#allie and lexi are already over it

[fundiepredictions]

Don't worry, Rhett got a photo on his own

[pico-digital-studios]

Into, Across and Beyond! Scripting: Locking In

(Funkinverse by @robovoidfrog)

After his failure to bring Bently Forceloyed into the Funkin' Society, Cam/Agent Blueballs returned to the HQ with a very nasty cut at his right eye.

Judith: Cam, what happened to you?

Cam: <Just a side-effect of failing to convince a -friend into our cause. I'll get over it.>

Judith: I really hope so. Lately, you've already been biting off more than you can chew with the later recruit attempts.

Cam: <Was Kenji successfully pulled back out of Earth-923 after his recruitment attempt was disrupted?>

Judith: Yes. He's back in the HQ now. What do you plan on doing about the bigger uprising against us?

Cam: <Wherever Salty's ended up in the multiverse, they'll be trying to track him down before The X reaches his dimension to instigate the canon event. We still need to put a stop to that threat before he spirals even further out of control.>

He approached Kenji sat down at a chair.

Cam: <What's been the more recent updates on the recruits?>

Judith didn't want to bring up how she didn't recruit Bidu (Arrow Funk BF) into the Society, so she just skipped to the worse news for them.

Judith: B3 and Lexi Robin both left the Society today and disconnected their watches, and Leo has been left unsure about what's going to happen next.

Cam: <Kenji?>

Kenji: Yeah, I'm back, after a close encounter against that Goatfriend. Man, I definitely bit off more than I could chew for that scene. I mean, then again, it gave me some more time to think about my past...

Cam: <Could you cool it with the reminiscing right now? We've already had to rescue you after you got in trouble twice; first with Gracie throwing you into a rift without your watch, then your really disgraceful failure in trying to bring BluBuni into our cause.>

Kenji: I know, man. We got sidetracked, but I promise we'll make it work this time.

Cam: <That'd better be the case, Tensei. Now, the kid who knocked you unconscious before is of similar lineage to you. An angel, having a pop star as a family member. However, he refused to ally with us and is actively rebelling against us. While we track down Salty, I want you to track down Ben and his cohorts and stop them from finding this HQ, or worse, disrupting the canon. If Gracie and Ben's groups cross paths, then you will need immediate backup. Got it?>

Kenji: Another angel? ...

Kenji's eyes lit up, recognising this was now serious business he had to treat correctly, especially with an enemy potentially on the same wavelength of power as him.

Kenji: I will not fail you.

Cam: <Good. Search any dimension available for the groups, and do NOT let them fulfil their goals.>

Kenji headed out to track down Benjamin.

Judith: What do we do about Salty when we do uncover what universe he's at?

Cam: <Erasing Salty won't fix the problem; it'll only silence the symptom. If we're going to halt The X's rise to power, we must address the cause.>

He started walking off.

Judith: There's something else I must tell you.

He stopped.

Judith: Earth-1003 experienced a canon disruption, but hasn't collapsed in on itself.

Cam: <It's bound to do so sooner or later. Don't assume it'll get better thanks to one change in that Earth's continuity.>

Judith: ... XML also turned against us, and the watches that both rogue teams are carrying were not made by us.

Cam: Oh, for...! <I should've known. That lavender scumbag was doing this all under our noses and left at the last minute. Now I've got some explanation for how they're able to travel between dimensions, even though I had cut off Gracie's watch before. Let's just cut right to the chase and only intervene if absolutely necessary. For now, our attention's on disrupting The X's flow of power and stopping Salty from breaking his upcoming canon event. Is there any update on if The X was caught or not?>

Judith: Cam, I... Our focus has been solely implanted on Salty so much that The X has been causing trouble unimpeded. His threat level as it stands could endanger the entire multiverse. Fever and Serial Designation B's group have already been severely injured from the attempt to stop him themselves!

Cam: <Then how many -friends is it going to take to stop him?>

Judith: I-. It might need everything we've got! If we're going to be doing ANY more recruiting, it needs to be for the sole purpose of putting a stop to The X. We need to be willing to do the right thing.

Cam: <We ARE doing the right thing, Judith...>

Judith: By giving a multiversal threat leeway to destroy it all? This is one situation I'm not sitting out on.

Cam: <Judith, we are NOT recruiting that kid from Earth-25219. He's an anomaly in pure nature, like his original version linked to Earth-111723 is.>

Judith: Look, I get your view on anomalies, but millions of people will be in grave danger if we keep sitting on the wayside.

Cam clenched his fist and glared at her, his injured eye in full focus.

Cam: What did I tell you, Judith? Do not question my authority.

She gulped in worry.

Judith: Y-Yes, sir.

Cam: <Now, let's go.>

They departed both to track down Salty and to find a way to stop The X, as Softie watched secretly from a safe distance.

Softie: There's too much at stake right now. I'm gonna go find Romantic and negotiate what we're gonna do about this freak. I just hope Pico's alright back home.

He headed back downstairs.

[gemwing1988]

Cuphead show: Dreamstones Edition Sneak Preview 8

In the Underworld, the Devil is in his private study, sitting in his large and comfortable chair and holding a book.

It had been a couple of days, even months since his last tried and failed attempt to steal Lexie and Cuphead’s souls, as well as Natty’s magic wand and kidnap Katie and making her his queen. He decided to take a load off and try to do some light reading to take his mind off this business with taking the soul of an infuriating kid with a cup for a head and a stubborn bride to be.

He crossed his legs and raised an eyebrow as he turnsed the book ap around to read the cover which is titled, “Controlling Your RAGE”.

The Devil opens the book to the very first page, reading it.

“Hmm…” he hummed before he licked his thumb and began to calmly turn the page, only to slowly rip the page and tore it out in sudden rage and tossed it away.

Scowling angrily, the Devil tore out more pages and threw them about all over the place. As he did so, Henchman walks, pushing in a dining cart which is carrying a golden teapot, an elegant teacup with a golden handle and a glass vase containing water and some flowers, which are a small sunflower, a daisy and a rose that are yet to bloom.

“Duh, hey!” Henchman greeted. “Looking great, Boss. Your fur’s almost all grown back.”

The Devil just growled furiously in answer and tore out more pages from his book, grunting while tossing the ripped out pages about.

Henchman gulps nervously as his eyes darted to one side. He then glances back over to the dining cart and got an idea.

“Oh! I think someone needs soothing tea poured into his favourite cup!” Henchman suggested happily as he picked up the teapot.

The mention of “cup” caught the Devil’s attention as he stopped and paused at ripping a few pages halfway.

“Cup?” The Devil echoed, looking up from the book.

Henchman smiled calmly as he gently lifted up the teapot and carefully poured in some steaming tea into the teacup. Suddenly, the Devil had a hallucination of his favourite teacup suddenly morphed into Cuphead’s… er, cup head.

And then, the flowers bloomed open, revealing miniature, fairy-sized versions of Lexie, Katie and Natty each sitting inside the rose, sunflower and daisy respectively.

“Hey, dummy! Lexie and I still have our souls!” The hallucination of Cuphead taunted.

“That’s right, Ol’ Scratch Butt!” The Lexie illusion added. “And I did NOT lose at Soul Ball! Get it through your thick skull and give it up already!”

“And I would NEVER marry you even if you were the last man on Inkwell Isles!” The illusion of Katie scoffed as she turned her away.

“Preach!” The Natty hallucination chimed in. “And there’s no way you’d ever get your grubby claws on my magic wand either, you overgrown ally cat! It works only for me, NOT some creepy old demon who throws a tantrum like a 5-year-old!

The hallucination of Cuphead made faces at the Devil while exclaiming mockingly before laughing obnoxiously. Even the illusions of the Dreamstones were laughing along.

The Devil gasps in shock before he drops his book, losing it big time.

“RRRRAAAAGGGHHH!!!” He half-roared, half-screamed.

Standing on his chair, the Devil got out his pitchfork and fired at the hallucinatory teacup and flowers, destroying the dining cart. Meanwhile, an unscathed yet startled Henchman was left stunned in shock as he was still holding the remains of the shattered teapot, unconsciously pouring tea onto the floor.

“That’s it!” The Devil snapped angrily as he slammed his pitchfork to the floor. “I’ve done everything I could think of to get Katie to be my bride and get my hands on that pink pest’s wand as well as that blonde brat’s soul!”

He continued seething as he breathed heavily in anger, he walked away from his chair while putting his hands behind his back with an evil glare.

“I’m throwing everything I’ve got at those humans and that cup!” The Devil growled.

Just then, Henchman peeks in as he pipes up, “Head!”

Annoyed, the Devil closed his eyes, trying not to take his frustration out on his minion over a simple correction (and this fic’s running gag).

“Thank you, Henchman.” The Devil replied. It’s true he had thrown everything he could think of but now it would seem that he would have to resort to extreme measures to get what he wants. He knew that the three human females are very powerful with their magic and abilities to transform into mythical creatures as well as armed with magical weapons. They are also cunning. He needs forces that will be more than a match for them. Powerful enough to subdue even Katie while not harming her. He does want his bride to be in perfect condition for their wedding after all.

Straightening up, the Devil commanded, “Now bring me my FINEST DEMONS!”

[audiothoughtsandmisc]

Gallifrey Re-Listens

I continue with my thoughts on the Gallifrey audios

Story: Square One

Lead characters: Romana II, Leela

Recurring: Cardinal Braxietel, Co-ordinator Narvin

Story Summary:

Gallifrey and its various potential rivals/allies/frenemies are holding a political summit. Co-ordinator Narvin, who last we saw him, was instigating official enquiries against Romana’s actions in the first Gallifrey audio, is there as a delegate. He’s accompanied by Leela who is ostensibly there as entertainment but is actually there to watch for shenanigans on Romana’s behalf. And naturally, shenanigans occur. Shenanigans of the groundhog day variety. Also a little murder.

(From here on there be spoilers).

Favourite story character: As this story takes place on a sparsely populated space station there aren’t a lot of particularly striking one-off characters (except for one who is striking for the wrong reasons, more on that directly), so Narvin wins this time because he’s able to be an entertaining jerk.

Least favourite character:   Delegate Flinkstab of the Neckestani. As stated, striking for the wrong reasons. Openly misogynist alien diplomat who murders dancers. One-note, with a repellent voice dripping with spittle. Honestly, it’s the repeated mentions of his fatness by other characters that annoys me the most.

Given that this is an audio, you call direct attention to a physical characteristic if you want the audience to make an association with it. It’s clear from the narrative that his fatness is just one more repellent quality we’re supposed to dislike. He is quite literally a greedy slug.

Note to all writers: Fat people exist. Fat people listen to audios. Fat people’s bodies are not indications of their morals or their general state of health. I know this is a shock, but you can in fact be fat and perfectly healthy.

Sigh.

Anyways, moving on.

General Thoughts (in no particular order)

The Antagonists

Flinkstab, we’ve already covered and his nastiness is more of a red herring as Leela naturally initially suspects him of causing the groundhog day on account of the whole ‘murdering dancers’ aspect of his personality.

Hossak – The Time Lord organiser of the conference and the person actually behind the Groundhog Day effect because people keep rudely disrupting her very importance conference with a bit of murder.

Her introduction paints her a diplomat who is different from other Time Lords in her ability to empathise with other species and her skills have garnered her a reputation as a peace maker. However, it’s just a front and it becomes clear that when Hossak is speaking to people she deems unworthy of diplomacy that her determination in peace making is only to increase her own glory.

In private she is even worse than Narvin is and in a particularly nasty way. Her diplomatic front disappears and she uses quite vulgar language. When she thinks Leela has murdered one of the entertainers, a dancer called Lexi, (Leela having, as standard for a DW universe protagonist, been found standing over the body) she goes on at length how annoyed she is, because she was hoping to use Leela as an example of how progressive the Time Lords now are in their ability to accept ‘lesser species’.  

She also repeatedly refers to the dancers (whom, yes, it is implied also do a bit of sex work) as prostitutes and sluts and on one occasion upon realising that Romana has foiled her plans, calls the President of her planet a bitch. I found this a little jarring tbh, on account of I don’t like swearing in general and I really hate when media tends to use it interchangeably with mature. It works here more or less, because it does show the gulf between Hossak’s polite façade and her actual personality.

Our last antagonist is delegate Vrell of the Monan Host. Vrell and an accomplice among the dancers try to murder another delegate and pin it on Narvin in order to disgrace Gallifrey. Unfortunately for Vrell he didn’t reckon with Hossak reversing time repeatedly.

Right. Personal Rant incoming.

Vrell is pissed that Gallifrey (our pal Narvin it turns out, in his CIA Co-ordinator role) while assisting with reconstruction efforts, has installed what amounts to a self-destruct button in his planet 'just in case'. He is therefore understandably sympathetic to the Free Time movement and working with them to curtail Gallifrey’s power and influence.

Vrell is somehow, the bad guy.

Free Time are now straightforwardly referred to as terrorists - just a reminder, based on the last story (the only one so far), if you took out the time travel aspect, they would be a plain allegory for refugees. Only the time travel aspect of the story and of course their willingness to use violence against their oppressors seems to prove them terrorists at all.

And this is the point where I as a person from a country that had to resort to a war of independence to get rid of the British Empire (only partially successful), find my shoulders starting to go up around my ears.

Like, I do get that in-story, Free Time are supposed to be dangerous extremists. But the vibe I can’t ignore is that they are terrorists as defined by a British person for a british audience i.e. People who resorted to violence and are therefore irredeemable, conveniently ignoring the fact that they were driven to that violence because British soldiers turned up one day, burned down their house, stole their land and declared that speaking their own language was illegal and then wouldn't piss off without being physically made to.

And those people resorting to violence is bad because Britain is good and the empire only murdered the bad natives, no the British museum isn't giving back all the stuff they stole, shut up.

Yeahh.

Basically, I'm not finding Gallifrey and the other temporal powers in any way sympathetic here and the real problem is I very much get the vibe that's not what the writer intended. There was a brief bit of ‘oh Gryben’s pretty shit and we’re trying to improve things, but yes Free Time kind of has a point’ in the previous audio, but that’s gone now. Free Time are now just ‘terrorists.’ They are bad, and anyone who sides with them (despite, reminder, Narvin installing a self-destruct button in their planet) – is bad.

Interesting details in this audio:

LOL Romana ruined the various antagonists’ plans almost before the story started.

I kind of love that when Romana was travelling with the doctor he would use earth references and slang and she would respond with the dignified Time Lady version of ‘say what?’ and she is now the one throwing out 20th/21st century references and everyone else is going ‘eh?’

Being our good politician, Romana lets the Monans know about Narvin’s secret self-destruct button and is able to make some deals which result in Flinkstab and Vrell being punished unofficially. Narvin gets a slap on the wrist and goes away muttering about the upcoming political inquiry. Yay I guess. Leela at least is less than satisfied with this.

It’s all very ‘no one is good, everyone is slightly dodgy, because politics’. Still it’s hard to complain too much about this, because the Gallifrey Series is basically Space Politics: The Series. I knew what I was getting into. And despite the various issues, I was pretty entertained.

Thoughts on re-listening specifically: I wonder if current Narvin (him of 'dear sweet Leela' and 'you have the most devasting smile' looks back on this occassionally and feels the urge to beat his head against a wall.

[iamtheratlord]

Gen1, 2 and 3 of my main three characters over years

Gen one being Ally, Everest and Lexi, my very first characters I ever made, of course I gave them a bit of a redesign while I was drawing them again.

Gen two with Ally, Silver and Kat. The way I drew Silver and Kat here, is not how they were actually originally designed but this time I only did minor changes to the outfit.

And last gen three with Ally, Silver and Kage, not much to say about them that probably haven't already said.

[hellonaharley]

*Watching @ofpetalsnash and @gemmaroserp talk when Ellie runs back over to Lexi and Ma. @flawedsnark drives away with two more additions to our family,I wave to them all. Lexi walked over to me, leaning into me as she said to me.*

“Four kids under eighteen are you ready my king? Lowen is on her way here. I thought it was best if the kids weren’t here for that.”

Ready as I can be. We will get all this sorted out. This is the best option on the table. I know @thequietcro is gonna be pissed,but he should have stepped up. Yeah, I agree its best the kids aren't here when Ally shows up. It kills me to think that Ellie and Kenny were told about Mr. Mayhem. 

*i hug and kiss Lexi hard. I wipe away her tears with my thumbs. I see Ally Lowmen pull into the parking lot, and She parks next to me. I see Ma greeting Ally. Lexi and I let out deep sighs as we hold hands. We walk over to Ally and Ma.*

Hey Ally, thank you for coming so quickly. It's a sticky situation and we really need your help. Also thank you for getting the charges dropped against Lexi.

“I am glad that I was able to do that for her. So I have forms already approved for emergency placement of the kids for you. We just need the school have a copy of this. Also it states that only you and Lexi can take them or pick them up at school. I am told that's the standard in cases like this.”

Well let's get the ball rolling then. Everyone ready?

Breaking Point

Breaking Point

[As I sat on the bed that I shared with @HellOnAHarley, I blinked at his question. He was willing to expand our house so Esai and @ofwhispersncros could stay with us. There were so many questions I had, but the one that screamed at me was loud and clear.] Are you sure that you want to do that? I’m not saying that I don’t want that. I do. It’s just that Esai is going to need a lot of care. All of the time, baby. He wasn’t fucking breathing that day, I have no idea how he’s sitting on our couch right now taking care of DJ like he always has. The urge to murder Diana is strong right now. [I was going to say more when I heard Esai yell for me letting me know that @ofsnarknflames was here. I popped my head around the corner and sure enough, Suzie was on the couch with Esai. I smiled and walked out to the living room and of course, Suzie had her questions. Once she was satisfied with my answers I knew that she would go find @hellonaharley and ask him all the same things. I sat next to Esai and yelled for @ofwhispersncros.] BUBBA! Come here, I want to ask you a question! [Esai smacked my thigh playfully. “Loud ass! He isn’t deaf!” I laughed and rolled my eyes.] You act like you’re new here. When am I not loud? [Esai laughed. “Well, uh, do you really want me to answer that?” My mouth fell open and I smacked Esai on the arm.] Esai Marcus John Alvarez! Jesus! [Esai pulled me across his lap as he laughed. “Hey! You asked, Mama!” I smiled as @ofwhispersncros put my legs on his lap once he sat on the couch. “Yes? What’d I do sissy?” [I’d forgotten that Tommy was most likely still adjusting to being here.] You didn’t do anything, Bubba I just have a question that I need to ask both of you and I didn’t want to repeat myself. Jax would like to build an addition to the house so that both of you can live with us. I wanted to know if you two would be okay with this. The idea of letting either one of you out of my sight makes me ill, but you guys have the option to say no. [The thought that either one would leave was causing my hands to shake and my head to hurt. @ofwhispersncros pulled me closer to him wrapping his arms around me. He knew what was going on, but no one else here did. “Take a deep breath, Lexi Grace. You’re safe and I’m not leaving you. I’m pretty sure Esai isn’t either. Just breathe can you do that?” Tommy has done this a few times in my life, but this time there wasn’t a steel door between us and he was holding me tight. I tried to steady myself and make it easier for me to speak. Esai knew about these moments but this was the first time that he had to witness it. Then a familiar comforting scent hit my nose. @gemmaroserp was home. I bolted from the couch and ran to the kitchen hugging her tightly.] Hi, Mommy. [I heard Tommy behind me but I wasn’t letting go. “Mom, she’s really raw, just hold her. She’s emotionally had it and her mind is telling her everyone is leaving her. She looked around and you weren’t there. I think she thought you left her.” Damn, Tommy wasn’t wrong, but I hated it that he was right.]

[auryborealis]

Finally a character info post of my RE8 OC :) her outfits are based on clothing I actually own ( Edit: currently designing a more setting-appropriate outfit. Edit again: pre-RE8 outfit here // updated character post)

[ I decided to change her name from Lexie to Faye since there are already two characters named Alex and Alexia in the RE universe fkjadslf ]

Name: Faye (given)  | Age: early to late 20s (physically); likely 30 | Height: 170 cm (5′7″)

Also known as “Miranda’s Watchdog” - acts as a warden for the villagers and a spy, as well as keeping an eye out for outsiders to report their presence and activity to Miranda

Main ability: Power Mimicry - can replicate abilities of others infected by the Cadou or the Mold 

Limitations: Another mutant must be in close proximity for the power mimicry to work, essentially being powerless when on her own; only one power can be imitated at a time and is temporary; extended usage can severely exhaust the body; shapeshifting (especially copying mutated forms) is not preferable since reverting to original form causes physical pain

Other abilities & skills: Enhanced agility & strength, night vision, regeneration (slower compared to the four lords, Miranda, and Ethan but can be accelerated when using the power mimicry ability), fang protrusion (when angered), canine companionship (can befriend any canines including the Varcolaci instantly; does not work on Lycans but they tend to avoid her unless provoked), uncanny stealth, sharpshooting proficiency

MORE INFO:

The more times she replicates a specific power, she will be able to develop an augmented form of that power (i.e. the amount of times she’s spent with Heisenberg has given her the abilities to reshape (or even melt) metal pieces and produce strong electric shocks). Miranda is unaware of this.

If replicating the other lords’ or Miranda’s shapeshifted mutated form, her appearance will appear differently (i.e. when copying Miranda’s mutated bird form, she would resemble more like a hummingbird instead of a crow like some mutated Tooth Fairy from ROTG)

Was an outsider who was seemingly on a solo hiking trip and was attacked one night when some Lycans came upon her camp somewhere near the outskirts of the village. Miraculously survived the attack but was on the verge of death when found by Miranda who described her as being “almost torn into two.” This attack left her with extensive scarring on her abdominal area which she feels self-conscious of. 

Awoke with seemingly no memories (likely suppression due to trauma). Memories of her prior life may have slowly been recovered over the years though she still does not express much interest in leaving and returning to her hometown, even implying that she was a runaway.

Miranda’s decision to make her a vessel for Eva was actually on pending until she heard of Rosemary.

Resides in the attic of Castle Dimitrescu. Alcina and her daughters were tasked to make observations on her as Miranda may have felt threatened by her power mimicry ability. The daughters don’t take this task seriously.

Described by Heisenberg as being “freakishly chirpy.” 

Favorite pastimes include: hunting, taking the Varcolaci on walks (all of whom she named), playing with dolls and sewing clothes with Donna and Angie, banging Heisenberg

Has been living at the village for at least 5 years prior to the events of the game.

Was the one who informed Chris of Miranda’s plan.

When allied with Ethan, I imagine her being like a Lycan & Varcolac repellent for him but as soon as she’s like 12 feet away..

Ethan:

[blog-of-reaction]

Blood and Treasure spoilers

Simon/Farouk is my new favorite bad guy. He’s good at manipulating people, he had me fooled into thinking he was just a semi-untrustworthy ally who had beef with fake Farouk (for obvious reasons) and beyond that he was just interested in learning more about the brotherhood. Yes, a bit sceevy but not all that bad.

That is, until he subtly suggest Danny, Lexi and co get out soon. At which point I began to be a bit suspicious because he should not have that information. And then it turns out he’s Farouk. And I was genuinely shocked. Nothing else, except for Lexi’s mom being part of the brotherhood was really a shock to me. I mean, there was some unexpected stuff, but the show lets you kind of piece things together just a bit faster than the main characters. (Which is something I actually loved, the fact that you learn stuff as the main characters learn it).

And is it just me or is it a really good show for what it is? Like, it could be boiled down into a mediocre movie but instead it’s 12 episodes not the usual 20, which lets it move at a nice pace. Like for real, this show is amazing. There is a large cast of characters yet you grow to like all of them and they all have character development over the course of the show. I mean, except fake Farouk who was just a generic bad guy that honestly wasn’t all that interesting, which felt like the one bad thing in the show, only for the last two episodes to be like gotcha! Now lets have the main villain get a chance to shine. (I’m not count Reece as the main villain because I have a lot to say about Reece that can be summed up into “Fuck that dude” and honestly he is also a very generic villain, if given a bit of depth. Maybe. Very very shallow depth.) I mean, I know it was mostly the last episode that did the heavy lifting in showing that Simon/Farouk is actually a genius bad guy but the second to last episode especially laid a lot of the ground work for his character to build off of.

Anyways yeah, is it just me or are pretty much all the characters likeable? (at least by the end of the show) Except for the exceptions. Which are honestly just Reece and fake Farouk who as stated before felt very bland. And even characters that I didn’t particularly like or grow fond of added a lot to the story and overall enjoyment of the show, for example the mob boss dude.

Probably my biggest two complaints are that Alina died which why? Fabio was already killed why did she need to die too? And also that the finale tied everything up except for the brotherhood or Serapis and what happened with them at the end. How hard were they hit by the decoy attack? And also are they still mad at Lexi and Danny for the whole bank robbing thing.

Also, I both hope and dont hope that Simon is the bad guy next season. I’m mostly hoping he id because as stated before he is my new favorite bad guy.

[axwalker]

The Proposal -- Wacky Drabble #100!!

Pairing: Maxwell x Rashad. 

Book: The Royal Romance

This is my first time writing another pairing that Drake and Lexie. Given that my whole taglist is for Drake x Mc and I hate bother anyone with unwanted tags, I’m not tagging anyone for this. 

A/N: I’ve always loved the idea of Rashad and Max together so I pair them in most of my fics. This is how I see their proposal. 

I’m participating in this week’s @wackydrabbles​

This week they’re celebrating their 1OOth week. CONGRATULATIONS!! 

The prompt is: “This is huge -- we need to celebrate!” 

In honor of Week 1, this drabble is exactly 500 words. 

Alexis

"I’m proposing."

Maxwell grinned at me and took another spoon of the ice cream we were sharing as if he hadn’t announced the biggest news of his life. 

“ When? How?” I screamed on the bed not caring about pausing the movie we were watching. I knew Noah and Allie’s story by heart. We had watched The notebook together 5 times in the four years we had been friends. “This is huge - we need to celebrate! What are you planning?”  

“Glad you asked.” He gave me his best Cheshire smile and rubbed his hands. 

Rashad.

I’m exhausted. I’ve been dealing with angry investors all day long. All I want is a hot bath, a glass of Chardonnay, and a calm night with Max. 

Unfortunately, my boyfriend has other plans. He tells me over the phone that Lexie and Drake had a huge fight, so we need to cheer her up. That's weird. Drake and Lexie tease each other all the time, but they never really fight. Drake would kill himself before hurting her. I’m sure Max and Lexie are being over-dramatic, but she’s always been there for us, so I’ll go for moral support. Besides, she chose my favorite restaurant. 

I step into the restaurant when I feel Max’s arms around me. “Hey, handsome.” I turned at my boyfriend’s voice, a smile already on my face. 

“Hey.” He slipped a hand around my waist and placed a light kiss on my lips. 

“I missed you today.” 

“I missed you too.” 

“Come on, guys,” Alexis says grinning. 

She takes us to one of the private rooms. The door opens and I frown as I see all of our friends. Liam sipping champagne with Chloé, Hanna laughing with Olivia, and Drake holding Lena in his arms. 

Alexis stops when I enter the room, and I notice everyone is looking at me. I loosen my tie and gulp as my gaze focuses on the wall in front of me. 

My mouth falls open. A banner on the wall reads Rash, will you marry me? in bright red letters. 

“Max—” I start to speak but stop short. He is in front of me, his face as earnest as I have ever seen it. Taking my hand, he smiles at me, and my heart nearly explodes. 

“Rash, you’re my best friend and the love of my life. You’re it for me. I want to spend the rest of our lives making you happy. Will you marry me?” 

Maxwell has given me the happiest moments of my life. There’s only one possible answer, “Yes, fuck Max, yes I will!” 

The people that matter the most to us cheers and applauds. It takes me a second to realize Max is holding a box. Then slipping an elegant golden band on my finger. Everything is a blur of tears and hugs and I love yous. 

“I love you, Max. Fuck, we’re getting married.” He kisses me again, making me the happiest man in the world. 

[tamersmile888]

Not So Berry Challenge Candie Edition: Lemon Play 14 (Part 4)

Later that night, Lemon is awakened by a knock on her front door. At 12 AM. She meets her neighbor Krishna on the porch wondering why he could possibly need to speak with her at this time of night.

From the look on his face, he's not there to discuss the neighborhood plans. “I'm sorry to bother you this late, but there's something you should know. The neighbors and I have promised to keep our mouth shut about your private project in the yard, especially in light of recent events. But while working at the rink, I overheard a conversation between a group of Metal Heads. They were talking about meeting up at their old spot. I'm guessing they mean you're new home. I'd keep an eye out, if I were you.”

Lemon manages to thank him as he walks home, but the alarm is blaring in her head. The Metal Heads know about her rocket. And they're coming to pay her a visit.

The next day, Lemon relays the message to Allie right away. He says, “I'll try to talk Lexi out of whatever it is she's planning, but I can't make any promises. You know how bad she wants to get to Sixam. Unfortunately, she's found her ticket. And she's willing to pay whatever price it takes to use it.”

Lemon's heart is racing at full speed. Knowing what she knows, trying to steal a private rocket and getting into the sky is the last of Lexi's worries. “Even if she somehow managed to fly this thing, she'll never make it past Sixam's security. I don't have clearance for Sixam. Without that permit, she will get blasted out of the sky.”

Getting a permit to enter Sixam takes a lot of paperwork, especially for foreigners without any bloodline ties to the planet. Lemon doubts someone like Lexi has the patience for international protocol. Even if it could save her own life.

Poor Allie already looks defeated. As if anything he says to Lexi wouldn't even matter at this point. “I'll try to get her to listen to reason. In the meantime, keep the gate locked. Don't let anyone in you don't know. And whatever you do, do not hand over those keys.”

Hours go by without any suspicious strangers loitering around her house or kicking down on her door. Lemon even begins to wonder if maybe Krishna was mistaking. He works at a skating rink. There's pounding music playing, loud children running around, arcade games ringing. Maybe he misheard. “Petal beds” is a logical alternative. Maybe he was eavesdropping on a gardening club?

When Allie calls, she has a bad feeling. For one, Allie rarely calls. He's more of a drop-in kind of guy. Something's definitely up.

His voice goes in and out due to the thunderstorm, but Lemon hears two words very clearly. “Lexi's coming.”

Previous | Next

[infinitefandomimagines]

Consequences - Harry Bingham x reader

WARNINGS: ANGST, LANGUAGE, CRYING, 

REQUEST: Hiiii, I saw that you were taking The Society requests and I was curious to know if I could submit a request for the reader being with Harry and finding out about Harry, Campbell and Lexie’s scheme with Allie and Will and being super conflicted. If possible could it be super angsty? I love your work so much, thank you for taking the time to read this even if you don’t decide to write it. Love ya xo

+

Hello!! Love your work, can I please request a Harry Bingham angst imagine?

-

You weren't supposed to find out, that much was obvious. The shock on Harry's face the second you confronted him in his room told you he didn't plan on telling you, and the disappointment on your face told him how screwed he really was.

"So what exactly was your plan, huh? Keep me in the dark forever, or just until you and Lexie were the new rulers of New Ham?" Venom dripped from each word as you tried to mask just how truly hurt you were, how betrayed you felt.

Harry opened his mouth to respond, but as far as you were concerned those questions were rhetorical, you weren't finished saying your part.

"On day one you said it was just you and me, that no matter what we could trust each other, that we would have each other's backs. We promised-You. Promised." Your voice was starting to betray you, shaking as your emotions tried to break through, but you refused to cry, refused to let yourself lose control. "Did you even think of how this genius plan of yours would affect me? How it would affect anyone who isn't you?"

"Campbell promised you'd be safe, I made sure-"

"Oh yeah, cause Campbell is so fucking trustworthy!" Your voice was slowly climbing in volume despite your attempts to stay as calm as possible. "Campbell doesn't give a shit about me, or you, or anyone in this town, he only cares about himself. Can't you see he's just manipulating you? You really think you're gonna be the one making the decisions? You're his fucking puppet Harry."

"Give me some credit, I have it handled, I-"

You cut him off again, "Can you honestly tell me that you've actually thought of the consequences of your little plan?"

Y/N-"

"I mean honestly Harry do you think of anyone but yourself? Did you even consider-"

"Would you let me fucking talk?" He yelled, a bit louder than he intended. The outburst startled you, the surprise clear on your face. Harry let out a frustrated sigh, running his hand through his hair, "I wanted to tell you, alright? But we couldn't risk telling anyone who wasn't involved and have the plan getting out."

"And what exactly was this plan of yours? Have the guard, the people we all trust to keep us safe, storm Allie's house, and what? Arrest her? Then what? Take over by force and arrest anyone who gets in your way?"

"I know it sounds bad-"

"Bad?" You were shocked at how ignorant he was, did he really not realize his harmful this could before the town? "Harry everything is finally working, stores haven't been raided, people are doing their jobs, an expedition is set to go out soon, and the committee on going home is actually making progress. This town is fragile, even the smallest shift in structure could cause a panic. Your plan would shatter this town."

"You're telling me you're seriously okay with picking up trash every day for what could possibly be the rest of your life?"

"Yeah it sucks, I don't like it either, but it works! What Allie is doing works."

"Yeah well not for me," he fired back, the two of you now in a big yelling match, "Okay, this place sucks! Everything about it sucks! The food, the jobs, the housing, the leaders." Harry felt bad for yelling at you, he hated fighting with you no matter how big or small the argument was, but everything was getting so heated that it was becoming too easy to say regrettable things

"We're on our own! We don't get to live in luxury anymore, Harry! We have to make sacrifices in order for things to work around here, I know you think you can do better than Allie, and who knows maybe you can, but this is our life now, we can't do much better!" Your voice was starting to get raw and scratchy from the amount of yelling, tears stung the back of your eyes, and you were beyond exhausted.

"Yes we can, we can do so much better! Why can't you just trust me on this? I thought we promised to have each other's backs?" He said the last part almost mockingly, and you felt your anger skyrocket, so much for trying to remain calm and collected.

"No!" You yelled in his face, "No, you don't get to throw that in my face, not after all the shit you've pulled! Going behind my back, lying to me, lying to everyone in this town!" Your voice got weaker with each word, finally reaching your breaking point.

Everything was so fucked up, Harry's head was so far up his ass that deep down you knew there was no changing his mind, and the right thing to do was so obvious, you needed to tell Allie and Will, so why weren't you already doing that? Why were you still here trying to convince Harry to change?

You knew why, and you hated it, hated how head over heals you were for him, hated how you still believed in him, hated how even after everything he'd hidden from you, you still loved him. You were stressed, angry, conflicted, but above anything you were just so tired. Tired of the fighting, the yelling, the chaos, the unshakeable feeling something horrible could happen at any moment, you just wanted to be home, back with your family. You'd give anything to have your old life back, Friday night football games, date night every Saturday with Harry, stupid high school drama and cast parties.

You sat down on the edge of Harry's bed, hunched over with your elbows resting on your knees and you head in your hands, the tears you'd been holding back finally finding their way to the surface. Your body shook as you took in ragged breaths, small sobs escaping your lips.

It seemed as though your breaking point happened to be Harry's as well, the last thing he wanted to do was hurt you, that's why he was so adamant with Campbell about you being safe no matter what, that you would have a say in what happened after he was finally in charge. He knew you wouldn't like the plan the second it was made, and maybe that alone should have told him there was a flaw or two with it, he considered you one of the smartest people in both West Ham and New Ham, but it was the only way to fix things and have a better life. Right?

But seeing you like this? It almost made him want to throw the whole plan out the window. Almost.

Harry took a deep breath, exhaling slowly as he crouched down in front of you, his mind searched for some magic phrase that would make everything better, but he knew there was no such thing.

"Y/N," he whispered softly, "Baby look at me."

When you didn't budge he gently gripped your wrists and pulled your hands away from your face, revealing red eyes and tear-stained cheeks. He held your hands in between his, lifting them to his lips and placing a soft kiss to your knuckles.

"I am so sorry I didn't tell you, I should have been honest with you the second Campbell mentioned the plan," your jaw tightened at the mention of Campbell, telling Harry to keep him out of the conversation. "I never meant to hurt you, and if I could go back and do it all over again I would, I'm sorry, Y/N."

He was genuine, and that gave you the silver of hope you needed to believe that maybe, just maybe, you could stop him from doing something he couldn't take back.

"Then tell Allie, stop all of this before it gets out of hand, run for office and try to win fairly," you pleaded. "Please, Harry."

Harry took a deep breath, his eyes fluttering shut as he prepared to answer. He didn't know who this would hurt worse, you or him.

"I'm sorry, Y/N," he couldn't even look at you as he spoke, his gaze meeting the ground instead. The sliver of hope you'd felt before had been crushed, your heart dropping into your stomach when it finally hit that there was no changing his mind. You were now the one with a choice, tell Allie and betray Harry, or support Harry and go against what you felt was the right thing to do.

"It's not fair Harry," you said in a small, squeaky voice, "It's not fair for you to put me in this situation." You were right, he couldn't argue with that.

"You don't have to do anything, just keep quiet and I promise you will be safe, but if Campbell finds out you know and you're not on board. . . Just, can you promise me you won't say anything?" Harry's eyes finally met yours.

"I don't know, Harry," you whispered, looking down.

"What?"

"I don't fucking know, okay?" You raised your voice, standing up abruptly. "You're asking me to chose between you and what I know is right for this town! I- I just need some fucking air."

You pushed past Harry, wiping stray tears from your cheeks as you rushed towards the door. You gripped the cold metal knob and pulled the door open. However, a hand came down on the door, pushing it shut.

You whipped around to see Harry, his arm extended past your head, leaning against the door to prevent you from opening it again. You let out a sharp breath, scoffing at how actions. You looked up at him in disbelief, but it seemed as though he couldn't quite meet your gaze.

"Open the door, Harry," you said in a dangerous and low voice.

"I'm sorry, but I can't let you leave." His tone held a sense of pain in it. He didn't enjoy what he was doing. Nonetheless, he shifted his body so that he now stood with his back pressed to the door, completely blocking your only way out.

"Fucking what?"

"I'm sorry, I can't until I know you won't tell Allie and Will."

You reached for the doorknob again, even though you knew your efforts would be unsuccessful. Harry grabbed your wrist, his grip was gentle, but that didn't do anything to calm the rage bubbling up inside of you.

You instantly ripped your wrist from his grip, giving him a few choice words in the process. Frustration and anger burned inside of you, and you could feel more tears stinging the back of your eyes.

You turned your back to Harry, walking over to the window at the far end of his room. Soft footsteps echoed from behind you as Harry hesitantly walked towards you, choosing to stop a couple feet away from you.

"Y/N I-"

"Just get out, Harry." You said coldly.

"What?"

"If you won't let me leave the least you can do is give me some space."

There were a few seconds of silence before you heard Harry sniffle. "I'm sorry," he whispered in a broken voice. When you heard the door open and softly close you turned around to make sure he'd actually left.

When you saw he did, you collapsed onto his bed, letting out all of your emotions.

Everything was so fucked.

[imaginefan]

Come Clean *Part 3*

Luke Holbrook X Reader

Word Count: 1510

Requested: Anon

Request: Plz make a part 3 of come clean, it was awesome. Thank you.

*Part 2*

As you had asked the boys and Helena had come through the back of the house and Kelly came over through the front, you were leaning against your kitchen island when they opened your back door, you smiled as you saw Grizz "did you bring the reinforcements?" You asked.

"I don't think you can call them that yet." He dismissed you and you looked at him and nodded. "Guess your right, I should explain everything to you guys first." You sighed putting your cup in the sink before pulling yourself up to sit on the counter gesturing for them all to make themselves comfortable. "What are we doing here?" Will asked. "Well, I assumed that all of you are unhappy with your current living conditions?" You asked. "So what are you going to do? Overthrow Campbell and Harry?" Will asked. "Well actually yeah." You nodded, the confidence that came off of you left no room for dismissal of your plan. "You're going to get yourself killed," Helena said and you looked at her and shrugged. "Better that I died trying." You said after a second "look I have a plan, there's some information that had come to light about the votes, I was told that they lied about them being rigged." You started. "We knew that already," Gordie said and you nodded. "I know you did, the important part is that they are keeping Allie in the house she in her room and all of the windows are bolted but that doesn't matter because we're going to walk her out of the front door, see if a town meeting goes wrong everyone is going to be in the Church which means that someone can sneak in and get to Allie." You explained. "He's going to realise if one of us isn't at the Church," Helena informed you and you nodded. "I know that, none of us are going to get her out, in fact, you are all going to be at the Church making sure that no one gets out. I'm going to be making a big rousing speech, the person that is going to be getting Allie is Luke." You answered. "Lexie is going to get her." You answered. "Lexie?" Gordie asked, "she hated Allie last time that we checked." "Well from what I can see she's not happy with the way things are being run at the moment, I bet that they don't even ask her before they do anything they promised a joint leadership but have seen her make a single announcement with Harry?" You asked. "I haven't spoken to her but I won't be able to talk to her without it looking suspicious so I'm going to have to ask one of you to ask her if you go along with this plan." You continued to explain "once Allie is in the Church we will ask the people there to make their decision, ask them who they want to lead and hope that they don't choose Campbell." You shrugged. "That plan sounded really good until you said hope," Gordie smirked and you looked at him and rolled his eyes. "No one is going to trust another vote and if we force them to follow someone then we are no better than Campbell, it'll just have to be a choice made there and then." You explained. "You think that this is going to work?" Will asked. "I hope it will but if it doesn't no one will know that you were involved, I'll be the one making the speech, you guys are literally sitting in the Church watching." You answered with a shrug. "That won't work," Kelly said softly. "They'll just arrest you and stop you from talking if you try to do this on your own." "Well if you intend to be more involved then you all know that it means that you'll be arrested and locked up should this all go very wrong." You said and they all nodded. "Well then Helena, Kelly do you wanna go talk to Lexi? While me and the boys make a more dramatic plan?"

Lexi was actually easily convinced and before you knew it the day had come about and you were sitting in the Church, the meeting started as usual and Helena made the announcements that she needed to before handing over to Harry and that was when you spoke, you pulled yourself up so that you were sitting on the back of the bench "Before you get into you rousing speech about whatever the hell it is today can I ask you a question?" You asked leaning forward with your elbows resting on your knees. "What?" Harry asked. "It's about those rigged votes." You smiled as you rested your cheek on your hand. "Luke! Jason!" Campbell called and smiled. "They're in a bit of a bind right now" You pointed at them at the back of the Church Kelly and Will standing behind them having handcuffed them. "Now anyway about those rigged votes, there's been some new information that has come up based on all of that, I mean has anyone other than the ones in power now seen the votes to confirm that they were actually rigged?" You asked, the whispers that followed made you smirk. "Lexie was-" "Where is Lexie? I haven't seen her make an announcement with you since you came into power, almost like you used her to get there and then threw her away when you knew that you didn't need her anymore." You shrugged. "It's true I haven't been involved in a decision in months." You looked up onto the second-floor balcony across the room from you and smirked as Lexie leant against the railing with Allie standing next to her "your guards suck by the way." "Anything that you want to admit to before I start talking again?" You asked as you looked between Campbell and Harry, Harry looked at Campbell who looked about ready to kill you. "No... Okay, I'll keep talking then, as I was saying there is no evidence of the votes being rigged and there was one person in this room who you got to confirm it in the first place, so Luke... Were the votes rigged?" The silence that took over the room was deafening. "Alright let's make this interesting." You pulled out a gun "how good of a shot do you think I am?" You pointed the gun at Helena, her eyes widened as she looked over at Luke who attempted to break free of Will's hold on him. "Luke answer the question." Helena pleaded. "No! No they weren't, don't shoot anyone" He pleaded and you smiled. "One last thing." You said and they looked at you "you're all going to choose right now who you want do you want to lead you. Harry or Allie, let's start with Harry who wants everything to continue the way that it is?"  There were a few raised hands but not enough for you to worry about. "And what about Allie who wants Allie to lead?" There were more hands raised and you smiled as you looked at Campbell "Looks like you're out." You pointed the gun at him now. "You won't shoot me." He smirked. "Try me." You goaded him. "Take him away," Allie ordered and Grizz came over cuffing Campbell and taking him away Will followed close behind him.

Later that evening you were at home when there was a knock at the door, you opened it and were surprised to see Luke "what are you doing here?" You asked. "I wanted to talk to you." He answered, "about everything that happened before." "What?" You asked. "The love triangle thing you talked about before." He said. "Don't worry about it just go home to Helena." You dismissed him. "I can't." He answered. "What?" You asked. "The wedding was called off, she said that she couldn't stay with me because I lied-" "But you lied to save her-" "I lied to save you." He answered. "Me?" You asked. "I never thought that you liked me that way, that was why I dated Helena and Campbell must have known that I wasn't happy, that I wanted you because he threatened to hurt you and then you kept digging and he threatened you again," Luke explained. "I just wanted to make sure that you knew that I liked you and that I want to be with you." "And Helena?" You asked. "We ended the engagement before I even found out that you liked me." He answered honestly "after I lied to save you I realised that I couldn't marry her so I told her that I couldn't marry her. I don't want to rush anything but I wanted you to know." "Luke we can't just go back to the way that things used to be." You said. "I know but can we start over?" He asked. "I guess I couldn't give you another chance based on this new information." You agreed. "Should we start with a movie night?"

Requests and general question!

[gemwing1988]

Heart, Soul & Mind — Mugman

Warning, this fanmade trope contains spoilers for the fanfiction, please read with care and enjoy.

Cuphead’s younger twin brother and one of the allies to the Dreamstones. He is one of the three people Lexie first meets on the Inkwell Isles after getting pulled into the book. He, along with his brother, does everything he can to help out his new friends to unravel the mystery of the Devil’s plans for the girls and get them safely. Sadly, neither he, nor his brother and their friends could predict what the Devil had already planned…

Adorkable: With his big blue nose and goofy expressions, he is so endearing.

Affectionate Nickname: Just like in the cartoon adaptation, he is often referred as “Mugsy”. He is also often called “Mugs”.

Beware the Nice Ones: As sweet and Adorkable as he is, Mugman is now pushover when it comes to defending his brother and new friends, proving he’s just as tough and good with a magic Finger Gun just like Cuphead.

Blue is Calm:

Blue is Heroic: His nose, shorts and stripes in his straw are blue and he’s among the group of heroes.

The Bus Came Back: During the crashing of the coronation/wedding, Mugman regains his soul thanks to Misterie, getting back into action.

Children Are Innocent:

Even the Loving Hero Has Hated Ones: Mugman has many good reasons to despise King Dice but in the sequel, “Playing With Loaded Dice”, he downright hates him for kidnapping Lexie. And Dice certainly isn’t winning the young mug over since he did steal his soul in the first story. So it’s understandable that someone as sweet as Mugsy would hold such a grudge.

Finger Gun:

Hardcore Adorable: Don’t let his dopey yet cutesy appearance fool ya, he’s just as much as a tough cookie as his brother.

Mythology Gag: When the guys are putting on disguises to sneak into the Devil’s Casino to rescue the Dreamstones, Mugman’s choice of disguise bares similar resemblance to the outfit worn by Jerry, the shady character from The Cuphead Show!, who was also voiced by Mugsy’s cartoon counterpart, Frank Todaro.

Nice Guy: He’s a precious cinnamon roll of a mug.

The Nicknamer: Played with. He affectionately refers to either Katie, Lexie and Natty as “Miss Katie”, “Miss Lexie” or “Miss Natty”.

Put On a Bus: Unfortunately in Chapter 14: This Ain’t No Identity Crisis!, poor Mugsy has to be out of action after King Dice pulled a dirty trick and forcefully stole his soul. Until the near climax…

Sacrificial Lamb: Mugman has the misfortune to be the first victim to get his soul taken away by force. He is temporarily bedridden under Misterie and Elder Kettle’s care until the heroes defeat villains and get his soul back.

Sibling Team: With his big bro, Cuphead.

Took a Level in Hardcore:

Too Good for This Sinful World: Thankfully, he doesn’t die but he does sadly ends up getting his soul stolen by King Dice and is forced to be out of action until Cuphead and the Dreamstones get it back.

[cadiacore]

Hiii!!! Okay so I really love my friends and my support system so imma gush about them for a hot sec!

My friends are literally the most supportive and loving human beings on this planet and honestly they mean more to me than any other friends I’ve had in my life. They care so deeply and I can’t thank them enough for being in my life and I have so much love and respect for them. They have put up with my shit, my chaos, my depression spells, and me being overly excited about everything. That’s a lot lol. Let me tell you about my friends individually,,,

@deans-daffodils // Aidia: this is one of my bestest friends on this earth. She is super smart, loving, caring and will bend over backwards to try and make you smile! Though sometimes that can be overwhelming for her but she would do it over and over again just to see someone smile. She’s very talented at making gifs and many other great things! She is so open to making new friends and showing support in anyway she can! So I highly recommend you message her and be her friend too 🥺❤️

@hollandharrison // Rosie: now I swear on everything,,, she is the PUREST SOUL ALIVE! She loves giving hugs, support and love anyway she can. We love to fangirl over one of our faves every single day ❤️ she always is there for me when I need someone to just listen and send hugs. I consider her one of my bestest friends too and I mean that. She has been my rock and I’m so glad I’ve met her. Please go show some love to her too! She deserves every bit of love the world can offer. 🥺

@ariistotles // Ari: this is another one of my bestest friends, she has been so supportive, loving and helpful in life. I’m so glad I met her like she has helped me so much and she is considered my little sister (I adopted her (not really but yk)). She is so so talented and I tell her that all the time (she doesn’t believe me!) I would do anything for her and she would do anything for me. I love watching the umbrella academy with her and getting hyped every time five or Ben comes on the screen! I love all the chaotic comments we say to each other and I just love her so much. Highly recommend talking to her too (at this point you might as well just talk to any of them bc they are all such beautiful creatures)

@preciouspparkers // Cait: now. This is the loml. She is the sweetest and most genuine people I’ve ever met. She is always there for me and yes we have our ups and downs but that is perfectly okay ❤️ I love her so fucking much. Like I’m so happy with her and I know we’ve only been together for a short period of time but like I know that she makes my heart thump a million times a minute. She is single handily the most beautiful and wonderful creature I have ever met. She’s my everything. She’s my world. My darling 💕😭

@julesextra-account // Jules: omg y’all,,, she’s so pure and so fucking sweet! She’s my country accent buddy and my YEEHAW Partner (yes I just said that). Me and Jules have recently become friends but I already love her so much. She’s so kind 🥺😭 she’s also so so so precious and I 100% would die for her.

@the-crazy-fanfictionist // Maya: MAYA!!! Yes you are definitely included in this bc you are truly an amazing person 🥺❤️ Y’all I love sending dark humor memes to her and she is so funny omg,,, the crackhead things we say are so hilarious (especially at 1 am lol). I love her so much and again I would die for her!

To all my new friends: hi, I already adore each one of you so much and I’m so happy I met y’all. I can’t wait to get to know each one of you more and grow our friendships 💗

@halfblood-princess-505 // Shreya

@tua-five-hargreeves // Allie

@felineempress // Maria

@underestimatedheroine // Ava

@notsosmexy // Kenzie

@lexifonseca // Lexi

And many more. Just know I adore y’all so much ❤️ thank you for being my friend x

[lost-n-stereo]

A/N: For anon who prompted me “Hallie+Sunshine”. Have a little 4th of July summer fic :)

and the sparks start flying (like the fourth of july)

She gets invited on a camping trip the first week of June, and when she says an invite she means that she quite literally received an e-vite from Helena through Facebook. There’s a group page and everything, with people RSVP’ing and talking about what alcohol they are going to bring and which campsites around the state are the best.

It’s not surprising to see the usual suspects on the list of people going. If Helena is setting it up that means that Luke is definitely going, since they are engaged and it’s just sort of a given. If Luke’s going then Clark and Jason will tag along with their girlfriends, and if the girls go then all of their friends will too. It’s a bit of a surprise to Allie though when she sees Harry RSVP and she kind of wants to comment on his post about how boat shoes aren’t generally camping attire but it feels shitty and she doesn’t want to be a dick for no reason.

The trip is planned for Fourth of July weekend, which is a little cliché but she doesn’t mind all that much. She orders a new tent off Amazon and an expensive pair of hiking boots because she’s not sure where exactly they are going yet but she feels like she should be prepared for anything. Becca calls her and asks if they should do some bathing suit shopping before the trip and they spend the day trying on different suits and drinking their daily calories in the form of food court smoothies.

It’s one of those rare times that the fourth falls on a weekend, so she takes the Friday before and the Monday after off from work and thanks the gods above that she works with a majority of older people that don’t care about the holiday weekend. They decided on a state park that has campgrounds that will fit all of them, she thinks it’s nearing twenty plus people going at last count, and a giant lake with tons of water sports and activities to do. She heard a rumor that someone rented out the entire stretch of sites on one side of the lake so they wouldn’t be bothered. No one said it was Harry but she can make an educated guess that was his doing.

There’s an honest to god party bus taking a large group of people to the lake but she decides to hitch a ride with Elle instead. The girl has a kick ass Jeep with no doors and it feels good flying down the highway with their camping gear piled high in the back and old school hip hop blaring out of the radio. Elle takes a sharp turn into the campground’s parking lot and Allie laughs as her body jerks out of the open door and her hair flies into her face as they jerk to a stop.

“You’re an absolute maniac,” Allie says on a laugh as they unbuckle their seat belts. “I fucking love it.”

Elle just flashes a grin and gets to work on unloading her tent from the back of the Jeep.

“Need some help?”

Allie rolls her eyes at the sound of Harry’s voice behind her and he’s grinning and eating an apple with a pocket knife when she turns around.

“I think we got it, thanks.”

He just shrugs, throws her a wink before heading over to where a group of people are unloading cases of beer out of the back of someone’s pickup. The parking lot is a madhouse. People are everywhere and Allie wonders in amusement if Helena is currently freaking out because there definitely were not this many RSVP’s in her Facebook group.

As if she conjured up the woman herself, Helena rushes up to Allie with a panicked look on her face. There are people Allie’s never seen falling out of backseats in fits of giggles, girls running around in barely there bikinis and dude-bros in board shorts lining up shots on the tailgate of a truck. It’s like a very cliché music video set to the sound of Post Malone pumping from someone’s car speakers.

“Are you seeing this shit?”

Allie laughs and reaches behind the seat for her backpack. “Yeah, it’s nuts. Who even are all these people?”

“Friends of friends,” Helena says, rolling her eyes as she takes a headcount. “There has to be over fifty people here already. It’s a good thing Harry rented so many campsites otherwise we’d be totally fucked.”

It’s the first confirmation she’s heard of Harry being the party benefactor but it doesn’t surprise her at all. He was always the one throwing giant parties in high school. His parents even rented an entire hotel for their senior prom, not just a banquet hall but the entire fucking thing.

“Let’s just be thankful no families with children will have to be in a tent next to that.” Allie points with her chin to where Lexie is currently pushed up against the side of a Suburban with a guy kissing down the column of her throat. “So much for a low key camping trip, ‘Lena.”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine,” Harry says, coming up to them with a Stella bottle hanging between his fingers. She wonders why he’s just randomly popping up when she knows his friends are here somewhere. Allie notices for the first time that he’s wearing flip flops, briefly stunned by the sight of his sort of bare feet. She’s not sure if she’s ever seen this man’s toes in the entire time they’ve known each other. The four years since high school have been good to him but that’s not a surprise. He has unimaginable wealth and a great job on top of that so she’s not shocked that he’s doing so well for himself so soon after graduating.

She went to school for accounting, ended up at a decent firm after graduating where the median age is mid forties, but she’s living in Brooklyn now which she loves and that’s what counts. Last she heard Harry was living in Manhattan but she doesn’t go that way often and someone like him probably wouldn’t be caught dead in her neighborhood.

Not that she cares or anything because what Harry Bingham does with his time has nothing to do with her.

“Better hope you get your deposit back,” Allie quips as she grabs a bottle of water out of her pack. Harry holds up his beer and asks if she wants one of her own. “No, Harry. It’s like nine-thirty in the morning. And don’t even say it’s five o’clock somewhere.”

Harry chuckles and takes a deep pull from the bottle. She shouldn’t think it’s sexy how he licks his lips after but well, it is. He smirks a little like he knows what she’s thinking and she rolls her eyes.

“I wasn’t going to,” he tells her. “I was just going to remind you that it’s Friday, you’re not at work at that stuffy job you go to every day, and it’s a fucking holiday. Enjoy yourself for once, Pressman.”

There’s not an ounce of heat in his words but it still cuts a little because she has fun, thank you very much. She might spend a lot of time in her studio apartment and she may only have a small group of good friends but she’s happy and that’s what matters. Helena just looks between them with her eyebrows raised, as if she’s waiting for world war three to start right there in the parking lot but Allie just shrugs, grabs the beer from his hand and chugs the rest of it before using her thumb to wipe foam from the side of her lip. Her heart pounds a little as Harry tracks the movement with laser focus and then she’s the one smirking, pushing the empty bottle into his chest.

“Looks like you need a refill.”

The absolute shock on his face makes her feel better than it probably should and Helena’s jaw is practically on the floor.

“Well played, Pressman.” Harry tilts his bottle towards her in what may be a show of respect and leaves again without a word.

“What the hell was that?” Helena presses when he’s out of earshot. Allie just shrugs, asks Helena if she’d mind helping her grab her tent out of the back of the Jeep so she can set up camp somewhere.

***

It’s dark when the real crazy stuff starts to happen.

There’s a group of people running around naked because someone thought it would be a good idea to go skinny dipping in a national park. Allie is pretty sure there are supposed to be park rangers patrolling but she supposes it wouldn’t be hard for a certain someone to grease a few palms to keep them away for the night.

Speak of the devil…

“You look like you could use a drink.”

An ice cold White Claw drops into her lap and she gasps, her thighs bare since she’s just in a bikini top and denim cutoffs.

“What in the fuck, Harry!”

He just laughs, drops down beside her in a pair of bright orange board shorts and nothing else. “Just paying you back for that little stunt with my beer this morning.”

Allie rolls her eyes, pops the cap of the cocktail and drinks half of it in one go. “You deserved that. You’re always antagonizing me. Been that way since we were kids.”

“Bullshit,” he says but when she looks at him out of the corner of her eye he’s grinning a little, fingers playing with the string of his shorts. It’s fucking distracting. “Maybe I was flirting.”

Her cheeks heat a little but she knows Harry, has known him practically all her life. Maybe sometimes things he’s done could be considered flirting but that’s only because he flirts with everyone.

“I’m sure,” she says, finishing off the drink and tossing the can into a bin nearby designated for recycling. “Shouldn’t you be over there with your friends?”

“They aren’t as fun to fuck with as you are.” 

Allie points at him. “Ah! So you admit you like fucking with me!” 

There’s no denying his eyes go a little dark and then she’s wishing that she could take that back because now it just sounds dirty. She’s expecting a dirty comment in return but that’s not at all what she gets.

“Maybe I just like talking to you. Maybe…”

She tilts her head a little when he doesn’t continue. “Maybe what, Harry?”

His teeth scrape across his bottom lip a little as he thinks but then he shakes his head like he’s literally trying to erase a thought from his mind. He stands up abruptly, brushes a little dirt and sand off his board shorts and throws her a casual wink.

“It’s nothing. Have a good night, Al.”

***

She wakes up with the hangover from hell and finds herself cuddled in between Sam and Grizz.

“What the shit?”

Grizz mumbles a little, presses his nose into the back of her neck and she giggles. “Shhh, you’re so comfortable and my brain is heavy.”

It makes no sense at all but she also completely gets it because her brain feels heavy too. It’s hot as fuck in this tent, which she realizes now is not her own. She tries to piece together what happened after Harry left her the night before. Not that she got blackout drunk or anything but she did let Becca and Grizz talk her into Jägerbombs which are never a good idea.

Sam’s eyes blink open and then he smiles and it reminds her of the sleepovers they used to have as kids. She signs, asks him if he wants some coffee and he nods, so she gets up to go find the little brew pot that Helena said she was bringing.

She can see the row of little camp areas stretching all the way down to the end of the lake, each with its own barbecue and campfire area. Every site can fit three or four tents and the one she set her tent up in is shared with Grizz and Sam, Helena and Luke, and Becca. Grizz’s tent is huge with multi rooms and she knows it’s probably because he’s really into spending time outdoors, fishing and camping all over the state. What they are all doing this week borders somewhere on glamping, because she’s almost positive she saw someone set up portable solar panels to run some gaming station and a small television. 

There’s a pack of water bottles next to their makeshift “kitchen” by the campfire so she grabs one, empties it into the brew pot and waits for it to get hot so she can make coffee for her and her friends. Most of the campsites are quiet, which makes sense because it’s eight in the morning and the party raged until at least six this morning. When the coffee is ready she brings a cup to Sam, who puts a finger to his lips and nods to Grizz, who’s already passed out again. Allie grins, hands him the cup and signs have a good morning to him before quietly leaving the tent. 

“Top of the morning to you, Pressman.” 

Harry is helping himself to a cup of coffee from the pot and Allie rolls her eyes. “Don’t you have someone else to bug this morning, Bingham?” 

“I like bugging you more,” he says with a smirk and she doesn’t miss the way he doesn’t say maybe like he did the night before. It’s like he’s finally acknowledging the fact that he’s always trying to get under her skin. She used to think it was because he was annoyed by her but after last night she wonders if maybe she was wrong about that. “Cup of coffee?” 

Allie huffs and takes it from him. “I made that for me and my friends, if you couldn’t tell.” 

Harry puts on a fake pout, which makes his lips look really fucking good and she tries to ignore the little flutter in her stomach when she notices it. “I’m hurt, Al. I thought we were friends?” 

“Why are you even up this early?” She asks, ignoring the question of their friendship. It’s not that they aren’t friendly but they aren’t exactly hanging out on weekends either. Which...okay so she knows they are quite literally hanging out on a weekend right now but that doesn’t count. They have just always known each other, from him being in the same class all through school as Cassandra. She remembers one year when they were science partners and he was at their house once a week during the second semester to complete a project. Cassandra had complained about him being lazy and incompetent but Allie knows he put effort into it because she’d sometimes hang out in the kitchen while they worked and he was always putting in his own ideas just to have her sister throw them out. Which, if you know her sister, is par for the course on pretty much everything. 

“Work hours,” Harry says with a roll of his eyes. “No matter what I do or how late I stay up the night before I’m always up at sunrise. What about you?” 

“Same,” she admits. “I feel like a total bum if I sleep past ten.” 

They both laugh and she realizes they are actually having a conversation, even if it’s stupid and doesn’t really mean anything. But he’s not picking on her and she’s not throwing attitude back at his snark and it’s actually sort of nice. 

“So I hear we have a busy day this morning,” he says as he lowers himself into a folding chair that’s set up near the unlit campfire. “Helena has planned our day down to the minute, it seems.” 

Allie chuckles, pulls up a chair and sets it near him but where she can still see his face. “Sounds like my girl.” 

“Actually it’s my girl,” Luke says from behind her and they all laugh. “You made coffee? Allie, you’re a lifesaver.” 

When she looks at Harry she sees a little flash of disappointment in his eyes and she can’t help but wonder if it’s because it’s not just the two of them anymore.

She also wonders if the same look of disappointment flashes in her own eyes when Harry gets up, tells them he’s off to get ready for the day, and leaves her and Luke to wake up the rest of their friends. 

***

Her feet hurt. 

It was Helena’s idea to take a drive up the road to a hiking trail less than ten minutes away from the lake. And while Allie might have remembered to purchase new hiking boots what she forgot to do was break them in before wearing them. 

“You look miserable,” Harry comments as they move up the trail, which just seems to go up and up and up. He’s not even breaking a sweat and she sees well worn boots on his feet which surprises her. “When was the last time you went hiking?” 

“Um...never?” 

Harry chuckles and pulls her to the side, his hand on her arm as he guides her to a large rock just off the path. “Let me help,” he says, kneeling down in front of her and unlacing her boot. Helena passes by, eyebrows high, but Harry just waves her off, tells the group they will catch up. 

“What are you doing?” Her voice is far more breathless than she wants it to be but holy shit, Harry Bingham is crouched in front of her, picking up her sore foot delicately and placing it on his knee. 

“Helping,” he says simply as he unlaces her boot and works it off her right foot, followed by her sock. After repeating the same steps with her other foot, he places them gently on the ground before standing in front of her. “Lift your legs.” 

“Excuse me?” Her face flushes but he just smirks, grabs each foot and places them on his thighs with her knees together.

“You need to elevate your feet,” he explains as he positions her just so. “It’ll work, trust me.” 

They probably look ridiculous, him standing in front of her with a pair of dark sunglasses covering his eyes and his hair a ruffled mess and her perched on a rock with her feet on his legs. But he wasn’t wrong and after a few minutes she can feel the pain lessening by the second. 

“How long do I have to do this?” 

Harry looks down at his watch. “About fifteen minutes and we’ve been here for eight so get comfortable.” 

Allie laughs and tilts her head back. “You’re not sitting on the hardest rock known to man. My bony ass can’t handle this.”

“Your ass isn’t that bony,” he says but it’s not an insult, she can tell. It’s definitely a compliment, and a heated one at that.

“Spend a lot of time checking out my ass, Bingham?” 

Harry just shrugs, a little grin playing on his lips as he looks down at her. Her cheeks heat again and she rolls her eyes for something to do because she’s not exactly sure what to say back. The last thing she expected this morning was to be hiking with Harry, who’s apparently some sort of expert, and then have him basically admit to checking her out before. 

“We should catch up with everyone,” she says a few minutes later and he checks his watch again, nods and moves her legs carefully so she can put her shoes and socks back on. “Thanks,” she says quietly as she flexes her toes. “That really did help.” 

“You should trust me more often.” He puts a hand out for her to grab and she accepts, ignores the little electricity she feels when her skin touches his. It’s hard not to be attracted to someone like Harry, who exudes confidence in everything that he does. And he’s obviously not bad to look at even though he dresses like a future senator eighty percent of the time and wears his cockiness like a badge. He just keeps showing her these little sides of personality that she’s never seen before and frankly, it’s hard to ignore. 

They make up time quickly, thanks to Harry’s hiking skills and her mostly refreshed feet. When they reach the others everyone is standing at the top of the little mountain they just climbed, eyes focused on something in the distance. 

“What is everyone looking at?” Allie asks no one in particular but stops short with a little gasp when she takes in the view they are all gaping at. The entire lake is visible from their viewpoint, the crystal blue water shimmering in the mid afternoon sun. She can see their side of the lake, with people milling around the sites like little ants. There are boats pulling people on water skis and tons of water crafts making waves for people in floating inner tubes. The lake is surrounded by trees on three sides and Allie thinks it might be one of the most beautiful views she’s ever seen in real life. 

“This is breathtaking,” she says, mostly to herself, but then she feels a hand bump hers as Harry steps up next to her. 

“It sure is,” he says quietly, his eyes sliding from the view before them to her face and then back again. His pinkie touches the side of her hand just barely and the idea to reach over to hold his hand is sudden and unexpected. She doesn’t do it but she finds that she wants to and that confuses her even more.

***

“Fifty bucks says I can chug this entire bottle of Jack in under a minute!” 

Allie rolls her eyes as she passes by a group of guys that she went to high school with, all of them former jocks and not so bright. 

“Pretty sure fifty bucks isn’t going to be enough to get your stomach pumped,” she tosses back in their direction before heading towards the campfire that’s currently warming the majority of her friend group. 

After the hike they spent the day in the water, swimming and riding around on the Jet Skis that Helena had brought for the weekend. Harry offered to rent a boat to take them out but the boats were all rented out by the time they made it back to the lake.

“Tomorrow then,” he had said, dropping his credit card on the counter and winking at the girl making the reservations. Allie’d rolled her eyes and Harry had just laughed and winked at her too.

It’s hard not to notice that he looks really good right now, sitting by the fire with a bottle of beer hanging from his fingertips, his skin perfectly tanned from being in the sun all day. He’s wearing board shorts again but he finally put a shirt on, a white button down with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. It annoys her that he can make anything look good. 

The little smile he gives her when she walks up to the fire pit is almost too much to handle. 

“Need a drink?” Becca asks, pushing a wine cooler into her hand before she can even answer. Allie laughs, thanks her and lowers herself into a chair that just happens to be next to Harry. He smirks a little around the mouth of his beer but doesn’t comment on where she chose to sit down. 

“When do the fireworks start?” She asks Helena, who checks her watch before pointing towards the west of the lake, where there’s no trees and wide open skies. 

“They will be over there in about an hour,” she says. “They won’t be super close because they are technically lit in town but we’ll see the show pretty clearly.” 

They sit around for the next forty minutes drinking and laughing around the fire. Luke and Clark decide to have a rock skipping competition and Allie laughs as everyone scurries around to find the perfect flat rock to enter. Right before the fireworks are about to start Harry nudges her, leans over so he’s almost whispering in her ear.

“Want to find somewhere quiet to watch the show?” 

Everyone around them is either drunk, searching for rocks or both, and no one is paying attention when she nods, stands up and tells him to lead the way. 

They walk side by side next to the lake heading away from the party that’s already raging despite the fact that it’s barely ten at night. Allie practically chokes when they pass a couple full on having sex against a tree and Harry laughs, steers them away from the obnoxious moaning and towards an empty spot on the beach. 

“I should have bought a blanket,” he complains as he settles in the sand and Allie smiles as she drops down next to him. 

“A little sand never hurt anyone. Don’t be a baby.” He quirks an eyebrow at her and she giggles, which she only does when she’s this side of perfectly drunk. 

Harry is quiet as he pulls his knees up and sits with his arms dangling in between them. “You’ve been different today,” he says so softly she can barely hear him. “More like you used to be.” 

“What does that mean?” She’s sitting cross legged and stays that way as she turns so she’s facing him. He just shrugs which makes her roll her eyes. “You’ve been different too.” 

“Oh yeah?” He asks with a raised eyebrow and she nods. “How so?” 

She snorts, leans back on her hands which makes her knees touch the side of his leg. “If you’re not going to tell me, why should I tell you?” 

“What are we, twelve?” He says on a laugh and she shrugs, giving him a dose of his own medicine. He sighs, like it’s a total inconvenience to explain something that he started anyways. “You were fun. Carefree.” 

“It was a good day,” she says and he nods. “And you were flirting with me, which is new.” It’s a bold statement because maybe he wasn’t, maybe it was just like all the other times when he was flirty because he’s Harry Bingham and that’s just how he is. He charms, it’s in his DNA. 

Harry scoffs a little and shakes his head like she’s missing something. “Me flirting with you is not new, Allie.” 

The way he says her name does something to her, the way she can see his tongue when his mouth forms the word. They aren’t saying anything, just staring at each other when the first boom of fireworks sounds off overhead. Neither of them startle or even really acknowledge the show going off above them. She likes the way the colors flash across his face, bright blue and neon pink, and before she realizes what’s happening he’s leaning forward, pressing his lips against hers quickly in a surprisingly gentle and innocent kiss. 

He pulls away first, rests his forehead on hers with a little smile playing on his face. 

“What was that?” The words are practically whispered, breath feather light over almost touching lips. 

“Something I’ve wanted to do for a long time.” He doesn’t say anything else, doesn’t go to kiss her again, just smiles softly before pulling away.

Allie smiles too and pulls away, rests her hands behind her in the sand and settles in to watch the show.

***

“Where did you run off to last night?” 

The campsites are stirring the next morning with activity as everyone wakes up after the sun is high and the weather is warm. Helena is sitting by the campfire, a cup of coffee in one hand and her phone in the other. 

“I went for a walk,” Allie says carefully, not sure if she should say anything about what happened with Harry or not. They only shared one little kiss, and while it was wildly romantic with the fireworks sounding off above them, she’s not quite sure where they go from here. “What are you up to?”

Helena holds up her phone. “Trying to secure our boat for the day online. Harry already gave his credit card information to the rental place, I’m on hold.” 

It’s then that Allie can hear the hold music playing quietly from Helena’s phone which is on speaker mode. Allie snorts when she recognizes the song, some piano version of a top 40 hit, and pours herself a cup of coffee. 

A few minutes later a woman’s voice comes over the line, letting Helena know that she’s secured a boat for them that they can pick up in an hour. Helena thanks the woman and ends the call, stands up and wipes sand from the back of her shorts. 

“This place is too fucking sandy,” she says and Allie laughs into her coffee mug. “I’m going to start rounding up the usual suspects. You’re in, right?” 

Allie nods. “Definitely. I’ll get ready and meet you back here at ten.” 

She finishes up her drink and heads to her tent to get ready for the day. There are two options for swimming suits, the one she wore yesterday which was bright blue and white, perfect for the fourth. But she decides on the flashier suit she’d purchased just because it was beautiful in the store and she couldn’t help herself. She slides on a pair of denim shorts and throws a sun hat on for good measure. She’s just finished applying sunscreen when a throat clearing at the tent’s entrance makes her jump. 

“Jesus, Allie.” 

Harry is standing there, one fist up to his mouth as he takes her in from head to toe. And now she knows this bathing suit was worth the price tag because he’s looking at her like he never has before. 

“That suit..” 

Allie laughs quietly and looks down at the top, a white ruffled halter top embellished with gold jewels that sit right under her breasts. There’s an additional piece connected to the bottoms that wraps around her middle that is purely for show, the gold jewels trailing down her stomach to meet the top of her shorts. With her recently tanned skin the stark white of the suit pops, making her look even more sunkissed. 

“You like?” She asks with a cocked eyebrow and Harry nods slowly as he takes her in.

He looks around outside quickly before stepping into her tent. “That is by far the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen,” he says when he’s right in front of her. She inhales sharply when he gently touches the jeweled piece on her tummy. He’s making her feel all kinds of things and he’s not even touching her skin. 

“I’m glad you like it,” she says breathlessly and it makes him smile. Feeling a little bold she pushes up closer to him, leans up so she can whisper in his ear. “Wait until you see the rest of it.” 

Harry lets out a little groan that makes her giggle as she pushes past him. She’s not exactly sure why she’s being so bold, or flirty at all for that matter, but it’s like their kiss from the night before has unlocked something she didn’t really know how to admit before. 

She sort of likes him.

Half an hour later she’s got a beer in her hand as the boat floats lazily along the lake. It was big enough for a fairly large group of people and they are everywhere, laughing and drinking like it’s not before noon on a Sunday. Helena and Luke are talking quietly and kissing in a corner and Allie finds herself wishing for the first time in a long time that she had someone in her life to giggle and kiss whenever she wanted. 

“They are disgustingly in love, don’t you think?” 

Harry chooses that moment to drop down beside her, his chin nodding towards the engaged couple. 

“I think it’s sweet,” Allie says, her eyes taking in Harry’s board shorts and bare chest. A pair of Ray Bans cover his eyes as he lays down in the lounge chair next to hers and gets comfortable. He rests his phone face down on his stomach and Allie snorts. “You’re going to get a weird tan if you leave that there.” 

Harry just smirks and glances at her suit. “You’re one to talk, Pressman” 

Allie just shakes her head with a laugh. “I lathered myself up in sunscreen before we left. I think I’ll be okay.” 

Harry shifts in his chair and gives her a heated look. “I know, I saw.” 

She remembers him coming in after she put on her sunscreen, wonders how long he was standing there before he cleared his throat.

“Perv,” she says with a smile to show him she’s not mad and he laughs, a bright and loud sound that makes a few people look their way.

They spend the day eating, drinking and playing in the lake. By the time they dock she’s perfectly buzzed, warmed by the setting sun and the margaritas Elle made for the girls on the boat. 

“Let’s party!” Clark yells as he jumps into the sand and Allie rolls her eyes as everyone cheers as if that’s not what they’ve been doing all day. But it is their last night here so she follows her tipsy friends through the campsites until they arrive back at hers, which is apparently party central tonight.

Someone turns on music and Billie Eilish starts playing, a thumping bass beat that has everyone up and dancing around the now lit campfire. Elle stumbles up to her, a wide grin splitting her face, and Allie knows the girl is definitely tequila wasted right now which means she’s probably feeling on top of the world.

“Dance with me!” 

Allie laughs and lets Elle pull her into the crowd of people dancing to “Bad Guy” like it hasn’t been on the radio for the past two summers. She turns when she feels eyes on her, sees Harry sitting on the tailgate of Luke’s truck. His eyes are following her every move, and he doesn’t look away as he takes a pull from the long neck bottle in his hands. Even from this far away she can feel her skin heat when he licks his lips, eyes fixed on her like he doesn’t see anyone else. 

“Dude, I think Harry likes you!” Elle yells over the music and Allie stills, tears her eyes away from him to face her friend. 

“What makes you say that?” 

Elle shrugs, which looks ridiculous because she’s drunk dancing all over the place. “He hasn’t stopped looking at you since we got here. Go talk to him.” 

Allie pales, looks around to see if anyone is listening to this conversation. It’s not that she really cares what anyone thinks, and he has been flirting with her more than usual. But he’s a known womanizer and it honestly scares her a little to think that maybe this is just the norm for him. Flirting with a girl until he gets what he wants and where will she be then? In a surprisingly sober move Elle puts her hands on Allie’s shoulders and looks her in the eye. 

“Stop being afraid, Al.” 

Allie takes a deep breath and nods, stands up taller and squares her shoulders back as she heads to where Harry’s sitting. 

His eyebrows go up a little in surprise when she stops right in front of him, practically standing in between where his legs are open and dangling off the tailgate. 

“What are we doing, Harry? You kiss me last night and then never mention it, and now you’re watching me like…” 

“Like what?” He asks when she doesn’t finish her sentence and she melts a little at the deep and husky tone of his voice. “Tell me, Allie.” 

“Like you want to do it again and never stop.” 

He lets out a little breath of surprise as she steps in between his legs and leans up to kiss him. When he doesn’t immediately return the kiss she sort of panics but then he’s sliding down off the tailgate and pulling her into his arms to deepen the kiss. It’s not like the sweet kiss from the night before, it’s raw and full of emotion, his teeth nipping at her bottom lip until she’s weak in the knees. 

There are hoots and hollers around them as he continues to kiss her but she doesn’t care. Maybe it’s the faint tequila buzz she’s still feeling or maybe it’s just how drunk she’s getting off this kiss, the taste of expensive beer on Harry’s lips as he sips at her lips her right there in front of their friends. 

“Maybe we should rejoin the party,” he murmurs against her lips several minutes later and she smiles, reaches for his hand and pulls him in the direction of his tent one campsite over. 

“Maybe we should have our own?” 

He practically growls in agreement and follows behind her as she makes her way through the crowd. Elle winks her as they pass and Allie just grins, turns around to see Harry’s eyes lit up with alcohol and want, as they make their way over to his tent. 

***

The lake is quiet when she steps down to the shore the next morning. It’s still early, everyone getting some much needed rest after the debauchery of the night before. Even from Harry’s tent, where they spent the night making out (plus a little more) and talking until neither could keep their eyes open, they could hear the party raging from the next campsite over.

“Morning, Pressman.” 

Allie smiles when Harry comes up behind her, puts his arms around her waist and drops a kiss to her temple. “Good morning to you too.” 

“I didn’t like waking up alone,” he admits quietly. “I fell asleep with you in my arms, kinda wanted to wake up like that too.” 

The sentiment is sweet and it makes her heart beat furiously in her chest. “What happens next, Harry?” 

He kisses her cheek. “What do you mean?” 

Allie sighs, turns around in his arms so she can look up at him. “I mean, we’re on vacation. This weekend has been fun but what happens in two hours when it ends?” 

“Then we don’t let it end,” he says simply. “You swear like Brooklyn and Manhattan are two separate planets. We can do this, Allie. I want to.” 

She inhales sharply, surprised by how earnest his words are. “You do?” 

Harry rolls his eyes a little and chuckles. “Allie, I’ve liked you since high school. This shouldn’t be such a shock.” 

“I didn’t know,” she says but maybe she just missed it. Maybe all the flirting, every time he randomly joined in a conversation, maybe it wasn’t him being a womanizer. Maybe he really did just like her. “Why didn’t you just tell me?” 

“Honestly?” He asks and she rolls her eyes as if to say duh. “It just never felt like the right time. You were younger, your sister hated me. One of us was always dating someone else. And then life, you know?” 

She nods because she does know. “Well I’m glad you told me now. But I do have issue with one thing that you said.” 

His eyebrows dip together. “Oh yeah? What’s that?” 

Allie smiles as she leans up to kiss him. “Manhattan and Brooklyn are like two different planets.” 

Harry laughs and wraps his arms around her, dropping kisses from her mouth to her shoulder and then back up again. 

“Guess we’ll just have to compromise,” he says, turning her around so they can watch the sun shine on the still water of the lake. “Some nights at my place, some nights at yours.” 

“Sounds perfect.”

She settles back into his arms, enjoying the way the sun warms her face as it rises high in the sky, welcoming the new day.

[jess-the-vampire]

Sky And The Forces Of The Multiverse, Chapter 37

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-Angel was in slightly better spirits the following day, in fact he and sky both were, the two of them surprisingly hanging out together and talking. Angel was smiling more then usual, and so was sky for that matter. Though with the mess that happened no one could really blame them either, seems both of them being targeted seemed to have brought them closer then it did before.

With Sky spending time with Angel and Nora being busy with her mom surprisingly it left judas to focus on other matters, more specifically, his own younger brother.

Landon had been giving judas more of the silent angsty treatment ever since he got caught sneaking out of bed to check Queen Butterfly's office, though with their parents being alerted landon was in a world of trouble. The only bright spot of this being landon took the full blame for the situation, considering no one else had anything to do with this.

Even Celeste was ignoring the boy, giving him the silent treatment in her own frustration.

Landon's closest ally here, considering Bernard was on earth and could mostly on text landon throughout this.

Sky had promised to get in contact with Melanie as soon as she could and now that the scare was over it was back to business. And For the demon prince, that meant confronting his younger brother and dealing with this situation once and for all. His gradnfather was dealing with Fae, Sky was talking to Angel and was going to chat with mel, Sunny and Galexia were off going through the library with Katrina who'd been nice enough to lay off on judas as long as he didn't go anywhere beyond the two kingdoms.

Yep, back as usual.

Judas headed inside his room real quick, closing the door behind him, before he was going to talk to his brother he needed one more little thing. There was no point in delaying it, he needed to talk to his brother about what happened and what he did. Especially since landon didn't really mention it himself before, and whatever it was might be important.

Though he felt someone's presence in his room and he quickly turned on the lights, in a fighting post before he noticed the small girl sitting on his bed.

"Celeste?".

"Hello Judas".

The girl was kicking her feet on the side of the bed, "We need to talk about your brother...". She looked frustrated, frustrated at landon, frustrated she had to talk to Judas about this, frustrated she cared about this so much. Judas calmed himself down, with Celeste living here with them, he couldn't be surprised she popped into his room to see him, though he would've preferred a call or text beforehand.

"Yeah...I figured that's why you'd be here...we haven't exactly had the closest relationship here all things considered..."., the girl huffed but she had to agree, though granted she didn't have a close relationship much with anyone at all.

"Well considering luna ditched this place to live in the woods and sky's chummy with the spider guy...guess you needed another princess to talk to...and since sunny and lexi are out...you're stuck with me...but anyway...", She huffed, breathing through her nose, "Honestly normally i wouldn't go to you to deal with this stupid stuff but Landon doesn't listen to me...dealing with him is like-".

"Dealing with another you?", Judas continued with a hint of amusement.

"Don't push it...look we worked together on trying to start out own group because we thought you and sky weren't focusing on the task at hand and we got sick of it, then we ended up being worse then you because the three of us, luna me and landon...we're all buzzkills and we don't get along...I mean mainly it was blondie's fault but still...so then me and landon worked together...yada yada...he just wanted to be seen as a hero above you...".

"Yeah...I guess I had a feeling about that...".

"Look...I can't believe i'm saying this...but I care about landon...and helping him before well...I wanted to do it so I could go home and whatever...but He only cares about it to beat you and prove himself and he doesn't seem to care nearly as much about me and how I feel...your brother's a weirdo but i'm sick of him thinking he needs to do all this nonsense to be considered...someone...".

Judas looked astonished, clearly not used to celeste talking to him or anyone like this for that matter.

"I knew you both were close...I didn't know you both were...well... THIS close...but...I am really glad to see someone really cares about my brother this much...", Judas walked over to the girl, ruffling his hair, "I'm...me and landon don't get along on the best of days...but with everything going on I had to put the stuff aside with him, I knew he was doing stuff but I didn't know to what extreme or...really exactly why...".

"Well that's obvious...your family seems to basically ignore him...".

Ouch.

"Hey, I don't mean any harm by it...so much has just gone on and i'm set to be king...and...".

Celeste sent him a glare.

"Ok, It doesn't excuse my parents...but the situation is more complicated...and he knows that...", he took a seat next to her, "I know landon's not useless and he's talented in his own way...we tease each other but...I don't think of him as useless..". Though as the words left his lips he thought about it more, he really couldn't speak for how landon felt, even if he didn't feel like he did anything wrong intentionally.

"Even if I told him face to face...you know he wouldn't listen to me though...he'd tell me I was too perfect or something and go back to how it was before. I can't really...fix the situation, mom and dad can't just ignore me to focus all on him, celeste I get it...I just...what can I be expected to do about it? Landon doesn't even want to look at me sometimes...".

"Ugh...I'm not really entirely blaming you...I just want landon to stop caring about this stuff...".

"You know you can't-".

"I Know i can't make him...", she responded quickly, "But I don't know what I can do...I...I feel like he's going to hurt himself trying to be better then you..". She sounded actually worried, her fists clenching, "He's so frustrating, He craved attention and love from people but when we show we care he doesn't listen to anyone and it's just...UGH!".

Then she stopped, sighing.

"Yeah...guess he is kinda like me...".

"We can both talk to him...together...I would've taken sky but she's busy with angel today so...I'd be happy to have your company if you'd like to join me. We'll...see what we can do at least...". He seemed confident on the outside even if he wasn't much so on the inside, whatever landon felt, it was deep, and a simple talking to probably wouldn't just fix it.

But at least it might do something.

Judas helped his somewhat sister up and escorted her through the halls,Celeste grumbling under her breath, "You...did pretty well for yourself...yesterday...with the trial and the whole scene...". Celeste seemed to rarely hand out compliments, so Judas was happy to take it, "Hey it's ok...I was just protecting my friends...I was honestly surprised to see you get along with angel last night...talk to him and stuff...".

She went silent.

"I know opening up to other's is not something you tend to do often...but I think it was sweet. Just like how you healed my injury when sunny hurt me on accident that time.". She kicked at the floor, "I've seen people hurt before...I uh...I dunno...I can't help it...". She still seemed embarrassed to talk about it, even about her revealing why she knew so much about healing in the first place.

But Judas seemed to understand, not prodding any further, "Well...I'm glad you care so much...and I think it's great your so talented with healing injuries like that...it's actually hard to do so it's impressive to see you do so well at them with ease. You should be proud.". He almost thought he saw a smile on her face as they continued further down the hallway.

"I can tell you're scared about her...".

Judas felt his chest clench.

"Ever since Angel told you she had the book, you've been slowly been getting more bothered by it...more scared what anyone could do with the notes nora had on you. Y'know it's not going to do any good to ignore it...i mean I think people would get it if you're worried about some creep taking over your body and making you do things you don't want to do...", she spat at the floor, "You maybe wasted time when you could've helped but...no one wants you to go through that...".

"I know...I know...I think before with all the work on my back it was easier to ignore how nervous it all made me...but with sky taking the charge...well...I thought about it more...and what if i'm not as brave as I thought I was?", though as the words left his lips, he shook his head, "Maybe I am being too hard on myself...It's not about what others think...it's about what I think of myself...".

"And what do you think?".

"I think i'm not sure what'll happen if...anything happens...but I know no one will hold it against me...anyone that matters at least.", he took a deep breath, "I don't think I'm ever going to properly get over it...I've been haunted by this kinda stuff since I was a kid...sky knows it...she knows how much It scared me as a kid...and how terrified I was of myself for years...it's just...not easy for me to not be scared...even no matter how hard I try...".

His eyes looked over Celeste, eyeing her expression.

"I'm sure you've been scared a lot too...and felt you had to ignore it...".

Celeste again, said nothing, but it was as good as any yes.

The rest of the walk was quiet as they approached one of their family living rooms, where landon was currently grounded for the time being till it was meal time. Judas looking to his companion as the guards let them pass, at the very least landon might be able to help out or apologize or do something if they could get past his thick skin finally.

But that was a major if.

Regardless, there landon was, lying around with his violin nearby, bored out of his mind on the couch, sitting up at the sight of his sibling and half sibling. He seemed almost excited at first but his face dropped quick, because he knew exactly why they were here. He'd already been scolded by his parents earlier that day, forced to stay here till further notice as punishment.

Though at least it meant he didn't have to see anyone.

Until now.

He turned his head away, grumbling, Celeste grabbing a nearby pillow and throwing it at him, "You could've gotten HURT! Something could've happened to you out there and we'd have no idea! Being exposed to magic too much is dangerous! And lucifer, no matter what i say to you you don't seem to listen to a single word of it, do you? ". Celeste got mad quick, judas unsure what to do though first he took Celeste's arm before she could throw anything else at the demon boy.

"HEY! WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH YOU!?", Landon hissed, "Jeez...you guys make it sound like I was the one robbing everyone, I just went to peek at the findings, you would've done it too if you had been given the chance considering how much you guys sneak around behind our parent's backs...the secret meetings? All the times you evaded katrina? Don't go acting like you're such a upstanding demon prince...".

That seemed to shut the two of them up, Landon standing up and grumbling.

"You guys might have never gotten a chance to see what I saw without me...I helped...even if It was because...I wanted the upper hand...", he mumbled that last part, "Look...can't I have this one? Just this once? I want to be the successful brother...just once...I'm so tired of my brothers being so imfamous for doing this and that and everyone just...GOD!".

Flames seemed to erupt from his fingertips as she stomped the ground.

Then he simmered.

"I'm so sick of...everyone thinking i'm useless...I have to hide out in a stupid coffee shop club thing to even feel some sense of...importance...".

He sniffled, "Just let me have this...ok?".

"Landon...".

"Don't landon me...even if it's not your fault...even if...even if i'm a failure...I just...I WANT this...I'm so sick of feeling second rate...or even third rate...I don't need to prove anything to you...I want to prove it...to me...", he turned away from his siblings, "I'm good at music...but...that's it..i'm not magically remarkable...i'm not good with emotions or feelings...I want to feel like I matter judas...".

"Landon..you do matter, you matter to everyone...me, celeste, our parents, mason...Bernard...", Judas placed a hand on his brother's back, trying to soothe him, "Landon...even if...you don't feel important...or loved...I want you to know we all love and care about you...I...don't know what would happen to me if...something happened to you...you're my brother landon...".

"You can't make me feel differently...".

"Maybe not...but...I still want to tell you regardless...", celeste tapped her fingers together, seeing the brothers come face to face. "Landon...I'm not doing this because I want more attention...or to be better then anyone...I want to do this because...I want to help celeste and sunny and galeixa and...luna...they have people to get back to...people who love them as much as I love you...frankly...I always wished I could be you...".

"What?", Landon almost sounded...surprised.

"Everyone looks at me like a freak most of the time...it'd just be nice...to not have that kinda attention...to not have so much pressure on me...to have the freedom to do whatever I wanted without so much on my shoulders...but...I don't have that choice...so...for now...i'm going to do the best I can...by helping out my friends...and keeping them safe...landon you don't have that pressure...you can be whatever you want...do whatever you want...not to impress anyone...but to make yourself happy.".

"You wanted to be me?".

Judas nodded, placing a hand on his brother's shoulder.

"Landon...I...can't change how you feel...I can't change what happened...but you have the chance me and mason don't have...the chance to make your own life how you want it, no pressure from anyone stopping you...landon you can do so much...and I know you have so much to give...maybe you need time to see it...but you have so much potential..".

"You're just saying that to make me feel better...", Landon shoved his brother's hand off of him, "I'm useless...if not useless i'm forgettable". Though as he turned around someone grabbed his shirt from the back and tugged, and considering how well landon knew the two people behind him he could easily tell which one it was. Celeste made him turn around and face her, her arms crossed and her eyes away from his.

"Dude if you were forgettable, do you think i'd be spending so much of my time trying to help you? You're not useless, you held part of the investigation yourself, that's not useless...you're not useless landon...you should stop being so down on yourself...those idiots insulting you don't deserve your time and attention. You keep doubting yourself...you don't need to catch some weirdo to be cool.".

"You're right...you can't change how I feel...but without this...what do I have?".

The two looked to each other before back at landon.

"Well, you have a lot of time to think about it...you don't need to know right now...but you'll get there someday...", landon seemed to have finally calmed down a little bit, pacing around the room. "I'm sorry...I can't help it...every time I think i'm going too far i think about the...my situation...I think about what I could be and what It is now and I can't help it.".

"I know...".

"I...I'm not trying to sound selfish...I just...I don't want to...deal with this any longer...".

He paused, getting onto his knees on the floor, "I'm...sorry for being a butt I guess...you got separated from your family and I guess I've made the situation about myself..when it's kinda...terrible.". He actually did kinda sound like he actually felt sorry, in fact he looked tired more then anything. Like keeping all this buried inside him ate away at him.

And it probably did.

"It's alright landon...we'll take it a day at a time...is that ok?", judas kept his distance from his brother but seemed to constantly be checking to see if his brother was alright or not.

and with a small nod, that was enough.

"What I saw...what they found...", he started, "W-when the explosion happened...it seems the uh...person under the mask did get hurt...well I mean...I think so...they didn't seem to find them but...their mask...their mask broke...they collected it.". He looked up at his companions and judas processed the information before looking to celeste, "I'm guessing since they don't know who it is still..they got no dna off the thing?".

"Maybe...".

There was a silence between them, only stopped when just let out a large sigh.

"I'll...ask out parents about it later...maybe have sky come with...we'll look into it...but if they lost their mask...then their face must have been exposed...unless...they had another mask...they're magic after all they can change clothes with it.". The blast was bound to do damage but if it broke their mask then what did that mean for their face? Queen Butterfly had been in the presence of those blasts before and they had varying effects.

Sometimes destroying your entire body, sometimes leaving you unharmed if you were good at self healing to any degree, sometimes it just depended. Magic was unpredictable after all, and in ways that only made it worse for the people who had to use it. Though whoever was out there, if the blast was enough to break their mask, it as bound to hurt a little.

"Thank you landon...for letting us know...".

As conflicted as landon's emotions were, he did actually seem rather happy to have helped regardless.

This was going to take some work if they were ever going to sort things out together with landon, what he was dealing with was deep and wouldn't be solved with a simple conversation. Judas watched the sad face of his brother and felt his heart sink some more, making a mental note to himself to spend some more time with his brother in the near future if he could.

"I...hope mom and dad weren't too hard on you...", landon's ears flickered, "They weren't...they knew I meant no real harm...they're just...upset I snuck into her office during an emergency for seemingly my own selfish needs...mom was just kinda disappointed in me but they didn't do anything too bad...just grounded me...I didn't tell them I decided to join in your little gang...because they'd assume you learned nothing...they think I did it myself...".

"Well...I guess that's a relief...but...are you sure you're ok with that?".

"Well, you had nothing to do with me doing this...so...yeah", the scene still felt a little tense and awkward but landon wasn't mad anymore and judas and celeste got out what they wanted to say. Landon went to take a seat back on the couch, keeping to himself, "Look I just need to be alone for a bit...ok? And i'm sure you both have better things to do out there then stay here...".

They exchanged looks, knowing landon wasn't entirely wrong, though neither seemed to want to leave him alone like this.

"We can hold off for a bit...I think sky's going to be busy for quite a while anyway...", and then proceeded to take a seat next to his brother who looked pleasantly surprised, celeste joined him, curling up on the couch. Landon, who had told them to leave, didn't protest, in fact instead of arguing against it, had a smile creeping among his face. Looking over to his violin nearby.

"You guys...want to hear my new song?".

"So this Melaine girl?".

"My earth pen pal...she's into theories and pop culture on earth and aliens and all kinds of stuff...I thought maybe since she's been helping put theories and pieces of evidence together...she'd be perfect to consult and get more from...", Sky pulled out her compact to text her friend, angel sitting on her bed, clearly a little awkward being alone with her in her room.

"How'd you meet?".

"Went to earth to meet my grandparents, plus my moms love earth to death...they like to go to do fun stuff and get off mewni once in awhile. You might like earth, it's weird but kinda neat. Anyway mel saw me and saw us do magic and was ENTHRALLED ever since, especially finding out i'm basically an alien almost since she's obsessed with extraterrestrials."

"Extra...what?".

"Aliens...it's an earth thing...".

"Ah...", he still didn't seem to have any idea what she was talking about but maybe it was better not to ask further. It would take sky all day if she had to explain exactly what aliens where, and why earth was obsessed with things that probably weren't nearly as weird on mewni. On earth lizard people were a conspiracy, on mewni they were people sky saw get groceries every day.

"Hopefully she can help us out, having an earth pal who knows like..earth things and makes connections better then me sometimes is really handy...though uh...be careful. Mel's cool but she's also a little...well she doesn't know mewni too well so she makes a lot of assumptions based on earth stuff, it's not her fault, just don't be surprised if she..well...is incorrect about stuff.".

Angel now looked even more puzzled then he was before.

"Just follow my lead...", she smiled when melaine texted her back, the human eager for another video call.

"Human compacts work on our own?".

"Yeah? Who knew?", she laughed in utter embarrassment, at least she wasn't the only one who hadn't known that.

"SKYY!"

"MEL!".

"I'm so glad you called, I missed ya! Is the fact you're asking for my help mean your parents finally ungrounded ya?", Sky made a face, glancing over to angel, "Yes and no kinda...but...nevermind that...mel I'm going to update you on everything we know, I want you to help us as best we can...put the pieces together...you're kinda made for this honestly.".

Melaine's eyes lit up, a sparkle in her dark eyes that could light up galaxies.

"YESSSS".

She immediately started grabbing papers off the shelves, making a huge mess around the room, Angel took a seat closer to sky to get a peek as to what was going on on Melanie's end. His four eyes blinking in curiosty at the excited human piling stuff everywhere messily. He'd seen her at the sleepover but other then that, this was his first time REALLY meeting her.

Sky could only hope melaine didn't make it painfully awkward considering how much she used to complain about the boy to mel.

Mel was luckily occupied setting up before jumping into frame with a notepad and pen, papers trapped in her wild curly hair.

"So where do we begin!?"

Then her eyes looked to angel's and she almost squeed, "Is that spiderboy?! Sky, i didn't know you were bringing spiderboy!". Sky suddenly felt a bit of secondhand embarrassment as angel looked at her quizzically, "It's just a nickname she has for you...uh...mel?". Her attention went back to her earth friend, who was already sketching angel out for her board.

"Yep?".

"His name is angelus...or like..angel for short? I think he'd prefer that. Please?".

She signaled with her face to mel this was one of the times she really needed her to listen, and Melaine...thankfully, listened.

"Alright, Angel spider, got it...".

Well it was better then nothing, they had work to do.

Sky and Angel started listing off a few new details that had been caught up, the human girl writing them down with the speed of a race car and pining them up on her board, covered with articles, notes, pictures and more. Melaine was used to this, after all she made plenty for the mothman and for the mole people sightings before, this was like tying her shoe for her.

Even angel seemed impressed, he didn't know all that much about humans outside of the ones that visited mewni and jude and sky's own moms, much less about human culture and what humans did with most of their time. Though granted, considering angel was rather sheltered, there was a doubt angel would even know people made theories and stuff like this at all to such an extreme.

"You...found a person who spends her time organizing facts and coming up with solutions?".

"Kinda...sorta...yeah.".

Maybe she outta leave out the other stuff melaine does like go out hunting for lizard people and reading up on horrorscopes, angel seemed confused enough without her explaining the rest of melaine's active lifestyle. Melaine seemed especially excited at the mind parasites, much to angel's discomfort, though at the very least she didn't focus so much on his mom and more on who could access them.

"Any enemies?", she asked Angel, who shrugged.

"Honestly...we haven't made enemies for a long time...our kingdom just kinda...sunk into the shadows, avoiding conflict as to not make anything any worse for ourselves. We fought back when the spiderbites took over but other then that, and well..solaria...", he went silent for a moment, "We never had much of direct conflicts with monsters...especially not recently...".

"And i doubt the spiderbites would poison your mom, they have no reason to, they seem to talk with each other fine...", Sky piped in, "No one has any real reason to attack you or your mom...". Then sky tapped angel on the shoulder, "Is there anyone who'd have anything to gain by hurting your mom? Or i dunno...maybe they were trying to get someone else and ended ep with your mom?".

Angel looked visibly uncomfortable, and sky quickly reached out to him.

"Sorry...maybe i should...uh...".

"No...it's fine, I know there's no easier way to ask me stuff like that without mentioning her...", he tugged at his light pink hair, huffing, "I don't know sky...even If i were to blame the one under the mask...I don't know who is under the mask, rendering it all back to same question...I...personally want to think it was all an accident If i can help it.".

"Well, it could be...if one got out and ended up on your dinner table because someone didn't know it wasn't good to eat...then yeah.".

He seemed a little more reassured from that statement, something about someone coming after him seemed to only increase his worry and anxiety. He already had one masked foe who was pissed with him, what if he had another? Melaine was writing stuff down and sky was wondering what she could possibly write if there were no enemies to really speak of.

Though as she placed more on her board sky could tell they were drawings of the spiderbites, the masked foe, solaria, and everyone angel mentioned basically.

Guess even if they weren't at fault melaine felt they were important enough to at least mention.

"Skyler?".

Sky turned to her companion on the bed, who coughing into his fist, ears folding.

"Yeah?".

"A lot has happened...recently and I...I know it's hard to properly forgive me...and maybe to a degree you also feel bad because of...everything that happened before. But I um...wanted to suggest, we...um...uh...", Angel's social skills were pretty on par with a mushroom at this point, he'd clearly still had a long way away till he could properly talk to others without stumbling a little.

Though Sky was more then used to it at this point, and despite his stumbling she seemed to tense at his wording.

"Are you asking me on a date?", Sky looked at him, shocked, though he was quick to devolve the situation and try to explain himself better.

"What?! No no no no no no no NO No, I mean...", he looked embarrassed,red and ears pressed against his face, "I was hoping we could properly make amends...I want to make amends...I still feel guilty...I want to make it up...if you'll let me?". Sky seemed oddly charmed as awkward and embarrassing as that was, smiling and trying to keep her cool, "Yeah, that sounds...nice...honestly...I want to maybe try and make some kinda amends as well...if possible.".

He smiled back, the embarrassment flushing away from his face, angel smiling these days was a treat honestly.

Thankfully mel was distracted enough not to notice the scene, heck knows what she would say, she had a loud personality and was quick to make assumptions sometimes and that was something sky already needed to work on with her before she got herself in trouble for it.

She finished setting up and turned back to the royals, "Alright then, so there's my set up, i'm going to start working on this right away, text me any info you get on any of this, i'll keep adding and text you any revelations I can come up with...". She immediately started using markers on the board, typing together the pieces she knew connected together before pulling a book out of her messy bookshelf and holding to to show them.

"Maybe considering the proof of the multiverse, maybe you should study up on the stuff? I've been going through these books ever since you told me about it, maybe you can use it to help make some cool magic...". Sky glanced to her gemstone before going back to melaine, "Well...uh...maybe yeah? Thanks mel...uh...maybe you could send me some picks of the most relevant chapters?'.

She sent sky a thumbs up, "Gotcha! Oh, and if you see me any mothmen, send me pics as well! I made a bet with some classmates!". The mention of a mothman seemed to make angel puzzled though he didn't dwell on it too much as sky motioned to him that she'd try to explain it all later. Melaine on the other hand was eagerly waiting for her kinda sorta butterfly monster friend's reaction.

Sky sent her a thumbs up back as the screen turned black, returning the two royals back to themselves in sky's dirty room.

"She'll keep me updated...she tends to be good at that...".

"You...have a lot more friends then I realized...", he mumbled, "Uh...that's not to be rude or anything, I had just never seen you with anyone other then judas...you...seem to have friends all over.". But she was quick to stop him before he went on, "Nah...not really...I mean even if I ignored that mewni thought i was inferior or evil or something...i'm not good at...making friends...i'm not as friendly or easy to get along with as judas...or maybe at least...i wasn't when I was younger...".

"Perhaps we had more in common then we thought...", he added, "We always acted as if we could never understand each other and we were so different...but...maybe we were wrong."

And when she thought about it a little more, he was right.

That almost made her smile a little more considering how funny that was, though the thought of it quickly transferred to thinking about the bad aspects of their lives and she became silent. Angel was almost worried he said something offensive to some degree but sky shook her head and coughed into her hand, before asking the question she wanted to for some time.

"You still talking to eclipsa?".

Her question caught him by surprise, coughing into his hand, "Not since yesterday...after the trial...I um...I think she wants to speak to me after what happened last night regarding my mom but you've been with me ever since and she um...know you're not a fan of her right now, you're probably more angry with her then you are with me about what happened...why is that?".

"Hmm?".

"Sky...I...went behind your back, I was working for the enemy, even if i barely did much that harmed you while doing so...I still went behind your back...eclipsa went behind your back as well...but you seem more fine with me...then her.", she huffed as she laid back on the bed, "It's not the same, you both were doing it to protect me...but you didn't reveal this big team to my mom and get everyone in trouble...something we tried to avoid.".

"I always figured with you coming after me on your mom's orders...you well...were used to working under her...".

"I never liked working under my mom's shining shadow...I didn't want her fingers all over it, i didn't know what she'd do and i didn't know if she'd use this as another way to well...make me feel like...like i'm not good enough. That's one thing we can't relate to, my mom is a hero of mewni, i can't top that...and mewni knows it, i'm not as gifted as her...or as powerful.".

"You're powerful to me, even if you claim you aren't", he said back, and by his tone, he truly believed that.

"You haven't seen powerful unless you've seen mom, i don't compare.", sky was quick to tell him, god was she just good at beating up on herself? She tore herself down everytime someone gave her a compliment it felt.

"Well...you helped her help my mother...didn't you?", angel pointed out, "If she needed the help of another butterfly then clearly she wasn't powerful enough alone to handle the task.".

"Well I...yeah, i did but...well...I mean i was the one who got you to help...well tiny you...Angel your being too nice about it, mom did most of the work, i stumbled my way into that situation and she was the one who knew how to help at all...i'm not nearly as powerful if everyone else does the work and i accidentally stumble in and help somehow...".

"Well...I don't think there's anything to be ashamed of...you still did it, didn't you? Without you my mom...well...", he wasn't wrong, even her mom said herself she needed sky's help to even finish the process. Without her there nothing might've been fixed at all, angel didn't seem to care that she stumbled into it or didn't have the plan ready as long as she helped and cared.

But then again, angel didn't exactly care about sky's level of skill personally either, he thought she was powerful no matter what.

"I guess I still have some issues to work out...concerning my mom, i've been rethinking my feelings on her and maybe I was too judgmental...just assuming everything was easy for her...she...almost failed..without me to help. Though she's still...she's still so much more powerful and experienced...I've never been that way"., her voice was full of sadness and loss, in fact it seemed she no longer felt angry at her mom, but more sad then anything.

Though Angel was quick to attack that, huffing in that pompous way that he used to when they used to tease and mock the other.

"Well I for one don't see any reason you need to be as powerful as her to be great, you're clearly just fine without that power. This entire situation proves you have the ability to do so much, even if you're not the strongest at magic.", she smirked, "Well yeah, I guess the same goes for you, you spent your time training to use your powers? You're not perfect at it yet...but you're smart without it...sometimes...".

"Thank you...I think.".

"We should go...no point in staying here any more...let's find sunny", Sky hoped off the bed, "We'll...talk about what we wanna do together later...but for now the best thing we can do is keep focus on the task at hand and worry about it later." Angel got up and off the bed too, though his legs nearly knock down mannequin sky was using for one of her hat designs, catching it just in time.

"S-sorry...".

Sky quickly readjusting the thing as angel observed the sunhat, cute but still creepy with it's greens and eyes.

"This is for nora...isn't it?".

"It's not finished...but yeah, I promised her one awhile back but I got sidelined...but it's nearly complete.", angel looked at it with curiosity as sky looked between him and the hat, then away from both of them, thoughts rolling in her head as she changed the subject. "Y'know...nora reached out to you...she talked to you to help, how did she...your families didn't like each other for so long...how'd...", it was hard to get the right words out.

Though angel knew what she meant.

"Nora...and me...we...we didn't share the same hatred as our ancestors...we never really talked, nora was well...scared of me and I never put my focus on her...I feel like I put so much blame on you when nora's family took our land...but something about nora I can't really hate. Nora was just as alone as I was...she wasn't hateful or bitter...she was nothing but sorry and sympathetic...".

"and I was antagonistic if not ignoring you entirely...", sky finished.

"I didn't mind nora's help...I think...she's different from her family...but...I think we all seem to be in one way or another...".

"Maybe that's for the best...like you said.".

"Yeah, I hope so.".

Sunny's first instinct when seeing the two enter the room was to run up and hug them both, angel still not used to all the affection of these new friends but complying regardless. Sunny's smile was nice to see after that mess, she tended to always seem pretty cheery and happy and right now it was needed more then anything to helps them feel a little better.

"Good to see you! Let's get started.".

She quickly dragged them away from the door and further inside the library, katrina glancing up and waving as she went back to texting on her compact. The library was closed right now, outside of them being allowed in to look for whatever they needed. Giving them more freedom to look around, mostly for info on mind parasite and how to handle them.

Or masked creeps.

She and Galexia seemed to have gone through several books together, making sure lexi didn't draw on any of them in the process. Sunny probably had every page memorized by this point knowing her, her amount of research was impressive. Showing off her notes she'd been taking, "The Spiderbites and your mom is taking care of the same info but I thought best we got a good grasp on it as well...and yeah, I think our-your mom is up to something here...the symptoms match perfectly to previous victims of the bugs...weak memory, inability to control body, near parallelization...".

"I'm not sure if we should consider that a serious relief or not frankly", sky laughed, sunny shoving her nearest open book at her, "A relief! It makes it easier to fix if we're careful! The reason most people are too late is because it's so good at being a regular illness that they never think to cure it as if it were an parasite infesting their body! But it still needs care and if we're not careful can really hurt her...".

Angel jolted for a sec, suddenly nervous.

"But it's alright, we're working with professionals...once the bug is out she can heal properly...if she's not too damaged.", angel shuddered again, he almost wanted to leave the room but sky kept him still, trying to reassure him. "She'll make it through...what do we do to get it out?", sunny nodded to the page, "There are a few things that work, like evil repression charms...if luna were still here...we could've used her's but for now...we outta ask eclipsa.".

"Eclipsa?".

"She was the one to give luna her's right? I believe you told me that thing is practically a repellent that takes out dangerous and dark magic. That's perfect for weakening the bug inside of her.".

Angel and Sky exchanged looks.

"Is...that the only thing we can do?".

Sunny looked between them before remembering sky's current feelings towards eclipsa, "Well, no, of course not, we can do other charms to draw it out, and other spells, it was just an option...magical charms like that are a safe way of scaring the little buggers...it doesn't fully remove them but it does start to weaken them. But we can try another spell...though maybe we shouldn't conjure it...healing spells are more celeste's thing...and i'm never tried a cruse repenting spells before and...maybe we should wait for mom.".

"Ok...fine.".

"Hm?".

"I'll...ask eclipsa for one...".

She was very reluctant, but if it meant helping angel's mom, well...she'd be stupid to say no. Angel, knowing how mad she was, seemed super appreciative. He became a little less tense, his legs folding back behind them as to not accidentally hit anyone in his anxiety. Sunny looked equally happy, "Thank you! The sooner the better, it'll give it more time to take effect before we can do some of the other steps.".

"What are the other steps exactly? Nothing...crazy I hope?".

"Well, that depends on what the spiderbites and well...what your mom wants to do, the charm is just to slowly weaken it, removing it and convincing it to leave might still be hard, it is a magical being after all. But we have enough professionals we might be just fine, Arana's been fighting this long to keep it from destroying her from the inside after all...we're not giving up without a fight.".

"Is uh...lexi doing alright?", sky pointed to the brunette scribbling nearby, who looked up and waved at the three. Sunny laughing and turning back to the companions with cheer, "Well, I thought since lexi really wanted to help i'd play to her strengths, she's not the best at communication sometimes or with people, but she is great at speaking her mind through drawings and art in general...".

"What do you mean?".

"I mean I assigned lexi the role of our planner, with her dream knowledge and her abilities she can help plan ahead for what we should prepare for. Not to mention she's fantastic at design, she can visually interpret anything. And before you say anything, this isn't because i'm paranoid or obsessed with her...abilities, i think the best thing to do, is have HER be the one to deal with her own powers...if she finds something worth mentioning, she'll tell us.".

"You...think she can handle it?", sky said, worried and a little skeptic on if lexi would for sure know when to tell them anything significant. Looking at her drawings it was never really easy to be sure what they should be worried about or not, and it seemed like most of the time they were purely doodles and nothing that seemed logical enough to happen.

"Sky, ever since she's gotten here i've been the one talking to her the most, I know she can handle it, she's smart and great in her own way.", the girl was confident, she almost seemed like a proud mom as she looked over lexi. Sky knew they hung out a lot but she never really though heavily about it, at least about what they talked about or how they felt about each other. Sky had not talked to lexi much, and neither had anyone else that much either, so it was hard for her personally to say for sure this was something lexi could do.

But she did trust Sunny.

So she had to trust Lexi could do it.

"Alright then.".

"OH!", the small girl quickly ran over and collected her compact, excited, "Celeste texted me early today! She NEVER texts me, she wanted to let us know she was hanging with judas today to talk to his brother...er...landon. But I was just so happy cause celeste doesn't really talk to anyone other then landon so it was just...nice...having her speak to me.".

"How long will um...Judas be gone?", angel asked curiously, though sunny could only shrug, her focus had been elsewhere most of the day and judas could take as much time as he needed frankly.

"You'd have to ask him, i could text him right now if you want me to?".

"That's ok!", Sky interrupted, "He should get all the time he needs to deal with his brother...we'll talk to him when he's ready, anything else you want to share before we head out?". She was not looking forward to seeing eclipsa and was partially stalling for time, but she outta not leave until sunny provided her with any and all information she might need.

"Well...".

She tapped her toes, her third eye on them and her others eyes elsewhere. Whatever it was, she wasn't sure if she should say something or not, though considering the lack of time, better she came out with it now then ask later. "Sky...you're good with costumes and clothing right? I've been meaning to ask if maybe...you could...make me some costumes...?", she sounded as if this were embarrassing to ask, and sky's puzzled face was reason enough to explain sunny's worriedness.

"Why do you need costumes?", sky said, snapping back into reality, "Is this something to do with any of your plays or something? Cause this ain't really the time to be putting on plays or musicals right now when we got all this other stuff going on...". But Sunny shook her head, "No no...it's more like...with everything going on it's a lot harder to listen in on conversations and get details from the people, and I was thinking...with costumes we could sneak out and listen in on gossip or any news outside the castle walls...".

"You mean, you want me to make disguises?".

"Well yeah...you're so good with it...and it might help us out to walk around undetected...it'd be perfect! Everyone knows us, and some people are still well...against us...so maybe we could make disguises and see if we can get more from other sources on the matter of the bug and Her.".

"Well actually that sounds like a good idea...why didn't you bring it up earlier?", Sunny rubbed her arm, "Well, asking you to do that is asking you to do a lot of work and I wasn't sure you would want to spend so much time on something like that when we could put our focus elsewhere, with Katrina going on about being spies...well, with disguises...we could work with her...".

Sky eyed katrina, who had been listening in, "Well problem is...I don't think you're allowed to have us spy on anyone correct?". The frog woman nodded, "Nope, i am not allowed to let you out of the castle sunshine, but, i'll be fair, if you want to dress up around here? I have no reason to stop you, just don't go sneaking out of the walls, we're not taking that risk no matter how tough you guys might be...and i'm in trouble enough as is".

Sunny pouted, she'd probably been hoping to convince the spy to help them but seems the lady was quick to shut that part down, well...that's what it looked like. Sunny almost was about to leave when angel stopped her, his brow furrowing before he took a risk with his next words, "Um...forgive me...I uh...that was a well told lie but I uh...I think we'd appreciate more truth out of you...considering how much I had lied and you wanted me to be honest...".

He actually didn't know if she were lying, but it just kinda came out, and yet-

Sunny suddenly became embarrassed, her facade dropping, "Fine...it was a half lie...I do want some costumes for a play outside of the disguises...I know a place landon showed me and I thought it'd be a good place to perform...but it's not out of selfish reasons...I thought...maybe...we could set a trap there and you could make us costumes to help better disguise us to catch them there...and I've been writing a play for you guys in my spare time".

"Why weren't you honest about that from the beginning?".

"I though you guys would think It was a waste of time If i asked you for costumes for a silly play of mine...it's easier to ask for costumes to go around in public then to ask for costumes for a play I want to perform in...I mean you even said it was a waste of time before i told you.".

"Sunny no, that's a great idea, for a trap I mean".

"Ahem!", Katrina said from against the wall, "No scheming to go anywhere outside the walls. it's cute how much of spies your are but any traps laid about should be addressed with your parents sky".

"Aren't you supposed to be following judas?", katrina shrugged, "I am but after last night it seems king and queen lucitor decided maybe I outta give the boy a little more space...can't blame him, he looked really upset last night, i think the whole situation really hit a nerve with him. He's a tough kid but he's struggling with trusting himself and feeling comfortable and safe with himself...seeing the woman hurt probably made him think about it being one of his family members.".

Angel suddenly felt a ting of guilt, "I told him about Her having the book with notes on his condition in it...I told him i was worried about it and...he had tried to tell me he'd be ok...perhaps I...shouldn't have said anything...I was just worried and thought he should know...". His ears folded and his face turned pinker then usual, his mistakes seemed unending.

"It's not your fault kid, no one can speak for how judas feels then...judas, the kid can ignore how people feel and use this zappers all he wants, but honestly to me...I think what he needs to focus on...is his own mental health. Purple needs more help, and honestly better you tell him he might be in danger then say nothing at all and let something bad happen he can't prepare for...even if It hurts him...".

The prince nodded, "If you're sure.".

"Kid, you can hurt people, but not everything could be easily fixed by you doing nothing either. The stuff that kid is dealing with is more then just you, the best thing you can do now...all of you, is be there for him as his friend and reassure him and protect him. He'd do the same for all of you and the best you can do is the same for him while he's struggling.".

"We will...promise.".

"Good, now you ll better get back to...whatever your doing...and stay safe...call me if you need me. Right now i'm watching these two but If I need to help i will, if the guards don't alert me...". The two nodded and before they left Katrina nodded to Angel, "And sorry if I was too aggressive last night, I know that entire situation was emotional for you...but your safety and hers should be a priority and I couldn't jeopardize it".

"It's fine...", he didn't seem too forgiving by tone, but he couldn't hold a big grudge either considering the outcome of it either. He moved forward, following sky closely as the door closed behind them, leaving sunny, katrina, and galexia in the library. Sunny smiled at them leaving, "They're so cute working together...I knew they could do it!", going back to opening her book on medical magical practices.

"They're strange friends alright...", the older monster nodded, leaning against the wall nearby.

"But...I welcome them completely, honestly the more the merrier".

Sky definitely didn't want to meet eclipsa.

Not now, not anytime soon.

Of course when she blabbed on about how upset she was with her that's the day she HAD to meet her in person.

Of course, just her luck.

She didn't know if angel tagging along made it more awkward or less awkward frankly.

Though angel seemed to be right by her side on this no matter what so that was a little reassuring, at least he wasn't acting like she couldn't be upset on the matter, considering he technically went behind her back as well he didn't really have much of an excuse himself. He adjusted judas's old clothes he'd been wearing, nervous as they entered the garden.

"I could go...if you...don't want to." sky stopped in her tracks, huffing.

"I know you could..and you would...but I should do It, i'm supposed to be taking charge here...I shouldn't...make you do anything that I should be doing. I promised to help right? I'm just gonna have to suck up my anger and deal with it. I won't even have to look at her for very long...", then she paused, "I...I do miss our lessons together though...".

"This does seem almost like going to one somehow...doesn't it?".

Sky's annoyance was apparent, "Yeah...it does...".

But then she turned around to look at him, her face becoming a smile, "Maybe when all this is over...we could pick those back up again? If that's cool with you? Maybe with a different teacher? We...have a lot to work on if we're going to be in charge at some point...like a lot of work. Helping your family and people, trying to fix our terrible security, y'know...trying not to ruin people's lives?".

"I accept your offer...Queen Sky.", he was being playful, bowing, and sky actually seemed to find it a little amusing.

"Alright, now i'm just stalling...let's get it over with...".

She headed up to the tower door, knocking, angel close behind her as she became more anxious by the second. She found herself tapping her foot, waiting before she heard the door unlock, her blue eyes looking towards the door. Though as the door opened it wasn't eclipsa at the door, but Globgor, who looked excited and relieved to see the kids there.

"Back so soon?", he teased, "I jest...yesterday was quite a day wasn't it? You kids alright?". He was mainly looking at angel and the boy could only give him a weak nod as his answer, and that seemed enough for globgor who didn't push it further. "So what are you doing here? Lessons are cancelled and Eclipsa knows you're mad with her and...you need something don't you?".

Sky's face told all, looking away and shuffling, "Maybe...is there something wrong with that?".

The monster ushered the two in, "Of course not, you know we're willing to help. It's good to see you two again.". Globgor followed behind as she headed inside eclipsa's tower, though eclipsa herself wasn't there, globgor himself only sat down in front of them as they took their usual seats as if this were another one of eclipsa's lessons all over again.

"Eclipsa's out, she'll be back soon...she asked for me to hang out here to check in with the queens, we're going to head back to our place soon after...but for now you can talk to me if that makes you more comfortable. What's on your mind?", the royals exchanged looks between them as sky let it out of the bag, "We need eclipsa to make us a charm to ward off bad magic...".

"Oh...that sounds a lot worse then I was expecting, what are you getting into exactly?", the princess was quick to nod to her companion, "It's for his mom, it's all to help her...I'm only here to help him and his mom. So yeah, if eclipsa can make us a charm to use for her, i'd appreciate it, i'm not exactly knowledgeable on that and i know for a fact it's not in the book of spells...".

Globgor suddenly smiled in a way sky did not like, clasping his hands together, "Reminds me of eclipsa, she was so brave doing everything she did to be with me and make me happy. You're facing someone you're mad with to help someone you used to be enemies with, that's so adorable". Great, another one of those people, was this going to be regular thing from now on?

Just random people gaping at how sweet it was they no longer wanted to fight each other?

Was it too late to change her mind?

Even Angel looked embarrassed, coughing and trying to change the subject, "Yeah, ok...anyway...globgor...can eclipsa help us? I'm glad you're happy that we're friends now but i'm here to help my mom...I need to help her in anyway I can...if there's even a chance we can save her life...". Globgor understood, no doubt thinking back to the many monsters he lost back in the war, the friends and family.

"We'll help...promise, we'll have to wait till eclipsa gets back first.".

The monster king looked over to the unused teapot nearby, "I'm not good at it but...you want a drink?". Guess they were going to be here for awhile weren't they? Might as well in the meantime. Globgor attempted to make tea as sky took out her compact, looking for updates from any of her friends. Angel glancing over to take a look as well, "Any updates from judas...?".

"Not yet...but we'll hear from him soon i'm sure...".

Sky had to admit angel's attachment to judas and even nora was touching to her, it seems she and judas were no longer a pair of two anymore ever since this mess started.

"How do you know for certain that he's not in danger or anything? Not that I don't trust Prince Lucitor, but with everything happening...how are you sure he's safe?", the princess could only return his question with a nonchalant shrug, "I just know judas can take care of himself, despite the mess...he's...strong, even at his worst...and he's not alone either...".

"He isn't?".

"Landon is with him, landon's not the most powerful...but if judas was in trouble, landon wouldn't leave him...". she tucked her compact back into her pocket , "I wish we had a greater idea what they wanted...where they might strike next...without knowing their goal it makes it harder to figure out where to catch them...you sure they gave you no real idea of their plan?".

"I swear they didn't, they certainly didn't trust me enough to disclose that info to me...I wonder if to some degree they expected me to betray them and didn't think I was worth trusting with that information...all I know was the plans I was told about and that they were scary powerful with magic...enough to deliver on their promises to me to keep me in line...", he crossed his heart, "I'd spill if i could.".

"Magic is so limited to people in mewni...well...that kinda powerful magic...it has to be a butterfly, But i know it's not my moms, eclipsa, my grandmother doesn't have reason to do this...does anyone in my family have a big enough grudge to be targeting the other kingdoms like this? Though considering what they took...they seemed to want power I guess...", sky didn't know much about her extended family, but then again, how much did her extended family know about low mewman? Or the book?

Maybe it really was some kinda toffee follower...the butterfly secrets didn't exactly remain secret because of him or the people around him, maybe they should be investigating any living supporters of him.

Or maybe she was just losing her mind at this point and just desperate to make sense of all of this.

"Ugh...I wish i hadn't left the-".

Her eyes suddenly lit up, god had she really let that slip her mind already?

"The truth potion...it's here...I last saw it here", she aggressively whispered to her companion, if she could get that back, maybe she could find some use for it in their investigation, especially in terms of getting straight answers out of her family and other suspects.

Her eyes immediately scanned around the room, hoping to spot the blue potion somewhere in plain sight but finding nothing, instead globgor returned, presenting the pair teacups and immediately apologizing. "I'm not as good as eclipsa with this whole thing. so if it tastes bad...sorry about that...but boiling water and adding tea dirt feels like it's hard to mess up...".

They both took the teacups, even angel was looking around the room, his eyes darting around so much globogr seemed to be wondering if there was something wrong with him.

"Prince arachford?".

"Hmm?", suddenly all his eyes looked at globgor, taking a quick sip of his tea, he wasn't keeping a very good poker face right now.

"I wanted to appluade how you were in the trial yesterday, you really stuck it to those commissioners, it's fantastic seeing you tell them off like that. Normally before when a monster did so they took it as a sign of aggression and would've arrested them sooner, I'm impressed", globgor reached over to pat his fellow monster on the shoulder, "Not to mention they're in a world of trouble right now.".

"Well..I wasn't going to let sky get arrested for something that was my fault.", he mumbled, "It was my fault alone...and she could've been arrested alongside me.".

"Well I think you did great, I'm impressed.".

"Impressive because I fought back?".

"No, impressive because you were willing to take the fall to protect people you cared about, that's the sign of a true leader right there. I think your people will be happy to welcome you back once things settle...", oh right, his people were mad at him due to what happened, he'd been so distracted he seemed to entirely forget about that part of the situation.

He couldn't even return home because of what happened, his people were beyond mad he had done something that put them in possible danger, not to mention all of mewni. He did the whole thing in hopes of bringing them back to greatness, allowing them to use magic like they used to, but it seemed they hated it and the idea of it if it came under these circumstances.

He really screwed up.

Globgor seemed to notice he looked down but his voice grew softer, "Hey, you always had a great heart...what happened back then...honestly It's a guilt that's lingered with me as well...you can be mad at solaria...you can be mad at the butterfly family...you have every right to be. But it's great you've gone from wanting nothing but revenge...to wanting to work to fix things and form friendships...It's what we originally wanted as well...".

"Doesn't appear to always work...", he muttered under is breath, the hurt still present in his voice.

"No but...well...do you trust the ones you're working with to work beside you?", globgor eyed to Sky, was distracted looking around the room to pay much attention to the conversation. Angel of course couldn't say no, "I do trust them...even If I was too stubborn to even consider it before.". Globgor rustled his hair, snickering, "Well I happen to think the monsters will be in better hands going forward...so we can finally truly reach proper peace...hopefully.".

Globgor sighed, looking to sky now, who was still looking around rather strangely, and he set his full attention on her.

"So...what'cha looking for sky?".

Sky suddenly froze, clutching her teacup.

Yeah, no duh she'd get caught, her head was moving like a bird's right now, as unnatural as possible for a normal looking individual. She could've just asked globgor but there was no telling if THAT was a good idea or if it was another excuse for the lovers to betray them entirely and not let them have it at all. Though now that globor knew she was looking for something...well..oops.

But the monster wasn't stupid, smiling a toothy grin that almost seemed teasing.

"Oh right, when you came here to fine the young lad you ended up leaving a special potion around didn't you? You never came back to collect it since.", he took a seat once again in front of the pair, folding his arms. "Sorry kids...but you're a smidge late...King Lucitor...well actually...Dave...since he's no longer king. He requested some to question that young demon girl and since Eclipsa had it she let him borrow it, i'm sure he won't use it all though."

Oh right, Judas's grandfather had mentioned he wanted to further speak to Fae didn't he?

Sky suddenly pulled out her compact, and gave angel a knowing glance.

Cue team Judas.

Judas's compact buzzed, the boy waking up from a nap he'd been having and opening the device up, his brother and half sister sleeping next to him. Had he really fallen asleep? Guess it figured after how stressful things had been he'd be more tired then usual, though upon reading the message from the princess and seeing his brother alongside him, the thought of leaving their side did not resonate with him.

He did not want to leave landon, not right now.

There was still much to do with him and right now he seemed rather worried about his safety after that mess. At the very least he and Celeste both outta make sure he wasn't physically harmed due to magic or glass or anything. Because if there was, landon would be hiding it, just like he hid his tail from everyone, even from his parents at times when he was upset with them.

But what to do? If he had to stay with his brother for now, he needed another idea.

Granted, his grandfather would most likely give the potion back, but what if he didn't? In fact what if they couldn't remake the potion due to the strict hold on the garden for ingredients? But the real reason sky wanted judas to do something came to him quite quickly, fae was not a team player of any kind, but she knew about landon and celeste's escapades.

Knew they had been out when they shouldn't be and investigated on their own.

Not to mention the fact the girl was prime witness to the rescue mission to save nora, something that they were still choosing to keep mostly under wraps to keep sky from being further attacked and considering his grandfather was currently in the dark about who the girls were and about the truth about what was happening, having him find out his family wasn't telling him anything...was bad news.

Sky could be in trouble, and so could all of them.

If Fae spilled, they'd be in trouble.

He needed to make sure the two people next to him didn't end up in further trouble, not to mention the rest of them so they weren't further exposed. Not that he didn't trust his grandfather, but this sure wasn't the best way to bring that up to him.

But he couldn't just leave...could he?

But if he couldn't do it...

Judas quickly sent out another text, knowing the best person he could send for the job, without putting them at much of any risk. All he needed was to keep his grandpa from finding out anything he shouldn't, and hopefully, they could keep it together just a little bit longer.

He hoped.

"Mason...you got this.".

And nearby in his own room, mason's wings could be heard flapping in excitement.