#altho i hesitate to call him mature

[sparrowwritings]

Writing Challenge Day Four: Waste

Day Three -- Masterpost -- Day Five

“Just what do you think you’re doing?”

Rose froze in place. She quickly pocketed her stolen goods before turning to face her mother. “Nothing.” Basil’s advice whispered to her and she kept her gaze steady, as if she really was telling the truth.

Cadence Highbottle narrowed her green eyes. There was a tense moment where Rose was sure she was going to get her haul taken, when the older halfling just gave a deep sigh. “I don’t have time to deal with your shenanigans today. If you’re going to cause trouble, do it outside of the house.” In Rose’s shock, she realized that her mother’s long, blonde hair was done up in the elaborate braided hairstyle that she wore when there was business to be had that day. She literally didn’t have the time to scold her daughter. 

Before the girl could scamper away, Cadence grabbed one of her arms firmly. “I mean it, I don’t want to hear even a squeak while the meeting’s going on. Understood?” 

She squirmed a little, but eventually relented. “I got it, mom.”

“Good. Now where’d the other rascal run off to...” She muttered to herself. The minute that her arm was released, Rose took off to the nearest exit that led outside. 

“What took so long?” Neola complained as Rose made her way to the border between the Highbottle and Beddye vineyards. Even accounting for dodging Willow, her dad, and the other workers in the fields, Rose was still late for their get together. There was a hole in the fence that separated the land--too small to be noticed by anyone on either side, but just big enough for a young halfling to crawl through. This was how one of the Beddye children was able to be on Highbottle land despite the ongoing rivalry between the families. 

“Mom almost caught me while I was going out.” She reached into the pocket of her dress and pulled out one of the pastries she had grabbed from the kitchens. “Got us a snack, though.” 

Neola rolled her eyes, but accepted the flakey, sugary treat. “She’s good at catching you, but not that good.” After spending a moment to eat and then lick her fingers, she asked the important question. “Think the fort’s still safe?”

“It’s gotta be. I saw Jack going out there with old blankets just yesterday.”

“Uuugh.” The shorter halfling girl dramatically leaned against the sturdy fence separating the land. Her curtain of auburn hair somehow stayed perfectly straight. A harsh contrast to Rose’s far messier bob of wavy brown. “I know we gotta share it since he’ll blab if we don’t, but if I wanted to be around a baby I’d bring Tezor along.”

Rose couldn’t help but giggle. “Don’t tell him he’s a baby to his face, he’ll just pout. And c’mon! He can be fun!”

“His dog can be fun, more like.” Neola pouted. Despite her complaints, she allowed herself to be taken by the hand to the fort. 

Said fort was really a collection of scraps of wood put together as a small, vaguely square shape. It only resembled a building in that there were four walls and a couple of planks used for a roof. It was hidden among the bramble of as-yet untamed land that the Highbottles owned and thus all of the children who knew about it (all three of them) knew it wouldn’t live for very long. Still, there was a far shorter trek to the flimsy construction than there was to the cave at the edge of Vineshade that Neola and Rose stayed in most often. As a bonus, the girls could really pretend they were adventurers hiding out from all sorts of imagined baddies. If they were sitting down and ignored the sounds of workers in the field, that is.

Just like Rose had mentioned, there were indeed old blankets spread out on the floor of the fort as the girls made their way inside. Even the appearance of Jack and his puppy Spot were things that the two of them expected. What neither of them had predicted was that Rose’s older brother Basil would be there.

He gave a wide, lazy grin and waved at the girls. “Rosey! Neola! Care to join our party?”

Jack looked up from a paper he had been scribbling on and gave a dopey smile himself. “Yeah! Come join our party!” Spot, hearing how excited his master was, sprung up from his curled up position to bark his approval.

Rose blinked several times in confusion. “Basil? What’re you doing here?”

“What’s it look like I’m doing?” He took a couple of other pieces of paper and set them and some charcoal in the middle of the room. “It’ll be a tight squeeze, but the four--I mean five--of us should be able to hide out in here. Plus, we’re playing adventurer.” 

“I’m a ranger!” Jack announced, proudly holding up his paper. On it was a crude drawing of what appeared to be an older Jack, with something large and with four legs and spots that must have been a bigger, older Spot. “We’re out hunting goblins!” The dog barked again and got down on his forepaws and wagged his tail.

“Well, resting before we go hunt goblins.” Basil indicated the fort. “Can’t fight them when you’re too tired.” 

“You’re just saying that ‘cuz you’re gonna go sneak off and kill them yourself.” Jack frowned. “That’s what rogues do.”

“True! But! They can also wait for their party in case things go wrong. We wouldn’t want *that* right? So resting’s a good way to make sure the party’s all going to be safe.”

While the young boy contemplated his older brother’s logic, Rose finally got over her shock enough to realize what he was doing. “Weren’t you supposed to be at that meeting that mom’s going to today?”

To his credit, Basil’s lazy grin turned sheepish. “I didn’t really see the point in going. Feels like a waste of time when Reed’s going to take over when mom di--” He stopped himself, glanced at Jack and then clearly switched words. Both he and Spot tilted their heads at the same time. “Decides to step down. And Willow’s happy enough to keep up the vineyard forever, and Melody loves all the hard lifting work, and mom clearly wants YOU to be in charge of our marketing.” Rose made a face at that. “I know what she wants me to be, but I’m not so sure that that’s what I want to be, you know?” He stared off into the middle distance as he finished speaking. 

Rose wasn’t sure what to make of it. There was a ring of truth to everything he was saying that hit her in a way that she wasn’t sure she liked. It felt...familiar, almost. She just hadn’t been able to put her feelings into words before. Before she could think too hard about it, Neola finally spoke up. “You’re already the best prankster around, Bas. You don’t need to be anything else.”

He blinked and then laughed like he wasn’t bothered by anything at all. “True! Very true!” He tapped at the papers on the floor. “You still haven’t told me what you’re bringing to the party, girls!”

Jack, his wide coppery eyes having refused to move from his brother until now, snapped out of his stupor. He also grinned, glad that the serious moment was over. “Yeah, we need more people! There might be a lot of goblins!”

Neola plopped down on her knees next to the paper nearest Basil and took one of the pieces of charcoal to get started. “I think I’ll be a fighter or maybe a wizard.” She paused in her sketch and frowned. “Do you think it’s possible to be both?”

Basil shrugged. “Maybe? We’ll work it out as we go.”

“What about you, Rosey?” Jack looked up at the still standing girl. “You wanna play?” 

There was a lot churning in her head. What Basil said, her own feelings about her place in life, anything to do with adventuring...and then her eyes met her older brother’s. There weren't a lot of things that all of the Highbottle siblings shared, but Rose had a similar shade of brown eyes as Basil. So when he smiled and they warmed up considerably, she knew that her own were doing the same and she felt a little better.

“Yeah, I wanna play.” She sat down on the blanket with a plop. “So ranger, rogue, fighter/wizard...you guys are missing a healer.” Rose took her own piece of charcoal and started drawing. “I’ll be the cleric.”

[translightyagami]

Hi! If you're not too busy, could you write headcanons about Soichiro being super-supportive of Light and/or Sayu being trans/lgbt please? I need something to cheer me up

Hello! I think i’ve written about this before but being a really unruly tag-er of posts, I don’t think i can find them posts easily. so i’ll try to make some fresh headcanons nonny.

i think this depends on how you see the yagami sibs - their identities n such. i imagine they both end up tumbling into adulthood as trans and gay, albeit in different ways. Sayu comes around to a genderqueer lesbian understanding of herself and dates a LOT of anti-cap art students that Soichiro doesn’t like at all. he tells himself he dislikes how disrespectful her partners are, that they don’t have her best interests at heart, but the truth is that Soichiro can sense how Sayu is looking for a way to be Someone when she’s only been seen as a part, a piece. He fumbles everyone’s pronouns but gets it right on the third try, and Sayu always asks what he thinks of her choices. Soichiro is too honest for his own good but the fights don’t last super long. And even as all the different flags she’s worn collect on his desk - each one a token from a different Pride parade - he knows she’ll be okay; Sayu has never had trouble thinking for herself, and making her own path.

He’s a little worried about Light. His son, who transitioned when he was 14 and who never stopped being Soichiro’s shadow, even when he gained those last few inches on his dad. His son who won’t stop dating men Sayu uncharitably (but, Soichiro privately thinks, correctly) calls weasels. Oh sure, this revolving door of well-payed, nice-enough lovers that Light faithfully brings to dinner twice and then never again - they aren’t a threat to Soichiro’s son. Few things in the world are a threat to him, which is why Soichiro worries about those few things. He supported Light when he had top surgery, went with him to the clinic for testosterone (altho, a bit of needlephobe himself, Soichiro let his wife handle the actual shot), and got Light his job at the NPA with not a small amount of pressure to the higher-ups. Light’s happiness is important to him ... but he wishes Light would care a little more about his happiness too. Instead, Light does what he’s supposed to do - date nice but pliable men, bring them home, and remains effectively single.

“Light,” Sochiro corners him during a work lunch. “I want you to be happy. I want you to meet someone nice.”

“Ah, Dad,” Light laughs. “That’s not for me. I don’t think I’m supposed to be with anyone.” He gets quiet, twiddling his thumbs. “I have other things to do. Important things.”

Sayu graduates colleges and announces she’s moving to America. The whole family is in uproar, in a good way, and they see her off at the airport. Soichiro follows her Twitter updates, sees her meeting new people and getting into social activism. She tells her parents she’s seeing a therapist and she misses them.

“How’s Light?” she asks and Soichiro hesitates.

“He should visit you, I think,” he says.

Light is doing fine. He’s been fine for years. Now working in a higher position and living on his own, he doesn’t bring home boyfriends anymore. His passion is burnt, Soichiro can tell, and he starts asking more and more for advice - something Light never used to do. And Soichiro doesn’t know what to say: what Light needs help with is something Soichiro never had to deal with. His own life was, comparatively, easy - he met Sachiko in college. He married her. They had children. Light can have those things, sure, but it will be different and Light’s never been great at being different. So Soichiro tells Light to keep going forward - he just doesn’t know what else to say.

Sayu meets her future wife at a reproductive rights rally and brings her home after several Facetime calls that were really just gushing about how much she loves her. Sachiko and Soichiro love her too; she’s a little older than Sayu, a trans woman who has a steady job running a bookstore and pink streaks in her hair. She calls Sayu babe, and asks Sachiko for recipes. Sochiro knows she’s uneasy around him at first, but warms when he asks her questions about softball (Sayu played it in college, and Soichiro always found it more fun than Light’s short-lived tennis days). Light is courteous toward her, but he never seems fully present during the meeting. He keeps taking calls and returning to the dinner table a little red-faced.

“It’s classified,” he tells Soichiro, who asks the caller’s name. “I can’t say. But it’s someone safe, I promise.”

Light and Sayu’s future-wife go to bed early, both staying over in the house, so Soichiro sits with Sayu getting some father-kid time in. He can’t help but get her perspective on Light’s behavior. She laughs when he asks.

“Oh c’mon Dad,” Sayu says. “Light’s totally talking to a guy he likes. That’s how he always has been with crushes.”

“What?” Soichiro is shocked. “But ... I’ve never seen Light have a crush.”

“Oh yeah, okay.” Nodding, Sayu taps her chin. “You were kinda MIA at the time with the Kira case. Light used to get all blush-y and red back then when he got calls or visits from this college friend he had. I tried to spy on them once, but you know Light. He’s so good at swattin’ down spy stuff.” She scratches her head. “What was that guy’s name? It was like that actor’s name, wasn’t it? Anyway, Light would go totally dreamy after talking to him, all in his own head. Never seen him be like that around anyone else.”

Soichiro’s mouth gets tight. “Was his name Hideki Ryuga?”

“Huh? Oh yeah!” Sayu slaps her knee. “Oh my god, I used to like that actor soo much. Although that guy didn’t look like him at all.”

“Yes. I remember.”

Soichiro digs through his drawers that night while Sachiko tells him to keep it down while they have guests. But he needs to find a very specific number that he was told to use for emergencies only. He finds it taped under his bottom drawer and dials it on the kitchen phone. There’s a long period of hold music before anyone answers; its not that bad a tune.

“There’s no reason for you to call this number,” L says when he picks up. “I’m hanging up now and destroying this line. What a waste.”

“Do you have feelings for my son?”

There’s a crackle that makes Soichiro think L hung up but chewing noises revive him. L is just eating candy.

“Why do you ask?” L still sounds the same, yet there’s wrinkles in his voice that make him sound almost ... well Soichiro wants to say mature, although the candy ruins that a bit. “I need to hang up.”

“If you have feelings for him,” Soichiro bullies through, “then you need to tell him. Light deserves to be happy and I think you make him happy.”

“Hm.”

“He’s a very special person.” Soichiro has water in his voice. “I don’t think he wants to be, but he is. And if he chooses you, then you would have no better choice in the world than him.”

“Mm.” L rolls the syllables around. “I’m hanging up now. This number will not work again. Good bye.”

Soichiro stands in the kitchen for a minute listening to the dial tone before a scuffle catches his attention. Light steps away from a spilled glass of water, eyes gleaming and wide, as Soichiro hangs up the phone.

“I’m sorry.” Light grabs a towel, his voice wavering and his head turned down. “Sorry, I was getting a glass of water.”

“I meant it.” Soichiro gets on his knees and holds his son’s hands. They’re not as small as when Light was a child but they fell the same - warm, smooth, full of grace even when flexing nervously. “You are special. And you’ll find someone who thinks that someday.”

They hug, briefly, but Light’s phone disrupts them with a loud ringing. Hesitating before he takes it out, Light looks at his dad and his eyes are filled with hope - Soichiro thinks its a nice, new look for Light.

“Sorry,” Light says, “I have to take this. It’s classified.”

Three years later, and Soichiro is worried about his kids - they are both having weddings during the same week. “It’s easier!” Sayu says, because she doesn’t want to fly out twice. “We’re not doing anything big anyway,” Light says, because he and L have almost no guests invited beyond family members. But Soichiro isn’t worried so much about money or flights or anything like that. He’s worried about how it will feel, to see his children going off into the world to make their own families, to be so happy, to see them survive and thrive. And maybe he’s worried for himself, more than the kids. After all, how will it feel to be a man who got everything he ever wanted?

[intrepidmare]

My observations watching 🎯 Arrow 5x20 "Underneath"

Note: I so freaking loved this episode!!! I've seen it literally like 10 times already. It has an issue or 2 that bothers me, but I ignore that and enjoy the rest. I was too excited last night to write any of my scene-by-scene reactions, and reviews with a more general approach are better, so I decided to continue to do them this way. I can't guarantee that this would organize as could be, 'cause I'm still too hyped about it, anyway... Let's get started and get ready for a long review!

Olicity in the present day:

OMG! I love that they were forced to confront their issues! AT LAST!! It makes you wonder if Prometheus a shipper too hehehehe. Despite of everything he’s done, we have to thank him one thing at least. Anyhow, it's been way too long for Oliver and Felicity to have the talk. Altho, I'd have like them to fight even more, like Dyla did. Yelling at each other, really yelling and letting everything out (well Felicity yelled a bit --I loved she telling 'I told you so' to Oliver). 

I wish sometimes that Oliver stopped being so stubborn!! He knows by now that all he needs to do is what his wifey tells him. Why he even tries to go against that?! Let's hope this new scar reminds him that for the rest of his life. Putting aside my desires to strangle him for that, poor baby!! After that fall, ouch ouch, ouch. You could see how bad he was injured since the beginning, touching his back, limping, and sitting down every time he could. No good signs. That man has the will and strength of a thousand men, 'cause even being in so bad shape, he managed to carry Felicity on his back down the tunnel and then up the to the surface. Not only that! He pulled her up when almost fell. I almost laugh at Felicity when she told him to let her go. Yeah, riiiiiight! Like if that would ever happen. Please, it's ridiculous to think that he would! Oliver would chop his own head off first!

Funny side note: Oliver always complaining about the pain when Felicity is treating him; any other time he take it without flinching, with her... not so much. though he had all the right to complain this time. it was a really big and bad boo-boo

Okay now to the angsty part. God, the scene of Oliver confessing to Felicity broke my heart in a zillion of pieces. I'm not okay after that. All I wanted was to hug my baby!! And I gotta say that once more, Stephen made a spectacular performance there. Honestly, his acting in this season has been off the charts. I'm impressed the delicate changes in his speech as the scene progressed. You can notice how he was losing strength as he went on. Not like typically actors do that in one sec they're speaking normally and the next they're unconscious.

Can we talk about how Felicity was against Oliver's chest with her hand over his heart like making sure that was still beating? I'm-- I'm not ok.

And Felicity's speech didn't help me either. So much feels!! Gosh how I missed those Olicity moments. I hope that now we'll get more and more of them.

Do you know what else I loved? The way that Felicity injected the adrenaline into Oliver. No thinking, no hesitation. She did what she needed to do. Our badass cupcake has come a loooooooooong way from not liking blood and afraid of needles to stitching Oliver like a pro and stabbing a needle into his heart.

Olicity in the flashbacks: 

Oh so much heart eyes, flirting, touching, salmon ladder, sex!! YESS!!! And *sighs* hard truths.  I think that the reason they made so lit at the beginning was to have a more painful effect at the end. I should complain about the sex not being so hot as in 3x20 but I kinda expected that it would be this way so it didn't crush my expectations, but it's olicity sex so YAYYY!! WOOHOO!! (another side note: I won't see the sparring mat the same EVER AGAIN!)

The fallout... well, it was as painful as I thought it was gonna be. I prepared myself for that so... 

Altho, that doesn't explain how they got from that to how they were in 5x01. I guess I need to add that the things that don't make sense (I'm talking about that below) However, both Felicity and Oliver said hard truths to each other. And It was nice to see later on that for once Felicity apologized for walking away. That was necessary. Because their problems are not only Oliver’s fault. Felicity also shares part of the blame.

OTA: 

OMG!! I LOVED that scene when Dig goes down to meet Felicity and Oliver halfway. The best!!!

Dyla: 

I'm sooooooo glad they're working on their issues and got on track. I gotta say that even it isn't okay that Lyla kept things from Diggle or stole Curtis' t-spheres, she was absolutely right in calling him a hypocrite, cuz yeah, he was... a bit. I mean is okay when Oliver and the team sent Slade and others to Lian Yu Supermax or to work in the Suicide Squad (without trial), but is not okay that she has black op sites to hold her prisoners? And she also was right when she told him that John has Oliver's back not matter what he does, but when it comes to her, his WIFE, he doesn't do the same. Fortunately, Dig is much evolved and mature (and MUCH less stubborn) that someone else we know, so he apologized soon enough.

Curtis: 

After this episode, I've forgiven him for ALL the annoying things he had said and will continue saying. I have to! We have to thank him for his little set-up that pushes Oliver and Felicity to have sex! I know that the end was painful but Curtis managed to orchestrate what we've been wanting to see for over a year now.

Adrian and William:

Yeah, I knew that would happen in the moment when Adrian showed Oliver the picture back on 5x17. And seriously?!! After all that's happened, nobody has taught William not to speak with strangers?!!! 

Something good that could come out of this is Oliver realizing that keeping his son away doesn't protect him from harm!! in fact, makes him more vulnerable.

Things that don't make sense:

Felicity's wheelchair conveniently in the bunker. Last time we saw that chair was in the loft, how it got to the Arrow cave and why?

I'm sure I'm not the only one wondering why Felicity was so cheerful in the Flashback (I choose to think that she was faking it, you know smiling on the outside and dying on the inside) 'Cause what the hell happened with Heavenrock guilt and all that?

Curtis turning lights on when there's daylight? I mean I get it if it had been AFTER realizing the elevator didn't work, but first? like.. why?

Oliver hitting his head (several times) during the fall and not getting a concussion. I know he's hard-headed, but Arrow writers downplayed his injuries as usual. Of course he had more than enough with the hole in his back, but still!

Post-sex talk doesn't explain Olicity attitude in 5x01

Oh! And somebody needs to tell me which lipstick brand Felicity uses, ‘cause after all that smooching and lovemaking, her lips were perfectly glossed (as the rest of her make-up)

Memorable lines:

"What's next for my favorite power couple?" --Curtis

"You know what he can't change? "What?" "That way he looks at you" --Curtis & Felicity

"My math is probably right, but what if it's wrong?" "Are you still Felicity Smoak?" "Yeah" "Your math is always right" --Felicity & Oliver (Oh gosh, he killed me with that!!)

"I believe in you" --Oliver to Felicity

"Hang on tight.... Not that tight. Not that tight" --Oliver (That made me laugh)

"It's not about not trusting you. I always trust you. I don't trust myself."  --Oliver.

"I've always appreciated you doing the salmon ladder but never as much as in this moment." --Felicity

"I'm not going anywhere." --Oliver

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