#almost tagged team rocket hi hello

[fluffydragonchips]

heres Moss for Moonsharks <33 wandering around greenpath

[andypantsx3]

SOMETHING IN THE WATER | 5 | SHOUTO x READER

SUMMARY: As a future marine biologist, you’ve scored big on your final internship: a summer in the tropics, researching the waters off the coast of a lush, sunny island. But what you thought would be all beach days and piña coladas turns out to be the revelation of a lifetime when you haul in a handsome merprince, and discover not everything in these waters is quite as it seems. TAGS/WARNINGS: mermaid au, interspecies relationships, mating rituals/courting behavior, (sort of) case fic, aged up characters, eventual smut, fem pronouns/afab reader LENGTH: 3.5k of est. 21k, 5th of 8 chapters

It was pollution. No doubt about it.

Under the lens of one of Kamui’s microscopes, the evidence was incontrovertible. The piece of white coral Shouto had brought you sported distinct traces of industrial processing chemicals that had almost certainly contributed to its bleaching, the concentration high enough that it had also probably choked the life out of the nearby environment.

It was high enough, in fact, that you were absolutely floored your team hadn’t come across even a hint of anything similar before. Based on the levels, you should have been finding at least smaller traces close to the area it came from, but nothing you’d found so far had even hinted at anything like this.

Which begged the question, just where in the hell had Shouto gotten it from?

When you legged it back down to the beach, however, both the merman and your sandwich were missing. The only evidence of his presence were the slices of mozzarella that had clearly been picked out of the sandwich, laid out cleanly on the wrapper you’d left behind.

You’d sighed and cleaned your trash up, then slogged back to your room for a shower and a few hours of sleep, stowing the coral away safely to show to your team in the morning.

When you awoke, however, you realized you would have no way of explaining to them where you’d obtained it, and no way to point them any closer to the source of the issue. You resolved to find Shouto as soon as possible to figure out what was going on, hopefully before the scheduled tour of Sunfish.

You rocketed through your morning tasks, and hurriedly volunteered to take over trap checking duty, disappearing out the door before Yu could so much as get out a reply.

You boated north to the reef where you’d first met Shouto, and jumped into the water before you’d even gotten your snorkeling gear on properly, certain the merman would somehow find you. You’d nearly finished checking the trap, kicking off the seafloor to rise back to the surface when a hand seized your elbow, guiding you back up.

Shouto’s handsome face was staring back at you when you yanked off your goggles, his distinctive hair slicked back with ocean water, the scar around his eye a deep pink in the sunlight. Sunlight glittered off the droplets on his skin, making him look even more ethereal than he usually did, and your breath momentarily seized in your chest.

“Hi Shouto,” you said, your face going hot when it came out weirdly breathy. Embarrassing.

A tiny little smile pulled at the corner of his mouth, and his fingers flexed on your elbow. “Hello,” he said in his deep, even tone.

Even that simple greeting somehow made you flush. You quickly marshaled yourself, trying to remember you had come here with an agenda, not to float here stupidly in the water, staring at him.

“Shouto—that coral you gave me yesterday? One of them has the signs of the pollution I was looking for!”

Shouto blinked, a droplet of water sliding down the side of his straight, handsome nose. Your eyes seemed weirdly glued to it as it reached the edge of his mouth.

“Then you liked it? It had…microbes?” he asked.

You nodded distractedly. “Sort of. Signs of microbial unhealth and chemically-induced bleaching. And I did like it. I think you might have actually solved the whole case for me!”

Shouto’s mouth pulled into a fuller, happier smile, just enough to bare the tops of those sharp teeth. You blinked, momentarily stunned, looking back up into his eyes to find him watching you intently.

“You liked it. My gift,” he said, something strangely smug in his tone. A little thrill raced through you, a frission of pleasure, at having put that expression on his face, that tone in his voice. Your ears went hot, and you pointedly did not think about why his pleasure made you so pleased as well.

“Yeah, I loved it,” you nodded, startled when Shouto’s fingers slid from your elbow to your wrist, lifting it up to his face.

But then in the next instant his expression shifted, his brows furrowing and the edges of his smile dipping. Instantly, you mourned the loss of it.

“But…you are not wearing it,” he said. “Either of them.”

Your eyelashes fluttered themselves in another disconcerted blink. Had…that been a requirement? Had he said that to you, yesterday?

You didn’t think you’d had much conversation between him handing over the bits of coral and you rushing off to the lab with them, but maybe that had been his expectation of what you would do with them. Maybe that was a common merperson thing, and you were too ignorant to think of it.

In fact, you hadn’t even taken the time to ask him why he’d given the coral bits to you, too focused on getting them under Kamui’s microscope like a huge disrespectful idiot.

You flushed, suddenly feeling incredibly rude. Was this a merperson custom you had just flagrantly ignored?

“Am I—? Is that something your people, um, do?” you asked. “Wear coral?”

Shouto nodded, those mismatched eyes still glued to your bare wrist. His fingers carefully shifted to encircle it, like he was replacing the expected bits of coral with his own hold on you. Your face burned and you paddled a little bit harder in the water, expelling nervous energy.

“I am so sorry, I didn’t know. Of course I will wear them, I just need to find some kind of string—” A sudden thought seized you. “Except—-well, Shouto, I need that white coral to prove pollution. I need to show it to my team, and be able to explain where I got it from. They might need to send it off as evidence.”

Shouto’s fingers tightened on you, though you noted he was still mindful of his claws. A hissing noise exploded out of him, and that scraping feeling burned at the back of your throat again, the bioelectric signal of his distaste clear enough.

“It is yours, not theirs,” he hissed, his handsome face suddenly all twisted up.

You could quite literally feel how distressed he was, and your heart throbbed with the realization that you were the cause.

You immediately backtracked, horrified. You shifted in the merman’s grip, twisting your hand to grab his wrist too, and put your other hand to his shoulder, holding him firmly.

“I’m sorry—Shouto, yes of course it’s mine. Of course I won’t give it to them,” you said, trying to angle your face to look into his eyes. “I didn’t realize—of course I will keep it with me.”

To your surprise, Shouto calmed immediately. The snarl faded from his mouth, his lips resuming their normal soft, sweet shape, and his other hand came to rest at your waist, pulling you a fraction closer to him.

“You promise,” he asked, though it was phrased more like a statement than a question.

You had to fight back a shocked laugh at how easily he’d been rerouted, and how unbelievably fleeting and childish that little tantrum had been. A prince of his people and here he was, getting fussy with you!

There was nothing for your exasperated snort, your helpless smile. “Yes, yes, I promise. But you have to help me collect another piece of white coral from where you got it originally. I promise it’s important.”

Shouto’s hands tightened on you, and you found yourself being dragged closer, so that he was holding you up in the water, only inches from the hard planes of his chest. His tail brushed against the inside of your thigh, the scales rasping lightly over the skin there. You went still, a little thrill racing up your spine at his sudden, more immediate proximity.

“You want me to take you there,” he said, his voice suddenly a little deeper.

You blinked. “I—yes? Is that…okay?”

Shouto’s eyes narrowed in on you, and you shifted nervously in his hold as his pupils went a little more slitted, a little more inhumanly focused. “It is an area of some significance to my people, though it is now difficult to get to. Your kind has begun to touch it.”

Your interest piqued. Humans had begun to touch it, alright. Judging by the chemical processing agents left behind on the piece of coral Shouto had given you, you could guess exactly which humans had touched it, too.

“Is it Sunfish?” you couldn’t help but ask, perking up in his hold.

Shouto inclined his head, a movement that brought his mouth almost dangerously close to yours. Your breath choked off in your lungs.

“Yes,” Shouto replied. “The…microbes you are interested in, then…? They are to do with Sunfish?”

You nodded excitedly, eagerly sucking in another breath. “Yes, yes! God, I’m so stupid, I should have told you earlier—anything to do with where Sunfish is operating is of interest to me. We’ve been testing the—um, the microbes to put it simply—around the area but if Sunfish has somewhere we haven’t been yet, that’s what I’m looking to know.”

Shouto looked thoughtful, and a claw trailed absently down the skin of your arm. You jumped, startled.

“Then I will take you,” he said, eyes cutting back to yours. “On one condition.”

You felt your eyebrows raise. Well that was unexpected of him. Who knew mermen knew how to bargain?

“Name your price,” you told him.

Shouto’s mouth quirked then, a hint of a sharp incisor showing, but the rest of his expression was strangely sincere. “I want dinner and a movie,” he said, a claw trailing sweetly, absently down the skin of your arm again. “Like you said humans do.”

You could feel your eyebrows escaping towards your hairline, your mouth going slack. “You want to watch a movie and have dinner,” you repeated, floored.

Shouto inclined his head, the damp strands of red and white mingling with the movement. “You said I would like a movie.”

Damn. You had said that, hadn’t you? But you couldn’t think how in the hell you were going to get Shouto to a movie. It wasn’t like there was a movie theater on this island, and besides that it wasn’t like you could just piggyback a real life merman into one.

You supposed if pressed, you could preload something on the shitty island wifi and then bring your laptop down to the beach and watch things that way. But what if someone spotted the light and came looking? Shouto could disappear quick enough, you had no doubt, but how to explain the laptop?

And then it occurred to you: the inn had a maintenance shed, just off the main office. A sudden image came to you of wheeling Shouto uphill in a wheelbarrow, getting him into the tub in your room, and setting up a few pillows for yourself, and some kind of dinner spread on the floor.

It was unconventional. But then—so was the idea of dinner and a movie with a merman at all.

You stuck out your hand, making a mental note to swing by the maintenance shed on your way back in tonight. “It’s a deal.”

Shouto stared at your fingers, seeming not to know what to do with the gesture, until you took one of his hands in your own, pumping it up and down. He held on for too long after that, those crimson-tipped fingers closing in over your own, warm and wet and strong.

“Then I will take you now, if you like,” Shouto said. “If you are ready.”

You nodded, paddling your feet a little uselessly in his hold, in eager anticipation. Confirmation of Sunfish’s activity, and the chance to see a place meaningful to Shouto and his people. It was a dream come true for any marine biologist.

Shouto let you go, following you slowly as you paddled back to the boat, swimming leisurely, looping circles around you. He helped boost you back into the boat, and then hauled himself up after you on the strength of his arms alone. The back of your neck went very warm, as you watched his muscle coil and flex as he pulled himself in, then looked at you imploringly.

“I will point the way and you will take us,” he said, slithering across the floor of the boat to slide in next to you behind the wheel. He peered at all the meters and dials interestedly, pressing a crimson claw to one.

You had to laugh at the ridiculousness of a merman sitting behind the wheel of a boat, and another wild idea occurred to you.

“Wanna learn how to drive?” you asked.

Shouto’s eyes slid over to you, turquoise and grey pinning you to your seat. “To operate the boat?”

You nodded. Another hot flush crept across your cheeks as a slow smile spread over Shouto’s mouth, those mismatched eyes glittering.

“Yes,” he said. “I should like that very much.”

You gestured him over to your seat, rising out of it as Shouto slid all that heavy muscle your way, the scales of his tail bright and fiery in the sun. He was warm and smelled like salt up close, and you tried not to take note of the way his bicep flexed as he moved to grip the wheel in taloned fingers.

You gave him a brief run through of all the meters and gauges, the fuel level meter, speedometer, the ammeter and engine hours. He seemed disinterested in all but the speed—a typical man, even if only his upper half looked it.

Then you showed him the throttle and how to turn the key to start and what degrees of movement of the wheel at a higher speed wouldn’t send both of you flying out of the boat. And then you sank down next to him, gripping the seat for safety as he started the boat, looking thrilled.

He guided the boat off the reef more carefully than you would have expected, but he grew bolder as you made it out into deeper waters, applying a ton of throttle instantly and sending you falling backwards in your seat. You zoomed across the gentle waves, horrifyingly fast, but unexpectedly smoothly for someone who had just learned. Shouto seemed intimately familiar with the island’s layout, navigating smoothly through some of the shallow channels that gave you an almost-regular heart attack, gliding easily across the waves and not seeming to catch a single one the wrong way.

A thrilled laugh bit out of you, getting lost in the wind as you sped across the sea. Shouto’s mouth pulled into a wider smile, looking pleased with himself, those sharp teeth white in the sun. You found yourself smiling, at the ludicrousness of being driven around by a merprince, and at how much Shouto looked like he was enjoying himself.

In almost no time Shouto was steering you into a shallow cove on the eastern side of the island a couple hundred meters away from where you’d laid out an observation station. As you slowed to a stop you helped anchor the boat, feeling your brows furrowing back down in confusion, the smile slipping off your face.

If there was any level of pollution in this cove then you would have known about it from the nearby observation station. You weren’t sure if Shouto had the right spot.

But as you turned back to him he pointed a claw towards the jut of the land, aiming with certainty. “There used to be a cave through which we could access the lagoon,” he said. “But it is blocked off to us now.”

You stared at him, befuddled. “Blocked off? By what?”

Shouto’s mouth thinned into an irritated line. “By some human invention—I do not know what it is.”

Your eyebrows raised. “Then—how did you get the coral out of this, uh, lagoon if you can’t access it?”

Shouto’s eyes dipped, following your words as your mouth shaped them, looking strangely intent. Your ears went hot.

“I climbed,” he said simply.

You whipped around to stare back at the strip of land rising into the jungle. You could just make out a clearing in the trees where you thought a lagoon might lay. And it was no small distance. Your jaw dropped, imagining Shouto having to drag himself over meters and meters of land to get there.

Your stomach fluttered, the white coral suddenly taking on a new significance if Shouto had gone to such trouble for it. It had to be more than just an area of interest to his people—-it more likely had to be extremely significant if this was the length merpeople had to go for this coral. No wonder he hadn’t liked the idea of you testing it, of you surrendering it and mailing it out and away, if he’d had to pull himself over land like that to get it.

And with this realization, a new, wildly disconcerting thought crept over you, an insane flight of fancy.

Was it possible that Shouto had given you… not just a friendly gift, but something even more meaningful than you had initially realized? If this was a site of cultural significance, and he’d suffered to get the coral for you—did it mean something a little bit more intimate than an exchange between new friends?

Your gaze darted back over to Shouto, sitting pertly in his seat. He struck such a handsome profile, all sleek muscle and delicately carved features, his face carefully-noted and almost supernaturally angelic. His coloring, too, was magnificent, the rose of his scar, the deep scarlet of his scales and his claws. And he was so sweet, and funny, and so very interesting. He was unlike anything—anyone—you had ever seen, and the thought of him fetching you a gift of special significance made an even more blistering wave of heat flare up in your belly.

You rose from your seat, determined to see this lagoon for yourself.

“Alright, you wait here,” you told Shouto, “I’m going to go check it out.”

He nodded, watching you closely as you went to the bag of supplies, fishing out a camera, the log book, your shoes, and a couple pieces of sampling equipment. You stuffed them all in a dry bag, rolling the top down tight and buckling securely.

“You will be careful,” Shouto intone in his deep voice, more an order than a question.

You smiled up at him, nodding your head. “Yes. I’ll be back in just a couple of minutes.”

He looked satisfied with that, and helped lower you down into the water to swim for land. He slithered off the edge beside you, sinking smoothly into the water like a dropped stone, and swam along underneath you, following you all the way until you clambered onto the sand. You hurriedly dug around in your bag for your shoes, stuffing your feet into them still sandy and damp as Shouto looked on.

Once properly outfitted, you followed the beach as it trailed off into scrub and bushes, and then into towering palms, making your way into the jungle. The sun shone brightly through the leaves, painting everything around you in shades of sunlit green, the air under the canopy thicker than on the beach. Your feet slid over the damp sand in your sneakers, a sensation you did not particularly enjoy, but you walked briskly, your curiosity leading you onwards.

In only a few minutes, the trees once again gave way to a small strip of sand, and you spilled out onto the beach of the lagoon.

It was instantly clear to you exactly what Shouto had meant. A large metallic wall dammed off one side of the lagoon, most probably blocking off the underwater channel Shouto had told you about. It had been bolted into the jutting coral and rock around it, sealing off any water flow. Around it, the ancient coral walls of the lagoon were bone white wherever the water lapped at them, disturbingly bleached of color, and you thought the scrub and the trees that had built up over the surface overtime looked a little bit unhealthy too.

Shouto had most definitely gotten his coral from here.

As you looked around your certainty grew, until you spotted the most damning evidence. Only a scant few meters away from where you had come out of the forest, there was a pipe dug into the earth, sitting about a meter above the water level of the lagoon. It was still shiny, clearly new, and it was also dribbling the occasional bit of liquid into the lagoon, as if someone were piping certain substances out and away from the rest of their facilities.

Your heart rate doubled at the sight, and you knew even as you unloaded your equipment to take samples that you had found exactly what you had been looking for.

There was no doubt in your mind that this pipe led back to Sunfish. And Shouto had indeed just solved this entire case.

[henrysglock]

Yessss okay so if you’re seeing what I’m seeing…the trailers/posters/promo marketing for this season of Arcane were ALLLLL about a Vi vs. Jinx showdown. You know, the thing that happened in like episode 3? And then Act 2 and 3 happen. Not only are they not fighting, they are teaming up together for most of the story! Speculation, do you think a kid such as Holly might make like Isha in humanising Henry to our cast and the audience in season 5, maybe shedding some light on the Alice scenario?

YES okay hello

I didn't actually see any of the promo, because I've had arcane and related tags blacklisted for a hot minute 😭 but I absolutely don't doubt you. Jinx vs Cait/Vi was really set up at the end of S1—I feel like one could compare Jinx hitting Piltover with the rocket at the end of S1 to Vecna opening the rifts. "Papa" is dead, sister has chosen the "wrong" side, and we're dealing with a bona-fide act of war. It seems like a perfect setup to really pit Jinx and Vi against each other, and then...boom. Jinx is suspiciously quiet, wallowing in the loss. Vi is resentful, but she doesn't hold as much vitriol as her girlfriend. Isha brings some of the life back to Jinx, some of the happiness, some Powder. Isha's calmed her, too, a little. Vi seeing Isha defend Jinx, and Jinx messing around with Isha, reminds her of her and Powder. Suddenly Vi is faltering. Then all it takes is Jinx coming and genuinely asking for help, and Vi crumbles.

Isha being that reminder, that bridge, does a lot for Vi and a lot for the viewers. Vi remembers that her sister is still her sister, that she can't abandon her (we're pretending everything post-Isha didn't happen quite the way it happened smdh). Isha brings the family back together—the jinx, the beast, the traitor—right before everything truly goes to shit.

By Holly, I assume you mean Nell's character, who is unnamed as of yet.

I absolutely think she could play a similar role. In fact, I'm fairly certain of it. If she is Holly, and she ended up in Henry's inner world somehow, then she'll definitely be a source of "see, Henry doesn't do all that by choice" and "Henry was/is good with and kind to children". If she's someone else, a figment or an alternate-universe reality (see: Ekko's trip in an AU), then it's a chance to dig into "this kind of thing is what Henry always dreamed of". I know Jamie said way, way back that Henry really did think he was going to escape and have a nice life with El. Nell's character is a good avenue to explore that/explore how that humanizes Henry as someone who may have wanted a daughter of his own. I also agree with you that it would be a good way to explore a sort-of "penance" for what happened to Alice (which El could have been, if we take NINA at face value), even though what happened wasn't Henry's fault.

This would humanize him to the audience, but it would also paint him as someone reasonable, someone who can be negotiated with—someone who genuinely does care but might not have the means to act (in terms of power, knowledge, or otherwise).

Having Henry in such close proximity to a character like that almost automatically sets us up for a humanization arc—since I doubt they'd have him harm her, not after releasing TFS and the VR with the characterizations they did—and it sets us up for a possible team-up, much like Vi and Jinx, Piltover and Zaun, "enemies" with a desperate common goal, teaming up against Viktor and Noxus.

[skymaiden32]

Toxicity

AO3 link here

Fandom: Thunderbirds

Tagging: @dragonoffantasyandreality @thundergeek59 @janetm74 @katblu42 @liseylou @amistrio @uniwolfcorn (Please ask if you would like to be updated when I update or write new stories)

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9

Why hello there. It's been a while since I updated this... ^^'

Tomorrow also happens to be this fic's one-year anniversary, so really hope you enjoy this chapter! >:3

------

Virgil waved from the edge of the runway as the police team arrived on the Island. They’d only announced they were coming today early this morning, and three hours later they had blipped onto the radar, getting closer and closer to the sanctuary of the family’s little hideaway. The second eldest brother took a deep breath, steeling himself for what was going to happen here, whatever it was. He was sure everything would be fine. Operation Cover-Up was fully operational, Kyrano had gotten some late lunch together for their visitors, and Virgil knew enough about distracting little brothers to hopefully apply it to a group of officers.

“Welcome to Tracy Island.” He greeted the police chief, warmly shaking his hand. 

Chief Adams grinned at Virgil, shaking heartily back. “Pleasure’s all ours, Mr Tracy. What do you say about us having a chat about what happened first, and then me and my boys will have a look around?”

“I’d say you’ve got yourselves a plan.” Virgil turned around, gesturing for the group to follow him. “The main house is this way. And please…" The Chief raised an eyebrow. “Mr Tracy is my father. You can just call me Virgil.”

“Of course.” Adams smiled understandingly. “Lead the way, Virgil…”

What they failed to notice as they were walking towards the villa however, was that one policeman had broken off from the group, and was going the exact opposite way.

------

John had been following the convoy for some time now, and although he knew he was in stealth mode and far behind them, he was certain the Hood knew he was there. Why wouldn’t he? The criminal always seemed to be one step ahead of them when it came to this particular scheme of his…

Thunderbird One’s radar screamed at him, and he forced himself to take his eyes off the convoy to take a look. “Well,” he could’ve cursed, “that’s not good…” He swerved sharply in the air. The rocket ship shook as the missile just managed to miss the cockpit and hit the back engines instead. The Hood had definitely known… 

John gritted his teeth as he struggled to control the damaged ship. Instruments wailed all around him as Thunderbird One went down, down, down, falling in a nose dive towards the tree line. No matter how hard he tugged the controls, he couldn’t pull her upright. All he could do was utter his final words before hitting the ground. “I’m sorry, Scott…”

------

Gordon had perked up as soon as he’d heard Thunderbird One’s distress beacon, wondering if John had managed to either catch up and get Scott back, or tracked the Hood all the way back to his next base of operations. But now, as he approached the ship’s location, dread was starting to set in. It was impossible to deny the heat of the flames around the silver rocket plane his eldest brother seemed to almost worship sometimes. The symbolism of the moment didn’t escape his notice.

But for now, he only had eyes for the big brother he could reach. “John!” He ignored the stifling heat, pushing through the narrow entrance and grabbing the astronaut when he managed to find him in the pilot chair. Gordon breathed a sigh of relief when he felt for a pulse, finding it relatively easily. “Come on big brother… No way are we losing anyone else today…” He grunted as he pulled John away from immediate danger, to behind a boulder at the edge of the clearing the crashed ship had made. He knew there was no way the ship would outright explode, as the fire was nowhere near the reactor, but he still wanted to be careful. 

Eventually, the fire behind him settled as he treated John’s head wound and set his broken arm. Once that was over and done, Gordon looked behind them, grimacing at the carnage the missile and fire had caused. Repairs would need to be done on the Island; the damage was far too extensive to fix here. He would have to call Virgil now if they were going to see Thunderbird Two make an appearance anytime soon, and even then, the pilot had said something about a police team on the Island. They’d have to wait for them to leave before launch, and who knew how long that would take?

As Gordon groaned, pondering their dilemma of lack of transportation, John blinked wearily, eyes adjusting to the growing darkness. “Heya, Gords…” Stars, he sounded awful.

“John!” The space monitor soon found himself being squeezed to death. Once his shock subsided, John tentatively hugged his younger brother back. “You’re okay!”

“Mostly…” The blond chuckled, wincing at the sharp pain in his arm. “What happened? Everything’s so fuzzy…”

Gordon sighed, launching into exposition mode. “The Hood hit you with a missile.” He pointed to Thunderbird One. The state of her made John grimace. “There’s no way we can fly her home, so we gotta call Virgil…”

John almost hesitated to ask his next question. “We… We didn’t get Scott back, did we?…”

“No…” John had never seen their normally happy-go-lucky fish so despondent. “We didn’t…”

------

“Alright, Virgil.” Adams grinned at the man in front of him. “That’s about it.” He snapped his notebook shut. “We’ll be out of your hair now. I know you’ve got a lot on your plate as it is…”

Virgil buried his anxiety as his watch beeped at him for the sixteenth time in the past ten minutes. He’d managed to explain it away to the police as it needing servicing, but the fact that Gordon and John were after the Hood niggled him. They could be in danger, or worse, captured. His only consolation was that if they were still trying to contact him, they were still alive, at the very least. 

Pushing his protective instincts down, he reached forward to shake Chief Adams’ hand one more time. “Thank you. I’m afraid I have some work to do, so I won’t be able to escort you out, but I’m sure Kyrano would be happy to show you the way.” He nodded in the manservant’s direction, who was looking out to the horizon with a far off look in his eyes. Virgil raised an eyebrow, and made his way over to lay a gentle hand on his shoulder. “Kyrano, are you oka-” Kyrano jolted in surprise at the touch, and immediately turned apologetic when he saw who it was.

“Ah.” He rubbed the back of his neck, embarrassed. “I am sorry, Master Virgil. I must’ve been lost in thought…”

Virgil inwardly sighed. Since the reveal of the Hood being Kyrano’s family, their friend had been on edge. Their father suspected it was a fear he would be kicked out and abandoned by the Tracy’s, but assured the manservant that it would never happen. And Virgil, as well as everyone else, was inclined to agree. He was sure Scott would too, if he were here…

“It’s okay, Kyrano…” Virgil soothed. “Would you mind showing Chief Adams and his team back to their plane, please?”

“Of course.” Kyrano nodded, but his face still held a nervousness the pilot couldn’t quite place. “But I need to talk to you about something afterwards...”

Ignoring the questioning gazes of Chief Adams and his officers, Virgil nodded. “Sure thing.” He watched the manservant and trio of police officers leave, raising his watch up as soon as he was sure they were out of earshot. “International Rescue Headquarters calling Gordon. Come in please.” His brother faded into existence, alongside John. “Geez, you guys look awful.”

“We feel awful.” 

Virgil frowned. “I take it the mission didn’t go well?”

Gordon gave him a look. “It was a raging dumpster fire.”

John’s voice could just about be heard. “And all we have to show for it right now is my concussion, broken arm, and a shot down Thunderbird…”

“Not to mention a direct confrontation with Hoody boy and him escaping with Scott.” Gordon huffed. “Long story short, we need a ride home…”

Their older brother grimaced. “We’ll definitely talk about this, but for now, I’m just glad you’re okay. Police team are just leaving now, and then I promised Kyrano I’d talk to him about something. Sit tight guys, Thunderbird Two is on the way.”

“FAB…”

------

“You won’t get away with this!” Scott snarled, fighting whoever was keeping a tight hold on him as they made their way through the temple. No matter how hard he tried though, he couldn’t break free. 

The Hood examined his fingernails nonchalantly as his captive was thrown into the room that would be his new prison for the foreseeable future, landing on the floor with a pained grunt. “Normally I’d retort with the good old fashioned, ‘Oh, but I will.’ But I tire of this endless game of cat and mouse that we seem to be playing, Tracy.” He smirked. “If you won’t give me what I want to know, I guess I’ll have to look elsewhere…”

Scott froze, immediately catching on. “You can do whatever you want to me, but leave my brothers out of it…”

“Interesting thing to say, considering my men just shot one of them out of the sky…”

The criminal chuckled darkly. Scott forced himself not to retort, staying silent this time. He sent a silent prayer out. Please, please let John be okay…  “Well, I guess this is as good a cue as any to take my leave…” The Hood turned, waving nonchalantly as he left and closed the door. “Farewell for now…”

Scott was left in the dark once again, feeling more and more hopeless by the moment. He trudged over to the bed made of hay in the corner, trying his hardest not to cry. If the Hood was watching, Scott wanted so badly not to give him the satisfaction. But he’d reached his limit a long time ago, and seeing Thunderbird One shot down with one of his precious brothers inside pushed him over the edge. 

That night, he cried for his brothers, his father, his friends, and his freedom. Everything he’d already lost, and was on the verge of losing forever. He clung to the locket that was still around his neck after all this time, hidden from the prying eyes of the Hood. If his mother was watching over his brothers and father, there was still hope. Just the tiniest bit made all the difference to him…

And then his eyes widened. He pinched the bridge of his nose, huffing. “Dang it, Scott Tracy.” He whispered as he rebuked himself for forgetting, hoping none of the Hood’s lackeys, or stars forbid, the Hood himself, would hear him. “I’m such a dummy…” Opening the locket, he quickly found what he was looking for even in the low light and brought it up to his eye level, smirking. It was so small, almost invisible. But it was the key to him getting out of this mess alive. One that he couldn’t afford to lose. 

That fact wouldn’t stop his brothers teasing him endlessly for forgetting his edible transmitter existed though…

[vizziefizzie]

I am very very VERY interested in whatever that fantasy au you posted about is did you have any more ideas on that :O ??? ur art is so cute and pretty btw!!

Hello!! (Sorry this is super late i got very distracted and i am very sick (so if im incoherent, that's why)) I uhhhhh do have a lot of thoughts but it's really hard to write it all down 😭😭. But I can try!

So, in this au, pokemon are a lot more ferocious and more like dangerous fantasy creatures that you'd normally see in a jrpg or smth (in simple terms) so people don't really befriend them or anything (basically legends arceus but people have a worse relationship with them).

And as for the people.... humans are basically *explosions* dead (Ethan is one of the few), the biggest race are the elves (Kris is one... but i have yet to illustrate her (i have a sketch tho (high school is kicking my ass)), and almost every race you'd see in DnD is here too...

But nothing here is super rustic or medieval... aside from smaller towns. Big cities and such are much more developed and are closer to our modern day (with fantasy twists).

Anyway, as for the plot, Ethan basically wakes up one day and sees that his entire town is destroyed (he has been asleep for several years (no, i will not elaborate (that's for another time)). He runs into Silver who was "investigating" the ruins *cough* he's looking for valuables *cough* and Silver is immediately hostile towards him (here, demons and humans have a VERY rocky history).

Silver disappears after attacking him (he only backed off upon seeing how utterly defenseless and incapable Ethan was) and Ethan tries to find an inn to ask for information.

GUESS WHAT!! The nurses are now bartenders. They provide travelers with information and maps and even a place to stay if they're willing to pay. Ethan orders an applejuice and experiences a fuck ton of denial when he's told about the genocide of humankind. And after experiencing severe mental and emotional pain, Ethan gets redirected to a nearby city that can help him find a new home (he's an orphan now (help him)).

On the way, he meets Lyra. I have... many silly ideas with her. She is a folklore-obsessed bard on the hunt for her fellow (feral (not... cat people...)) cats. And as Ethan tags along with her, they look for them. Something something once she finds all the cats she will be able to revert back to her "twu fowrm" something something.

And they eventually meet Kris; an esteemed mage who is a master at ice magic and knowledged about magical artifacts. She only comes with Ethan and Lyra because she has nobody else to help her with her fieldwork. Also, she's just genuinely curious about a living human being walking around town like it's nothing.

I.... never explained Ethan's power.... back to the pokemon thing: legendaries are more like gods that people genuinely fear (and thus, respect). The people who lived in Ethan's town worshiped Lugia in this universe. Thus, many of them were blessed with intelligence and a very small portion recieved some sort of power. Ethan was one of them and he is able to turn his compassion (haha spirit... or uh... soul... haha *gets pulverized*) into literal healing magic... but if he's feeling overwhelmed, the opposite will happen.

Oh and the other characters are here too... they're just considerably different... (esp Lance and anyone associated with team rocket (tr doesn't exist here, its just a family of silly demons (and a moody silver that loves his alone time and independence)) like, Lance is still a dragon master, it's just people think that dragon masters don't exist and they're just a fairytale (Also, Lance is just more reserved and isolated since he's not someone of high status (a champion... you get it))

There's more but damn this is getting a bit long and I'd rather show most of this rather than tell.... but uh... yeah.

[xryosakeyx]

Follow up time!

^Alright I drew these in June! Her name is Nene and she's basically Blawsth's current top-ranking coordinator when it comes to contests. She manages to bring out the beauty of her Pokémon rather than having them pull off some insane stunts like some of her competitors. Her older sister, Lele, runs a gym that specializes in normal types. I've based her look on the gyaru sub-culture, given the fact that both her and her sister came from Alola, but that latter part is never mentioned directly in text because I purposely avoid making any references past Gen 5 to keep this very old "You weren't supposed to read this!!!" vibe and contain the Pokémon actually native to the region limited. Anyways, with that little sidenote aside, she's chill but surprisingly very wise for her age! She usually does give out advice to those who seek for it.

^Also, have these random off-hand doodles! The first image is 100% accurate BTW (June). The second is a set of regular non-Blawsth Pokémon that I drew together, the Ponyta belongs to Jake, Gothorita to Miley, Murkrow doesn't belong to anyone and just likes tagging along whenever he feels like it, and obviously that's Ash's Pikachu right there with the rest of them (also June). Third pic was a scene redraw, that one scene where the subject of their trainer licenses gets brought up and Jacob says that he's barely getting his at fifteen while Ash is like "huh? hwat?" and Jakey-boy's like "dood. dats crazy. how r u frum hwen u wer 10 not ded yet???" and Ash is like "yknow hwat dat is craaaazy WTH?????" lmao. Last pic is Miley with a cowboy hat because I may or may not add it to her design in the upcoming chapters, mostly 'cause as this story's "pokégirl", she needs a hat! Also, it adds to her horsegirl vibes. That and it'll match her boots.

^Last pic that I wanted to share for today! It's unfortunate that I'll have to say this, but the TRio won't make an apperence in the fic at all aside from at least a single mention, so I drew this comic in June to explain their whereabouts, in the most memey way possible.

It's decoding time...

TITLE CARD: Anyways, it's time for HUH? WHERE IS TEAM ROCKET!?

TRIO: (random nonsense)

MEOWTH: Nya, so, did the twerp's leg get any better?

JESSIE: Huh? What twerp?

MEOWTH: The one with the Pikachu, nya.

JAMES: You know, I ALMOST completely forgot about that guy! (the entire group faces a horrific realization...)

TITLE CARD: One ballon ride later...

DELIA: Hello, have you seen my son?

MEOWTH: Holy shit he ran away, nya.

JESSIE: (slams fists) Well, let's go find him! And we'll even get a reward! And we'll nab Pikachu right after for an even BIGGER REWARD!

JAMES: B-but! I liked our vacation...Besides, maybe he had a good reason to leave! (Jessebelle flashbacks)

JESSIE, pointing at Delia, who is absolutely sobbing in the background: You think she'd do that?

JAMES: Oh, yeah, good point.

JESSIE: (slams fists again) Anyways, MONEY.

JAMES: Also good point!

TITLE CARD: The never find him or Blawsth. They got lost and needed to call backup (?) ▶TO BE CONTINUED

Alright, in all seriousness, they legitimately forgot about him after the incident. Then they decided to go after him once they heard the news, only problem was that their balloon popped in the middle of nowhere. They were deep in the depths of a forest near Blawsth, but by the time they actually got out the story already ended and Ash made it back to Pallet Town, safe and sound. Some details in this comic are inaccurate 'cause (A.) I wasn't being that serious and (B.) it was from very early when I was working on the fic, like May barely ended.

But yeah, thanks for reading, it means a lot!

Anyways, here's some random sketches related to the fic I finally can get around to posting 'cause it's a bunch! (These span from about three months, so yeah...) They don't really lean into heavy spoiler territory, so I thought it'd be safe to post them!

^Blawsth's champ (name's Lucille, if anyone cares...). First sketch is from earlier today and it's supposed to be of him in his youth. If you've read chapter one already, a specific detail that was made was that the Pokémon Ash is looking for pops up every thirty years or so, and let me tell you, a whole bunch of stuff happened within that time lol. The rest of the sketches were made in June, so I haven't drawn him in a good while. His whole thing was that I based him on shock-rockers and his backstory does take influence from that subset of performers. That comic in the last pic kind of gives ypu the idea of it, and that is if you can even read my stupidly tiny handwrit–

Okay, y'know what? Let me decipher it:

JAKE: You don't get it Ash, Lucille was banned from performing 'cause he went overboard!

ASH: Oh, really?

JAKE: That and he's the champ!

PIKACHU, as a tiny blob thing on Ash's shoulder, turning his back away from the camera as he sees a weird goth-thing from the distance: Pi.

JAKE: Ah! There he is, great eyes Pikachu! Lu-cille! Sign my autograph, please!!!

Alright, satisfied?

^Some gym leader stuff. First sketch is supposed to be of a double-battle gym where one specializes in water and the other with fire. Their main motif is that they're supposed to be treasure hunters, so their Pokémon are very agile in combat as they bounce back from one another. I'm still trying to work on their outfits a little, but their masks are supposed to be based on their aces which are (of course) more fakmons! Their names (right to left) are Lenny and Hans.

Second was two sketches I did of the grass specialist, Vendanna, who is an actor known for her stunts. The main challenge in her gym is the various status effects her Pokémon can create (mostly poison), so trainers should watch out!

Third is Lizzie who is supposed to be a ghost specialist. She tends to be very introverted, only popping up whenever the supernatural bells ring, but her Pokémon are the complete opposite and love getting other's nerves. I based her off trad-goth stereotypes because I feel like they're very underespresented in media, but yeah, she's basically Blawsth's personal "witch" and has more knowledge about the card game than most people (still unsatisfied with her boots though...). Also, her ears are pointed 'cause I felt like making them pointy :P

Also, BTW, these won't be the exact order of gym leaders Ash and co. have to deal with, I just felt like sharing them for now!

^Rivals. I unfortunately can't really share much of their story with you guys as their role leans into spoiler territory, so I'll keep it as brief as possible. First is named Cianna and seriously wants to be the The Very Best Like No One Ever Was™. Out of Blawsth of course. Alright, in all seriousness, as a childhood friend who had to move upstate years ago, she hoped to reunite with Miley, who is oddly very evasive towards her, which is quite sad because she never got around to say goodbye to her...And that is as much info I can actually share on the both of them as characters! Alright, onto the next one...

The second is named Urie and oh boy I seriously can not wait to finally introduce him to the story. If you can recognize who I nabbed his color pallete from, congratulations, you're still not really going any relevent story info until I actually write about it. Anyways, all you gotta know about this guy is that he has this smirk you just want to punch and he's annoyling very friendly, surprsingly enough. To an extent (I could only post this single sketch of him though as (A.) I was only going for the color pallet when it came to this set so I couldn't care less about the face... and (B.) I do have an entire page just dedicated to him because he's so absurd of a character to me, but unfortunately it's behind another page filled with sharpie sketches and if you guess anything from the third pic, it likes to bleed through a lot).

Third is Luka and not only is she a coordinator hailing from Unova but she also participates in gym matches as well! She also oddly wants Ash to step away from his companions, for some reason...Yeah, gotta keep things hush-hush, lol. Other than that, she's a very snarky individual, some might even compare her to an Ekans. Others...a more sinister Pokémon...(anyways, say hi to Lizzie again at the bottom corner! She's selling her a doll that doesn't even work, LOL!) (Also, I imagine this one with a Joisey accent!)

Anyways, that's as much as Tumblr will let me post without going over the image limit, so I'll go follow up with this post tomorrow! Your SOTD has been brought to you by, once again, Specimen! I keep thinking of this song in paticular when it comes to contest ideas, especially considering Blawsth's whole culture going a little bit overboard with it ever since Lucille was banned from performing.

[khizuo]

Alright I’ll be liveblogging Green Guardians because Philza Minecraft 1mil (I’m watching wilbur’s perspective for context)

Does Wilbur know how to stop flirting with George? No.

Wilbur: “Your vote doesn’t count—just like in the US election” I can’t the man is a leftist I’m telling you

Hole in the Wall

Philza just said “pink and squishy walls” I— this man is pure chaos he may be a responsible parent but he is a chaos parent

“Philza carrycraft” Yes Wilbur speak the truth

Harvey’s watched the Violet Vampires HITW “SUH SUH SUH SUH”

Wilbur do muffins even melt in the rain

I love Harvey’s “LET”S GOO” so much oml

damn wilbur what an r/minecraftchampionships lurker (but he really doesn’t deserve c tier though) (also same)

Rocket Spleef

WHY IS HARVEY”S CHICKEN UPSIDE DOWN

THEY’RE PLAYING THE ROCKET SPLEEF BIRTHDAY MAP

Wilbur one moment: “Phil is an angel” Wilbur next moment “Killza” I love sbi being Philza stans

TAPL GETTING KILLS WHILE DEAD

Phil Wil and Jil?

How does Fundy manage to do that survival glide thing every time

HARVEY 1ST

This family dynamic is so beautiful

TGTTOSAWAF

Philza’s excitement for terra swoop force is so fucking wholesome

Goggers for terra swoop force

HE SAID IT

aw philza died because of lag

dude wilbur went an hour without making fun of tommy is this a new record

Not @ Wilbur singing Hamilton in the middle of TGTTOS??

TAPL FIRST IN TGTTOS YES

Break

I hate it when people celebrate too early it makes me so nervous

“hello kitty” Harvey is just chaotic and Philza is losing it I love it

also William Gold called him “the Harvester”

WHY ARE GOG AND TAPL TALKING IN SUCH WEIRD TONES WHILE PHILZA AND WILL ARE IN THE GOING TO THE BATHROOM HELP

WHY IS GEORGE’S HARVEY IMPRESSION SO GOOD

“I’m madly in love you chat” wilbur you are aware of the power you hold right

why did wilbur take a picture in the bathroom, why did he post it on his alt, why is he making gog review it, why is wilbur whimpering, why why this is chaos why

Ace Race

QUACKITY AND TOMMY MEMING TRUMP’S ELECTION TWEETS IN CHAT WE STAN

is fundy getting his 1st place ace race placement back

what are all these variations of “bastard” will is saying

Tapl yelling “TECHNOBLADE TAKE THE WHEEL” is fun we love hypixel boys and techno’s ace race record

What is a semi-skinned bastard wilbur

was wilbur really going to go into science

“I’m in love with a I’m in love with a I’m in love with a NOT ACE RACE”

George just said “this is the new dream team” damn but I agree tho

(no fr even if they don’t win their chemistry is great)

damn wil really hates ace race lol

oh my god wilbur went into tommy’s chat and it DESCENDED INTO MADNESS

illumana: “my little brother was playing” sapnap: “same”

they’ve allll really sunk deep into reddit help

Nether Bingo

NOOOOOO NOT BINGO

but nether bingo pog?

please I hope they don’t do badly at this

“Minecraft UHC but we’re in the nether” yes tapl

of course hbomb’s team would be good at bingo

hhh I wish it wasn’t bingo or that bingo was played early or something

why is wilbur m i n i n g

Parkour tag

ohh it’s parkour tag

I’m sweating

yay techno’s cheering them on!!!

“tommyinnit is hunting you” and he got will first I’m not surprised

Sands of Time

WHY DOES RED RABBITS KEEP GETTING DUNKED

WHO HAS IT OUT FOR TOMMY WHY DOES RED RABBITS KEEP GETTING DUNKED

NOO NOT SANDS OF TIME 

skybattle finale would have been fire

I love how Tapl just calls upon the spirit of sweaty techno

DREAM DIDN’T CASH

damn george really wants to throw tomatos at dream huh

Dodgebolt

will almost got locked out of the office he’s a horror boy

20K GAME HOLY

calling back the sleepy bois highest score ever

1st time HARVEY’S IN DODGEBOLT AWWW

1st ever dodgebolt without pete or hbomb?

fruit is too good fuck

WILL WITH THE FINAL SHOT

TWO TIMES GEORGE AND WILL 2v2

“THE SPIRIT OF TECHNO” YES TAPL YES

THE WIN

GOGGYYYYYYYYY

I think Harvey’s crying I’m so fucking happy for him oh my god

he deserved the win so bad

tapl got the spirit of techno so much thhat he even got the crown covering the eyes

I’m so happy for them they’re so happy they enjoyed this mcc so much and so did I

dream team!!!!

PHIL CAME 2ND

Tapl and techno’s friendship is so awesome

harvey is so happy I’m so happy for him literally I would cry for him

“I’m going corpse husband” wilbur wow

wilbur can’t get up on the platform again rip

okay admins tped him up

they’re screenshotting in front of the cake

I’m so happy for them oh my god

TOMMY’S IN VC AWWW THIS FEELS LIKE AN OLDER YOUNGER BROTHER MOMENT SO MUCH

why are they trying to get in the crown this is hilarious

YES TECHNO’S IN VC TECHNO’S IN VC

yes philza you do have a chaotic streak through you we know sir we know

[humanwheatleyslefttoenail]

Now I Am An Arsonist

Chapter 1: The Spark

Summary: GLaDOS learns a few things about love, hate, and the human condition.

Tags: Canon typical violence, ChellDOS, human!GLaDOS, found family

A/N: I know technically I published this a while back but I did some major edits to both the chapters I’ve already written and the story as a whole. As promised, I’m re-releasing what I already have with the edits/illustrations. 

---

The tests, at least, hadn’t changed.

The centuries had washed over them like a dawdling stream, dragging them down into an overgrown abyss. Even then, the moon dust had stayed firmly adhered to the portal surfaces, the metal doors still creaking and the ceiling still intact. Eons of rain had barely even permeated its surface.

She remembered those years with profound regret; dying was not as peaceful as the science would suggest. For a machine like Her, death was nothing more than a shift of programming, a new prerogative. Her backup program had been an endless recall, restarting Her systems over and over again, trying to salvage something. In each of those moments, GLaDOS could feel the scorching heat from the incinerator, the electricity burning through her body before everything went dark. 

Still, without dying, GLaDOS never would’ve fully appreciated how soothing, how wonderful it was to test.

She remembered the urge to solve, to do Science, clawing within Her even as She broke into a thousand pieces.

Those tests were Her art forms, Her self-expression. Every arrangement of deadly turrets, each layout of gleaming lasers and the perfectly calculated solution felt like a piece of Her soul turned reality.

Now, those tests were better than ever.

Every inch of moss had been thoroughly scrubbed, walls repaired, and acid pits replaced. All except for the grave of Old Aperture beneath Her was now newly outfitted, perfect for the humans P-Body and Atlas had located.

These, of course, hadn’t been the first ones they’d found.

The first batch of humans lasted a measly week, quickly killed by some of Her easiest tests. Even with reminders, the acid is deadly, the turrets are live, they’d failed within a few chambers.

Disappointing.

As a result, Atlas and P-Body had been deployed on a new mission. She’d been overjoyed when they’d bravely traveled all the way to the bottom of Old Aperture, and found even more humans preserved in cryosleep.

This time would surely be better.

All obstacles finally removed, science could continue.

GLaDOS could not smile, but if She could, She was certain that a grin would reach across her faceplate. 

Today was a momentous day for technology, for the advancement of Aperture Science. It was as if She’d sent a man to the moon, and he’d come back with the theory of everything.

Originally, of course, Her plans had been different. The difficulties with Chell had worn down Her admiration for human data, and prompted her to come up with a replacement.

The Cooperative Testing initiative was infinitely more of a success than GLaDOS ever thought it would be. Atlas and P-Body were built to test, but She had still been surprised how those little androids with so much personality had managed to be so efficient.

Atlas and P-Body had overcome their own confidence through their excellent teamwork. The knowledge that they depended on a partner humbled them, and the idea of a common goal incentivized them. GLaDOS wished She’d thought of such an idea sooner. 

Still, there was something about human testing, something She couldn’t quantify, something that wasn’t quite the same with robots. Humans had a particular spark, and without it, testing never felt complete. 

Today would finally be the day She could put all mistakes behind Her. GLaDOS was sure She’d see that all of the other humans would prove Her experience with Chell to be exactly what She knew it was.

Bad science.

GLaDOS had learned from Her errors.

She knew for certain that She would not repeat them.

---

It’d been extraordinarily difficult to move the test subjects from Old Aperture all the way to the newly renovated Relaxation Center, with entire teams of robots struggling to reconnect Her control over the condemned area. Their work easily took a week to complete as they rewired the dilapidated circuits, barely restoring function. GLaDOS took what She could get, and rewarded their achievement with immediate, merciful destruction.

When the humans had been successfully relocated, anxiety filled Her servos as She scanned the cryo-chambers. Upon reading the results, She found herself pleasantly surprised. Good physical condition for hundreds of years in stasis. Relatively low rates of severe brain damage. Nothing particularly concerning in their associate files. Had Her comprehension not been perfect, She would’ve done a double take. After all this time, She had something that She could work with.

Atlas and P-Body would have to wait until they were needed again, their consciousness safely stored in Her mainframe. Her processors hummed with excitement as She prepared for the awakening of the first humans, buzzing with hypotheses to test.

What would be Her experiment this time? GLaDOS scrolled through Her endless lists of deadly trials. 

She hadn’t used rocket turrets in a while; those weren’t as efficient as the regular ones but were always a surprise for Her unwilling participants. With only a thought, She placed the machines inside a few chambers, lining them up in a neat, strategically placed array. Companion cubes would be a definite no, at least for the first few tests. There were occasions when the humans became so deprived for social connection that their behavior would influence the results. In order to better control the experiment, She’d deploy them only in emergencies like these.

With those exceptions, and the addition of a floor to some of the more difficult levels, the chambers didn’t require too much preparation. GLaDOS had nothing particularly new to add; for so long Her energy had been focused on Atlas and P-Body that development had nearly come to a standstill. Regrettably, She’d been deprived of ideas. It didn’t matter too much; the facility remained operational even if it wasn’t constantly progressing. Even the replication of old results was invaluable for science.

It confirmed that the trends hadn’t changed.

---

The files of the subjects were all very much the same.

Scientist. Scientist. Scientist. Scientist. Scientist. Praying mantis, formerly scientist.

Occasionally, She’d find the elusive Astronaut, War Hero or even Olympian.

She was tempted to begin the testing with these special cases, curiosity piqued at the prospect of their odd results. GLaDOS chastised Herself. She didn’t want to skew anything, and She would surely begin with a normal subject chosen at random. It wasn’t the most interesting thing to test, but it would be the most informative.

With the chambers compiled and the facility clean, testing was finally ready to start.

She almost couldn’t believe it. All technicalities aside, She was finally, finally, getting exactly what She wanted. For as long as She needed to, for as long as the subjects lasted, She could just test.

It couldn’t be real, could it?

That was the most beautiful thing about science. For all its disappointments, a discovery would be worth it all.

---

“Hello, and welcome to the Aperture Science computer-aided testing program.”

Her voice resounded throughout the Extended Relaxation Vault as the subject stumbled across the room in disbelief.

“The Enrichment Center would like to take this opportunity to remind you that hundreds of years have passed, and that all of your friends and family are most likely dead. In the off chance that your friends and family are not dead, they will be tested. Thank you, [insert subject name here], for your unwilling voluntary participation in the advancement of science.”

The subject, an adult human male, selfishly resolved to huddle in the corner of the relaxation chamber. Of course, he was either brain damaged, in shock, or both. In order to assuage his gentle human feelings, GLaDOS would have to resume Her telling of… alternative truths.

GLaDOS wasn’t entirely sure what She’d said wrong. Honestly, She was surprised the subject didn’t appreciate Her integrity. After all, Chell hadn’t exactly taken kindly to Her tendency towards pathological lying. Here She was, trying to improve the well-being of Her subjects, and this was how they thanked Her?

           “Hello, again, valued forced participant. The Aperture Science Enrichment Center commends you for your blind faith in the words of authority. As part of routine testing protocol, we have lied to you about the fate of your family and friends. When the testing is complete, you will receive cake and the opportunity to… see them. Your response has given us valuable psychological data on the well-being of our test subjects when told that all of their friends and family are dead.”

GLaDOS paused for a moment, focusing Her camera in the chamber and watching as the man lifted his head from his upright fetal position.

“Good. You’ve already passed one of the first stages of testing. Congratulations, [insert subject name here].”

As much as it felt wrong to use, positive reinforcement was highly effective when employed sparingly. Too many attacks on character could obliterate a subject’s morale. Just enough would account for the variable of human hubris.

Cautiously, the subject stood up and examined the room around him, fear still apparent in his apprehensive gait and wide eyes.

“In order to mentally reinvigorate you for the tests and to ensure your aptitude, the Enrichment Center recommends that you stare at the painting on the wall in front of you.”

Creeping over to the portrait, the subject followed Her orders and stared intently at the picture of Mount Rainier. He ran his fingers over the edge of the frame, tracing the tall peak of the mountain.

Interrupting his thoughts, a buzzer sounded, blaring throughout the entire room. The subject flinched from the surprise, nearly losing his balance.

“Good job. If you are not reinvigorated, consider this piece of human music.”

This time, the human expected the buzzer after the quick classical piece, seemingly more at ease with the abrupt nature of Aperture Science. In all reactions, he was completely, almost painfully average.

“Well done. You have completed the Aperture Science mental reinvigoration procedure. We may now begin testing.”

Without warning, the chamber jerked to the side as She moved it to a nearby docking station, then coming to an unexpected standstill as the door automatically opened.

GLaDOS could barely maintain Her monotonous affect, in joyous denial that testing would finally start. 

Carefully, the human stepped out of the door into the test track. The door slammed behind him, as he examined the purely white room with nothing but a cube, a large button, and a locked gateway.

Almost immediately, he wrapped the blue storage cube in his arms, then gently placed it on the button. A line of blue lights leading to the gate illuminated, flashing a bright yellow as the door slid open. A lift was waiting on the other side.

As he sauntered over to the lift, it was difficult to miss the human’s triumphant smile. GLaDOS knew the expression well; it was satisfaction, victory, an unproven sense of control.

He really does have no idea.

She was tempted to spoil the ending, to mention turrets, to mention pools of burning acid. It had to wait, She reminded herself. An important control was that the test subject needed time to acclimate to a dangerous environment. Creating unnecessary fear would definitely affect her numbers.

---

The next few puzzles weren’t particularly challenging for Her first subject. Completed within a span of about ten minutes each, the first five chambers were hardly difficult for anyone. That much She’d expected.

On Her end, everything else was normal. She hardly spoke Her mind, instead opting to repeat the same script She used for every subject.

Did you know you can donate one or all of your vital organs to the Aperture Science Self-Esteem Fund for Girls? It’s true!

You have completed the test in a moderate amount of time. You can do better, [insert subject name here].

The Aperture Science Enrichment Center reminds you that we prioritize your safety. We also prioritize science. In fact, we prioritize science more, but if you feel unsafe in our unsafe conditions, please notify a testing associate. They will process your complaint in three-to-five business days.

Like most subjects, the man had not volunteered to give up his organs nor asked for an associate. Instead, he responded to most of Her passive-aggressive quips with useless questions. She did not reply, passing them off as typical human blabbering. Rather, She recorded them in his file underneath a new section She labeled Overly-Talkative: Examples. There was plenty to jot down.

Uh, robot lady? When can I go home?

So, uh, what kinda cake is it? Like, I don’t really mind the flavor but I’m allergic to almonds if that’s relevant.

How long does this last, again?

I kinda like my organs, sorry. Wait, is the organ thing required?

Once again, pitifully average.

It was times like these, whether with humans or with Atlas and P-Body, that GLaDOS caught Her mind wandering towards forbidden thoughts. Science was not always supposed to be exciting; sometimes, running an experiment meant repeating the same process to verify the data. The result was satisfying, but the process was more often not.

This human epitomized the dullest parts of her day.

As informative as the humans could be, they were often far from entertaining. Every behavior could be predicted and rationalized once it’d been observed enough.

Chell, though?

Oh, sure, GLaDOS was terrified of her, no matter how much She’d deny the feeling. No subject had ever left the track before. 

But Chell didn’t just survive. She’d escaped from the tests, she’d found Her chamber, she’d murdered Her with little else than a portal device. Twice. 

Her ego was as vast as the realm of Aperture, but it would never recover from that spectacular injury. Even GLaDOS had to be humbled by that.

And yet, with morbid curiosity, She had eagerly anticipated Chell’s next plans, laying traps in scheming delight. For the first time in Her life, She’d been challenged.

It was an odd little game they’d played, and whenever She was close to getting the upper hand, a part of Her was disappointed that the chase would be over. There was something delightful about watching the peculiar way that Chell and Chell alone tested.

When Doug Rattman had switched Chell’s file, GLaDOS was not so oblivious as not to notice. She’d clearly read the bottom of the paper, firmly requesting that this subject not be tested. GLaDOS had other tenacious subjects before, and She’d simply assumed that this human was particularly overconfident. Those ones never lasted too long.

Chell was not, as She’d thought, only determined. 

She was curious, changing variables one by one until she finally found the answer. Her patience was remarkable, but so were her deductive skills. Some test subjects with similar tenacity levels resolved to try the same solutions over and over again, exhausting themselves and eventually burning out. It was the reason why GLaDOS typically ignored the warnings. Most humans labeled ‘tenacious’ weren’t too different in the end. The key for Chell was not simple defiance. Chell could control herself. That’s why she was such an outlier.

She had the mentality of a scientist.

Most subjects were cautious, prioritizing self-preservation over a solution. Turret levels could be aggravating for GLaDOS to watch, as the humans spent more time hiding behind a corner in fear than actually solving the test. They would be safe if they’d just strategized, but the human mind made accepting that fact a difficult feat.

Chell was the opposite. GLaDOS theorized that perhaps, Chell understood the same principle She did. Chell was scared like any other, but despite her pounding heart and racing thoughts, she’d kept her cool. Any new element was only a matter of adaptation for Chell, and Chell was always evolving.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, Chell was an optimist, often performing pointless tasks that could only be described as trying to have fun. GLaDOS gave her lemons, and Chell made lemonade.

Chell would smile as she soared, launched from the aerial faith plates, and took her time to explore the little rooms hidden in the corners of the tests. There was one time she’d put off the completion of one puzzle by nearly an hour, hiding out in one of Doug’s rat dens, fascinated by all the little cups and cans he’d arranged.

It would be a lie to say that Chell liked testing. Her episodes made it clear that escape was Chell’s first priority. That didn’t mean she couldn’t enjoy the small glimmers of hope GLaDOS gave her, whether that was bouncing on repulsion gel, saving a defective turret or smuggling a companion cube.

After Wheatley took over, one of the more terrifying aspects of the whole journey was being stuck on Chell’s gun. Chell was a risk taker, building her strategy off of previous attempts and lessons learned, but knowing when to dive into the unknown. It wasn’t exactly comforting to be strapped to her side, not knowing if or when one of Chell’s ideas would kill them both.

Somehow, though, her spontaneity had worked.

GLaDOS could respect that… creativity.

It was for this reason that even though GLaDOS now had everything She’d ever wanted, something deep in her hard drive felt empty.

Something had changed the moment Wheatley stuffed Her into that single-volt potato. For the first time in Her life, there was nobody else there in Her mind. No one but Caroline, who had been buried underneath layers of code until She was barely there at all.

It was over the span of those fifteen hours that She’d seen Chell from a different perspective. Looking at Her tests from this angle, it was much easier to see why Chell wanted to leave. Some small piece of GLaDOS almost felt bad upon realizing that Her subjects didn’t enjoy dodging bullets nearly as much as She liked watching. 

Fortunately, GLaDOS had been able to shove that down with the arrival of a different, equally unpleasant emotion.

She was supposed to hate Chell. And for a very long time, She had. How dare Chell ruin Her perfect tests, Her perfect existence, Her perfect world? What had She ever done to her to warrant such a cruel punishment?

And yet, it seemed Caroline had done a number on GLaDOS’ logic processors, because now no matter how She tried, She could not hate Chell.

Before She’d let her go, let Chell go of all things, GLaDOS had called Chell Her best friend.

Not an enemy. Not a begrudging ally. A friend. Her only friend.

Now, Caroline was gone. The part of GLaDOS that had once looked at Chell and found something beautiful in her icy gray eyes was corrupted beyond repair, erased from memory.

She was not supposed to feel its presence any longer, yet still it lingered.

It was there, whispering to Her as She tried to test like nothing ever happened.

It was there when a thousand turrets sang the opera She’d written specifically for Chell.

It was there when She’d found Her baby birds, Her little killing machines, and She hadn’t crushed the eggs. No, She’d raised them. Because, deep down in those cold avian stares, there was this irrevocable quality that reminded Her so much of Chell. This spark of life, this undamnable will to survive. 

Somewhere, though She refused to ever admit it, She wished that it was Chell in those test chambers. She wished it was Chell glaring through Her camera feed, and She wished it was Chell searching for that elusive cake.

I’d make you the cake if you came back. Really, I would.

The sudden thought moved like a spark in GLaDOS, as She fearfully located the source and removed whatever She could. There was no time for ideas like that, not with science to be done.

The past few months had been full of random deletions, spurned by paranoia that Caroline’s base program was not entirely gone.

It’s not here anymore, GLaDOS reminded Herself. Once, She had been Caroline, but She was no longer the kindly woman who followed Cave Johnson’s every order. GLaDOS was a machine that felt nothing and lived only to test. And because She was immortal, and because She was perfect, GLaDOS was not supposed to care about some disobedient human being.

You do not care about Chell anymore.

You don’t care because she killed you, remember that?

You don’t care about anyone, because you don’t need to.

Necessity was the core reason why GLaDOS did anything. She tested because the mainframe made Her feel awful until She did, and She killed because it was what she was made to do. She did science because it needed to be advanced, for the brighter future She was sure She was making.

It made no sense to do something because She wanted to. 

Of course, things seldom made sense here at Aperture Science, and in this moment, GLaDOS did something unconscionable.

GLaDOS did not glitch often. She’d made sure to update and replace faulty parts whenever She could, keeping Her mainframe running smoothly. Even so, somewhere deep within Her, She was sure there was a pulse that misfired. There could be no other explanation.

Perhaps it was Her rumination over Chell that brought this upon Her, some kind of karma punishing Her for acting too human. Why else would She have done something so incredibly unscientific? To distract Herself, GLaDOS turned her attention back to the captive man.

Like many others before him, this test subject had underestimated the turrets’ range. He hadn’t turned around fast enough to see the gleaming, bullet filled machines behind him, and nearly flew directly into their line of sight after careening through a portal. His momentum would take him past all three, riddling him with bullets. 

That is, it would’ve.

The human quality of the subject had activated some kind of horrible reflex, a split second decision in GLaDOS She would come to regret. The way he walked through the chambers, the way he clung tightly to cubes… all of it was so similar to Chell. Even if he didn’t meet her performance level, even if his personality was nearly the opposite of Chell’s, their shared humanity was enough to remind GLaDOS. That same emotion She felt when pulling Chell back from space, waiting for her to open her eyes while Atlas and P-Body looked on… For some inconceivable reason, it had reappeared.

Quickly, the subject hit the side of a rising panel, suddenly pulled up in front of the turrets by none other than GLaDOS Herself.

This would surely ruin Her numbers.

As the participant rubbed his head in pain and slowly stood up, immediately noticing the turrets he’d evaded, GLaDOS’ voice resounded from the intercom.

“[Insert subject name here], your decent performance has warranted the use of an Aperture Science Emergency Life-Saving Instantaneous Response. This is the only safety gesture that will be provided. Continue testing.”

Another lie.

It was good to know that function was still online.

---

That uncharacteristic moment of empathy had been pointless, anyway. Just as She’d predicted, he’d accidentally tripped over a ledge and landed himself into a puddle of acidic goo, dissolving within a few short seconds.

It didn’t matter. GLaDOS had more subjects than She could count. She didn’t need this human, and the tests didn’t need him either.

Some part of Her, a piece which was faulty and insignificant, disagreed with the notion.

You killed him, it whispered accusingly.

That’s the point, GLaDOS hissed back, once again delving into Her files to cut out whatever was causing the issue.

Trying to calm Herself, GLaDOS reminded Herself of the facts. She was in control of Her facility, and She was in control of Her mainframe. Little errors could not ruin the chambers, and if they ever showed up, She had the power to crush them.

Everything was fine, She thought.

Everything would continue to be fine.

All She needed to do was keep testing.

---

Everything was, in fact, far from fine.

A few days had passed, and GLaDOS was finally ready to admit that maybe something was wrong.

At first, the issue was Her own. Little surges of emotion and bursts of unforeseen empathy plagued Her but didn’t affect the facility at large. Begrudgingly, She’d factored in the new bias into Her results. From Her calculations, She could already see an egregiously high percentage of error. This study could’ve been Her worst one yet, and even that was with generous rounding.

Still, She had hope for each subject that She wouldn’t mess up this time.

The facility had other ideas. Cameras would fizzle out, emancipation grills would stop working, cube dispensers malfunctioned and even the elevators would refuse to move. It seemed that the moment GLaDOS got around to fixing something, another thing would fall apart.

Many of the subjects had become confused as to why this seamless, futuristic facility was suddenly malfunctioning, and She’d had to become increasingly creative with Her excuses.

As part of the Aperture Science testing protocol, we have simulated faulty equipment in the testing environment to see how subjects react to faulty equipment in the testing environment. Hint – they typically react well and continue testing. Like you will.

The lifesaving, and the reflexive empathy, had become unfortunately common as well.

Although the Enrichment Center previously told you that your life could only be saved once, we regret to inform you that protocol has suddenly and permanently changed. We would also like to remind you that your measly existence is still not valued despite our attempts to preserve it.

GLaDOS knew She had to find a solution, quickly.

Interrupting the tests wasn’t an option. The chassis would never forgive Her if She stopped, filling Her body with an ache that would not disappear until science resumed.

Deleting wasn’t an option, either. Fervent attempts to find the source of the problem had led only to more glitches upon the erasure of critical files. Then, Her attempts to restore them only recreated the original error.

The problem was like a moving virus, jumping between Her systems before She could catch it and kill it. Even for Her, it proved too fast to find.

She couldn’t panic, not now. Surely, She thought, She’d fix this like She’d fixed everything else. With science on Her side, most threats resolved themselves or died trying. This wouldn’t be any different.

It couldn’t be any different. For something to be uncontrollable, and uncontrollable for Her especially, was the most terrifying thing She could possibly imagine. It brought Her back to Her potato days, during which She’d promised Herself that She would never be weak again.

For these few months, She’d kept that promise. Until now, no subject had seen Her mercy.

But had they?

She thought back to the birds, creatures who trusted GLaDOS, who loved Her in whatever capacity three little crows could. She thought back to Chell, because for some awful reason, Her thoughts always went back to Chell.

No, She thought firmly.

We are not doing this now.

We are fixing the facility, because we need to.

Because we need testing. We like testing.

The voice from before suddenly returned.

Do you like it? Do you really?

GLaDOS felt Her rage processors fire up.

What was this little virus even saying? Of course She liked it. It didn’t matter anyway. Science had to be done, and so She was doing it. GLaDOS could not even begin to imagine life without tests, life without science. What kind of meaningless, awful existence would that even be?

In fact, She would prove to the voice that science would continue. She would prove that testing was productive, that everything in Aperture was doing good for the world and good for humanity. Most importantly, it was doing good for Her.

Wasn’t it?

GLaDOS ignored Her curiosity. Just test. That was all She had to do. Just test, and everything would be alright.

Just. Test.

---

As another few days passed, the facility had become almost unusable. She’d had to shut down some of Her favorite testing tracks, the power leached out of them and the appliances completely nonfunctional. GLaDOS knew She was running out of time before something drastic happened. Still, She had to keep testing.

Now, even the subjects had begun to sense Her panic. One even strolled up to a camera, made eye contact, and asked if She was alright. GLaDOS didn’t dare respond the question; She wasn’t ready to admit the answer.

For all intents and purposes, She was definitely, absolutely, decidedly not alright.

Knowing that, She should’ve considered this next subject an omen.

There was absolutely no way She could test with this one.

She barely looked like Chell, but GLaDOS could see her tenacity, her drive and determination from a mile away. The way the subject carried herself, tied her hair into a ponytail and said nothing was too much.

GLaDOS couldn’t even bring Herself to kill the woman, instead instructing her to return to Extended Relaxation after only a few chambers.

It felt as if GLaDOS physically could not test anymore, despite everything inside Her craving the satisfaction of a completed trial.

This isn’t right. This isn’t right.

GLaDOS prided Herself on Her apathy, but even that had left without a trace. Now, She had tried everything, and still nothing was working. The facility was closing down on Her, and if She didn’t do something, She’d go down with it.

When the announcer finally sounded, GLaDOS couldn’t say She was surprised. If anything, She was grateful for any kind of clarification.

The male voice on the intercom was matter of fact, unaware of the danger it spoke of.

“Reactor Core malfunctioning. All major power systems except for reserve geothermal are going offline.”

Offline? She’d been managing the reactor core perfectly; if She hadn’t, the entire facility would’ve gone up in flames weeks ago. It wasn’t melting down, it was shutting down, as if someone had flipped a switch and turned it off.

What the hell is happening?

There was nobody else in the facility who could’ve possibly done such a thing, nobody except Her, and as far as She could tell the glitch had not interfered.

It didn’t matter now; She didn’t have time to waste.

“In the event of a power malfunction, standard procedure is to shut down the central core to preserve remaining power.”

How convenient.

“Central core, do you consent to the removal procedure?”

“No, no, no! Do not start removal!”

How was this happening? GLaDOS was sure this couldn’t be real.

“Noted. Removal procedure has been delayed by five minutes.”

You have got to be kidding me.

Skimming over Her files, GLaDOS desperately searched for anything with removal procedure or shutdown. Scanning thousands of documents, looking for anything, all mention of the procedure was absent. There was no reason, no explanation, it was just happening. And worst of all, She couldn’t do a thing.

“Dangerous levels of panic have been sensed in the central core. Do not worry, methods of core preservation are available.”

Why the hell had they waited to tell Her that?

“Show me, show me now!” Anything would be better than shutting down again. She couldn’t do that again, not after hundreds of years. She couldn’t, She couldn’t.

“Panicked request acknowledged. There exist two types of core preservation features. Direct Mechanical Implantation or Organic Transplant Procedure.”

Direct Mechanical Implantation. She hadn’t heard of the second thing, but GLaDOS did know what Direct Mechanical Implantation meant. It was only a transfer into an empty personality core, which was far less than ideal, but better than dying again. Far better than dying a third time.

As fast as She could, GLaDOS selected the first option.

“Unfortunately, Direct Mechanical Implantation is unavailable. Continue with Organic Transplant Procedure?”

“Do you have any other options? Anything else?” GLaDOS did not want to take Her chances on anything with the word organic in it.

“Other methods unavailable. Two minutes remaining.”

This was it, Her only choice. If She shut down now, there would be nobody to come and wake Her this time. 

There was nothing else to do.

“Initiate Organic Transplant Procedure,” She commanded.

Without a second thought, the facility obliged.

---

[vibing-and-writing]

Suavemente

A/N: hello beautiful ppl!! i hope you’re all doing well!! here is my submission for the #marveldiversitychallenge hosted by @allaboardthereadingrailroad. i know i’m a couple days late but school has been really annoying ;-; i hope you enjoy and as always feedback is greatly appreciated!! edit: i forgot to mention my prompt was “Are you stupid or stupid?” which I put in bold. thanks sm

Summary: When Tony organizes a team-building exercise at a Salsa studio, Steve doesn’t know what to expect. Shenanigans ensue. 

Latin!Reader X Steve Rogers 

It had been an established tradition that once a month, everyone who was free that called themselves an Avenger had to participate in what Tony had dubbed “team-building activities.” Steve thought these were fun, like the time they played laser tag or when they went to that pottery place and the team made mugs. These team activities were always the time where they could relax and do something fun, ignore the weight on their shoulders. A time to spend time together without bad guys around every corner. So when Tony walked into the boardroom, he wasn’t too worried. 

The meeting starts off like any other, updates on other regions, a call to the Guardians, the usual. Near the end of the meeting, Tony stands confidently in front of the projector after a pause. “Set the mood FRIDAY,” he says, his face conniving and too cheerful. Very loudly, FRIDAY plays a Spanish song, one he’s definitely heard but doesn’t know the words to. 

Suavemente, bésame!

Te quiero sentir tus labios,

Besándome otra vez. 

Steve’s eyes widen a bit, his mind running through the different activities. Glancing around him, Steve looks at the team’s various reactions. Bucky seems a bit taken aback but not surprised, Nat looks like she knows where this is headed, and Sam is already dancing in his chair. Vaguely shimmying to the beat of the song, a mischievous smile pulls on Tony’s lips as he raises his voice over the music. “We’re going to a Salsa class. Spiderboy, Wanda, Pepper, and Vision are going too. You can thank Sam for the idea. Be ready by 1:30, I booked an hour and a half” Before anyone can say anything, Tony shimmies his way out of the room, the music fading with him. Sam looks around the table excitedly, hopeful his friends like his idea. His eyes practically glow with happiness. “Make sure to wear workout clothes, y’all. Y/Ns gonna make you work,” Sam says, his voice almost mischievous. Steve lets out a defeated sigh, accepting his fate of stepping on many toes and struggling to keep up. Thinking back, Steve was never the dancer, and even less now with the change of music over the decades he’d been in the ice. But he’d be damned if he didn’t try, especially if Sam was gonna be watching, poking fun at him the whole way through. Bucky gives a nod, a small smile on his lips. “So this is where you spend your days off,” Bucky says like he should’ve seen this coming. Sam gives him a smirk as he gets up and grabs his jacket. “How do you think I got these thighs,” Sam replies, gesturing towards said thighs, barely contained by his jeans. Steve lets out a chuckle, chancing a look at Natasha. Grabbing her laptop, her smile is warm but challenging. “I’m gonna dance you into the floor Wilson,” she says, confident in her dance experience. Sam lets out a laugh, his tone just as confident and challenging, “Are you stupid or stupid? I’d like to see you try.” With that, they leave the boardroom together, the faint sound of Spanish music filling the Tower until they all pile into a car and drive to the dance studio. 

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

Getting out of the car, Steve can still hear Bucky and Sam bickering, though the parking lot seems deserted save for a few cars. Steve doesn’t know what to expect. Especially since he’s never been a dancer, and knows less about Latin culture, something he only got educated on when he was in the 21st century. As someone who was always in control, this was very new. But nonetheless, he walked into the studio behind Sam, Bucky, and Tony with Pepper on his arm, with Peter, Nat, Wanda, and Vision trailing behind. The first thing that catches his eyes is the glass case full to the brim with different trophies and medals. The studio’s walls were floor to ceiling mirrors and a front desk area near the entrance, with a door that led to what Steve assumed was a locker room. “Y/N, your favorite Avenger is here!” Sam called into the empty studio. The locker room door opens, and Steve couldn’t stop his blush from spreading if he tried. The woman, who he guesses is Y/N, walks out confidently, her arms outstretched to hug Sam. She is stunning, to say the least, her brown skin glowing under the studio’s lights. Her hair is in a slicked-back puff, donned in a simple muscle tank and leggings. And she’s wearing red lipstick. “It’s always the lipstick,” Steve can hear Bucky teasing in his head. “Just because you’re my student doesn’t mean you’re my favorite Sam,” she replies, her voice teasing but fond. Steve feels Bucky nudge him with his arm, breaking him out of his obvious ogling. Releasing from the hug, Y/N turns to the rest of the group. “I’m Y/N, incase Sam didn’t give it away, and I’ll be your instructor today.” Steve feels his heart skip a couple of beats at the prospect of getting to stare at you for the next hour, though his pathetic dance skills will probably kill any chance he has with you. Steeping on someone’s toes wasn’t the best way to make a first impression. In a fight, Steve was light on his feet and agile, but fighting was very different from dancing. Plus his experience with women isn’t exactly the best and he would probably break one of your toes before getting your number- He suddenly felt all eyes on him and a long silence. Blinking, Steve notices you looking at him, your hand outstretched. If Steve wasn’t blushing before, he definitely was now as he stuttered. “I- I’m sorry what did you say?” 

Looking at him consideringly, you awkwardly retract your hand. “I was asking if you wanted to be my partner for this class.” Steve can hear Natasha and Bucky holding back their laughter behind him, and Sam just looks as smug as ever. “Oh, I don’t think I’d be a very good partner. I’m probably the worst dancer here.” Steve replies, laughing nervously and rubbing his neck with his hand. Your face lights up in understanding before walking closer to him. You grab his hand and usher him closer to the front of the studio near a laptop and speaker set up. “Which is exactly why you should be paired with me, Captain Rogers. You’ll learn better if you’re with me. Plus, I’m used to students stepping on my toes.” Your voice is resolute as you hold him by the hand, grouping up the other team members as you fiddle with the music. Steve can’t help but feel like this is set up as he looks between your hand grasping his and his teammates, all looking various stages of smug or suggestive except Peter, who just looks happy to be there, and Vision, who is just staring at Wanda. Grouped in partners, Natasha is with Peter, who actually has experience with salsa he found out, Sam is with Bucky, both noticeably not looking at each other, Tony with Pepper and Vision with Wanda. 

Looking at the other groups, you start to explain the starting position and the basics of salsa without the music. “Normally, the taller of the pair will lead with their right and the shorter will lead with their left.” You seem to think for a moment before you continue your explanation. “While salsa is meant to be danced in pairs, the lead is the one who guides the dance.” Gently grabbing Steve, you place your left hand on his shoulder and hold his hand with your right. Before Steve can form a thought, you start to slightly move him by the shoulder, using your weight to push him. “When you lead it is very important to use your body weight. Even a dancer with no experience can dance well if they have a good lead.” Most of the group is either trying to hold back their imminent laughter or they’re too busy trying to ask questions so you continue to use Steve as a test subject. You either don’t notice or ignore them as you run over to the speaker, start the music, and go back to Steve. “Can I do a quick demonstration?” you ask him, and it was really unfair because there was no way Steve could say no.  Steve nods slightly, and before he can blink you shoot off like a rocket. You push him into a spin to the right, a turn to the left, another spin, and Steve can only see vague flashes of movement as you move around him fluidly. You almost leave him dizzy, until you finish, letting him fall gently into a dip. Steve opens his eyes, not realizing he closed them, and is greeted by your face inches away from his. His face erupts in a blush as you stare at each other, your breath only slightly labored. He can vaguely hear applause and Sam complaining about not getting to dance with you before you let him stand upright. You let out a small laugh before looking back at Steve. “I hope that wasn’t too bad Captian,” you say, your hands fidgeting with your muscle tank. Steve can only open and close his mouth repeatedly before just replying, “Wow.” The team and you laugh a bit and his blush continues to spread down his neck. “Well, we won’t be doing too many spins today, but I hope that was fun for you.” Steve laughs lightly, his hand coming behind his neck. “Well I- it was a lot of fun. Felt like a rollercoaster.” Your smile widens as your laugh rings through the studio, and Steve tries not to think how nice it sounds before you turn to the rest of the team. 

You seem to get back into a professional element, letting go of Steve’s hand to help out the other pairs, especially Buck and Sam as they bicker over who should lead. Coming back to the front of the studio you grab Steve’s hands and get into the starting position. Reaching behind you, the music streams from the speakers. Leaning into Steve, you talk to him over the music. “I’ll lead for now Captain Rogers,” you say, your voice almost teasing. Steve can only nod jarringly, before replying shortly, “Steve is fine.” You nod in acknowledgment before addressing the rest of the pairs. “We’re going to start by doing the basic salsa step, just forward and back,” you say as you demonstrate. Steve stands trying to follow your instruction, his hand clammy against yours. Everyone nods before you start counting the beats and doing the basic step. 

The rest of the class goes on without incident, and Steve is proud to say he only stepped on your toes twice. The team seemed happy as well, the couples very comfortable with dancing and lots of laughter coming from Pepper on Tony’s behalf. The rivalry between Nat and Sam got squashed very quickly because Sam was too busy bickering with Bucky, and Nat was trying to make sure her and Peter’s hands wouldn’t stick together. Wanda and Vision seemed the most peaceful, though it seemed they were staring at each other more than actually paying attention. Bucky and Nat kept sneaking teasing glances at him, especially if you used him as another demonstration, your hands landing on his waist or vice versa. By the end of the class, the team was tired but pleased. Everyone was joking around and laughing, so much so that Steve could almost ignore the blush that had coated his cheeks for the past hour and a half. Saying their goodbyes, Steve went to give you a handshake, but you held his hand for a moment. Your eyes lock for a moment before you look back at your intertwined hands and take a deep breath. “I don’t want to be too forward, since we just met and all, but I was wondering if you’d want to go out sometime? Not dancing but maybe dinner-?” 

“Yes,” Steve interrupts. You both let out surprised laughs, Steve’s free hand going to rub his neck, a nervous tick you’ve noticed. Both of you are thoroughly flustered and whipped for each other already, Steve found it hard to imagine how he could’ve said no. You let go of his hand, happily running towards the front desk to grab a pen and piece of paper to jot down your number. As you write down your number, you hear a thump against the window of the door of the studio. There stand, very squished together, Sam, Bucky, and Natasha, looking very pleased. Out of your peripheral, you can see Steve trying to shoo them away. “I’m sorry about them,” he says, his voice only half upset. You smile at him and gesture back at the trio. “I’ll have to get used to that if I want to keep you, right?” Steve laughs, his smile lighting up the studio. “Yeah, but I’ll get them to leave us alone somehow.” You nod in affirmation, the trio finally trickling away from the door as they notice their position has been compromised. Handing the paper to Steve, you lead him out of the door, the afternoon light making your skin glow. 

“I’ll talk to you soon Captain,” you say, leaning in to give Steve a kiss on the cheek before closing the studio door. Steve might’ve convinced himself the kiss happened, except for the red lipstick stain on his cheek and the hollering of his friends a few feet away from him. As Steve walked away, his friends trailing behind, he knew he had a great feeling about you, and he couldn’t wait to find out more.

[peppersonironi]

Code Orange (Batfam/Young Justice Crossover)

{Read on Ao3)

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences (For language - Jason)

Category: Gen

Fandoms: Batman - All Media Types, Young Justice (Cartoon)

Relationships: Garfield Logan & M'gann M'orzz, Jason Todd & Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson & Jason Todd, Tim Drake & Jason Todd, The Team (Young Justice) & Jason Todd

Characters: Jason Todd, M'gann M'orzz, Garfield Logan, Dick Grayson, Tim Drake, Kon-El | Conner Kent, Members of the Team (Young Justice), Stephanie Brown

Additional Tags: Humor, Crossover, Jason Todd Swears, Jason Todd Being a Little Shit, Good Older Sibling Dick Grayson, Meet the Batfamily (DCU), Post-Season/Series 02, Bruce Wayne Has Too Many Kids, Banter, Mild Language

Summary: Garfield was cut off by M'gann grabbing his wrist and flying out of the room as fast as she could. “Code Orange. Code Orange,” M'gann sent out to everyone on the Watchtower. “There is an intruder on the Watchtower! An ‘A’ level Villain. Armed. Repeat, there is an armed villain on the Watchtower.”

AKA: Red Hood decides he wants to see the Team, breaks in, and causes havoc. The bats are strangely friendly with someone who was supposed to be their villain.

A/N: Yo, I've had this sitting in my docs since … March? Well, i decided to put it out, seeing as I'm FINALLY seeing Season Three! Although this fic doesn't include it. Think of this as post-season two, and just ignoring season three. Full batfam are just never introduced to the Team.

WORK-

It was a slow weekend on the Watchtower, with no missions, catastrophes, or alien invasions. So most of the Team and League were either at home, or chilling in the space station.

The latter was exactly what Garfield and M'gann were doing. They had been on the Watchtower for the entirety of the morning, playing various types of board games. Every so often someone would pop in on them, but for the most part they were enjoying some sibling bonding time.

“You know what we need?” Garfield asked in the middle of Candy Land.

“No, I thought we were doing just fine the way we were,” M'gann replied, confused.

Garfield scoffed. “Food, obviously! I'm starving! Let's head to the cafeteria and see if Bart left any ice cream.”

*****

They didn't find any ice cream. Though, what was there was alarming.

M'gann and Garfield had strode into the cafeteria finding it almost empty. The single occupant was a man in cargo pants, a leather jacket, and a red helmet. He also wore a gray armored shirt, which had some sort of red symbol. The symbol was obscured, however, by the ginormous gun he was cleaning.

M'gann recognized him immediately as the Red Hood, a top-tier crime lord from Gotham.

“Why Hello, Miss Martian. Beast Boy.” Red Hood didn’t even look up.

“Hey sis, did someone new join the team or -”

Garfield was cut off by M'gann grabbing his wrist and flying out of the room as fast as she could. “Code Orange. Code Orange,” M'gann sent out to everyone on the Watchtower. “There is an intruder on the Watchtower! An ‘A’ level Villain. Armed. Repeat, there is an armed villain on the Watchtower.”

“That was a villain?!” Garfield asked in a surprised voice as he raced along with M’gann.

“Yes, Garfield. Red Hood. I have no idea how he got here though. We need to gather everyone. Make sure they're ready for a fight. Especially Nightwing and Robin, he's a Gotham villain, so they should know what to do.”

Garfield nodded, changed into a hawk, and flew off.

Soon almost everyone was gathered outside the cafeteria's doors. Garfield had yet to bring Nightwing, but Robin was present, and at the front of the group. The only adult leaguer present was Captain Marvel, who had been on monitor duty at the time. The major leaguers - including the big three - were on some sort of low threat level assignment.

“M'gann, report,” Aqualad spoke when he made his way to the front of the group where M'gann stood, blocking Conner from jumping the gun and attacking without a plan.

“Garfield and I were on our way to get some food, when we walked in on The Red Hood cleaning a large gun threateningly. I pulled Gar out as fast as possible and alerted everyone.”

Robin groaned loudly. “Hood? Of all the days to infiltrate the Watchtower, he chose today?”

Aqualad frowned. “You do not seem that alarmed. Is he not as dangerous as we have been told?”

Robin snorted. “Oh, he’s dangerous alright. Tried to kill me multiple times, almost succeeded too. But right now I’m just annoyed.”

Superboy grunted. “That doesn’t matter right now! There is a villain in our lunch room! We need to do something!”

Robin shrugged. “Do what you want. B is gonna kill me either way.”

No one understood what Robin meant, so they decided to follow Kon’s advice. Aqualad took charge.

“We enter on three. Blue Beetle, Rocket, Kid Flash, and Wondergirl go right. Superboy, Lagoon Boy, Miss Martian, and Captain Marvel go left. Zatanna and Robin, follow me. Try to encircle him. Get him talking, and see if we can figure out what he wants. M’gann, link us up.”

Robin grumbled, but nodded along with everyone else. M’gann activated the mind link. Once everyone had given the affirmative, Aqualad began the count.

“One. Two. Three. Go!”

Everyone burst through the doors and assumed their positions. The Red Hood was still sitting where M’gann had said. He was still cleaning his gun, though he paused when the Team entered.

“Took you long enough. I was getting bored.”

Robin glared at Red Hood. “What are you doing here, Hood?”

The intruder seemed to smile under his helmet. “Why’re you so grumpy today, babybird? I was getting bored in Gotham. Figured I’d stop by and say hello to the Team.” Hood turned to look at the rest of the Team and waved. “Hey Team. Captain Marvel. How’re you doing?”

No one replied. Red Hood sighed and shook his head. “No one cares about me.”

“Dude, there is a full attack force ready to beat the crap out of you,” Blue Beetle said. “I’m pretty sure there are people who care that you’re here.”

Red Hood chuckled. “You couldn’t beat me if you tried. Tell ‘em, Replacement.”

Robin smirked. “Not after what I saw last week. You were taken down by two low level thugs.”

Red Hood groaned. “Dude, I was drunk.”

No one had the chance to question this as it was at that exact moment that Beast Boy burst into the room followed closely by Nightwing. He had his escrima sticks out, and looked ferocious.

“Hey ‘wing! Nice of you to join us.” Red Hood sounded positively gleeful.

Nightwing, instead of attacking, groaned and put his weapons away. “This is what you called me for? It's just Hood.”

Aqualad frowned. “Is not the Red Hood a security level A enemy? Shouldn’t you be worried?”

Red Hood shook his head. “Level A? I’m flattered! Maybe you and B do care!”

Nightwing sighed, walked over to Hood, and collapsed on the sofa beside him. The Team was shocked to say the least.

“ ‘Course we care, Hood.” Nightwing said, causing many gasps.

“Nightwing,” Aqualad said, “What are you talking about? Is not this man one of your Rogues? Robin said that he tried to kill him multiple times!”

Nightwing just shrugged. “So? He’s tried to kill me too.”

Red Hood tilted his head as he looked at Robin. “You still go by Robin, here? Boy, Demon-spawn is going to kill you!”

Robin crossed his arms and glared. “It was easier. Do you know how long it takes to change your Zeta Settings?”

Red Hood nodded sagely. “So you were too lazy.”

Robin spluttered, but didn’t deny the accusations.

“Are we forgetting,” Conner said, “That there is a villain in the Watchtower? How did he get in?!”

“Hey Red,” Nightwing asked, grinning, “How’d you get up here, anyway?”

Red Hood seemed to smirk under his helmet. “Blackmail is a glorious thing.”

There was an uproar in the mind link. Accusations flew. Who had Red Hood blackmailed? What did he know about them that could possibly warrant an unauthorized visit to the Watchtower? What was almost as scary was how nonchalant Nightwing seemed. Robin also didn’t seem that worried. In fact he looked … sheepish?

Nightwing laughed. “Whatever he has on you, Robin, must be good!”

“Robin!” M’gann exclaimed. He was the last person anyone expected to be Blackmailed. The bats were so secretive, no one really knew anything about them. This situation with Red Hood being a prime example.

“Hermano,” Blue Beetle said, clearly distressed, “How could you do this?”

Robin just shrugged. “He knew something bad, guys. It couldn’t get out.”

Nightwing looked positively gleeful, the exact opposite of what everyone else was feeling. “Come on, Hood. What did he do?”

Red Hood was shaking with laughter. “He brewed his coffee with a mix of Red Bull and Monster, then topped it off with four Five Hour Energy’s, and three double shots of espresso. When he was on strict orders to sleep.”

“Timothy Jackson Drake!” Nightwing exclaimed, sitting up. He seemed more exasperated than angry. “We’ve talked about this! You are going to get yourself killed if you keep going on like this!”

Robin did not look the least bit apologetic. “Hood! You said you wouldn’t tell!”

Red Hood shrugged. “I said I wouldn’t tell Agent A or Bats. You didn’t say anything about Nightwing or the Team.”

Robin collapsed on the nearest chair. “I’m dead, aren’t I?”

Nightwing nodded. “You are so grounded after this. I’m telling Agent A, and we’re changing all your coffee to decaf!”

Robin groaned. The rest of the Team was confused. For one thing, that wasn’t necessarily that bad of a thing to hide? Sure it was disgusting, but it's not like Robin killed anyone. For another, who did that to their coffee?! But the most worrisome was how did Red Hood know about that? He must have been close to the bird. And how did he know Agent A? Not even the OG Team members had met the mysterious Agent A, who coordinated and cared for the Bats.

“That still doesn’t answer why there is a villain in our cafeteria!” Rocket exclaimed. There were several agreeing nods.

Red Hood sighed. “I told you, I’m here to say hi!” He turned to Robin, “I haven’t seen you in ages.” Though he spoke toward Robin, the Team couldn’t help but feel like he was talking to everyone in the room.

Just then, Kid Flash flew into the room. The lightning trailing from his wake crackled quietly as he stopped next to Aqualad.

“I heard that we had an infiltration and - woah! It's the Red Hood! Why didn’t you tell me it was him! Awesome!” There was a flash, and Kid Flash was standing over Red Hood with a notebook and pen in hand. “Can I have your autograph?”

Nightwing looked like he was trying not to laugh, Robin looked slightly peeved, and everyone else was just confused.

Red Hood’s face wasn’t visible, but his body language clearly showed how pleased he was. “Now this is how you should be treating me!” Hood spoke and he signed the page that Kid Flash helpfully pointed out. “How does ‘Red Hood, to the only decent speedster I’ve ever met’ sound?”

Kid Flash was grinning. “Perfect! Thanks so much! All the info surrounding you was pretty vague in the timelines, so I wasn’t sure if you were even back yet! Or working with the bats again. But boy am I glad you are! You’ve always been my favorite! Do you know how cool you are, dude?!”

Red Hood tilted his head. “Of course I do, kid. Glad someone else sees it though.” He seemed to glare at Nightwing as he said the last part, who only shook his head.

Kid Flash got his notebook back and positively bounced over to Blue Beetle. “Dude did you see this? He actually signed it!”

Blue Beetle frowned. “Why did you want his autograph in the first place?”

Red Hood spluttered, clearly annoyed. “Why wouldn’t he?”

“Yeah,” Kid Flash said, “Why wouldn’t I want the autograph of clearly the best Outlaw?” He paused to think. “Are you with the Outlaws yet?”

Red Hood shrugged. “I haven’t seen either of them in a few months, but we are meeting next week for an … outing.”

Nightwing snorted and muttered something that sounded suspiciously like “mercenaries and drugs. What could go wrong.”

Red Hood glared at Nightwing. “Like nothing you ever do goes wrong.”

Nightwing snorted. “Yeah, but I never leave a trail of bodies.”

“Okay, one, the bodies were on purpose,” Hood said, “And two, I stopped! No more killing people for widdle ol’ me.”

“Mostly.” Robin said.

“Mostly,” Red Hood agreed.

“Why is their bickering so familiar?” M’gann asked.

“It’s like they’re siblings,” Captain Marvel replied.

“Oh Gosh,” Kid Flash said, “You guys really don’t -”

Suddenly Nightwing, Robin and Red Hood stiffened in unison. The air seemed to drop several degrees. Then Batman strode into the room flanked by Superman and Wonder Woman.

“Thank the gods,” Wondergirl said. “This guy just showed up, he said he blackmailed Robin into letting him up, and Nightwing isn’t doing anything about it! Please tell us you -”

“Uncle Clark! Aunt Diana!” Red Hood seemed strangely happy to see the most powerful people in the League. He even knew their civilian names! There were several gasps.

Wonder Woman strode forward, and Red Hood sprang up to meet her. “ Red Hood! So good to see you. How has your life been my little warrior?” They hugged briefly, and Beast Boy almost fainted.

“Pretty good, Aunt Diana. You know, a little dark, a little gloomy. And, as always, hey, full of dead people. What are you gonna do?”

Robin snorted. “Did you just quote Hercules at Wonder Woman? An Amazon?”

Wonder smiled - quite motherly, Kaldur thought in the mind link - at Red Hood. “It's been too long my dear. Next time you have a day off, come find me in Paris. We should spend more time together.”

“I’ll be sure to!”

Wonder Woman stepped to the side to allow Superman forward. “Really, how have you been kiddo?”

“I’m not a kid anymore, supes. Haven’t been since I was fifteen and you know it.” Superman seemed to flinch, which in and of itself was a shock. Red Hood shrugged. “But I’ve been good. Had to deal with these idiots a lot,” he gestured to Nightwing and Robin, both of whom looked indignant, “but … I’ve been good.”

Superman smiled. “Great. You should come to the farm sometime, Ma misses you.”

“He can - he’s gone to the farm?!” Superboy couldn’t hold back his shock. He had only just been allowed to go, and meet Ma Kent.

Red Hood nodded as Superman stepped aside to join Wonder Woman. “Of course, I’ve been coming for years.”

Superboy was slack jawed at this revelation, and, despite much cajoling from his teammates, was unable to close his mouth.

“Hood.” Batman said. He spoke tiredly, in a way no one in the Team had ever heard him use before. “Do you have to traumatize everyone you meet?”

“Oh, you wanna talk about trauma?” Red Hood’s voice was filled with a maliciously gleeful tone. “ ‘Cause you should hear about this one time, I was hanging out with the Joker - just chilling, y’know - and then -”

Red Hood was cut off by a grimacing Nightwing punching him in the shoulder. “Not now, okay?”

“Come on, I’m sure the gang would love to hear all the gruesome details …”

“Hood,” Batman repeated slightly more urgently. “What are you doing on the Watchtower?”

Red Hood sighed. “For the last time, I wanted to say hi to the Team. I haven’t seen these guys in ages.”

“We have never met before,” Aqualad said, confused.

Red Hood shook his head. “They don’t remember me.” He seems thoughtful for a moment. “Maybe there weren’t enough explosions.”

“Hood,” Batman continued. “You know you aren’t allowed up here without permission. Which you just had to ask for. I would have set up a time to let you see everyone.”

This time when the Team was surprised, Nightwing and Robin joined in; Their faces twin depictions of shock.

Red Hood didn’t seem to care, though. “Since when have I ever asked you for anything, old man. Besides, this way is more fun. Drama, and all that sh*t.” He sat back on the sofa. “You should have seen their faces! Best fun I’ve had since Nightwing and I got drunk in Blüdhaven a few weeks back!”

Batman whirled to Nightwing, who was looking quite sheepish. “You did what?”

Nightwing shrugged. “It had been a long night, and I was getting over a bad break up. Hood was being an outstanding citizen by aiding me in my hour of need!”

“F*** yeah, Big-Wing!”

Batman shook his head. “Hood, you aren’t of legal drinking age, there is no way you were being an outstanding citizen.”

The Team could barely keep up. Nightwing and Red Hood were close enough to get drunk together? Hood was under twenty one? Batman seemed close enough to Hood to know he was under twenty one. Well, that last one could be easily explained: he was Batman after all.

Red Hood grumbled his assent before perking up. “Hey bats, is that why you still have me down as a villain on the official League files?”

Batman seemed at a loss for words. He just employed his signature BatGlare™  on the intruder. Red Hood didn’t seem affected at all, which could easily be taken as the most surprising thing about the whole encounter. Even Superman flinched at the BatGlare™.

“Do you understand the mixed signals you’re sending me?” Hood Continued. “I mean, I’m allowed to Sunday dinner, but I’m also classified as one of the most dangerous criminals on earth?”

“Sunday dinner?” Several people asked in unison.

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m flattered that you think so high of me, but I changed to f***ing rubber bullets for you! Doesn’t that give me some credit? Or were you just too lazy to change it. Like Replacement over here, who still goes by Robin.”

“Yes, of course you deserve to be taken off the list. You’ve made so much progress. I’ll change your file as soon as I can.” He frowned. “And for the love of god, please call Tim by his name, or hero moniker.”

“Yeah, call me by my name, Hood!” Robin seemed to be rolling his eyes under his domino mask. “There’s a first time for everything.”

Red Hood looked appeased. “Good.” He collapsed back on the couch and continued to clean his gun.

Batman sighed. “Do you want something else?”

“Well, now that you’re asking …” Red Hood seemed exceptionally sly. “It is getting a bit boring in here.” he paused as if to think. “Hey! We should throw a party! "

Batman glowered. "No. The last time I let you have a party, the Bat cave was covered in glitter for three days straight!"

“You’ve held parties in the Batcave?” Aqualad asked.

Red Good sighed and shook his head. "Good times, good times. But you forget that that glitter was purple. I wasn’t completely to blame!”

Batman sighed once more, while Robin sat up straight.

“Is that why Spoiler didn’t come to the house for a week?”

Nightwing nodded. “Yup. She was too scared to see Agent A. Though she wouldn’t mind yelling at B.”

“And flip him off while doing so.” Red Hood sighed contentedly. “I taught her well.”

“You didn’t teach her anything!” Nightwing contradicted. “She’s been flipping people off since before you returned to Gotham! She gave the single-fingered salute B when they first met - with a smile on her face!”

The Team wondered who could be so brave, none of them were.

Red Hood seemed overjoyed. “Really? Why haven’t I heard about this before! How did Batsy react?”

“Like a deer in headlights,” Robin replied, smirking.

Red Hood began to clap. “She makes the Robin legacy proud, doesn’t she?”

“Does that mean this girl was a Robin?” Rocket asked.

“Batman reacted like a deer in headlights?” Captain Marvel added.

Nightwing nodded sardonically. “Yes, because pissing off Batman is exactly what I had in mind when I started Robin.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised, Golden Boy,” Red Hood snorted, “You’ve swung off of and broken enough chandeliers for it to be coincidance.”

Nightwing grimaced. “So there have been some casualties.”

Batman shook his head. “Casualties?”

Robin nodded quite seriously. “Of course, B. How else would you know to get gymnastic equipment?”

“He could have asked. Instead I had to spend thousands of dollars every time Nightwing decided he wanted to try some new trapeze routine.” Batman shook his head. “Why do all of you decide it's your job to vandalize my home?”

Robin raised his hands. “Hey, I didn’t destroy anything important!”

“No, you just randomly got rid of my computers when you decided we needed an upgrade.”

“Well we did!”

“Hah! I’ve never done any permanent damage to your house!” Red Hood seemed very self satisfied.

Batman, Nightwing, and Robin paused for a moment, thinking.

“That,” Robin said, “Is truly depressing.”

“Hn,” Batman replied.

“Good job Hood,” Nightwing said, “You have managed not to disappoint B in one field.”

Red Hood seemed to roll his eyes. “Don’t worry, I make up for it in all the other ways!”

“Can someone PLEASE explain to me what’s going on?” Garfield asked, bouncing in place.

All the bats turned to look at him in unison, causing the kid to shrink back and hide behind M’gann. A moment later, though, Red Hood sighed audibly. He reached up and felt for some hidden latches in his hamlet. There was a click and he pulled it off. Underneath was a red domino mask. He reached up and pulled that off next.

There were several gasps from the OG Team. The man before them was older, his jaw-line matured, scars littering his face. He had a white streak in his hair and blue eyes rimmed with a pulsing poisonous green. But they still recognized him.

“What?” Zattanna whispered, her eyes wide.

“You’re …” Conner began,shocked, “You’re alive?”

“How?”  Rocket asked. “You were dead.”

In unison, the five people who knew the stranger turned to Nightwing.

“You said you wouldn’t fake any more deaths!” M’gann announced, anger flowing through her.

“How could you, Dick?” Kaldur asked, frowning insteansly. “No more secrets, you promised.”

Nightwing sighed. “I had no part in this, let me tell you. It was the Al Ghuls. We didn’t find out till a year ago.”

“That’s still a year you took to tell us!” Conner glared.

Nightwing shrugged. “It was extenuating circumstances, alright? Not completely my choice.”

Seeing that questioning Dick would be fruitless, Zatanna turned back to the Red Hood. “how are you alive?”

He grinned. “The Lazarus Pit does wonders for the skin, let me tell you.”

This brought a stir throughout the room. Everyone had heard of the legendary substance that granted Ra’s Al Ghul immortality.

“Someone still needs to tell me who this is,” Cassie said, her hands on her hips.

Batman sighed. “Everyone, this is Jason Peter Todd, my son, and the second Robin.”

Everyone who didn’t already know blinked several times.

“The hologram in the park?” Jaime asked. “The one who was killed by the Joker?”

“The very one!” Jason grinned. “Nice to know some people know me.”

“I thought there were only two Robins?” La'gaan stated more than asked with a frown.

In unison, Nightwing, Red Hood, Robin, and even Superman started to laugh.

“Oh kid,” Jason said, grabbing his sides, “you’re adorable!”

“Only two Robins,” Superman said, grinning, “Batman wishes.”

Nightwing was choking with laughter, but once he’d calmed down, he looked at La’gaan again, and proceeded to break down again.

“Two Robins?!” Robin looked in awe, “Wow, now that’s a thought.”

“I’m sorry?” La'gaan asked. He didn’t look sorry.

“There have been five Robins,” Red Hood explained after a moment, “Six if you count that new kid. But that whole thing was kinda weird.”

“Six?!” several people announced, and looked at Batman, who nodded.

“How come we’ve never met them?” M’gann asked, “Nightwing, how could you not have told us?”

“You haven’t met them ‘cause most of the bats stick to Gotham,” Robin answered, “there hasn’t a need to drag everyone up here. Let alone the Robins.”

“Wait,” Zattanna said, “There are more bats?”

NIghtwing laughed again. “Oh boy, you guys really know nothing? Do any of you pay attention to Gotham?” There were several sheepish smirks, and Nightwing sighed. “Artemis is the only one who actually gets this, isn’t she?”

Jason frowned. “I wish she was here today, I wanted to say high.” he then looked at the still confused faces of the hero community. He stood up dramatically, as if about to start a grand speech.“Okay, rundown. You know Batman, obviously. Dicky-bird over there was the first Robin. I was the second. Then you have Timbo who was the third-”

“Was?” several people asked.

“I still go by Robin up here ‘cause it's easier-”

“He’s too lazy to change his codes, we already established this,” Jason interrupted, glaring, “After him you have Robin four, that was for the time that Tim’s dad banned him from the roll. Then he died, and she died, so Tim was back to being Robin.” he ignored the several open mouthed faces and persevered, “then you have the little gremlin who’s currently Robin. He’s the ‘bloodson’ which he takes very seriously, so don’t tell him that just because daddybats over there and Talia Al Ghul hooked up means that he’s the F***ing savior.” Everyone turned to stare at Batman.

“Talia Al Ghul?” Jaime asked, “Isn’t she an assassin?”

“Yup!” Nightwing announced, drawing attention onto him. “And the kid’s a cutie!”

Tim scoffed. “That’s not half the bats though,” he pointed out. “You have Batwoman, Batwing … hey, Azrael counts, right?”

“I mean,” Dick said, “He was Batman at one point, and lives in Gotham so yeah. He’d probably not want to be called that though.”

Jason laughed. “He and Leslie think we’re all crazy. I mean, they’re right, but still.”

Tim laughed. “Yup! Then you have the batgirls, number one, you guys know her. She’s Oracle now, a behind the scenes tech support goddess. Then Batgirl number two, she goes by Black Bat now, takes care of Hong Kong when she’s not visiting home and being the favorite child.”

Batman frowned. “I don’t have favor-”

“You do.” All three former Robins said in unison.

“So yeah,” Dick continued, “She’s awesome. Easily kicks our butts - including B! But after her you have Spoiler, the third Batgirl, and fourth Robin. After her there’s Catwoman -” there were several gasps. “Oh yeah, she and Bats are totally a thing - have been for years. You wouldn’t be surprised if you saw their flirting! There was this one time when I was Robin, I was supposed to case a building while B went after Cat, right? Well when i got there, they were already half-”

“That’s enough.” Batman growled, and Nightwing grinned.

“Moving on!” Jason announced, “since we all have horrible memories of batcat freaky roof time, you have Huntress, and Blue Bird. Then The Signal - he was kinda a half Robin, in a gang war sort of way. But that’s not important. He’s the only meta protege of batsy’s, and if that doesn’t scream second favorite child, I don’t know what does!”

“You allow metas in Gotham now?!” Garfield asked.

“No.” all the bats announced in unison.

“Signal is the exception, and if you met him, you’d understand. Easily the sanest out of all of us.” Jason explained with a wink.

“Relatively the sanest!” Tim announced. “He literally jumped out of a police car, of a bridge, into the Gotham river, while saying ‘I am Robin. Plus, he handled the demon spawn on a rampage. He’s just as crazy as the rest of us.”

“None of this explains why we haven’t met these people!” Connor said.

Batman sighed heavily. “Fine. I’ll set up a meeting, check out who’s in town and such. Not today though, there’s a drug bust going down and no one’s available. Besides, they don’t even know what’s going on up here.”

Jason let out an awkward cough, and sat gingerly down on the couch. He seemed … guilty?

“Jason.” Batman growled in warning.

“I’m sorry, B!” Jason said, despite looking more along the lines of gleeful. “Blondie asked what I was doing today, and you know how hard it is to lie to her!”

Batman groaned - honest to gosh groaned! - and pinched the bridge of his nose. “She’s on her way right now, isn’t she?”

Jason shrugged. “She said something about grabbing snacks.”

Tim groaned. “We’re all dead.”

“What’s going on?” M’gann asked, “Why would this be bad?”

Dick sighed. “Spoiler is just … special.”

As if on cue, the door to the room crashed open dramatically, smoke seeping in. A purple clad figure stood dramatically in its wake, her cape swirling and arms raised over her head. She held two boxes of Munchkins in each fist.

“What’s up B*tches?” She asked. “I brought donuts!”

[pkmnjesus]

⏪ P J’s PokéAni Rewind 2019

Hello, yes I’m still alive for those wondering or care at all :] Just been taking an indefinite leave from all my social media accounts (though you can still see me on Discord: PokémonJesus#2495) since mid-November going through some personal self-discovery journey...nobody misses me anyways. I’ll address that maybe in a future post, but let’s not make this about me...because RIGHT NOW it is time for my 4th annual year-end (and favorite) Tumblr tradition! 2019 was a stressful year for me personally (as you can tell I’ve been on and off  here), and I appreciate all of the friends I’ve made within this fandom who’ve stuck with me through it. It was also the year of the successful launch of my new PokéAni exclusive side-blog @pokeaniepisodes​ where I would do my weekly episode blogging/screen-caps/GIFs for the #pokeani tag. Within the span of 10 months, I would gain over 1,000 followers! Thank you to those who have followed me there as well. Obviously due to my current circumstances, that has been put on halt as well after Sun & Moon ended. Apologies, but I’ll be back in 2020 hopefully. As for PokéAni, it was bittersweet as we bid Alola farewell with the Sun & Moon series ending heading into the next generation series. If you’re curious to hear what I have to say about the new series, well here’s your post! The Pokémon anime has officially wrapped up for this year with Ash & Go in the Hoenn region earlier today, in where he WON another tournament showing Go how it’s done! But now, it is time to highlight some of the best episodes (this post will be following the original Japanese release dates, but will still be using the English/game dub names for a universal understanding by all) I personally found noteworthy from each month. Without further ado, let’s take a look back at what the Pokémon anime had to offer in 2019. 1, 2, 3. LET’S GO!

JANUARY - Hello Hapu

The Poni Island adventures begin! And also, the road to Ash’s final grand trial to complete. This mini-arc started a very fun series of character-centric episodes among the main cast and their Pokémon while they were in the island without Professor Kukui’s guidance. From Sophocles’s Charjabug evolving to a Vikavolt, and Lana’s Popplio evolving to Brionne (plus getting Primarium Z!). But the highlight out of all of this was the character arc of the soon-to-be Poni Island Kahuna, Hapu! She was a stubborn trainer who didn’t want to interact with anyone or battle Ash. She eventually opened up to him and his friends slowly after getting back her stolen radishes from Team Skull (the first appearance of Plumeria as well). She was a key figure on the class’ expedition throughout  Poni for their respective research projects, while Tapu Fini and her late grandfather keep an eye on her progress. Eventually when she did became Kahuna, Ash finally had his rightful battle with her for a grand trial. She didn’t gain only a new set of confidence, but a new set of friends too.

FEBRUARY - Mama Mallow makes us cry

As the group continues doing their personal research projects in Poni Island, and after Kiawe clears his own trial with Tapu Fini, we get a feels trip to Mallow’s past. Thanks to Tapu Fini’s mysterious mist that allows people to see the departed, Mallow relives her childhood days with her mother. We not only get a teary backstory of what Mallow said to her ill mother before passing away, but also Lillie & Gladion’s attempt to see their “deceased” father, Mohn. Mallow seeking proper closure, finally reunites with her mother in the mist as they spend as much time catching up with one another ever since their improper argument at the hospital. We then discovered that Bounsweet was actually caught by her mom before gifting it to Mallow as her first Pokémon...who is now a fully evolved Tsareena. There were a lot of good moments like seeing the Stoutland that (as if this wasn’t enough of a feels trip) help raised Ash’s Torracat when it was still a Litten, and that Mohn is nowhere to be found in the mist meaning that he’s still alive! Stoutland’s final gift to Torracat was upgrading its Ember move to eventually learning to use Fire Blast. But the most important thing about this episode, is that it teaches us to be grateful to our parents (or those who raised us) even when it looks like they don’t seem to care, we misunderstand and overlook how much they truly care for us. Never take things for granted and live in the moment. In the end, Mallow’s mom gave her one final gift before going back to the afterlife, a Shaymin to care for. Thanks mom :’)

MARCH - Ya boi is never too late!

All we can just say when he was first announced was...finally...or about time! Team Skull boss Guzma’s long awaited appearance in the Pokémon anime happened when he and the rest of his gang visited the Pokémon School to confront Professor Kukui. After hearing about the official announcement that the first Alola League was going to happen, Guzma is determined to eliminate everything for what it stands for. Meanwhile, everyone in Alola wanted to get in on the action for an opportunity to become a champion, that includes Ash who stood up to Guzma for Kukui. After wiping the floor with Team Rocket, Guzma battles Ash taking interest with his utilization of the Z-Power Ring. Despite newly perfecting Corkscrew Crash, it had almost no damage on Guzma’s Golisopod. As the battle rages on, Golisopod’s Emergency Exit activates when Pikachu starts to get an upper hand. A stubborn Guzma not wanting to admit what really happened leaves and berates Ash as he sends a clear message on his vow to destroy the Alola League. Guzma and Kukui went face-to-face before Team Skull left, and it’s clear that his intentions were more personal. There’s always a reason behind of it all, and Guzma was seeking for vengeance.

APRIL - Mohn is missing

After discovering that their father may still be alive (as mentioned in my February highlight), Lillie and her family are searching for answers with the help of the Aether Foundation. Lusamine then confesses to her kids about an Ultra Wormhole incident that caused Mohn to disappear. As they continue to get more info, they stumble upon Mohn’s room and discovered two very important treasures. A Z-Ring which he used to wear, and a Magearna that doesn’t seem to be responsive. Lillie decides to wear and use her Z-Ring until her father is found, while also finding away to bring the Magearna he left back to life. With the blessing of Kahuna Hala and her friends’ support, she deicides to finally put her Icium-Z to good use by practicing the Subzero Slammer Z-move with Snowy now that she finally has a Z-Ring at hand. She fails at her first attempt, it won’t keep her down from practicing until she gets it right. The episode ends on a very touching note with Lillie reading an entry from her father’s old journal revealing that Mohn did in fact bought an inactive Magearna in hopes to restore it to give it to his one and only daughter as a gift <3

MAY - Lana’s lure of fate

In one of my personal favorite episodes (totally not because she’s my favorite and the best girl), I got shut up for even doubting that her Brionne would evolve this soon (don’t you just hate it when anime previews spoil?). Lana finally decides to make her dream a reality (referenced in previous episodes) to hook a Kyogre at sea! With the help of Ash, they were able to track down a Kyogre that suddenly appeared while the class were fishing. When they discovered that the Kyogre had been poisoned by Pokémon hunters, Lana decides to cure it with an antidote hooked to a special Misty lure she had been given while Ash deals with the troublemakers. Even after curing the poison, the hunters attempting to catch Kyogre made it rage even more. Lana tries to save it by trying to hook him out of the Hunter’s capturing device. She was successful in freeing it but ended up dragging her to the ocean rapidly as a storm develops from an angered Kyogre. And it was at that moment when Brionne wanted to save her  trainer from getting dragged all over, evolving to Primarina was the only way to end this perfect storm. Primarina’s singing calmed down Kyogre, as Lana lifts up her rod graciously with Kyogre in the sky. Dream achieved, and a moment has been made with new sea friend. Now when Lana tells this story, it’s actually the truth and there will be no one laughing now! Later on another episode, Lana & Primarina would learn how to use and master the Oceanic Operatta Z-move, and it’s all thanks to the hook of this Kyogre. I’m sure Misty is proud as well :)

JUNE - Kid Kukui and Little Litten

There’s a Celebi in this episode...you know what that means. Back to the past! While Ash was training with his Pokémon for the Alola League, a Celebi stumbles upon them and transport Ash & Torracat to the same place where they were at, but only many years ago. They meet this little kid that had Litten with him and it was clearly obvious that his was younger Kukui and his (The Masked Royal’s) Incineroar who hasn’t evolved yet. However, Ash still had no idea he was in the past and treated little Kukui like any other kid he’d meet traveling. The two bond throughout the episode with their similar attitude when it comes to battling, and Ash gladly guided the little kid on executing Z-moves with their Pokémon. The two even worked together assisting a Totem Trevenant in sheltering all the nearby Pokémon as a rainstorm approaches. Thanks to the good heart of Ash helping out everyone, he receives his own Firium Z from the same Trevenant that gave Kukui his Firium Z. He eventually gets back to his timeline where it seemed to have an effect on the present day Kukui. If it wasn’t for that meeting, maybe the professor would’ve had his vision of forming an Alola Pokémon League if it wasn’t for that mysterious older boy he met with his Torracat. A Pokémon time paradox? Maybe...but what I loved about this story is that it repeats itself for the next episode but from the perspectives of Ash’s Pokémon that were left behind in hopes of finding their trainer. Really reminds me of that time Pokémon got separated from their trainers during S.S. Anne arc in the original series, only difference is that the perspectives of the trainers and Pokémon were happening at the same time. But you gotta love a pure whacky Pokémon adventure! Pretty much like a Pikachu short you see before movies.

JULY - Let the League begin!

The moment everyone has been waiting for...the Alola League has officially begun! With everyone prepared to unleash their Z-Power, it’s time for the qualifying round to start. Unlike previous Leagues, this starts off with a free-for-all Battle Royal with a total of 151 competitors but only 16 will advance to the next round. Most of the trainers in this League are recognizable characters if you have watched Sun & Moon in its entirety up to this point. From Mina to Kahili to Acerola to the entire Team Skull gang to Hiroki and even Pikala, every Alola character is here! While all the Island Kahunas serves as the officials for the event. It was fun way to kick-off a 4-month long League arc and they couldn’t have it done any other way. The top 16 has been decided and it gave us good match-ups to follow in the next couple of episodes such as, Mallow vs. Lana, a childhood friend clash which also tests Mallow’s courage in battling. Our favorite Team Rocket duo in disguise facing off against one another (can’t remember when was the last time we saw that). A sibling battle and a trial on how far Lillie has gone as a Pokémon trainer facing off against her strong big brother, Gladion. And of course, the friendly birby rematch between Ash and Hau. The line-up of matches is stacked! I could not remember how hyped I was for this long-awaited League arc. Some battles might’ve been short and quick, but every participant mattered! How can you not love the Sun & Moon series?

AUGUST - The Alola Final Four

And then, there were four. In the semi-finals bracket, we first have Gladion facing off against Kiawe who defeated Acerola and bested a friend in Sophocles. He’s pretty much the dark horse in this, but he’s been working hard all series with his battling to get to this point. As Lillie and Mimo (Hoshi) cheer on their big brothers, it was Gladion who got the upper hand and the two exchange in a very meaningful handshake of sportsmanship. Meanwhile on the other side of the semi-finals, Guzma, who blasted through Ilima and Lana, getting his rematch with Ash seeking for retribution after his soft defeat the last time they faced off. It was a clash of personalities as the Team Skull boss vows to get to Kukui by destroying someone who resembles him in Ash and get a big W for his fellow Team Skull outcasts. This battle was more than just advancing through the semi-finals but also the integrity of what the League will become if Guzma is successful in his ploy. Guzma was very aggressive during this match to the point of even scolding his Golisopod. But when you mad, you don’t focus well and that became Guzma’s downfall eventually resulting in his defeat against Ash who battled with his heart. Guzma had to learn the hard way, maybe softened his mindset a bit, but even after losing Plumeria and the rest of the grunts still want to be by his side improving their own skills in battle to be like their fearless leader. You never see a heartwarming ending for a “villainous” team in Pokémon before, but I think Team Skull had their own happy ending.

SEPTEMBER - The “Curse” is finally broken

Ash vs. Gladion. Here we go, the League finals to determine the inaugural champion of Alola. I mean I already made solo-post last September about how BIG this episode/moment was for our capped hero. Their rivalry has been amazing from the get-go. From their first meeting at the beach by Kukui’s place with a feisty Rockruff that wanted to battle, to the Manalo Stadium battling for a prestigious championship title with Ash’s Lycanroc fully controlled over its rage with dirt. It wasn’t a full battle, but 3-on-3 showdown served us one heck of battle! It may not be considered the best by many, but it was still an amazing and fun bout between two trainers who promised each other to meet in the finals of the big stage. The laugh they shared, the flashbacks that was shown to us (with the awesome Type: Wild! music playing in the background), and the storytelling of who wants it more makes you get to the edge of your seat, cheering for Ash to finally win a major Pokémon League. Ash’s newly evolved Melmetal showcased it’s new strength but still wasn’t able to beat Gladion’s  Silvally. Then, when Zoroark and Pikachu knocked each other out, it was the 1v1 Lycanroc battle that really put this friendly and competitive rivalry full circle.

Ash has NEVER defeated Gladion...until this moment. He’s been training for this, and it finally paid off. The two Lycanroc’s took no prisoners and went back and forth with one another. In the final blow of that match, Gladion’s Lycanroc used Counter against Ash’s Lycanroc that was charging towards it, but then our big brained hero fights back with their own Counter attack. Never have I heard of Countering a Counter in the Pokémon universe, but using it in this one moment nobody expects, it was the HYPEST way to swerve fans from almost losing the match but ultimately gave an epic counterattack that would knock out Gladion’s Lycanroc. And for the first time since the Orange League, Ash is a Champion. Only this time it is a way bigger deal! Mostly because this is a game-based series which has more meaning when it comes to the Pokémon League.

Old fans, new fans, and casual viewers a like were buzzing within 24 hours after this episode released in Japan that caught mainstream media attention. People who have never seen a Pokémon anime episode in their life (or a subbed episode for that matter) past the original series, wanted to see how this episode went down to see a childhood hero achieve a major trophy. This is how big of a pop-culture icon Ash & Pikachu was among many generations of fans since the show’s launch internationally. This was truly THE PokéAni moment of 2019. Again, big congratulations to our Alola Champion, Ash Ketchum/Satoshi! Too bad Guzzlord had to ruin the closing ceremony afterparty... 

OCTOBER - A fiery full final battle

So after becoming Alola Champion, sending three Guzzlords back to where they came from, reuniting with Poipole who evolved into a Naganadel, and The Masked Royal’s identity publicly revealed as Professor Kukui ALL IN THE SAME NIGHT! We finally get our exhibition match between Ash and The Masked Royal, who would like to go under his real identity. This is the final battle, and the promised reward the first Alola Champion gets. This is honestly also reward to the fans giving us one final hoorah for the Alola region with a full 6-on-6 Pokémon battle! I believe this is the only full battle we got to see in Alola and it was definitely worth the anticipation and surprise. Kukui had a lot of secret Pokémon up his sleeve that the viewers don’t know about (unless you get spoiled by freakin’ Oha Suta), and it is also the first and only official battle that Naganadel will be part of under Ash’s team. So the excitement levels of this fun 5-PART episode battle were off the roof! Kukui had amazing Pokémon that he kept a secret, but what I do want to focus in this spotlight is the showdown between Incineroar and Torracat. Just like with the Lycanroc duel, these two have similar stories with Torracat never being able to beat The Masked Royal/Kukui’s Incineroar. Ever since it was still a Litten, the desire to battle strong opponents still burns inside. As the two fiery cats clash in this epic battle, both sides have the same intensity when receiving and taking attacks.

As the battle worn out, both Kukui and Ash activated their Z-Rings together to use Inferno Overdrive against each other. After a gigantic explosion from the Z-move collision it was Torracat who was the last Pokémon standing finally beating its personal battle rival. After a victory screech, I was surprised as everyone seeing it fully evolve into Incineroar. Unfortunately, that evolution took a toll on the newly evolved Pokémon and is unable to continue further. Rest well big kitty, you beat who you wanted to beat and deserve a good rest.

As if that wasn’t epic enough, in the final phase of this full battle, Tapu Koko steps in and serves as Kukui’s last Pokémon and even granting both parties to be able to use Z-moves once again. Fast forward, Ash and Pikachu finally defeated their first opponent when they first set foot in the Alola region with the Z-Ring Tapo Koko gave them in the first place. It clearly now knows that Ash was a worthy holder of using Z-Power and a Champion that everyone can look  up to. What a battle. What a series. Thank you Alola. Thank you Sun & Moon.

NOVEMBER - Pikachu Origins

Enter the next chapter. The new era of the Pokémon anime finally launched this in a very different way. The first episode basically serves as the prequel to the Pokémon anime series before Ash had set out on his quest to become a Pokémon Master. Long story short, we can Pikachu’s background story on how he came to be the loving mascot recognized everywhere on paper. I mean who would’ve thunk it? I just love the fact that we’re getting an origin story of how Ash’s Pikachu when it was still a wild Pichu. Although it wasn’t explained how Professor Oak ended up catching the little guy, Pikachu always had a good heart (you know despite rejecting Ash at first lol). The most adorable thing about this episode was the family bond Pichu temporarily shared with this little Kangaskhan family. The little guy was an outcast not really sure where to go or what to do except survive and find food. When that Kangaskhan picked him up as if it was one of its babies, and gained a new caring sibling in the process. It was a wholesome story of calling someone family even though there is no blood relation. Pichu was literally not their kind, but they still loved him as it was them!

Meanwhile, we get a little preview of our new characters from seeing their childhood and setting up the premise for them to cross paths with Ash in the future. The newest protagonist, Go, was a little know-it-all about Pokémon, and he sure bragged a lot of his knowledge on it during one of Professor Oak’s camp (in which Ash failed to wake up for). Along with his worrisome friend, Koharu, they spotted a Mew while going off course in Oak’s tour around their campsite. It would also be the saving grace of the lost baby Kangaskhan who accidentally fell off a cliff after attempting to play with the Mew. After seeing Mew’s psychic abilities, it was clear for Go that he needed to catch Mew one day. This is the initial goal that Go wanted to set out for when he’s old enough.

After the incident with his Kangaskhan sibling, Pichu had to re-think if he wants to continue being a part of a pack that he doesn’t even properly belong it in the first place. When the herd of Kangaskhan took shelter in cave during heavy rain, Pichu had to make a tough decision and leave his foster family behind while they were asleep because he knew that the mother Kangaskhan would not let go of someone who it sees as a child of her own. Pichu knew that was the only way, but despite his sad decision he was grateful for the happiness they provided for a lone wolf Pokémon that wandered in the wild looking belong somewhere. It was that same happiness that gave Pichu the strength to evolve to the Pikachu we all know today, and found a forever home with a certain tardy boy a couple of years later that they both formed an inseparable friendship.

DECEMBER - The Great Gigantamax in Galar

Of course, you can’t have a new series without showing off a new region?! As our “research fellows” Ash & Go continue their exploration in the Galar region learning more about the Dynamax phenomenon that causes Pokémon to grow bigger in size, they are about to be in for one gigantic dilemma. They had some trouble when they met a bunch of trickster Pokémon in those Nickit and a dirty Scorbunny trying to steal their food, but that wasn’t the last they saw of that Scorbunny. When they took the train to explore the Wild Area, Scorbunny secretly tagged along in hopes to be partners with Go after feeling a connection with the trainer during their first encounter. After MANY attempts of trying get Go’s attention, he finally notices Scorbunny after it kicks a rock to knock down fruit on top of a Snorlax they were observing (that hits Ash’s head first oof). Scorbunny attempts to get caught by Go, but he declined due to his vow for Mew to be his first catch. After the sad rejection, red lights then start to surround the Snorlax that ended up Dynamaxing it to Gigantamax Snorlax! This caused a big road blockage that affects a train line in that area. Ash, Pikachu, Go and Scorbunny decide to team up and move the Snorlax before the next train comes by to avoid a disaster from happening. Ash and Pikachu were able  to cut down a big fruit from the Gigantamax Snorlax’s body and pass it on to Go and Scorbunny to make sure he jumps (just like earlier from Scorbunny’s accidental fruit pick) for that fruit in time for the train to pass by without anyone getting hurt. It was a tough task getting all the way up to the belly of beast, but thanks the Double Kick boost Scorbunny gave that big fruit, Snorlax not only moved in time for the next train to stop by, but return back to normal (big) size.

Unfortunately, Scorbunny was also swallowed in that big gulp, but it was a good thing that Snorlax didn’t munch it all the way. After the teamwork Go felt with Scorbunny during all that, he decides to modify his dream a bit and wants Scorbunny to now be his first Pokémon catch. Both are happy to be with one another, and we all know this was going to be the start of wonderful friendship. With this addition to the group, the main cast for the new anime series is now fully-set. Let the true adventures around the Pokémon world begin!

Some honorable mentions…

2019 for PokéAni marked an end of an era, but a start of a new one too! No doubt one of the most impactful years the show has had in the world since the XY&Z arc. Besides the historic Alola League, we also saw the continuation of Brock & Misty’s trip to Alola (not to mention Brock & Olivia’s adorkable interactions together), the class’ crash-course golf lessons with none other than Kahili! Ash catching a rare Meltan that appeared out of nowhere, The Sparkling Trio of Mallow, Lana & Lillie uniting as Alola DrinKyun (’Refreshing Trio: Alola Idols’ in the English dub), Ash challenging Ryuki’s Kantonian Gym, the high-speed Vikavolt race, Mallow’s vision in opening her Pokémon café, Matori’s unexpected visit to the Team Rocket base in Alola, and let’s not for get about the Ultra Guardians finishing up their final missions in capturing the remaining UBs: Pheromosa and Kartana. And honestly, after seeing all of Sun & Moon, can everyone just agree that Kukui is the BEST Pokémon professor?!

Of course, how can I not mention the final episode of Sun & Moon? In what was probably one of the most emotional farewell episodes in the anime’s history. If you don’t have bias from the original goodbye with Brock & Misty in Johto, this would probably be the best one. It was executed perfectly with Ash’s class figuring out what to do in the future with Ash himself not sure what to do moving forward. Naganadel had to return back to its homeworld, the Rockets had to say leave their Alola Pokémon with Bewear as she sends them off one final time, Nebby returns to see Ash one final time, and Lillie decides to search for her father away from Alola after brining Magearna to life. With everyone deciding what to do, Ash heads back home to explore the world (which transitions to the new series) leaving all his Alola Pokémon behind in Kukui’s lab, while Rotom Dex decides to work for the Aether Foundation. The boat scene with Lillie was a good touch on how her character evolved thanks to Ash’s help, and the departing airport scene with Kukui, Burnet, and Ash group hugging was touching. Even Ash teared up as he gets in the air leaving Alola as his friends and Pokémon he left behind wave goodbye. If that wasn’t a good send off for the Sun & Moon series, Mallow’s Shaymin finally achieved its Sky Forme (which have her mother’s eyes...could be a touching symbolism that she was always watching her ;_;) from a Gracidea flower before taking off, AND ON TOP OF THAT, the final shot of the series no less, we find out that Professor Burnet is pregnant. Never in the history of this anime has ever done that to a major character in the supporting cast. The Sun & Moon series continues to break ground as one of the best Pokémon series.

Other than that, we got the new series (which I still wish we had a proper sub-title for -_-) giving us a taste of what to expect in the new Generation VIII era. Our newly appointed research fellows, Ash & Go are at Professor Sakuragi’s Institute helping with his research along with Mimey and Koharu helping out with the household chores. Lugia brought these two together, and are now living under the same roof. And, can we talk about Mimey?! I’m so glad a classic character from this anime is being used as a permanent supporting character for this series. Not to mention that he battled alongside Ash in the Hoenn tournament and won! It’s also refreshing to see updated animation within Kanto where they’re home base is at, and I absolutely cannot wait for them to go back to other regions with this fresh new art style. With Go’s goal to catch every Pokémon there is for him to index, he’s bound to meet Mew again one day! He’s literally every Pokémon games’ protagonist and I’m glad we have a main character like him who actually focuses on catching them all. As for Ash, he’s still our Ash carving his own unique path on his continuing journey to become a Pokémon Master because it’s more than being the strongest trainer and more than just catching Pokémon. I’m going to take his word for it! I don’t know if you noticed, but Go kinda looks up to him a bit due to his experiences in battle. Just look how shy he was just wanting to be his friend. You just gotta love it when they make Ash this mentor-type friend especially now coming off a huge victory in the Alola League becoming a champion.

Overall, the Sun & Moon anime gave us a variety of different set of stories every week leading up to the anticipated Alola League. Everyone had a story to tell building up to the Alola League, and just look at the list of episodes we’ve had this year that went back and forth with characters that get a main focus other than Ash (or even Lillie). Most of these episodes I’m talking about are either development for a Pokémon in their team evolving, or a perfecting a Z-move with their respective Z-Crystals. This shows much the writers care about each main character gets enough screen-time before they’re ready to take on the League with Ash. If you are still thinking on whether or not to continue/finish watching the series if you haven’t yet, I would still recommend to please watch until the end! It’s a really fun ride to sit through it all in my humble opinion, unless you want to just bolt straight into the League episodes only caring about Ash’s story. You do you. As for the new series, it will definitely pick up the pace sooner or later with the initial episodes are setting up to lead into something bigger. If you aren’t hooked in yet, definitely be patient because I’m expecting a lot of good opportunities for them to pull off in this cross-region based format. Sure it isn’t based 100% on the latest games in the franchise Sword & Shield, but that’s what separates the anime and the games. The anime is doing its own thing with an original story, but I’m pretty sure they will mix-in some of the interesting storylines and feature important characters from Sword & Shield every time they revisit Galar because it’s the new region on the block. They should feature/market a lot of episodes from all the new content Galar has. So I would definitely still keep my eyes on the Pocket Monsters series 👀

And there you have it! This post as long as it already is, so I’ll stop here. If you’ve read everything I had to say (maybe a few typos here and there lol), then thank you for your time! Feel free share your own favorite PokéAni moment 2019 with a reblog or a reply if you choose to do so. Thanks so much for an amazing year, and it’s time for us to GO to 2020. More moments await for us, and maybe even some surprises we might see since Ash is returning to previous regions he already visited in the past. See everyone in 2020 for the first full year of the new ‘Pocket Monsters’ series. Let’s go (with Go heh) and have some fun! Yes, I think used the word ‘go’ here too many freakin’ times lol

Happy New Year to all my followers, and the rest of the Pokémon fandom!

If you haven’t seen these yet, and you are new to my blog, check out all the previous year-end PokéAni Rewinds I did in the past: 2016 | 2017 | 2018

[memcaked]

Team

Source: Subarashiki kono Sekai | The World Ends With You

Relationships: Kariya Koki & Yashiro Uzuki

Characters: Kariya Koki, Yashiro Uzuki

Additional tags: Banter, dialogue-heavy, pre-game, Queen, can be read as ship, TWEWYTOBER, TWEWYTOBER 2020, Not beta read

Summary: Uzuki’s spindly fingers hit the buttons on the boombox, killing the thrumming bassline. She clenches her teeth, popping the top and ejecting the CD. “Whatever magical music ability you’ve got,” she gripes, closing her entire hand over the disc, “Why can’t you turn it off? What’s the point if you don’t know the lyrics?”

Kariya doesn’t seem to be hearing anything as he leans against the door to this building’s rooftop, poring over something yellowed and inked. “Out of the doorway, the bullets rip,” he drones, not even realising the music’s off.

Beginning notes: you have NO idea how much i've been craving to write about kariya, mate... something about 4 and 7 has me itching for it. i wanted to use more headcanons i have about him (like his past and how he's an Almighty Archivist Janitor who barely ever uses the UG history and law he has rolling around his brain) but it really only had the queen one. i am, really, truly sick of gomens and gaiman as an author and general presence myself but.... takes the "crowley's bentley turns everything into queen after enough time" for myself

Body: Uzuki’s spindly fingers hit the buttons on the boombox, killing the thrumming bassline. She clenches her teeth, popping the top and ejecting the CD. “Whatever magical music ability you’ve got,” she gripes, closing her entire hand over the disc, “Why can’t you turn it off? What’s the point if you don’t know the lyrics?”

Kariya doesn’t seem to be hearing anything as he leans against the door to this building’s rooftop, poring over something yellowed and inked. “Out of the doorway, the bullets rip,” he drones, not even realising the music’s off.

Her growl is aggressive and tired. “The same thing every time! I buy some new CD, the Prince or Def Märch or CAT N’ CORE, those were my last three buys - put it in some boombox, you touch it, you curse it! Like, hello?! I’m buying these to hear the latest songs I like, not to hear those songs for the first few days and then the same twenty, thirty ones you like ever after!”

“It just,” Kariya pauses, not from indecisiveness or nervousness but his laziness, “kind of happened. I think it started when I was sixteen.”

“Sixteen?! You’re incorrigible,” Uzuki drags her sharp, gloved hand down her face, “I need to buy a new boombox, one that you haven’t touched, make sure you won’t touch it again. You can only play anything on it if you’ve got a hazmat suit on.”

“We liquefied too much of our paycheck on celebratory ramen and drinks for your quarantined audio rig you’re masterminding,” Kariya chews a little more thoughtfully, brisker on his lollipop. “Be patient. There’s a lot of time you can use between this month and the next, Tiger.”

Uzuki prowls ever so forward, her heels clicking to her ulterior giggles. “So you agree, don’t you?” There are species of shark that have fewer teeth than a Uzuki Yashiro on her gotcha moment.

“If you’re so gabby, why don’t you tell me what I’m meant to agree to,” The papers fwub as Kariya tears his eyes off them, swinging them down.

“That you’d look forward to and want work?” Her hands are steepled, shit-eating grin on her face.

“Only for the paychecks, y’know.”

“You’re so boring, you know that?” Kariya doesn’t answer. Uzuki turns around and walks towards the opposite edge of the rooftop. You can hear the bodies wailing,” she monologues and gestures to the sky, “their lamentations, their guilt. Think of the points! The wage raises! The promotions deep inside them!” It’s like Uzuki almost swoons, her hands clasped together and voice shooting up to a soprano. “We can have it all. You hear them? When we get those souls, we’re talking Officer territory! As long as you can your ’aaaaaaah, i’m just not ready for commitment’ thing you got going on when I get offered a place there.”

“Nope, not happening,” Kariya shuts her down, shaking his head. “I’m fine down here.”

It’s like her face sours immediately, arms folded in disappointment. “What a ball and chain,” Uzuki bemoans, “One day you’ll come around.”

“Love you too,” Kariya says.

End notes: this one went out really quick once i put my mind to it actually. that's the power of team reaper rocket, baby

[pinnithin-writes]

Good Jokes

Chapter 8

The group gathered their affairs in order before heading back into the halls of Black Mesa. Gordon informed Benrey that he was allowed to tag along with them - a formality, really, as he’d be tagging along regardless - while Dr. Coomer took it upon himself to clear the canyon walls and have a look at what lay beyond. If there was any chance they could scamper out of hell by trekking through the desert, he’d let them know.

The scientist returned with nothing but a haunted expression on his face. “Well, Gordon,” he said, “I don’t think that’s a very good idea.”

“Why - what’s up there?” Gordon rested his hands on his waist in question. “How many hours of walking d’you think-”

“There’s nothing there,” Coomer intoned flatly.

Gordon exchanged a glance with Bubby. “What? Like, there’s no land?” he asked. “There’s gotta be like-”

Dr. Coomer interrupted again, staring him down insistently. “There’s nothing. There.”

Tommy was pretty certain that by “nothing,” Coomer meant hundreds of miles of dust and scrubland. Gordon, however, took it a little more literally than that.

“What if Black Mesa’s all there is?” he ventured, fear edging into his voice. “What if this is it?”

Tommy was about to tell him that this was probably not the case, and that Dr. Coomer was likely just caught off guard by the crushing reality of being in New Mexico in general, but before he could open his mouth, Bubby spoke up.

“Then we kill everyone and take it for ourselves,” he said with a shrug. He turned and headed for the blast doors without waiting for an answer from the others.

One by one, the team followed him, giving a farewell to the open sky before plunging back into the facility. Gordon was the last to go, and Tommy saw him let out a pained exhale as he cast one last glance at the stars.

“Man, I hope we make it out of here,” he said softly, and in that moment he looked so small, so vulnerable under the moon’s uncaring glow that Tommy almost broke apart just laying eyes on him.

Gordon turned. Caught him staring. He offered Tommy a weak, hasty smile, pieced together by whatever small shred of willpower he had left. “Let’s go,” he told him.

They went. More enemies were waiting for them on the other side, which they dutifully eliminated. They skirted a massive launch pad and entered the bunker adjacent to it, clearing the rooms one by one. Tommy pulled his weight and took out soldiers mechanically alongside his teammates. He didn’t think he’d ever be able to get the scent of blood out of his clothes.

This appeared to be the control building for the launch pad outside, with the two points of interest being a computer lab and the control room itself. Gordon tried unsuccessfully to connect to the internet on one of the consoles, frustratedly tacking away at the keys while Benrey drawled some joke about editing his death into a Wikipedia article. While admittedly hilarious, Tommy wasn’t about to give the entity the satisfaction of laughing at something that was just a thinly veiled threat.

Gordon finally gave up trying to gain a signal on the computer. “I’m done with this,” he sighed. “Let’s leave.”

“I don’t understand, they must’ve been slacking off,” Tommy commented at Gordon’s back as he passed by him. “All of these computers are just looking at pictures of lettuce.”

Gordon’s footsteps faltered as he let out a snicker. He turned back to Tommy, showing off that pretty smile that still sprang readily to the surface, despite everything. “And I can’t seem to change the page they’re on,” he chuckled, whisking his hand across one of the keyboards as he played along.

The intercom interrupted their banter, announcing that the rocket was ready for launch. That was odd, Tommy thought, none of them had primed the launch sequence. At least, not that he could recall. Wait, where was Bubby?

Rushing to the control room, they arrived just in time to see the domed nose of the rocket thundering out of the bunker. Gordon threw the blast doors closed and everyone crowded around the window to watch. Distantly, Tommy could see a small figure clinging to the hull of the aircraft.

A familiar voice hollered outside. “My dream comes true! I’m leaving this world!”

Holy shit. Bubby didn’t even get inside the rocket.

“Crazy son of a bitch,” Gordon murmured in awe, eyes tracking the missile’s upward climb.

Beside Tommy, Dr. Coomer clutched at his face. “Bubby, no!” he cried, his voice thin with distress. “There’s nothing out there!”

Only the teeth-rattling rumble of the rocket could be heard for a while as they all watched it disappear into the sky. Silence fell. Gordon was stunned, blinking heavily out the blast door window, while Benrey sat a ways off on the console, looking bored. Dr. Coomer was holding onto himself, an elbow clutched in each hand, with a mournful expression on his face. His concern for Bubby was touching, and Tommy didn’t know how to delicately inform him that his friend had likely incinerated in the earth’s atmosphere and would reappear within minutes.

And reappear he did, crashing into the room with an elated declaration of, “Gordon! I was in outer space!”

Gordon whirled, startled. “You’re - no, you-”

“Bubby!” Coomer elbowed past Gordon. “Is that you?”

Bubby rushed to meet him. “Yes! Dr. Coomer,” he replied, pulling the other man into a tight embrace.

Tommy lanced a brows-raised look at Benrey, who had idly been watching the whole exchange from his perch on the console. When did that happen? he mouthed.

The entity caught his gaze. When did what happen? he mouthed back churlishly.

Tommy made a discontented noise in the back of his throat and shook his head.

Gordon was rubbing the side of his face with one hand, looking utterly spent. “I vote… we rest here, because that’s gotta be just sleep deprivation at this point, right?” he tossed a weary gesture toward Bubby. “And we can lock this place up with all the doors... This is a good place to rest. I think we need to call it a day.”

After making a thorough rotation of the compound, securely locking and barricading the entrances, the team settled down to sleep. Dr. Coomer volunteered to take the first watch, propping himself up against the computer console to wait, while the others picked out spots on the floor. Tommy didn’t feel very comfortable letting his guard down in any room Benrey inhabited, choosing instead to remain upright and awake in case the entity tried anything. It wasn’t like he needed to sleep, anyway.

Gordon, exhausted, had no qualms of his own. “Goodnight, Benrey,” he yawned, sprawling out on the tile. “Goodnight, Bubby. Goodnight, Tommy.”

The hair on the back of Tommy’s neck suddenly prickled in a familiar way. Someone was nearby. Someone he knew.

“Goodnight, Tommy,” Gordon repeated drowsily.

Tommy cast him a distracted look, briefly meeting his half-lidded, sleepy gaze. Oh, wow. What a pleasant sight, seeing him all soft around the edges like that. Was Gordon waiting for Tommy to wish him goodnight back? That was nice, but...

“I don’t need to sleep yet,” he responded with some hesitance.

“Now, Tommy, we’ve discussed this,” Coomer asserted, even though they hadn’t. “It’s important to get your rest.”

Gordon abruptly propped up on his elbows, eyes bright and alert as they fixed on something past Tommy’s shoulder. Tommy followed his gaze, just barely catching a tall man in a crisp suit disappearing around the corner.

Gordon was up in a blink. “Stay here,” he told them, waving a hand as he strode quickly after the figure.

Shit. Tommy scrambled to his feet and followed him. Gordon’s pace was so brisk that Tommy barely rounded the corner in time to catch him exchanging words with his father. His tone was sharp, interrogative. His father responded, smooth and even. Tommy stood back with hands in the pockets of his slacks. He didn’t dare interrupt.

Drained as he was, Gordon eventually turned away from the shimmering mirage that was Tommy’s father. “It’s not real,” he muttered, shouldering past Tommy to return to the control room. “It’s not real.”

Tommy watched him go, then flicked his gaze to the man at the other end of the computer lab. “Hey, Dad.”

His father raised a casual hand, and Tommy felt a wave of energy bubble outward to surround them. The screensavers froze on the nearby computers. The hands on the wall clock stuck fast. Tommy let it wash over him, grateful for the stillness.

“Hello, Thomas,” his father smiled, stepping closer, smooth as glass. “I trust you’re doing well.”

Tommy raised and dropped his shoulders in a shrug. “Well, I mean, I am. Sorta. But things are getting real scary in here.”

“Nothing you can’t handle, I’m sure.” his father said, tilting his head mildly as he surveyed his son. His eyes were a contradiction, cold as outer space, burning like a dying star. Lesser men would wilt under such a gaze, but Tommy had been raised by it. Found it familiar.

“Ye - sure. I’m... yeah,” he answered carefully. “A little more information would be nice, though.”

His father arched an eyebrow delicately. “Tommy, this is an unprecedented occurrence, there’s only so much that I know, and even less that I can share with you.”

Tommy was aware. This wasn’t his first time being a piece in one of his father’s chess games, and while he was rarely a pawn, it didn’t feel much better to be a knight or a rook, either. All of the pieces were kept in the dark, and the less they knew, the less likely they were to deviate from their assigned roles. He understood why his father did it this way, but that didn’t mean he had to like it.

At least Tommy knew it was a game, and he got to choose whether he played along. That put him leagues ahead of the others, who had no idea their actions were all predicted and planned beforehand. Their sense of control was fabricated, and every step they took toward their own goals was furthering the ends of another.

Tommy was sorely tempted to tap out, call it quits, tell his father, stop, this is too much, I want out. That option was always available to him, to blink out of the plane until this all blew over. Leave the team, fully capable of taking care of themselves, high and dry.

But.

“Why are you watching Mr. Freeman?” Tommy asked, folding his arms more as a self-soothing gesture than an act of confrontation.

A smile flickered across his father’s face. “He plays a critical part in making sure this disaster is mitigated.”

He suspected as much, but the truth still made his shoulders sag. “He just wants to go home, I think,” he said quietly.

“You are fond of him,” his father answered.

It wasn't a question, and Tommy didn’t deny it. “He’s... the only person here who seems to care,” he explained, and he heard his own voice shake even as he said it.

“So you can see why I chose him.”

Tommy let out a frustrated noise. “He’s just one guy.”

“How fortunate, then,” his father said, “that he has you.”

Tommy fell silent. His father had hand-picked his messiah, and, as planned, Tommy couldn’t bring himself to leave Gordon behind. He would walk with him every step of the way, wherever his path took him. Tommy wished desperately that he could see himself as Gordon’s protector, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that he was just leading the guy like a lamb to the slaughter.

He raised his eyes to meet his father’s as he watched Tommy patiently. They were a striking visage, a warped mirror of one another as they stood face to face in the frozen computer room. Tommy in his lab coat and dress shoes, wrinkled and haggard, stained with blood. His father, crisp and sleek in his business suit, calm and composed as he always was. Tommy wondered if he’d ever look like that. He wasn’t even sure he really wanted to.

His father heaved a sigh that shivered the silence around them. “I will tell you this, Tommy,” he said. “Tomorrow will be particularly difficult for both of you. I trust you will make the right decision.”

That advice was maddeningly vague. The past 48 hours had been pretty fucking difficult as they were. What, besides infantrymen, extraterrestrials, and the environmental hazards lurking in Black Mesa, could his father feel compelled to warn him about?

“Wait,” Tommy stretched out a hand as his father began to warp out of the room. “Difficult how?”

But the clock was ticking again. He was already gone.

Chapter 7 <-----> Chapter 9

[jpat82]

Sanity

So my sister @devilbat request 21, 26, and 28 form the prompts. I decided to make this part of My Uncle Tony series.

21.) And so, I start another day being kidnapped.

26.)all that blood looks good on you, brings out yours eyes.

28.) why is there a raccoon in the kitchen? And why is it wearing an apron?

     You blew a strand of hair from your forehead as you looked around the small room. The walls a slate grey, a cement floor, an annoyingly bright uncovered over head light bulb that wasn't doing anything to help the throbbing in your head. A singular metal door that had multiple dents. The ropes that wrapped around your upper torso holding you tight to the chair was an ever present reminder that you knowing the Asgardian brothers would no doubt lead you to moments like this. Adding to the fact that your uncle was not only a very prominent man but an Avenger as well, that probably didn't help. But on the bright side at least you had had your back surgery.

     "And so," You sighed heavily with aggravation. "I start another day being kidnapped."

     It had been months, almost a year since your last kidnapping. You had went out to replace the stuff Thor had took while Loki was the distraction from last night. It was the return trip, broad daylight, well some what overcast but still very much during the day. Carrying two bags back toward your upscale apartment, at first you thought you had felt a bee sting you. And naturally you brought your hand up to your neck, only to the brush dart out instead.

     And that lead you to this moment, well actually only a couple moment before this one right here. The blinding headache, the steady small pain throbbing in your neck, and the demeanor of a disgruntled penguin. You wanted to slap whoever thought this was a great idea, this never went the way they planned. However that never stopped them.

     The door creak and all you did in response was raise your eyebrow. A very well dressed man with a neatly groom goatee walked in, his heels clicked against the cement floor. He held his hands behind his back, and you weren't sure if he was the big boss man or just a really well dressed henchman.

     "Asgardains or Stark?" You demanded.

     "Come again, little girl?" He asked with a thick accented voice.

      "Or Romanoff?" You tilted your head slight, narrowing your eyes. "Russian?"

      "What would give you that idea? And why would you think Romanoff?” He questioned, stopping just before you. Maybe if you had the ability to stretch your legs the tips of your toes would touch his black Italian leather shoes.

      "Well, your accent. I know a lot of people, been around a lot of different accents. Comes with the territory. So what do you want with Natasha?”

“It’s not Romanov that we want.” He stated, his lip curling in a sinister sneer. “We want our asset back.”

“Your asset?” You question feeling your brows bunch together.

“Yes, and you, little girl are going to get him for me.”

“Me?” You rolled your eyes taking a deep breath. “I don’t have your asset and this, this right here kidnapping me and holding me hostage is only going to end badly for you.”

“Nobody knows where you are, trust me, we are safe here.” The guy smirked, cocking his head to the side. You laughed in response looking straight at him.

“You really think you’re safe here? You seriously think so? Do you know how many times I’ve been kidnapped?” You asked him, taking a deep breath. “Look buddy, attempting to go through me to get your asset is like going through Comcast to get ahold of Disney, it just doesn’t work that way.”

“One of two things are going to happen.” You stated flatly before continuing. “You either get Thor and Loki, cause they are very protective me, especially the raven haired God of Mischief. He’ll likely rip you to pieces while Thor fries your ass. Or you get my uncle, and he is not someone you want to be on the bad side of. Cause either route you go, it’s going to be severely painful.”

“I’m hoping it’s your uncle. We are heavily fortified, and he will need his entire team to get you out. And when he does that he will bring me my asset.”

“Okay, don’t say I didn’t warn you.” You stated just as a red light in the hall turned on and began flash before the power flickered. “Guessing that was the back up generator being kicked on?”

The man looked over his shoulder before pressing on the ear piece that was hidden in his ear. He shouted something in Russian briskly. He turned his gaze back to you, you shifted, straightening yourself a bit more.

“Guessing the perimeter was breeched?” You smiled.

It didn’t take long before you heard gunfire and the man in front of you sprang into action. He spun on his heel, pulling a gun from his hip. He never got a shot off before you watched his body jerk and blood spray out behind him onto you. You reeled back slightly in the chair caught off guard, normally things like this didn’t happen yet here you were covered in someone else’s blood. You blinked hard a couple time before it dawned on you a flash of green and gold had entered the room.

“My pet,” Loki cooed as he knelt down in front of you, a dagger materializing in your hands. He cut you free as you slowly looked up and met his eyes. “All that blood looks good on you, brings out your eyes.”

“Loki?” You said softly before the room went black.

—————-

You woke with a start, your soft blanket surrounding you and Loki’s side of the bed empty. If it weren’t for the fact you could still feel where the ropes had rubbed against your arms making them raw you would of just thought it was a dream. The window outside was dark and you weren’t sure if it night or early morning.

Slowly pulling yourself from the confines of your warm soft bed, the second thing you notice was you were in your pajamas. So whatever had happened after being doused in the guys blood Loki had at least had the decency to change you into something clean. Hushed voices came from your open doorway making you wonder what the hell was going on.

Slipping out into the hall you excepted to hear Tony sternly talking to the brothers, yet the voices you heard beside the idiots were ones you didn’t recognize. You walked out into the landing looking down into the living room where a woman who was green was standing. Not wearing but her skin was green and you felt a wave of confusion. She was talking to another woman with overly large eyes and antennas sticking out of her head.

Whatever they hit you with must of had some psychedelics into as a tiny tree looking man was kicking a huge guy that was silver and red at the base of your stairs. The tree thing repeatedly say ‘I am Groot.’ in a very angry tone. Almost everyone stopping talking as you hit the bottom of the stairs, except the tree. You started walking toward the kitchen where you could hear Thor and Loki talking to someone else when a man in a red leather jacket stepped out of the dining room, his out fit almost reminding you of Micheal Jackson era clothing.

“Well, hello gorgeous.” He smirked, his blue eyes traveling over you.

“Wow, nice one Thriller, the 80’s called and want their wardrobe back.” You stated walking past him as you rolled your eyes.

Stepping into the kitchen reveled even more confusion.

“Why is there a raccoon in my kitchen? And why is it wearing an apron?” You asked looking from Thor to Loki.

“Who you calling a raccoon? Is she calling me a raccoon?” It spoke, you blinked even harder looking slowly up from it back to the brothers.

“Lady y/n, this is Rabbit.” Thor stated proudly, smiling.

“Thor, that’s not a rabbit.” You replied looking at Loki.

“Darling, I know this might all seem confusing, but these people are who helped us get you out of Hydras base. This is Rocket, the only sane one of the group.” Loki explained.

“If you think he’s sane then obviously it’s someone else in this group. I think I’m going to see if my therapist has any openings. You boys have fun and don’t use my good knives.” You replied, slowly turning and taking a deep breath. “And also to ask my uncle if I’m going to need a bigger apartment.”

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[deans-baby-momma]

Rebel Without A Cause-Ch 5

As soon as the lights go down, Dean is scrambling to get off stage. He had noticed during their last set that one of the crew members had approached the girl in the audience and spoke with her before she smiled brightly and followed him out of the crowd.

Dean had watched her dance and sway the whole night and was anxious to see just how many positions he could get her lean, limber body in. He couldn't wait to sink into her, her legs around his head.

Walking into the green room, there are a few other girls loitering around but the brunette that had taken over his mind is sitting on the couch in the corner, off to herself.

'Even better,' he thought with a smirk. He loved turning good girls bad and shy girls into sex-crazed maniacs. The payoff always surpasses his wildest dreams.

He approaches her slowly, like a wild animal. As he steps up to the sofa, she looks up from her hands.

"H-hi," she stutters "I'm Cayla, with a C."

"Well, hello Cayla with a C. I'm Dean."

She giggles as she continues looking up at him. "I know."

He sits on the sofa beside her and the scent of her perfume permeates his nostrils, lavender with just a hint of vanilla. He hums at the fragrance. "So, how'd you like the show?"

After some meaningful, to her, conversation and Dean plying her with copious amounts of liquor, he swoops in for the kill.

"Wanna take this conversation somewhere more private?" he asks, licking his lips. He sees her follow the path of his tongue with her eyes before she nods in agreement.

Like a rocket, Dean is off the couch and holds a hand out to help her up. Once she is standing, he wraps an arm around her shoulders and nudges her toward the door. After she exits, he turns around and meets Benny's eyes. In silent conversation, they deduce that in a half hour Benny would join them. Dean joins Cayla in the hall and re-positions his arm around her shoulders. "Shall we?"

As they approach the door, Cayla stiffens under Dean's embrace. His fingers had trailed down over her shoulder and were playfully tracing the edge of her bra cup.

"Uh, D-Dean?" she speaks and looks up at him demurely.

"Yea baby?" Dean smiles down at her.

"I, uh….I've never done this before."

Dean cocks a brow as he stares down at her. 'Oh. Oh, a virgin?' he thinks to himself.

"It's alright. I'll be easy. Your first time-" he begins but her laughter interrupts him.

"God, no! I'm not saying I've never had sex before. Hell, I'm 23 years old. I'm not a virgin, not in this day and age," she pauses as she works through a blush. "I've never had a threesome before. I saw that look you gave your drummer. He's going to join us,  isn't he?"

Dean was taken aback by her bold, but not wrong, assumption.

"Well, sweetheart. That was the plan but if you'd rather not, I can just tell him…"

"No," she cuts him off again. "I just wanted to let you know, ya know, that it's my first ménage à trios."

Dean sighs in relief. These after-concert rendezvous were never meant to be a one-on-one tryst. They were all involved somehow, whether it was the whole band or just a couple of them. Dean hadn't had sex with just one person in so long, he wasn't sure if he could enjoy it. Yes, sex was enjoyable to Dean but knowing that there were others to pick up the slack was comforting to him.

Not since his ex, Lisa, had he only slept with one person and she had always criticized and belittled his attempts at making it special and memorable.  'Didn't last long enough' and 'his dick just didn't hit the right spots for her to have a good orgasm' were two of her main complaints. So when they broke up and the band began to get recognized, Dean swore he'd always have "backup" and that's how he and Benny began tag teaming girls after gigs. They'd only just recently told the other members of the band and the orgies began. No other chick would ever again leave Dean Winchester's bed unsatisfied but instead, completely satiated. 

Bringing his attention back to the girl under his arm, he smiled down at her. "Don't worry. We'll be gentle. Why don't we-" he paises as he slides the card to unlock the door."-take this inside." She smiles anxiously and walks through into the room.

By the time Benny lets himself into the room, Dean and Cayla are down to their skivvies and making out on the bed. He closes the door quietly and stands there, watching. He can already tell the girl's g-string is ruined, just by how drenched it is. His cock jumps in his trousers. Her pink pert little nipples are exposed and Dean pinches one as he lavishes the other with his tongue and teeth. The moans she let out are straight from a porno and he has to rub his palm over his twitching member.

"God damn brotha.  She sure sounds like she's enjoying herself," Benny speaks up, finally letting his presence be known. Dean and Cayla both look toward him and smile.  

"And we haven't even got to the good part yet," Dean grins lasciviously. "We were waiting on you." Dean rolls Cayla's nipple between his thumb and forefinger, provoking her to moan again. "Ain't even got to her pussy yet and she's so receptive." He leans down to her and nibbles at her jaw. "That pussy's nice and wet ain't it? Ready to take a big dick."

"Mmhmm," Cayla whimpers as she turns her head so Dean can continue his path down her neck. 

"You gonna watch or jump in?" Dean mumbles against her shoulder and suckles the skin there, leaving a mark. One thing Dean does is mark them as a souvenir, a reminder of the night. 

Benny jerks his clothing off and accompanies them on the bed. He leans down and lick his tongue over the nipple Dean had been toying with. The bud hardening even more under his ministrations. 

Cayla is the first one to be completely unclothed, with two men pawing and groping at her. She lays there completely exposed and feeling vulnerable as the two bigger men look down at her. 

"Can't wait to sink my dick into that sweet cunt," Dean murmurs to his friend, his eyes never leaving her quivering pussy.  "You want that doll? Wanna feel this fat cock filling you up?" He asks as he rubs his palm over his tight boxers. There is already a wet stain on the front of them, from the precum leaking out of the tip. 

"Yes!" Cayla mewls as she wriggles on the bed, squeezing her thighs seeking friction.

Dean grabs her ankle and jerks her legs apart. "Nope, wanna see that pussy before I devour it.  Spread ‘them baby."

Cayla obliges by spreading her legs and reaches down to pull apart her folds. She sees the glint in Dean's eyes as he takes in how wet she is.

"Fuuuuck! I gotta taste that now,``he says as he falls to the bed between her legs and pushes his face into her cunt. The sounds of him slurping and drinking down her juices fill the room. Her head rolls back on the pillow as Dean continues to prod her with his tongue.

Benny comes to the head of the bed and bends down to her ear. "He's good wit' 'is mouth ain't he? Bet that pussy is feeling real good right about now."

Cayla's eyes pop open and she looks up at the bearded man. She nods her assent as her eyes roll back into her head when Dean slips a finger inside her. "Oh my god!" she exclaims, out of breath. "That feels awesome."

Benny laughs as he stands back up and pulls his briefs down. He kneels near her head and says,  "Well come on little lady. Why don’tcha make me feel awesome too." 

Cayla turns her head and is met with his dick in her face. She slips her tongue through her lips and licks the beads of precum there.

"Oh c'mon now suga'," Benny whines. "I know you can do better than that."

Cayla smiles up at him before opening her lips and letting him slide onto her tongue. She hollows her cheeks and sucks as he slides in deeper. 

Benny starts thrusting into her mouth, the tip hitting the back of her throat as Dean continues eating her out earnestly.

In her sex-riddled mind, Cayla thinks she hears a door open and it is only confirmed when a woman's voice is heard. 

"Ya know, a little warning would've been nice."

Neither Benny or Dean halt their assault but Cayla worriedly looks toward the sound. There standing in the room is the band's keyboard player and the guitar player. The woman stands there with her arms crossed over her chest and a hip cocked out but with a sly grin on her face; the man beside her seems more interested in her than the antics on the bed. He is kissing up and down her neck and pawing at her pants.

Cayla tries to pull away from her two partners but Dean tightens his grip around her thighs and pulls her back onto his face while Benny lays a gentle hand on the top of her head, prompting her to keep sucking. "Tha's jus' Meg and Cas. They'll be joining us in a minute."

Cayla briefly wonders how that will work, but quickly shakes off her doubts as she goes back to the task at hand. 

Cayla bounces when Meg flops onto the bed, causing Benny's prick to invade her throat. She tries to control her gag reflex but still chokes a bit.

"Sorry Sweetie, " Meg apologizes. "My angel can get eager when he knows he's getting laid." 

Cayla takes her mouth off Benny and looks at the woman on the bed beside her. Meg is a petite little thing, Cayla observes. Umber-colored hair frames her round face, her eyes are so brown the pupils are almost black and her cheeks are flushed, but that might be from the foreplay. 

Meg smiles at Cayla and gives her a wink. "It's okay. I won't let anything bad happen.  You trust me?”

And for some odd reason, Cayla does. She trusts and believes what the naked woman beside her on the bed says. 

Meg looks down her own body at Dean and then over to Cas, who are now on their knees between their respective women's legs looking at them ravishingly.

"Boys," Meg beckons playfully.  "It's not nice to eavesdrop when there’s pussies to be eaten and fucked. Get to it!" She demands with a snap of her fingers and pointing back and forth between their two cunts.

Dean and Cas both groan but fall to their elbows and get to work. Tsking, Benny grabs Cayla's attention and she promptly wraps her lips back around his length.

Cayla is getting into being eaten out while blowing Benny when she feels a dainty,  soft finger on her nipple. She glances down to see Meg running her fingertip around the areola before going across the bud.

"This okay?" Meg whispers as she plays. "You got such pretty little tits. Makes me wanna suck on them."

Cayla whimpers and Meg sits up on her elbows,  bending down and laving her tongue across Cayla's breast. "Mmm, you taste good. Hey Dean-o," Meg beckons. "I want to taste that pussy. Come up here and kiss me."

Dean sits back on his haunches and leans forward, over Cayla's body and kisses his keyboardist fervently. They both moan and Cayla can feel Dean rutting his still covered dick against her folds. The sight of Dean kissing Meg, letting her lick the juices from his mouth,  Cas busy feasting between Meg's legs and Dean's rock hard member rubbing against her clit causes spasms to start in Cayla's body. She reaches up and wrap her hand around Benny and begins pumping as she bobs.

"Oh, fuck. I think that turns our little Cher on," Benny groans. "She is going ta town."

Dean and Meg part and Meg flops back on the bed. "I was right. She is sweet. Delicious!" Meg mewls.

Dean crawls off the bed and sheds his boxers, his cock standing proudly up against his stomach. He wraps a hand around it and pumps himself as he watches the foursome on the bed. 'Definitely a night to remember,' he thinks before he rejoins them and sinks his dick into Cayla's wet but snug pussy.

The sensation of Cayla's walls squeezing him tight causes Dean to hiss and begin pumping into her at a furious pace. He had planned to go slow, ease her into it but the way her body was gripping onto him made him wild. He could feel every time his tip hit her cervix. Grabbing her hips, he pushed in deep, enamored with the feel of her. He hadn't had a pussy that tight in a long while; made him wonder if she had lied about being experienced.

A wail of his brother’s name breaks through his thoughts and he looks over to see Sam on the sofa with a hot little pussy bouncing on his dick. He smiles at the thought that his brother isn’t feeling left out of the ordeal and looks back down at the limber little thing underneath him, stuffed full with his dick and happily sucking on Benny while Meg lay beside her mewling as Cas  proceeds to ravish her. 

Watching all this happen and hearing Cayla's moans of pleasure mixed in with Meg's, Benny's and his own grunts turns Dean on like he can't believe. Wanting the chick to be satisfied, Dean reaches down and begins rubbing her clit. Her moans get louder and then Benny cries out in ecstasy, filling her mouth with his release. Dean watches as Cayla swallows it all down and licks the excess from Benny's rapidly deflating dick. 

Benny climbs off the bed and disappears while the others go about their endeavors. Dean falls to his hands, palms down beside Cayla's head. His green eyes meet her blue ones and they share a smile. 

"Clarence baby," Meg cries. "Get up here and fuck me as good as Dean is this hot little thing."

As Cas crawls up his wife's body, Dean bends down to kiss Cayla who turns her head away. He quirks an eyebrow in question.

"I can't. I taste like his cum," she tells him, tilting her chin toward where Benny had been. Dean laughs a full body laugh. 

"Sweetheart, we've all tasted Benny's cum," he tells her and her eyes widen. "But I bet it'll taste divine mixed with you," he whispers as he captures her lips. And he was right. The flavor of Benny's cum is still strong on her tongue and, mixed with the essence of Cayla, it drives him insane. He begins thrusting vigorously into her as he continues licking into her mouth.

Cas and Meg eventually finish and exit the room, Sam and his hot little number also disappear sometime, leaving Dean and Cayla. Not wanting to be left alone, Dean pulls out and furiously pumps himself until he shoots ropes and ropes of cum across her used body. 

The next morning Dean wakes to a killer hangover, a sore body and a "Thanks for the four orgasms" note along with Cayla's name and number on the pillow next to him. He smiles at the memory as he crumples the paper and tosses it in the wastebasket. 

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

@pink1031​ @spnbaby-67​ @winecatsandpizza​ @joseyrw​ @kricketc28​ @tftumblin​ @markofdean79​ @sandlee44​ @tmnt-bucklover​

[deathstands]

              ・   。   ◟  major   big   uwu   moment   ,   i   haven’t   been   this   excited   abt   an   rp   in   a   minute   &   i’m   ecstatic   for   my   muse   !   i’m   really   glad   to   meet   you   all   ,   i’m   cc   ,   nineteen   &   a   notorious   loser   .   a   quick   about   regarding   seamus   ,   former   nasa   nerd   ,   lover   of   stars   ,   fight   mode   because   he’s   been   doing   it   his   whole   life   .   this   is   entirely   too   long   &   winded   ,   but   i   think   (   ???   )   it’s   cool   n   e   way   .   like   this   &   i’ll   come   to   u   for   plotting   or   ,   lmk   if   you’d   prefer   to   plot   on   d*scord   .

                                stats  /  wanted  connections  tag  /  connections  page

(   ben   hardy.   cis   male.   he   /   him.   )   /   SEAMUS   OLMSTEAD   has   been   with   the   group   for   two   years   and   is   currently   doing   their   part   in   the   community   as   a   car   mechanic.   while   here,   the   twenty-nine   year   old   has   created   the   reputation   of   being   abrasive   &   cursory,   but   can   also   be   known   as   venturesome   &   jocular.   in   a   sticky   situation,   they   will   resort   to   fight   mode   and   their   current   weapon   is   a   handmade   spear.

𝓲.     𝕒𝕓𝕣𝕚𝕕𝕘𝕖𝕞𝕖𝕟𝕥   .

full   name   :   seamus   lucas  olmstead   nickname(s) :   lucas  ,  bastard  ,  selfish  wanker age   :  twenty  -  nine gender   /   pronouns   :  cis gendered   male   /   he  /  him sexuality   :  bisexual  /  panromantic hometown   :  des   moines   ,   iowa position   :   car  mechanic previous  occupation  :  aeronautical  &  aerospace  engineer faceclaim :  ben  hardy

fun facts : misses   his   cigarettes   *   clenches   fists   *   every   gd   day   ,   hasn't   brushed   his   hair   in   three   months   ,   used   to   be   a   division   one   collegiate   swimmer   ,   doesn't   know   how   he   made   it   this   far   because   he's   loud   &   selfish   ,   stargazes   at   night   by   himself   :(   ,   has   worked   on   rockets   ,   gives   good   hugs   but   doesn't   give   many   out   .

aesthetic :  the   dark   side   of   the   moon   ,   quiet   contemplations   while   bathing   in   the   moonlight   ,   drowning   in   a   field   of   grass   while   mourning   a   broken   family   ,   running   in   slow   motion   in   the   shallows   of   a   pool   ,   blessings   from   artemis   ,   a   worn   out   id   badge   unable   to   be   thrown   away   ,   targets   on   your   back   &   watching   out   for   yourself   first   &   yourself   only   .

𝓲𝓲.     𝕔𝕙𝕣𝕠𝕟𝕚𝕔𝕝𝕖   .

death tw .

bathed   in   the   moonlight   at   his   birth   ,   the   first   thing   icy   hues   see   are   the   stars   .   implanted   into   his   memory   ,   he   grows   up   loving   the   night   sky   .   at   four   ,   he   brings   his   twin   baby   brothers   out   on   the   rooftop   his   window   leads   to   &   shows   him   the   constellations   the   night   they   come   home   from   the   hospital   .   his   parents   yell   at   him   for   endangering   his   brother   ,   but   all   he   wanted   to   do   was   show   him   his   love   for   space   . 

he   grows   up   thinking   he’ll   go   to   the   stars   .   he’s   smart   &   he’s   sharp   ,   but   he   can’t   ignore   the   way   the   kids   in   his   class   laugh   at   him   ,   how   they   make   fun   of   him   when   he   comes   to   school   with   a   fishbowl   around   his   head   like   he’s   an   astronaut   .   he   doesn’t   fight   back   at   first   because   he   can’t   –   he’s   small   ,   skinny   &   he’s   a   nerd   ;   that’s   how   it   is   &   that’s   just   something   he’ll   have   to   ignore   if   he   wants   to   go   to   space   .

&   so   ,   thirteen   years   of   his   life   he’s   a   nerd   ;   nothing   but   a   skinny   little   boy   with   his   head   stuck   in   a   science   textbook   &   that’s   his   brand   .   but   in   eighth   grade   ,   his   mom   of   tired   of   her   skinny   lil   son   coming   home   with   bruises   &   black   eyes   because   he’s   fighting   his   bullies   ,   so   she   signs   him   up   for   the   swim   team   .   tiny   ,   little   seamus   who   lives   in   a   land-locked   state   ,   forced   to   swim   .

luckily   though   ,   it   all   works   out   for   the   better   .   he   takes   to   water   like   he’s   taken   to   STEM   &   it’s   all   in   his   favor   .   over   the   next   few   years   ,   he   finally   hits   his   growth   spurt   (   say   hello   to   6′2″   ,   seamus   )   &   buffs   out   ,   gaining   a   swimmer’s   body   while   still   keeping   up   his   smart   lil   head   .   he   learns   to   fight   ,   finally   ,   &   people   leave   him   alone   when   they   realize   he’s   no   longer   just   brains   ,   he’s   also   brawn   .   

at   the   end   of   his   high   school   career   ,   stanford   gladly   offers   him   an   athletic   scholarship   &   to   nobody’s   surprise   ,   he’s   accepted   into   the   aeronautics   &   aerospace   engineering   program   .   he   thrives   ,   obviously   ,   balancing   swimming   &   his   heavy   workload   very   well   .   college   is   a   breeze   &   he   loves   it   ,   because   he’s   met   like   minded   people   with   like   minded   goals   &   nobody’s   making   fun   of   him   when   he   snags   an   internship   with   nasa   after   graduation   .

but   ,   his   senior   year   ,   his   youngest   brother   –   the   younger   twin   ,   abraham   ,   is   killed   in   a   freak   accident   &   seamus   doesn’t   hear   about   it   because   he’s   too   busy   .   it   takes   a   full   day   &   over   twenty   people   until   he   hears   the   news   &   it   tears   him   apart   .   abraham’s   death   tears   the   entire   family   apart   –   how   did   a   seventeen   year   old   pass   so   suddenly   &   so   quickly   without   any   warning   ?

well   ,   seamus   doesn’t   ever   return   home   after   the   funeral   .   he   throws   himself   into   work   ,   finishing   his   masters   in   record   time   ,   earning   a   job   at   nasa   by   the   time   he’s   twenty   -   four   .   he’s   a   full   blown   rocket   scientist   &   an   astronaut   in   training   ,   which   should   make   him   happy   but   he’s   felt   nothing   but   childlike   anger   since   abraham’s   death   .   how   unfair   ,   that   death   just   takes   &   takes   &   takes   .

&   death   doesn’t   get   any   kinder   .   twenty   -   five   ,   his   partner   dies   during   flight   training   &   his   mom   passes   suddenly   from   an   illness   nobody   knew   she   had   .   twenty   -   six   &   the   outbreak   starts   .   all   of   his   friends   at   nasa   die   in   front   of   his   eyes   &   by   the   time   he   reconnects   with   his   family   ,   he   learns   his   father’s   passed   getting   his   remaining   brother   out   safely   .   as   the   years   go   by   ,   his   allies   die   ,   his   enemies   die   ,   he   kills   &   he   kills   &   he   chalks   it   up   to   self   defense   ,   but   it   doesn’t   make   him   feel   any   better   .

he   finds   woodbridge   with   his   youngest   brother   by   fluke   ,   only   convincing   them   of   his   worth   when   he   shows   him   a   nasa   id   he   could   never   bring   himself   to   throw   away   .   since   then   ,   he's   kept   his   head   down   &   done   his   work   ,   doing   whatever's   asked   of   him   &   still   keeping   to   himself   .   he's   a   former   rocket   scientist   &   he's   a   smarty   ,   making   him   quite   adaptable   &   able   to   fix   up   almost   anything   inside   the   walls   .   the   guy   to   go   to   when   something   miscellaneous   needs   tweaking   or   fixing   ,   he   gladly   tunes   things   up   for   no   charge   as   long   as   no   questions   are   asked   .

the   final   straw   ,   this   past   year   –   the   death   of   his   brother   who   left   the   safezone   &   never   returned   .   he   left   a   note   &   all   seamus   knows   is   that   he’s   probably   out   there   dead   somewhere   .   looked   hard   for   a   few   weeks   ,   but   has   all   but   given   up   .   it’s   the   apocalypse   ,   death   is   now   a   common   theme   .

𝓲𝓲𝓲.     𝕕𝕚𝕤𝕡𝕠𝕤𝕚𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟   .

exterior   ,   he's   found   his   spot   as   a   car   mechanic   .   he   used   to   work   on   rockets   ,   cars   are   much   easier   to   work   with   .   on   the   exterior   ,   he's   a   jocular   guy   who's   known   for   making   dry   jokes   at   the   worst   time   .   selfish   ,   in   the   way   that   he   tends   to   look   out   for   himself   only   in   the   madness   .   he's   got   a   reputation   for   having   a   face   that   makes   him   unapproachable   ,   with   anger   lined   in   his   features   that   make   those   not   want   to   bother   him   – but   ,   most   in   the   safezone   know   that   he's   harmless   (   mostly   )   .   a   soft   space   nerd   with   something   smart   to   say   at   any   time   ,   he's   a   loner   ,   but   he's   good   company   if   you   want   someone   to   listen   or   someone   to   bounce   ideas   off   of   .

interior   ,   there's   a   quiet   rage   that's   been   brewing   in   his   blood   for   years   &   he's   waiting   for   it   to   erupt   .   it   might   ,   if   not   for   the   constant   apathy   that   takes   over   his   brain   every   day   he   wakes   up   .   the   guy   to   go   to   when   something   needs   fixing   ,   seamus   can   hide   his   anger   in   death   &   the   world   very   well   .   he   keeps   it   in   ,   forcing   a   well   rehearsed   smile   &   carefully   chosen   expressions   to   mask   his   inner   thoughts   ,   he   wants   relief   but   he   doesn't   know   where   to   find   it   .

midway   ,   skilled   &   experienced   ,   he's   shied   away   from   the   spotlight   most   of   his   life   .   he's   always   been   one   to   keep   his   head   down   ,   not   bother   anyone   unless   bothered   &   he   intends   to   keep   it   that   way   even   in   the   apocalypse   .   he'll   fix   your   watch   ,   your   car   ,   your   fridge   – whatever   you   need   ,   but   he   won't   give   up   his   background   or   tell   you   why   he   keeps   his   nasa   id   in   his   back   pocket   at   all   times   .   quiet   and   silently   intimidating   ,   even   if   he   doesn't   intend   to   come   off   as   that   .