#also HELLO GRAVITY FALLS FANDOM IT HAS BEEN A MINUTE

[bamimilyt6]

I love Dipcifica, but I really only think it would organically come about if a) Pacifica fell first and b) Mabel was okay with it.

[enna-of-the-stars]

This is Home: Chapter 2

If you missed the first chapter, click here

Fandom: Natsume Yuujinchou Word Count: 5.1k Rating: General Audiences Summary: Natsume Takashi has never really had a place where he could settle down and call home, but that was before the Fujiwaras came along and bundled him away to a little town called Yatsuhara.

A ficlet about Natsume first moving in with the Fujiwaras and learning to break the habits that he's built over the years from constantly terrible relatives. Also, the Natsume Protection Squad develops instantly the moment Natsume walks into class. It just happens. That's it, there's no going back, the class just adopts him and Nishimura will fight anyone and everyone that will hurt Natsume.

CHAPTER TWO: Take Me Home

“Alright, alright, everyone settle down, settle down,” The teacher said. “We have a new transfer student today, so I hope everyone will welcome him.” And with that, the teacher nods at the twig-like figure hovering indiscriminately by the blackboard. Natsume’s hands are wrapped around his midsection, as he releases one to pick up a piece of chalk. His hands are weak and they shake slightly as Natsume slowly and carefully scratches out his name somewhere in the corner of the blackboard, taking up as little space as possible, while still making it readable just in case the teacher gets mad, because previous teachers have. The room is silent, and he can feel the piercing stares of the class honing in on every move he makes. Their stares bore deep holes within him and Natsume can sense the rising anticipation for his name to be released to the throngs of interested and curious students. When he finishes writing, there’s a collective breath as the whole class seems to relax suddenly. The constant frenzy of stares almost, almost disappear and Natsume can breath again.

“Alright, Natsume-kun, why don’t you introduce yourself?” The teacher’s voice cuts into the thick silence without much resistance. Natsume’s voice is just the opposite, slow, both methodical and heavy so that the silence fills where he pushes in every moment he pauses. The broken padlock and the stray fragments of rope have begun to creak. The lock clicks and clicks, it’s close to closing. The rope slithers up and around, reforming as it goes. But neither fully finish resettling.

“My name is Natsume Takashi, nice to meet you.” He deliberately ends it there. No use in continuing if everyone’s already dead set on believing the rumours that always hurry into a room before him. And it’s painfully obvious Natsume’s prediction is right; the moment he ends, the classroom erupts into a buzz and people are eyeing him just like they have always done. They whisper and collude, shifty gazes turning from stares into death threatening glares at the equally shifting Natsume. No matter how many times he goes through this, it still hurts. It hurts to see people like this, people that should have at least tried to welcome him, instantly throwing him aside and believing the rumors instead. It’s dark and full of shadows and the classroom seems dim. They don’t know him and they never will, he’s just that kid that no one wants.

“Well then,” The teacher’s voice once again cuts through the room, slicing the tension in two. “Natsume-kun, why don’t you sit over there, in the empty seat in front of Nishimura-kun.”

“E-eh?!” Nishimura sort of starts, snapping out of his daydreaming; everyone knew he had been napping, not daydreaming. But it’s too late, Nishimura has already over tipped the balance of his chair and yes, it seems gravity had a bone to pick with Nishimura as he flails, arms shooting up and out and waving all around before he falls, hard. The next thing he knows, the room is erupting in laughter at Nishimura, who in turn turns beet red and sputters as he sits up and meekly shuffles back into his seat. Even the teacher snorts, holding back chuckles as the entire class hysterically laughs. Natsume blinks, all the tension in the room is gone and no one seems to be staring anymore, instead they’re all laughing at, no, with Nishimura, who can’t help but sheepishly laugh along with them, mouth apologies, to which the teacher acknowledges whilst in the midst of laughing.

“Alright, alright, everyone back in your seats,” The teacher eventually cuts in, a kind smile already adorning his face. “Natsume-kun, why don’t you head to your desk now that we all know Nishimura-kun is back with us in the realm of the living.”

Hesitantly, Natsume nods and makes his way through the desks; people are still poking fun at Nishimura, so most of the class pays Natsume no mind. In fact, Nishimura’s little fall seems to have dusted away any tension that room had previously, and with the sun peaking through the windows just right, Natsume’s hunched shoulders relaxed ever so slightly. People may not have been the most welcoming, but that was to be expected; it’s obvious that they aren’t exactly cruel, not like before, so Natsume isn’t as afraid this time, less wary, to let a minuscule smile ever so slightly slip out as he makes his way to his new desk.

It’s nice honestly, the day is soft, wisps of air blow gently across the courtyard of the school. The sky is mostly a brilliant sapphire, clouds of pearl providing sporadic shade. The sun is gold, as it always is, shimmering and glittering and filtering its way into the classroom so that every desk is illuminated a golden yellow. The class seems small, but it’s better this way, better than anything the cities had ever been able to offer. The tension that had drifted away didn’t melt back in, and almost every classmate was chattering quietly, just under their breaths. But it wasn’t criticism, it wasn’t gossip, just simple curiosity and it suddenly hits him like a sack of bricks. I was wrong, Natsume thinks. The class hadn’t been like the others, the buzz that Natsume had originally perceived as gossip and scorn was actually just been that same curiosity that echoes now. They had heard the rumors, everyone knows them, but these people weren’t judging him. They were simply analyzing him, what his like were, where he’s been, what he’s actually like. And this, Nishimura kid, the one that sits behind Natsume, he’s no different either. Natsume would later know that Nishimura was not an analytical person in the slightest, at least not when it came to school. But looking down now, just before he sits down, Natsume sees a kind smile from Nishimura, who lifts a hand to wave hello.

“Sorry ‘bout that, I’m Nishimura Satoru by the way.” Nishimura smiles wider at Natsume’s slight nod. Soft spoken, and ever gentle, Natsume replies, forgetting the rope and realizing with surprise that it’s gone far, far away.

“Hello, Nishimura.”

The class is quiet after that, and when the break comes, Natsume silently falls asleep, too tired from the anxiety and fear that comes with moving to a new school, but for some reason feeling safe enough to rest, even if for just a few moments. Everyone notably quiets down when they see Natsume put his head in his arms and onto the desk.

“I-is he sleeping?” Someone whispers.

“I think so?”

“Should we wake him up?”

“Yeah, maybe? Break’s almost over soon.”

“Wait! Wait, wait!” A voice suddenly breaks in. Sasada hastily grabs Nishimura by the

crook of his arm. “You idiot! Natsume-kun is obviously tired! Let’s give him a few more minutes, the bell isn’t going to ring until ten after all.”

By the time the teacher comes strolling back in, everyone is in their respective seats. Natsume is still asleep at his desk, no one wanting to truly awaken him even as the bell signaling the end of break rings. They tried, but to their surprise, Natsume merely stirred slightly, face coming into view of the soon to be noon sun. When Nishimura saw the dark circles under Natsume’s eyes, he refused to let anyone else try to wake Natsume up.

“No, I understand what you’re trying to say, Nishimura, but have to wake him up! Class is about to start soon.” Sasada said.

“Your the one that said to give him some time, and besides, look at him! He’s exhausted. Come on, Sasada, you’re the class rep if you just explain things to the teach, it’ll be fine.” Nishimura retorted.

Sasada huffed and crossed her arms. Truthfully, she didn’t want to wake up the new transfer student either, he did look really tired after all. But at the same time, as class representative, it was her duty to help ensure a good working environment in the room, and with Natsume sleeping like this, it wouldn’t do any good for the work ethic she wanted to instill in her class. Yet, something inside her said screw that. She turned around and stalked out of the classroom to the teacher’s lounge, but not before glaring down Nishimura and sticking her tongue out at him.

“Geez, don’t hafta be so mean.” Nishimura said as he turns back around to sit in his seat. The rest of the class does the same as the late bell starts ringing and Sasada comes back with the teacher. The lecture starts with no discourse, and Natsume is allowed to sleep on as student after student slowly quiets down; something about Natsume makes all of them want to indulge him just a little, even if they have only just met. As the periods come and go, Natsume doesn’t wake up until lunch comes around. He slowly shifts and sits up, rubbing his right eye lightly and squinting at the sudden adjustment to sunlight. Ethereal, his pupils glitter gold and widen briefly before turning to cat like slits, giving rise to such a bright hazel that they look exactly like liquid amber. Students’ conversations sort of drop off, as they watched Natsume blearily rub his eye. Some other student, who Natsume would soon know as his friend Kitamoto, also stopped in his conversation with Nishimura. The two couldn’t help but stare; Natsume was lighting up the whole room with his gentle glow.

Natsume looks around, once again aware of the stares, which hastenly fall away when he looks at them. Self-consciously, Natsume grabs his bag and heads out the door, quickly shutting it behind him and fast walking away from the classroom. He shifts around, unsure of the school layout as other students that had filtered out from their own classrooms for lunch curiously looked at the new transfer.

There were too many eyes, too many people, not enough space. Natsume’s chest tightened as the reeling stares closed in on him and the air sizzled as he felt the burn of a flush threatening and licking fire onto his ears. The quiet voices grew louder and louder, echoing further and higher. There’s a buzz in the air just like before. Natsume can feel the world disappear as the air burns cold then hot then everything is gone and he runs. And he runs, and runs, and runs and runs and runs runs runs runs—

Gasping for breath, Natsume drops to his knees and falls to the wall standing tall to his right. The world is spinning in dizzy, maddeningly warping drifts. Spot are in his vision as they flicker in and out and the rush fills his head, roaring and screaming for him to find safety and there’s nothing but the roar, the gush, the sound and it won’t stop, doesn’t want to stop, can’t stop. Natsume clutches at his chest and desperately heaves a moment too soon as he drops to the ground, hoping somehow, that his lungs would work and the air would work and god why won’t anything work ? And it doesn’t and everything burns brilliant and painful as the world shimmers in and out of existence. The bubbles have come back. It’s foamy and watery and there’s nothing but a waterfall overflowing and drowning. Moments pass, who knows how long; eventually the torrent of water stops and the world comes into focus again, but it’s still incomprehensibly shaky. Everything wobbles and wavers as Natsume struggles to stand, leaning heavily onto the wall, using it as a support.

Slowly, but surely, Natsume shuffles along, one hand maintaining its steadying position against the wall. The sun is still high in the air and the sound of other students laughing and talking still comes around from the corners and falls down from above. At least it’s still lunch... I think… Natsume shakes head in an attempt to force the world to focus, and thankfully, it does—the walls straighten, the ground flattens, and the rustling of the tree leaves finally comes into the forefront—and Natsume plods along. Other students have begun to round the corner and their voices drop at the sight of the transfer student. And god is the silence louder than anything Natsume has ever heard before. It screams and screams. He turns around and gives them a quick once over, before  bolting, hoping, praying, that nothing would tilt and give way when he needed it the most. One corner after the other, gravel after concrete, and eventually Natsume finds the perfect corner. It’s secluded, impossibly drowning in the concrete walls that loom up above. A few trees surround it, providing shade, but most importantly, safety. No one can see Natsume from above. The concrete practically encloses everything in a shell, a protective cocoon that even if someone comes near the corner they would have to really look in order to see anything. It’s a small pothole really, but it’s more than enough for Natsume, he’s hidden in smaller before. This could be considered one of the roomier corners.

Natsume slips off his bag and sets it ever so gently down onto the cold ground. He leans against the wall, closing his eyes, relishing in not silence, but peaceful quiet. There’s no one around, no one to judge, no one to hurt him. He’s safe, protected, gone. Unconsciously, Natsume slides downwards, landing on the ground in a pile of twig limbs. A clink forces him to open his eyes.

Looking down, next to his foot, is the same school bag Natsume’s been using for the past few years. It’s worn, it’s old and most certainly out of style, but it’s stayed with him through all this time. He can’t remember where he got the bag, whether it was a gift or not, but either way it was the only thing he could call anywhere close to home. It was his constant throughout life; this bag was the only thing that he could count on, with its heavy strap digging into his shoulder reassuringly, reminding him it was there even after all the families that had thrown him away, all the people that had called him a liar, a thief, a problem child. This bag, with small embroidery on the tag inside with his name, “Natsume Takashi,'' was the only thing that reassured Natsume. Perhaps it was his mother that had made it all those years, before Natsume had even been born, preparing for him to enter middle school, or perhaps it was his father maybe? He can’t remember, not after everything. The rising panic settles in, can he even remember his father’s face? His mother… who was his mother again? She died before Natsume was old enough to learn her face, her voice. But his father… that voice was the only thing Natsume could remember, and even then it was hazy, barely there. The only thing that remained were the voices of those things that followed Natsume, those people that hurt him, that had him then tossed him away, passed him along to another to suffer with.

The tides return and the waterfall gushes and flows. Natsume gasps for air and clamps both hands over his ears and curls up into a ball; the roar comes back and fills his head drowning out all noise. It’s loud, it’s painful, but it’s everything Natsume’s ever known, and eventually it stops, just like it always had. The world flickers back. Wary, Natsume breathes heavily for a bit, letting the mostly warm summer air filter in and out, warming up his freezing fingers and allowing a warmth to blossom his chest. With shaky hands, he weakly pulls at the strap of the bag lying next to him and opens it. Inside, unbelievably, is a bento Touko had pushed into his hands that morning. It’s wrapped in a colourful cloth decorated in simple white dots on a baby blue background. A bow is neatly tied at the top, holding it all together.

Natsume  unwraps the bento with unsteady hands and is immediately surrounded by a heavenly smell. When he opens it with a soft snap of plastic, the fluffy aromas cascade and envelope Natsume in a gentle hug. Tamagoyaki, rice, leafy greens, and perfectly grilled salmon fill the bento, giving color and vibrancy that reminded Natsume of the welcoming lunch that he, Shigeru, and Touko shared together. Carefully, Natsume uses his chopsticks to separate a small piece off of the salmon and lifts it to his mouth. The moment he bites down, the crisp outer shell of the salmon gives way with a soft crunch, revealing the warm insides of tender meat. The tamagoyaki is soft, sweet and unlike anything that Natsume’s had before. None of his relatives had ever done this, making him breakfast where, Natsume wonders, Is this what love tastes like? Every bite is a treasure trove, perfect in every which way, golden and tender and full of the time and love that Natsume wonders if he was dreaming. What if all of this was just some cruel joke? The Fuijwaras were too nice, nicer than anyone had ever been to Natsume, too much like the dreams of family that he desperately wanted. What if they were just yokai, playing around with a stupid human child naive enough to truly believe what was happening around him. What if the Fujiwaras weren’t huma—

“Stop it.” Natsume growls out to himself. “Stop it. They’re real. Touko-san and Shigeru-san are real! They have to be real.”

A breath, and Natsume closes the bento. Even if the Fujiwara weren’t real, the food at least is and he has to save it. The Fujiwaras are nice now, but… so was Satanoka-san too, in the beginning. He can’t risk it. If there wasn’t any food anymore, the rest of the bento would at least tide him over just long enough so that Natsume could survive. Bits and pieces here and there would be enough. It was enough in the past, it will be now. So carefully, Natsume wraps up the bento, tucking it away safely into his bag. He swings the bag over his head and onto his shoulder, readjusting it like he had always done before, a habit, he realizes. Natsume looks up at the clear sapphire sky, the soft clouds rolling evenly, regularly over the wind’s waves and grabs at the strap of his bag once more as he methodically returns to the classroom, a few wrong turns here and there because the school was too new..

The bell rings as Natsume sits back down at his desk. The class settles as the teacher walks in, a different one this time, one Natsume doesn’t recognize. The lesson starts and Natsume swallows, he’s missed too many days in the past; the black board is full of incomprehensible math and everyone else seems to understand what’s going on. Natsume sets to copying what’s on the board. It’s okay, he thinks, I can figure it out. I have to. That’s when he realizes, all the periods before lunch had disappeared in a flash, and he had been sleeping the whole time, which could only mean one thing, the teacher was mad. They always get mad when he falls asleep in class. Always. So Natsume waits, hunching over, trying to make himself seem as small as possible. The earth could open up beneath him right now, and Natsume would gladly let it. Anything was better than getting yelled at.

But the cruel words never come, instead, the lecture merely continues. Natsume hunches further down, tension released from his shoulders, exhaustion overwhelming him all of a sudden. And it's as if he was Atlas, carrying the world on his shoulders, because Natsume can’t keep his eyes open, let alone sit up in his chair. The world is looming, it’s heavy, overpowering him until there’s nothing but darkness and silence.

“Wait, Kitamoto, lemme wake up Natsume first, before we go.” Nishimura said.

“Who?” Kitamoto replies from just outside the classroom door. He had just peeked into the room to find Nishimura.

“Oh, right, the new transfer student.” Nishimura said, pointing at Natsume’s sleeping figure leaning over the desk top. Kitamoto merely raises an eyebrow. “Just give me a sec, Kitamoto.”

Gently, Nishimura taps Natsume’s shoulder. And like a whirlwind destroying all that’s in its path, Natsume snaps awake in a flurry of motion, instinctively shying away from the hand that woke him up and consequently falling out of his chair. Nishimura falls back too, shocked at the sudden movement. Kitamoto surges forward to catch Nishimura and the two fall against each other, back to chest. Natsume scrambles up, a crazed look in his eyes as he stares first at Nishimura, then Kitamoto. His eyes dart back and forth between the two, chest heaving, gasping for air. A certain urgency flashes through Kitamoto and he wraps an arm around Nishimura’s middle and hauls him out of the classroom, almost carrying the severely protesting boy.

“Wait! Kitamoto what are you doing?!” Nishimura exclaims, kicking all the while being quite literally man handled into leaving the room. “Wait, Acchan! You can’t just—ack!”

With a lurch, Kitamoto practically throws the two of them down the stairs and away; he continues hauling the flailing Nishimura until they’re out of the school and far, far away from Natsume.

Natsume blinks rapidly before sliding down onto the floor, chest stuttering and breath disappearing, some spirit had ripped it from him, Natsume reasoned. Why else would he be so scared? But then again... I can’t believe I thought that Nishimura was a yokai… Natsume thought, before bringing both hands up to rub his eyes. The next time he opens them, the light is dimming and fire burns in the twilight. It’s golden hour, clouds vibrant and molten, sky burning away into black. Something about it sets Natsume off edge, something’s wrong. Hesitantly, Natsume stands back up and grabs his bag, leaving through the front of the school. Something’s wrong, it’s the familiar feeling of stares again and every hair on the back of Natsume’s neck is standing up, and yet the school is empty, too empty. Natsume hurries back to the Fujiwara house, the road stretching far in front of him. The bend in the road is thankfully familiar and it almost settles the uneasy feeling burning in Natsume with the sunset. Until he sees a shadow looming over him. A warm breath breathes down his neck, chilling a terrifyingly close.

“Natsume Reiko! Return my name!”

Natsume whips around and falls to the ground; above him is a horned yokai with no eyes and a mouth from one side of its face to the other. It opens its mouth again.

“Return it!” The yokai screams, a void opening where the mouth is, large and gaping. It lunges forward, hands clawing at Natsume’s arms and legs. Adrenaline snapping, Natsume scrambles backwards before flipping around and bolted as fast as he can away from yokai. He trips and falls, landing on his hand and slamming on to his right knee. The gravel digs into his skin, cutting it open and forcing his blood to flow onto the sturdy fabric covering his knee. The world tilts in confusing ways and Natsume runs, faster and faster until everything is just a blur, invisible to the eye. I can’t! I have to—I have to find a shrine, Natsume’s thoughts run. Shrines had always protected him before, so this time, maybe this time it would work too. So Natsume runs and runs and runs, until the world darkens and there’s nothing but him and the warm breath breathing down his neck every time he turns around.

Into the forest, over the roots and through the leaves, Natsume sees a glimpse of a staircase and staggers towards it. His lungs are burning and eating away at the precious oxygen supply that he has. Each step sends fire up his leg and into his chest, each grab of a tree trunk or root sends lava to his heart. Nothing matters except those stairs, The stairs, have to… stairs. Natsume breaks sharply to the right, the yokai following him. Up and up and up Natsume pounds along the stone stairs until with no breath left in him, he reaches a torii gate. And the moment he passes through, the yokai screams again, but proceeds no further, because it can’t. So Natsume falls to the floor on his back, his own lungs screaming for air, and the world tilting and swirling above him as he watches, strange for the season, perfect pink blossoms dancing on the air as waves crash and break about him. He closes his eyes.

A gentle touch awakens him. Natsume sits up, wincing at the sharp jabs of pain racing from his hand and knee, but then freezes at the sight before him. Lights, golden and shimmering float up and down, dipping with each lull of an invisible wave. The touch that had awoken Natsume was one of those gentle drops of yellow landing on his nose. It flew away the moment he sat up, but it lingered, drifting around Natsume before joining the sea of lights. They surround him, seemingly trying to lead him somewhere, so Natsume follows, mesmerized by the glowing faint warmth of all the lights sailing beside, above, and around him; feeling safer than he’s been before, Natsume understands no urgency. The lights bob up and down, fluttering faster and further every time he gets close enough, leading him on until just at the crest of the hill, an abandoned shrine, long lost to the echoes of time, stands firm despite its age.

The sun is long gone, settling down for the night and the sky is still that dusty black right at the end of twilight. Ink drenched shadows curl over the steps and Natsume takes a seat at the back of the shrine. The little lights flicker and bloom and settle. One moment they glisten and glow along the treetops, lighting up the flower blossoms, casting yellow rim lights; the next moment they twirl and dance downside up from staircase to tree and finally to Natsume, landing peacefully into his palm. Breathtaking and beautiful, the sky darkens into a velvet black and the world refocuses. There’s only the light of the fireflies and the smell of the blossoms. Natsume breathes in, letting his lungs finally, peacefully, take in the air that was robbed from it so long ago. By the time he’s breathed his fill and looks up, the stars have awoken, winking back at Natsume from the far off distance engulfed in space.

And it’s only now, does Natsume finally recognize the meaning of the dark. It’s too late, far too late. He should’ve been back at the Fujiwara house by now, but he’s not and suddenly, the panic settles back into his chest. It grabs at his arms, his chest, clutching tight and forcing the air out of him as it snakes its way around his neck and tightens impossibly. A noose. The world falls again and flickers. In and out. In and out. It’s too cold, too cold. The buzz is back and rings in his ears infinitely loud and obnoxiously drowning drowning drowning—

“Takashi!”

The flood stops and Natsume finds his footing, coming to the surface for the first gulp of air in who knows how long. He gasps and sputters as a figure comes rounding the corner. Natsume whips around and stares at the dark figure, overshadowed by the looming trees. But the lights around him start swirling and suddenly, Shigeru’s face comes into focus, illuminated under the glow of a thousand fireflies. A hand reaches for Natsume, patient and kind, waiting for him.

“There you are, Takashi. You gave us quite a fright you know?” Shigeru said, jokingly, a smile tugging at his lips. “Why don’t we go home before Touko-san cooks a feast for twelve.” He winks.

The water returns, but it’s no longer a waterfall of gushing drowning liquid, instead its softened. The small droplets simply dip low and fall with a quiet pit patter. Shigeru’s eyebrows knit together as he moves forward, gently sitting down next to Takashi. He opens his mouth to speak, but closes it in silence when ever so slightly, Takashi moves closer. Shigeru’s eyes soften and he wraps his arm around the crying boy’s shoulders. They sit in not silence, but quiet. Takashi doesn’t let any tears fall with sound, but the warmth of an arm around his shoulders is enough to let the waterfall flow. And the lights continue to glow; small flickers flash and float.

“Takashi-kun!” Touko exclaims as both Shigeru and Takashi enter the house. Touko still has that apron on when she comes practically running into the genkan to greet the two. “You had me so worried! Thank you, Shigeru-san, for finding Takashi-kun and—Oh my! Takashi-kun, your hand!”

Shigeru frowns and carefully takes a look at Takashi’s hand, and only then does he see the true extent of the injuries. Bruised and battered, both hand and knee were scraped raw only just scabbing over. The cuts weren’t too deep, superficial at most, but the bruising would only get worse before it got better and even then, the open wounds still needed to be properly cleaned and patched up.

“O-oh, I’m sorry, Touko-san. It’s nothing, really!” Takashi answers, clenching his fist and turning it away from Touko in an effort to hide them away from her.

“Natsume Takashi!” Touko raises her voice a slight pitch and suddenly both Shigeru and Takashi are ramrod straight. “We’re going to patch you up,” She gives a pointed look to Shigeru before continuing. “And then all of us are going to enjoy a wonderful dinner!”

And with that, Touko whisks Takashi away, pulling him into the kitchen and sitting him down in his chair. She grabs a clean napkin, lightly wetting it before returning to Takashi and rolling his pants up past his knee, dabbing at the still bleeding cut. Shigeru on the other hand enters the room a moment later, a small innocuous white box in his hand. He sets it down on the dining table and starts pulling out antiseptic, gauze, and band aids. When Touko finishes, Shigeru sweeps in, patching Takashi up. The two work in easy unison and Takashi can feel the physical burn of love coming from the two of them. And like the fire bursting with sparks, the sting of newly cleaned wounds lights another spark in his heart.

He’s home.

click here for chapter one

[toddtakefive]

Can I Have a Ride Home? I’m at a Party and I Don’t Know Any1

fandom(s): Gravity Falls, Over The Garden Wall

pairing(s): Pinescone , Mabcifica (mentioned)

words: 5314

rating: M (reasons listed in trigger warnings + swearing)

work type: One-shot , AU

tw(s): homophobia , use of slurs , violence and references to past violence

Also on AO3!!

Wirt wasn’t entirely sure how Sara had managed to drag him along with her to Senior Prom, hell he wasn’t even sure how she had managed to get a suit for him when he’d refused to go in for a fitting, but now he was standing in a crowded gym full of high-schoolers and he already wanted to leave. In his defense, they’d already been there an hour and that was an hour longer than he was at most parties.

If he was going to be completely honest, the party wasn’t that bad. Sure the music would cut off whenever there was a swear - everyone would still sing it anyways -, and sure the punch tasted weird, but it wasn’t necessarily a bad party as most parties go. The reason it was a bad party is because it was a party full of nothing but high-schoolers, and high-schoolers are scary. At least to Wirt.

He lost Sara twenty minutes ago -he’s honestly starting to think she’s underneath the bleachers flirting with the girl from her Chem class- and he’s getting bored so he pulls out his phone and starts typing a quick text to Dipper.

‘Bored. Wish you were here :/’.

The reply is immediate, 

‘Lol r u a postcard??’ ‘Wish I wre ther too <3 drving rigt now txt you lter′. 

The next text he receives is a picture taken by the person in the passenger seat, likely Mabel, with a peace sign while Dipper attempts to get his phone back without taking his eyes off the road. The caption for the photo is ‘road safety laws are bogus B)’. He laughs to himself. Yup, definitely Mabel.

He looks up at the sound of steps approaching, expecting it to be Sara but instead seeing evil incarnate. He takes in a deep breath before plastering on a fake smile.

“Hello, Trevor.” he says. 

Trevor Martin. No offense to the British actor Trevor Martin, of course, but Wirt fucking hates this guy. He’s book smart, Wirt’ll give him that, but that’s his only redeeming quality. Not only is he a totally fuckwad, but he has the audacity to say he’s not and try to date Sara, a very loud and proud lesbian. Like, dude, at least Jason Funderberker had the decency to back off when she came out. Plus, never trust a guy with a first name for a last name.

Trevor, wearing his slimy little smirk like he always does, doesn’t even meet Wirt’s eyes. “So, where’s Sara? I figured she’d be with you, you know, since you’re like her fucking boyfriend or whatever.”

Wirt scrunches his nose just slightly, he doesn’t want this situation to escalate more than it has to. “I’ve told you this a thousand times, Trevor. She is not my girlfriend.”

Trevor rolls his eyes, “Sure. You get pissed off that I’m trying to date her because you aren’t her boyfriend. Got it.”

Wirt shakes his head, “I get pissed off that you’re trying to date her because she’s a lesbian. Which is literally common knowledge, by the way.” he throws away his plastic cup and walks out into the hallway. Trevor, being an idiot in everything but school subjects, follows him into the hallway.

“She’s not a lesbian, she’s just saying that to get me to leave her alone.” Trevor explains, causing Wirt to roll his eyes as he walks.

“That’s not how that fucking works, Trevor. Besides, if a girl is literally resorting to faking being a lesbian to get you to leave her alone, maybe you just don’t know how to take a hint.”

He hears Trevor scoff, “Well she’s dating you, so she isn’t a lesbian.”

“She isn’t dating me! And you do know people can be bi, right?”

“If she isn’t dating you then why are you always talking about your relationship in World Civ?”

Wirt, just wanting this idiot to leave him alone already, stops walking abruptly and turns around. Trevor runs into him and falls back a little bit, he has a look on his face that Wirt thinks is his ‘gotcha’ face, but he’s really had enough of the whole ‘Wirt and Sara are dating in secret’ thing when they’re both very out homosexuals.

“Because I have a boyfriend, Trevor.” he deadpans, and sees that smug look fall off of Trevor’s face. God he loves the look of confusion that floods his features, it’s pure poetry.

“What?” Trevor asks, with all of his genius.

“The reason you hear me talking about my relationship -in conversations that didn’t involve you, by the way- is because I have a boyfriend. He lives in California.”

Trevor looks as though his entire world view just got re-shaped. He’s between wanting to believe and wanting to think it’s a prank, but, to Trevor, Wirt isn’t cool enough to pull a prank like this with a straight face.

The long minutes of silence is starting to get awkward, but just as Wirt is about to walk away Trevor speaks up again, “Wait so,” he pauses, “you’re a faggot?”

Wirt tenses immediately. That word. God he hates that word. The first time he heard it was when he came out to his biological dad when he and Dipper started dating back in Sophomore year. It wasn’t a great conversation, and Wirt vividly remembers the bloody nose he got out of it.

“I- uhm. Y-yeah. I- yeah.” Wirt stammers out. Trevor’s entire demeanor changes.

“Wait, what the fuck?” he says, distancing himself from Wirt by a couple inches. This causes Wirt to snap out of whatever funk he was in. He raises an eyebrow.

“Me having a boyfriend isn’t new information, Trevor. You’ve heard me get teased for talking about him before.”

“Yeah, but I thought they were joking! I didn’t think you were actually. You know.” he makes a wild hand gesture in Wirt’s direction.

“Gay?” Wirt asks with a furrowed brow.

“That! That. I didn’t think you were that.” Okay, now Wirt’s getting pissed. Obviously the use of the slur pissed him off, but not even being able to say the word gay? Come on, dude.

“Is there a problem with that?” He asks, crossing his arms. He’s not entirely sure where this newfound courage is coming from, but he can think about it later.

“No it’s just, dude have you been checking me out in the locker rooms and shit this whole time!” Trevor asks, his stance becoming defensive.

Wirt flinches back a bit at the question. “No. Why would I do that?”

“Because you’re.” Another wild hand gesture. Dude, just say the word.

Wirt sighs, “Gay. Right, yeah. We’ve established that. But I don’t go around creeping on the guys in the locker room. That would be fucking weird. And, again, I have a boyfriend, and you also aren’t my type so we’re covering all the bases of ‘I’d never do that’.”

Trevor takes a step forward that causes Wirt to take a step back, “I don’t believe you.” he says, voice lined with anger.

Wirt, quickly realizing he should have just walked away while Trevor was confused, holds his hands up in defense, “Good for you, but I don’t really care.” he glances over Trevor’s shoulder to see if he could make a break for the door. That idea is quickly thrown out the window when Trevor grabs Wirt by the collar. Wirt laughs a bit to himself, “You know, this looks kinda gay.”

Trevor’s hold on the front of his shirt tightens, he brings his hands up higher to make sure he isn’t touching the other boy anywhere, “Okay! Okay, okay, okay! Okay. Look, honestly man, never watched you while you were changing! I don’t think we’ve ever even had a P.E class together, if I’m being honest. And besides, I don’t think watching sweaty teenage boys change is that appealing. Especially not you, cause no offense you’re not really anyone’s type. At least not any gay persons type I mean! I’m sure some girl at the college you attend will think you’re hot, she’ll probably have kinda low standards but a girlfriend’s a girlfriend, right? And she’ll marry you right outta college, and you’ll become a fucking accountant or something else just as soul sucking, and you’ll have two kids, and a dog, and feel free to cut me off whenever you like.”

There’s a crunch and a massive amount of pain that makes Wirt stop talking. His head is spinning faster than a tornado, but he knows the feeling of hitting the school floor well enough to know it happens somewhere within the time he gets punched in the face a second time and kicked in the stomach the first.

He’s not entirely sure how long he’s on the floor, but he does know that when he finally opens his eyes Trevor is standing above him, heaving, staring at his own hands like they’re covered in blood- oh they are. That is blood. That is definitely blood. That’s a lot of blood. Wow.

Wirt pushes himself off of the ground, there’s an ache in every fiber of his being but the floor is cold and dirty and he’d rather not be down there right now. As he rises, slowly, he can see a steady drip of blood coming down from his face. That’s not good.

By the time he’s fully standing, Trevor looks ready to burst. “Wirt! Oh my god, dude. I am so fucking sorry, I didn’t. I don’t know why I. I never. Fuck I didn’t, I just, shit are you fucking okay?” the questions are rapid fire. Wirt’s a little too out of it to be able to tell if they’re genuine or not, and he doesn’t really care if they are at this point. This guy eats paste.

“Trevor.” Wirt finally says, “Shut the fuck up.” his words are slurred, and it’s obvious he’s still scared if the tremor in his voice is anything to go by, but he really just needs it to be quiet right now. To his credit, Trevor does shut up, but he just stands there.

There they are, two guys standing in a hallway, five feet apart cause one just beat the shit out of the other for being gay. Prom night is great. In his delirious state, Wirt can faintly hear ‘Lover Is a Day’ by Cuco playing from the gym. The beats pulse under his feet, and it’s just adding onto the pain right now.

After maybe five minutes, Trevor speaks up again. “Wirt I really am sorry, dude. I don’t know why I did that. I was pissed and you wouldn’t shut up and I didn’t what else to do! Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck!” Trevor hits the locker to his right with the side of his fist. The sound rings through the otherwise empty hall, and Wirt just stares at the first still on metal.

Wirt runs a hand through his hair, “That’s great and everything, but was the getting on top of me and repeatedly punching me in the nose necessary? Or, you know, any of it? You just fucking committed a hate crime dude, do you even realize that?” he’s talking slowly, his voice is tired and he would rather be anywhere else.

“I know! I know it was! But it honestly didn’t have anything to do with you being,” he pauses, and Wirt is about to finish for him before he continues on his own, “Gay. It didn’t have to do with you being gay, okay. I just. I have like severe anger issues. It’s some fucking long ass name, but the shortened thing is IED. It’s not really something I have any control over, and it’s been a while since I’ve had an episode that bad, and I promise it has nothing to do with you being gay or anything! That fucking chill, man! This stuff literally just happens, I swear on my motherfucking yeezys!” Wirt, who is finally coming back down to Earth and is able to process English language again, raises his brow, “ Okay, I don’t own yeezys, but you know what I mean.” He looks down to the floor, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

Wirt sighs, wiping under his nose with his suit sleeve. It doesn’t help, the blood keeps flowing and now his suit is ruined. Fuck Prom night, dude. “Look, Trevor. If you actually have a genuine mental illness that does that, you get a fucking pass on the beating the shit out of me part.” Trevor flinches at that, “But you’re still kinda homophobic dude.”

Trevor looks up from the ground, “What? How?”

Wirt shrugs, crossing his arms again. “Assuming someone isn’t a lesbian when they say they are is pretty high on the list. Actually, assuming a gay guy is checking people out while they’re changing is also pretty high on the list. Both of the things you said are pretty high on the list, actually.”

This time it’s Trevor who furrows his brow, “But she isn’t a lesbian. I asked her why she thought she was a lesbian a couple weeks ago and she said it’s because she thinks girls are hot and that she wouldn’t mind kissing them, but that’s normal. Like, I know a couple guys in my classes that I wouldn’t mind kissing or like fucking or something and I’m not gay or whatever. Everyone thinks like that.”

Wirt’s mind just fucking imploded on itself. He’s joking. He has to be joking. Oh fuck he is not joking. Oh dear. Wirt cringes to himself, “Oh Jesus.” he whispers, “Trevor, you do know that isn’t a universal thing, right? Like, you know not every guy would be fine with fucking another guy, right?”

“Wait, really?” Trevor asks, his voice quiet. Wirt simply nods and watches as Trevor seems to contemplate his whole existence in front of him. “But I’m not. My mom told me that I couldn’t be gay, I just needed to find the right girl and it would be fine. I don’t like guys like that, I’m not.”

Fuck, why does Wirt have empathy. If he was a dick he could just walk away from this situation and not feel a thing, but he can’t leave this guy in a crisis. Even if he did just beat his ass.

“Trevor, why do you like Sara?”

“She’s funny, and kinda cool, I guess. I just want to hang out with her more, plus my friends kept saying I should go for it, so I figured why not.”

“Dude, you just want to be her fucking friend. That’s, what you want is a friendship. Jesus dude, you don’t even actually like her do you?”

Trevor shrugs, “I don’t know. I mean, she’s cool and everything.”

“Would you kiss her.” Wirt asks.

“What?” 

“Would you kiss Sara. Or any girl for that matter.” He asks again, slower this time.

Trevor rolls his eyes, giving Wirt a look that suggest the answer should be obvious, but when he opens his mouth, no words come out. It stays open for about ten seconds before he frowns. “No I. I wouldn’t” he lets out a dry laugh void of humor. “Holy shit, I fucking wouldn’t. What the fuck.”

Wirt sighs taking a few steps over to Trevor, placing a hand on his shoulder. “Go home, Trevor. You have had more than enough action tonight.” his hand slides off and he turns around to find the nearest bathroom, he about to round a corner when he remembers something and looks over at Trevor, who hasn’t moved an inch, “Try to refrain from using the f-slur before you figure out your whole mess, maybe?” He gives the other boy a quick smile before walking away.

The nearest bathroom is way too fucking far away, in Wirt’s humble opinion. And why are half of the lights off in these hallways? God, he feels like the character about to die in a horror movie. Thankfully, the light switch in the bathroom was easy to find so he isn’t completely in the dark.

He grabs some paper towels and wets them, and then he finally looks in the mirror. Jesus fucking Christ.

Trevor did a number on him, and if it were any other situation that required less brain power he would be kinda impressed. His nose is definitely broken, if the aching and gushing blood are any indicator, he’s got a black eye, a busted lip, bruises across his face and collarbone -and if the amount of times he was kicked in the stomach is as many as it felt, he’s got them there too- and, the cherry on fucking top, his suit jacket ripped a little bit.

His phone buzzes in his pocket as he finishes wiping the blood from his face, but his nose is still bleeding. Pulling his phone out of his back pocket he finds two new messages. One from Sara, saying she scored with the girl from her chem class and that she has a date next Saturday, and one from Dipper saying they’ve finally stopped driving.

Wirt texts Sara back congratulating her on her suaveness that she most definitely didn’t have (see: nearly puked on a cute girl for complimenting her shoes once) before opening up his texts with Dipper and taking a picture in the mirror holding up a peace sign. He masterfully captions the photo: ‘babys first hate crime <3′. 

His phone rings immediately.

He picks up right away, and is greeted with a very frantic, “Where are you?” there’s faint music in the background, they must be at their dance right now.

“Uhm. The bathroom in hallway E, I think. Why?” Wirt asks, throwing away the bloody paper towels.

“We’re on our way.” Is all he gets in response.

“What? You’re in California how are you supposed to. Did he fucking hang up on me?” Wirt pulls his phone away from his ear, “Wow, okay.” He pockets his phone and stares at himself in the mirror for a few seconds. It’s gonna suck having to explain this to anybody, and he knows his mom will go full Godzilla mode on the school board if he tells the truth, but he can’t just out someone. Fuck, man.

The door to the bathroom swings open and two rapid sets of footsteps approach him, he’s almost expecting to be beaten up again until he’s turned around and hugged tightly. His confusion only lasts for a second when his land on Mabel, but then it flares up again because what the fuck that’s Mabel.

He pushes away from the person hugging him and is met with a person he both did and did not expect to see.

“Dipper.” He not shocked that Dipper did actually find hallway E, they broke in last summer to investigate if the place is actually haunted (it is), so he learned the layout pretty well in that instance, but he’s shocked that he’s even in the room. “Wait. Am I concussed? Is this a hallucination?”

“Er, wrong!” Mabel says, pushing Dipper out of the way and hugging Wirt tighter than a strait jacket. He lets out a sound of pain and she lets him go immediately. “Sorry! I forgot you’re like, dying right now.”

“Not dying, per se, but getting there if my nose doesn’t stop bleeding soon. I didn’t even know I had this much blood, if I’m being honest.” Mabel laughs a bit and wow did he miss that sound. He missed them, really. It’s always better when they’re around.

“What happened?” Dipper’s voice finally enters the conversation, and it makes his heart flutter but also reminds him the situation in which they’ve been reunited. Especially if the pissed off tone is anything to go by.

Wirt shrugs, “I got into a fight?”

Dipper gives him a look, “You called it a hate crime, before.”

Wirt laughs, “Yeah, I know. But it wasn’t, technically? I don’t know I’m still having trouble processing the whole ordeal. But I just got into an argument with Trevor, you know who I’m talking about, and he got really mad so he fucking beat the shit out of me and,” Dipper turns to walk out the door but Wirt pulls him back by the arm, “don’t walk away, I’m not done yet. He has a thing called IED, or something? He didn’t know the full medical name for it, but he said it had to do with like uncontrollable anger? Like it just happens or something.”

Dipper nods, “Intermittent Explosive Disorder.”

“Yeah, probably. But he felt really bad after, and I can’t blame him for having something he can’t control, dude. That would be a dick move. But yeah, we talked it out I guess. I think I just made him question the entire universe.”

Dipper sighs, still tense but loosening now, “So you called it a hate crime, because?”

“Well, I mean, okay. At first I thought he did it because I was gay, but from our little conversation we had after, it was definitely not that.” 

Both twins raise eyebrow, “Are you gonna give us any more info, or?” Mabel asks and Wirt just shrugs. Dipper lets out another, deeper sigh. He’s known Wirt long enough to know that little shrug means ‘never in a million years ever’. 

“What are you guys doing here, anyways? I mean, I’m happy you’re here, but I live in Arizona? It’s like an eleven hour drive.”

Dipper shrugs, taking Wirt’s hand. “Guess I missed the ‘Team Roping Capital of the World’.” he teases and Wirt groans.

“Shut up! You know I think that’s stupid as shit.” He says, and as the twins laugh at him he takes a second to admire his boyfriends face. Dipper always laughs freely, and Wirt thinks that’s one of the reasons he fell in love with the younger (”by two days!”) boy at summer camp. His hair isn’t in his usual baseball cap with a pine tree on it, and is styled just the right way to cover his birthmark. He looks happy, if not still tense about the fact that Wirt got his ass beat. An easy smile finds it’s way onto Wirt’s face as Dipper calms down.

“Let’s get the fuck out of here.” Dipper says, leading him towards the door. Mabel follows quickly behind, flicking off the light. She runs ahead of them, twirling around the hallway and nearly falling over herself in the process.

“So, I know Wirt is gonna wanna bounce because he’s covered in human juice.”

“Stop calling blood human juice.”

“Don’t interrupt me, Dipper. But what are we gonna do when we skedaddle out of here?”

Both twins look to the brunette for an answer, he huffs as he tries to think of something. “We could get burgers and shakes at McDonald's? And then head home, probably. Greg’s gonna be super excited to see you guys.”

“Oh! I can’t wait to see him! We’re here for the next four days, by the way, god I can’t wait!” She pushes open the doors to the gym and the music floods over them. Jesus, was it always that loud? How long had Wirt been away from the party?”

“What time is it?” He asks Dipper, trying to ignore all of the strange looks that are being sent his way. He can’t blame them, it looks like he got mauled by a pack of wild dogs.

“It is, nine forty-eight.” The other boy responds, Wirt nods as they exit the gym into the parking lot. Dipper’s car is still as messy as it was the year before, if not more, but Wirt thinks that just adds to the charm.

Sara, who had apparently been in front of the gym the whole night, drops her punch at the sight of Wirt. “Oh my god! Wirt!” she rushes over.

“I’m fine, Sare. Really. It’s all good.” He gives her a smile, but she doesn’t stop giving him a look.

“Trevor did this, didn’t he? You know he came out here like thirty minutes ago fucking covered in blood and looked like he pissed himself when he saw me. So don’t cover for him.”

“I’m not covering for Trevor! There were circumstances that I don’t know if I’m allowed to share.” Wirt says, gesturing wildly with his hands, thankfully Dipper doesn’t seem to mind.

“Wirt, if he’s blackmailing you just tell me. I can fix it!”

“Sare, I appreciate the thought, but this is really something that should be left alone, alright? I might tell you on a different day, but right now it is confidential. No I’m not being blackmailed, if anything the information I got out of him after everything could be considered blackmail, just. Not tonight, okay?” He can tell she doesn’t want to give up but he really can’t explain all of this right now, “Please?”

She sighs, “Alright. Fine. But I expect a detailed report of what happened tomorrow morning.” Wirt nods and it’s then Sara finally notices the twins, “Oh. You found him. Cool, see you guys.” The twins giver he simultaneous ‘later’s’ and she walks back to the girl from her chem class.

Mabel moves to get in the front seat before she’s stopped by Dipper, “Ah ah ah!” he says, gaining her attention. He passes her the keys and she whines but moves to the other side anyways.

“You fucking suck, Dip-stick.”

“Sorry that I want to be able to comfort my boyfriend in the backseat of my own car and can’t do that when I’m driving.” he opens the back door and motions for Wirt to get in, and once they’re all set they drive to the nearest McDonald's.

Ordering food had thus been the easier part of Wirt’s night, but he’s hoping things will start going up from here.

The food sits in the passengers seat in the quiet car before Mabel presses play on the car stereo. Wirt immediately looks up from where his head was buried in Dipper’s shoulder, a smile crossing his face.

“Isn’t this the mixtape I made you?” He turns back to Dipper, absolutely beaming.

Dipper’s face is red, but he nods. “Yeah. I listen to it sometimes.”

“Liar! He listens to it all the fucking time. I have it memorized by now.” Mabel calls from the front. Dipper kicks the back of her seat, “Shut up! At least I don’t have an entire folder dedicated to pictures of him on my phone!”

“My Pacifica picture collection is none of your business! And you have like eight hundred Polaroids on him on your wall, don’t even try that shit with me!” 

Dipper’s rebuttal is cut off when Wirt presses a kiss to his cheek. The younger boy turns and immediately presses their lips together in a kiss. It’s soft because of Wirt’s busted lip, but it’s still incredible. It’s never not incredible when it’s the two of them.

Mabel makes fake barfing noises, causing Dipper to flip her off, causing Wirt to laugh. They pull up to the drive way, walk through the front door, and are immediately greeted by Greg. He rushes into Wirt, giving him a tight hug. Even at ten years old, Greg still has as much energy as he did at six.

“Welcome home, brother o’ mine. How was, whoa what happened to your face?”

Wirt ruffles his little brothers hair, “I got into a fight with a dragon, dude. I won, obviously, but my jacket didn’t make it out alive.”

“I can fix that for you.” Mabel says taking his suit jacket, she’s almost knocked over when Greg charges into her next which makes her laugh. “Hey there, space cowboy. I missed you too!” She pulls him into a tight hug twirling him around the foyer before setting him back down. Dipper gives him a hug as well, just as tight but without all the spinning, and then Greg’s attention is back on Wirt.

“Okay. Why was this dragon mad at you?” He asks. This had become their thing ever since The Unknown. They would talk as if they were still there, or at least like they were in a fantasy world, and explain things to each other that way. Wirt thinks it helps them cope, but it’s probably just a result of being some weird kids.

“Anger issues.” Wirt says. That’s way too simple a phrase for it, and he knows that, but Greg is nine. He can explain it another day, but this is now and it’s ten o’clock.

Greg gives him a goofy grin, “Alright!” he says, skipping into the kitchen. The three teenagers follow him, Dipper once again takes Wirt’s hand.

“What were you doing in here little man?” Dipper asks, noticing that all of the chairs at the edge of the kitchen.

Greg picks up Jason Funderburker, the frog, and smiles again. “Well, Wirt was at his dance, and I wasn’t allowed to go with, so I made my own! Mom and dad are out tonight, too so I can play is as loud as I want!”

Greg being allowed to stay home alone tonight was a big decision. Not because no one trusted him but... okay yeah no one trusted him. Plus, it was dangerous! But, tonight was their mom and Johnathan's ten year anniversary and his mom didn’t want him to miss out on his Senior prom -no matter how much he assured her he could live without having gone- so it was the only option. No one was available to babysit, again prom night, and they couldn’t exactly take their nine year old to a bar. It doesn’t look like anything is on fire or broken yet, so Wirt can say it’s been a success so far.

“Alright then,space cowboy, lets get this party started!” Mabel says as she turns up the music. The song is ‘You Really Got Me’ by The Kinks, how Greg knows this song Wirt has no clue, and it bounces off the walls echoing up the stairs.

Greg does his weird jump step thing that he’s been doing since he could walk. It’s literally just jumping side to side to music, with the occasional dangerously fast spin, but it’s not a bad move. Jason Funderburker looks sick from all of the motion and Greg stops his movement just to let the frog go.

Mabel has always been a crazy dancer, just jumping around, arms flailing, hair going everywhere from her shaking her head. She’s probably going to poke someone’s eye out one of these days, but at least she’s having fun. Or, maybe she’s trying to poke someone’s eye out. Either way, she’s having a good time.

Dipper makes sure his arm movements hit every beat, spinning around for the parts where there are no hard beats to hit but smiling nonetheless. He looks like an idiot, and he knows he looks like an idiot, but what’s the point in being around all of your favorite people if you can’t look like an idiot in front of them?

Wirt, not much a dancer in normal circumstances, is going all out right now. He’s much more graceful than Mabel is being, but other than that they’ve got practically the same vibe. Except that Wirt actually did hit Dipper in the eye on accident earlier, but that’s in the past now.

The song ends and another begins and that cycle repeats for an hour until they’re all too tired for it anymore. Wirt sits down in one of the chairs, looking out over the kitchen. Greg is sitting on the floor with Jason Funderburker while the twins argue over what terrible movie to watch simply to make fun of it.

They both turn, “Wirt,” Dipper says, “What do you think?”

Wirt smiles. Maybe Prom night isn’t so bad after all. 

[snowdice]

Virgil’s Birthday (Part 4)[Sometimes Labels Shift Series]

Fandom: Sanders Sides

Relationships: Logan & Virgil, Patton & Virgil, Logan/Patton, Virgil & Remy, Remy/Emile (backgroundish)

Characters:

Main: Logan, Virgil, Patton

Appear: Remy, Emile

Summary: Virgil has his first birthday with Logan and Patton and he’s going to get everything he ever wanted.

This is a dealing with events set after my story Sometimes Labels Fail.

Notes: Superhero AU (not that it matters… again), past child abuse, fluff (with just a touch of angsty background)

We get a bit of Remy being the best chaos uncle and a bit of sobbing. (No it isn’t finished. There is still one more part.)

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

They left the museum with only a few minutes left before it closed, Virgil with a bag full of a new lanyard, his little plastic animals, and, annoyingly, a mini statue that he was unfortunately familiar with, and drove to a local pizza place and arcade to meet up with Remy and Emile.

Once they’d arrived, Logan paused at the token machine near the door to feed a few dollars into it while Patton guided Virgil into the dining area to find a table.

Remy and Emile showed up a few minutes later. Emile paused next to Logan to chat, but Remy continued into the restaurant. He rubbed his knuckles briefly across the top of Virgil’s head before plopping down in the chair next to him, setting a gift bag on the table in front of him.

“Sup birthday boy,” he said. “How’s it feel to finally be 12?”

“How’s it feel to be 87?”

“Oof, someone’s got that preteen sass going on.”

“Before the two of you continue this conversation,” Patton interjected, “What do you want on the pizza Virgil? I’m going to get one cheese, but you get to decide the other one.”

“Pineapple and anchovies,” he said without missing a beat.

“Monster,” Remy commented. Virgil cracked then, hiding his smile in his hands.

“Careful mister, I’ll actually order it for you.”

Virgil shrugged. “I’d eat it.”

“You’re the worst type of human being,” said Remy.

“But,” Virgil gave in, “we can get pepperoni and black olives for you plebeians with less sophisticated pallets.”

“Ah yes,” said Remy, “how dare we not enjoy the taste of crème de merde.”

“Remy.”

“It’s okay,” Remy said, “You didn’t take French did you kid?”

“Um no, but I did grow up in foster care.”

“See, he already knows it anyway.”

Patton gave him a withering glare and got to his feet. “Logan come babysit Remy while I go order the pizza.”

Logan sighed and walked over, Emile in toe. “What have you done now?”

“He’s teaching me curse words in other languages,” Virgil provided.

“Remington.” Logan scolded.

Remy prodded Virgil in the side with his elbow. “It’s not teaching you them if you already know them you little gremlin.”

Emile seemed intent on ignoring what was going on. He sat down calmly on the other side of Virgil without a glance at his boyfriend. “Hello Virgil. Happy birthday.”

“Thanks,” Virgil said with a grin as Remy and Logan started arguing amongst themselves.

“Have you had a good day?” Emile asked.

“It’s been great,” Virgil said, actually impressed with himself that he managed to not get teary-eyed thinking about it. “They’ve been great.”

Emile smiled at him and then rolled his eyes when the argument next to them picked up. “Patton’s on his way back. Why don’t we let Virgil open his present?” Emile suggested, cutting through the argument.

The argument paused easily enough, and Remy slid the gift bag over to him. Virgil opened it to find a dark navy Gravity Falls themed hoody and a gift card for him to get music.

“For the new phone,” Emile explained.

“Thanks,” Virgil said.

“Also, next time none of the buzzkills are looking, I’m going to get you so jacked up on sugar and caffeine that you won’t be able to see straight.”

“No, Remy,” Patton said.

“Whatever you say buzzkill number 2.”

Patton pressed his lips together and glared at Remy for a moment before turning to Virgil. “Now, the pizza’s going to take a bit to cook so why don’t you go play some of the games,” Patton suggested, pushing over the cup of tokens Logan had gotten, but before he could reach for it, Remy snatched it up.

“Come on kid, I’m gonna teach you to gamble!”

“No, Remy,” Logan said.

“Hush buzzkill number 1,” Remy responded. “Come on Virgil.” He grabbed Virgil’s hoody sleeve and pulled him to his feet, proceeding to all but drag Virgil toward the game room.

Despite his claims that he was going to teach Virgil how to gamble, they pretty much ignored the machine that looked like an actual slot machine and spent most of their time trying to catch fake fish with a little magnet fishing pole and playing a few rounds of skeeball. They didn’t get many tickets with the games they played, but Virgil was able to get a spinning top and a rubber band launcher from the prizes counter.

Virgil then proceeded to shoot Remy with the aforementioned rubber band launcher periodically over the pizza.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about Remy,” Logan would say every time as Patton and Emile giggled. “Virgil did nothing.”

Eventually Remy caught him red handed, the weapon pointed at his chest. They both paused.

“You know,” Remy said. “They do have that thing where they sing happy birthday to people and give them free ice cream. Of course, Patton and Logan decided not to embarrass you by doing that…”

Virgil narrowed his eyes. “You wouldn’t dare.”

“Want to test me kid?”

Virgil considered him and considered the toy in his hand. He glanced around at the other people in the restaurant. There was one family in a booth and a couple of older people who Virgil imagined were the source of the two kids that had come into the game room when he and Remy had been leaving. Without a word, he pulled the trigger.

Remy stood up immediately. “That’s it,” he said, striding away toward the counter. He talked to the person there for a few moments before turning back to come to the table, looking very pleased with himself.

A few minutes later, a siren blared, making Virgil jump. Fuck, he hadn’t known they had a siren when he’d agreed to this.

Virgil put his head into his hands, face burning. He peaked through his fingers to see a troupe of three employees marching their way and groaned a bit. Patton reached over to give him a soft pat on the shoulder.

“Attention everybody,” the woman at the front of the line said. “We have a very special birthday today and we’d like for all of you to help Virgil celebrate.”

“Oh god,” Virgil whispered under his breath.

He’s turning 14…” The lady said.

“You jerk,” Virgil hissed. Remy just cackled.

“He’s 16,” Logan corrected.

The lady paused. “…Or 16,” she corrected. Virgil slammed his head down on the tabletop. Virgil groaned his way through the rest of her speech and the entire song, letting Patton rub gentle circles onto his back, but he did end up getting free ice cream out of that so he couldn’t be that unhappy. He could, however, reach forward when Remy was distracted by Emile and bop him on the nose with a finger covered in whipped cream.

 “This was the best birthday I’ve ever had,” Virgil told Patton and Logan when they were walking out to the car. Remy and Emile had left a few minutes before them, so it was just the three of them once again. “Thank, you guys.”

Logan and Patton exchanged a glance. “We do have one more birthday present to give you,” Logan said with a smile.

“You guys have already given me way too much,” Virgil protested with a frown.

“Patton and I would beg to differ,” Virgil opened his mouth to argue, but Logan waved him off, “but I digress.” He reached into his pocket to get his wallet and pulled something out. At first Virgil was relieved because, oh okay, it’s just some little card or something, but then Logan handed it to him, and he looked at it.

It was a membership pass for two years to the museum.

“This,” he said, but he couldn’t finish. This shouldn’t be all that special, not after the phone and how nice they were to him at the museum all day. Not after the adoption papers they’d filed for him. He knew they were planning on legally adopting him, but there was always that worry in the back of his mind that something would go wrong, that he would do something wrong and it wouldn’t happen. This though? This said something because the membership card in his hands was not going to expire until he was 18 years old. It was like being hit by a truck in the best way possible. They were going to keep him. Not only that, but they planned to give him more days like today which was indisputably the best day of his life. People only got membership passes if it was more cost effective than buying a ticket every trip. They saw that he loved the museum and decided to give him more of it. This was more than just keeping him. This was something else. This was them actually wanting to make him happy.

There was absolutely no stopping himself from bursting into tears in the pizza shop parking lot. He was wracked with sobs, absolutely bawling like a toddler who didn’t get a nap and he didn’t even care.

“Oh goodness baby, shh,” Patton said, pulling him into a solid hug. It just made him want to cry more. He wasn’t looking in Logan’s direction, but he knew he was probably freaking the poor man out. He choked out a laugh at that thought.

Patton pulled back just a bit to wipe at the tears on Virgil’s cheeks with his thumbs. He was crying too Virgil noticed, but a lot more calmly. He smiled at Virgil through his tears.

“Tissue?” Logan offered a bit awkwardly. He’d grabbed one from the pack he always kept in his pocket and was holding it out to him.

Instead of grabbing the tissue, Virgil launched himself at Logan to hug him tight. “You’re the best people in the world,” he sobbed. “I love you so much. Thank you, thank you, thank you.” Logan patted the top of his head, unsure for a moment before hugging him back.

This had been the best birthday he could ask for.

Want to read more? Click below!

AO3 Part 5

Labeled Master Post.

My Masterpost.

[spaceorphan18]

What do you think are the most underrated glee songs? Like, they’re awesome and why doesn’t fandom love them more?

Oh this is such a neat ask! Let’s see, I think I’m going to list performances that I think are pretty good, but I don’t see people talking about as much.  You’re not going to see much Klaine on this list -- mostly, at least around these parts, I think their performances do get the recognition they deserve.  

Season 1: 

Push It (Showmance) - It’s really quite funny

Bust Your Windows (Acafellas) - Mercedes first gets to shine

Maybe This Time (Rhodes Not Taken) - Lea and Kristen Chenoweth kill this one. 

Dancing With Myself (Wheels) - I just like this Artie solo

Smile (Mattress) - I think both versions in the episode are pretty good, and one is a rare Finchel duet I enjoy

Hello (Hello) - Lea and Jonathan Groff are amazing together

Open Your Heart/Borderline (Power of Madonna) - I just wanna talk about all the Madonnas in the hallway

4 Minutes (Power of Madonna) - Kurt and Mercedes get their sexy on, and I don’t feel like that’s appreciated enough

Run Joey Run (Bad Reputation) - I mean, you guys, this might be one of the funniest things they show ever did, and the fact that the point was missed by so many made sure the show rarely did straight up comedy numbers again

Dream a Little Dream of Me (Dream On) - Artie w/Tina and Mike dancing, it’s cute and bittersweet

Season 2 

Sing (Duets) - It’s a super cute duet between Tina and Mike

Forget You (The Substitute) - Idec that it’s Holly, I love this one

Make ‘Em Laugh (The Substitute) - I don’t think Matthew Morrison gets enough credit for how talented he is.  

Just the Way You Are (Furt) - I’m not a huge fan of Finn’s singing - so I kinda of like to acknowledge when he does a good job, and I really like this one. 

The Living Years (Special Education) - The Hipsters rock it, man

Only Child (Original Song) - It is what is, okay?! 

Jesus is My Friend (Original Song) - I’m giggling just thinking about it

Bubble Toes (Night of Neglect) - Mike’s dance number is fantastic

Ain’t Now Way (Night of Neglect) - Merecedes’ numbers end up in the worst episodes, and it’s a shame, because sometimes they get overlooked. 

I’ve Gotta Be Me (Born This Way) - this song gets forgotten among the true gems during this episode, but it’s a nice Finn and Mike number

Nice To Meet You, Have I Slept With You (Rumours) - This is another hilarious original song done by April and Will often forgotten. 

Friday (Prom Queen) - As a boy band song, it really works

Season 3

Anything Goes/Anything You Can Do (The Purple Piano Project) - it’s truly amazing -- especially for an unknown guest start that’s basically one and done. 

Spotlight (Asian F) - Another Mercedes solo that I think flies under the radar. 

You and I (Mash Off) - Will and Shelby duet, the adult stuff often gets overlooked I think. 

We Are Young (Hold Onto 16) - It was probably over played on the radio at the time, but I think they did a fantastic job with the cover, and it works well as a group number. 

We Found Love (Yes/No) - Wemma gets a bad rap a lot of the times, but I think this actually really works, and is a nice scene

The Rain in Spain (Choke) - You guys, it’s a heavy metal cover of a classic song, I’m not the only one who finds that hilarious, right? 

Mean (Props) - Beiste and Puck singing a duet that fits their story well, but since we don’t talk about these storylines much, this rarely comes up. 

Starships (Nationals) - Unique is on fire, and I liked VA’s set more than ND’s.

Season 4

Call Me Maybe (The New Rachel) - idec, I love it and find it amazing and it energizes me, shut up. 

Busters Get Popped (The New Rachel) - still giggling

Chasing Pavements (The New Rachel) - I think Melissa Benoist got a raw deal having to be paired against Lea Michele, but I think she has a lovely voice, and really brings this one alive.  

Everybody Talks (Role You Were Born to Play) - it’s a nice song and a nice duet between Kitty and Jake

Whistle (Thanksgiving) - okay it’s not a good song, but my god does it make me laugh every time I hear it

O Holy Night (Swan Song) - Clearly, I’m not putting Rachel songs on this list, but this one -- I’m giving her this one.  This is beautiful and fantastic in all the right ways, and one of my favorite Rachel solos of the series.  One of the few times she’s not over emoting a serious song, and it’s a nice relief. 

Don’t Dream It’s Over (Swan Song) - It’s a bittersweet song that I think really works for the tone of the moment.  

Torn (Naked) - what another Rachel solo?? Yeah, visually, the duet with herself is really striking

Not Getting Married Today (I Do) - Let’s give Jayma Mays a second of recognition for her ability to do this one.   

You’re All the World to Me (Girls and Boys on Film) - Will and Emma duet that is notable for the choreography alone

How to Be a Heartbreaker (Feud) - the cinematography and choreography is unlike anything else on the show, so I find it fascinating. 

I Still Believe/Superbass (Feud) - I mean, let’s give Jane Lynch credit for spoofing Nikki Minaj, I mean, c’mon

Everybody Hurts (Lights Out) - I don’t like Ryder, and I really don’t like the actor who portrays him, but this acoustic version of the song is really fantastic. 

Superstition (Wonderful) - Mercedes, Blaine, and Marley on this Stevie Wonder classic that, again, flies under the radar a bit

Rainbow Connection (All or Nothing) - Glee snuck in a cover done by a third party participant at Regionals that’s really good, and you probably didn’t even know it. 

Season 5

If I Were a Boy (End of Twerk) - A lot of the newbie stuff gets (understandably) overlooked, but Unique’s version of this is emotional and haunting and often forgotten about

What The Fox Says (Puppet Master) - I don’t think this is as bad as everyone would have you believe.  

Away In a Manager (Previously Unaired Christmas) - I rarely give props to this episode for anything, but this was really well done, and the only song from this episode that I’ll listen to. 

Don’t Rain on My Parade (Frenemies) - Yes, it’s a jazzier/pop version of the song, but I think Santana does better with it than people give her credit for. 

Hold On (Trio) - I freakin’ love this group number.  It’s amazing. 

Toxic/Defying Gravity/Valerie (100) - lumping them together because I actually enjoy all of these better than the originals.  Oops. 

Loser Like Me (New Directions) - Yes, the lyrics are terrible, but I love this arrangement of it

LoveFool (Opening Night) - Omg, another Rachel solo - this one is also hilarious

Season 6

Tightrope (Homecoming) - Jane can really sing, these new newbies bring it

Home (Homecoming) - I think it’s a super tight group number that doesn’t get mentioned often, but really works. 

Bitch (Hurt Locker 1) - There has never been a more perfect Sue song.  Not sure if it’s underrated? But wanted to point out that it’s notable. 

At Last (A Wedding) - really the best part of that ceremony 

The Final Countdown (Rise and Fall of Sue Sylvester) - It’s nice that they included one last comedic performance

Listen to Your Heart (We Built This Glee Club) - I’m glad Rachel and Jesse got one last number together

Take Me to Church/Chandelier/Come Sail Away (We Built This Glee Club) - I think the New New Directions last competition set list was pretty good! 

So, uh, yeah - didn’t see it on here? I probably really loved it and everyone knows that or I don’t think it’s that great to be remember, lol 

What are your favorite underrated songs? 

[unibrowzz]

My 2020 reviews

All the cool kids were doing these so now I finally dragged my ass into doing them too lmao. 

Albania- Fall from the Sky

A song I swear cursed this whole contest from the moment it won Festivali i Këngës. Like with the shitshow this song caused I just knew the whole year was fucked. With half the fandom whining they didn’t get their first club song of the year to the other half smugly shoving it as their winner despite no other songs being around to compare it to, the whole fiasco just left me knowing that 2020 would end in tears, just hopefully not my own. As for the song, it’s lame. It’s a standard ballad with OBSCENE amounts of autotune, which is weird because the girl can actually sing pretty decently without it, so why they decided to make her sound like a damn computer is beyond me. And WHY did they translate it, haven't the past few years proven that Albania's better off leaving their songs in Albanian? 

Armenia- Chains on You

A bootleg Ariana Grande song, and a really shit one at that. The kind of song only people who think being young, gay and mean counts as having a personality would say is good.

Australia- Don’t Break Me

One of the few decent Australian entries (but that REALLY isn’t saying much coming from me, I barely care they’re in the contest by this point) but marred by a horribly untidy performance and lacklustre lyrics. At least it’s not fucking pop-opera, that’s all I can say. I’d rather listen to the sound of my face being dragged down the runway at Heathrow airport than be subjected to another Zero Gravity.

Austria- Alive

One of those pseudo-jazz dance songs, á la Olly Murs or Bruno Mars (I swear there’s a song like this in every recent contest). I mean, it’s good, but it’s just kinda meh since I’m kinda getting tired of this genre rearing its fedora-wearing head every time a new lineup rolls in.

Azerbaijan- Cleopatra

One of the “better” trashy entries this year, comprised of about five different musical genres, six ancient cultures being appropriated and absolutely zero class. Probably sounds at least 50% better when you’re absolutely steaming drunk and face down on the floor in the middle of a gay bar.

Belarus- Da Vidna

Somehow, this song sounds both very unique and original yet trite and average at the same time. I couldn’t decide whether listening to it was a new experience or if I’d heard it a million times before.

Belgium- Release Me

A song which just drones on till it ends. I would say it’s ripping off the song that won last year, but it forgot that having a chorus stops your song from being three minutes of snooze.

Bulgaria- Tears Getting Sober

A typical breathy mumble-girl song, AKA a genre I can’t fucking stand. Really don’t see the hype with this one, the melody is pretty but the vocals are out for lunch and it’s otherwise completely and utterly boring.

Croatia- Divlji Vjetre

One of the token big dramatic ballads you listen to once, enjoy, then forget about until Darius in the Discord server plays it one night whilst you’re hitting up the radio bot with requests. You’ll find that “nice, but forgettable” is a common theme for this year.

Cyprus- Running

Ironically Cyprus didn’t send a crappy Fuego knockoff for 2020, and I say ironically because a crappy Fuego knockoff would’ve actually stood out this year, and I say crappy because honestly Fuego wasn’t even all that great to begin with. "Running” itself is just one of those edgy tortured soul pop songs which, let’s be honest, would have been paired with an impressive performance which would’ve overshadowed how bland it is. Kind of like “You’re the Only One”. Or even Fuego for that matter.

Czech Republic- Kemama

Standard Afro-pop, a genre we don't often see at the contest so I'll let it pass. I feel like this is the kind of song that’s infinitely better live, and that it would’ve been one of those songs that suddenly became a frontrunner after the semi finals, but I guess we’ll never know eh?

Denmark- Yes 

The quintessential mid-10s Eurovision song. It's got guitars, happy people, Scandinavian origins… it’s just a typical radio guitar song, nothing special.

Estonia- What Love Is

I mean it's better than La Forza. Granted, the sound of someone pissing directly onto a microphone installed in the bowl of a toilet would sound better than La Forza but still. Going back to this song, it’s just... a standard Eastern-ballad with some very desperate lyrics. It feels kind of outdated, if I’m honest. Like something about this just reeks of 2011.

Finland- Looking Back

Yet another dreary, forgettable ballad. It comes to something when the best song they COULD have sent was a party song which sounded like it was from the mid 90s. At least that song was memorable. That said, this one at least has some decent lyrics. Bravo for that I guess.

France- Mon Alliée

France decides to say “fuck it” to being an underground fan-favourite and takes a leaf out of the UKs book by sending the same rent-a-Swede schlock they’ve been sending since 2015. I’m just confused as to why anyone in their right mind would choose to follow the UKs example but you do you France.

Germany- Violent Thing

A rehash of Sweden's entry from two years ago, but this time sung by Justin Bieber circa 2008. Kind of alright if you can stomach the singer's whiny voice, but otherwise pretty dull and kinda forgettable.

Greece- Superg!rl

Hello fellow kidz, we are hearing you like the girl power? The super heroes? The t3xt $p3ech? We made you song, please give us the votes *dabs*

Georgia- Take me as I Am

I mean… this sure is a choice. This feels like one of those songs that everyone memes on because the lyrics are kinda janky and the singer’s voice (and accent) take a bit of getting used to, but other than that it’s just one of those NQ songs for hipster fans to declare as their unironic winner at a later date. All in all this just feels like the male equivalent of one of those mid-10s fat acceptance women’s songs, only a lot shoutier and this time he has more flaws than not being skinny.

Iceland- Think About Things 

A bootleg George Ezra song, performed by a load of disinterested tumblr users in their pyjamas. Because if there’s one thing that sells me on a song, it’s being given the evils by a bunch of nerds who look like they’ll send me death threats for not agreeing with their Pokémon headcanons. To be fair, the song is kind of groovy since it sounds so 70s, but the performance is very off-putting to people who aren’t in the Eurovision loop. And also people who are, because I sure as Hell don’t see the appeal in this myself and this whole performance just feels like Save Your Kisses for Me without the charm. I feel like this would’ve come second or third, definitely with a lot of televotes but either the jury would’ve dragged it down or it wouldn’t have scored enough televotes to win.

Ireland- Story of my Life

A song that’s at LEAST ten years out of date by this point, think like an early Katy Perry, Jessie J or Avril Lavigne song. I’ll forgive it because even though it sounds like it should’ve been entered in 2013 (at the latest), it at least evokes some nostalgic memories of shitty school discos and holiday parks.

Israel- Feker Libi

The female equivalent of the Czech song. Unsurprisingly, people went wild for it when it was released. I guess only women are allowed to sing Afro-pop at this contest. Like with the Czech song, I’ll forgive it since Afro-pop is a cool genre anyway, and even though this is just another club song I can at least see myself dancing to it.

Italy- Fai Rumore

Well, at least my wish of “Italy sends a typical power ballad devoid of anything the mainstream fandom likes” finally came true. It was pretty refreshing to have a year where people weren’t shoving Italy’s entry up my nose left right and centre. In terms of my actual thoughts I can’t deny that the guy has a tremendous voice, but for some reason the song just doesn’t… click with me. I guess I like my male Italian singers a little more gruff and raspy, if you know what I mean. They gotta sound like they smoke at LEAST five packets of cigarettes a day for me to take notice.

Malta- All of my Love

Listen I am 100% rooting for Destiny Chukunyere to win this contest some day but man was this song a disappointment. It feels so… un-special and generic, like it gets the job done and that’s it. It’s not the stand-up-and-belt-it-out soul anthem I’d hoped for, it’s just… there.

Moldova- Prison

All I remember about this song is that it vaguely reminds me of that one Meccano song about the gypsy who makes a deal with the moon or something. And I’ve TRIED to remember more about what it sounds like, trust me.

Latvia- Still Breathing

The one horrible weird song you get every year which overuses strobe effects to the point it comes with an epilepsy warning. Would be bearable if it wasn't for the singer’s insistence that this is actually some feminist masterpiece when it's really just a self-empowerment club song about the singer fingerbanging herself over the fact she writes music.

Lithuania- On Fire

One of the songs everyone thought was going to win at one point, even though it seems like a surefire non-qualifier to me. It’s one of those weird entries, but not the kind of over the top, batshit insane, you’d-have-to-be-drunk-to-enjoy-it weird, the kind of subdued surreal weird. Like this is weed instead of LSD or cocaine weird. Granted my mom, who I consider to be a "typical" Eurofan, actually really liked this song when she saw it in the recaps, so who knows maybe this would have done well with televoters after all.

Netherlands- Grow

I appreciate this song for how artsy and clever it is with its structure, since it starts off acapella and the instrumental builds up with the song until it stops suddenly, symbolising a person’s growth from a child into an adult, and ending suddenly with their death (Geddit? The song’s called “Grow”). But it feels like the kind of song that would be lost on a Eurovision audience. The juries would have taken note, for sure, but the televote… let’s be honest, they’d have been too busy drunk voting for Russia to care about anything else.

North Macedonia- You

Well, it's better than the miserable dirge they sent last year, but given how I'd rather pleasure myself with a steak knife than listen to that song, that really isn't saying much. Going back to “You”, it really just feels like a diet version of Switzerland’s entry from last year, combined with Sweden’s song from 2018. What I’m saying is it’s your average “I’m a man in a club and I want to dance with and probably fuck this hot girl I just met” song, which I a new genre I just made up. You’re welcome.

Norway- Attention 

One of those songs you appreciate because it sounds nice and the singer has a good voice, but instantly forget because it’s really not all that interesting. If I sound like I'm repeating myself, welcome to Eurovision 2020.

Poland- Empires

“Rise Like a Phoenix” but sung by a wannabe Adele and not a mascara-wearing Jesus in a dress. Like a lot of other songs on this list, it’s just average across the board, likeable when it’s on, but instantly forgettable as soon as the next song comes on.

Portugal: Medo de Sentir

Pretty, but also similar to their ill-fated 2018 entry, only with a bit more energy and less pink hair. What I’m saying is this would have been another NQ unless the crowd who enjoy subtle ambience music come in to save it like they did with Slovenia's entry last year.

Romania- Alcohol You

See Bulgaria, because this is practically the same song. It’s just as dreary, just as badly sung (if not worse because holy shit this girl sounds like she’s being suffocated), and I suppose you COULD excuse that by saying she’s drunk or hungover… but I don’t want to listen to someone ungracefully mumble into a microphone for three minutes.

Russia- Uno

A classic big camp party song, the kind of song people who haven’t watched Eurovision since 2003 think wins on the regular. I can see why people would like it (especially in this boring year lmao, I applaud Russia for taking the opportunity to loosen their corset and just send a complete mess instead of their usual clinical vote grabs), but it’s just not something I enjoy. It's the song that plays into the misconception that Eurovision is just a clown show for drunk people, like this is just here to be that one flash-in-the-pan meme song that only entertains people who don’t really care about Eurovision until the day before it airs. Kind of like the old ladies they sent in 2012 (remember them?).

San Marino- Freaky!

San Marino, in true Sammarinese fashion, have yet again sent a decade-ambiguous song which sounds like it was either released in 1978 or 2003. I feel like this would have been one of those songs which could have surprised us if it had a really wacky, creative performance (think like Moldova in 2018), but this is San Marino so you know that would never happen.

Serbia- Hasta la Vista

Insert unoriginal joke about a decade wanting their shitty trend back right here. Okay maybe that’s a bit harsh, especially considering how this song is actually, yanno, unique in comparison to the rest of this year. But it still feels weirdly dated, in a way where I can’t decide whether it sounds like it belongs in 1998 or 2018. I suppose girl power ages a song regardless of when it was released.

Slovenia- Voda

Yet another standard Balkan-European power ballad which you appreciate because it’s well sung, but forget the moment it ends because it’s kinda boring. … Does anyone else have a bit of deja vu?

Spain- Universo

For some reason I feel like this song is shilling itself out to someone but I have no idea who. Aside from the horny people voting solely because the singer is moderately attractive even with that wretched Jedward haircut.

Sweden- Move

Imagine soul but… boring.

Switzerland- Répondez Moi

Imagine Arcade but… in French.

United Kingdom- My last Breath

Not the best the UK could have done, but it’s at least a modern offering unlike the residual dregs of the mid-90s that we sent throughout the 2010s. It’s definitely a bit too generic to have done any better than maybe 15th, but hey at least the cancellation means we won’t have to see it not do as well as the BBC thinks it’s entitled to do, prompting a billion clickbait articles about how Brexit somehow affected our performance.

Ukraine- Solovey

At long last we come to something you probably weren't expecting: a song I actually really like. Which is weird because I usually don't care for or don't like whatever Ukraine vomits into the contest, so I was pleasantly surprised to find a song I liked from them in such a weak year. This song isn’t for everyone, it’s white noise singing which is a very acquired taste, but this is honestly the only 2020 song I find myself coming back to over and over. And it’s in Ukrainian too, so you don’t have to put up with their usual mangled English offerings.

[incomingalbatross]

Fic: Guiding Light

@foundfamilybingo fill (very belated) for the “Lost/Stranded” square, in the Gravity Falls fandom!

@awesomebutunpractical, this is for you. Thank you for waiting, and for generally being the fun and friendly Tumblr presence/mutual that you always are. It is late and I am tired right now, but I hope you like this fic. :)

Characters: Stan Pines, Soos Ramirez, Abuelita Ramirez Warnings/Pairings/Ratings: None, none, gen Length: approximately 2k words

Stan had given Soos the week off and now he was starting to wonder why.

Sure, it was the kid’s first week of high school or whatever, and sure this was always a slack week in the tourist trade and maybe he didn’t need another pair of hands, but geez. He hadn’t thought about the fact that what’s-his-name, the latest cashier kid, would be leaving too. What, was he supposed to do everything by himself around here?

Ugh, fine, whatever. He might as well close up and get some work done downstairs—at least he didn’t have any kids hanging around underfoot, getting in his way, right?

See, if things had gone the way he’d maybe kinda assumed they would, with Soos showing up whether he was paid or not to babble about his new High School Experience and generally occupy Stan’s space for hours…well, Stan wouldn’t be getting anything important done, would he? No.

So yeah, it was a good thing that it seemed like the kid might’ve finally wised up—here it was late Tuesday, after all, and Stan hadn’t seen a trace of him since Saturday, which was practically a record.

Maybe, Stan thought… Maybe after three years of this kid underfoot, being weirdly obsessed with Stan and the Shack, high school would be the thing that finally sent life back to the status quo. With Soos moving on to whatever teenagers did nowadays, and Stan in the basement, uninterrupted again.

Good.

Stan was just turning to the vending machine, still grumbling under his breath, when the phone rang. Ugh, after eight o’clock? What was it, a vampire telemarketer?

“Hello,” he barked into the receiver.

“Mr. Pines,” a quiet, softly-accented voice responded, “would you send my boy home? It is getting late, and he will need to be up early for his new school tomorrow.”

Stan grimaced, surprised and vaguely offended. “What? I mean, maybe if I had him, but I haven’t even seen Soos today. I toldja I’d give him the week off!”

There was a slight pause from Soos’s grandma. “He has not been at the Shack today?” she repeated.

“No…” Stan’s gut was starting to catch up with his ears, now, and that wasn’t a good feeling at all. “Wait,” he said. “When did you last see him?”

There was a sigh from the other end of the phone—a worried sigh. He’d never heard Soos’s Abuelita sound worried before. “This morning, before school. He texted me after school that he would be late home—I have given him a phone now, he is a big boy—and said then that he would be visiting your Shack.”

“He hasn’t shown up that I noticed,” Stan said slowly. “But…if he has a phone, why call me?”

“He has not been answering,” Abuelita said, and the bad feeling in Stan’s gut solidified into a block of ice, cold and heavy.

This was Gravity Falls. And the kid had gone missing. That was a bad, bad combination

“I’ll, uh, I’ll look around,” he said quickly. “I mean, maybe he’s just outside, or wandered in here while I wasn’t lookin’, or something. I’ll find him—I mean, it’s Soos. Where would he have gone?”

There were a lot of bad answers to that question, he knew—“gone” and “gone willingly” were very different things. But he shoved that knowledge deep, deep down, where it could panic by itself and not distract him.

From the hum Abuelita gave in response, she wasn’t much more reassured than Stan. But all she said was, “Thank you, Mr. Pines. Please make sure he gets home when you find him,” and her voice when she said it was a bit closer to its usual untroubled calm.

“Yeah, sure,” he began, but she had already hung up.

He dropped the phone and ran his hands over his face. “Okay, think, Stan,” he said to himself. “It’s Soos, he’s got some weird thing against lyin’ at all, let alone to his grandma. So if he said he was on his way here, somethin’ must’ve happened on the way…”

But that was too wide an area. It could’ve been at school—second day would be pretty early for the “lock ‘em up and leave ‘em” level of bullying, but heck, it wasn’t like Stan hadn’t seen it before. (Though that target had never been alone at school…) It could’ve been in town.

It could’ve been in the woods, and that thought made his gut twist more than anything. He told Soos the woods weren’t safe, but if the kid tried to take a shortcut or something…

He shook his head. “I can’t do this alone,” he muttered, and turned back to the vending machine.

—

There was a spell, in Ford’s dumb journal. Well, there were more than a few spells, most of them either bizarrely useless or straight-up dangerous, but this one had been…special.

A spell to “trace the threads binding your heart to others,” his brother’s stupid fancy handwriting read. When tested, it produced several strands of light emitting from my chest outward, in various directions, until out of my sight. And then he went on about the colors of the lights, because he was a nerd.

A warning, however! The entry concluded. This spell lasted only an hour (it was somewhat annoying to constantly have invisible-to-others lights around me during that period, honestly!), and once it broke I was unable to recast it. There may be a time limit in which it needs to “recharge,” it may be once per user, or there may be another component required for repeated use of which I am unaware. In any case, this is something to be aware of. (Although it is a largely useless spell, so I don’t foresee that being much of an issue.)

Stan gritted his teeth, reading over the instructions one more time. He could’ve tried it before—he’d thought about trying it before—but, well. There were a whole lotta factors that could keep Ford’s “thread” or whatever showing up for him, even if it worked, and if it did what good would it do him? He knew where Ford was, or at least how to get there. No point using something that might not even work to check that he was out there. (If he weren’t Stan would know, anyway.)

But he’d always kept it in the back of his mind, anyway, just in case. In case it became useful…or in case, one day, he just needed to try for evidence the Ford was still out there, that they were still connected.

He only got to use it once, after all.

“Well,” he muttered now, slamming the book shut, “here goes nothin’, Soos. This better work.”

He shut his eyes and chanted the weird gibberish words Ford had written down (seriously, how was this magic? He could make up better magic-sounding words than that). Then, cautiously, he cracked his eyelids open again.

“…Oh, wow.”

There was a whole tangle of multicolored lights coming from his chest, enough that it took him a minute to sort through them. He didn’t look long at any of them, though, mind focused on Soos.

There was a cluster of strings all stretching off in the same direction (towards town, he figured after a second), two bright red-and-purple strands dancing around each other and zooming south next to a couple fainter multicolored ones, a quieter but colorful string stretching east, and…

Oh yeah. That one was definitely Soos.

Stan couldn’t have said how he knew this one—almost the brightest one there, woven out of red and purple and yellow all mixed with traces of blue—was Soos’s. He just felt it, as soon as he focused on it; it felt like Soos, somehow, warm and confusing but good. Important.

Time to follow the trail, then.

—

In the end, with the help of these ridiculous magic lights, it was almost too easy. “Almost,” because Stan would never, ever complain about an easy win if he could get it, and also because he knew how bad the things that could’ve happened were. But still. It was a little anticlimactic to just follow the string to Soos and then find him actually sleeping against a tree in the middle of the woods.

Stan just stopped and stared at him, for a minute, because really? Here was Stan, charging to his rescue in the middle of the night (okay, okay, nine PM, whatever), when it wasn’t even a work day, and what kinda welcome did he get? A sleeping teenager!

He looked okay, though, so that was good. And the rope of light between him and Stan looked…kinda cool, maybe, now that Stan could see both ends. It disappeared into Soos’s chest, just like on Stan’s end, but the colors changed when they reached the kid. On his end, there was still red and yellow, but the purple gave way to green and there was a lot more blue there. Weird.

Eh, whatever.

“Soos, hey, wake up, kid,” he said, crouching down. He was tempted to yell it, just for entertainment points, but after dark in these woods that was probably not a good idea. Instead, he reached out a hand to shake the boy’s shoulder. “C’mon, time to go.”

Soos blinked his eyes open immediately, looking up at him with those stupid starry eyes Stan had always thought kids were supposed to grow out of. “Mr. Pines!” he cheered, throwing himself at Stan. “I got lost but I knew you’d find me!”

“Oof,” Stan grunted, falling back under the kid’s weight as he caught him. “Yeah, sure, kid, I only gave you a week off, not forever. What’re you doin’ in the woods anyway? Talk about a dumb idea…”

Soos shrugged, arms tightening around Stan. “I, uh, I don’t really know, Mr. Pines,” he said, sounding guilty. “I was on my way to the Shack, cause I wanted to tell you how high school was, but…then I heard singing?” He sniffled. “And I know you always say not to go into the woods, but the singing was really pretty and I wanted to get closer, and then I met these people and they were really cool-looking and I think they said there was a party? But, um, I don’t really remember that part too well. I just remember walking in the woods with them and feeling sleepy, but then they stopped? And they were all, like, yelling at each other about somebody being, like, ‘marked by the Great Protector’ or something, and then they left. And then I realized I was lost in the woods, but Abuelita always said when I was little that if I was lost I should stay where I was and wait for somebody to find me. So I sat down to wait, and then I was still tired so I guess I fell asleep.”

He paused, and then sniffled again. “I’m really sorry, Mr. Pines, that you had to come looking for me,” he said dolefully. “I was really proud of being in high school now and being, like, mature and stuff…but then I went and Hung Out With Strangers and tried to go to a Strange Party and I’m really sorry! Am I…Are you gonna fire me? Or make me take extra time off work?”

“Moses, kid, of course I’m not gonna fire you,” Stan blurted out. Freakin’ wood folk, thinking they could take his kid… He didn’t know what they thought they were talking about with that “marked by the ‘Great Protector’” stuff, because Soos wasn’t marked by anybody, but they were lucky they’d run off before Stan got to them.

“I might make you come back to work early,” he added, “so you don’t have time to do stupid stuff. But…eh, you’re not dumb. You know the drill, right? You made a mistake, big deal. Learn from it and don’t do it again, capisce?”

Soos hugged him again, and okay, they were approaching a limit here. “Got it, Mr. Pines, sir!” he exclaimed, almost bouncing, and Stan groaned as he got back to his feet. Kid was too enthusiastic to live with, seriously.

“Yeah, okay, good,” he muttered, pulling the teenager up. “Let’ get you home then. Oh, and Soos?”

“Yes, Mr. Pines?”

He fixed him with a raised eyebrow. “Whatever you think you saw or heard out here, that’s the kinda stuff that’ll make people think you’re crazy if you talk about it. Got it?”

Soos nodded earnestly. “I got it, Mr. Pines. I won’t talk about it to anyone, even the guys at school!”

“Oh yeah? You made friends with any one those guys yet?”

And they began trudging home, Soos happily rambling about his new school experience. And if the lights winked out, finally, just as Stan refocused on them in search of Ford’s, before he could settle whether it was there or not…

Well, that was okay for now, he figured. He’d used the spell for something else important, in the end.

[glowstickia]

5, 14, and 19 for the fic asks ~~

thank!!! :D

5: what category of fics do you read the most? (angst, fluff, etc)

....GOD I mean like...hm according to ao3 like fluff is the most, and then comes angst (with hurt/comfort)

I wanna have a good ass time. Give me mutual pining/slowburn and I will just fuckin die HAHAHA

14: what’s your favourite AU setting?

heck if I know HAHAHAHA shit hmmm I think...if it involves ghosts or magic I’m just like “OH HELLO” because like tbh I don’t go hunting for aus XD It ain’t my style lolololol

I have seen some good af au fics and have been uuuuh part in making some...honestly it just depends? On whatever the fuck I’m in the mood for. ALSO it super depends on what fandom I’m reading for because honest to god I’m a clusterfuck of fandoms XD 

A Handful of Examples:

Lesbians in Space by panconkiwi (bud i’d tag you but tumblr is rude since you changed your url)- sci-fi au for TAZ: Balance. Team Sweetflips slowburn goodness where Carey meets Killian and they planet hop and is like...loosely based off of the Here There Be Gerblins arc (duck planet is my fav planet)

i will buy the flowershop by weatheredlaw - restaurant au and all that jazz for TAZ: Balance. I love aus where like... Julia is ALIVE and Magnus and her are just...a fuckin cute couple and doing lots of cute domestic shit and like its bonus that it has the rest of the taz balance crew like added in here with their own lil stories? Its just ugh goddamn breath of fresh air. It’s been a few years but istg it made me cry HAHA

Salvation is a Last Minute Business by @potatocrab - noir au for Fallout 4. Its just a treasure trove of like...nuggets from the game while also being its own beautiful thing. Murder mystery, espionage, and GODDAMN IT I need to like just sit down and binge it one of these days haha

Insert Something Shakespearian Here by katrinajg - deacon is lone wanderer au and yes also Fallout 4 (with added bonus of Fallout 3 mentioned things) heck. Another uh fic I just...put on the back burner despite getting DEEP into it lasdhfds It has brought me SOOOOOO much joy and like fuck dude I accidentally like...overly excited myself to the point that I uuuh stayed up overnight cause my adrenaline with the shit going down in the fic kept me up OOPS (this...is the main reason why i had to put it on the back burner LOL)

Down the Rabbithole by Lynse - college au... its ALSO a crossover fic because actually I’m a huge fuckin SUCKER for that. Over the Garden Wall, Gravity Falls, Danny Phantom, and Troll Hunter.  Basically Wirt meets Jazz, Wendy, and Toby who all have their own weird secrets and Wirt’s in denial about the Unknown.

So. I don’t have a set like...”favorite” setting au wise since these are all like GEMS and very fuckin different from each other. What can I say? I like character interaction *nods*

19: undercover au or college au?

Ok so DEFINITELY undercover, cause hot damn I love murder mysteries and that’s like somewhat compliments undercover aus? I need to find more tho, cause fuck I cannot remember for the life of me what would be considered an undercover au...

Like...I’ve read some good college au fics specifically the one I mentioned in the previous question and like...its good shit HAHA

[fic reader asks]

[emerald-eyes-8917]

Your Hand in Mine (Until the end of the world...)

This is response to an anon prompt that I received via my askbox about Dan being upset about a fan taking a photo of him and the reader holding hands,what with the Internet being so judgemental.

I hope you enjoy this, anon, whoever you are, and this will be crossed posted to ArchiveofOurOwn as well, so any comments or reblogs would be much appreciated.  So without further ado, here we go!

P.S. : I would rate this R, so take care if you are reading at work.  And here we go for real!

The day had been too long and the wrong side of busy.  She was immensely grateful for the clock striking five o'clock when she was able to leave the office, already looking forward to seeing her partner again, the inimitable Dan Avidan.

It still gave her a frisson of delight to think of him as her partner, even after these few months together.  

He had been working hard on his music lately, as well as video shoots, promotion and planning tour dates for the upcoming Tour de Force, and she had missed him a great deal while still feeling so proud of him, Brian and TWRP for all they had achieved together, and that success surely continuing to grow.

Sending him a quick message that she was on her way home, followed by a line of heart and star emojis, she gets in her car to go pick up some dinner on the way, unable to keep herself from singing along to 'Danny, Don't You Know?' as soon as it comes up on her iTunes shuffle, unaware that her screen does not notify her of any replying message.

An hour later...

Arriving back at Dan's apartment, she places the sushi meals to one side, for knowing the unpredictable hours that it took while recording the Game Grumps show, it would not be worth it to pick up a hot meal that would go cold in minutes.

There was still no reply to her message, but that was hardly alarming.  Dan rarely replied on days when there was plenty of games to play with Arin or music to record for Ninja Sex Party or Starbomb.  He pushed himself too far sometimes, and she prays to herself that this was not one of those days where he was on the brink of exhaustion.

She makes some tea, tidying up around the apartment to occupy herself, humming quietly and waiting patiently for his return.

However, after eight o'clock passes without any sign of him, she begins to feel a strong feeling of worry creeping in.

She sends one more message, 'Hey Dan, hope you're not working too hard!  I have dinner here at home so don't worry about picking up anything if you're hungry and plenty of warm tea too.  See you later.  xxxx'

Typing an 'I love you' at the end of the message seemed like a desperate manuevre to get his attention, since she was beginning to feel quite anxious about his lack of replies.

A half hour passes and she is pacing around the flat like a caged animal, clutching her phone like a lifeline, extremely close to panic, when the jangle of keys makes her jump, heart beating quite fast.

The door opens and Dan walks in, head bowed, not even calling out her name or any other greeting.

Before she can even say hello or ask what he had been up to all evening, or why he had her almost worried sick, he has stalked through the living room, not even casting a look at her, making for the bedroom, and closes the door quite sharply, the loud snap echoing through the apartment and leaving her nerve endings pricking with fright.

She is left standing alone, eyes stinging and chest heaving.  Throwing her phone on the sofa, making it bounce off the cushions with some force, she could have almost screamed in frustration or burst into tears at this insensitive treatment.

She had been near frantic with the pervading thought that he could have been in an accident, and when he finally decided to come home, he does not even say a word or offer any explanation.

White, hot anger floods her veins and she strides over to the bedroom door, rapping loudly with her knuckles.

"Dan!  /Dan/!  Open up, we need to talk, right now!"

No answer.

"Dan... I am coming into the bedroom to speak to you, because you are acting like a real jerk right now, and I've been worried about you all evening and I deserve to know what is going on.  I am opening the door, I gave you fair warning..."

Turning the handle, she pushes the door open, walking into the bedroom at such a quick pace that she almost trips over her own feet, prepared to launch into a tirade, but she halts immediately at the sight of Dan sitting with his back to her on the edge of the bed, bent over with his hands clenching and unclenching in his hair.

The rage suddenly evaporates into pure concern at this tableau.  It was not sulking, nor was he pacing the room.  This reaction was something else...

Swallowing thickly, she whispers, "Danny?"

Still no response.

"Dan..."

She ventures forward carefully, treading softly, her voice nothing more than a soft whisper, "Dan... has something happened?  Tell me?"

Her immediate thought focuses in on his family, that a terrible event had occurred involving his grandmother, his parents, his sister or his nephews.

He still doesn't reply, and now she cannot disguise the tremor in her voice, "Danny, you're scaring me... please... please talk to me."

It is only then that Dan sits up straight, turning his head slowly towards her, and already she can see that his eyes are glimmering, the corners of his mouth down-turned, his entire posture speaking of someone defeated.

"Hey."

She shuts her eyes, huffing a sigh, "Hi, Dan."

He looks down again, not being able to meet her eyes for more than a few seconds, admitting quietly, "I seem to have fucked up quite badly, haven't I?"

She does not answer, only calling on all the love she possessed and all the strength left in her body not to collapse.

"I didn't mean to scare you.  I read your messages, but I was driving and couldn't get my phone to reply.  I just... I needed to go for a drive and think."

This conversation was almost like getting blood out of a stone and her patience was wearing quite thin, so she asks once more, "Think about what?  Please tell me what's happened or else I will walk out of here..."

"Someone took a photo of us."

A beat.

"What?"  It is akin to being doused with ice-cold water, the gravity settling down on her and all she can do is sit down heavily on the corner of the bed across from him, looking straight at him.

Dan still does not meet her eyes, and pushes back his shoulders as if steeling himself to make a long speech, "Someone, a fan probably, managed to get a photo of us together.  When we were leaving that restaurant last week and I decided to take your hand because we were having a nice time out, and I like holding your hand, but then some jerk decided to take a photo of us out together and post it to their Instagram with the caption 'Shattered dreams of the fangirls' with maybe about a hundred comments about your clothes, your hair and who you could possibly be.  I've had my privacy denied, and yours as well, so someone could make a joke and everything's just crappy now and I'm just really pissed off about it..."

He brings his fist down on the mattress with a solid thump and she starts with fright.  She had never seen him angry before in all the time they had been together, and it was not a pleasant sight.

His voice sounds quite shaky now, as if he was holding back tears, "You know I love the fans.  They give me the chance to have a dream job, to do amazing things, but Goddamnit, I lose my patience sometimes, and it's so horrible to feel that way.  It's like dealing with really immature people sometimes, who just want to posture and be negative and make a judgement.  It's the same when there are really mean, personal comments about Arin's skill with video games,with people telling him that he sucks all the time and I have to defend him.  I shouldn't have to, and I shouldn't have to defend my relationship, either.  Everyone is just so judgemental on the internet without even knowing the whole story and it's just the worst..."

Taking all of this in, she wraps her arms around her middle, hugging herself quite tight.  Her own personal reaction to someone posting a photo of them online was one of quiet shock, it being the first time she had ever even been linked to anyone from the Grumps crew, let alone someone she was intimate with.  She was also feeling heartbroken at Dan losing any ounce of faith in his fans, the negative side of fandom clearly on display here.

Summoning up all the courage she can, she whispers, "What do you want to do?"

Dan heaves a sigh, "Nothing I can do.  It was out in the street, in public, by chance.  If I start anything negative, the backlash will be huge and some of the fans might take offence.  You saw how it was when I first joined the show, can you even imagine what it would be like now?  There is hero worship that can turn on a dime in a second.  No, someone took their opportunity and it just pisses me off that people don't know where the boundary lies.  I want my relationship to not be posted online, unless it's my choice, and trust me, I won't be doing that, because it's not fair to drag you into this bullshit.  You don't deserve hate or trolls or anything of that immature stuff... I just want us to be together, to enjoy this time together, and not worry about people hiding behind their keyboards being trolls or having to read that I've broken peoples' hearts."

He runs his hands through his hair, flopping back on the bed, arms outstretched either side of him.  He tips his chin up slightly and looks at her upside down, and immediately his forehead creases when he takes in her expression and her defeated posture.

"Oh... oh, God... I've upset you.  Baby, I didn't mean to..."

He opens his arms and like a magnet, she immediately shuffles across to let him take her in his arms, hugging her clumsily, all the emotions coming to the surface: relief that he home and safe, hurt that he had shut her out, the feeling of upset that their relationship was being scrutinised.  All she can do is allow the tears to fall, hiding her face in his chest and clinging to him tightly.

"Baby... I'm so sorry... I'm sorry for all of this... it’s just a fucking mess and you don’t deserve it.  I’m so, so sorry..."

She lets out a shuddering sob, "Danny... I need to say something..."

"Yeah?  What is it?"  The question is almost fearful, and even now she can detect his heartbeat picking up pace.

Why must I love you so much?  Why does it hurt?

She presses her hands to his chest and sits back from him slightly, though not completely separating herself from him, lower lip trembling as she speaks, just about managing to get the words out without breaking down into sobs, "I don't like it when you close yourself off from me.  It's like... I feel that you don't trust me when you don't open up, that you don't want to talk to me, and... it really hurts.  I'm sorry about someone invading our privacy, it shouldn't have happened, but we can work through that together, only if you talk to me."

Dan lowers his eyes, utterly ashamed, "I know that... I guess I thought I could protect you from all that..."

She lightly thumps her palm against his chest, not enough to hurt, but to make him look up at her, "You don't have to protect me.  You can tell me anything, you know that, right?"

All he can do is nod, tears already beginning to escape from the corners of his eyes, but he does not allow his face to crumple.

"I do trust you... I think I need to work on expressing myself better."

"We both do.  We can learn together."

She lifts her hand to touch his cheek and stroke away the warm tears, heart aching as he turns his face more into her palm, pressing a kiss to her skin, murmuring that he was sorry over and over.

"Dan..."

"Mmhmm?"  

She slowly lowers her hand from his face, reaching for his own hand, interlacing their fingers together, holding them up between them while looking into his eyes with quiet intent.

"You feel this?"

"Yeah..."  He has his head lowered, staring down at their joined hands quite intently

"You can hold my hand anytime you want, in public, in private, wherever you want.  As long as you have my hand in yours, then everything will be okay.  I am not letting you go, Danny..."

"Baby..."

He squeezes that bit tighter, leaning his forehead against hers with a soft sigh.

She continues, "I know you're angry, and upset, but we can choose to rise above this or sink down to a level that is undeserving.  We can come through this..."

"Together?"

"Together."

He chuckles quietly, "I'm done with telling you that I'm sorry.  Let me show you now... let me make it up to you, please?"

Before she can even reply, he has ducked his head closer to gently kiss her, his curls tumbling in a soft cloud close to her face, ticking her cheeks as he tilts his head closer, deepening the kiss with a low groan in his chest and she leans closer, sliding her arms around his neck, responding with eagerness because she had truly missed him, and even the thought of losing him made her kissing more desperate.

Dan lets out another needy sound, his arms locking around her waist, leaning back and bringing her with him down onto the bed, shifting so she was draped across him, nudging his leg in between hers, his hips grinding up lazily against her.

Bracing her hands on either side of his head, she brushes light kisses across his face as he reaches up to tangle his hands in her hair, angling her head closer so he could kiss her again.

Just as their lips make contact again, her eyes flutter open and she lifts her head up and away, looking off to one side in deep thought.

Dan mumbles, quite bemused, “Baby... why’d you stop?”

She says quietly, “Wait... hold that thought."

She clambers off him, rolling over and hopping off the bed, darting just out of reach before he could catch hold of her again, only giving him a smile over her shoulder before returning to the living room to retrieve her phone, hearing him call out a 'Baby, come back'.

Sure enough, she returns in a matter of seconds, smoothing down her hair, sitting up on the bed with her back against the headboard, patting the space beside her.

"Here, come sit by me."

Dan tilts his head, completely perturbed, his hair mussed from her ruffling before complying with a groan, dragging himself up the bed towards her, "I'm getting so old..."

She shakes her head with a smile as he sits up beside her, folding his arms, "You look like someone with a crazy idea."

She gives him a patient look, "Just humour me, please?  I want to do this before we get too carried away.  Which can easily happen, as you well know."

Opening up the camera on her phone, she puts the screen to selfie mode, sliding down to rest back against the pillows, beckoning for him to do the same.

He sighs, sliding in beside her, and she moves in closer so her face was right beside his.

"Come on, take a picture with me."

Dan raises an eyebrow, "Ummm... why?"

"You'll see why.  Go on, give me a handsome smile."

Instead, Dan pulls a comical face with his nostrils flared and his eyes wide open.

She laughs at the sight, sticking her tongue out the corner of her mouth, snapping a quick photo.

"Alright... now be confused."

"Why?"

"It's improv and you’re a master at it, just trust me."

Dan makes an overly quizzical face as she touches her chin with her eyes looking to one side, taking another photo.

"Now be scared."

At first, he doesn't do anything, but then he gasps loudly, "There's a spider on your leg."

Just as she yelps, her thumb hits the shutter button and then he dissolves into laughter.  "Got you."

"You are the worst!"

Deciding to take him by surprise, she leans in and kisses his cheek, taking another photo as she does so.

"Meanie..."

"No, I'm not.  Now, once last one, and we're done."

"I'll make a normal face this time..."

"You can make any face you want."

True to his word, he smiles softly at the camera just as she reaches up to gently cup his cheek and tilt their heads closer together.

“That was a nice one.”

“Yeah.  Okay, now I am going to do some editing, so no peeking."

She turns over onto her side so Dan cannot see what she is doing, opening up the Layout app and putting the photos they just took together into a collage, saving the new image to her phone and setting it as her wallpaper.

When Dan attempts to lean over to investigate, she holds her phone close to her chest, "I said no peeking."

"But I want to see..."  He puts on a whining tone to his voice and pouts quite childishly.

She sighs fondly, "Such a kid.  Okay... here you go."

She hands her phone to Dan and he looks at the screen, letting out a jovial chuckle, "Wow.  That is awesome.  You look so pretty, and I do look attractive, especially in that one..."

He points to the one where they are both being threatened by the imaginary spider, and she giggles, "You always look handsome."

"Stop... you'll make me blush."  He acts extremely bashful, covering his eyes with both hands.

She smiles at this, prepared to lavish him with compliments to make him blush, instead tapping his shoulder so he can look at her, "So what I did this for and wanted to show you was that these pictures and these moments, they are what matters.  I know that it was upsetting to have someone invade our privacy in such a way, but we can't let it bring us down.  We can do what we like here in the privacy of our home, together.  It's not for public consumption, we won't be judged for it and I'm glad that you don't feel the need to want to post about everything."

Dan traces his fingertip along her jaw, his eyes soft, "Baby, I am far too old for all of that.  You know me and Instagram, I am just about getting the hang of it."

"Maybe I'll show you the animated filters someday..."

"I have no idea what those are."

"They're a lot of fun.  You can have a flower crown, be a cat or a bunny, or even have cool sunglasses."

Dan shakes his head with a smile, "As long as I can see your beautiful face every day, then I'll be happy."

"Really?"

"Really."

Blinking slowly, she reaches up to gently kiss his lips, drawing back a few inches, sharing his breath as she whispers, "And now?  Are you sure you only want to look at me?"

Dan's eyes light up with an unmistakable fire, and he leans in close, murmuring, "I want to do so much more than look at you..."

His hands sneak under her t-shirt, tracing a bold pattern on her skin, bunching the material upwards, his intention quite clear as he catches her lips in a clumsy, passionate kiss, rolling them over until he was covering her entire body, lifting her t-shirt free and flinging it to one side.

She cannot help the girlish giggle that bubbles up, running her hands down his chest, reaching down and fumbling with his belt even as he kisses her with a desperation that makes her heart ache.

In precious seconds, with their clothes discarded and the temperature surely rising with protection taken care of, Dan wastes no time in drawing her legs around his waist, shifting closer until he is gently sliding inside her, making her gasp quite loudly.

A moment where they share a look and another gentle kiss, and it would have been no surprise to anyone that she would gladly give her life for this man, without question.  

As Dan begins to move, the sensations already peaking and cresting so strongly, she leans down to kiss his shoulder, pressing her face against the side of his neck and burying her nose in his hair, when she hears him urgently whisper, "Baby... look at me... please, look at me..."

She draws back, her head landing back on the pillows, seeing the desperate passion in his eyes as he manages to get his words out between shallow breaths, "Don't... don't look away... keep looking at me... I want to see you... I want to see your face as we do this... I need to look in your eyes... you are so fucking beautiful..."

With that final word, he is moving that bit faster, pushing harder, and warmth pools in her belly at his words and the intense gaze he is casting her, "Oh... oh, Dan..."

He threads his fingers into her hair, leaning over her with his weight resting on his elbows, not an inch between them, tenderly keeping her in place so their eyes can stay fixed on each other.

"You feel so good, baby... so fucking good... I can't... I can't get enough of you..."

It is getting more difficult to keep her eyes from shutting in bliss, but she cannot look away from his intense expression, his soft curls hanging down like a thick mane around his face, his lips parted and eyes full of liquid warmth.

"Please... oh, please, like that... like that.  Yes... yes, love... don't stop, Danny, please don't stop..."

Inadvertently, she drags her nails down his back and he makes a strangled noise, his movements becoming more erratic, “So close... so... so close... I have you, come on, babygirl, I have you... come for me, come for me, my gorgeaus girl.  /Fuck/, I’m so close..."

The sound of his voice, the praise that he was giving her, the feeling of him so deep inside her, was all it took to send her spiralling into oblivion, waves of pulsing heat radiating from her centre.

"Oh... /Dan/... oh... oh, /Danny/!”

Dissolving into wordless cries, all she can do is try to keep her eyes open, looking up at him all the while as his forehead creases and he shudders as his own peak hits, thrusting once, twice more, her name a breathless moan.

The room is filled only with their combined breathing, as Dan collapses beside her, his hair tossed in her face, and she loosens her legs from around his waist, letting them fall outwards onto the bed, arching her spine as soft trembling aftershocks radiate through her entire body, gently rubbing his back and basking in this gentle afterglow.

"Oh... oh, my goodness..."

Dan's chuckle is low next to her ear, "My thoughts exactly, gorgeaus.  Wow..."

He stretches with a groan, reaching down to take care of the condom, deftly throwing it into the wastepaper basket in the corner of the room, before moving back beside her, immediately nuzzling into the crook of her neck, running his hand up and down her side, her nerve endings tingling at his touch.

She cradles his head close to her chest, gently running her fingers through his hair, massaging his scalp, hearing his purr of approval.

“Are you feeling better now?”

“Oh, so much better.  I mean... sex always makes me feel better, but I’m glad you talked to me, and convinced me to listen.  I’m an old man, baby.  I still have a lot to learn...”

She chuckles fondly, leaning down to kiss his forehead, “It will all be okay now.  I know it will be.”

Dan hums contentedly in reply.  “Hey, baby?”

“Yes?”

“Please send me that photo collage you made.  I’d like it as my background, too.”

“I will.”

A pause.

“I love you, Dan.  So much.”

Dan lifts his head, giving her a gentle smile, leaning in for a slow, lazy kiss that was so sweet that it brought tears to her eyes, “And I love you.  Don’t ever stop being you.”

Even while they were sleeping, their hands remain intertwined through the night.

[queenofmahishmati]

Meeting The Stars - PRABHAS  &  RANA

From the moment I got back home after watching Baahubali: The Beginning, I wished to meet the entire team behind the Epic because one, they were ideals in my mind for attempting something of such an impressive magnitude and coming out successful; and two, they seemed so fun to get to know after all their interviews together despite the heights of their fandom. It was indeed a dream team and my dream to meet them got a lot more stubborn after watching The Conclusion.

So last May, on a fine Friday morning, I came across a tweet about a contest regarding Baahubali the Lost Legends—the animated series of the franchise on Amazon Prime India twitter handle. It promised two sets of winners, the first three would get to meet the stars and the next ten would win certain Baahubali merchandise. My eyes zeroed in on the promise of those gifts cause I consider myself as a bit of a collector. I decided to give my best shot at it hoping to win at least one of them goody bags. I answered all the nine questions about the animated series. They promised to announce the winners that night and I almost forgot all about it until after dinner. When I did though, I rushed to see who won the goody bags and didn’t find my name so made peace with the thought that it just wasn’t meant for me. And not 5 minutes later, they announced the 3 winners who will go on to meet the Baahubali stars on top of getting the merchandise as well and my name was right on top of it—and I’m pretty sure I kept blinking owlishly at my mobile screen for 10 minutes straight. I legit couldn’t believe my luck and I thought it was a prank until everyone assured me it wasn’t. With what one would term a Cheshire grin, I danced around my place and kept shoving my mobile at everyone’s face (the ones who made the mistake of listening to me, that is). Friends who had me as their whatsapp contact were subsequent victims to my excitement as well. However, my mum and brother were an exception as they tried to tease me, mercilessly might I add, about my pintsize and how either Rana or Prabhas might have to lift me up so that I was in the same frame as them in the pictures—tried being the key word. It still had zero effect on my delight and I eagerly waited for the day that I would meet the team. (rest under the cut bc its super long)

Two months later, the day finally came. It was a Friday once again. On the morning of 21st July, I flew to Hyderabad with all my excitement swapped with a sense of restlessness. The moment was finally upon me and you can’t blame the jitters. I was all— What would they be like? What should I tell/ask them? How long was the meet and greet for? Should I write down the questions I had for them? And yada yada yada. Five minutes after touchdown at Hyderabad, Cheryl (from Amazon) called me to tell me that the talents were coming earlier than planned and I should be on my way to the hotel ASAP. The day before, she had informed me that I was going to meet Prabhas & Rana. So, instead of slowly wandering like originally planned, I rushed out of the airport and thankfully found the cab driver who was waiting to pick me up under ten minutes and we were on our way.

Now, I have a habit of striking up conversations with taxi drivers to fill in the silence (because of all the Ubers I’m used to back in UK). As soon as I get in the car, I start with something neutral like ‘Where are you from? How long have you been here? How much you like the place?’ and the talk just flows after that. It always leaves me with a gratified feeling when I step out of the vehicle and thank them genuinely before bidding goodbye. I couldn’t resist and asked the driver all these questions in the little Telugu I could manage and he started speaking about the city, its uniqueness and all the special places to visit. Once he knew I was an architect by profession, he went on to explain the construction history of the intercity elevated expressway we were passing over that moment. And by the time we reached the hotel, I was pretty much convinced that Hyderabad had one of the best infrastructures in the nation and forgot all about my earlier jitters from the flight. He informed me he’d come to pick me up the next day as well to take me back to the airport for my return flight and I happily waved him away before ambling inside the hotel lobby in search of Cheryl. Thankfully, she found me and after a quick check-in, whisked me away along with Sagar (one of the other two winners) to the place where we’d be meeting the stars. There we were joined by the third winner Abhishek and a tiny amount of waiting later (barely ten minutes tops), by the two men themselves.

Until then, I swear by all Gods, the gravity of the moment hadn’t sunk in to me. I was in a calm and happy daze till I heard their cheerful hellos in the next room. My excitement doubled, but my voice turned to that of a squeak (like my mum often says) as I lost my calm and all the restlessness from the flight returned back full force. Abhi and Sagar were in a similar state as me while the organizers took a minute to explain to the two stars about the contest and more, before I was ushered out to go meet them first (bakra feeling, anyone?). Introductions happened in a blink and all I could do now is picture myself slowly toddling into the other room like a lost little sheep blinded by the spotlights set up by the filming crew. However, I’m certain that my flummoxed look turned into a grateful smile when I saw Prabhas standing up first with his hand held out in greeting. Bless that man, my respect for him instantly soared sky high. “Hi,” I piped up meekly as I placed my hand in his and a tiny stutter later, “—I’m Sharme.” He was a darling though, just like his nickname and with a generous smile shook my hand as he replied, “Nice to meet you Sharme!”

My next stop on self-introduction train was Rana, who was standing right behind Prabhas. Now this guy is something else altogether okay, but in a good way. He is a sweetheart and undoubtedly a big goof ball, who can pull you out of your edginess with few simple words (unconsciously on his part I guess). I shuffled towards him with my hand held out and repeated the exact same thing I told his friend. Without missing a beat, he took my hand and warmly stated, “And hi, I’m Rana!” I blinked up as I thought, yeah right Captain Obvious! Despite the sarcasm, I couldn’t control my bubbling laughter and straightaway forgot all about my earlier concerns. What an effective way to break the ice as well as the barriers between celebrity and their admirers, right? Extra brownie points for Rana-man!

Also, I need to mention this here — I might have very well introduced myself as, “Hello, I’m tiny!” because I had my neck craned up high throughout the exchange. Wearing my flattest shoes was both a blessing and a curse. I didn’t fall flat on my face thankfully, but I felt dwarfed standing there between them both for a picture and although I had prepared myself to tell them many things, the first to slip out of my lips was, “Oh God! I’m so tiny next to you guys!” I even suggested that I climb the couch behind us but they laughed it off saying they’d rather sit down than let me do all of those stunts. Such fine gentlemen at their cheeky best, yep. It must be in my fate or something cause I always end up getting teased every time I meet a celebrity. (pout)

Couple of pictures later, we were joined by Abhi and Sagar as well, and thus more chatting/teasing ensued. All three of us were kind of stumped for words as our brains had probably short circuited and was still on its way to mend, so when Rana started speaking we were more than happy to tag along. The very first thing they asked us was how much we liked the movies and of course we had to gush about it and I said I watched it six times for which with a nifty smile, Prabhas was like “Why just 6 times?” — what would you answer that honestly, other than vowing to go back home and watch it over and over again?

Then they asked us about the animated series and how much we liked it. The reply was obvious — for the incredible backstory it was providing about the two princes of Mahishmati, a past we never got to see in the movies. And of course, how much we loved Bhallaladeva, which made Rana look all pleased. By this time, I was totally back in my element and I couldn’t stop myself from stating, “Oh but he kills his best friend in the very first episode!” The room dissolved into laughter while I was reassessing the distance between the couch and the door to make a quick getaway. But that guy is way too good, to a fault. He yet again surprised me by saying, “Well, that’s what makes him the cooler brother no?” I had to smile and nod at that cause damn, he’s too good with persuasion too. What I never expected was Prabhas’ voice on my other side answering his question: “I actually thought of playing Bhallaladeva too. Why stop with just two when I can play three no? But then I felt I should give chance for upcoming heroes like Rana… so we went ahead with it!” He can go toe for toe with Rana-man undoubtedly. But his partner in crime always has an answer, “You killing yourself twice would have looked weird though!” Again laughter rippled throughout as I mentally shook my head at these two dorks, no one is safe from them—I repeat, no one is safe around these two.

Then we spoke about Rana’s new show No 1 Yaari, and how Abhi wished it would come subtitled and he was promised that the team was working on it. It also brought on the topic of whether we knew Telugu and we spoke about our journeys: Sagar lived in Hyderabad so of course he was well aware, Abhi started watching Telugu movies after Baahubali and my interest began after watching Magadheera with my Uni friends. So in a way, it was all because of Rajamouli sir. We had to ask why he didn’t come along with them for which we were assured he was working on something important once again. Ah ha! But the focus on languages continued and I remembered how Manu mentioned she preferred the German dubbed version over watching it in Hindi with subtitles and I told them so. They seemed amazed that it got dubbed in German as well, especially Prabhas. And then Prabhas had to leave so they gave us all our goody bags individually (guess who got lucky enough to get from them both, ME.) Once more pictures were taken of the moment, Prabhas left with a shy wave and Rana went to shoot a small promo video for the Lost Legends with the team in the other room and we were left to talk amongst ourselves. It was then that I was more or less whining about not getting the poster signed by them both and a good-hearted gentleman from the Wizcraft team ensured that my Rise of Sivagami book was sent up to Prabhas’ room to get it signed from him. And when Rana stepped out of his shoot-mode, he was charming enough to sign the posters for us. While he wrote best wishes for the two guys with me, he wrote lots of love on mine and I was like, yep you have been spending too much time with Arya man (another south actor). But it was fun and I enjoyed every minute of it, especially when he handed it back with a “there you go sweet lady!” I had to make a conscious effort to not melt at his adorableness. With all the promotions done and another fabulous movie on his list, I hope that precious man gets his rest!!

His last parting words were, ❝ Do keep the franchise alive, will you? ❞  And we all swore in unison before parting with a wave. Little does he know we have most certainly pledged our lives to do just that!!

After another shoot of us three recapping the entire experience, we bid goodbyes to the team as well and made our way to our rooms. And I came back home the next morning. Now as I think about that day, it feels as if I lived some kind of dream and I wish I could relive it again. Heartfelt thanks to Amazon Prime Video and these two fine gentlemen for making it a beautiful memory!!

—s

ps. if you want to have a look at my crazy pictures with them or the even crazier video, ping me off anon or pm me. I don't bite :)

[kingofthewilderwest]

Alright I’m writing this post before I wimp out on this decision that I need to make. I’m going to try to explain with some thoughtful honesty about where I’m potentially going to be heading with my main blog. But because I have the habit of being... verbose... I’m putting my TL;DR at the top:

I am opening my ask box even though I still have dozens of analysis prompts saved from before I closed the ask box. It’s because I’m tired of not chatting with people in this amazing fandom. I love interacting!

I can no longer consistently analyze prompts. This means I cannot guarantee I will give a thorough analysis if I receive an analysis prompt. I will have to start giving answers like “I don’t know,” “I don’t remember,” or something based more on my gut than thorough research. If a topic really intrigues me, I might give a classic Haddock thorough response. But I can no longer guarantee long, consistent asks. I will, regardless, still respond to every ask I get!

I am so thankful for the experiences I have had with the HTTYD fandom and I would not trade my time on tumblr with you guys for anything. Seriously, you’ve all been amazing. I never would have expected to have such journeys, find such laughter, or make such friends as I have with all of you. Here’s to more fun times to come!

So now... the long version... 

I do encourage people to read it.

I have known for at least a year, if not two, that I could not keep up the pace of my blog analyses... not without sacrificing major opportunities or experiences in my life. I will be honest, me spending too much time on tumblr during my one year of the PhD program could have been one of the key reasons I couldn’t keep up. As much as I enjoy the community and as much as I am so happy to answer asks - it’s very fun and somewhat addictive - I know that I have to make decisions with my limited time.

I’m currently working three part-time jobs (~60 hours a week), am trying to find a good game plan for a stable lifelong career, and I have a lot of other adult-ing to do. When I do have free time, I want to be able to spend it hanging out with irl friends, reading books, studying theology and other topics of interest, reintegrating myself in the local church, writing novels, playing music, composing, drawing, conlanging, cosplaying, hiking, jogging, skiing, snowshoeing, watching good tv shows and movies, playing video games, spending time with family, making meaningful memories, etc.

I want to say that answering analyses on tumblr is something that is very meaningful to me. I don’t know how to say how touched I am that people are curious to hear my perspective. I never intended for kingofthewilderwest to be an analysis blog, yet here I am, wowed and grateful for over five thousand followers who have listened to me yak up a storm about an amazing franchise. I never would have imagined this would happen. I’m beyond grateful. What’s made it so worthwhile is interacting with you guys. I’m so happy to have had this experience and... I want to keep having this experience.

That said, answering asks on tumblr is perhaps not as “helpful” to me in the long run as working on a novel I hope to someday publish, or making sure I get a good night’s rest so I’m ready for another day of work. If I want to reach my life goals and have the meaningful experiences I dream of having, I have to make changes to my current day-to-day situation. I HAVE to. I want to get my life back in order, and I recognize my life has not been as “put together” since I started investing more time in tumblr. To get myself really firmly on track, I do have to loosen my hold on some of my free time activities, if not drop some things out altogether.

Answering analyses is a very time consuming process. VERY time consuming process. It can take me forty minutes or four hours to answer a single question. Not an exaggeration. This is because I often have to rewatch episodes and movies, do a bit of research online, give myself time to mull, and, all in all, invest a lot of time into answering a question. Even when I do consistently try my best to stay on track with answering asks... I cannot keep up with the volume of questions I receive. I wish I could, but I acknowledge I can’t. I still have asks in my inbox from the new year or older (Btw: the way my ask box system works: I keep the ask box open until I am >100 asks behind, then I close the box and answer all those, then open the ask box again). I am so, so sorry that I haven’t responded to all of you who have been patiently waiting for me, or you who may have even forgotten you sent in a question or comment.

I am sorry for all the people I will disappoint by not getting to your submitted asks with the thoroughness you were hoping. I will answer them, albeit not to my previous thorough standard. However, I hope you understand I feel it would be more thoughtful to provide you any response than to never return your messages.

My ask box has been closed because I still have about fifty asks left to answer before I’m caught up. But my ask box has been shut for a long time and I want to hang out with people and chat back and forth. So...

I’m going to open up my ask box again, but I hope you understand I suggest you do not inundate me with analysis requests. I want to open up my ask box so I can interact closely with everyone again... I always feel a little shut off and stale when I have my ask box closed. Now, you can send me analysis requests (when I’m not going through the really old ones in my drafts... again, sorry), but I cannot guarantee I will write an analysis in return. I’ll answer, but it might be a short “I’m not sure” or a few sentences of speculation instead of an essay. I’m happy to chat, I’m happy to discuss back and forth, whatever I want to do when I have the time for recreation, but I cannot be a one-person powerhouse publisher.

I don’t like doing this, but I’ve been needing to do this for a long time. So while I have the guts to write this and post it, I’m going to do it and make the decision final. Don’t make me back down. Don’t make me reverse this choice. Keep me accountable to my long-term life goals.

Another truth, and I am sorry to admit this to you guys, is that I’m not someone who’s used to staying in one fandom mindset for so long. I mean, I always love what I consume and always will get into it. But I’m more of the person to dance from passion to passion, from current interest to current interest, jumping in and out of the buzz of what I love. For instance, I might be on-and-off again with Star Wars, one year thinking about it and fanning about it a lot, another year not really caring. And I usually don’t get involved WITH a fandom... usually just scream about it with a few close irl friends and then move on. How to Train Your Dragon was a notable anomaly, a strange divergence from my typical patterning, and frankly it’s something I wouldn’t have stuck with for so long if not for my interaction with tumblr. If not for the HTTYD tumblr community, I likely would have been out of my HTTYD craze by mid-2015.

And while the HTTYD community has helped me sustain my ongoing interaction with the fandom, my personal passions are focused elsewhere now. I’m still always happy to talk dragons, mind! You guys can fuel me up again when I see you posting about it on tumblr. But in the last year and a half or two years, my mind hasn’t been focused on HTTYD. It’s been first Gravity Falls, then Undertale... and then, with the release of Andromeda, the Mass Effect franchise. I’ve also been going through crazes for things like Voltron: Legendary Defender. So, currently, my head is obsessing about Paladins and Alteans and Salarians and Spectres and Pathfinders and Space Exploration... not so much dragons and Vikings. It’s why my video game blog has been more active and responsive than this one. I’m very sorry if that statement disappoints you, friends. It’s a little weird for me too because I don’t know who all I can shout about my interests with (I only have a few friends who share these interests with me, and I’m sort of annoyingly “late in the fandom” if you know what I mean... don’t want to annoy the same people over and over again about something that’s 5+ years old, but who else do I talk to?). But, well, it is what it is. And it’s more fun for me to charge around with my latest obsession.

Let’s be clear: I’m not leaving you guys or running away or shutting myself off or becoming a hermit or anything. XD You guys mean too much to me to run off. I’m stuck here for good with you dragon nerds. Again, this community has been an extraordinary thing to me, and honestly, my interactions with the HTTYD fandom was the way I got out of a big depressive slump in 2014. So I’m still here! I’ll be staying here! I’m still going to commit to respond to every sincere message I receive! I’m just saying I’m going to invest less time in original posts, especially analyses. That’s all. :) 

It’ll be the best for my life. I hope you friends can all understand. We have to make decisions about the limited time in our lives.

But please! Feel free to chat and say hello and hop into my inbox again! Send little nothings or whatever’s on your mind. I’ve missed getting new asks! It’d be wonderful to hear from you again. <3

So yeah! That’s my honest report and stuff.

Take care, dragon nerds. 

[advocatewrites-blog]

Into the Unknown Part 1 Chapter 3

Into the Unknown

Fandom: Undertale, Coraline (book), Over the Garden Wall, Paranorman, Gravity Falls (season 2)

Characters: Frisk, Norman B., Dipper P., Mabel P., Coraline J., Wirt, Greg, the Cat, the Frog; Sans, Toriel, Papyrus, Undyne, Alphys, Asgore,; the Other Mother, the Beast, Agatha P., Bill Cipher, Asriel D., Chara D.,

Pairings: Not the focus. Alphys/Undyne, with mentions of Papyrus/Mettaton, sans/Toriel/Asgore, and Wirt/Sara. Due to the nature of Undertale and the dating segments, there is also interpretable Papyrus/Wirt, Undyne/Mabel, Alphys/Dipper, Napstablook/Norman, Mettaton/Norman, Mettaton/Mabel, Sans/Dipper, Sans/Norman, and Sans/Greg.

Rated a high +K for violence, mild language, horrific elements that may be disturbing to younger readers,  mentions of child abuse and bullying, character death that is sometimes permanent, and mentions of suicide that may be triggering. These elements remain relatively unchanged from their source material, which most all are for children, but discretion is advised nonetheless.

Disclaimer: Undertale was created and owned by Toby Fox. Coraline was created by Neil Gaiman and owned by Bloomsbury and Laika. Over the Garden Wall was created by Patrick McHale and owned by Cartoon Network. Paranorman was created by Sam Fell and Chris Butler and owned by Laika. Gravity Falls was created by Alex Hirsch and owned by Disney. Any other work mentioned or homage are property of their respective owners. This is a fan-made, nonprofit work that only seeks to entertain. Please support the original franchises.  

Start from beginning / Previous chapter / Next chapter

Chapter 3

“NYOO HOO HOO…” Papyrus cried. “I CAN’T EVEN STOP SOMEONE AS WEAK AS YOU…UNDYNE’S GOING TO BE DISAPPOINTED IN ME. I’LL NEVER JOIN THE ROYAL GUARD…AND…MY FRIEND QUANTITY WILL REMAIN STAGNANT!”

Coraline watched the skeleton, unsure of what to do. Papyurs had been a much harder fight than she had anticipated, even with sans’ warning. If she lost, she may have never been able to see home again. Yet she couldn’t help but feel a stir of pity for Papyrus. It was the same kind of pity that stirred in her soul when she thought of Toriel. Toriel deserved a second chance. Maybe Papyrus did too.

“You know,” Coraline said. “When I get back to the Surface, I won’t be going back home.”

Papyrus stopped crying long enough to listen.

“I haven’t been to my real home in a long time,” said Coraline. “My family and I moved to a new home, the Pink Palace.”

“IS THAT NEAR THE KING’S HOUSE?” Papyrus asked.

“No. It’s like a set of houses,” said Coraline. “My family isn’t the only ones who live there. There’s Miss Forcible and Miss Spink, and Mr. Bobinski and the mice he’s training to sing.”

“ARE THEY ANY GOOD?”

“I’ve never heard them. But so far, they’re the only ones who’ve gotten my name right.” Coraline said. “I haven’t been able to make a single friend since I moved to the Pink Palace. Maybe…you would like to be my first?”

Papyrus turned back to her.

“REALLY!? YOU WOULD LIKE TO BE FRIENDS WITH ME???” He asked. “WELL…I GUESS I CAN MAKE AN ALLOWANCE JUST FOR YOU! WOWIE! WHO KNEW THAT ALL I NEEDED TO MAKE PALS…WAS TO GIVE PEOPLE AWFUL PUZZLES AND THEN FIGHT THEM??”

Something cold moved against Frisk’s cheeks, as gentle as moth’s wings. A voice, barely a whisper, spoke.

“Art thou—art thou alive?”

Frisk nodded.

“You poor child,” said another voice.

Frisk tilted their head in confusion.

“She left us here,” said yet another voice. “She stole our hearts and stole our souls. But she forgot about us in the dark. She has worked so hard to find a place to keep you that she has forgotten a place to keep us.”

“I walked through the scullery door,” said the first voice. “And I found myself in the parlor. But she was waiting for me. She called herself my other mamma, but I never saw my real mamma again.”

Frisk took a shaky breath as they realized what they were saying.

“It is the eyes that go first,” said the third voice. “She will steal your soul and she will take your life and all you cares’t for, and leave you in the mist and fog.”

“Flee!” said the second voice. “Flee, while there’s still air in your lungs and blood in your veins and warmth in your heart!”

The nothingness stopped. Hard stone began to form under Frisk’s feet, and Echo Flowers sprouted in the cracks. Lights, not quite stars, formed in the ceiling. A wooden bench formed in front of them. It almost looked like a room in Waterfall. Frisk wondered if it was supposed to be a room out of Waterfall that they never found.

“We must stay in the darkness,” said the first voice, their voice growing fainter than ever. “Flee while you can, but peradventure, you can find our souls…”

Frisk was alone again. They took a seat on the park bench that had formed, ignoring the rush of memories that came with it.

The Other Toriel was going to hurt them. There was no reason to doubt it.

So why did Frisk feel like the real monster?

Their foot collided with something. Frisk was shaken out of their reverie long enough to investigate. It was some kind of food, something like a quiche, somewhat burned and wrapped in foil.

“I just couldn’t handle the responsibility,” said the Echo Flower.

Frisk understood.

The shift from Snowdin Town to the Waterfall was abrupt. It was almost like Coraline had stepped into a different room. The snow quickly melted off and faded into cold earth beneath them. The cold air grew damp, and for the first time Coraline really felt like they were in the underground.

There was one thing familiar about the Waterfall, however. There was a wooden sentry station, the same kind sans had manned. It even smelled like sans’, Coraline realized, ketchup and grills.

Her stomach rumbled, and she realized the last thing she had to eat was some of Papyrus’ spaghetti. Maybe sans’ food was halfway edible.

She moved into the sentry station. True to her suspicious, it was filled with bottles of ketchup and boxes of buns. The hot dog itself, however, was…water sausage? Not something edible, at least.

The only other thing inside was a small journal, worn with use. Coraline flipped through it absently. The pages were filled, either in a language she couldn’t read or with formulas that made her head spin. She settled on one page. A drawing of a human child, detailed rather well for someone as lazy as sans. Underneath was scrawled don’t trust them, the don’t cross out heavily and the trust them underlined several times.

“heya kid.”

Coraline nearly jumped at sans’ voice. She hadn’t heard him approach again.

“though you might like your raincoat back. you won’t have much use for that sweater through waterfall.”

Coraline had nearly forgotten about the sweater. “Thanks for letting me use it. I think one of Papyrus’ attacks may have cut it a bit.”

“oh? you fought my bro?”

There was a tenseness in his voice, Coraline noticed. The kind that sounded like he didn’t know what to think.  She looked up at him, and noticed his smile stretch ever so slightly.

“He challenged me so he could capture me,” Coraline said. “I convinced him that we could be friends.”

“ah,” sans said. “yeah. my bro’s pretty cool like that. hope he didn’t give you a bad time.”

Coraline grew silent for a minute as she watched sans. He un-tensed, but only slightly. His eyesockets were still firmly focused on Coraline, in a way that she could not read. She felt her sins crawling on her back.

“Say, sans, am I the first human in the Underground?” Coraline asked.

The lights in sans’ eyes flickered for only a moment.

“nah. not that many that i’ve heard of, though,” said sans. “not sure what happened to the others.”

“Did your brother capture them?” Coraline asked.

“no. paps was a baby bones the last time a human came through here,” said sans. “hey, humans get hungry, right? care to pry me from my work and go to Grillby’s with me?

“I think I ought to get going,” said Coraline.

“alright. just let me know if you change your mind,” said sans. “i’ll be slaving away here at my checkpoint.”

“I thought your checkpoint was in front of the Ruins?” Coraline asked.

“what? you’ve never seen a guy with two jobs before?” sans asked.

Coraline waited until he had sat down at his checkpoint before waving to him and leaving. She did not feel the eye sockets leave her until she was far away.

If sans had never seen another human before, then who had he drawn in the journal? Did Papyrus not being old enough to capture a human make him not old enough to capture a human? Had the other human been captured, and if so, what became of them?

Coraline was so lost in her thoughts that she hardly noticed herself wander into the thick grass until it encompassed her vision. Every blade was at least as tall as she was, and it was impossible to see around it. She took another step forward.

“HELLO UNDYNE. I’M HERE WITH MY DAILY REPORT,” said Papyrus.

Coraline froze. She could not hear who he was talking to, but it was impossible to mistake his voice.

“UHHH…REGARDING THAT HUMAN I INFORMED YOU ABOUT EARLIER…HUH? DID I FIGHT THEM? Y-YES! OF COURSE I DID! I FOUGHT THEM VERY VALIANTLY! …WHAT? DID I CAPTURE THEM…W-WELL, NO…I TRIED VERY HARD, UNDYNE, BUT IN THE END…I FAILED. W-WHAT? YOU’RE GOING TO FIND THEM? BUT UNDYNE! YOU DON’T HAVE TO DESTRYO THEM! YOU SEE…I SEE. I WILL HELP YOU OUT IN ANY WAY I CAN.”

Papyrus hadn’t helped her at all. She was still going to be captured. That is, unless she did something about it first.

Coraline dared not to move until she heard a set of footsteps fade off into the distance. Then she ran, as fast as she could. She did not slow down even as she heard a set of footsteps behind her.

“o�H<_�2�?"

Frisk jumped. ‘Voice’ was not quite the right word for it. It was a set of sounds, vaguely in a patter that sounded like human speech.

All of a sudden, Frisk was not alone. The new person towered over them, even taller than Toriel was. Its body was covered in a heavy black cloak, the inside in a constant state of motion that made Frisk’s head spin. His face looked more like a worn mask, with two holes pouring into an eye and mouth.

Somehow, the figure managed to convey an expression of mild embarrassment. It raised its hands, nothing but bone and with two holes coming out of its palms.

It moved its hands closer, and Frisk flinched away from it. It took them a minute to realize how the hands moved.

Child? It signed. Are you all right?

Frisk didn’t know what to say. They raised their hands to sign. To wipe away the tears that were threatening to burst from their eyes. To do anything.

How did you come about here, child? The monster asked.

Frisk didn’t know what to say. They settled for making a gesture that looked as if they dropped something.

Lost? The monster asked. How did you end up lost in this world?

Lost me, Frisk said.

The monster looked like they didn’t know what to say to that. Their hands trembled slightly as they signed again.

I am here for much the same reasons, they said.

Their face did not show expression, but somehow Frisk could tell they were stepping in sensitive territory. They decided to change the subject.

What’s your name? Frisk asked.

It has been a long time since I have needed a name. The monster answered.

Everyone needs a name, even if you have to make one up yourself, said Frisk. My name’s F-R-I-S-K, but I haven’t been using that one for very long.

The monster let out a set of noises that almost, almost, sounded like a chuckle.

In life, I was known as W-D G-A-S-T-E-R. You may call me that, if you wish, They signed.

Are you a skeleton monster, WD? They asked.

Gaster nodded.

I’ve met a few skeleton monsters. P-A-P-Y-R-U-S and S-A-N-S, Frisk said. You remind me a lot of S-A-N-S.

Gaster stopped his walking. He signed something, so quick and with so many unfamiliar signs that Frisk couldn’t catch it. He caught on to their confusion, and asked again.

You have met S-A-N-S? He asked, his movements slow and fluid.

Frisk’s hands were shaking too much to sign back, so they nodded.

He is well?

kids like you…should be burning in hell.

I think I hurt him, Frisk said, once they managed to get their hands to stop shaking.

I believe I have too, Gaster let out a noise like a sigh.

Coraline ran through the Waterfall. She ran past the waterfall carrying rocks she had to dodge, ran through the puzzles that were supposed to be solved with bridge flowers, and ran over the boarded piers that connected areas of Waterfall to others. She only stopped running when she caught a ferry ride on a monster’s face. She got three gold in return.

Undyne continued to chase her.

Waterfall grew dark, but Coraline continued to run. More piers awaited her in complex patterns, making makeshift walkways for the citizens of Waterfall to get from house to house. Spears shot from the ground under her.

Undyne was getting closer.

Coraline dodged the spears that blocked her path. She ran until she could not run anymore.

Undyne was right behind her.

Coraline hardly noticed the bridge stop until it broke, already far worn from the effect of dozens of spears. Then she fell.

I understand you are hurt, said Gaster, but this place is not safe. There are many things here that will not hesitate to hurt you.

I know, Frisk admitted. But I don’t know what else I can do anymore.

Gaster did not say anything after that.

WD? What do you do when you hurt someone, but want to fix it? Frisk asked.

Gaster thought for a long time.

You do everything you can to prove you are better than that, I suppose, said Gaster.

Coraline woke up to the sounds of the phone Toriel gave her. She answered, not thinking about who would be trying to contact.

“HELLO!!! THIS IS PAPYRUS!!!”

Coraline remembered what happened the last time she saw Papyrus. “How did you get this number?”

“WELL, I DIALED EVERY NUMBER SEQUENTIALLY UNTIL I GOT YOURS!!! BUT THAT IS NOT IMPORTANT RIGHT NOW!  I HAVE A VERY IMPORTANT QUESTION!”

“Does it have anything to do with Undyne?” Coraline asked.

“YES!!!” Papyrus said. “YOU ARE QUITE ASTUTE FOR A HUMAN!!! HAVE YOU MET YET!?”

“No. But I did hear you talking to her about me,” said Coraline. “I thought you didn’t want to capture me anymore!”

“I DON’T! BUT YOU SEE…” said Papyrus. “UNDYNE’S OPINION OF YOU IS QUITE…MURDERY.  I THOUGHT I MIGHT BE ABLE TO LEAD UNDYNE OFF YOUR TRAIL BY WORKING AGAINST HER!!!  THAT WAY, YOU CAN STILL MAKE IT TO THE BARRIER WITHOUT DYING AND I WILL STILL HAVE MY FRIENDS!”

The anger in Coraline’s soul faded away. She couldn’t be mad at someone who was genuinely trying their best.

“It’s a little late for that,” said Coraline. “Undyne’s already spotted me.”

“DRAT. BEING FRIENDS WITH EVERYONE IS HARD!” Papyrus said. “BUT DO NOT WORRY, HUMAN! THE GREAT PAPYRUS SHALL ENDEAVOR TO COOK UP A PLAN TO GET YOU TWO ON BETTER TERMS! THAT WAY, MY FRIEND QUANTITY WILL CONTINUE TO FLOURISH!!! NYEH HEH HEH!!!”

He hung up before Coraline could answer back.

They found themself back in the Judgement Hall. A figure lay before them. The bells chimed.

So you finally made it.

If we were really friends, you wouldn’t come back.

Frisk shook away the bad feelings. They weren’t going to be judged. They were going to make everything better.

“heya kid. wow, you got tossed pretty far, didn’t ya?” the other sans asked. “you won’t tell your mother about this, would ya?”

Frisk shook their head and joined the other sans.

“yeah. let’s get home kiddo,” said the other sans. “say, let ya wear my jacket back for 5 gold.”

Frisk decided to decline. They didn’t say anything until they were firmly out of the New Home area of the Other World.

s-a-n-s, what do you think of other T-o-r-i-a-l? They asked.

The other sans slowed down. Sweat began to form on his skull.

“well, she’s great, y’know?” said the other sans. “she made all  of this, just for you, after all.”

I think I need to go back to the Underground for a bit, and I want to know how to ask her, Frisk said.

“oh, is that all?” said the other sans. He didn’t sound relieved. “well, the best way to get her to do anything is to challenge her to a game. she won’t turn ya down.”

What kind of game? Frisk asked.

“well, you could always have a finding game,” said the other sans. “there are a lot of things here she kept hidden. just make sure you know what to look for. if you ever need a hint, i’ll be willing to give you some advice, on the house. think there are a few other monsters that’ll be willing to give you a hand if you can find them. say…past the Judgement Hall?”

Isn’t that cheating? Frisk asked.

“she ain’t above it,” said the other sans. Phalanges tapped on femur nervously. More sweat dripped from the top of his skull.

He was nervous, Frisk realized.

Thank you sans, they signed.

“no problem kiddo,” the other sans said. “i’m rooting for ya.”

They reached the home. The other sans kept his distance as Frisk entered the house, and didn’t turn to leave until they appeared in the window to sign thank you to him again.

Now came the hard part.

They found the Other Toriel in the kitchen again.

“Hello, my child. You were out for longer than I had anticipated,” said the Beldam. “Would you like to talk about it?”

How do I exit the Ruins?

[mrevaunit42]

Day 1: Cooking

Hello everyone, Mr.E here with the first week of the @wholesome-week SVTFOE week: Cooking! yay! I hope you all enjoy it as I thank my desktop for not freaking out on me. 

So basically this takes place before the episode that broke the fandom apart, Bon, bon the clown. All the other episodes have happened at this point but not yet Bon, Bon and I have a special message to go with this story

I want you to remember this is a show that we and many people love. This is a show that is smartly written, funny, clever with action, drama and so much joy and fun.A show that prompts creative and great ideas. A rare show that doesn’t come often especially in this day and age but hopefully that changes one soon.

I wrote this story to remind us all it doesn’t matter who you ship: Starco, Jarco, Janco, TomCo, JanStar, Jacan, etc etc. We are all a part of this fandom. We all love this show and while shipping is fun, remember to always respect each other. There’s no need to go to war for no reason. Life is going to throw a lot our way and Star is going to get pretty heavy with drama but so did Gravity falls and it made the show so much better. This is going to be a fun ride no matter where it goes and I haven’t been excited for a season like this since Gravity Falls. and before GF it was a long while.

Please remember to respect each other and just enjoy an amazing show. Have a great week, it’s going to be amazing with great stories and artwork and we’ll keep on having these amazing things through all fandoms. Enjoy

“Umm...” Marco's jaw hung loose as a small, almost humming-like noise escape his lips, several pairs of eyes stared at the young teen with varying degrees of amusement, concern and boredom while Marco remained motionless at the sight of them.

“Maaaaarco?” Star asked quietly, taking a ginger step forward towards her frozen best friend “Is something wrong?”

There was something terribly wrong with the sight that lay before him, something unexpected that caught him off guard and Marco was going to be completely honestly, kinda unwanted at the moment.

Marco was currently wearing his usual attire of black pants, well pressed red hoodie and gray undershirt though he also sported a cooking apron as he was prepared to make lunch for himself and Star as per her request.

He was not prepared to make lunch for 5 people.

He did not want cook for Star's ex boyfriend and his exfrienemy Tom.

He did not want to cook for his eternal and probably heavily crushing on him stalker Janna

and he did NOT to make himself a fool in front of his longtime crush Jackie.

Nope, nope, just all the nopes. This was not what he agreed to when he promised Star he was going to cook today.

“Staaaar” Marco let out as calmly as he could, ignoring Janna's attempts to hang random assortment of things on Tom's horns “Can I talk to you? Bestie to bestie?”

Star let out an excited gasp “Bestie to Bestie?! Secret tiiiiiime!”

Marco stifled a groan as Star elegantly and gracefully bounced towards him, legs fluttering joyfully with each leap.

“soooo” Star cooed, nearly tripping on her feet on the slippery floor tile, arms flailing for a moment before she caught herself and leaned expectantly towards Marco, lip bit and eyes brimming with exhilaration “what's the secret?”

“Star” Marco whispered softly, eying the other occupants of the kitchen carefully “Why are they here?! I thought you said it was lunch, not a hangout?!”

“I did and do want lunch Marco.”

“You said just us!”

“Weeeeeell” Star peered at him thoughtfully “ It was supposed to be us but then I realized why not invite all our friends? Except Ferguson and Al, they kinda just vanished and Pony Head is off underwater somewhere but I mean it's Saturday and we have nothing to do so why not have a FOOD PARTY!”

“Star” Marco muttered in a harsh whisper “I don't have enough food to feed every....”

“FOOD PARTY!” Star repeated, throwing her hands in the air with reckless abandon.

Marco let out an inaudible sigh before peeking at the trio of unexpected guests.

Tom looked as bored as ever, eying the room with a mix of apathy and curiosity.

Janna caught his gaze, shooting him a wink and a finger gun while simultaneously reaching into Tom's back pocket with her free hand.

Jackie gave a friendly wave, her face blissfully unaware of the hammering of Marco's heartbeat echoing loudly in his ears.

“So...” Marco began, pushing pass the now dancing Star “I don't know what Star told you....”

“Duh” Janna scoffed “You're not Star, of course you don't know what she told us. Geez Marco I thought you were supposed to be smart.”

“I am smart Janna” Marco replied through gritted teeth “but you know what I mean.”  

“Ssshyeah, free meal.”

“Janna, I....”

“Oh come on Marco” Tom said with a sneer “you were talking about your amazing cooking skills when we hung out but I'm just not seeing it.”

Marco could already hear his dentist comments while he grinded his teeth from the audacity of Tom's claim.

“Marco?”

His rage faded away within a moment as Jackie's soft, lazy drawl called to him.

“It's okay if this was more people than you were expecting” Jackie told him reassuringly “we can just order out or something if you don't have enough food.”

“ha!” the sound of laughter felt forced to even his ears “Of course I have enough for everyone! Ha ha ha, just give me a second, you're all here before I thought you would be.”

“You sure Marco?”

“Psst yeah” Marco answered with a confident smack “I'm a master cook of this home. I can easily make us lunch.”

Marco turned around, Star noticing his confident smirk fall into a face known only as full mental breakdown.

“oooooh” Star nodded in understanding, hand tucked under her chin “I see, I see. We don't have enough for everyone.”

“No!” Marco snapped before sheepishly dropping the facade “yes? I mean you told me it was just us today Star! You didn't mention anything about Janna or Tom or even JACKIE!”

The pair of best friends glanced backwards to their guests, Tom snarling at a grinning Janna with Jackie giving the duo a thumbs up.

“ugh” Marco moaned in defeat “Let's get this over with.”

Okay, Marco told himself, it wasn't as bad as he thought initially.

Luckily he did in fact have enough to make a rather filling meal for the five of them so getting the hungry teenagers food wasn't going to be a problem.

What was going to be a problem was the amount of time. If it had been Star and himself, it would've been an easy 10 minutes tops. 5 people, however, was going to take a longer amount of time and given one was a lying demon jerk, another was his kleptomaniac stalker who loved playing with him with the last being the girl he was crushing on hard, Marco was going to one heck of a time trying to keep everything going smoothly.

“Don't worry Marco” Star beamed cheerfully “I'll help out”

Despite the fact she was the source of the entire problem, Marco could feel his body relax at the sight of his best friend, her blue eyes with determination, her lips cocked into a confident smile. hHe felt a spark of hope. Maybe they could do this. Maybe this wouldn't turn into a total disaster. With Star's help, maybe....just maybe they could....

Nope.

Total disaster.

Marco could feel his eye twitch at the sight of the chaos that broke out just a few minutes into the task.

Well maybe total disaster wasn't the current level but he could feel that threat loom over himself.

Despite how much he cared, and god knows loved her, Star was no help in the kitchen.

For that one brilliant moment of reassurance from the magical princess, he had completely believed her.

and utterly forgot that she came from another dimension and hadn't the slightest clue how to use or operate any sort of Earth appliance or what Earth foods tasted good together.

He remembered this little fact when Star attempted to mix a banana with a piece of uncooked meat into the blender. He barely managed to stop her in time.

It was amazing how natural life with his best friend was. He could barely remember a time that Star wasn't around, hanging out and just having fun.

Of course that came with the disadvantage of lapsing memory when it came to ordering Star to do basic tasks.

Marco sweated profusely, the heat from the pan and sizzling pieces of meat filling the kitchen area almost as distracting as the occasional popping of grease jumping from the metal cooking utensil.

“Great job Marco” Janna called out idly “Smells great. Can't wait to eat.”

“You're not helping Janna!”

“I'm a guest” Janna answered quickly “It's rude for me to intrude in your personal space.”

“Like you believe in personal space” Marco muttered under his breath.

“What was that?” Janna shot back.

“Nothing” Marco rolled his eyes and turned only to find himself staring face to face to a bull angry Star glaring at the refrigerator, stance wide and fingers clenched.

“Star?”

Star huffed, wand held tight “YOU WILL REVEAL YOUR CONTENTS MAGICAL ICE BOX!”

Marco paled remebering Star never used the fridge before!

“Star!” “Mega Marshmallow smash!”

Tom, Jackie and Janna sat around the dining room table as plums of pink magical clouds and the shrieking of Marco's girlish scream intermingled with melodic keyboard jingles and fierce battle cries.

“So...” Janna said out loud “anyone else get the feeling that Marco wasn't ready to feed all of us?”

“Star!”

The trio turned to the kitchen in time to see Marco skidding across the floor, smoky and slightly charred as Star rushed after him, wand ablaze and panic in her eyes.

“I think Star didn't tell him we were coming” Jackie added carefully.

Tom clicked his tongue “Classic Star. She probably got distracted by something cute and adorable.”

“Or violent” Janna chimed in.

Tom nodded in agreement “Or violent.”

“So....” Jackie glanced at the hellish demon “You and Star dated?”

“yep” Tom replied

“Why'd you break up?”

“Umm.....no idea.”

Janna rolled her eyes “Typical response. I bet you have a temper.”

“I DO NOT!”

Tom didn't know what was worse: the small flame that caught the tip of Janna's beanie or her knowing, smug smirk as she casually doused the flames with her hand.

“niiiiiice” she spoke with a wink

Tom shifted uncomfortably under Janna's playful gaze.

“Should we order pizza?” Jackie asked “I mean Marco looks pretty stressed and Star seems to be.......escalating things”

Jackie slowly returned Marco's frantic wave, a wild warnicorn carrying off the cook by his hood while a Star chasing close behind with a salad fork and butter knife in hand.

“nah” Janna waved Jackie's concern “he's goooot this. Right Marco?”

“Of course!” Marco answered with a shaky grin, still held hostage by the stampeding magical mount “Everything is fine!”

“FIIIIIIINE!” Star called out, her uneasy face not matching her response “JUST FINE!”

“See fine” Tom gestured to Star and Marco

There was a thickness in the air that was only broken by the fearful cries of Marco, the battle lust determination grunts of Star and the huffing and neigh of the warnicorn.

Janna frowned as more and more sounds of destruction join the chaotic musical that filled the Diaz household

“yeeeeah” Janna sighed dramatically “We better order the pizza or else we're never going to eat.”

“Yeah good idea” Jackie agreed “It'll be easier on Marco” a loud crack “and the house.”

“Kay” Janna pulled out her bright pink cell phone

“Pink?” Tom couldn't keep the surprise out of his tone “You?”

“yeah” Janna threw the demon a glare “and unless you want the most girly, pinkest hat I can find super glued to your head, you better keep quiet.”

Tom rose his hands defensively “I won't, I won't....hey can we get anchovies on the pizza?”

“UUUUUUUGH anchovies!? What kind of demonic hell spawn are you?”

“hey, do you know how hard it is to find anchovies in the Underworld?”

“I assume not at all given normal people just toss them out. Seriously you have no idea how uncool you just made demons look ”

Tom frowned furiously, rising to his feet with his hands blazing with a pure white flame, the heat from the fire charring the table a light crispy black.

“I AM TOM, SON OF THE LORD OF THE UNDERWORLD AND I DEMAND ANCHOVIES! IF MY WILL IS NOT MET, I WILL BURN YOUR SKIN AWAY AND CHAR YOUR VERY...AH!”

The flames died, the insufferable waves of heat generated by the demon cooled while splashes of water caught Tom's eyes, stinging and burning as he tried to shield himself from the watery barrage.

“No” Janna scolded, splashing Tom with the tiny watergun she hid in her pocket “Bad demon.

Tom snarled and hissed, clawing at the tiny plastic weapon but flinched when Janna's attack caught his eye a second time.

“Calm prima donna” Janna told him with a roll of her eyes “We'll get you your stinky anchovies. Ugh I thought the torment happened when I died, not here.”

Silent return as the chaos in the kitchen appeared to have been calmed.

Jackie stared at Janna, Janna stared at Tom, Tom stared at Janna.

A halcyon quiet.

Then Janna shot Tom once again.

Content and peacefully moans of joy and happiness hung in the air as 4 of the 5 teens happily enjoyed their gooey, yummy lunch (Anchovies for Tom as promised by Janna)

Poor burnt stained Marco, on the other hand, stared at his plate, face fallen and filled with disappointment.

“Marco?”

Marco turned to the soft, gentle voice that called his name, unsurprised to find Star staring at him, worry and concern in her eyes.

“What's wrong?”

Marco sighed, realizing it was best to be honest rather than prideful like he was earlier.

“I'm sorry for ruining lunch.” Marco apologized “I'm sorry I did something I clearly couldn't. I'm sorry I fought tooth and nail for something that wasn't worth it. That I wasn't honest with you...and myself. And now I destroyed the kitchen and we had to order out....”

“You're an idiot”

All eyes snapped to Janna leaning back in her chair, pizza one hand and arm slung across the back of her seat.

“Who cares if the day didn't go as plan? Who cares if it wasn't what we expected? What matters is we're here and we're eating this well made, amazingly delicious food. Together.”

“yeah” Star nodded in agreement “friends”

“yeah, sure, whatever” Tom muttered, the eye roll and disinterested look plaster on his face only for show, masking the true joy he felt with these...humans.

Oh and Star.

“Wow Janna” Jackie patted her best friend's shoulder, clearly impressed “That was really mature and nice of you.”

“yeah” Marco chimed in “That was pretty cool”

“I know right?” Janna leaned further back in her chair “and I take the pizza you paid for Marco as thank you.”

Marco bit into a pizza, agreeing with Janna until he fully processed her words.

Marco coughed, choking on the food he once enjoyed before throwing a deathly glare towards his stalker.

“JANNA!”

[fountainpenguin]

I'm a "Fairly OddParents" fan. I see you are also a "Fairly OddParents" fan, who has just joined the "Danny Phantom" fandom. What is the show about, and what are three reasons to consider watching it?

His theme song has allll the answers:

But if you didn’t watch it or it wasn’t enticing enough, a fourteen-year-old boy named Danny Fenton dies after walking through an interdimensional portal invented by his parents to a world called the Ghost Zone, but because he was halfway in the Ghost Zone, he survived (I think that’s why he lived, but the electricity also might not have been strong enough to fry him all the way). 

Now he has some ghostly superpowers that he’s still learning how to use (so sometimes his arms randomly turn invisible and he has to hide it), and he takes it upon himself to catch all the ghosts that escape through the portal and cause chaos in the world of the living. 

Also, all his enemies figure out his secret identity pretty quick- he actually has to keep the secret from his ghost-hunting parents, who would love to dissect him if they catch him. What a twiiist! Luckily he has two awesome besties.

I did some research and apparently Butch came up with this idea while he was driving in the car with his mom. When he brought it up with her, her reply was, “That’s nice, Butch. Oh look, there’s a desert tortoise”. I feel you, dude.

My top three reasons to watch it? Hmm. They’d probably be:

1) You’re a Butch Hartman fan, I’m guessing, and this show is done in a similar animation style, though with older kids instead of ten-year-olds. There’s a lot of humor, along with some sad and/or dark undertones just like FOP. And if you watch the show now, you won’t have to risk me spoiling much in case I turn to analyzing characters and episodes on this blog later.

The show has a heavy focus on characters. Danny’s friends Sam and Tucker aren’t just Danny’s best friends- they’re each other’s best friends too. If they aren’t with him, they hang out together and have their own fun. They never get shoved to the side- they always have a plotline going on even when they don’t join Danny in the day’s ghost chase. I like that a lot.

2) The world-building, characters, and continuity are amazing! I mean, there are a few little animation errors like people in crowds disappearing, but the whole series is continuous in the same way “Gravity Falls” and “Star” are. We seem to have a lot of cartoons about young teens battling monsters, huh?

There are some really cool antagonists in the show, all the way from a villain who wants to marry Danny’s mom to a confused dead high schooler who thought Danny was a bully picking on poor nerds and wanted to teach him a lesson. 

Also there’s the Box Ghost. You guys need to see what BookwormGal did with the Box Ghost in her post-series ‘fic, “Harmless”. I need to do some fanart. I’m still screaming about it. Joke characters whose powers can actually be terrifyingly powerful in the right contexts? Oh man, sign me up, baby! She’s better with characters than I am. Why can’t I be as creative and cool as her?

I’ll leave the rest of the world-building details for you to discover for yourself, because that’s more fun than me drowning you with spoilers. Also, each episode is twenty minutes long, rather than ten minutes like FOP, so you get a lot of details and it doesn’t seem rushed. Also also, Danny’s parents are awesome, and they even have names! Jack and Maddie! His older sister is Jasmine and she’s a total psychology nerd and I like her a lot, of course.

3)

Yes hello, I’ll take an underrated boy with two prosthetic limbs to go, thank you.

This kid makes me smile. It’s a shame he doesn’t show up until Season 2 Episode 3, “Pirate Radio”. I’ve watched that episode ten times in two weeks, and “Fenton Menace” at least five times too. This kiddo’s mine. I love him.

The funny thing is, Youngblood actually is mature beyond his years, in his own way. Apparently he’s really good at reading people (seen especially in “Fenton Menace”), which is an interesting trait to give a child character- and especially a child character whose smarts aren’t the focus of his personality at all!

I’m serious. Part of the plot in “Pirate Radio” is that he’s a natural leader, whereas Danny struggles to get anyone to listen to him. Everyone listens to Youngblood. One of the other villains teamed up with him one time, and the level of respect they have for one another is really admirable. They’re like Max and Scarlett from “Pahkitew Island” (which is another awesome show I like, but I don’t talk about it much here because I have my own sideblog for Total Drama stuff), except Ember actually likes Youngblood to some degree and the rest of the characters don’t hardcore ship them. Huzzah, platonic friendships!

Youngblood fascinates me. He’s really brave and smart, but it’s dunked behind a layer of childishness because he’s the kid who never wants to grow up. He teamed up with Ember because she wanted to take over the world. What was he getting out of this deal? A power source for his ship so it could fly. That’s it. He just wanted his ship to fly because he’s a kid and he thinks it’s awesome. He can fly, he has a shapeshifting best friend he can fly on, but his ship-! Gah!

And he actually acknowledges that he’s aware a lot of people consider him little more than a brat, but he totally owns it. He has absolutely no shame. You cannot embarrass Youngblood. He’ll just chuckle along with you. He’s great.

He’s easily distracted and silly and cute and I love him. This is the boy who spends the first half of an episode invisibly poking and slapping Danny just because he can. And can we talk about him being at the Christmas party without his parrot shortly after “Fenton Menace”, because that makes me sad.

And if you want another reason, the “phandom” is still very, very active even ten years later. It’s actually kind of scary (Why do you think I use the “Going Ghost!” tag instead of “Danny Phantom”?) Ahaha… I’m out of my league again. We’ll see what happens when Phanniemay rolls around and when I finally slide a ‘fic out there. Do I start with future ghost weddings, hospital angst, or backstories? Hmm…

[advocatewrites-blog]

Into the Unknown Part 1 Chapter 1

Into the Unknown

Genre: Fantasy, Hurt/Comfort, Adventure, Horror

Fandom: Undertale, Coraline (book), Over the Garden Wall, Paranorman, Gravity Falls (season 2)

Played as: Straight

Style: Adaptation Divergence

Synopsis: 7 human souls to break the barrier. 7 humans who travel through the wood. And perhaps all of them are necessary this time.

Characters: Frisk, Norman B., Dipper P., Mabel P., Coraline J., Wirt, Greg, the Cat, the Frog; Sans, Toriel, Papyrus, Undyne, Alphys, Asgore,; the Other Mother, the Beast, Agatha P., Bill Cipher, Asriel D., Chara D.,

Pairings: Not the focus. Alphys/Undyne, with mentions of Papyrus/Mettaton, sans/Toriel/Asgore, and Wirt/Sara. Due to the nature of Undertale and the dating segments, there is also interpretable Papyrus/Wirt, Undyne/Mabel, Alphys/Dipper, Napstablook/Norman, Mettaton/Norman, Mettaton/Mabel, Sans/Dipper, Sans/Norman, and Sans/Greg.

Rated a high +K for violence, mild language, horrific elements that may be disturbing to younger readers,  mentions of child abuse and bullying, character death that is sometimes permanent, and mentions of suicide that may be triggering. These elements remain relatively unchanged from their source material, which most all are for children, but discretion is advised nonetheless.

Disclaimer: Undertale was created and owned by Toby Fox. Coraline was created by Neil Gaiman and owned by Bloomsbury and Laika. Over the Garden Wall was created by Patrick McHale and owned by Cartoon Network. Paranorman was created by Sam Fell and Chris Butler and owned by Laika. Gravity Falls was created by Alex Hirsch and owned by Disney. Any other work mentioned or homage are property of their respective owners. This is a fan-made, nonprofit work that only seeks to entertain. Please support the original franchises.  

Next Chapter

“it's a beautiful day outside. birds are singing, flowers are blooming...on days like this, kids like you…

Should be burning in hell.”

In the back of their mind—because that was all they really could do at the moment—Frisk wondered if sans rehearsed that speech. Either way, he said it the same way nearly every time. It was only when he tried to catch them off guard did he stop halfway, fire a Gaster-Blaster at them before they would expect it. Back before this happened, back when they could go to Grillby's and be friends, sans mentioned that he didn't actually have much memory of the timeloops. His knowledge came from notebooks and journals meticulously kept for someone so lazy. What memories he had came through nightmares.

In a way, Frisk envied him.

The battle started. Frisk felt their sins crawling along their back. The body moved forward, the soul dodging every attack as best it could, all without Frisk's thought or input. Neither had been Frisk's for a very long time.

sans had stopped his attack. He still dodged theirs, but didn't move otherwise. Sweat poured from his forehead, especially surprising since he didn't have skin cells.

“uh. hey. you really like swinging that thing around, huh?” The skeleton said. The attack stopped, if only for a second. “listen. friendship. it's really great, huh? let's quit fighting.”

sans was sparing them.

And Frisk so desperately wanted to accept it. Find a way to restart everything from the beginning and be especially good. Their body, however, wasn't listening.

After all that, you still think you're in control?

Something wet was moving on their face. Blood, Frisk reckoned. It couldn't have been their tears if their body wasn't theirs anymore.

sans dodged the slash of the knife.

“well. it was worth a shot, anyway.”

Their soul collided with another attack, and ripped in half.

Game Over

“if we're really friends, you won't come back.”

He was probably right.

* Reset

One is a Bird An Undertale/Coraline crossover fanfiction By the Poor Sap Advocate

Chapter 1

When Coraline woke up, she had no idea where she was.

It took her a minute to pull herself off of the cold earth and think back. She had been exploring the new apartments, she remembered that much. Her Dousing Staff had only led her to an old empty well…

She then realized just how dark it was. Her eyes ran to the only source of sunlight in the room: above. She had fallen, she realized. She had fallen down that well, and still survived. A pang of worry echoed in the back of her mind, but she couldn’t quite figure out why. This would be a much better place to explore! Perhaps down here she could find something actual of worth, like mice that actually sang and danced, or a talking cat, or…

A golden flower, looking at her with a very confused expression.

“Huh.” The flower said. “I honestly wasn’t expecting that.”

“Wasn’t expecting what?” Coraline asked, equal parts confused and offended.

The flower’s expression changed, as if it thought of something. “Oh, nothing. You’re new to the Underground, aren’t ya? Well, how about I teach you how things work around here?”

“How do you mean?”

“Well, let me show ya!”

The world flickered, like a candle. Coraline’s attention fell to the orange heart hovering in front of her.

“That’s your SOUL!” The flower said. “It’s the very culmination of your being. It can grow strong if you gain a lot of LV.”

“LV?” Coraline repeated.

“Love!” The flower said, as if he weren’t quite sure himself.

A group of white seeds hovered around the flower. “Monsters can share love with you with these…little white friendliness pellets! So go ahead! Catch as many as you can!”

“Wow. You’re just as dumb as they were.” The flower spoke again.

More pellets surrounded Coraline’s SOUL.

“DIE.”

The flower’s laughter stopped abruptly. Coraline looked up from her Soul, no longer surrounded in white. She looked up further, where she saw a figure.

“My, what a loathsome creature, torturing a poor, innocent youth…”

When Frisk woke up, they had no idea where they were.

It took them a minute to realize that their body was theirs, and they could get up whenever they wanted. When they did, they noticed the room wasn’t one they recognized. It wasn’t the Judgement Hall, like they had feared. It wasn’t the entrance to the Underground, like they had hoped. It was a bedroom, and it looked a lot like Toriel’s.

Remembering what happened to Toriel the last time they had met sent a wave of nausea over Frisk. They reached for a SAVE file.

Nothing happened.

Had they ever Saved in Toriel’s house? They couldn’t quite remember. Frisk had never stayed around in Toriel’s house long enough.

This wasn’t Toriel’s house. It looked a lot like it, but it wasn’t quite right. There was no basket full of shoes that had not been worn for ages. The toys lacked the layer of dust, like they had been used recently. Smells of butterscotch and cinnamon and fire magic didn’t hover in the air.

Something was wrong.

Frisk bolted from the room and rushed to where they knew Toriel would be. Her reading chair. She was always in her reading chair, no matter what timeline Frisk found themselves in.

They found Toriel in the kitchen.

It was Toriel, unmistakably. The same white fur, if a little brighter, the same purple tunic, if a bit nicer-kept, and the same motherly aura about her. Yet she was different. Her Soul, Frisk realized, was different. They didn’t quite know how, or even how they knew; the first time they had ever analyzed a Soul was when they first entered the Underground, and things haven’t changed much since then.

When she turned around from the stove, Frisk realized the biggest different. Two, black button eyes.

“Hello my child,” She spoke. “Did you sleep okay?”

Frisk fought to keep a straight face. Their hands shook as they signed, though that was often the case. They weren’t sure if they had signed that correctly, or even if it was spelled correctly. They had never thought of a nickname for Toriel that was easier to sign, and now they weren’t sure if they were allowed to.

The thing that was not Toriel’s face contorted, for just a second, into confusion. Frisk recognized the face easily. Few people they spoke to knew sign language. Even less would sign back to them. Toriel was the first, and one of the only.

“Oh. I’m the Other Toriel, my child.” She said. She didn’t sign back. Once Toriel figured it out, they would always sign as they spoke.

“Everyone has an other mother,” the Other Toriel continued. “I thought this form would be more…acceptable to you.”

That one was true, at least. Frisk may have never thought of Toriel as their mother (only once. They wouldn’t let themselves do it again.), but even Jerry was preferable to their real mother. If this other Toriel had thought that far ahead, then perhaps they were nice?

“Now then, why don’t you go wash up and find your other father, so we can have dinner?” the Other Toriel said as she worked on carving the pie. “It’s been a long time since you’ve had a proper meal, hasn’t it?”

Toriel was married? This Toriel was married? Frisk had never seen another person in the house…or really anyone Toriel interacted that wasn’t sans. But the idea of a proper meal, especially one that wasn’t made of dust and magic, was too pleasing for Frisk to turn down.

Frisk poked their head over the Other Toriel’s shoulder, just quick enough to see what the pie was made of.

Butterscotch-Cinnamon Pie

At least it isn’t snails. Does not heal, but is part of a balanced breakfast.

Even when they were at their worst, Toriel’s pie always healed. They wondered if the Other Toriel just didn’t get the recipe right

The figure in front of Coraline looked equal parts goat and equal parts human, standing on two feet yet covered in white fur. Despite her rather impressive size, the sharpness of her teeth, and the two horns on her head, she seemed to be doing everything in her power to appear non-threatening.

“Do not be afraid, child. I am Toriel, the caretaker of these Ruins.” She spoke.

Toriel bent down and offered Coraline a hand. Coraline took it, if only to pull herself back up.

“I come through these Ruins every day to see if anyone has fallen down.” Toriel continued. “You are the first human to come down here in a long time. Allow me to guide you through the catacombs.”

If she held onto Toriel’s hand a little longer, she didn’t realize. And Toriel didn’t let go until Coraline did.

Frisk found the Other Toriel’s husband outside the house. He was a large goat-like monster like she was, with bigger horns on his head, a wilder mane, and a rather well-kept beard. He even wore a similar tunic to Toriel’s, but for some reason Frisk couldn’t understand, it looked out of place on him. Like the Other Toriel, his eyes were big black buttons, carefully sewn in.

But what Frisk noticed first was the garden. Outside of Toriel’s house was rather dry, with only one old tree where the leaves fell off the second they could grow. Here, the ground was nearly covered in lush greens, with only a walkway of stone to interrupt it. Flowers blossomed from every corner of the yard; bright blues and deep reds. The tree was ripe with flowers of all sorts, yet there were still plenty of fall leaves around it that Frisk could jump into if they choose to. And there was sky, dark and covered in stars.

No golden flowers were in the garden, although the real Underground was full of them. Frisk wondered if that was intentional.

“Is someone there?” The other monster asked. “Just a moment. I have to finish watering these flowers…Here we are!”

He stood and turned to them. He towered over the child, but they weren’t intimidated. Rather, they were curious. He looked familiar, in a way that Frisk couldn’t describe. They had seen him before, but not in a Reset. And if it wasn’t a Reset, they had no idea where else he could have come from. The phrase “Mr. Dad Guy” entered their mind, but they had no idea why.

“Howdy!” Mr. Dad Guy said. “How may I help you, little one?”

Frisk signed to tell him breakfast was ready. A similar strain of confusion entered the other’s face as he interpreted the signs, but it passed just as quickly as it had with the Other Toriel.

“Let us not keep her waiting then, shall we?” said Mr. Dad Guy.

Mr. Dad Guy walked Frisk back through the house and to a dinner table that Frisk was sure was never in Toriel’s house. Toriel rarely had other people she could eat with, they realized. They had never eaten with Toriel. Pie had always been left in the room when they slept but that was not a meal and it was not eaten with her.

Maybe the Other Toriel realized this, and that’s why the table was piled with more food than Frisk thought one could make. A golden-roasted chicken, fried potatoes, tiny green peas. Spaghetti covered in a sauce of finely smashed tomatoes, greasy burgers and fries that smelled like Grillby’s, instant noodles, a three-tier cake with Welcome Home! written in icing cursive. Small cars moved along the table, depositing gravy for the meats and ketchup for the burgs. A butterscotch-cinnamon pie sitting at the center of it.

“Aren’t you going to eat, young one?” Mr. Dad Guy asked.

With all the Resets, Frisk had forgotten the last time they had a meal of human food. They had forgotten a long time ago what it was like when that food was freely given. They shoveled as much food as they could into their mouth.

“We have been waiting for you for a long time,” the Other Toriel said. “It wasn’t the same without you. But we knew you would come home one day. Perhaps tomorrow you can help your father in the garden. Or I can show you my favorite bug-hunting spot. I can even prepare a curriculum for your education.”

In the end, Toriel didn’t guide Coraline through the entirety of the Ruins. She left her someplace safe, where she could wait while she ran errands. Coraline, however, decided to explore herself. She met Vegetoids and Migosps and a whole variety of creatures she could have never thought of. She bought donuts from a bake sale run by spiders. She would talk to Froggits and Moldsmals, and though they rarely moved beyond hip-wiggling and ribbiting, they were quite meaningful.

She explored the Ruins until she came across a tree where leaves dried off as soon as they grew, and behind that, a house. Seeing such a cute, tidy house in the middle of the Ruins filled Coraline with something, but she wasn’t sure quite was.

She didn’t think of getting closer until she saw Toriel exit, a bag of groceries in her paws.

“My child!” said Toriel. “Did you walk all the way here?”

“It wasn’t too bad,” said Coraline. “I had to do battle with a ghost, but it was okay because I complimented their hat and they let me go.”

The best part of saying that was that Coraline was not making any of that up. The second best part was, though she looked annoyed for just a second at the prospect of anyone fighting Coraline, Toriel laughed and smiled and believed her. Her mother never did any of that no matter what kind of story Coraline told. She usually just shrugged her off and told her to do chores.

It was the first time in her time in the Underground that Coraline thought of her mother.

Toriel lead Coraline through the house. She showed her a room she could stay the night in. They had butterscotch cinnamon pie for dinner. Coraline read through old books of monster history until she realized all textbooks were rather dry.

But then Coraline had to think realistically. She had to get back to the Pink Palace.

“Thank you for everything, Miss Toriel, but I really need to get back home,” Coraline said. “How do I leave the Ruins?”

Toriel grew quiet. With her paws shaking, she removed her reading glasses and rose from her chair.

“I’m afraid there is something I must do, little one. Please wait here.”

She left, and then Coraline grew nervous. She followed Toriel, down the stairs of the house and into a dark corridor that didn’t look at all like the tidy home. When she found Toriel, it was in front of a large door.

“You truly wish to return home, do you not?” Toriel asked. “Ahead of us is the exit to the Ruins. And I am going to destroy it. No one will be able to leave again. Now run upstairs.”

“I have to get home! To my real mom and dad!” said Coraline.

“You are just like the others. You come. You leave. You’ll die. He…ASGORE…will find you. I am only doing this to protect you.”

“I can defend myself. I want to get home.”

“Then prove it. Prove you’re strong enough to survive.”

A FIGHT broke out. Toriel blocks the way.

Coraline grew used to the feeling of her Soul leaving her body. However, she was not used to the feeling of monster bullets hurdling towards her. It did not help that Toriel’s bullets were flames, raging with heat as they passed and singing her jacket and Soul as they hit.

Yet Coraline stayed determined. She was perhaps not the best at dodging, but the FIGHTS with the other monsters of the Ruins had prepared her well. It was no different than her father moving around the hornets. She ran through the flames, letting her jacket take what she couldn’t allow her Soul to hit.

“Why are you fighting me?” Coraline asked. “I thought you wanted me to stay safe!”

“I do,” said Toriel. “This is what’s best for you!”

“You think trying to kill me is what’s best for me? How is that different than those monsters you want to protect me from! How is that different than Asgore!”

The flames returned, tenfold. Coraline couldn’t dodge them all.

As she pulled herself off the floor, she looked through Toriel. She looked shocked at her own power, eyes wide and paw covering her mouth.

“Do not compare me to him,” said Toriel. “Just fight already.”

Coraline stood up, but did not move.

“I know you want to go home…but you must understand. I cannot lose another.”

Toriel went down to the entrance of the Underground every day. How many children, Coraline realized, has she seen fall down? How many of them could she not save? How long was it before the last one left?

“Stop looking at me like that,” Toriel said.

She couldn’t.

“Pathetic, is it not? I cannot save even a single child.”

“Their deaths aren’t your fault,” said Coraline. “And keeping me here won’t solve anything.”

“I understand. The Ruins are very small, once you get used to them,” said Toriel. “My expectations, my loneliness, my fear…for you, I shall put them aside.”

The FIGHT ended.

“If you truly wish to leave the Ruins, I will not stop you,” Toriel continued. “But please, do not come back. I hope you understand.”

Coraline had no idea what to say about any of this. About the mother in mourning, about respecting someone who attacked her, about having to travel through the world of monsters alone. So she settled for “I did mean it. Thank you for everything you’ve done.” and walked through the door.

Author’s Note: So there are about 3 games that I trust any let’s player to play well, and I watch a lot of let’s players. Until Dawn, Pony Island…and Undertale. I’ve watched a lot of Undertale playthoughs. I really enjoy this game, or at least most of it. I wanted to write an Undertale crossover fic, and then I realized I wanted to write a lot of them. And then I realized that any Undertale crossover is inherently the same, or at least the way I wanted to write it, so I decided to make all of them into one mega-fic.

This is a bit of an unusual experience for me, considering that at the time of this posting, I am not finished with the complete fic yet. I do not do this, usually. Everything you see has been ordered, signed in triplicate, sent in, sent back, queried, lost, found, subjected to public enquiry, lost again, and finally buried in soft peat for three months and recycled as firelighters. But I decided that I wanted to post more. Hopefully this pays out and I won’t have to skip a few weeks.

So welcome to Into the Unknown.

[advocatewrites-blog]

Into the Unknown Part 2 Chapter 1

Into the Unknown

Fandom: Undertale, Coraline (book), Over the Garden Wall, Paranorman, Gravity Falls (season 2)

Characters: Frisk, Norman B., Dipper P., Mabel P., Coraline J., Wirt, Greg, the Cat, the Frog; Sans, Toriel, Papyrus, Undyne, Alphys, Asgore,; the Other Mother, the Beast, Agatha P., Bill Cipher, Asriel D., Chara D.,

Pairings: Not the focus. Alphys/Undyne, with mentions of Papyrus/Mettaton, sans/Toriel/Asgore, and Wirt/Sara. Due to the nature of Undertale and the dating segments, there is also interpretable Papyrus/Wirt, Undyne/Mabel, Alphys/Dipper, Napstablook/Norman, Mettaton/Norman, Mettaton/Mabel, Sans/Dipper, Sans/Norman, and Sans/Greg.

Rated a high +K for violence, mild language, horrific elements that may be disturbing to younger readers,  mentions of child abuse and bullying, character death that is sometimes permanent, and mentions of suicide that may be triggering. These elements remain relatively unchanged from their source material, which most all are for children, but discretion is advised nonetheless.

Disclaimer: Undertale was created and owned by Toby Fox. Coraline was created by Neil Gaiman and owned by Bloomsbury and Laika. Over the Garden Wall was created by Patrick McHale and owned by Cartoon Network. Paranorman was created by Sam Fell and Chris Butler and owned by Laika. Gravity Falls was created by Alex Hirsch and owned by Disney. Any other work mentioned or homage are property of their respective owners. This is a fan-made, nonprofit work that only seeks to entertain. Please support the original franchises.

Start from beginning / Previous chapter / Next chapter

“WOWIE! YOU DID IT! YOU DIDN'T DO A VIOLENCE! TO BE HONEST, I WAS A LITTLE AFRAID. BUT YOU'RE ALREADY BECOMING A GREAT PERSON! I'M SO PROUD I COULD CRY. WAIT, WASN'T I SUPPOSED TO CAPTURE YOU...WELL FORGET IT! I JUST WANT YOU TO BE THE BEST PERSON YOU COULD BE. SO LET'S LET BYBONES BE BYBONES.”

Their hands are shaking as Papyrus leaves. It's hard to breathe, like she had just gotten out of the fiercest battles. They stand there for a long time after Papyrus leaves but they don't know why. Her knife clatters to the ground.

She doesn't know why she's done anything she has. She shouldn't have spared him. She should have killed him like the rest. In this world, it's kill or be killed. It's hurt or get hurt. She shouldn't have accepted his mercy, because he's going to hurt her just like the others. They all hurt her in the end never let them get close never show them mercy no mercy no mercy no mercy she calls for help

* But nobody came.

They wipe at their eyes, trying to remove tears they aren't crying. More Dust gets in them than before but it's a good feeling. It was just a mistake. They can go back and fix it.

They call for help.

She wonders how much longer they're going to keep this up. It shouldn't be much longer now, she thinks.

The end will be here soon. She will erase this world.

* Reset

Two are the Trees An Undertale/Over the Garden Wall crossover fanfiction By the Poor Sap Advocate

Chapter 1

“Antelope, Guggenheim, Albert, Salami, Giggly, Jumpy, Tom, Thomas, Tambourine, Leg Face McCullen, Artichoke, Penguin, Pete, …Steve…but I think the worst name for this frog is—“

“Wait, wait a second.”

Their surroundings were just becoming clear to him. It was dark, barely bright enough to see his brother in front of him. The only light came from above, and it looked miles away.

“Uh, Greg,” said Wirt. “Where are we?”

“Underground?” Greg offered.

“Weren’t we in the woods a few moments ago?” Wirt asked.

Greg hummed and thought, and turned to his frog for a second opinion. The frog let out a slightly confused croak.

“Nevermind,” said Wirt. “Let’s just…keep going the way we were.”

“I don’t think we can climb that high,” said Greg.

“No, Greg, I meant forward.”

And forward they went. The light in the caves grew as they travelled down the corridor, though Wirt couldn’t figure out why. It was becoming increasingly clear they were somewhere in a cave or underground or both, and the light source above was fading. Wirt could see almost everything in his way now, from the cave walls to the beds of flowers to the…

A golden flower, looking at them with a very confused expression.

“Hello Mr. Flower,” said Greg.

The flower made a face that Wirt couldn’t quite read.

“More of you? Really?” the flower asked. “Alright. Let’s get started then.”

It was dark, wherever Frisk ended up. It was also cold; not quite as cold as Snowdin, but cold enough that they tugged their sweater closer to them. The moon shone above them, so it’s not the Underground, and it was a quarter moon uneclipsed so it wasn’t the Other Toriel’s world.  They are in a forest, so thick with trees that it’s hard to see if there was supposed to be a road. It’s something completely new to them.

Yet they still felt determined.

*File SAVED

They did not know how long they walk in the woods alone. It was hard to measure time when the only repeating pattern is stepping on twigs. Eventually, the repetitive sounds came from something hard smacking against wood. Frisk decided to follow that.

More sounds became audible as they walked closer. Sounds of breaking branches. Sounds of one moving around the ground. Sounds of humming, not so much a song as it was a march. Frisk only got close enough to see something humanoid walking away from the sight, the sounds carrying after them.

“Hey kid? What’re you doing out here?”

That sound came from behind the scene. Frisk had to turn around and crane their neck to see their addresser--a small bluebird perched on one of the higher branches.

“You’re not lost, are ya?” the bluebird asked.

Frisk shrugged. They had no idea where they were supposed to be heading anyway.

The bluebird groaned, and buried her face in her wing. “Well, do you need—?”

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING OUT HERE?”

Frisk froze at the voice. They stayed frozen as the light shines in their eyes. The bluebird murmured something and flies off but they did not quite hear it over the pounding of their heart. They did not unfreeze until the light of the lantern grew enough that they could make out the holder’s face. Just the woodsman from before. Frisk let themself wave a bit to be friendly.

The woodsman gives them a steady glare. “These woods are no place for a child like you. Don’t you know the Beast is afoot here?”

Flowers did not have faces. Goats were not bipedal and matronly. And there certainly wasn’t an entire society of monsters living under a mountain. Wirt was fairly certain of these things. At least, he had been up until fifteen minutes ago. He concluded that, in order for him to be seeing the flowers with faces and motherly goats, he must either be dreaming or going crazy. Possibly both.

Greg, however, had no problem accepting any of the things in his way. This did not surprise Wirt as much as it should. This whole Ruins area looked like it was something Greg had dreamed up.

This was all Greg’s stupid dream, Wirt decided, and he just had to get him through it.

“Come on Wirt!” said Greg. “They’re not too bad once you get to know them!”

The frog gave a croak in agreement.

“Greg, you just got out of a fight with a carrot!” said Wirt.

“Vegetoid was nice,” said Greg. “I don’t know what he wants me to do with all these vegetables though.”

The frog croaked again. This time Wirt wasn’t sure what it meant.

“It’s still a carrot,” said Wirt. “A-and a monster! You shouldn’t be anywhere near those things.”

“Okay. Why don’t you try then?”

Before Wirt could figure out what Greg meant with that, he found himself being pushed ahead. A Froggit blocked the way.

Wirt tensed up as the battle began and his Soul left his chest. The Froggit unleashed a few bullets that flew around like flies, but otherwise seemed uninterested.

“Pst,” said Greg in a way that was not actually meant to be quiet. “Trying complimenting her!”

It was worth a shot, Wirt decided.

“Listen,” said Wirt. “You look like a frog of decent logic, and we are but two lost souls in the Underground. Would you consider letting us pass?”

The Froggit seemed to think for moment. Wirt was pretty sure it was because it had no idea what he had said. It hopped away, leaving behind two coins.

“Uh, excuse me, you forgot your—“ Wirt started. Greg stepped in and grabbed the coins before he could finish.

“Greg, those aren’t ours,” Said Wirt.

“Sure they are!” said Greg. “It’s just like in a video game when you defeat an enemy!”

“Greg, this isn’t a game!”

“Why can’t it be?”

“Because it’s dangerous down here,” said Wirt.

“All the more reason to think of it like a video game!” said Greg. “Now come on, I think I’ve saved up for the Spider Cider.”

It took the Woodsman a while to figure out Frisk was just a lost kid in the woods. It took him even longer to realize they could not talk to him. It was easy to tell when he did. His tone grew softer, yet it was still full of worry. He asked if they knew where they were going, and when they answered no, offered them a place to stay at his house.

Well, it was not his house. It was the house that he used when he needed a roof over his head while he worked. Before him, the house had not been touched in a long time. Yet it was nice to be in a house Frisk did not recognize, so they ignored the smell of must and feathers.

“You may stay here for the night if you wish,” the Woodsman said. “But beware if you leave in the night. There is a Beast that lurks in these woods. Ever singing his mournful melody in search of lost souls such as yourself.”

Frisk wasn’t very good with words, but they knew what Beast meant. It was something like a monster…a monster! Was there a Monster out here? Could they know how to get back to the Underground?

“I’ve work to attend to in the mill,” the Woodsman said. “Do what you wish. You may find me in there.”

He threw another log on the fire for them, grabbed his lantern and left.

The frog did not have a name. Most frogs don’t, naturally. Names are things given to distinguish between humans. Frogs, especially frogs on the Surface, did not need them.

This frog, on the other hand, was no longer on the Surface. Yet he was still not given a name. Greg had yet to decide on one, and the frog was not in any hurry to have one.

He was quite curious about where he had ended up, however, so while the two brothers negotiated for baked goods at the spider bake sale, the frog decided to explore some more.

There were frogs in the Underground. Not real frogs; frogs of flesh and blood and grew from tadpoles. It was frog that was held together with magic.

“Hello traveler,” said the Froggit. Or, rather, the thing that lived under the Froggit.

The frog croaked a greeting.

“I do not wish to fight you,” said the Froggit. “Nor do I think any of the creatures in the Ruins anymore. You and your humans have been quite kind. However, I wish to ask you a question.

“Before you there was another human in the Underground. They were the first in a long time. They were usually quite kind to us, but something changed the last time they were here. I do not think they were quite themselves. I am not sure if they were safe. Have you any idea where they might have gone?”

The frog did not, and told him as much.

“I see,” said the Froggit. “Thank you. And if I may impart some advice, traveler of the Surface, be cautious of the old queen. She has lost a lot, and she is not always aware that she hurts because she is hurting.”

“Kitty!” Greg called. “Kitty! Now where is that frog named Kitty?”

The frog croaked to grab his attention.

“Oh there you are Kitty!”

Greg ran up and scooped the frog into his kettle.

“Hiya Froggit!” said Greg. “You’re looking fantastic today!”

The Froggit did not understand what he said, but blushed anyway.  They dropped a little more gold than most Froggits do when they left.

Frisk spent the night. They left early in the morning, as the sun was beginning to rise. They did not see the Woodsman again.

They wondered if he ever left the mill after that, if he ever got sleep or if he went back out into the forest. They would have to find a way to thank him later. But most people, they realized, would come back when they needed them.

They stopped thinking as they heard something move in the woods. It was too big to be the bluebird, or even the Cat from the Otherworld. They braced themselves.

The fight started.

The thing that emerged was not a monster, or at least a monster they could recognize. It walked on all fours and towered above Frisk. It looked like a dog, but the way its fur stood up from all sides made the shape hard to distinguish. And its eyes…

The creature attacked first, lunging towards Frisk. They dodged. Their turn opened up, but all Frisk could think to do was compliment their eyes.

The creature was not flattered. It lunged again, swiping at Frisk. They dodged and jumped back. They tumbled in the creek.

The creek was not deep in the slightest. It did not hurt them too much to tumble into it, nor did it take them very long to pull themselves back up. But in the process, they left the fight.

Something else was fighting the creature. Something small and black that crawled over the creature and forced it back into the creek with them.

The creatures tumbled into the creek. A black turtle emerged, followed by a normal-looking dog.

Next out the creek came the Cat. He leaped out of the water in a blur of black. He shook himself dry the same way the dog did, and started to lick the rest of himself clean.

“There are few creatures I like,” said the Cat. “But dogs have a special place in hell for them.”

The dog noticed Frisk for the first time and rushed over. This time, its intentions were far more friendly. Frisk gave it a few decisive pats before it disappeared into the woods once again.

The Cat didn’t speak up until the dog was out of sight. Frisk watched him carefully.

“There are few creatures I like, but perhaps I was too quick to judge you.” said the Cat. “This world is…new, to me. Perhaps I would be willing to walk part of the way with you.”

He avoided making eye contact with Frisk. However, when Frisk extended a hand, he leaned into it and let himself get pat.

Wirt had not really meant to get into Toriel’s bedroom. He was looking for a way out. He had tried to find a way outside of the house, but the Ruins ended with Toriel’s house.

He wondered if that was deliberate.

Toriel’s room was ordinary. It was incredibly well kept, thought that did not surprise Wirt. It had been decorated with bookshelves and typhae, but it all looked so old and out of place that it was hard to believe Toriel put it in.

Wirt looked through everything. Through the sock drawer, the pots of plants, under the mattress.  And he felt bad about it but what else was he supposed to do?

His eyes fell onto the diary on her desk. It was thick and full, but it was already turned today’s date. Something on the page had been circled in bright red ink.

Wirt swallowed as he leaned in closer to read it.

Why did the skeleton need a friend? Because she was feeling bone-ly!

“You know, perhaps I overestimated her abilities.” said Wirt to nobody.

Greg’s calls shook him out of his thoughts. The younger brother rushed into the room, the frog trailing behind him.

“Toriel’s gone!” Greg exclaimed.

“Gone?” said Wirt. “What do you mean, gone?”

“Well, she was sitting in Chariel and I asked her—“

“What, the chair? Why did you name her armchair and not your frog?”

“I didn’t name it!” said Greg. “But I asked her how do we leave the Ruins and she got up and said she had something to do but she’s been gone for five minutes now and I really wanted some of the butts pie!”

Toriel would know how to leave the Ruins. Why would she get so defensive the second Greg asked?

“Come on, we need to go find her.”

Author’s Note: Fall this year lasted about 2 minutes, so I’m really sad I didn’t get to watch Over the Garden Wall. I could watch it now, but it’s like watching Halloweentown during Christmastime; it loses some of the magic. But after this, I feel like I’ve watched it enough.