dressed with black loose pants and a loose blue shirt, just like the rest of them. Finally after another half hour or so the casting assistant exited the door and call for him.

"Hi, I'm Barry Block, reading for Joe's friend" He said looking at the people behind the table and he notice another woman there dressed as a ballerina, he was not entirely sure why.

"Fine, in this scene you are just finishing dancing with your partner, then Joe" The director point at a man who was already cast as the lead best friend "Yeah, Joe will call you to ask you something and then the scene starts"

Barry did as he was told, and when he was in the middle of telling Joe to go help the lead build the boat of his dreams or something like that the director interrupted him.

"Just one sec, Barry was it?" He said and Barry was already feeling the whole you are not what we are looking for speech coming. "It says here that you dance?"

"Um hum" He muttered every second more disconcerted.

"Tango? Janice you do tango right?" He asked the ballerina.

"No Andre, I only have a career in dance but I don't do tango" She said rolling her eyes "Of course I do" she and when the director look at her in exasperation.

"Then is settled, unless any of the other guys can dance we will go with Mr. Block here"

"Excuse me what?" Barry said a little lightheaded.

"Oh this scene, we originally wanted to have a big ballet dancing sequence that inspire Daniel, the lead to follow his dreams, but we scratched off because of the budget but since you can dance you and Janice can do a small version of it." Talk with Sophie on the way out we start on monday.

"Sure, thanks" he said with a calm voice and walked out to find the cast assistant.

"Mr. Block?" She said now a little more nice than when he entered in the morning. "You'll have to sing some documents and we will be ready"

"Sure, yeah fine, one question tho, what exactly does he mean Andre with me dancing with Janice?" He asked trying to sound casual

"Oh well since they are just adding the sequence I will say that they will tell you exactly what they want in a couple weeks and then you will have to rehearse with Janice and film it by the end of the next month" She said like it was no big deal.

"Two weeks?" He asked again and she could see that he was nervous.

"More or less, but I figure since you are an actual dancer that would be fine right?" He nod not very sure of her statement and she start looking in her purse and finally give him a card. "Look I won't tell you how to do your job, but if by any chance you are not convinced of what to do, you should go here, she may help you"

***

He shut the door of the apartment with enough strength to make one of the frames in the wall shake, of course he was furious. But it wasn't your fault and you wouldn't put up with his temperament. After 5 years of marriage Alan was finally beginning to understand that it was better to walk away and let things cool down before any of you could say something too painful.

And what could you say? You told him before you get married that you didn't want children and he married you anyway. He was not able to change your mind, that was no reason to scream and fight like that. You shake the thoughts from your head and pick up you bag, ready to walk down to the studio.

Your friend Sophie had made you a call earlier asking for your help with another lost case, and usually those pay well so you could surprise Alan with a nice dinner and maybe you would let him convince you to open up at the idea, at least for long enough to live peacefully.

You could tell who your new student was the minute you entered the studio, your assistant was talking with the other couples for the romantic dance lessons and he was in a corner looking at the door like he was planning an escape.

You take the attending list and seek for his name, Barry Block, you hope is not a sing of how hard will it be to make him move, but his large frame was telling you it will.

"Mr. Block?" You called him apart once you were dress in more comfortable clothes, he walked towards you and you could see he was at least 1 feet taller than you. "You work with Sophie right?"

"I do, I ... she said you could help me amm..."

"To make your dancing believable, yes, don't worry you are not the first nor the last actor that lies on an audition, but for future reference put something more achievable like learn Russian" You said part serious part kidding "Learning tango is complicated and demanding, is not just sexy dresses and fancy music, but since this is the land of dreams I can teach you a couple things"

"That would be great, and again I'm so embarrassed that this happened, but I need the job"

"Well that's another sad part of the story this class ain't cheap, and there's only so little I can do for you in three weeks"

"That's not a problem" He said immediately and took a little envelope from his pocket and gave it to you "This is for the first two lessons"

"Excellent, then we can start" You look at his clothes, jeans and a hoodie and very uncomfortable sneakers "You may need to change, and also stretch a little, we don't want accidents" you pointed to the dressing room and let him borrow a more lose pant and proper dancing shoes.

You finishes your lesson with the other couples and after and hour he, you and Macy your assistant were the only ones there.

"Ok for starters, that's not stretching" you told him once you saw he couldn't reach his toes. "Come sit here" You told him and sit in the middle of the floor with your legs completely extended and asked him to do the same.

"I'm not very use to this, I'm in shape as much as I can but this is different" He said awkwardly trying to reach his toes the way you did yours.

"If you don't mind me asking Mr. Block, why do you need the job?" You said standing up and helping him bend his back. "I don't think they will pay you more than I'm taking from you"

"Is not about the money" he said simply and took the hand you offered him to stand. "I need to prove myself I can be an actor, a real one, also my girlfriend is recording a show and I..." he star touching his hair distracted.

"You don't want to be left behind? Yeah I know what is like" You said to him. "Well in that case I would do my best, but for real you have to stop being so rigid" you said taking him by the hips and he flinch with surprise to then let go a chuckle

"I'm sorry" He said and you nodded and put your hands on his hips again "First we are going to have to work on that posture, lower just a bit your hips and bend your knees" You said pushing him down a bit.

"Like this" he said flexing down so much that he was almost at your height.

"Not at all, I'll show you, Macy come here" You call the girl who was already hiding her laugh behind a magazine, she put on some music on his phone into the speakers and walked towards you.

You took her by the waist and started just making simple walks at the rhythm of the music, showing him how he had to bend his knees but not making it all that evident, then when the next song star going faster you started making more quick moves and shen it turn slow you drag your leg inside slowly, and embraced Macy pulling her closer to you.

"Ok, I can definently not do that" he said once you were done, and you felt flattered to se some amusement in his face.

"I know, but we will figure something out" you smile at him and turn off the music to again trying to make him bend his knees properly.

[upthehillask]

i’d love to hear your cursed child opinions!

Oh boy, well now you’ve unleashed me :D lol I don’t know if you’re interested more in what I loved or in what I’d critique, so I’ll go for both I guess? And you can read whichever you like :) But tbh you won’t hear anything new from me that you haven’t heard other fans talk about. Anyways, here are my thoughts on the actual play: [Spoiler alert I guess!]

Things I loved:

- THE MAGIC!!! The effects were EVERYTHING. The time warp, the telephone booth, the floo, the underwater, the dementors, the writings on the walls, and so much more… Really cool!!! And I loved the whole vibe and aesthetic of the play too, it felt authentic and fitting! THE SWISHY CLOAKS!! I want them!!

- The scenes I especially enjoyed were Harry’s nightmares, glimpses into his past and scenes from the books in general. I think they executed those quite well, made me really soft! Especially the scenes of little Harry in his cupboard and also him in the graveyard. Gripped my heart. Oh, I also loved that they finally showed Cedric in the end, he was so perfect!!

- Draco. Yes yes yes to dad Draco. Still bitchy, pretentious, and petty, trying so hard to play cool and tough, but a pained softie deep inside—we STAN. The relationship between him and his son I CRI EVRITIEM!!! Draco in the alternative timeline letting Scorpius do what he believes in, Draco in the real timeline hugging his son, I LIVE. And oh my god that scene where Draco walked in to Harry crying.. GOD. Yes emotions, yes vulnerability, yes bonding, yes yes yes. (Though I still can’t get over the ponytail. Would’ve been more than fine if Lucius hadn’t been portrayed with long hair lol)

- I loved Albus!! He’s a good Slytherin boy! That’s all I have to say. He’s a good friend and son who tries his best. I liked him a lot, more so now after watching the play. He really did remind me of Harry in a lot of ways. (Also, unpopular opinion, but I always loved Albus Severus’ name and I always will, fight me.)

- And just all the dad-son relationships, parenthood themes, friendship between the boys, related conflicts… Loved all of them. Touching, inspiring, couldn’t get enough!

- McGonagall was fcking ON POINT. Fcking QUEEN. Get it girl. Show em how to understand and respect children 👏👏👏

- I really loved Snape too! It was nice to finally see him being his self that only Dumbledore got to see in the books. I loved his demeanor too. I know actors change, but the one I saw portrayed Snape in a way that felt more canon. As much as I love Alan Rickman, he was a bit too graceful and sophisticated for canon Snape. In the play, however, Snape was kind of more rough, more rash, less pulled together in a way that he spoke and moved. It’s subtle but I lived for that. Also he was finally short. Yes.

- I feel like I have to mention Harry too. I actually quite liked him, so I’m gonna put him under this list as well. Yeah, that one scene where he threatened McGonagall into strict surveillance of his son is a bit much, errr 😅😅😅 But overall, I like the idea of him struggling as a father, making mistakes and learning from them. He’s a good egg.

- Ron and Hermione, my babies!! I had issues with Ron’s characterization, but I did mostly enjoy the portrayal of their relationship. I liked that their roles within the play were mostly to be together or to find their ways to each other. Since so many fans are against their ship, I was really excited to see them. And I just loved Hermione in general. They got her characterization almost on-point too, I think. I just love her 🥰

- In general, I enjoyed a lot of the dialogue. I liked all those strong, emotional one-liners that make you gasp. Harry saying things, Albus saying things, Scorpius, Draco, Ginny, others… There were good examples of lines they’d say that perfectly articulated everything that they embodied or felt or were dealing with. Well done there.

Okayyy I’m sure there’s more I could think of, definitely, but I’ll stop here since this is already a lot 😁

Things I questioned:

- So the one single biggest thing that I am the most critical of has to do with the plot itself, and it’s about Cedric turning into a Death Eater. I’m sorry but I just can’t. I could write a whole essay on how this makes no canonical sense (and I probably will if you ask me lmaoo), but to sum it up, Cedric eventually turning bitter and evil because he was publicly humiliated directly contradicts his canon character development. Cedric’s humility, kindness, and fairness are the core qualities around which Cedric’s personality was developed in the books. He almost explicitly places popularity, glory, and reputation second, and that’s critical, because if failure and humiliation were to affect him so drastically, his primary core values needed to be broken down and changed beforehand, but they never weren’t. So presenting the Triwizard incident as the turning point for him does not make any sense, and as a result the rest of the narrative falls apart. This is a plot hole and hasty writing.

- Yeah, Bellatrix having a child is still kinda weird 🙃🙃 I just hate that because in the books Bellatrix played the archetype of this anti-mother, the antithesis of motherhood and motherly love. I feel like having her voluntarily bring a child into this world destroys that symbolism. It makes me unsatisfied.

- I had some issues with the very beginning and the whole “montage” of events leading up to the fourth year. I found it overwhelming and disorienting, even though I’ve already read the script and knew what’s going on. Still, I felt like I was hit by a train, watching all the fast-paced scenes, cliché chaotic small talk going on, years going by… It felt messy for some reason. I feel like I need to watch it again in order to fully catch up and process everything I saw, and that’s not a good sign. But I didn’t hate it, I just wish we were more eased into the story.

- Scorpius. Now listen. When I read the script, Scorpius was my favorite character. I LOVED him, this awkward nerd who loves his dad and best friend with all his heart. The way I grew to imagine him was quite not how he was portrayed in the play. I know the dialogue and everything’s all the same, but idk, Scorpius in the play was way more hyper, bolder than I pictured, and worst of all, he was going out of his way to be this wannabe player. He seemed so all over the place, even acting a bit arrogant sometimes, celebrating moments of over-confidence, chasing after girls, trying to be everything BUT himself. But that honestly might just be my takeaway alone. There’s nothing actually wrong with his character, I just found myself slightly disappointed with him in the play specifically. I wish I could see the play again to actually analyze things more thoroughly to explain why I feel this way, but I can’t. I still like Scorpius, but a different version of him. (tho damn did I love those skinny pants on him lmao 👌👌)

- Moaning Myrtle. Like, I laughed, it was funny, but it just wasn’t very tasteful lol and I was left feeling a bit uncomfortable from the idea of this young murdered girl writhing and thirsting over literally everyone. The play really blew that out of proportion and idk it’s kinda awkward when I think about it 😅 And in general, there was just so much thirsting… with Rose, Polly Chapman, Delphi… Not to mention Albus kissing his AUNT… Like damn chill JK please 😂 Weird cliches and teenage hormones aren’t the only source of comedy okay?? 😂😂😂 Also, speaking of Myrtle, I kinda wish there was something mentioned about Draco having had been friends with her in sixth year. Idk it would’ve been nice to see that relationship somehow reminisced since we didn’t really get to see it :) 

- Craig Bowker Jr... If he was supposed to be a parallel to Cedric, both being the spare, why did he get literally zero attention?? We don’t really know who he is, we don’t see anyone hurting because of his death, he’s killed with such apathy. We don’t even see his parent grieving, like we saw Amos (who also happen to be an integral part to the plot of CC!). The whole parallel is so incomplete. Poor Craig and his unsymbolic death..

- Ok I am obviously elaborating way too much so let me just quickly summarize the rest of things I don’t actually hate but might wanna rant about: RON IS NOT A JOKSTER—GEORGE IS. RON IS A FIGHTER. HE IS ALSO HARRY’S BEST FRIEND, NOT HERMIONE, BUT HE WAS MADE USELESS AND UNNEEDED, WHICH IS HIS ACTUAL WORST FEAR, SO WHO THE FUCK DARED. ROSE IS MORE THAN A BITCHY ROMANTIC INTEREST AND A BAD FRIEND. WHERE THE HELL IS HUGO. GINNY’S EVEN COOLER THAN SHE WAS PORTRAYED, I PROMISE. THE SURPRISE SECOND TIME TURNER ERRRR LOUSY PLOT DEVICE I’M SORRY. LACKLUSTER PLOT IN GENERAL, THE ONLY ACTUAL TWIST IS DELPHI’S REVEAL—NOT ENOUGH, JKR KNOWS BETTER THAN THIS, THE BOOKS WERE FULL OF TWISTS AND TURNS (but that’s kinda okay with me because the relationships between characters in CC really made the whole story worth it).

Alright enough :’D I’m not actually upset, just exaggerating haha Because overall, I liked the play. I wanna see it again. And I wanna analyze it more, too. I’m so excited I finally got to watch it. It’s far from flawless, but I’m still happy with it overall and want to approach it positively! Sure, I’ll rant when it’s ranting time, but I do love it (:

[neuroticphysiologist]

"First Demolition Derby, Check."

For FabFiveFeb - Alan

@gumnut-logic

Giving this a try...

Prompts: "dirt road", "I wish"

This is a flashback, going back to Alan's high school days, let's say eleventh grade, and I have my OCs here as his schoolmates. This was also before the Alan and Kayo moments, or Alan and Tintin moments, if you're thinking about the classic.

Bear with me, guys, this theme is new to me. I've been writing random fan fics for almost a decade, but for this fandom, I would like to give it a try.

And yes, first person POV, which I'm comfortable with.

I'm a bit nervous posting this tho...

Rated T.

***

Alan

This was when my schoolmates saw me drive like a real racer.

Our old fellow Rick took us to his dad's old abandoned racing track. His dad was a racer in the mid 21st century and he also modified his car with technology from 2040. Rick really got his racing attitude from his dad, and he said that he wanted to be like him someday.

The racing track is Rick's practice field, and he can now use it with his friends for small fun racing. There were also old trucks and buses at the side, those were used for racing now, instead of secondhanded cars.

Going back, Mike picked three of the best junior racers of Rick's track. Luther, or Leather Luther as  they call him during races, is of course, the guy who usually wears leather jackets. He is known for his agility when it comes to driving. Next we have Ted the Flash, who obviously likes to go fast. Then the co-owner of the racing track himself, Rick, or Rad Ricky. And two more to go to occupy the trucks.

Mike looked at me and my closest friend Skye like he adored two lovers. Here's a brief story about me and Skye.

We met during English class in seventh grade. We almost have the same interests and we go on random adventures together. She's the only one who knows that I'm from International Rescue, since she got into a major invention mishap with Otis that took them to outer space, and I rescued them along with John. That was a test rocketship that they modified. Oh, and Otis knows me too.

We stay together as friends. Sometimes my brothers tease me because they think that we're a perfect match. We always hang out, those were the moments that we get to know each other better. We never thought about serious relationship because, of course, age, and her parents did not approve of that yet. Anyways, Skye's the coolest friend I've ever had.

Okay, going back, Mike picked her, aka Sassy Skye, since he knows that she rides motorbikes and going fast too. And he picked me too, which I don't want to, first of all. My schoolmates have never seen me race. Yeah, I like to go fast, but not as fast as I go when I fly Thunderbird 3, since I don't want to blow my cover.

"Okay, fine," I said. "But this is the last time you're gonna see me race."

I'm used to driving on the asphalt, but this was my first driving on the dirt road.

The three hurriedly picked their old favorite. What  Skye got was a zombie-themed truck, and what's left for me is a grayish bus that looks like a truck for food delivery or something like that. Then we are ready to roll, with all systems go and engines roaring like... a cat, I guess. Since you know, old buses?

Mike waved the flag and the race started. We accelerated, but it turns out that my truck is slower than I thought. Damn, they got me a truck with the lowest horsepower out of all five. I wish this could go a little faster... actually, a lot faster.

"Alan, that shit has a turbo power you can use," Mike called. "I just modified that."

"Oh," I replied back. "Why didn't you say so?"

Here goes...

It went as fast as Rick's favorite truck. There we go!

Leather Luther bumped into Ted and he lost the race because his opponent was stronger. Looks like it turned into a demolition derby.

"You again, you old bastard?" Luther yelled. "That was the third time!"

Ted dashed off with a cackle.

The fight was on, and Skye and I were trying to avoid the wrestle.

Oops, too late.

Ted bumped onto my truck. I tried my best to get away and pass him. I achieved the obstacle, and it's now down to me, Rick, and Skye.

"Can't believe you got me, Tracy!"

But then, Rad Ricky crashed the windows from Skye's bus. He took her down, luckily she landed safely. She stormed out of her bus and threw her helmet at Rick's truck. "You nasty son of a bitch!"

It was down to me and Rick. Tough race though, it was novice versus expert of the track. I did what I can to pass him but he bumps onto me. Alright, the fight is on.

I tried to get away, but we kept on bumping, until we accidentally hit a stadium light. It fell, caused some sparks, and it landed near my truck. I got away from Rick, he accidentally went off the track, and now I took the lead. Except that the back of my truck is on fire because of the broken stadium light that fell on it.

I looked around my spot if there's a gallon of water or fire extinguisher to stop it. I tried to hit the brakes but they're stuck. I accidentally broke the emergency brake too. My only option is to get out of the truck but I was going too fast and I'm trying to find a way to stop it.

The crew chased me, and Skye hopped on my truck.

"Alan, your truck is on fire!"

"I know!" I yelled. "I have to stop this first, but my brakes aren't working!"

"Try to break the turbo power to slow it down."

"Oh, right!"

I grabbed an axe to break the turbo power machine, and it worked. The truck is moving slower.

"It worked," I said. "But we still have to make this thing stop."

Skye had a quick view at where I'm going. "Hey, how about a hay?"

"That would work."

"Otis and Luther got extinguishers ready."

"Great. Let's get out of here!"

We jumped off the truck and it stopped when it reached a bunch of hay. Then Otis and Luther hurriedly put out the fire. The race is over.

"That... was... fuckin' awesome!" Ted jumped up.

"Awesome?" I stared at him. "My truck was on fire!"

"Don't worry, Alan," Rick said. "We've been through that before. Otis' truck was on fire in the middle of the race. He jumped off and almost sprained his ankle, but he's okay. That's why we have our extinguishers ready."

Mike exclaimed. "What's awesome is you won. That was your first race here, but you won!"

"And you're one of the few guys who beat Ricky in a truck race," Luther added.

"You did a cool move back there too," Skye held my hand.

"Thanks, guys," I smiled.

Our conversations continued and Rick wanted to talk to me more.

"Maybe next time, Alan, wanna go?"

"Hmm... maybe?"

"We'll decide when will be our next race."

Not that easy as I expected like from one of my favorite video games, but that went well.

(End of flashback)

"And you guys were safe?" Scott asked.

"Yeah," I said. "Rick got that all covered."

"Why didn't you tell me about that before? Your truck was on fire, Alan."

"Sorry, Scott. I thought you're gonna be mad at me for driving a truck at maximum power and accidentally got it on fire."

"Well at least you're okay, and they were prepared. Although, we can improve your car's settings while waiting for Virgil and Gordon."

"Wow, thanks, bro!"

***

I tried my best... apologies for some confusion.

[myheartbeatskids]

Tolerance

Popeye: Sabrina do i have to have no hate towards Jeremiah?

Me: you don't have to have any feelings towards him

Popeye: is that how you handle it?

Me: that's what i do. I dont feel anything until they piss me off. Some times they happen to please me but i have to remind them i don't like them so its just a momentary

Chris mcgha: like a mirage?

Me: except its real... Like how you can see the heat waves bending in the light on a hot and humid day.. That's as scientifically close as you can get to a mirage... The rest is heat exhaustion and imagination or delusions. So no.

Abu laughs: stupid fuck

Me: their delusions seem to be permanent. And my tolerance of them is real.

Matt: so what Popeye is saying or asking is do you hate Jeremiah 24/7?

Me: no because i dont see him 24/7 and its unhealthy to be so angry and not have an outlet to rage at... So no. I'm not pleased with him the rest of the time

Matt: so she just puts it into neutral until he lays his stupid body in the road and she decides to step on the brake or run him over but all the time shes ready to pop it in drive and burn out on his flesh anytime he pisses her off.

Me: exactly. Like being in a crowded room if hes way the fuck over there Not making me notice hes acknowledging i exist or being loud or trying to get attention from me then fine. But if he's 5 feet from me or being loud about something that I'm not interested in or all about my panties then im gonna kick his ass.

MarjorMarie: like with Declan when he was saying he was worried you would throw him under the bus... Or someone would and it just happened to be you but that was funny!! "I like people like Declan -- The No-Man"

Me: well he didn't seem to be trying to impress any one and i know that he actually does care about Declan and Declan's safety.

MajorMarie: I wouldn't say caaaaare..

Me: more yours than mine

Jeremiah: hey! I care a bunch about you both

Me: not my mental safety.

MajorMarie: or emotional! That's all I'm saying!

Jeremiah sighs: why do you call me Abraham Lincoln?

Me: you look like him

Jeremiah: i do not!

Me: see? That's your attention seeking. Get in an argument for No reason other than hiding flattery then when i actually want to kill you or have nothing to do with you because you annoy the life out of me

Jeremiah: i do not

Me: im absolutely stupid and Don't know my own emotions. You explained just now. Then you want to cuddle and have make up stupid sex.

Jeremiah: sooo does it work?

Me: if i like cuddling with a corpse. Do you get it?

Jeremiah: well im not sorrrrry

Matt: you can go now Jeremiah

Me: yeah you can. Im already done.

Matt: that's how I get. If I can't count to 10 and she doesn't blink then There's a problem and someone is gonna die. I can blink just fine but her... Uhh no... And her face feels like stone. I tell you, she's medusa. That's how i know shes in neutral. But!! When she's about to pop it in park and start ass beating with no weapons, that's when I know

Me: i don't turn on the turn signals... There's no blinkers, im on the brake but i regret it. And so I'm gonna share that regret.

Chris mcgha: and you're gonna hold up traffic

Me: well... Probably shouldn't get behind me.

Popeye: i think i get it. So she stays mad but its dormant like a volcano, like when she used to know me, when we all lived together.

Me: yup, and the release is fantastic, see Jeremiah, that's why i dont need sex with you, being a volcano feels fantastic

Popeye laughs: thats what i used to tell him!!! Like 1991!! Man, that's old! So you're really not mad tho?

Me: see you tolerate him as your adopted child. I don't tolerate him as a human or anything. Except there's nothing i know i csn do so i have to tolerate his existence, except when hes in my personal space.

Alan: so how you do Your moms.

Me: yeah there really is no difference. Okay so take Julia. Cause like Jeremiah she can be awesome

Popeye: ok!

Me: so when shes good then im fine. But I still am not all chummy with her I was... But now she pissed me off and reminded me of some really horrendous shit she did to me and still does. So i tolerate her now

Popeye: what is the difference?

Me: when i think about her i lock my jaw.. Whixh Matt calls medusa. Like teeth grinding which i don't do because i got jaw problems...so i actually put my tounge on the roof of my mouth but other people grind their teeth.

Matt: and she glares

Me: when i focus on her... But then i remember other people are around so then i can ignore her that's why i like noise... So its like a busy house or small house party. Like Christmas dinner. So usually its the TV on the tablet which is Right next to me so envision a house party and different conversation or just a loud dinner even so i would turn to the closest person to me to have a conversation. The TV. So if they're annoying me past my focus on the TV hen I have to stop and kill them.... Now some times people come out of the TV but they should enhance and not subtract from the TV. Cause I can follow along but sometimes I miss something So different programs will add different things. So like NHRA if someone further explains themselves like makes louder what they said... But like other programs I judge peoples personalities. And other programs try to help with my amnesia So they try to clarify what they are saying Like "no hes not the bad guy .... Or no the story isn't the way it seems but the beginning is but the ending is made up" and some stay in the TV. Some are a mix. Mostly only the NHRA makes me want to kill them. Because I don't get information. I don't learn who a person is beyond a screen... I don't get shit but static or crap like what's she doing?? I'm watching the Goddam tv are you fucking kidding me??! Im like im fucking naked and masturbating while tying my shoes shut the fucking door!! And no don't ask why there's a pair of seeing glasses in the peanut butter jar! Go! And by then half the dam program is over and i have to decide to rewind or decide ots a dam waste of,time to,even try to,watch the NHRA And usually it's the latter. Oh thebest of the worst is people screaming "what are you doing to me?!?!" Like really? Are you fucking kidding. Im in my bed trying to watch you on TV. Never fucking mind moron but then is it fair to turn it off halfway cause some psycho thinks I'm their mechanic?

Matt: don't watch the TV

Me: and so Popeye. I know Its difficult But with my mom Julia im fine until i see her little slip.. Im sure you know Jeremiah's little twerks... With her I'm all don't even start your shit, and im not affectionate towards her. I'm all 5 feet over there and Don't be all i love you and shit because I dont think you understand the whole concept. Like i know she does but at the same time all that trust i had in her is gone. Its broke. Its a big sand storm blown all over kingdom come. I dont have it. So it's all medusa. I hear her. I hear her good parts. But i don't allow them to affect me. Its just like slime flying and hitting a marble slab wall. It just slides down. Im still 5 feet over there and dont tell me you love me. Don't have emotions in your voice dont expect me to respond,to you. I don't blink because I don't want to miss anything important. Behind this thick thick marble stone is a very soft and fragile heart. And one day maybe she can see it again but not today. And i dont have to tell her. She just needs to understand it (the wall, my hate, my tolerance, me, herself) and when she doesn't then i tell God to take his little bitch and do something with it. Cause I ain't gonna raise her. I raised myself. And her other son. And i did a dam good job. And i had help from God. So God can take his little bitch and fix her up.

Popeye: yeah that does help!

Me: so you did do a lot of work on Jeremiah but

Popeye: oh! The serenity prayer! Thank you! Now i got it!

Me: exactly! Good job Popeye!

[winryofresembool]

Fic: Kittens and grandparents

Summary: Al and Mei visit the Curtises with Ed and Winry’s kids and encounter a cat problem.

A/N: /Finally/. @finalcam, here’s your giveaway fic! You wished for Izumi and Sig baby sitting the Edwin kids, with hints of Al and Mei, and I tried my best to do it in quite few words. This has honestly more Almei focus than Sig and Izumi but I still hope you enjoy! Once again I have @randomlyopeneddictionary to thank for this idea. What would I do without your help? As usual, comments are very much loved. 

Characters: Al, Mei, Sig, Izumi, Edwin kids Alan and Emma (no Ed or Winry tho WHAT IS LIFE?)

Words: 1650+ (more than planned but since I made you wait, I guess that’s OK)

Genre: general, a tiny bit fluffy (because of the cat :D)

warnings: none

“Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?”

Two kids, a 4-year-old boy with golden hair and equally golden eyes and a 2-year-old girl with a slightly lighter shade of blonde hair and azure blue eyes, were getting impatient. Only a little while ago they had been so excited to get onto a train with their aunt and uncle who were spending the summer in Rush Valley as their family’s guests. However, based on the amount of seat kicking and bickering about the smallest things, they seemed to have forgotten about the excitement already.

The kids’ parents had seemed visibly relieved when Al had suggested he and Mei would love to take the kids with them to see “granny Izumi” in Dublith. It didn’t take Al too long to understand why; the two Rockbell-Elric children could be angelic when they wanted to be, but they were just as stubborn as Edward and Winry were, and also impatient. They had only been on the train for an hour, but this was probably the third time Emma and Alan started chanting the question that was familiar to a lot of traveling parents in unison. Al had hoped that maybe a good meal at the restaurant car would help, but it seemed to make the kids even more energetic than before. Two more hours to go. Thank goodness they didn’t have to travel to Dublith all the way from Resembool…

As the large buildings of Dublith finally started to show, both Al and Mei sighed of relief. At least when they’d make it to the Curtis household they could trust the kids to behave well because they seemed to respect Izumi in a way that neither them or Ed and Winry could never reach. Besides, Sig had a habit of sneaking an extra piece of the kids’ favorite sausage on the sandwich when they were acting nice (as long as they wouldn’t tell Izumi), and it seemed bribery worked pretty well on Emma and Alan too.

Once the kids had gotten their stomachs full (Al and Mei wondered how they could fit all those sandwiches there after the proper meal on the train), they went to take a nap, giving Al and Mei a good opportunity to go outside to see all the familiar places where Al had wandered as a child. Devil’s Nest seemed to be empty at that moment, and Al felt chills in his core as he remembered some not so happy memories from that place. Sensing what he was feeling, Mei squeezed his hand to pull him back from his thoughts, and he smiled at her gratefully.

Continuing their walk, Al noticed that Xiao-Mei who was sitting on Mei’s shoulder seemed to get irritated by something she saw. Her ears went flat and she emited small hissing sounds. The reason for the panda’s reaction became clear soon; Al heard a tiny “meow” behind a box someone had left on the sidewalk. The small furball peeked at them nervously, probably wanting to run away but not knowing to which direction it should go.

“Mei? Could you… make sure Xiao-Mei doesn’t run anywhere? I’m gonna… try to talk to this little pal.”

Mei wanted to protest but put the tiny panda into her bag and saw Al starting to approach the cat. He walked really slowly, not wanting to scare it away, talking to it in a calm and quiet voice. Somehow, he managed to gain the kitten’s trust and soon it was sitting on his hand while he was petting it with the other one.

“Alphonse?” Mei asked carefully. “You do know that someone might be looking for that cat, missing it dearly?”

“But look at it! It’s so small and alone, and it’s gonna be cold tonight. I can’t leave it here!”

“Fine,” Mei gave in. “But just for tonight. You will start looking for its owner tomorrow, will you not?”

“Sure thing, my princess. But just because she’s insisting,” he whispered to the kitten, lifting it close to his face so he could snuggle his cheek against the soft fur.

“Meow!”

…

Some time later, the couple returned to the Curtises to find Al’s nephew and niece already awake. Alan, who was already good at reading people’s emotions, sensed that Al was hiding something, and asked:

“Uncle Al? Why do you look so funny?”

“Yes, Alphonse-dear, do you have something you would like to share with the kids?” Mei asked slyly, and Al had to pull the kitten from his pocket.

“Kitty, kitty!” Emma yelled excitedly. From very early on she had showed interest in animals. The new dog at home had gotten more pats from her than anyone else in the household, but for some reason her parents didn’t let her get a cat.

“Shhh, Emma, please don’t be so loud… If Izumi hears…” Al said, clearly very nervous about his old teacher’s possible reaction.

“If she hears what?” Sig asked, entering the room at a critical moment. Al felt like a school kid again when he tried to push the tiny cat into his pocket, but not before Sig saw what he had in his hands.

“Alphonse, aren’t you a bit too old for that already? You know how Izumi feels about cats. Especially after your brother managed to talk her into keeping that one when you lived here…”

“Did daddy have a cat?” Alan asked curiously when he understood they were talking about Edward.

“Well, he helped me get one when we were little…” Al answered, still looking a bit awkward.

“It was quite a funny story too. Do you kids want to hear it?” Sig asked, smiling at the memories.

“YES!” they shouted in unison.

“Fine. Once Edward and Alphonse found a kitten on our neighbor’s backyard and overheard the neighbor wanted to get rid of it. When she left the house for a moment later that day, the boys snuck the cat into their room even though they knew Izumi would be mad if she found out. Apparently she had had bad experiences with cats as a kid. The neighbor was of course very happy when she couldn’t find the cat anywhere, but my wife got suspicious when she heard they had disappeared. You just don’t keep secrets from her, especially if you’re living under her roof.”

“Anyway…” Sig cleared his throat. “Not much later, she found the boys hanging out in their closet instead of doing their homework, and… it was pretty scary, even for me. But Ed didn’t budge. He had seen how important the cat was to Al, and he wanted his little brother to have this one nice thing, even if it meant he’d get his, um, butt, kicked for it. So, when Izumi asked, why the boys had hidden a cat in their closet, Ed looked her straight into eyes with a very serious expression, and said: “All is one, one is all, that’s what you taught us. We are learning about the circle of life by making it eat the mice in the closet.””

Emma looked a little bit upset when she heard the cat ate other animals, so Sig continued quickly: “Anyway, Izumi just stared at him for a while, before bursting into the loudest laughter I had heard in a long while. Then she just shook her head and mumbled something about the nerve the boys had, but after that the cat was never talked about again. It got to stay in our garage until the boys left back to Resembool. After that we searched a new home for it.”

“Sig? Why are you telling them about the only soft moment I have ever had?” a woman’s voice suddenly said behind the group, and Sig’s ears turned bright red.

“No reason, honey!”

The kitten in Al’s pocket decided to start meowing in that moment, and Izumi rolled her eyes.

“Alphonse, have you still not stopped picking random cats from the streets? Who knows what illnesses they might carry…”

“But teacher… I mean Mrs. Curtis… It’s so small, and it’s gonna be a cold night…” Al stuttered. Mei wondered what exactly had happened during the brothers’ apprenticeship that made an adult man so nervous. He hadn’t been that nervous in front of her father, the previous Emperor of Xing, when she had introduced Al to him.

Everyone was surprised when the little Alan stepped in: “Granma Izumi, it’s not…” he struggled with the words a bit, “… eqi… equivalent exchange if we get to sleep in our warm beds but the cat has to sleep on a cold street!”

It was the first time anyone had ever called Izumi a grandma (the kids had called her that at home but never in front of Izumi herself), and that alone was enough to soften her heart. But she also realized how much the boy reminded her of his father, using alchemy phrases and all, and couldn’t help but smile a bit when she answered:

“You know what, Alan? I guess you’re right. He may stay here tonight. Just tonight, though. Tomorrow you will try to find his home, right?”

“Alright,” Alan agreed, and Izumi patted him on his head.

Watching the kids (and Al) having fun with the kitten later that day, Izumi felt the weird kind of happiness in her chest that she didn’t remember feeling after the boys had left Dublith. Finally, she managed to name the feeling; she was grateful and proud that Ed and Al had managed to go so far in their lives; Alphonse was back in his body, living with a girl he would soon marry, still loving kitties as much as he always had. And Edward’s two children were happy and healthy (and dare she say, quite nosy already), and if they were anything like their parents, they would do well in this world. And that was all she could hope for.

[alloftimeandspacetosee]

To Family, Old and New

Ah, Inira’s getting some explanations now. I think this is after the end of the war? That makes sense.

 And Ghost!Jay has kept all her cards close to her chest lmao, I need to think whether or not that actually works tho

~

I looked around the port, blinking. This was where my ancestors had come from? A desolate little place, if ever I’d seen one. I stepped from Ossen’s back, trying to tug my coat further around me. And cold.

“If ye would move, miss?”

Murmuring an apology, I returned Ossen and stepped to the side to let the sailors past. On up the docks, into the proper snowbound town.

“Where to now?” I murmured, just about lost in the thick snow.

“Can ah help ye?” An older man, dressed in a white robe with faint green markings, materialised from the snow in front of me.

My hands shot to the knives strapped under my coat, narrowing my eyes.

“Looking for the gym?” He gestured behind him, unconcerned – or perhaps unaware – of the danger.

“No… I’m just – looking for the past, I s’pose.” He wasn’t going to hurt me. The war was over. “My family came from here, a long time ago.”

“Oh? What’s the name?”

“Nightgale.”

He frowned, tapping his chin. “Hm… oh – there are four of them still on the ice. Three of them are old names, though… and you’ll maybe know Alanna?”

On the ice? Did they keep the bodies frozen here? … wouldn’t be too hard, if they did. “Alan,” I corrected. “He’s my… uncle. In a vague, big-family sort of way.”

The monk nodded. “I see. The other three are Bluejay and her two daughters. Arlette and Aurora.”

“Arlette and Aurora…” So those were their names.

“Yes, do ye want–”

“No.” I shook my head, pulling my jacket around me. “At least – not just now. Is there somewhere I can get warm?”

“The centre is a wee bitty packed right now, but…” the old man turned away, beginning to smile. “I could take you to people who are related to you.”

“I have cousins up here?” I blew out a surprised breath, eyebrows shooting up. “Will they not mind?”

“They’re friendly folk. Ah’m sure they’ll be fine with it.” He started to walk, and I followed.

Cousins who didn’t know about the war, who hadn’t had any of the experiences I’d had… this would be interesting. Would they get on?

“Oh, Connal! What a surprise.” A smiling woman opened the door he rapped at. “Will ye be staying long?”

“It’s no for me that ah’m visiting, Elsie.” He stepped to the side, revealing me. “This here is a NightGale – so a distant cousin o’ yours.”

‘Elsie’ glanced me over and frowned at the obvious bandages around my arm and leg, and then tutted at my clothes.

Couldn’t blame her. They really weren’t not suited to this place. Still, I forced a smile and stepped forward, holding out my hand. “Inira NightGale.”

“Elsa McAllister. Would you like to come in?” She shook it, gesturing inside. “Be warm.”

“If I could.” I couldn’t keep the pleading out of my voice.

The two of them laughed, and Elsa let me in.

“Come back for yourself sometime, would ye?”

“Aye Elsie, Ah will. ‘Til then, though.”

“Tak’ care.” Elsa shut the door and led me into the sitting room. “What are ye doing this far north?”

“Exploring the past.” That was true enough. “Where I come from, we don’t have that many records of some of our ancestors, and… I got curious.”

“Ah dinnae ken if we’ve got much more here.” Elsa gestured for me to sit down. “The temple will have more, maybe. Tea?”

“Thanks.” I nodded, taking a seat. “I’ll maybe check there, then.”

“Go tomorrow. It’s getting late.” Elsa passed me a cup. “Fresh brewed, yache berry.”

I clasped the cup in both hands, breathing in the steam.

“Do ye have anywhere to stay the night?”

“No… I only came in today. Didn’t know what it would be like.” I laughed. That had become more obvious the further north I’d got.

“Well… if you like, you can stay here?”

“Really? That’s… that’s kind of you to offer.”

“We are family.” Elsa smiled broadly. “It’s only proper, really.”

“Thank you, then.” I nodded. “It’s… appreciated.” I yawned, attempting to cover it with a hand. “Sorry.”

“Long journey?”

I nodded. All the way up from Ecruteak, after Zlata had mentioned this place.

“Do you want a rest just now then, while I organise something to eat?”

“Would you not like help?”

“Och, it’s no bother.” Elsa smiled, shaking her head as she stood up. “You can have the spare room, I keep it ready.”

I followed her out the room and up the stairs. “Do you live alone here?”

“No, I’ve my boys. They’re working down on the docks at the moment, but ye’ll see them at tea. In here, dear.” Elsa opened a door, looking in. “It’s a bit cold…” she rapped the radiator. “Should heat up soon, though.”

“Thanks.” I stepped into the room, looking around. “It’s… this is nice.”

The room was quite big, but neat. Double bed, faded blue covers with a design of crystals across it. A few photo frames on the walls, probably showing Elsa’s family. I set down my small bag, stepping across to examine them.

“I’ll leave you to it, then,” Elsa said. “Come down once you’ve rested.”

I nodded slowly, still holding the cup of tea. “Sure.”

Some of the people looked familiar in small ways to people I knew – a very slight resemblance, but enough. They were related.

Taking off my coat, I draped it across the chair by the neat desk. Time enough to find out about that later. I pulled off the sash as well, laying it with the knives it hid on the desk.

I set down the cup on the cabinet beside the bed before sitting down to tug off my boots. There was an old bulbasaur plush in the cabinet. I picked it up, tucking my feet up under me as I examined it.

“Who did you belong to?” I murmured, examining it. “Were you a favourite toy, to look this battered?”

Still holding the plush, I lay down properly, holding it against my belly. So this was where the NightGales had started…

#

“Disturb not the trio of Fire, Water, and… uh… Grass?” Someone started laughing.

I shot upright on the bed, looking around. The room had changed, becoming more cluttered with books and pictures and toys. The room of a young child.

“Candice!”

There were two children kneeling on the floor, three plushies between them – a torchic, a mudkip… and in the middle of those two, a bulbasaur. I looked down at the plush in my hands. So these two were its owners.

The girl with darker hair – seeming to shimmer blue in the light – grabbed the bulbasaur plush and smacked the other girl with it.

“Sorry, Blue,” Candice choked out, defending herself weakly. “They aren’t really suited for it, though.”

Blue – presumably a nickname, but I could see why – huffed, picking at the bulbasaur’s bulb. “I know… I’m wanting others, but mam doesn’t get them easily.”

I turned over the plush, finding the loose threads that must be the ones Blue was picking at. The nickname sounded familiar, but I couldn’t place from where.

“They come in on the market, don’t they?”

“Mam won’t let me out just now.” Blue sulked and looked away – and caught sight of me. “Who’re you?”

“Inira NightGale,” I replied, a smile tugging at my lips. “I think your plushies’re fine. I didn’t have many either.”

“NightGale… that’s like my name!” Blue grinned fantastically. “Are you a cousin or something?”

“Or something,” I nodded, smiling properly. “Sorry to startle you.”

Blue shook her head enthusiastically. “Come and play! You can narrate for us, Candice is no use!” She held a hand out to me, a hand covered in bandages. “Oh! You’ve got the same plushie!”

“Sorry.” Candice smirked, laughing. “I can practice.”

“’Fraid I can’t stick around.” I shook my head, seeing the altaria ruffle her feathers.

“Oh…” Blue looked down, disheartened. “Oh well.”

“I think your friend was doing fine, though.”

Candice shot me a grin.

“I suppose you’re right…”

I laughed and the room dissolved. The altaria stepped towards me, more real and solid than it had ever been before.

<You’ve done well, Inira>

“You helped.”

<You listened, and got the others to listen> It preened a bit before fixing me with a look from one beady eye.

“Will you be leaving now?” It would be strange not seeing the ghosts.

<No. I will be here for the rest of your life>

“Right.” I turned over the bulbasaur in my hands. “That girl, Blue… why is–” And I managed to connect the dots. “She’s you.”

<Yes>

I could’ve sworn that the altaria smiled.

<Have we not said?> The mawile tumbled in, followed by the aipom. <How rude of us!>

“I suppose I should have asked the names of my ghosts before now.” I smiled. “Thank you.”

<No, thank you. You are the Peace Bringer>

“And you gave me the strength for it.”

<And I shall give you more> BlueJay dipped her head. <You will need it yet>

“What’s going to–”

“Inira.”

Someone was calling me.

<Spoilers> Jay grinned, raising her wings. <Now go back. Everything is waiting>

In another blink, I was lying on the bed once more, spread out on my stomach. The bulbasaur was resting by my cheek, curled into the crook of my arm.

“Inira.”

“Altair,” I acknowledged, more tired than I had been before. That just wasn’t fair. “Go ‘way.” Wait… I raised my head. “Altair. What are you doing here?”

“Looking for you.”

“Well, you found me.” I dropped my head back onto the pillow.

“Where’ve you been?”

“Right here.”

Altair was playing with the crystal around his neck. “Alright. When have you been?”

“Ages back. Before the war. To when the first NightGale was a kid.” I grinned. “This was her room.”

“Oh right.”

“Inira?” Elsa knocked on the door.

“Yeah?”

“That’s tea ready, if ye would like to come on do – oh!” Elsa opened the door, saw Altair and promptly jumped.

“Elsa, this is my cousin – Altair NightGale. Altair, this is Elsa McAllister.” I twisted over, so I was lying on my back.

“A cousin of ours, I understand?” Altair dipped his head. “Sorry for startling you.”

“How did you get in here?” Elsa’s eyes darted to the window, shut and covered by heavy curtains.

“I teleported,” he said easily. “I didn’t expect my cousin to be in anyone’s house.”

“Tele… teleported,” Elsa echoed faintly, holding onto the door.

Altair didn’t have a psychic type. I cursed and froze time, lunging for my bag to grab Chern’s pokéball. I shoved it into Altair’s hand and assumed roughly the same position before letting time start again.

“Yes, see?” Altair released Chern, and the medicham stretched out. “I am very sorry to have startled you like this, it isn’t my normal way.”

Like Sky it wasn’t his normal way.

“Well…” Elsa shook her head. “Tea is ready. There should be enough for you as well… Altair.” She tested the name carefully, not sure if she was getting it right.

“I’d be delighted.”

I swung my legs off the bed, catching Altair a glancing blow as I did so. He deserved more than that, but for the moment it would have to do.

[sweatytyrantwhispers]

Part 4 of things my friends do that make me love them even more:

- both rachel and cristine are artistically talented and i cant fucking wait to see them become famous doing the things they love (i know theyll becoem famous i believe in them tht much) (rachel has a great singing voice; cristine has a great singing voice, knows how to play various intstruments, loves acting, and can paint/draw amazingly)

-seth tells me some catchphraes his fav youtubers say whenever we talk

-none of my friends (nor I) knows how to react or what to say most of the time, especially when it comes to gift giving and compliments; we’re all oblivious and awkward people that don’t understand society

-andy messes up on what to say to customer service people when its evening/night time cus we usually go out around tht time but he’s used to sauing have a good day

-andy also hates intersections so he’ll pretend hes walking in the other direction (away frm the intersection), stand on the sidewalk and pretend hes doing something, or take a whole other route if theres a car nearing the intersection bc he says it feels awkward

-rachel’s favorite animals are dogs and raccoons so when i send her a post abt raccoons she gets rly excited and says she wants to hv a raccoon as a pet when she grows up. She also gets excited when i point out a dog to her in public (she cant see it cus no glasses but still excited by its genert presence)

-dina is scared of lightning so I always try to ask her if shes alright when theres a thunderstorm

-when we go to the park, rachel almost always tries to make tiktoks. We always end up interrupting and annoying her while she makes them though, sorta like our little routine.

-last time we went to the park, rachel ended up accidentally hitting meng and I directly on the face with the volleyball (its ok though cause im pretty sure we’ve ended up accidentally hitting each other with the ball at least once)

-when i got hit with the ball dina asked me if i was ok but as she moved towards me she went for the ball (we were playing monkey in the middle and she was one of the monkeys); its just funny and i love that our friendship is at a point where we could laugh about it and everything is fine

-i told my friends that i was depressed before going to the park to hang out w them. when i got there i kinda just sat on the ground looking through reddit with music on high. they all tried their best to talk to me and tell me funny stories (they said they overheard a group of kids talking about how they pantsed another dude) to cheer me up. Dina and Rachel both decided to give me a hug at the same time and i toppled over. Dina gave me a hug again. I love them so much

- Andy called me while i was in class to tel me to look at the sunset. Its something that both of us have done a few times because we both love sunsets and usually see them when we’re out. Its a small thing but it makes me love my friends even more.

-I was on voice call with Rachel on discord and she laughed then sent the group chat a link to a tiktok

-(not my friend but my mom) She knows that i hate it when things are thrown out when they’re still good or can still be repurposed. Someone brought flowers home for some reason (i forgot why) but she was putting the flowers in a vase one day. Some of the flowers broke off the bigger portion of the stem and couldn’t be put into the big vase but she put a bunch of them into a small container for me and gave it to me. I loved it even though we did hv to throw it out like a few weeks later.

-My friends and I were at Central Park and we were waiting for my two friends to finish up taking pictures. Meng and I were taking a short nap (him sitting down w his elbows on his legs and me w my head on his shoulder) while we waited. We also shared my earbuds to listen to my music. I was p sleepy so I was on the verge of sleeping my also sorta aware of what was going on (mainly cus we were guarding our stuff while everyone else was taking pictures elsewhere). I was doing that thing you do when you’re nodding your head while trying to stay awake/go to sleep. I kept on doing that until he eventually sat up a bit more and pushed my head onto his shoulder better

-Samir looked at a shirt with george washington on it and confidently said that was benjamin franklin

-Dina was talking about how she kept on eating shrimo and peanuts even though she has a mild allergy to it. Rachel and I were telling her to stop and tht we’re not bringing it to the picnic on sunday cus we dont want her dying. She responded, very confidently, tht she “hasnt died before”

-Samir calls dina “d-money”

-Rachel gave me a hug as an im sorry for taking so long. (I genuinely didnt care cus even tho they do take a long time i still v much love them)

-Rachel takes tiktoks and videos of us while we’re out

-Rachel and Dina both got v the excited when i wore a skirt out today because I usually dress more masculine

-A few weeks ago (i think) my friends and I were at the park. I was trying to do something to meng and tripped and fell on the park ground (the part where there’s basically a bunch of tiny rocks on/in the floor). Meng was also trying to do that thing where two people hold a person’s arms and legs and swing them back and forth with me but forgot that if you take someones legs off the floor with no one else holding my arms, i would fall head first onto the park ground, which i did. Both times I laughed at myself but everyone rushed to me while laughing. Idk why but it made me feel like I was ok and safe, even if i was in so much pain, srsly i couldve had a concussion.

- Rachel and I both got excited bc we both wanted to got to the same college

-I call andy when im walking home by myself at night (or when the route im taking doesn’t necessarily hv a lot of people of lights) and he just vibes with me (sometimes talks to me abt how i should b home) until i get home safely

-idk if i already put this but Andy and I have a safe word when we think there might be someone behind us following us at night bc one time when walking home we thought tht and used our now safe word to see if there was someone

-Rachel and Dina do this thing where they take their hand and go from the side of someone else’s body (where the arms are) to the bottom of their legs rly fast while theyre walking. They call it “full body stroke”. They shared it w me and now we do it to meng almost every time we go out. Sometimes we do it together (one person per side).

-While at Central Park there was a dude that was singing (he was rly good). He started singing “Lean on me” by Bill Withers and my friends started singing along with him.

-Rachel sent me a tiktok knowing full well that itd make me gay panic bc yk ✨w o m e n✨

-Dina, Alan, and I stayed out after everyone else went home cus yk they were tired. Dina and I decided to talk like white girls/pick me girls the rest of the night with their stereotypical voices. We laughed the entire time and created weird storylines including: Jessica (Dina), Olivia (me), Jayden (Jessica’s boyfriend and brother that created on Jessica with me and Nicole), Nicole (Jessica’s friend), Olivia’s dad (a convicted felon in all 50 states and is dead), Jessica’s dad (a lawyer that’s also running for president, and Alan (he was just roped into our bs and was there to act like the dude that we both wanted to have as our bf).

- When we were in the bathroom and washing our hands, Dina waited until after the other woman in the bathroom to leave before coming up to me and, in a discreet whisper, told me that the soap was what “good pussy sounds like”

- Rachel, Dina, and I saw a few cats on our way to meet up with Alan and we played w the cats for a bit before one of them said “pspspspsp come here alan” to one of the cats. We now do this frequently to each other even though we hate it.

- We have corrupted each other to the point where we cannot hang out without someone saying “that’s what she said”, something about Dina being white, “just like this dick”, and “deez nuts”. We laugh about it a lot

- Rachel and I are both reasonably out of energy both mentally and physically after our jobs so when I walked w her to a mall w the rest of her friends, we both walked silently with a bit of catching up cause we both understood how the other felt

-We had a water balloon fight today at work (Alan, Rachel, and I work together). Obviously, I took the chance to pop as many balloons over rachel’s head and dump water on her. She tried to spray me w water using a water gun though. Afterwards gave the towel i brought to rachel cause she needed it to change. It’s important to note that rachel has purple hair right now and that the towel was white. key word: was. The towel was now stained a light purple (I dont mind but damn)

- i made rachel a purple raccoon by crocheting it (purple and pink actually). I finished it yesterday (sunday) and gave it today to her at work (monday). I opened the door a bit and peeked my head in with the raccoon just below me in my hands. She was confused at first but then saw the raccoon and her eyes lit up. It was rly cute🥰🥺 to see her get excited. We both nicknamed the raccoon “pimp jr.” and i made a lil name tag/from to tag that said it.

- rachel likes to lip-sync to music shes either listening to or hears in store and sometimes does a little dance with it. Its so cute and I love looking at her do it because it reminds me of why I adore her. She also goes hard when it comes to singing at karaoke. Like damn her vocal range is astounding

- dina got so excited when i asked her if she wanted to binge watch all the twilight movies with me. She looked so cute cus its one of her favorite movies. ugh i love my friends.

-a lot of dudes have crushes on rachel and dina and the both of them usually just try their best to avoid the person or avoid confronting them. Idk why but it kinda makes me feel grateful that I’m close friends with them because I used to have a crush on both of them before when we first met. When I told them i used to have crushes on them they didn’t act weird about it or anything and we continued to be friends. I’m so fucking grateful I’m their friend despite my initial crush on them cause they’re two of them most amazing people I’ve met my entire life.

-rachel, meng, alan, and I went to go watch Shang Chi in movies. In the last few scenes (which were v tense btw) rachel nd I both got rly anxious and squeezed each others hands bc we were scared out favorite characters were gonna get hurt. She squeezed the fuck out of my hand to the point where I couldn’t feel it anymore and neither could she. I’m ok with that though cus I’m glad she finds comfort in squeezing the living fuck out of my hands.

-dina, rachel, and I have matching bracelets from hot topic and i see them wear it almost every time we hang out. Alan and I have a matching pair too but I dont think he’s going to wear it very much (issok tho).

-We went to karaoke yesterday and I dont know how I just realized this but while she’s singing, dina likes to move around a lot. It’s not exactly dancing but not particularly just moving around. Its kinda like that tiny thing ppl do when they’re alone and playing their favorite songs on blast. She’s so cute when she does it, esp because she seems so happy when she does it. Even though I absolutely despise Justin Bieber, I would play his songs over and over again on blast if it made her as happy as she has made me.

-dina and I like to go to the swings and blast “Happier Than Ever” with earbuds in (we share a pair for this) and she screams along to it for the second half

-it’s become a “tradition” for us to go to the swings (most of time) after we’ve done the initial things we already planned out because dina and I love the swings.

[whimsically-ominously-auspice]

There was this little boy. He was so so so bad.

Oh he was bad in the boys bunker.

Saint Luches complained to me he wanted to ring his little neck but he was too cute. But he was just smashing shit up all the time, making a mess and being disrespectful.

I went down i saw what he did and i said "oh he ain't too bad, put him in the girl's bunker"

"Are you kidding me? They'll all be dead by morning! Lets take him home with me. Ill whip him into shape"

"Oh i get to be a girl" oh he was a smart ass!! Oh he was gonna need a good fixing before he got too old.

"Oh I see why you wanna take him home. Hes kinda funny. It's been bored around the house kind of late"

"I know. Sex and food. Sex and food. I need something more substantial"

"Oh it's been great. I've loved it i must admit. But i love you and I might just love you, too, huh little girl?"

"Sex and food" he was tossing his head and mocking while i talked. I thought maybe he wasn't listening then he jumped and turned to face us "IM A BOY!" scared me He looked like he could kill me

"Oh i didn't know. Lets go. Keep on walking. Were almost there. Not too long now"

"Ima girl. Ima swish my hair" he tossed his shoulders and smoothed his hair down. But he twisted up his face all angry and did it. Which made it hilarious.

I tried to stifle a giggle.

He jumped in front of us again. We were both smiling this time, not worried about the future or the child between us.

"Alright let's go" he got between us and grabbed our arms and pulled us along fast. Boy walked fast for as tiny as he was.

Saint Luches looked at me wide eyes like OMG "these mood swings on this one What a wild one!!"

"Come on let's go" he chomped out at his throat

"Ohhhhh he's a cartoon"

"GI JOE, yep i hear it. Unfortunately he's the bad guy"

I Bent over at my waist "is that GI JOE, little one?"

"Come on let's go" he used the same gruff voice "what's this thing called?"

"An elevator"

"How did you know what he was asking about, babe?"

"He was looking up at the numbers"

"14th floor" said our little unknown soldier.

"Oh he's good. He knows what an elevator is used for. I wonder what his name is"

"My name's not Joe but you can call me Joe" he barged into our apartment with us.

"Oh this is gonna be fun!!" I wheeed myself in "you can put your coat here by the door"

"He leaves it on" saint Luches turned to tell me "wait wha???" He stopped and looked in wonder and amazement as the kid took off his coat

"Here you can put it on the hook up there. Im too short." Said the gruff boy "I always put it on when you get there because you take us outside you dummy dipshit"

"Woaaaah!! I love this kid already!! Hes so smart and kind! Totally gracious, too"

Saint Luches rubbed his face in agony like what the Hell did I do to my perfect life?!?!

"Dont worry, you're beautiful" I touched his arm as I passed from the foyer into the living room where he awaited for us, me and little dude.

"Are you two gonna have sex? My mom use to and ow my arm!"

I got on my knees next to him "Oh no. Here let me see it." I rubbed his long skinny arm "where does it hurt?"

"It doesn't i just wanted to see what you would do" still the gruff voice

"This isn't the first kid you brought home but this is the first lying one" I went to see saint Luches in the doorway.

"He barely did!!" Saint Luches complained "don't jump on the couch!! He's already called me a dipshit, too. And I'm gonna get him!!"

"Don't..." I put my hand on my forehead and turned, my hand sliding down my face as I did.

"Hey now I gotcha!!" He grabbed that kid off the couch and boy he started beating him about the head and shoulders. I can tell when Saint Luches is trying to be patient. And when he's really holding a temper. And when he's confused.

"Hey now, let's see. Come here" that little kid made sound effects as he latched onto my arm with his teeth. "He hasn't mentioned a dad. Just a mom. But apparently he doesn't like her either" i let little Joe tear At my arm and shake it in his mouth like a dinosaur. Pulling back hurts the kid with that tight a teeth grip and growing teeth shouldn't be damaged and in addition ripping my arm back increases the risk of ripping apart my arm in huge ways. Otherwise its bite marks and chew marks which heal much faster.

'What the hell!?!?!?!?" Saint Luches put the kid down "see? I told you! All dead by morning!!"

"He just needs some toys. Lets see what we have in the toy box by the window here"

"My mom's on drugs. I get toys"

"He can have them. Just leave you alone! God. What the Hell did i do here?!"

"The other boys will be here soon. You can ask them"

"My mom is on drugs. Yeah yeah yeah."

"Boys?"

"Just the Alan. I forgot the others.. Should be or are dead"

"My mom's on drugs. Yeah yeah yeah"

"What the Hell is he saying to you?"

"I know i heard you sweetie! My dad is a drug addict, too!"

"My mom, she says she's not an addict. Just on drugs, there's a difference. And we're not black. Just not white"

"That's okay. You can be any color you want to be"

"Nuh uh. I only stay one. I checked!!"

"Yeah don't you feel dumb?" Saint Luches asked.

"Why because idk how to change colors?" He crawled across the floor, "oh teach me wise one"

Saint Luches lost his funny bone with this one. I thought it was hilarious.

"Admit it! You want to laugh! Oh wise one bringing this lad to me!"

"He isn't wise! It was a joke!"

"At least the voice?! It makes it fun!"

"He's the evil guy on the cartoon show!"

"Well ask Alan. Because i don't think so, he's too smart. Plus he knew you were mad for him jumping on the couch"

"Oh jump on the couch" there he went.

"You deal with this one. You already been bit"

"Give me your hand. Now what do you want to do? Sit or get down? You could fall and get hurt"

"Fall? This is just like mine at home.. I thought"

"Its white!!" Saint Luches Makes so much sense to kids that are taught to jump on sofas then kidnapped.

"When this one is a little different sweetie. We prefer you didn't jump on it. So lets talk what's this guy's voice, the way you talk. Sound like, what does the cartoon character that most resembles your voice look like"

"Oh he's tall and nonchalant. He is for real. Let's watch see if it's on"

That little boy grew up into a man. He is on TV. He still pretends to be GI JOE, but in big kids style.

On SWAT. Criminal Minds.

He would be bad. And he would test patience and he used to be beat at home. He knew what a real ass whooping was.

I'd count if he didn't wanna get up and put away the toys. 1. 2.

"Can I watch tv still?"

"Pick up the toys it's still on"

3. 4.

"What number is it?"

"Oh i forgot. Now you be good so i don't have to count and I'll make some food/breakfast and we will eat on the floor in front of the white couch"

I made him pick up toys we left in the floor the night before. Then he Just took them right back out.

Saint Luches complained about them in the floor "hon, will you have him pick them up?"

"Sure babe" and he still complained.

I took him to work with me and we would watch cartoons till the last minute.

So Saint Luches got so mad. He said "im gonna go in late to work to see what you do to this kid. He's well behaved but there's toys all over the place"

He played with a doll. A block and 2 carton of cigarette boxes. That was it.

So he got us to time the cartoon and when 5 minutes was left he got the kid to put them under the TV

"Oh that was easy!! I thought you wanted him to do it as exercise. To practice! For when he went home or something and got old! Now you can quit bitching!"

Saint Luches was right, tho. He would killed those women. I had just finished telling him about a new lamp and how it was heavy. And he picked it up over his head. I didn't mention not to touch it. But i was in the floor when he decided to. Scared me to death.

Alan worked nights. So i started screaming for him cause i had just taken him breakfast in bed and he thought i was being dramatic

But really he just wanted to see how heavy the lamp really was.

I had been having bad dreams. We had just kicked Matt Hagan out for wanting to human traffic. And i kept dreaming he was going to go back for revenge. We had the new lamp and I had dreamed he attacked us with it. But kept plugging it in all over the house.

And I just saw his rage face when the kid had it.

It took saint Luches like 10 days to settle himself. Kids were not really his thing... Not kids he didn't understand.

Usually we sent most kids to the woman's side because all the girls fussed over the babies and young ones. So they were always mothered and taken care of.

I didn't have too much trouble with him. Usually he got his cars stuck in my hair if I forgot to pull it up. But he would drive them on my arms and shoulders.

I did take him to the doctor because he always gruffed the GI JOE voice. But the doctor said he didn't have damage and in time he would talk.

I had figured he felt either uncomfortable or comfortable and So he used a different voice than at home just because his life was different.

The doctor agreed it may be psychological. I Just wanted to ensure he didn't have a problem internally. So Saint Luches took him for the xrays the next day.

"He was fine. But he kept playing with those two empty cigarette cartons." Saint Luches told me

I told him they weren't cigarette boxes, they were cannons. Mac trucks, moving vehicles. They were every thing but empty cigarette cartons.

So Saint Luches bought him every thing under the sun. But still he wanted those empty cigarette cartons.

"Why?! Why?!? Why!?! Why do you do this to me?!?!" Saint Luches grabbed him by the shirt after crawling to him on his knees

"Because you tell me not to throw. I throw this you say good job. Paper airplane good job. Ball? Boy don't throw! I like all my toys to be throw. And lightweight" he said in a deep almost normal voice.

"See he's smart! And he listens to you!" I pleaded with him to find a happy medium.

So Saint Luches went into the toy box and pulled out all the toys the child could throw and put them seperate in a laundry hamper. "Throw. Throw. Throw. You can throw all these"

"But you told me this 'no throw' and this and this and this and this and this"

The child nearly emptied the hamper.

"Now what's he doing?"

"He is not negotiating with you. Hes telling you what you've told him before. I've seen him out the corner of my eye when we watch TV. Hes been testing you. Checking to see if you notice and what you say. I watch his face. Thats why we bought the lamp so I could see."

"So, what you're saying is I've told him no to throwing all these toys before?"

"Yup. No honey" i got down on the floor with them, unfortunately there was tears in the child's eyes 4 tears "HE is telling you. This is what you see he has said to you and i have repeated it. Okay babe?"

"So, now what do i do?"

"Reinforce"

I took each object and showed it to them both and said "throw?" Until the child nodded. And i put it in the basket. When it was full. I picked up all the items and threw them behind me. I didn't look. Just tossed them.

Then I asked Saint Luches to help me clean up.

Then they both sat in the floor with the basket between them. "Well! Don't just sit there! Throw"

And the kid tossed some balls. Into the floor a foot from him.

"No, Saint Luches. I want you to throw with him" i got a toy from the basket "baby look. Throw?"

"I just said that yeah!"

"Ok baby look let me see your hand" i put the ball in his hand and made his wrist move to throw the ball out onto the floor. "Come on you can do better than that!"

Took him 2 days to learn to play with the 6 year old (we guessed) child.

Eventually we got another basket and they practiced throwing across the room from basket to basket.

We had him for 2 and a half weeks before I took him to Michael Jackson and said "he needs to be in TV. He memorizes everything and he is so good at it. Even does voices and sound effects"

Michael looked at me quizzically "you never do this. Singing yeah but acting no."

"But he has a gift. A deep gift. Try him. Give him a script"

He did. He blew Michael's mind.

"Get me his parents! I gotta sign this kid up!"

"She's on drugs that's all i know"

"This..this kid is a drug baby?!? No way! No way! You're right! And he's black! Two boot! Yeah that's my man!"

"Where did you get him from?"

"He was driving Saint Luches crazy in the bunker so we took him home"

"You aren't supposed to just take kids home you know"

"The CIA knew"

"I was just giving you a hard time. I'm lucky you did! Were all gonna be rich off this gem!"

"He really is sweet too!"

Here i am in mom jeans with my little girl with the swishy hair.

[sage-nebula]

yoshi12370 replied to your post: yoshi12370 replied to your photoset: ...

Like I do understand that Kanto was originally going to be a standalone series and the way it was written shows this fact, however it’s really glaring in retrospect. Gary during Kanto was just a shallow bully than a true rival for Ash and the writers didn’t really want to focus on it as a rivalry rather than comic relief scenes. Of course the series got expanded and I felt that their relationship didn’t translate too well in the transition from Standalone to Multi-Season. Not saying Ash and Gary’s relationship was bad but as you said, the bulk of Gary’s development was offscreen. He barely had any focus during his time and a lot of his achievements were informed rather than shown (tho when it was shown, it delivered). This is part of what I meant about the rivalry being one-sided, as it seemed like they had Gary be ahead just because

Oh yeah, I definitely see where you’re coming from, and for the most part I agree.

I do think that Gary’s relationship with Ash was always meant to be a rivalry from the start. However, since we don’t know exactly when they realized they were going to continue on past Kanto, I wonder if perhaps Ash and Gary were originally meant to battle in the Kanto League, only for that to fall through when they realized that the anime was going to be carrying on indefinitely. We know, for instance, that Mewtwo Strikes Back was originally supposed to end the series, but that it was rewritten when they realized that wasn’t going to happen. I wonder, then, if around the time that decision was made, they also made the decision to postpone Ash and Gary’s battle (and include a bunch of smaller ones) until the Johto League instead.

I say this because it makes sense when you think about how they basically copy-pasted the rivalry from the games. The backstory is the same (albeit a little more fleshed out later on), and Gary Oak is the most accurate adaptation of game!Green Oak I’ve ever seen, save for that little short from Pokémon Generations. People can rag on the PokéAni all they like, but the PokéAni team straight up nailed Green when they created Gary. They got him dead-on accurate. Even his personality shift later is reminiscent of how Gary acts in the GSC games (which comes across a lot more sloppily in the anime due to the anime not having a three year time skip like the games, but the PokéAni team did the best with what they had---though oh, imagine the possibilities if they had included a time skip after the Orange League!!). They did a damn good job with adapting his character, although it’s a bit of a double-edged sword since his character in the games is pretty one-dimensional.

Regardless, the point is, in the games, the rivalry between Green and Red is summarized as thus: Green and Red were childhood friends when one day Green decided to be an asshole and started bullying Red instead. Throughout the RGBY games he shows up at various points to be an asshole, battle Red, lose, act like an asshole again, and leave. This culminates in the two of them meeting at the League, Green declaring that he is “THE STRONGEST TRAINER IN THE WORLD!!!!1!!1!!!” because he became the Champion, Red beating him again, Green being scolded by his gramps, and Green stalking off, not to be seen again until he’s a more humble Gym Leader three years later. There’s not a lot of depth to that story, there aren’t many layers; Green’s just a jerkass who takes a dose of Break the Haughty before becoming a better person. He has a line or two about wondering where Red is, showing that perhaps their relationship has improved, but again, that’s not until GSC. In RGBY, Green was a douchebag from start to finish.

So when you consider that the PokéAni team was adapting that story, I would say that they definitely wrote Ash and Gary’s relationship as a rivalry from the start---it’s just that they wrote it as the Gen I games rivalry, versus the rivalries that we would come to experience later (in both the games and the anime). I wouldn’t say the scenes that we get with Gary were meant to be comic relief so much as they were meant to show that these two are rivals, and when Ash beats his ass at the League it’s gonna be so good. Sure, there are things to laugh at in Gary’s scenes due to how over the top ridiculous he is (the car, the cheerleaders), but I do think those scenes were meant to show us the Gen I games rivalry without the battles, for whatever reason---probably because they wanted to have One Big Battle™ between Ash and Gary at the League, which Ash was supposed to win, a la how Red beats Green at the League in the games. This would have worked fine, except then they realized that they were going to have to prolong the anime indefinitely, which left them with three options. They could:

Proceed with the plan as scheduled, and create a new rival for Ash after they wrote Gary out of the show following his loss to Ash at the League. (It’s possible executive meddling ruled this one out, because they had a ready-made rival in the Johto Rival that they could have used but didn’t. It’s possible that Gary was so popular that they decided to keep him on rather than replacing him with the Johto Rival, but I don’t know for sure.)

Have them battle at the League, but have Gary win, resulting in their rivalry continuing, but Ash getting booted from the League before Gary. (And also making Gary look correct for all the times he called Ash a loser.)

Have Gary booted from the League before Ash, but by someone else’s hand, and then create a new, League-exclusive rival for Ash.

In retrospect, I do think option one would have been the best option, as much as I do like Gary’s character later on. While I know they re-used the Johto Rival in DP in the form of Paul (though I hate making that comparison because I like the Johto Rival and dislike Paul but it is what it is, the similarities are there even if I don’t like it), I think it would have made more sense to utilize his character in Johto as a new rival for Ash, while letting Gary develop in the peripheral if they did decide to continue developing his character. At the very least, it might have helped make his development seem less clumsy and rushed, since all of it happened off-screen anyway.

But that said, as we know, they went with option three, which is how we got Ritchie. And I like Ritchie, don’t get me wrong! But I also feel that you can see how rushed he is in how much he resembles Ash, from his appearance to his choice in pokémon. (He’s just more polite and less snarky, which in retrospect means that he’s probably Serena’s actual Dream Guy, if we’re being honest.) Ritchie really feels like he was thrown together at the last minute when they realized they couldn’t have Ash battle Gary at the League, and it shows. I like him, but . . . well. It is what it is.

Anyway, this is getting off subject. It’s 5am. I’m very tired. My point is---I definitely see where you’re coming from and I agree, though I still think the real problem lies less in the beginning and more in the middle; they changed their plans at the last minute (I believe, anyway), and then didn’t know how to handle the transition they had to create as a result of that. I think that, had they gone along with their original plan and written in Ash beating Gary at the Kanto League like it was probably originally planned, things would have been better, even if Gary still showed up from time to time. Ash would have already secured a victory against Gary under his belt, we might have been able to actually see Gary coming to terms with the fact that Ash was the one who beat him out of the Kanto League, and if they had continued following the games faithfully, perhaps we could have even seen him become the Viridian City Gym Leader, at which point he and Ash had a rematch now that the Gym was legitimately run (instead of owned and operated by Team Rocket). Who knows. (Meanwhile, if the Johto Rival was the actual Johto Rival, i.e. was Giovanni’s son, that could have been really interesting too.)

I’m pretty sure we’re on the same page, though, even if there’s a bit of contention over where the problem stems from---and even then, I think we both agree that this was caused by the sudden decision to not end the anime after Kanto, and the decision to continue it indefinitely is absolutely what made it lose that original flavor it had in the first season. I mean, I think the Orange Islands season maintained that flavor, in all honesty, due to how much it was very much its own thing---but Johto adopted that formulaic, commercial taste that the anime would have for the rest of its run. They knew what they had to do by the time they hit Johto and it showed, whereas the first two seasons---and Kanto especially---were treated much more like an actual narrative and show rather than, “welp, this is a story we’re going to continue until long after the sun burns out, so we better keep and maintain a status quo, boys.” It wasn’t perfect by any means (my god, the OS could be called the Saga of Abandoned Subplots tbqh), but whenever I watch the anime, the Kanto season especially (but also Orange Islands) just has a very authentic feeling, whereas Johto and beyond* just . . . doesn’t, even if it’s still enjoyable to watch.

(*The Strongest Mega Evolution is the exception, because it was its own narrative story because that was the entire purpose behind its existence, hence it, too, had that very authentic feel that I honestly haven’t felt in the anime since the second season. It was literally written because they couldn’t figure out a way to show Alan’s backstory in the main anime, and so it was created for no purpose other than to just tell a story and it goddamn shows and I just---it’s one of the reasons I love it so much. I didn’t make an entry for PokéAni week, but honestly, my favorite saga? The first two seasons of the OS, and TSME. Do those really count as a favorite saga? Probably not, but see if I care, I will face Arceus and walk backwards into the Distortion World, that’s how much I care.

. . . Okay, honestly, it’s 5am, I should probably shower and then go to bed, I’m very tired. It’s been fun talking about this, though. Sorry for writing several rambling essays, hahaha.)

[nancydfan]

I feel like the lies Mia and Chris told Ethan are on completely different levels because they affected Ethan very differently which makes forgiving one person easier than the other. Like with Mia in RE7, as we’ve stated before we don’t know her reasoning for joining and staying with The Connections. But no matter what honestly Mia payed for being in that organization and lying to Ethan. She was in hell for 3. Whole. Years. at the Baker house. Chances are it would’ve been for eternity and tbh Mia seemed to accept that punishment for herself. Like she already suffered for her lies so I mean I think we can forgive her on that. While yes she did play a part in Eveline (idk if it was just escorting her or if she was more directly involved), but it was her companion’s fault (I think his name was Adam?? Idk) for letting Eveline escape. And when Mia confirms this during her flashback and she sounds angry at Adam for doing so. So while yes she played a small part in what happened to the Bakers the blame rests more on Adam since he let her escape. And Ethan’s involvement wasn’t her fault, it was Eveline who brought her there. At the end of the day Mia payed for her involvement and seems sorry for her actions, and for me personally I find it easier to forgive someone when they regret what they’ve done and try to make it right. That’s why I forgive Mia for lying to Ethan the first time. And in RE8 I forgive Mia for lying again because like honestly that must have been hard to realize your husband was infected. And how was she to know that Ethan would have remained fine after she told him?? Like we’ve said Ethan is the first of his kind and Mia probably thought the key to him staying himself was his ignorance. And yes I agree Mia should have told him, but I understand completely why she felt she had to keep it a secret. While yes Ethan probably would have been frustrated that Mia kept something from him again he would have quickly empathized with her and forgiven her. And I forgive her too because dang I am not jealous of being in her shoes when she found out about Ethan.

Chris’ case is completely different. He belittles Ethan the whole game and makes it seem ridiculous that Ethan would want to be involved in getting Rose back even though that’s his family out there?? And they’re literally in this situation because of Chris’ actions at the beginning of the game?? For me Chris felt more egotistic and hubristic because like you said he just doubles down on his actions even though they were clearly wrong. After Chris “killed” Miranda at the beginning he should have given Ethan a quick explanation, even if it was just “that’s not your wife and we need to get rose and you out of here because you’re in danger.” Would Ethan have believed it? Maybe, who knows. But Chris didn’t. He made Ethan think his wife was dead and that Chris and his team were against Ethan when in reality they were all on the same team and should have been working together. The only time Chris is apologetic is when Ethan dies and honestly it should not have taken Ethan’s death to snap Chris out of his mindset that he was right. We don’t even see Chris apologize to Ethan or Mia. And I remember people got mad at Mia for freaking out at Chris when he rescues her and I’m just like?? Imagine being held captive for who knows how long and suddenly the man who promised to keep your family safe is like “hey your husband’s dead and your kid’s gone :(“ like?? Anyone would freak out and be upset? Am I saying that she was right to yell at him no (though I probably would have too lol) but like she’s been through hell again excuse her for having her nerves be a little fried. I also saw someone else say “Chris wasn’t the one who cut Ethan’s daughter up and tried to kill him on multiple accounts throughout the game he was just trying to help!!” And it’s like?? Yes he was trying to help but in the worst way possible?? It’s like saying “no offense” and then saying something hurtful. Just because you said “no offense” doesn’t make it any less offense and just because Chris was trying to help doesn’t excuse his actions. Chris’ lie put Ethan in emotional/mental distress because he thought he just saw his wife brutally murdered AND put him in physical distress since it was his call to escort Ethan and Rose which allowed them to fall into the hands of Miranda.

I kind of put Chris’ and Mia’s behavior as “Capcom wrote them shitty because they wanted to do a whole “Mia’s alive” plot twist and wanted to make the game ✨spicy✨by making it seem Chris was the bad guy”. But whenever I say that people are still like “No Chris did nothing wrong!!” Or “Well you forgive Mia so obviously you’re a hypocrite” and you know I feel like you can’t even compare Mia’s actions to Chris’ because like I said Chris’ actions hurt and put Ethan’s life more in danger than Mia’s did. Yes I can see how Mia’s lie in RE7 put his life in danger but her keeping Ethan’s condition from him in RE8 did not risk his life. And I already said it wasn’t Mia who forced Ethan to come it was Eveline. Plus people forget it was ETHAN’S choice to enter the house. He could have called the police but he didn’t because he loved Mia so much he himself wanted to make sure she was okay. Sorry for getting ranty im just tired of people saying we’re hypocrites when they don’t see they’re doing the same thing themselves.

Thanks for being patient with me! I love getting asks from y’all even tho I’m a little slow sometimes. Aha 😆

I def agree with the differences. Ive been replaying RE7 while I just watched my friend play re8 so the two games are fairly fresh in my mind. Ethan walks into RE7 on his terms and in re8 he’s essentially kidnapped. That’s such a great point and I really hadn’t thought of it. He’s brought into hell differently and I think that is important to recognize.

Mia tried to keep Ethan away from Dulvey and it failed. She didn’t have time to explain and her msg never got through anyway. It wouldn’t have happened if Alan hadn’t messed up with eveline. And Mia absolutely paid severely for it for three years. She killed a person and harmed her husband with scars he’ll always carry. We don’t even know what she suffered with but it was three long years. She’s terrified when Ethan finds her so I’m sure the imagination can cover that further. I’m sure it was hell.

And like you mentioned, it’s Eveline that invites Ethan there, not Mia. It doesn’t mean she doesn’t indirectly have something to do with this. But when shit hits the fan, she owns it which means a lot to me.

I’ve said somewhere months ago I don’t care if Mias motivations were bad when she joined the connections. We’ll probably never know. But we do know Mia’s motivations with Ethan perfectly. The minute her job is gonna impact him (when eveline takes over on the boat) she levelsets. She’s honest w Ethan as much as she can be and then as much as he wants after re7. The whole mold thing just doesn’t count. Y’all really what do we expect her to say lol

As for Chris, watching his scenes again today I’m just so frustrated. I agree Capcom wanted him to be this way to draw out the Miranda Mia reveal and it was a baaaaaad decision on Cspcoms part. Especially when Chris tells him to stay away after Ethan’s taken out a couple bosses already and some minor ones. If they didn’t want the reveal till later, then don’t have Ethan and Chris talk because the first thing Chris tells him was something about being surprised he survived this long shame if you would die. And it’s like no???? This isn’t what we need to be saying rn. Ethan is a rage machine thinking you killed his wife. Maybe just be honest. Chris mentions he saw the evidence of Ethan being there so clearly the man’s doing just fine. And it’s not just my thoughts on this. The game makes it a point to highlight Chris’ mistake. I don’t know why Capcom went this route and I personally don’t like it. But it’s canonically true.

And yeah I don’t think anyone is accusing Chris of actually killing Ethan. We know he didn’t. He just didn’t help. Chris did more in re7. Its like Capcom wanted him in there and didn’t actually know what to do w him. His part was so small I couldn’t believe it was already over. Honestly the last 30 minutes of this game hurts my brain lol

I saw the Mia push Chris thing briefly cause a friend sent it to me and they had some questions about it. But I didn’t spend too long on it cause I guess I just didn’t care what was being said. I figure I didn’t like that Chris slammed his fist at the end in front of Mia when she’s the one who just lost a husband so we’re even.

You’re welcome to rant to me anytime. I hope I captured most of your ask because you made outstanding points and I really agree. Ultimately, it comes down to perspectives here and what people find more severe. One of my best friends doesn’t like Mia and she only saves her cause I’m watching. And I love her w my whole heart. I don’t think it requires defensiveness. We all intake media differently and it’s okay to have flawed characters.