#and he jumped real high at the end of the episode. I enjoyed that :)

[running-in-the-dark]

wait is Lana just gone now?? like forever?? nooo I love her 😭

[tootoomanycats]

The Plan

Chapter One: Best Laid Plans...

Pairing:

Gil-Galad x Human Reader Fem

Word Count: 6,415 words

If you prefer to read on AO3 its HERE

Summary: (SET IN THE RINGS OF POWER TV SERIES) (Takes place years before the first episode) As time settles the world’s chaos, Gil-Galad begins to feel an unusual boredom. After centuries of war, his days are now filled with mundane paperwork, the ink on the parchment mocking him with its monotony. When he receives a letter from Master Boat Builder Cirdan, asking for aid for a small group of humans whose ship has sunk, Gil-Galad agrees, recognizing his duty to help. Upon meeting the High King, you are caught off guard by an unexpected attraction. With your ship at the bottom of the bay, you aim to use your charm to secure a new vessel for yourself and your crew. However, as days go by, Gil-Galad's genuine compassion and kindness complicate things. The initial plan to flirt and deceive begins to clash with the genuine emotions that develop. You find yourself torn between the charming facade and emerging feelings for the High King. As the truth looms closer, the question remains—how will Gil-Galad react when he learns the real reason behind your visit?

Warnings:

Mentions of fire

Descriptions of injuries

Descriptions of partial nudity

Reader is not a holy good person.

Two ideots pining and refusing to acknowledge it.

Not Beta Read

(smut stuff will be in chapter two, promise)

Author Notes:

Hello Everyone!

It’s finally here! Thank you for being so patient while I finally got this done and posted. In my overeagerness, I was hoping to get this finished on New Year’s Day, but sadly, life and depression got a hold of me. I have entirely rewritten this chapter and how it plays out over four times. This time, I finally had to reel my worry that this wasn't good enough and just be okay with where it was. Please note that I'm writing this without sitting to very strict guidelines of what elves are commonly like in the book. I am writing Gil-Galad and Elves with the idea that history books and lore always paint figureheads and royalty as if they lived by strict morals and values. And I think it's much more interesting if we see what Gil-Galad would have experienced if he had fallen in love, and it, in the end, was kept secret from history. You'll notice that Elrond isn't going to be in this; that is because at the same time this story is going on- I have a one-shot of what Elrond is doing elsewhere. I am working on it, but I have no set date for finishing it as of right now. As always if you like what you have read please remember that fanfic writers live off of likes, comments and reblogs- we wont admit it but we all have praise kinks. Have you fed your starving artist today?

Tea.

Every night since his arrival in Grey Havens, the Master Boat Builder has made a point to enjoy a cup of tea before heading off to bed. Be it rain, snow, or shine, that cup of tea will always be had.

The weather was sublime this evening: cool temperatures, clear skies, and a calm breeze. Weather being what it is, he opened the workshop’s doors to watch as the sun’s last glow gave way to darkness.

Once the last sip was finished, he reached for the large doors to close them for the night. But as he pulled the last one, a shimmer of light in the water caught his attention; its reflection was unusually bright.

Leaning out the side, hand gripping the door handle for balance, he gasped in shock at finding the source. Just a few leagues away was a double-masted ship- inflamed.

Its bow was raised dramatically into the cool night air, exposing an accumulation of maritime fauna. The vessels aft dragged along the sea bed, echoing whenever it hit high points of rocks. What wood was visible was already ashes or becoming the next fuel source for the inferno. Screams and bodies jumping into the river could be heard above all else.

Running out of the boat house, Cirdan reached the town’s warning bell. Its massive size was stuck from disuse and rust. He kicked hard and kept kicking until his ankle and foot burned in protest, until finally, it groaned in movement. The piercing sound of the tocsin woke and alerted those who lived nearby as he shouted, “FIRE!”

It became chaos as orders were given, supplies packed, and horses mounted. The few elves who could, followed the older one, sprinting to offer aid to the tragedy’s survivors.

——

Wet, freezing, and homeless.

The strength it had taken to carry your first mate from the ship’s bowls to the deck had caused more than one muscle to pull. Short as he is, the man is surprisingly heavy.

Unfortunately, jumping from a burning ship was more manageable than carrying him to shore. As the line of buoyancy and gravity met, a new struggle began as you started to stand halfway out of the water.

Heavy, wet clothes worked against frozen, numb limbs with each soaking step to dry land and out of its icy grip. Ankles almost twisting with each slippery step on the shore rocks before finally collapsing onto soft sand.

A small blessing was the man you had carried came too with only a few short chest compressions. You joined him on the sand once he could fully sit up and catch his breath.

What was left of the crew watched as the top of the crow’s nest disappeared, the bay groaning and gurgling in its consumption. The ship you and many others once called home had been swallowed into the water’s depths.

A hand gently pressed into your left shoulder, its callouses felt through the singed holes of your shirt—the contact causing you to look at the much shorter man. “I’m sorry, Captain. You did your best.”

The words meant well, but instead of commiserating, they reminded you that this was your failure. When the sensation of your throat tightening and eyes misting began, you shook your head. There would be no grieving until a new home was acquired.

Looking back at the shorter man, face composed and emotions pushed to the side. “Do we know where we’ve landed, Sal? I didn’t have time to look at the map; when I saw the opening, I thought it would be the only chance for our escape.”

Sal’s singular green eye widened before looking around the visible area, knowing he would be the only one of you to see in such darkness. “Not sure, we’ve never been this far north before.”

Not good.

Standing up, you internally shivered as the sensation of wet, sandy, cloth peeled from your damp, chilled skin. The only possessions left were on everyone’s backs, holes and all.

A strike of panic set in at that realization. Taking inventory, a hand reached up to count the baubles that adorned your earnings, relieved to feel all was accounted for. Looking down at the blistered and burned fingers, you grimaced at the thought of how bad the pain would be when removing the various roughly smithed rings. One of the bands looked almost embedded past the first few layers of skin, potentially touching bone.

Sal had followed in checking his personage for anything of value, even lifting his eye patch and ensuring that the smooth, unpolished diamond he kept was still hidden in the empty socket.

“We’re going to be stuck on land until a new home can be procured.” Turning, you saw the group huddled together for warmth, teeth chattering as they shivered.

“From here on out, it’s dry land rules and roles. We’re starting from nothing, so best behaviors until that changes.” At the nods given in response, you turned to your first mate. “We need to start a fire; we don’t need anyone dying of hypothermia-“ Everyone froze at a distinct sound.

Hoof-beats.

The sound rumbled further up into the tree line, accompanied by voices that called out, echoing into the fjord. Lanterns swayed and grew brighter with each moment the owners grew closer.

Head snapping back to the others, you whispered, “Remember the rules. No one speaks until I say so.” A groan caught your attention just before Sal almost lost his balance. “What's wrong? Why-“ Pulling your hand away from the back of his head, you felt the warmth just as you smelt its metallic scent.

Your hand was entirely coated in bright red blood from just that moment of contact; a quick glance back at the sand where he had first laid showed a small puddle where the ground's compression had helped to pause the bleeding, only momentarily. “Why didn't you say anything?” you hissed before trying to apply what little pressure your pain-filled hand could tolerate. A gruff whisper was his only response: “Didn't want to worry you.”

“Idiot” was the only word that could be mustered while ideas sprinted in your mind at what to do next. The lanterns were getting closer, the voices becoming more evident each second. It was a gamble, but it was the only possible choice you could see.

“Someone, help us!” Shouting into the night air, voice raising louder with the following sentence. “Pirates have attacked us!” At first, the crew members' confusion read clearly on their faces, until your stern glare made them realize what was happening. One by one, they began clutching various parts of their bodies, crying out and groaning in pain.

Sal chuckled in your arms, shaking his head before he lost consciousness, his full weight now on you to hold up. Once the owners of the lanterns broke through the bushes, they rushed in to help. But it was clear that there was surprise on both parties’ sides when seeing who the other was.

Elves? Just how far north had you drifted?

Cirdan was genuinely shocked at what he and his townspeople stumbled upon. When first spotting the burning ship, the assumption was that the sailors aboard would be his own kind—not humans. As the others rushed to those rolling in agony on the sand, he quickly made his way to where you were struggling to maintain balance while holding a relatively short man.

Finally, you allowed the tears to flow, teeth chattering as the adrenalin began to wear off and what little warmth you had dissipated. “Please, help us.” The older elf’s heart broke at the sight before him, and within the hour, you and your crew had been taken back to town to be tended to.

By midnight, Sal’s head had been stitched and bandaged. Once asleep, the shorter man's snoring rattled the walls of the boat builders' small home. The other members' wounds had been cleaned before special herbs that none of you recognized were placed over them. With no spare rooms, Cirdan was left to care for the ship’s captain on his dining table.

The first rinse to clean the wounds on your palms had not been too painful. But as the elf used various instruments to take out the bits of splintered wood, broken threads of rope, and shattered glass, you began to think that he was torturing you instead of healing.

At another flinch, Cirdan’s focus shifted to take in your exhausted face. The grimacing expression telling how much you were ready to be done with the tedious task before you both. “Almost done. I am pleased to say you will still have full use of your hands.” He whispered.

As everyone else slept, only a few candles lit the small area needed to see as he worked. In search of distraction from the sensitive and tender discomfort, attention shifted to the papers scattered around the table he had you perched on. The first few were just lists and notes, but something caught your eye.

It was beautiful.

Triple-masted, square-cut sales, the hull was designed in such detail that it felt like, with one good shake, it would drop out of the page into the water.

As you became further engrossed with the drawing, you unknowingly leaned further and further. Cirdan looked up, ready to ask you to sit still again. But when he followed where your attention had gone, he smiled softly before gently guiding your palms back into the position needed. Focusing back on digging out a particularly stubborn glass shard, he egged on your curiosity. “If you enjoy that one, you should see the one you are sitting on.”

When a deep blush of embarrassment spread across your face, he chuckled. “Here, let me help.” With the boat master’s aid to lean to the opposite side now, he pulled free the design to lay the now crinkled paper on the table for easier viewing.

Just like the previous design, this, too, was stunning. Were such ships possible to build? Once back to work on your hands, you took the opportunity to shift your attention from the design to begin admiring the unique features of the elf's home.

Intricate hand-carved details were everywhere. Spiraled door handles, doorway arches with such delicate flowers and vines it was a wonder they didn’t break, and the wall next to the dining table was carved from ceiling to floor, detailing a flock of cranes surrounded by tall standing trees.

“Did you design them?” Attention back to the page that had previously been sat on. An idea began to form in your mind at his nod and smile. “They’re beautiful; building something as grand as those must take a lifetime.”

“They are, though I am not sure if they will ever be brought into existence.” The tone of his voice tells of the pride in his creations and the enjoyment of such praise.

Allowing your voice to soften, your head tilting, and your lips turning up at the corners as you spoke, “They’re unique. It's so clear in everything you touch that this is what you were meant to do.”

As you continued, the tips of pointed ears peeking out from silver hair tinged in a faint blush. “Every detail thought through so clearly,” Cirdan gulped as he nervously tried to focus on the task before him.

But the poor boat builder struggled even more when you teasingly smiled while praising his work. “Even your door handles and chairs adorn your touches.” Your eyes locked for a moment, just long enough to see the faint tinge of a flustered blush topping the apples of his cheeks. A single fluter of your lashes and you glanced at his lips for a moment before returning to the pages laid out.

“Um, Y-yes. Yes, I feel such joy and fulfillment in what I do and what it means for my people.” He placed the metal instruments down on the woven cloth that held other items, ones that looked sharper and more intimidating the longer you looked. The response was a murmured thank you as he began placing crushed herbs over the now clean wounds. As the gauze was wrapped around each finger delicately, it was Cirdan’s turn to ask a question.

“I am curious about your ship; it saddens me that I did not have a chance to see its beauty.” The fingers he still wrapped tensed in his hands; at looking up, he saw how the color left your face, eyes turned down; it was clear you weren't there with him at that moment. “Oh, I am sorry,” turning, he brought a warm cup of tea to your lips, your hands still unable to hold anything. “In my curiosity, I did not think of your pain and loss.”

The elves' eyes watched subtly as your lips curled and then relaxed to part, observing how your throat swallowed the warm liquid he had provided. Patiently waiting until you had your fill before putting the cup down and turning back to finish bandaging up to your wrists.

Cirdan finished the bandaging with the last wrap around your wrist. In the time it took to stand, gather the instruments, and look between you and his designs on the table, an idea began to form at the front of his mind. “Is it difficult to ascertain a new vessel in your homelands?” His back faced you as he cleaned the blood from the metal objects in the sink.

His shoulders dropped as your voice broke. “My home is very far from here.” For the second time in the night, the boat master felt his heartbreak at such sadness.

That settles it, then. He had to do something. There was only so long and so little room that Grey Haven’s harbor could offer hospitality, not to mention there being no clear path ahead for you. “What I say next, you must know, is not meant to push you out.” He watches the way you curl into yourself, preparing in resignation already.

“My home is small, not suited to provide the proper healing your crew needs. I will send a message to my king-,” Your eyes widen, shaking your head as you tell him no. But he will hear none of it. Raising a hand to stop your protests, the elf continues, “I will write to my king and ask that he finds it in his heart to show compassion, especially to those that deserve it.”

You tell him you don't know how to repay his kindness; he scoffs and drinks the now-cold tea to hide the blush dusting the apple of his cheeks. The rest of the night is spent playing a few games of chess. It would have just been one, but with your hands being as they are, you kept accidentally bumping multiple pieces around. With each game, the conversation turned back to ships, elven ships.

As the darkness of night began to give way to the first glow of dawn on the horizon, Cirdan excused himself to write the letter that would be sent ahead to Lindon’s Capital. At that same time, you went to Sal. Gently, you slinked into the bedroom so as not to wake the rest of the crew before sitting on the edge of the bed that was so graciously granted to your first mate.

“Sal, Sal!” You voiced louder than planned at the shorter man’s deep sleep, which refused to release him. Finally, the rough shake to his shoulder roused him. “Wha-Whats going on?” With a quick hand over his mouth to quiet him down, you pressed a finger to your lips before whispering. “I have just spent the last few hours speaking with our new friend. He has been very kind.”

You couldn't help but chuckle at the responding wiggling eyebrows, his single eye wide in excitement. “How kind?” You leaned in to reply with a whisper, a wicked smile its companion. “Kind enough to ask if his king would help us.” Sal’s jaw dropped in shock before punching your shoulder. “How in the hell did you pull that off?”

Sitting straight, the back of your hand pressed to your forehead, sighing dramatically before speaking, “Who will take pity on little ole me, a female captain with no ship to call home? My poor crew, so ill, that even elven healers struggle to help them.”

Shaking his head while chuckling, Sal crossed his arms while wiggling more comfortably into the bed’s soft feather pillows. “So what’s the plan?”

Your smirk grew at the question.

———————

With the first rays of morning light, a plan in motion, and rules set in place, you met with Cirdan and the escort outside his home, where a hiccup had already appeared.

You nervously approached the giant beast, flinching back when its large nostrils grunted out a rush of breath. “I’ve never ridden a horse before. Can I not just walk behind?” A sympathetic smile graced the boat master’s lips as the other elf mounted their steed. “Walking would take extra days that your crew may not have. If you are unsure of riding alone, ride with the escort; they will ensure your safe arrival.”

Anxiously, you nodded in agreement, unable to see a different path around the logic presented. A few awkward jumps and one petrified yelp later saw you and the expert rider heading up the road to the capital—the poor elf at the mercy of your fearfully white-knuckled grip in their ribs. The pain in your hands be damned.

Lindon’s Palace

My Dear King,

I write to you earnestly, asking that aid be offered to someone deserving of such compassion. A pirate attack has left my new friend without a ship or home, and a crew suffering from ailments beyond my healing capabilities. The ship's Captain will arrive with an escort so that you yourself can make sound judgments of their character.

Gil-Galad re-read the letter. In his years of friendship with the Lord of Grey Haven, only a handful of times had the elder asked for royal assistance, unlike some of the other stewards of his kingdom, who seemed to lack such abstention.

He sighed when sid-eyeing the pile of letters and scrolls stacked high upon the oak desk, still awaiting answers. Fiddling with the paper’s edge, unrolling it further as he sat in thought, a previously unseen line of penmanship caught his attention.

I suggest conversing over a game of chess; you may be pleasantly surprised as I was in their company.

Your Faithful Friend, Cirdan

With a scoff, he flicked the paper back to its place on the desk's clutter. It had been hours, and barely a dent had been made in the mountain of documents that had arrived the day before.

With his kingdom settling into a gentle rhythm after so many years of war, the High King started feeling something unexpected- boredom. Gone were the days of extreme stress, battle planning, and mourning for his people. Now, they were filled with small pleasantries, mastering crafts, and, unfortunately, paperwork.

Leaning back into the hand-carved chair, fingers rubbed along the pulsing ache of his forehead, pain caused by the hours of eyes straining on documents.

A groan left his chest when an unfortunately familiar warmth spread across the top of a kneecap. The morning’s rays had started to inch into his room, their gentle cares on his vestige announcing that another sleepless night had passed.

Muscles ached and throbbed as he stood to stretch before walking to the window to watch the sunrise. His attention to the sunrise over the horizon was shifted down from his room in the tower at the arrival of a horse carrying two persons.

One was an elf, and the other a human woman. It was hard not to chuckle while watching as her arms shakily reached out to the escort to assist in the dismount from their horse, legs wobbling once on solid ground. As the escort walked off with the creature to announce their arrival, she stayed in place, observing the entry area's flora and white-barked trees.

It was rare to see a human in his kingdom. Even in memory, it was a struggle to gleam the last one and when they came. It was not surprising, as curiosity peaked about the mortal creature that had appeared at random.

That is what he told himself, at least, as his eyes fixated on the wild wind-swept hair that glowed from the crepuscular rays of morning. And repeated internally again, when observing the silhouette outlined from the sheer fabrics she wore when bending to smell a vine of jasmine.

The voice was not repeated a third time when his eyes honed in on the gentle slopes of her bust; nipples pebbled hard by the cold morning's dew. Each movement allowed more and more to be revealed by the fabric's owner. The tall elf’s heart rate panicked at admiring rounded hips that harmonized with the tops of plush, strong thighs and a waist--

When a knock raps at the bedroom door, he jumps, placing a wide palm to his chest, letting out a breath he was unaware was being held. With a final glance back at the woman, he shakes his head and asks the attendant to come in.

“High King, a visitor has arrived from Grey Haven to speak with you. Master Cirdan has sent them.” Gil-Galad froze, and his heart rate, still yet to calm down from moments ago, increased.

A quick glance to the desk where Cirdan’s note sat, as its words read out in his mind. Certainly, she was not the captain he spoke of. What in the world was that blasted boatmaker thinking? The shorter elf’s expression made Gil-Galad realize he took longer than usual to respond.

“I will be there in but a moment. Please see that our guest is attended to until then.” Gil-Galad’s eyebrow quirked as his attendant paused awkwardly, a tilt of his head letting the shorter elf know to speak. “Sire, your meeting with the human may need to wait a few days so that-“ Gil-Galad held up his hand as the memory of sheer fabric flashed away just as quickly as it had appeared.

“Master Cirdan has informed me that the aid needed for the human stands on the direness of time. I will meet with them first during my morning meal; that should allow a better inclusion of my schedule.”

With a swift nod, the shorter elf leaves to inform the morning staff of the changes. In the reflection across from where he stood, exhausted eyes and a stern expression looked back. In a singular sigh, he pinched the bridge of his nose. Just when it seems a moment to himself has appeared, the morning maids come in to prepare a bath and lay out the royal robes.

In toe behind them, the royal retainer began listing the days itinerary, explaining how every minute of the hours were filled with meetings, agreements, and document signatures. With a singular sigh and torpid blink, he turns to take the prepared bath and begrudgingly get the day started.

When an attendant had come to gather you and usher the way to an empty grand dining room to wait, it felt like a small gift.

Palpations had been occurring every few minutes since the moment your feet touched the ground after riding for hours. Hopefully, this would give time to help calm them. Chalking the rapid heart rate up to nerves and still feeling so tired, you reminded yourself that rest, food, and sleep would come eventually. But the plan took precedence over everything, no matter the cost.

The first few minutes were spent sitting at the opposite end of the room’s expansive stone table, until those nerves raised back up—skin itching, and not just on the slowly scabbing wounds of your hands. Legs crossed only to un-cross and then cross again. The liquid in the glass of wine on the table rippled from how hard your knee bounced. When all this did nothing to aid in the growing feeling of unease, you resorted to pacing back and forth, back and forth, until the feeling of dizziness came on.

At the sound of your stomach echoing into the quiet room, you side-eyed the table. The temptation was hard to resist at the site of the varying fruits, cheeses, bread, and dishes for breakfast. While subtle, the aromas still had made their way to your nose.

With a head shake, you continued pacing; by now, you were sure that a grove had been worked into the floor. Glancing back to the chair at the opposite end of the table, a small tremor corded its way from where the palpations started to both of your poor, still wobbling legs. One misstep, one accidental insult, and the plan would be over before it could be put into motion.

With a deep breath, you hoped to calm your heart’s racing; nervousness would not be an ally. Another breath, followed by many more in succession. Still, the beating thrummed with such intensity it felt as if the betraying organ was in your throat, determined to expel itself and do a jig at your feet to taunt you.

Distraction.

Distraction would help, you hoped. Turning around, you desperately tried to focus now on the grandiose tapestry that hung twenty feet in the air. Its textured masterpiece taking so much space that the raw threadbare edges touched the flooring and side walls.

Red, look for something red. Rose bushes came into clarity on the lower section. A breath, this one a little easier- but still, your chest held tight. Animals, find the animals. Swans were flying in the open sky of the fibers- was that a unicorn?

Each detail of the textile artwork helped to distract from the sensation that rattled against your ribs. In a further attempt to add comfort, you wrapped your arms around yourself, desperately hoping to soothe the nerves that struggled to dissipate.

____

Even after the warmth of a bath and fresh clothes, Gil-Galad found his heart rate had yet to slow since looking out the window. Surely it was just another sleepless night of work that made it hard to calm such a tempestuous beating? Obviously, this peculiar feeling was not brought on by how his mind's eye sought to wave the memory of curves, backlit in a warm glow—always right when mental clarity was needed.

When reaching the dining hall, Gil-Galad held up a hand to let his attendant know he would be entering the room alone, unannounced. Cirdan had made it clear that he should make a sound and solid judgment of the Captain's character before making any decisions in the offer of aid. A wisdom he would heed. Speaking would also be better without extra eyes watching. However, it would have been better if his mind had been allowed to think of questions to ask before this moment.

Quietly, the private royal entrance opened, its door only opening for him and him alone. Stone that once lay flat and blended into the wall shifted back, then slid just enough for his size to squeeze into the room—unnoticed. The internal expectation from past interactions with mortals was that his guest would be gorging themselves on the food laid before them. But once inside, surprise met that expectation. The only other chair besides his sat empty, the dishes untouched.

There, at the other end of the room, unaware of his presence, you stood. Elven ears picked up the sounds of deep breathing, eyes watching as your heavily bandaged hands rubbed your arms while swaying gently from side to side. Gil-Galad’s eyes trailed once more to the clothes draped on your figure. Cirdan had dressed you in something so sheer?

Perhaps the boat builder had not realized that the gift offered to you had been- No. Cirdan was too bright and observant to have missed something like this. That old perverted- at the memory of this morning, the realization he had no hill to stand on and judge hit him.

Yet, he could not look away. The tension came back to his chest, and just as it began to crawl its way down, inch by inch, to an area of his body that he refused to acknowledge, panic set in and forced the moment to break.

“You have yet to eat.”

With a yelp of shock, you nearly jumped out of your skin. Turning with wide eyes and a hand to your poor, overworked, thumping heart. Finding the voice’s owner standing at the opposite end of the room.

When first trying to picture what an elven king might have looked like, your imagination pulled from what was known of your own kind. Rulers that were repugnant, rotund, and gangrenous from a life of riches and idleness.

What you did not anticipate was to be greeted with the amused expression of a very tall elf, whose attractiveness you pretended not to feel any way about. It took a moment for the shock to pass before finding yourself. “N-no.” A breath. “No, I felt it would be rude to eat before my host arrived.”

It was as if time had frozen for a moment, two statues unmoving as they visually memorized what was in front of them. Sheer fabric clashed with the opulent, almost excessive layers of gold on the opposite side. Warm brown eyes, unblinking in their seriousness, scrutinized the shocked hesitancy in your own.

When you both tried to speak simultaneously, a polite smile graced his lips as he motioned for you to go first. A thanks would be the best choice, grateful that such a renowned, elven king would spare an hour to hear a poor human captain’s woes. Pleasantries to be embellished so prettily in their bestowment.

Sadly, that option would be ruined by a comically loud growl from your stomach, no doubt retaliation at being teased for so long by such appetizing smells. Gil-Galad watched as your eyes shut laggardly before opening again, now refusing to meet his own from embarrassment.

He gave you a gift of mercy in finding the strength to choke back a laugh. “It would appear that, as a host, I have been discourteous to test the patience of such a considerate guest.” Motioning for you to sit, he continued, “Please, eat. I would ask if you are hungry, but I believe that answer has already been given.”

Unlike the High King, you did not find the strength to choke back a laugh from the jest. When your eyes met again, an expression of mirth greeted the faint blush of your cheeks. Gods have mercy; this was going to be a challenge. The elf barely said two sentences, and already, you were struggling.

Gil-Galad gulped as you pulled up your chair to sit more comfortably; he could not understand the reasons for his nerves. His gaze trailed once more to the unexpected guest across the table, unknowingly unaware of the detail being taken in of your personage.

In the earnings that dangled down to the tops of your collar bones, polished beads of sea glass glowed, backlit by the candles behind you. Indigo-dyed whalebone and sea urchin spines brandished with petrified beads of amber hung on uneven lengths of fishing wire.

Rough and raw cut jewels adorned roughly smithed mental bands, assorted in the widths of rings that hung from your neck while your fingers healed. He would admit that such ornaments are much more maximal and eclectic than is commonly seen of his own kind.

His heart rate, which had just calmed, began racing again as he watched your lips part, tongue welcoming a bite of food. His vision tunneled to take in greater detail when your brows knit together in pleasure as the flavors danced across your palate.

Blinking, he pulled himself out of the hyper-focus when reaching forward to grip the golden handle of a wine glass. Trying to calm the returning tension he had felt when watching you from when he first entered the room. This was going to be a problem.

Light filtered off your fork, hand tremoring in hunger as the choices become overwhelming. It felt as if the room was getting darker and hazy around its edges. Cirdan had offered food when playing chess, but between the pain in your hands and the nausea from still coming down from the adrenalin of survival, any thought of eating was quickly turned down.

On top of that, the ship had floated for two days into the fjord without a bite of food or water. To say you were starving was an understatement. It took every ounce of self-control not to gorge like a wild animal after the first bite into a roasted pear with salted honey, its juices bursting in your mouth.

“Lord Cirdan wrote that your ship and crew were attacked by pirates and are in further need of aid.” The question caught you off guard, cheeks chipmunk-ed out at trying to fit as many roasted butter beans into your mouth as physically possible. Peeking up, it was obvious the elf knew exactly what he had done from the smirk that pulled from the edges of his lips.

As desperate as you were to swallow your way out of this, chewing was the only option. Could you simply spit out the beans? Yes, but that would only cause further humiliation for him to watch the act. Quickly grabbing the napkin laid under the other silverware, you covered your lips and cheeks as you chewed quickly, jaw clicking from the strain.

When finally able to get the last bit down to respond, another question was put forth. “What exactly happened to your ship, the- what was its name?”

Cirdan had been correct in knowing his king would hold no punches in the judgment of your character. Gil-Galad knew that his questioning was starting to get under your skin. And what better way to begin seeing someone for who they are than by seeing how they handle their frustration?

As the minutes passed and no response was given, his eyebrow raised expectantly. Were you trying to formulate a lie? At the tilt of his head, his eyes hardened. “Are you alright?”

You chuckled hollowly, feeling a spark of enjoyment in watching Gil-Galad’s expression change to irritation as you spoke. Two could play at that game. “Only waiting to see if there are other questions, Your Majesty. I do not wish to offend such a curious mind by interrupting its thoughts.”

Gil-Galad knew that if he were here, Elrond would snort out his wine. It appears that the High King would also be judged on how his temper would be handled. Raising his palm, he gave the motion to speak.

With a deep sigh, you tried to calm the frustration that had been brought forth. “My crew and I were set upon by pirates three days ago; their cannons tore holes into the hull of my ship. By some miracle, we escaped from being boarded, but in our escape, I had steered us into a waterway that none of us recognized.”

When no interruption came, you continued. “Lord Cirdan had seen my ship just as it began taking on more water than we could bucket out.” It was unnerving being watched so intensely, warm eyes unblinking in their judgment of every word uttered into the air. “He was kind enough to offer aid. But he realized we have no way of getting home, at least not any way that would not take years on foot.”

Still not a blink from the scrutinizing gaze, you gulped to wet your now cotton-dry throat as sweat dripped down your neck. “Asking for help is not something I have any practice in. But for the people that depend on me, I will do anything in my capabilities to see that they survive.”

Silence stretched between you both. Gil-Galad contemplated your tale, sight now set on the wine glass before him. When speaking of your crew and their care, he could sense no lies, but why was his gut tightening, waiting, and expecting? It felt as if something was missing. Perhaps speaking of such a harrowing escape was not something you wished to delve into further detail.

Or -gods forgive him- the tightening that was felt had nothing to do with your words, and more to do with the internal befuddlement trying to be ignored since your arrival.

You watched as golden fibers wrapped around the barrel waist in front of you strained against expanding ribs. A deep, belly-filled breath was exhaled slowly and quietly in contemplation. As his lips parted to speak, the dining room’s doors opened. The shorter elf that first guided you in giving a small bow.

“High King, I apologize for the interruption, but the lords are gathered and waiting for you.” Whatever tension that had been building was broken instantly. Fresh air from the outside corridor wafted in, and both of you took the opportunity to breathe.

The sound of chair legs scraped against the floor as he stood, an air of equanimity held in his stance as he stared down at where you still sat, slouched back into your seat. “Please forgive my sudden departure. I would like to continue this discussion later this evening if you are amenable to the offer.” He continued at the single nod you gave while walking over to his attendant.

“Please see that our guest is given a room and fed.” At the bow of the shorter elf, the two of them slowly walked out into the hall, leaving you to watch as the door closed behind them. Once Gil-Galad was certain that you could not hear, he leaned down to whisper one last order. “And see to it that she has…warmer attire prepared. I would not wish for our guest to take a chill from the temperature tonight.” At the hesitant bow given before the shorter elf left, Gil-Galad realized he was not the only one struggling whenever what you were wearing was seen.

Once alone, he sighed while pinching the bridge of his nose. It had only been a singular hour of the morning, and already, it was obvious that the day would be as long as it was stressful.

I have this idea that Gil-Galad is never truly content. War? -Hate it. Calm and tranquil? - Bored out of his mind. So when this Captain comes around he both loves and hates how hes feeling. I'm working on outlining the next chapter but it may take a bit before its edited and posted. So please be patient. Love you all and hope you enjoy and are surviging my friends!

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All cat art used on this blog are by the artist Valioart found on pintrest.

[utilitycaster]

Part of why it’s tough to talk about the most recent episodes is that I feel a lot of people treat party dynamics, culpability vs. victimhood, and overall character focus on the show, based on an idea of a zero sum game, and I find that fallacious.

It’s really valid for everyone to be furious at Ashton, and I don’t think anyone has behaved wildly inappropriately towards them. I don’t think Bells Hells behaved in a therapy-approved manner either, but as is frequently discussed this is fiction and not real life and therapy-approved discussions are so boring and unnatural in, to be honest, either fiction or real life, that this is not a metric anyone whose opinion I respect would use.

It’s also extremely understandable how Ashton got here. As Taliesin said on 4SD, and now in-game and in-character, the fact that nothing good had ever really happened to Ashton means that they jumped at the first sign that they might be special and ran with it. The Ashton and FCG parallels continue; the past week has been a bunch of important people telling him how unique and cool he is. Jumping into the lava even worked out well for them! And so, riding high on that hubris, and with the knowledge that the rest of the party would probably stop them, they deliberately deceived everyone but Fearne. He even admits that the fact that “very smart people” (Evontra’vir, Allura, arguably Percy) advised against it was part of why he made the decision he did. It was perfectly in character, it did come from their trauma, and it still was a choice that was harmful to them, to the rest of the party, and to a vitally important mission. Ashton covers the situation well: they wanted someone else to blame, but in the end it was their fault.

Ashton is both deeply traumatized and also responsible for a number of their own problems. To be honest, I think this can be said to an extent about everyone in the party, but that’s beside the point. Within the fandom, swinging entirely to one side (They are a horrible selfish monster who ruined everything and are lucky the party is still talking to them) or the other (He has had a very hard life and exploding hurt a lot and everyone should be nice to him as a result) is an incomplete picture at best and a realization of the post author’s unexamined bias at worst.

It’s much easier to cover the other kind of zero sum: that of the show’s, and the fandom’s focus. The show is telling a story. In a good story, everyone will get their time in the sun, but if you’re counting how many minutes each person talks you have quite literally lost the plot. If your favorite isn’t getting the time you wish they did, it’s worth considering what sort of actions they take. Rarely do I find a main PC to actually be sidelined; more frequently, they just have a more subtle plot and the actor playing them realizes this. And in the case of the fandom’s focus; I’d be a hypocrite if I said complaining wasn’t valid, but you’ll achieve far more by making good posts about an underrated character than whining that other characters exist. People can enjoy multiple things at once, and frequently do.

[wanderlust-in-my-soul]

Currently Watching - December

aka The Masterlist

Because I love a good little list - in alphabetical order! 😊

Regularly updated during the month, latest update 29.12.2024

A little link to my favorite bl-tropes-collection 💙

gif-requests are open, but you'll need to have some patience🌼

Here you can find all of my gifs.

At the end you can have a look at what we can expect in December with a MDL link and a link for a trailer (if avaible).

This is guaranteed to contain spoilers!

1. Miseinen: Mijukuna Oretachi wa Bukiyo ni Shinkochu 🇯🇵 (8/11)

There are worlds between them. And I hate that they went for the separation and the time skip, but only because it hurts. I think it is a good use of this trope. But those two made each other happy and now they are hurting and that is hurting me. And next week looks hurtful too. Damn.

2. ThamePo Heart That Skips A Beat 🇹🇭 (3/13)

I love it here so much! They like each other already! They care about each other! And how could memorising a phone number be the most romantic shit ever?! They are the softest, most quiet people and I love them! They are already so special to me! I know my expectations are way too high... but I can't stop myself!

3. The Heart Killers 🇹🇭 (6/12)

Uhhhh... Shit is going to hit the fan really soon! I am here for it. What I am not here for is Fadel crying! My poor boy! Don't hurt him! So Bison and Fadel now know Kant and Style are fake, but boys, their feelings aren't fake! But the story needs some plot to work with, because right now, it is boring. Only Style & Fadel are keeping my interest up.

4. Word of Honor 🇨🇳 (25/36)

Yes, I kept watching. Well, this will take me a while to finish, I fear.

5. Your Sky 🇹🇭 (7/12)

I looooved the talk between Fah and his parents. They support him so much and they love him so much and they will love Rak with everything they have! I just hope we can get Fah and Rak becoming the best versions of themselves during the next episodes without drama and wit a lot of fluff and love. We still have five episodes to go. But for now I live in this version of the kiss and the fact that both boys are so damn much in love with the other one! They give me life!

Finished in December

Series

Blue Canvas of Youthful Days 🇨🇳

They can be glad to end this one with a happy ending! I would have thrown hands if they end it with them to never see each other again. I liked the series. It has such a wonderful melancholic feeling. It is calm and has topics that go very deep. But. The rending was very rushed. I guess we could have shorten some parts of the second couple (I really don't like them that much) and give some more time for the main couple. That is just my feeling. There were just too many questions open in the end for me. And as said, the ending was too rushed. I give this a good 8 out of 10.

Sweet Home Season 1 🇰🇷

I started this series because of him. I love him in everything he touched so far. And after a rough start this series captured my attention and I couldn't stop watching. After a while my best friend joined me and now we watch the rest of the series together. I usually don't watch horror stuff, but this one is really good. It is not too gory or to spooky and there are no real jump scares. I really enjoyed this first season. Overall a 9,5 out of 10.

Sweet Home Season 2 🇰🇷

The reason I kept watching were those two! Yes, I can see everywhere at least one bromance that should be a romance. Come on! Who looks at the lips of someone else like this if they don't want to suck on them too?! He wants to kiss those lips and this kiss would be reciprocated. Because they are in love with each other! Besides that this season was a mess. The storytelling was boring, there was no tension, too many new characters and no real connection with those characters like in the first season. I give it 6,5 out 10 just because love those two and I read some nice fanfics about them!

Sweet Home Season 3 🇰🇷

At least they could hold hands for a short period of time. I am happy Sergeant Kim survived. I am happy most of the characters I liked survived. The ending was... not what I expected. It was not bad, but the tone was a tiny bit off. The rest of the season I really liked. It was tense and the action was good. I had a blast with my best friend and finally I liked some of the characters again. But where did all the monsters gone. Not all transform into neo-humans. And what is the conclusion? Emotions and needs are bad? I don't know. A bit more explanation would have been nice. Over all a good 8 out of 10.

Movies

Short Films

Dropped in December

Love In The Air: Koi no Yokan 🇯🇵 (4/10)

Who am I kidding. I dropped this a while ago. I really couldn't care less about this series. I didn't like the original and don't really like this adaptation. It is the story I can't stand. So it is a drop for me.

Looking forward to in December

0.5D (Dec 4th)

Aki wa Haru to Gohan wo Tabetai 2 Haime! - Trailer (Dec 4th)

ThamePo - Heart that skips a beat - Trailer (Dec 13th)

Eternal Butler - Trailer (Dec 20th)

Sangmin Dinneaw

Eyes On You - Trailer (Dec 11th Pilot)

[callipraxia]

Lying here at 7am, sneezing my head off because of ragweed, and I had a thought about the novelization of Revenge of the Sith.

Early in said novelization, there’s a retrospective on a couple of important moments in Anakin and Padme’s early marriage, specifically around how, since Anakin, as a Jedi trainee, doesn’t own things or have much ability to acquire them, which is an Issue when it comes to giving his new wife a wedding present…so he ‘gives’ her C-3PO, to be ‘a friend’ while he is, as he frequently is, absent, and there’s a sweet moment where Padme politely invites Threepio to join her staff, because on Naboo, droids as high-functioning as Threepio are considered beings, not property. Anakin also notes that technically, since his builder (Anakin himself) owns nothing, Threepio kind of owned himself even before this. Then later, she gives him R2-D2 as ‘a friend’ in return, at which point Anakin starts modifying him this way and that until Artoo eventually obtains at least as much cognitive function as Threepio, setting the stage for the bond the droids have throughout the series. All very nice…but then jump to the very end of the book, immediately after Padme dies and Bail Organa adopts Leia. Y’know. The moment when he casually orders that Threepio undergo a mind wipe to forget…pretty much everything. Who “the Maker” was, all about his years of service to Senator Amidala, where the Princess came from and the fact she has a brother, etc. Then cut forward about twenty years to the beginning of A New Hope, where Threepio fussily keeps scolding Artoo about how “Master Luke” is his owner now and he should therefore forget the mission from their previous owner. It never seems to occur to Threepio, after his years on Alderaan, that they could think for and own themselves, even though again, in the novelizations, Threepio has technically done so for longer than Artoo has; the only difference is that Artoo still remembers everything, whereas Threepio only remembers, at most, the past twenty years.

Clearly, droids did not enjoy the same legal privileges on Alderaan that they did on Novelization!Naboo…but why is that relevant? Threepio, recall, was said to have legal rights on Naboo as a member of Padme’s staff. At a stretch, since Anakin couldn’t technically own Artoo either, one could make an argument that Artoo was still legally Padme’s property and therefore automatically passed into the ownership of her daughter when Padme died*, since Anakin and Padme and Threepio seem to have been the only ones who realized at that time how sentient the astromech had become, but there was really no doubt about Threepio: if Stover’s writing in the official novelization is taken as on any level canonical, then Threepio, as a high-functioning droid, was an employee; certainly this is the case within the pages of the book in question, where he meets the same ends. Padme no more owned him than she owned Jar-Jar or the Handmaidens who acted as her body doubles or her other Senate aides...at least on Naboo and areas where its laws applied, like the embassy on Coruscant, I suppose. They were not in Naboo space at the time of Padme’s death, and apparently the idea that droids could be autonomous was culturally alien to Alderaanians…but we see in TCW that Bail had worked pretty closely with Padme for years. They were political allies, but also friends. They’d risked their lives together before - in the Committee of 2,000 conspiracy, in that episode of The Clone Wars where they investigated a murder together, and arguably, Padme had put her life in his hands without a second thought again on Empire Day when she made that “how liberty dies” remark in the midst of the rest of the Senate’s enthusiastic endorsement of Palpatine’s announcement. Padme also was shown to have a real Problem with the discovery that slavery still existed in the galaxy when she met Shmi and Anakin as a girl, and considering she later married an ex-slave who had…rather strong feelings about the subject, it’s hard to imagine that she didn’t get personally emotionally invested in the issue as well. Anti-slavery measures would have probably been part of her political platform, especially in that gap between Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones where there wasn’t a war that depended on slave soldiers to consider. It never, in all that time, came up with Bail? He never said, “It’s strange how you treat that protocol droid of yours - you act as though he were a person,” to which Padme could only reply that “by my planet’s laws, he is”? Padme never voiced any discomfort with the Alderaanian stance on high-functioning droids in all their years of working together? Why would her good friend not think twice about treating one of her staffers as his property before the poor woman’s corpse was even cold? Even if he disagreed, he ought to have at least had the thought “oh wow, I am disrespecting my friend’s memory here,” or even a hesitation about his legal right to give orders about Threepio’s memory, given that there would of necessity have to have been some interstellar agreement on whether Planet A’s laws about droids applied to droids from Planet A when they were on Planet B, especially if Planet B was neutral space like Coruscant, the place where Bail would have been most familiar with Threepio. I’m American and reasonably historically literate; American history was never my favorite branch of history, but I know all about the sort of trouble it causes when people don’t agree about whether laws from one state in a republic apply in another. See also: the American Civil War? And more recently, the issue of gay marriage, back when states determined that individually. Didn’t cause a war that time, but anyone who had the political awareness of a tree branch probably knew of the issue and, however dimly, probably something of why it was such an issue.

It’s now 9am, and yeah, yeah, I know, all this was necessary to protect the Chosen Twins because Threepio is a bit of an idiot, or it would have taken too much time/been too much at the tail end of a plot as dark as that of RotS to have a quick scene where Threepio agreed to become Bail’s property in order to stay with Leia, etc etc. But considering that Bail’s one of the good guys, it’s pretty messed up to realize how casually someone’s rights could just get hand waved away the moment they no longer had anyone politically powerful immediately on hand to defend them. It’s hard not to think…with his memory gone, Threepio doesn’t even know that he was supposed to have rights, and most humans cannot communicate fluently with Artoo. Bit disturbing to put oneself in that position, to wonder, as messy as the world’s getting…who’s the one person standing between us and having our rights almost as casually overwritten? Not quite as casually, I suppose, since mind wipes don’t exist for us (…yet…probably), but almost. Not something Lucas probably meant to put there, given that he didn’t write the official novelization and his apparent failure to think out the droid issue especially well**, but there’s where my brain’s going on this sneezy, sneezy morning.

* Note: this is totally ignoring the issue of whether this is moral and ethical or not. Also ignoring the issue of how that even stacks with the assiduous efforts to conceal that Padme’s child/children hadn’t died with her, in which case, being legally dead/never personified, it’s hard to consider them her legal heirs anyway.

** See also this video essay: https://youtu.be/WD2UrB7zepo?si=HcttHLpZFGnU5bNb

[bengiyo]

Only Boo! Ep 12 (Finale) Stray Thoughts

Last week, we spent time with Kang to see what he's been up to in the last year. We learned that Kang moved, blocked Moo, and changed universities to create distance between them, continuing the GMMTV trend of making the poor boy rearrange their entire life for the benefit of the richer one. When Moo finally found him, the show essentially said that Kang was correct to do this, because Moo immediately lost all composure in trying to reunite them. After spiraling, Moo got kicked in the face and hospitalized (apparently based on something that happened to my boy Aungpao). Meanwhile, Moo continues to have Potae as his inexplicable confidant, who remains jealous of Payos and Jang BGP. Also, Shone has been hanging out with Kang and occasionally flirting with him, which is gross since he encouraged them to break up.

Oh, right. Time to find out if this scene is real.

Yep, it wasn't real!

Ep 12: ONLY BOO

Shone... This is gross.

I struggle with the constant dissonance of this show not saying gay even as it's constantly demanding its protagonist accept reality.

Umm...why is Moo apologizing??

I kinda wish this has been a story about Potae and Payos struggling with an asymmetric relationship and navigating that space as idols instead. Having Potae come around in the last episode like this is not satisfying.

I'm trying to be with Moo about the blank letters, but it's like he's never really understood the social and financial expectations of being an idol at all. This why is not rhetorical for why Kang can't go to him.

Why is Kang in Hong Kong in a mascot?? Moo is gonna recognize him.

Again, Kang seems to be the only one aware of consequences.

Wow, do they really think this one scene fixes everything wrong with Potae's relationship with his parents and how they've made him feel like he's not worthy?

Is Jang now okay with his band members dating? Why??

I'm glad these two reunited, but do we really think one more conversation with his label is gonna change anything? Does Moo think he has that level of clout after a year of being in the industry?

Keen is fun to watch flirt. This has been the most engaged with it we've seen out of Sea in a while.

Why would they just agree to end the rule after all this drama? What has changed?

There is almost something here about these boys going back to their high school but knowing what they are to each other now.

It is admittedly nice to see some of the teachers again. That part was solid.

What in the pair the spares is this???

FORCEBOOK JUMP SCARE

At least they're implying Kang dealt with some of his shyness around intimacy.

Final Verdict: 5, I Liked The High School Portion Mostly, and I Liked Keen. This show was truly thematically bankrupt in a way that is actually offensive to me, and part of a trend with GMMTV of wanting only implied queerness in their shows about boys kissing each other. It is absolutely ridiculous to set up a show where a queer kid has been so loved and sheltered that he doesn't really conceive of the structures of homophobia to fall in love with a boy who seems to understand them, and then not have this be about how Moo either succumbs to this expectations or fully rejects them. It's frustrating that he's not allowed to make many choices here because it would pop the bubble around him. I'm also just so frustrated with the inclusion of Book and Louis in this show because they added so little, and I actually found Shone to be gross.

They also fully betrayed Payos as a character. He and Moo should have been gay besties and that should have been the beginning of Moo coming to understand that other queers were not afforded the luxury he has. I will not forgive this show for ruining the relationship between Moo and Payos by having Moo exclude him from his closet in favor of Potae.

On a positive note, I will say I enjoyed the character work and themes around the teachers when they were in school, and I thought Keen was rather charming in this show. I'd like to see him again.

[rocketboots564]

Teen Wolf Season 1 (from a first time watcher)

Okay, I did this for another series (Red vs. Blue) and I DESPERATELY want to do it for this.

This is basically my thoughts/notes/critiques of Teen Wolf season 1 as someone watching it for the first time. Please enjoy and take it with a grain of salt:

I could tell this show EXUDED 2010’s energy when I witnessed with my very own eyes and ears a DUBSTEP WEREWOLF BATTLE

Guys, if you had told me there’d be dubstep werewolf battles I would’ve watched it YEARS ago… OPEN UP WITH THAT! (Note: I am not the biggest fan of dubstep, however watching Derek and Scott beat the hell out of each other while it blares is an experience I never knew I needed)

Its music is so nostalgically 2010’s it comes off as “so bad it’s good” in a way.

I love it even though I occasionally cringe

Don’t know if this is an unpopular opinion, but Scott McCall was kinda boring in this season.

NOW BEFORE YOU JUMP ME! Scott has insane highs and simmering lows, but the highs are mostly in the beginning of s1 and the last 4-5 episodes where he SHINES.

I mean it, he went from a B to an A-tier character those last few episodes

But, the other characters were just so much more… flavorful. Like Stiles?! I LOVED every second Stiles is on screen.

On the topic of Stiles… I will be talking about how much bisexual energy this show has. Because it’s A LOT. You guys were NOT kidding about that.

It’ll probably be a repost of this or its own thing.

Honestly, and you’re gonna hate me for this, but Scott and Derek kinda act like love interests in a smutty, poorly written YA novel–BUT! It’s a bit endearing.

But also tell me you can’t see it.

I mean like, Scott’s answer to suppressing his transformation ends up being “his love for Allison” like a good 60-70% of the time.

Time to talk about Lydia. I started off HATING Lydia for like the first 1.5 episodes. I hated her snarky, mean-girl, wannabe Regina George ass at first… at first…

But, I took a step back and thought to myself:

“The pipeline from Supernatural to this show is surprisingly close… which means one of many things: they’re gonna give her massive character development and make me not only feel bad for her, but make me love her so much she becomes a favorite of mine.”

Lo and behold… you’ll never guess who my second favorite character is?

Lydia… right under Stiles where she belongs. He’s just that good

Can we please PLEASE talk about how unprofessional the Teachers are in this school! LIKE WHAT THE HELL?!

First of all, there’s the coach, which sure, he cuts corners, and can be a very questionable motivator (please don’t reward your students with an A for doing something that has nothing to do with their educational prowess. Nor should you tease them thinking it’ll motivate them. Positive reinforcement works people.)

HOWEVER… the Chemistry teacher? OOOHHH IF THERES ANY BITCH I WANNA SMACK ITS HIS ASS

How are you gonna sit there, and actively berate and insult your students, and expect good things from them.

And then, on top of all of that, YOU HAVE TO AUDACITY, to withhold information that connects you to the Hale fire?! OOOOH PETER I’LL JUMP HIS ASS WITH YOU.

Adrian Harris, you are an unprofessional, ignorant, arrogant slob unfit to teach goddamn preschoolers. (Granted, I’m while watching season 2 right now… and my hate for him has only swelled)

Speaking of Peter, I don’t think he’s the real villain of this season. He definitely is a villain, and a main one at that. But the biggest bad here?

That title goes to the woman I wanna see get the electric chair: MOTHERFUCKING KATE ARGENT

I will make my own post on Kunt Argent, analyzing this VILE woman, and why Jill Wagner plays her PERFECTLY. (Seriously she made a villain that makes my blood boil. 10/10 acting and writing)

I’ll also probably talk about Allison and what I love about her in that too because it’s important.

[emma-frxst]

The Implicit Demand for Proof (15. End)

Series masterlist

Pairing: Detective David Loki x reader

Summary: you, a forensic psychologist, get called in on a high priority child abduction case in Conyers, PA. What happens when you catch feelings for the mysterious detective Loki?

Warnings: spoilers for the movie, movie level violence, slight change of events, language.

Sad this series has come to an end but it’s about damn time lol! I enjoyed it and I hope y’all did too! It’s the end..But fret not dear friends!! If you love our fave detective and forensic psychologist!Reader, I’m going to be writing a continuation of this series! My new fic Choking on Circumstances will be out soon! Check my masterlist for more deets! (Saying deets like I’m in the mid 2000s) if you want more Loki content feel free to send me a request and check my masterlist!

Reblogs and comments help me the most! Let me know your thoughts, even if it’s only a keysmash. Let me know if you want or off the tag list. Thanks for reading, commenting, and supporting me!

Tags: loki only tags: @spideyrights @sataninsatin @go-commander-kim @severuined @romancries @eclecticfashionbookszipper @fagen @sizzlingcloudmentality @mottergirl99 @ @1ivinqdeadqir1main @new-romanticz1989 @kittycat-kisses @in2meijasworld 2@diegos-sad-chick @sharp-cheekbones-locked @ochoaslvr @captgrim @buck-this-nasty @shycollectionwolfstuff @in2meijasworld

(Also tagging some others just this once who’ve commented/ liked/ reblogged this series to let you know it’s complete for real this time! Let me know if you want to still be tagged for Loki stuff!)

-

After checking for Keller Dover everywhere- his house, the liquor stores, the church the family attended, and the creepy small town survival gear store- he was no where to be found. You even showed people his picture and asked if they’d seen him, but no luck.

Where in the hell else could he have been??

Ugh

Poor Alex Jones..Can’t believe Keller would do that to him- Wait.

A sick feeling came over you, the kind of feeling you got when looking a murderer in the eyes, or when you get a confession in the interrogation room from someone you know is guilty. That feeling.

Maybe Dover was having a PTSD episode, a psychotic break, or worse, a murderous rampage- His missing daughter driving him to the brink of insanity. He always blamed Alex for the girl’s disappearance, but now that he was done with Alex, maybe he got it in his mind to go after Holly Jones next.

Now knowing what Keller was capable of, you jumped in the car and drive out to the Jones’ residence. You didn’t want Holly to end up like her son.

You called Loki, seeing if he would meet you at the Jones’s place. Better to have a partner in these types of situations.

It rang and rang until it went to voicemail.

Weird.

He usually picked up on the first couple of rings.

That’s okay though. You’d just go by yourself, proceeding with extra caution.

You never thought more of Keller Dover than a concerned parent, in light of recent events, maybe Loki’s obsession with the man wasn’t completely unfounded.

As you headed to the Jones residence, that sick feeling only grew. Nagging at you from the inside.

You tired to call Loki again.

No answer.

Your next step was to call O’Malley, maybe he knew why Loki wasn’t answering.

“O’Malley.” He answered quickly.

“Have you heard from Loki recently?”

“I sent him to notify Holly Jones about Alex about, oh-“ he paused. “A little bit ago.”

Your stomach dropped, your mind automatically assumed the worst. Not that David couldn’t handle himself, but that you tended to worry.

“Why, is everything alright?” He asked,

“I can’t reach Loki, phones going to voicemail. I’ve been searching for Keller Dover, I thought Dover might’ve gone for Holly or something. I’m gonna go over there and check.”

“Let me know if I need to send a unit over.”

“Thanks captain.”

You decided to hightail it to the Jones’ residence. Safely of course, the unfamiliar Pennsylvania roads combined with the darkness and the sleet made driving difficult.

As you were driving, your mind was on Loki. Of course you were thinking about Anna, but in the back of your mind was the earlier unfinished conversation between you and Loki. All the ‘what if’ scenarios swirled around in your brain. What did he want to talk to you about? It was killing you. You thought there was a chance Loki liked you, but he was hard to read. At this point there’s no denying your crush on the man. You didn’t know how much longer you’d be in Conyers, maybe you should rack up the courage to make a move.

The tiniest bit of flashing blue light caught your attention from down the road.

The lights looked like they were heading towards you.

Oh

They were.

They were police lights.

But they weren’t big lights that sat on top like a squad car, no. They were the kind like on a detective’s car.

The car was going fast; recklessly so.

Erratic and urgent.

Before you could get a good look at it, the car zoomed past you, barely giving you time to think.

That wasn’t Loki’s car, was it?

The little bit of it you saw, it did look like it. The pitch black of the Pennsylvania back country made it particularly difficult to see.

You pulled out your phone to call him again.

When it went straight to voicemail, you knew you couldn’t ignore your gut feeling any longer.

Fuck it.

You whipped the car around to follow the other car. It was so far ahead you couldn’t catch up, the faint blue lights your only guide.

Your pulse pounded in your ears as you followed who you were now sure was Loki.

Where are you going in such a hurry, Loki? And why? Why won’t you call me back?

You went ahead and called O’Malley and had him send a unit out to the Jones’ residence. But that was really all you could do, besides hope and pray everything was alright.

-

Loki barged into the ER with a limp Anna Dover in his arms.

His desperate cries for help rang throughout the hospital, demanding the attention of the doctors and pulling the heartstrings of all who were near.

Once she was safely in the hands of the doctors and his adrenaline wore off, he felt white hot heat radiating from his head.

His was vision blurry from the blood in his eyes, or maybe it was from the pain.

The pain.

The fucking pain.

It was a burning, stinging pain that hit him like a ton of bricks.

There was a sharp ringing that invaded his eardrums and he suddenly felt lightheaded, but he needed to stay awake..he needed to move his car from the ER entrance and needed to tell the captain what happened and needed to make sure Anna was okay, and needed (y/n) to..(y/n).. (y/n).

The last thing he remembered was mumbling something to the nurse before his vision faded to black.

-

You shifted in your seat and the old chair creaked under your weight. The nurse had offered to bring in a extra bed for you, but you declined, not wanting to take away form someone who really needed it.

But your ass going numb convinced you that you should’ve at least asked for a better chair.

Loki had been moved out of the ER and into a room for observation.

He laid there all bandaged up, sleeping..well he was unconscious, but saying he was sleeping made you feel better.

Loki wasn’t one of those people who looked peaceful when he slept, his permanent scowl still ingrained on his face.

That beautiful, pouty scowl.

Staring at Loki, you felt a tinge of guilt in your bones. You should’ve figured out it was Holly Jones all along, maybe you could’ve been there with Loki and things would’ve turned out differently.

The forensics team was able to speculate what happened based on the crime scene and, upon further digging, found evidence of dozens of child abductions.

Loki could’ve died. If the bullet went just a few inches over, it would’ve been a whole different story.

You quickly shook the thought form your head, he was here and he was okay. Joy and Anna were alive. Although it was almost a happy ending, it definitely wasn’t the ending to this case you expected.

-

You pulled the car to a screeching halt outside the ER entrance, Loki’s car still sitting outside. Lights on and doors open.

Shit shit shit

You barged in the doors, making a beeline for the front desk, but the commotion of doctors working on a dark haired man caught your eye.

Your stomach dropped.

Loki

He wasn’t conscious.

There was so much blood all over his face.

You closed the distance between you and them in two seconds flat.

“Is he okay?! Whats going on?!” You pleaded with the doctor to let you know something.

“A gunshot wound to the head, just passed out on us.”

A gunshot wound. To the head.

“Is he going to be okay?!” You asked, panicked.

“It only grazed him. We will keep you updated. Now, Ma’am step back please, let us work.”

You stepped back from the medical staff surrounding the detective, giving them their space.

“Please be ok Loki, please” you whispered.

You felt like the air had been knocked out of you. He can’t die, not like this.

You stood there in a daze, watching the doctor and nurses buzz around Loki. You lifted a trembling hand to brush the hair from your face and noticed how clammy your hands were. Suddenly, you were aware of a tightness in your chest and tears pricking the corners of your eyes.

A panic attack.

You tried to force your feet to carry you outside, the cold air would be good to dissolve your panic, but they felt like they were glued to the floor.

When your patients were in crisis you reminded them to do things that were in their control.

Maybe you should take your own advice.

Forcing your brain back into work mode, You turned to go move the cars from the ER entrance and take care of things, but you stopped dead in your tracks noticing the little girl two beds down from Loki.

Anna.

.

“Are you sure about the bed?” The nurse asked as she came in to check on the detective.

“Yeah I’m sure, thank you though.”

“If you change your mind let me know.”

“Thanks.” You replied, thankful for her kindness and her gentleness with David.

She’s nice.

“So how long have you all been together?” She asked, her innocent effort to make small talk turning awkward quickly.

“Oh we’re not…uh..” you stuttered, feeling your cheeks flush

“Oh I’m sorry, I just thought since he asked for you..that..well you know...” She said, giving you a small smile.

“He asked for me?”

“Yeah. Last thing he said before he passed out.”

You couldn’t help the grin that plastered itself onto your face and those pesky butterflies that formed in your gut.

-

2:14 AM.

David stirred from his slumber, a groan escaping his lips. He cracked an eye open, the harsh hospital lights making him cringe.

Hey! He was alive!

He still had ten working fingers and toes. Arms and legs still worked. He was alive and intact, thankful he was in one piece. It was a real miracle he avoided a car crash on the way here.

His fingers brushed over bandages on his injury. In the back of his mind, David knew he’d end up with a massive headache, but every beat of his heart sending pain to his wound was a little much for him. He looked around for the call nurse button. His heart skipped a beat when he looked to his left.

“(Y/n)” he whispered. There she was asleep in the hospital chair. That familiar fuzzy feeling flooded his chest at full force. What was she doing here? How did she know he was here?

He chuckled slightly at the sight of her. How she was able to sleep in such a cramped position, he didn’t know, and how she was able to look so adorable doing so was also a mystery.

(Y/n) was only a moment’s distraction before the throbbing pain returned to his head, he smashed the call nurse button, the commotion awaking (y/n).

Startled, she shot straight up out of the chair. In the few seconds it took her to recognize that it was indeed Loki who pushed the call button and not that he was dying or some other medical emergency, her eyes grew wide and her smile widened.

“You’re awake!” You exclaimed.

“(Y/n), it was Holly!” Loki said, trying to sit up, a groan escaping his lips as he did so. “Where’s Anna? Did she make it? You gotta get the CSU out to the Jones’ right now- she shot me-“

“Loki everything’s okay!” You assured him as you scurried to his bedside, gently grabbing his shoulders and making him lay back down.

Classic Loki, mind always on the case even when he’s laying in the hospital.

“Anna made it, she’s gonna recover. I already took care of everything.” You said, sitting on the edge of the bed.

“You did? How did you-“

“You need to rest.” You interrupted him, smoothing out his blanket, your fingers brushed his- only for a moment.

In that moment, your eyes locked and only then did David truly take a deep breath to calm down.

“How did you know?” He asked.

“I didn’t” you explained. “I was searching for Dover and was worried he’d gone to Holly to do what he did to Alex. I passed you on the way and followed your car back here. The scene has been processed and everything. We can get your statement in the morning, Loki.”

David breathed out a heavy sigh of relief

“Thanks, (l/n) You’re the best.”

“Thanks.” You said softly, unable to hide your blushing at Loki’s compliment.

“Just tell me what happened.”

Before the two of you could exchange any more words, the nurse came scurrying in to the room.

She upped his morphine dosage and cleaned his bandage, then made sure the two of you comfortable. Once again you praised the heavens for her kindness.

Once she left, David went into detail about what happened.

You listened intently, hanging on to his every word.

When he finished, you dropped the eye contact you and David were holding.

“I’m sorry, I should’ve figured out that it was Holly Jones sooner, maybe you wouldn’t gotten hurt and-“

“Hey-hey. it’s not your fault.” he said gently, reaching out to take your hand.

Maybe it was the morphine or the near death experience, but either way David was feeling bold.

Your heart could’ve stopped in that moment, was now a good time to confess your feelings? Should you?

You opted to offer him a small smile instead, you figured he’d been through enough tonight.

“I’m just glad you’re okay.” You told him.

David caressed the back of your knuckles with his thumb sending pleasant chills through you.

“Me too.” He replied.

“So do you need anything? Anything I can do?” You offered.

“I keep a emergency bag in my desk-“

“Got it!” You enthusiastically hopped up, ready to help in any way you could, but David didn’t let go of your hand.

“Wait! Don’t leave. Please.” You stopped in your tracks, glad he wanted you to stay.

“Let O’Malley bring my bag. Please stay.” David begged, those sad blue eyes got you, but he didn’t have to beg. You’d do anything he asked of you.

You sat back down on the edge of the bed.

“Thank you.” He said, his eyes growing heavy.

“Get some rest ok? I’ll be right here.” You said, smoothing his blanket out once again. When you got up to sit back in the chair, you could feel David’s eyes on you.

“What?” You inquired.

“Nothin’.” He murmured, only flashing you a small smile.

You flicked the overhead light off so you could both rest.

You’d definitely tell him how you felt in the morning.

-

David’s eyes lingered on (y/n) as she got up to turn off the light. He should’ve told her how he felt right then.

“What?” She questioned, catching him staring.

David hesitated.

Just tell her, David. Come on.

“Nothin’.” He responded with a tired voice and heavy eyes. He dropped the conversation, opting to let her rest. They’d been through enough tonight. They’d talk in the morning.

-

You made a trip to the cafeteria for breakfast while David showered and changed clothes.

“Hey, hey, look at you, all clean and such.” You praised Loki, coming into the room with coffee and bagels.

David chuckled at your remarks.

“Thanks. Hey, look at this-“

You sat on the bed next to David, leaning in to see the paper.

Barry Milland AKA Alex Jones reunited with family after 26 years

“Poor Barry.” You mumbled.

Lokis eyes stayed glued to the paper, but yours wandered up to his wound.

He looked a lot better this morning and was doing much better.

“It’s rude to stare you know.” Loki teased, cracking a sly smile.

“Yeah, well, you look like shit.” You teased back, a cheesy grin plastered itself across your face.

You tried to hold in your amusement as Loki gave you a funny look, but couldn’t help it as giggles escaped your lips.

Then, Loki started laughing too.

It was a good laugh. A real one.

After laughing too long at your own joke, you looked over at David, only to find him already looking at you.

Loki’s expression was soft, his usual scowl nowhere to be found.

“What?” You questioned.

Loki, seemingly mesmerized by you, was at a loss for words. His brain? Total mush.

You noticed his eyes moving between your eyes and lips, searching for a sign.

You leaned in, closing the gap between you and the detective- Loki’s sign that yes you wanted this. You wanted this since the moment you laid eyes on him. Finally.

Your lips connected oh so gently but in a way that sent sparks down your spine. The kiss was soft and-

“Detective Loki? Agent (l/n)?”

The two of you pulled apart quickly

There was Grace, Anna, Joy and Nancy all standing at the door.

Loki cleared his throat and you both tired to act like she didn’t interrupt.

“I hope we’re not intruding.”

Loki shook his head and mumbled “no” even though they obviously were. But you knew it’s be good for him to see the girls.

It particularly warmed your heart hearing her refer to Loki as a hero.

They continued talked for a minute, well, Grace Keller did, Loki was a man of few words. You had the thought to weigh in, but you couldn’t concentrate, those damn butterflies in your stomach were doing somersaults.

“Thank you two, for everything.”

Grace said and turned to leave, but stopped at the door, breaking down in tears. She tried convincing you and Loki Keller was a good man, but you and Loki exchanged knowing looks.

Not prepared to face the awkwardness of the situation, you couldn’t bring yourself to look at the detective after she left.

Lucky for you, Loki suddenly grabbed your chin, tilting your head towards him and his lips captured yours in a hungry and needy kiss.

A stark contrast to your kiss a minute prior, fire burned through your chest as your lips moved in sync with David’s.

Loki moved his hand to cup your cheek and you absolutely melted into his touch.

You broke apart from David, breathless and with a smile on your face.

“Sorry I didn’t do that sooner.” David said, his thumb stroking your cheekbone,

“Yeah me too.” You replied, still high from the bliss of your first kiss with the handsome detective.

“Look, (l/n), I uh-“

“Hey..Call me (f/n)” you interrupted, sad that David removed his hand from your cheek.

“Okay, (f/n),” he said. “I’m uh not too good with feelings and shit, but I uh, I really like you.”

“I like you too.” You gushed.

Davids eyes lit up, almost like a kid on Christmas.

“You do?” He questioned.

“Yes David, I do.” You gave him a reassuring smile. “And that kiss told me all I needed to know.”

David blushed.

David Loki blushing, you didn’t think such a thing could happen.

“Glad you enjoyed it.” He said, a smug smile replacing his blushing cheeks.

Your turn to blush.

“How do you uh, feel about long distance? I mean I’ve never done it before- but I’d be down to..you know.

“Me neither, but I think we make a pretty good team, so I think we can make it work.”

Yes!! He wanted to make this work. Now the butterflies in your belly weren’t just doing somersaults, it was more like the butterfly Olympics down there.

“Yeah?” He questioned, giddy like a child.

“Yeah.” You assured him, giving his arm a squeeze.

The day shift nurse came in to finally discharge David. She sent him home with a dozen care info papers and aftercare instructions, none of which David was likely to read or follow through with.

“Let’s get you home.” You said. “At least for a bit.” You knew Loki would not stop searching for Keller Dover. He was determined, you’d give him that. You also weren’t gonna let Loki drive home by himself after being shot in the head, even though he insisted he was fine.

“Yeah. Home.” He agreed.

David’s thoughts began to race while you began to gather your things.

Loki was hopeful, for the first time in a long time. He had a feeling that, eventually, home would be wherever (y/n) was.

-

END.

[sugarcoatednightshade]

finally got around to watching The Unsleeping City and I'm so obsessed with Pete. immaculate vibes. perfect character.

Anyway I'm halfway through episode 8 and I can't stop thinking about the previous episode, We Need to Talk About Pete. Especially that scene where Robert Moses shows him that video of Kingston admitting that he'd kill him if necessary, and Pete assumes that it's just taken out of context. Which is funny and sorrowful because this is a rare instance where context makes his statement 1000x worse.

And I had to pause Subway Skirmish and write this quickie just exploring what would happen if Pete heard the whole conversation, terrible context included. Its mostly work for word until the end, the only difference being that Ricky agrees more with Esther and basically proposes an intervention, which gets to Pete in a whole other way.

I'm predicting that Pete and the gang make up almost immediately. Either at the end of this episode or the next one. Which is really sweet and affirming, but I love the idea of pvp and Pete actively fighting the rest of the group, maybe embracing being the voice of nightmares as well as dreams, isolating himself with nightmares, etc.

Anyway, I cant finish the episode I'm on until I post this. mom said. Enjoy 1.5k I literally wrote instead of sleeping. This is a first draft, unedited, probably full of needless angst and grammatical errors, I wrote it in like an hour and refuse to read it again. Enjoy.

Robert held the phone out to Pete. Its screen showed a video cued up to play.

“Listen, kid, I’m not trying to force you into anything here. I just want you to have all the information, know who you’re really working with.”

“I know who I’m working with,” Pete lied. But he was looking down at the screen which showed his new – friends? Associates? Comrades in arms? – sitting down at a table. The angle was high and the quality kind of shit, like it was taken from old security footage, but Pete could clearly make out Kingston’s expression, frozen in something like rage. It was a weird expression on him, one Pete hadn’t seen in all the time he’d known the man.

“Just look,” Robert said. “Come to your own conclusions.”

Pete takes the phone away from Robert, hating himself for it. But, goddamn it, despite it all, he was still fucking human. Even knowing Robert’s game – he could practically smell the shit he was talking – he couldn’t pass up on free information. If only so that he could know what Robert knew, so he couldn’t use it as extortion later.

Yeah, Pete thought, real convincing.

He pressed play. The image on screen jumped, showing a much calmer and collected Kingston. It was reassuring for all of one second, because when the recorded Kingston opened his mouth, the words he said sent Pete’s stomach rocketing to the floor.

“I mean, here’s the truth Alejandro if things get out of hand, we put him down. Straight up.”

He barely hears Kugrash’s and Sofia’s protests, ignores the revelations that Kugrash has human kids and a whole human life he abandoned, stuck trying to process what he just heard.

Kingston is speaking again, saying that ten out ten times he’d choose the city over Pete and that’s fine, really, that’s fine. Pete’s not selfish enough to thing that he matters more than the entire population of New York City. And Kingston is supposed to be the voice of the city or something. It’s basically his job. Pete should be used to people in his life choosing their careers over him.

Sofia asks a question that’s been bothering him for a while, and Alejandro answers confuses him at first – he talks about someone named Jackson and a Concrete Order and some other things Pete doesn’t really understand until…

“It is not fair to the people who have come to this city or have been born here and lived here their entire lives, that their wellbeing, safety, and in fact, even their life or death should be thrown into chaos because of what amounts to often a joke.”

Pete thinks back to the bug monsters that had attacked Astoria. Despite all the destruction and chaos and death, at no point had he sensed any real malice coming from them. They had been excited and grateful and fully unaware of why what they were doing was wrong. To call them evil implied that they knew right from wrong and actively chose it, but they were just doing what they did just because.

Alejandro had become more animated as he spoke, gesturing wildly with his hands, but now he lowered his voice enough that Pete had to raise the volume and lean in to hear it. “Peter actively courts the darkness more than the light.” Alejandro’s back was turned to the camera, but Pete could see the way his shoulders hunched forward, as if he were sharing some great secret or revelation.

Suddenly his hands feel clammy with sweat. He wants to pause the video but can’t, can’t let Robert know that any of its getting to him, so instead he watches as a group of people talk about him like he’s something dangerous, talk about locking him up – you guys have to tell me if you’re cops, right? – and taking his drugs and putting him down like he’s infected. Like he’s a rabid dog that can’t be trusted not to bite.

And, looking around, Pete hates to admit that they’re right. What defense does he have, sitting in a vampiric nightclub filled with dead-eyed humans selling their bodies for a little cash? What defense does he have when he’s so used to that stare that it barely registers? How many times has he sold drugs to people with that same look in their eyes, desperate and empty?

Pete knows what kind of person he is, what kind of people he runs with. And like Robert had pointed out, he’s not exactly subtle. Pete knows he’s dirt. Robert called him a businessman. Kugrash seems to think he’s just some troubled kid who needs a little guidance. Kingston and Alejandro think he’s a ticking bomb.

But Pete knows what he is. He’s a homeless drug dealer who sells to monsters and children, whose only friends are nightmares and people who want him dead. Fuck them, he thinks, who fucking needs them.

Some girl – Esther, he thinks, but it’s hard to remember when her back is to the screen – voices her support of Kingston.

Ricky is facing the camera, so Pete can see his face when he agrees with her. The grainy footage blurs his features, but he still looks sad when he says, “Obviously, Pete needs help. He’s not in a good state physically, financially, or mentally. He a danger to the city, sure, but he’s just as much a danger to himself. I’m not saying we lock him up, but what if we just supervised him. Helped him get clean and sober, and then maybe that would help him calm down a little, give him a little more control over what he’s doing.”

Hearing Ricky – perfect fucking Mr. March with his washboard abs and crest-white smile – talk about staging an intervention is almost more painful than watching Kingston plan murder.

How fucking dare they. What, they know him for one fucking week and decide it’s their business what he does with his life. They’re total strangers, who cares if they think he’s dangerous. Of course he’s dangerous; it’s New York fucking City, everyone here’s dangerous. The people right now discussing his murder probably more dangerous than he is. But them coming after his livelihood? His medicine? Sure, he could probably live without the coke and shit, but what happens when they come for his anti-psychotics? His Zoloft? His Testosterone?

Would they decide that’s unnecessary too, decide to take that away from him for his own safety?

Sofia, previously his strongest defender, looks to be agreeing with Ricky. Only Kugrash is pushing back, talking about self-medication and withdrawal. But Kingston’s talking over him and then the video cuts, ended, back to the paused scene showcasing Kingston mid-yell.

A voice from the corner of his mind he’s beginning to associate with his magic speaks. They know nothing of your struggles… they do not know your pain as we do… they would have you imprisoned or worse, without trial or jury… we can help you escape…

A shadow appears in front of him, and Pete nearly jumps out of his skin. But its only Robert asking for his phone back. Pete hands it over without a word.

“I hope you have considered what you have seen.” He says.

“I might need some time to think it over,” Pete says, which is true. “I know the area, I might head across the street a get a drink.”

Robert frowns. “Why go to another bar and pay when you can get drinks here for free?”

His tone immediately sets Pete on edge. Between his dad, Alejandro, and now Kingston and Ricky, he’s so goddamn tired of men telling him what to do. And Pete’s not some fresh teenager new to the scene; he’s not stupid enough to accept free drinks from a suit.

“No, actually, I think I’d really rather leave.” He says, moving to the exit. Robert lets him leave.

On his way out, Pete catches sight of his reflection in a mirror. It covers a wall of the club floor to ceiling. What he sees reminds him of that one vampire movie, Van Helsing. Most people in the club vanish in the mirror. It’s just him and Robert and the other humans reflected. Robert excluded, Pete thinks that he fits right in with this crowd. It’s his first time seeing his own reflection in days; bloodshot sunken eyes and unwashed hair, his skin visibly damp with sweat.  He looks like any other homeless junkie. How could anyone think he’s dangerous? How could anyone think he’s an important player in this game?

The mirror people stare back without seeing. The voice of magic whispers… but you are important… you are important to us…

Pete turns to keep walking, makes his way out onto the street now bustling with city life. He was stupid to think this new group of friends wouldn’t fall apart or turn on him. They were too good to be true anyway. How could he have forgotten that he belonged here in the gutter with the rest of his people. Homeless junkies and petty thieves.

He wouldn’t forget again.

[simslegacy5083]

Today's (11/11/2024) Episode: Prank Day Fun

Just because Luigi was a big-time star with a tile on the walk of fame, that didn’t mean he couldn’t relax and have some simple fun from time to time.

Prank Day was the perfect excuse to do just that, and the entire household woke up excited to celebrate with each other and with their friends later that day at a potluck Beau and Breanne were hosting.

His old friend was celebrating ending Bruce’s grounding early for “good behavior”, a gesture that seemed to be tempting fate on this particular holiday. Still, Skye was clearly looking forward to seeing his friend again, so Luigi kept his concerns to himself and hoped that the older boy really had reformed.

Luigi scored the first prank of the day “Hey son, looks like you got a little something on your shirt there” he said, coming up to Skye in the hallway on their way to breakfast “let me help you with that.”

“Where?” Skye asked, looking down and leaving himself wide open for his father’s gentle smack on the chin “gotcha!”

“Good one dad. Now, what’s for breakfast?”

Skye’s plans for food were interrupted when he saw his favorite neighbor standing on their doorstep. “Elyse!” he cried.

“Hold on…” Luigi whispered, grabbing his arm “Remember what day it is. Why don’t you sneak out the back and go around past Roach’s stable? I’ll get her facing the other direction and you can give her a good scare.”

“OK!” Skye replied, running off as Luigi distracted their guest, “Just a second dear, I need to take some food off the stove.” This had the benefit of being true, and he had ladled out a couple bowls of stew by the time a high-pitched scream told him that his son’s prank was a winner.

“I saw what you’ve been up to this morning mister” Noemi said as Luigi passed her a bowl “Don’t even think about trying that amateur stuff with me, I got straight As in my mischief classes back at Foxbury!”

“Well…” he grinned “I recall a certain “mistress of mischief” flubbing her tricks quite badly at the last Humor and Hijinks festival.”

“No Fair!” she protested “I had just found out I was pregnant, and we were being bombarded by a legion of your great grandfather’s fans!”

“Sure, sure” he smiled “well, if I can’t trick you, how about we team up on our coworkers? I was planning to do a little work on the expansion pack this morning anyway; if you can whip up some creative scripts to prank our crew, I’ll drop them quietly into the workload where they least expect it!”

Collaborative hacking and actual work kept Luigi busy until afternoon. Finally wrapping up, he found Elyse still chatting with Skye “…and to this day he roams the streets at night, drinking the plasma of unsuspecting sims to stay forever young!” she said. “I heard he even feasted on his own human daughter once.”

“That last part is true at least” Luigi told them “My papa read me Great Grandma Willow’s first hand account of the founding of our branch of the family. He was quite interested in Grandpa Steven’s stories about the early years. Now, how about you two help me cook up something for the potluck?”

“I can’t wait until I’m a teen and can cook meals at the real stove” Skye said as they mixed and chopped.

“Well YOU might be ready to be all grown up” Luigi replied “but I’m enjoying the remaining time that my little helper is actually littler than me and not fighting me for counter space.”

“I can’t wait for you to come to Copperdale” Elyse told him “you just have to join the school newspaper with me; they’ll love your pictures! I write “Spirit of the Night”, it’s a poetry column. Really deep, soulful stuff, but it would be even better with some of your photographs to set the mood.”

“Can I read some sometime?” Skye, who’d never shown any interest in poetry before, asked excitedly.

“Sure – I’ll send you a link to the school website.” Elyse ducked her head, suddenly shy “I hope you like it… ouch!” she jumped, cradling her hand and the suddenly stinging finger she’d sliced open while distracted worrying about what her young friend would think of her writing.

“Let me get you a band-aid” Luigi told her …and here I thought it was Prank Day, not Love Day… he mused silently, hiding his smirk. Fortunately, his young helpers finished the meal prep without further mishap, and they all shortly headed down the beach to Beau’s party.

View The Full Story of My Not So Berry Challenge Here

[chlochette-sunde]

1x10 - Asylum

Score: 10

I have mixed feelings about this episode, because I really enjoyed it, hence the high score, but it could have been higher. Let's explain this directly through the detailed scoring:

Bonus: 7 pts

Jensen's physical prowess

Jared's acting: I'm not saying he was bad before but, as mentioned in other posts, his acting didn't seem to be as free as Jensen's until 1x10. I have a feeling he now has a better understanding of his character and is able to give Sam more layers. I finally recognize here the Sam I've learned to know and enjoy throughout the series.

Directing: this episode gave me so many scare jumps, I loved it!

Kat is a tough girl who knows how to use a gun. We want more independant strong women!

Special effects

The set: a real abandoned asylum, as mentioned in R2's podcast.

Sam and Dean's relationship: Sam is finally embracing his hunting life ("It's kinda our job"). He's actively participating in schemes to get information (the cop, the psychiatrist). Dean teases him about his psychic abilities. They work effortlessly as a team. They have different views on their father but they are finally able to show how much they care about each other. Sam is genuinely worried he hurt Dean's feelings when he was possessed and insists he didn't mean anything he said.

OK, so good acting, good directing, good set, good special effects, good side characters, good character development. What could go wrong?

The writing.

Malus: 5 pts

Kat is scared. She has lost her boyfriend and is completely. She meets two strangers in a strange place and forcefully insists on following them??

Sam has never seen Gavin, he doesn't know what he looks like. He sees an unconscious man on the floor and starts calling him Gavin??

Dean lecturing Kat about horror movies, then suggesting to split into two groups, leaving him alone...

I feel Sam's anger towards Dean is built artificially in this episode. It's brought by other characters (the psychiatrist, Kat) rather than through quarrels between the brothers. And as written earlier, the brothers are, on the contrary, shown bonding. Therefore, if we were supposed to believe Sam could be angry enough with Dean to kill him, well... I didn't buy it. It could only be the possession guiding him, and I think Dean read the situation the same way. It would explain why he chose to trick possessed!Sam rather than convince him to take back control over himself.

However, if so, why did he still looked affected at the end of the episode?

Yes, this is Dean pretending to be okay. And I'm still not entirely certain how to interpret this Jacting Joice.

Anyway, back to the last evidence of bad writing: Why would Dean have an unloaded gun on him??

Fortunately, I still have lots of points to give to the episode:

First introduction of beloved characters/guests/well known actors: 2 pts

Brooke Nevin (Animorphs) / Nicholas D'Agosto (Finale Destination 5)

Banger quotes: 5 pts

"See. That attitude? Right there? That is why I always get the extra cookie."

Sexy shots: 1 pt

[dadscarathon]

Day One: Destroy all Neighbors

What a fun way to start Spooptober! Destroy All Neighbors combines some of the fun practical effects you would expect in an Evil Dead movie (the OG, not the new stuff), the goofiness of your Little Shop of Horrors and a dash of Airheads for self-deprecating references to music and the industry.

I enjoyed it! A lot of the practical effects were goopy and gross, just as you would expect. There was a lot of unexpected star power in the form of Jon Daly, Thomas Lennon and a Kumail Nanjiani cameo that could have come straight out of a Dan Harmon podcast episode.

I've been thinking about a rating system for my watches. Let's see if something like this will work:

Scary - did it frighten me at any point? Was there a jump scare that actual got me? This is the baseline, more startling than horrifying, but a lot of horror movies stoop down here, and some pepper it in like an appropriate spice. High marks for well executed, low for overuse or lame attempts.

Gross - was it nasty? Was something on the screen so gnarly that it made me wince or look away? Practical effects always seem to do this better than generated ones, but even digital effects can get disgusting.

Disturbing - The real gluten of fear. Does a noise I hear on the way to the bathroom remind me that things in the shadows are waiting for me? Do I suddenly find myself wondering if my own clone would mind if I murdered myself, or what would happen to my pets if the monster visited the house? A more ephemeral, but susbtantive fear than inspired by Scary.

Funny - I know, what's this doing in a rating about horror movies? If you didn't laugh a single time during Alien, maybe we wouldn't be friends - and that movie is an arguable horror masterpiece. A lot of modern horror, and especially indie horror lean into humor as a release valve to make sure that emotional balloon is nice and taut for the next fear poke.

Thoughtful - A lot of horror approaches the philosophical side of the genre and then stops before reaching any real revelation or submersion. A few movies go all the way in, not just in the effort to instill fear but a real exploration of human experience.

Ok, maybe that's more effort than is required, but I like categories.

Here's the score for Destroy All Neighbors:

Scary: 1 out of 3. DAN isn't trying to be frightening in this way, and that's fine.

Gross: 2 out of 3. Lots of squelchy practical effects. I'm not entirely certain I've seen a movie before with a corpse playing the drums with its intestines. That said, I didn't feel the need to turn away that I can think of. I did wince quite a bit at some of the effects and they were humorously and thoughtfully played out.

Disturbing: 1 out of 3. I was most disturbed on Will's behalf, as the audience can see that he's going to end up murdering most of the people he comes into contact with - a sort of second hand manslaughterer embarrassment.

Funny: 2 out of 3. There was some great dialog and bits played out. This is where the movie was aiming most of its energy and it works pretty well. I don't think it was a laugh a minute.

Thoughtful: 2 out of 3. The allegory in the movie, a message about using the time you have to create in a passionate way was there, not heavy handed, and not merely a prop for the plot.

Total score: 8 out of 15.

If you like practical effects, progressive rock (though this theme isn't hit that hard in the movie) or just a goofy good watch for your Spootober give it a shot.

[bobvelsebobsession]

More gimmicks from the straw page and some where comments/questions! My answers may be a bit… long winded so I apologize in advance!

He’s real in our hearts, and in our imagination.

Funny enough, Herobrine was my first nickname. I’ve had A LOT of others. Some people shorten Herobrine to Hero which is fine!

I’ve also been called MC, which was short for Minecraft, by one friend years ago. I’ve been called Wolf as well by kids in high school because of how I was around people and when I was alone.

I’ve always enjoyed Herobrine as a nickname and fits me well more so than it used to. Although Furby is a funny nickname but not the worst one I’ve heard. I knew a dude called Swamp before and there was a reason for that.

I love Divine CEO, I do love a lot of LuLu’s music. Incredibly underrated and I hope more people discover their music! Shame they’re dealing with some asshats doxxing their fans in VRChat atm…

As for when I started simping for Bob… oh that’s a tough one because it kinda just happened? I watched the short when it came out and was pretty excited for more Spooky Month. Tender Treats ended up being my final consideration for sticking with the series as I liked how Bob became the staple for: Oh shit, this guy is actually dangerous and this is becoming more serious.

I was EXTREMELY disappointed when Bob died because I figured he was gonna be a returning villain and I did recognize him as the demon guy from the original Spooky Month which was very cool! I tend to binge the old episodes before jumping to the new ones. I also rewatch it numerous times during October (SPOOKY MONTH!!!)

I was watching it with my friends and even introducing one friend to it which something kinda just clicked with Bob. When the episode originally came out I was still exploring who I was and what I liked. Turns out I like dangerous people and masked people as well! Plus the voice really drew me in, I have a thing for accents and country men is a bit of a weakness among other things. Plus… big boys need more love. I am a big gal irl, and I love people with fluff and meat on their bones.

So rediscovering my love for Spooky Month helped me realize I liked Bob as my favorite character! I mean, I liked him before and he was already my favorite villain. I decided to look up art and VRChat avatars. Thus falling into the deep rabbit hole of Bob enjoyers. Ngl, little sad he’s so popular because I’m not a fan of extremely popular characters.

Plus most people ship him with themselves or OCs, I tend to be… possessive of things I enjoy which is just a me issue due to abandonment problems. I don’t let it dictate how I treat anyone, of course.

Gotta say though, again, glad he’s loved. Everyone in the fandom is usually rather sweet about him but also bully him. But the art I see of him is amazing and I’m glad to see it. One to two time episodes characters that don’t come back tend to get overlooked. Plus him being plus sized usually makes it worse, but this fandom has been quite the opposite about it.

I mean the guy has four dating sims! Two of which are still in production! But anyways, sorry for the long winded response. Y’all are welcome to ask more questions as I’m an open book!

[hay1ock]

Late as usual lol. Only Friends Episode 9. My heart is full and my anxiety for the next 3 episodes is high lol.

Really enjoyed this episode and was nice to see the main couples kind of moving back toward each other, though seems there’s still a rocky road ahead.

These are my opinions and how I viewed what went down between everyone this episode, but don’t be surprised when I’m not hating on Ray. He’s the character I’m most invested in still.

So, opening with the morning after the night before. I think every character has crossed some sort of boundary at some point throughout the show and certainly Top was amongst those last episode after cuddling up to a passed out Mew. I don’t know how long they stayed like that but I don’t imagine Mew would have reacted quite as well as he did by just finding Top outside fishing cups out the pool. Like Mew says later, I can see his efforts throughout the episode but it did feel a little bit too much at times, especially when Mew’s moms were there too. Maybe let the man breathe and have a chance to sort through his feelings properly.

I’m trying to think more positively about Top as I know he loves Mew. Sometimes you just don’t vibe with characters or even people in real life and there was just something early on that was off-putting about Top. It was those initial interactions that felt possessive over Mew that have left this lingering suspicion about everything he does. I guess from back when he was in full TOP TIER mode and was all Mr Smugface. I appreciate him deciding to not show Mew the video of Sand and Ray. When he was looking at it again when shopping with the moms I was like, for the love of god not now lol. Mew knew he wanted to talk about Ray and probably didn’t need any hints dropping in the end, but I think it did help prompt Mew to open a long overdue conversation with Ray.

Where Top and Mew go from here we’ll have to see with the introduction of Boeing. I figured with Top’s insomnia and sleeping issues he was maybe calling someone to stay over. Now I’m hoping it was just to have a body beside him so he knew he wasn’t alone and could get to sleep. I don’t personally think with all the effort he was putting in Top would risk actually hooking up with anyone else until he was sure there was zero chance of him and Mew ever happening again, but you never know. Plus the fact it’s an ex and a very real possibility his and Sand’s shared ex… not messy at all lol. Hopefully, Mew won’t regret deciding to give him a second chance. Again, I don’t really know how I’d feel if it ever happened to me. There are no feelings on Top’s part toward Boston and yes, Boston dripped poison in his ear. It was before Mew and Top swapped I Love Yous and had sex… I guess the only way to know if he can forgive him is by trying to be with him again. It will either reignite or snuff out completely the lingering feeling of love.

Jumping back to Ray and Sand. The tension between them in that music room scene was just wow. The amount of emotions Sand expressed with his eyes alone was just…First always impresses me.

In the end I feel bad for them both. Sand doing his best to walk away and move on, despite his feelings for Ray, and Ray desperate to hold onto the one person who has made him happy in a long time. Sand has known what Ray is like since their first meeting and yet he still fell for him. He’s seen the bad, the absolute worst, but he’s also seen the Ray who isn’t blackout drunk or high or triggered by his trauma and abandonment issues. It’s up to Sand if he thinks he can handle a person who is dealing with so much baggage. Personally, if Sand is strong enough I want for him to support and continue to love Ray. With him, Ray is so much better, episode 5 showed how good they can be together, and for each other, as Sand also got to have fun and live a little like a student should, not just living to work. Obviously, love isn’t a cure for mental illness and addiction, but thinking that even on the bad days, especially in Ray’s case, that someone can stick around and does love him, then it can make things a little bit easier. I just need Ray to realise there is someone there for him and so it’s now up to him to want to get better. Because Mew’s right, most people do have some kind of limit as to what they can put up with, and Ray is A LOT.

Now, I don’t support cheating and agree that with no context Ray and Top’s action are pretty much as bad as each other. As a viewer, however, I know the relationships of TopMew and RayMew are very different. Top and Mew were supposed to be in love. Top dropped his boyfriend (yep, based on passage of time and what was said in ep 3 and 4, and beyond, I am willing to die on this hill LOL) at home, met up with Boston, got his knickers in a twist over a kiss from 2 years ago and then decided (after Boston twisted the truth a little) fucking Boston was the appropriate response. I just find myself struggling to be as sympathetic about that situation as I am concerning the Ray and Mew and Sand mess. In a way, when Mew says how what Ray did was the same as what Top did to him, I felt as if he maybe saw it how I did - how Sand kind of falls into the role of Mew in this trio’s case. (Ray isn’t doing it behind Sand’s back as such but he is involved in perpetuating a lie about his and Mew’s relationship).

It is Sand and Ray who were in the developing relationship, where feelings of love were being nurtured. Sand had reset them back to friends after episode 5, but it seemed, after the crash, as if they were once again growing closer. But then, in comes Mew. This isn’t to villainize him. He himself was hurt and confused and looking to get away from himself, and probably didn’t think about what it really meant for the two of them if they stepped beyond friends. If he hadn’t questioned Ray’s feelings for him, opened the door to what if, then I feel like Ray would likely have never brought it up himself. He had been told by Mew if he wanted him in his life, he had to give up on thinking of him in a romantic light. However, Mew put it out there. Regardless of his feelings for Sand, Ray would never risk losing Mew, he said it himself during their conversation this episode. If he rejected Mew there’s the fear Mew might be upset, abandon him completely. If he told him there was someone else, about Sand, there’s the risk it would be seen as a betrayal - so you didn’t really love me (Mew) all this time? It was a lie?

I just really sympathise with Ray’s situation, especially when it feels as if his love for Mew has been his one reason for staying alive for the last couple of years (though it seems he’s only recently been living since meeting Sand). Though he was not actively pursuing Mew, being by his side and cherishing him as a friend has been a constant in his life, his purpose, one that was thrown into disarray when Top came into the picture. He’s scared of people leaving him and now he has two important people in his life he can’t let go of.

But in all of this, Sand is who I felt for the most. Sand was the one who had the most emotional investment in the mess. Who was watching the person he liked going back to another man.

Mew was never invested. We knew since last episode he wasn’t. Not kissing Ray when they were alone but doing so in front of Top to spite him. Daydreaming of intimate bookstore dates with Top but not seeming to want to do anything one-to-one with Ray, instead going out and requesting parties. Even this episode, Mew was happy to agree to drink with another man, lock eyes with him over the rim of his glass, get chatted up. It just felt like there should have been the conversation of ‘sure we can talk but my boyfriend will be here soon’ in that moment.

Then we’re at Mew’s place. I understand Ray saying love makes the most sense when used in talking about Mew. He knows he loves Mew vs whatever the hell it is that keeps drawing him back to Sand. Maybe if Mew had phrased it differently a conversation could have started but the word love for Ray at this point only applies to Mew. A kiss leads to things getting handsy and Mew pushing him away. Ray’s despair filled ‘again’, actually kind of hurt. Ray was harsh, frustrated but I believe him when he said it wasn’t only about wanting sex or beating Top. Ray has always seemed like he craves intimacy, be it kisses, sex, simply hugging Sand in the morning, always reaching out and taking hold of Sand’s hand/wrist and wanting a connection. Mew has the right to say no, but I understand Ray seeing it as rejection, why he asked was he that bad? It’s just more proof he’s unlovable. It was like he was begging for Mew to prove him wrong, give him any sign there was anything between them. But Mew stays quiet. Do I wish they could have talked calmly and maybe gotten to the bottom of what they were doing to each other right then? I really do. But instead they go their separate ways.

Sand really did underestimate Ray’s desire to come see him. And no, I don’t think it had anything to do with sex at this point either, despite what I’ve seen a few people think. Oh Mew wouldn’t fuck him so he’s off to Sand. Personally, I felt it was about him wanting his comfort person, the person who shows him intimacy and care. The person who despite Ray turning up at 2am and being pissed off still allowed Ray to cuddle up to him.

Will drop it in here that Sand Ray Nick is the comedy trio I never knew I needed. Nick and Sand were so wholesome this episode and I’m glad they got to have fun, have a little kiss and stick to being the good friends they are.

I’m glad Sand was honest with Ray, finally properly admitting how he feels about him. Ray’s been in an odd limbo with Sand, another reason he was probably scared to make a proper decision between the two of them, because what if he picked wrong and lost both of them. It was cute how Sand helped lead Ray out of the water.

And so, we’re outside the caravan. Ray back in his ‘would anybody really care if I wasn’t here’ mode. I kind of like that he was in Sand’s t-shirt that had WANTED on it. In that moment, Ray really did feel wanted, realising someone would care if he was gone. It was a mixed feeling when he said about following Sand’s dream with him, up til now there’s been no hint Ray thinks about the future. Mew was behind setting up the hostel for him, so it was nice to see him finally think about something, even if it is to accompany Sand on his dreams, rather than declaring them as his own just yet.

Now, do I wish we could have had a clean break with Mew before the beautiful sex scene? Yes, I kind of do. But for Sand’s benefit more than anything else. So, he could be sure Ray was finally choosing him. Because of what we know, the fact RayMew was a sham, that Mew had no feelings invested this time around that could actually be hurt, I personally wasn’t conflicted by Ray and Sand having sex. It really felt as if Ray had made his choice. Their scene together was beautifully done, the love in Ray’s eyes and the gentle kisses after sex as they lay together. I was so happy for them.

And then, for anyone still in doubt about Mew really not giving a fuck, we have the much needed conversation between him and Ray. I’m glad they came out of it still friends and it’s not hard to see why. Neither’s heart was really in it. I like that Ray was able to be honest when prompted. It gave me a similar feel as what happened with Sand at the end of episode 5, except this time he got to talk things through with Mew. I feel as if he doesn’t feel he’s allowed to talk about stuff, or maybe how to open up and start, it was like he wanted Sand to ask questions on that night and so in a way he was relieved when Mew asked and opened up the conversation. His expression seemed to relax, accepting it was time to get everything out in the open. I’m excited and scared where things will go next. Ray was less than convincing in saying he’d talk to a therapist when Mew reminded him. It does seem from the preview he might make a move in that direction, though it seems he’s in his ‘bargaining’ stage of his grief. If he’s going to do something difficult, then so should Sand in meeting his dad. Doing it for someone else rather than himself probably isn’t going to go well, even if he admitted he has problems and was seeking help for himself, the road ahead would be littered with ups and downs, but I’m hoping by the end of the series we can at least leave him (& Sand) on an up.

So, what else for Nick. Well, I suppose there could still be some bedroom kinks for Daddy Dan, but seems the name came from Nick rather than Dan instigating it. It was sweet to see Nick smile and apparently, feel something vs his sparkless attempt at kissing Sand. I hope Dan is a good guy, there is the possible power imbalance due to him being Nick’s boss, but I’d like to think it could work out. I just wonder what the ‘lots of issues’ with his last relationship were. The scene between Nick and Boston was… interesting lol. I’m not sure it needed to be done right then and there in the bathroom but hey, when you’ve gotta go pour out your feelings, you’ve just gotta go. Plus Boston was kind of a captive audience backed into the stall so Nick got to get everything off his chest. It looked as if Boston was slightly moved, and seeing Nick with Dan, it seemed as if he had some sort of regrets. I don’t know if it’s any form of love or like, or it’s more missing just having him around as a friend. They spent a lot of time together it seemed like at the water park and Nick taking an interest in his photography - like has he shared this passion with the people who were supposed to be his friends? So yeah, maybe it’s just having someone around who was constant and a bit more intimate. I guess we shall see…

And speaking of Boston. Good luck when Cheum finds out you shagged her brother. And it does seem Atom is Nick 2.0 the upgraded crazier version. It was interesting to see Boston step back inside the gate when Atom got angry, rarely see Boston being the one to get intimidated and back up. It was only supposed to be a one night stand type of deal, Atom asked for it and though there was a little bit of hesitation, Boston accepted the invitation for sex. I’m actually a little scared for Boston. People can do crazy things when feelings get involved and Atom really doesn’t seem to be handling his well. I’m hoping nothing serious goes down, but when Cheum finds out I’m not sure Boston will be back with the group anytime soon lol.

Is that everything? I think so. This was heavy on the Ray rambling I think lol, though he was in two large chunks of story with Mew and with Sand. I just find his character so interesting. Anyway, I look forward to seeing the three couples’ dynamics next episode as well as how the characters around them play roles in what goes on.

I really do love this show.

[crystalninjaphoenix]

After School Activities

Paranormal Preteens AU: Episode Twenty

A JSE Fanfic

I didn't almost forget to post this, what are you talking about? XD Anyway, it's time for the kids to have another monster fight! Been a while since they had one. The kids meet after school to fight the paperpillar. Afterwards, someone wants to talk to them. And yeah. It's a relatively short chapter (for me). But still fun. Enjoy!

More of this AU

++++++++++++++++++++

It was hard to get ready for school on Monday. Because after class that day, they would be having their first real monster fight in a while. They couldn’t exactly bring dangerous items to school. Not to mention, what could defeat a caterpillar made out of paper in the first place? In the end, Chase managed to sneak his Nerf gun in his backpack. Maybe it could be a distraction. Schneep didn’t take anything, but he did say they should remember to look in the gym storage closet after school.

Classes took forever. Chase was never really too good in school, only average at best, but today he didn’t even try to pay attention. He kept trying to listen for signs of the paperpillar. Sometimes, he could hear it rustling under the floor... or maybe that was just the trees outside. 

But finally, it was over with. The gang had agreed to meet outside the auditorium entrance. Chase and Schneep arrived to see Jackie and Stacy already waiting there. “Hey guys,” Jackie said, smiling in greeting. 

“D’you guys know where JJ and Marvin are?” Stacy asked. “They’re the last ones.”

Chase shrugged. “No, sorry. I think their classes are just kinda far from here.”

“Right.” She nodded, fidgeting with the jacket of her uniform.

“Are you nervous, Stacy?” Schneep asked. “It is okay to be. It can be kind of... It can make people nervous. But we will be fine, I think. It did not seem too dangerous.”

“Yeah, I guess. Those guys in the hospital were probably worse and we handled that.”

“Yeah!” Chase grinned. “We just gotta do it! If we just do it, things will turn out alright.”

“We just gotta fucking do it!” Marvin suddenly appeared out of nowhere, shouting that along. “Hello everyone! You fucking ready?!” Behind him, JJ clapped excitedly, hyping him up.

“Omigosh!” Stacy jumped. “You guys scared me!”

“Sorry. I’m just excited! I get to actually use magic!” Marvin smiled wide, flapping his arms with joy.

We have to wait for people to clear out, but I’m ready whenever! JJ said.

“Hey, uh, JJ, did you...” Jackie glanced around nervously, then leaned close to him and lowered his voice to a whisper. “You didn’t bring a knife to school, did you?”

I thought about it, but I don’t think it would be much help against the caterpillar, JJ said.

“And... any other reasons?”

JJ frowned. Well I don’t want to get in trouble.

“And you don’t want other kids to get hurt?”

No, of course not. But what does that have to do with this? I’m not planning on hurting other students.

Jackie sighed. “Okay. Yeah. Anyway. Are we all ready to go whenever?”

The kids nodded in unison. “JJ, you were the one who suggested the Theatre classrooms,” Schneep said. “Should we look at them first? Get an idea of what to expect?”

JJ nodded. Follow me.

He led the others down the hallway along the side of the auditorium, then turned left and went down a hallway behind the auditorium. There were six doors down here. One led directly into the backstage area, one led into a room piled high with boxes of costumes and props that then connected to the backstage area, two were the bathrooms, and two were classrooms. Though “classrooms” was a bit of a stretch. The rooms didn’t have any student desks or teacher desks or whiteboards or educational posters on the walls. There were chairs stacked in the corners, but that was about all that looked like traditional school stuff. One room had its walls and floor painted black and had a curtain dividing the rectangular room into two squares.

“This is weird,” Chase muttered, looking around this room. Then he glanced at Marvin and hurriedly added, “I mean, I’ve never seen classrooms like this.”

“Yeah, I know, it’s weird, huh?�� Marvin agreed, and Chase grinned.

“You guys have never taken a Theatre class?” Stacy asked.

“You have?” Chase asked.

“Yeah, I mean, it’s a better elective than Woodshop.”

“I  liked Woodshop. Have you ever taken a Woodshop class?”

“Well, no.”

“Hah!”

“I can promise you all that by the time you’re in my year you’ll probably have tried all electives at least once,” Jackie said. “Unless you go into choir. Then you’re just gonna keep taking that one over and over again. Anyway, I don’t think this room will work. We want places to hide, right?”

I think the other one will be better, JJ said, and took them to the second classroom in the hallway. This one had white walls and a hardwood floor with tape on it in weird designs. It was crowded full of half-finished sets. Wooden beams making the outline of doorways, partially painted canvas backdrops, rickety fake stairs, a lump of paper mache that someone was gluing fake flowers to. It was a mess, really. This is where we’re making the sets for our plays this year. He pointed to a bulletin board at the back of the room, where homemade posters are pinned.

Schneep walked up to the bulletin board, squinting. “There are a lot more plays being put on this year than I thought. I heard about Clue and the Shakespeare plays, but what are all these little ones?”

JJ’s eyes lit up. Well you have to have a lot of performances to learn! Not all plays need a lot of sets or actors or costumes, you can do a play with just two people talking! Then he stopped, shaking his head. I guess that’s not important right now, though. We need to focus.

“It’s okay, JJ, we can talk about it later!” Marvin said. “But for now, yeah. I think this room will work great. The paperpillar is pretty big and there are a lot of small nooks where we can fit but it can’t.” He rubbed his hands together. Green stars flew away from the point of contact. “I’m excited! Can we do it now? Can we?”

Jackie laughed. “You’re a lot more enthusiastic about this than you were when we talked.”

“I just—I really like—I feel good today.” Marvin beamed.

Stacy pushed open the door again and looked outside. “This hallway is pretty empty,” she said. “And I think the connecting hallway is, too. So we can go whenever we want. Do you guys think we need to worry about leading the paperpillar around that corner?”

“I think that will help, actually,” Schneep said. “It is faster than us but could not handle the turning as well when we were below ground. So it will be slowed down.”

Chase nodded. “Alright. Well, if everyone’s ready to go, I am.” He pulled out his Nerf gun.

Let’s check to be sure that the hallways are really empty, JJ said. Then we can go.

They waited for a few minutes, until they couldn’t see any other students in the halls. And then, with Jackie in the lead, they snuck over to the sound booth access door. JJ unlocked it and they all piled inside. The trapdoor beneath the stairs was closed. Jackie crouched down and slid it open, and JJ shone his phone flashlight into the opening while the others all peered inside.

“Don’t see any sign of the paperpillar,” Chase muttered.

“Of course we wouldn’t, we had to go down, like, three hallways to see it the first time,” Stacy said.

“Alright. So.” Jackie looked at the others. “We’re really all going down there? No one wants to stay?”

“I don’t think that’d make sense,” Marvin said. “If we’re bringing the paperpillar up here, whoever’s left behind will just join up with the group eventually.”

“Well, what if someone shows up?”

“Hmm.” Schneep bit his lip. “That is a good point, actually. This is important. Someone might close the trapdoor. We do not want to get stuck down there. I can stay up and keep an eye on things. You will probably have to shout when you get close to warn me, though.”

“Are you sure, Schneep?” Chase asked.

“Yes, very sure.” Schneep nodded firmly.

Chase hesitated, then nodded back. “Okay. Shout if something happens.”

“I will.”

“Alright. If that’s sorted, let’s go on down.” Jackie stepped onto the stairs first. “Follow me.”

The gang—minus Schneep—descended into the basement of the school. It looked exactly the same as it had the last time they were here. Concrete floor, pipes and vents on the walls, and absolutely no light. “Y’know, now that I think about it, it’s weird that it’s so dark down here,” Stacy said. “If this is for maintenance, wouldn’t you want enough light to see yourself, uh, maintaining stuff?”

“This whole thing is fucking fishy,” Marvin muttered. “I bet the Circle guys have something to do with this.”

“Now... where do we go?” Jackie asked.

Listen for paper, JJ signed, causing the flashlight beam he’s holding to go crazy for a moment.

“Good point.”

The group walked up to the intersection, looking down each hallway in turn. No sign of the paperpillar down the left or the front, where the halls ended. So they turned right, going until they reached the T-intersection. No sign of the paperpillar here, either. “I don’t hear anything,” Marvin whispered. They took the only way that was open, the right branch that ended in a corner.

This was the spot where they’d found the paperpillar the first time. It was hanging from a vent on the ceiling around the corner. That vent was still missing its cover, but the paperpillar was nowhere in sight. The hallway continued until it reached a ladder, at which point it branched into another T-intersection, diverging to the left and right. “Now I hear the rustling,” Marvin whispered.

“Can you tell where it’s coming from?” Chase asked.

“No. Let’s get closer.”

As the group walked down the hallway, they began to notice something. A lot of the vents here had uncovered openings. Was that because of the paperpillar? Had it knocked the covers off so it could use the vents to travel?

To the left of the intersection, the hallway continued into another branch. But to the right, it ended in a door that was slightly ajar. Marvin pointed to the right. “There.” The rest of them could faintly hear it now, too. The sound of crumpling, rustling paper. Slowly, they crept down the hall, the sound getting louder as they approached the door. Jackie, in front, pushed it all the way open once they reached it.

Beyond the door was a square room, about fifteen feet on each side. The pipes and vents lining the hallways didn’t go into this room, but there were some industrial-looking cabinets on the far wall. Besides that, the room was basically empty... except for three key features. One, a tipped over flower pot, two feet tall, spilling dirt and purple flowers all over the floor. Two, a crack in the ground in the center of the room, the exact same shape as the one in the planetarium basement... a Fissure. And three, the paperpillar. It was curled around the Fissure, fortune-teller eyes closed, body unmoving. Was it... bigger than before? Last time, it was three feet tall while lying on the ground like this. Now... it was maybe three or four inches taller. Not much of a difference, but a noticeable one. Its body moved up and down rhythmically.

“What’s with the flowers?” Chase whispered.

JJ shrugged.

“Heather’s mom had those kinds of flowers in her garden,” Stacy muttered. “They’re irises.”

Chase blinked. “Okay? Why are they here?”

“I dunno. It doesn’t seem like a good place to grow flowers.”

While they talked quietly, the paperpillar didn’t move.

“Is it... dead?” Marvin asked.

It’s moving, JJ pointed out.

“I think if it was dead, it would... fall apart, maybe?” Jackie guessed. “Maybe it’s asleep. Marvin, do you think you could try pulling the greenlight out of it while it’s sleeping? If you can do that, we might not need to run up to the classroom.”

Marvin nodded slowly. “I’ll try, yeah.” He took a deep breath and held a hand out, reaching towards the paperpillar. The scars on his hands began to glow faintly green, and then the mound of paper was wreathed in a green glow—

And then those fortune-teller eyes opened up. The paperpillar raised its head and looked directly at them.

Chase stiffened. “Run!”

The group turned and bolted. Just in time too, as the paperpillar bunched together and then launched itself after them. “Slow it down when you can!” Jackie shouted as they rounded a corner. As expected, the paperpillar’s tiny legs weren’t able to turn its massive body fast enough and it hit the corner. But it recovered quickly and continued running after them. Gaining on them!

Marvin threw something over his shoulder. A ball of greenlight, which hit the floor and suddenly became a wall. The paperpillar hit it and stalled for a few seconds until the wall disappeared. They kept running, with him doing that two more times before the spiral staircase came into view. “Schneep!” Chase shouted. “It’s following us!”

“You’re gonna have to stall it some more while we get up there,” Stacy told Marvin in between gasping breaths.

Marvin didn’t answer, he just nodded.

The group reached the stairs, and Marvin threw up another wall to delay the paperpillar. It didn’t last long. They were halfway up the stairs when it disappeared, and the paperpillar rushed up the spiral after them.

“Heilige Scheiße!” Schneep gasped upon seeing the tide of paper rushing after the group. He hurried over to the door, which the group had closed, and opened it up again. “Go go go go!”

They ran out into the thankfully-empty hallway. The paperpillar squeezed through the doorway easily and followed them, right on their heels. JJ started to lag behind but Chase and Marvin grabbed him, pulling him ahead again just before the paperpillar lunged for him. Come on, come on, come on! So close!

Around the corner again. The paperpillar skidded on the tile floor and almost missed the entrance to the side hallway. That gave Jackie enough time to throw open the door to the classroom with all the sets and push the other kids inside. He lingered out in the hallway for a moment to make sure the paperpillar could see him, then threw down the door stopper and rushed into the room as well.

“Okay Marvin you gotta hide somewhere really good,” Chase said, speaking so quickly his words started running together.

“Okay but I gotta see the thing to do the thing!” Marvin gasped.

JJ lifted up a tarp hanging off the edge of a table. He gestured for Marvin to get under, and he did.

“What about the rest of us?” Stacy asked.

“Split up so it has to choose who to go after,” Jackie said, eyes darting around. He hurried over to the back of the classroom and grabbed a broom that was leaning against the wall. “Hurry! It’s coming!”

The rustling sound was swiftly approaching. Chase glanced around, then started climbing up that rickety set of stairs. Stacy ducked behind the paper mache mound while Schneep ducked behind a canvas backdrop and JJ climbed onto a platform and behind a plywood wall.

The paperpillar burst into the room, some of the paper on its body getting sheared off as it passed through the doorway. It ran right into a prop desk, knocking off a lamp, and stopped. It raised its head again, looking around with those fortune-teller eyes. And suddenly it lunged for the paper mache mound, the paper of its body wrapping around it.

Stacy shrieked and bolted from where she was crouching. “Hey, leave her alone!” Chase shouted. He aimed his gun at the paperpillar and fired. A single dart bounced off it, and it raised its head again to look at him. It hurried across the room towards Chase, running into the staircase he was standing on. The staircase shifted wildly and Chase gasped, kneeling down so he wouldn’t fall.

“Hey!” Jackie shouted. “Over here!”

The paperpillar raised its head and looked towards him. It lunged for him, but there were several half-finished sets in the way that it ran into.

Jackie ran along the back wall of the room. “Marvin?!”

“I’m working on it!” Marvin shouted. His hand was sticking out from under the table. The paperpillar was indeed surrounded in that same green glow from before, but nothing was happening.

It continued after Jackie, who ran through a free-standing doorway and slammed the door attached to it just before the paperpillar rushed through. Its body bunched up and it reeled back... and then turned its head to the side. Not looking at Jackie, or at any of the other kids in the room. But instead, at the bulletin board. It hurried over and threw its body against the board. There was a crumpling sound. And when it pulled away, the posters pinned there were gone.

“Did... did that thing just eat the posters?” Stacy asked.

Schneep suddenly gasped. “Of course!” He took his backpack off and pulled out a sheet of paper. Even from here Chase recognized an old homeroom assignment—only Mr. Bartley used that ugly shade of brown for his papers. Schneep balled up the paper and threw it towards the paperpillar. It landed next to it, and the paperpillar immediately swiveled its attention towards there. Its head lowered, right on top of the paper, and then when it raised again the paper was gone.

It’s eating paper! JJ said.

“Exactly!” Schneep nodded. “Eating it and getting bigger! I think it knows when we have paper, even if it is in our bags.”

“Ohhhh!” Stacy took off her backpack and pulled out a couple sheets of lined paper. “Hey! Caterpillar!” She waved the papers over her head. The paperpillar looked towards the sound of her shouting and rushed over. She yelped and scrambled to run in the other direction. The paperpillar ate up the sheets she’d dropped.

“Well, distracting it just got a lot easier,” Chase commented, carefully taking his backpack off and looking inside.

“You guys keep doing that, I’ll keep doing this!” Marvin shouted. “I think it’s working!”

“Got it!” Chase pulled out some random paper that had crumpled to the bottom of his bag and threw it to the side. The paperpillar rushed after it.

All of the kids had paper with them in some form or another. Jackie and JJ only had their current assignments with them, but Schneep and Stacy both had stacks of lined paper in their bags, and Chase had a lot of paper pushed down to the bottom of his backpack. Some of these were probably overdue assignments, actually... Well, distracting a big monster was probably a better use of them, anyway. But even so, he quickly ran out. Schneep and Stacy, with their excess of paper, proved to be the best distractors.

“Why do you guys have so much paper, anyway?” Chase asked.

“It’s for doing assignments on, duh!” Stacy said, crumpling up another sheet and throwing it.

“Why do you not have spare paper?” Schneep asked. “Any of you?”

“I forgot to buy some!” Jackie said defensively.

“Why would I carry around paper when the teachers always have some?” Chase reasoned.

“You should not rely on the community paper, Chase!” Schneep scolded, tossing another paper ball. “What if it runs out because so many people were taking from it?”

“Hey, get on JJ and Marvin’s case about the paper, too!”

Our parents told us to just get some from other kids, JJ said.

“That’s a bit, uh—that’s a bad idea,” Jackie said.

Yeah I know. Sometimes I buy my own paper but I haven’t done that recently. Too busy.

With their stacks of paper combined, Schneep and Stacy sent the paperpillar rushing back and forth across the classroom, weaving around sets and occasionally knocking stuff over. The green glow around it got brighter and brighter until it almost hurt to look at. And when it got too bright to look at directly—

FWOOM! —

The paperpillar suddenly exploded.

It wasn’t fiery like explosions were, but there was no better way to describe the way that all the paper making up its body suddenly shot outwards. Chase yelped as some of it hit him with surprising force. Like being pelted with paintballs. Luckily he was able to shield his face. The others also got hit by some of the crumpled paper to similar results. Jackie was the only one not able to protect his head, and he yelped as one of the paper balls hit him directly in the eye. “Owww...” he groaned, rubbing it.

Loose, flat sheets of paper floated down from the sky. Marvin climbed out from under the table. “I-I think I did it?” he said, breathing heavily. “I mean... mostly? It felt like... like there was more, but... i-it was getting really hard to hold all of it... if that makes sense.”

Look! JJ said, and pointed.

Where the giant paperpillar had been before, there was now a tiny version of it. The tiny paperpillar was made out of ripped pieces of paper, none of them bigger than an inch across, and it was about as long as Chase’s forearm. The fortune tellers it used for its eyes were gone, but there were tiny green specks of light that seemed to serve the same purpose. The paperpillar inched over to one of the sheets of paper that fell from the sky and wriggled on top of it. No doubt trying to eat it. But the sheet was too big and it was too small.

“Awww, it’s cute now!” Stacy cooed.

Marvin and JJ walked over to it. Schneep and Stacy soon joined them—and Chase, too, once Jackie helped him down from the rickety stairs. “What do we do with it?” Schneep asked.

“I mean... now that we know it just eats paper, I don’t think it’s dangerous,” Chase said.

“But we still can’t let it just wander around,” Jackie pointed out. “Looks like whole sheets of paper are too big, but it can still eat bits that are ripped or cut up. If it gets big again, it might start going after people who have paper with him. Like it did with us. Which, in a school full of teachers handing out assignments on paper, is not ideal.”

“What if one of us takes it home?” Schneep suggested. “To keep an eye on it. It could be a tiny pet, even.”

We can’t take it home, JJ said. It might upset Sinney.

“I keep forgetting you guys have a cat,” Chase muttered.

“Well I can’t take it home,” Stacy said. “I don’t want my sister to find it.”

“Hmm... I dunno, maybe we could take it home?” Chase said. Though Schneep looked a bit nervous about that. Maybe worried about Mom finding it.

Jackie sighed. “Alright, I’ll do it. I can hide it from Dad easily enough, he never goes in my room without knocking.” He put his backpack on the ground, opening it up. “Heyyyy, paperpillar. Look in here. Look at all the yummies.” The paperpillar turned at the sound of his voice, then crawled into the backpack. As soon as it was fully in, Jackie zipped it up. “Okay. Cleanup time.”

Chase looked around the classroom at all the paper scattered everywhere. He groaned. “But we need to get home soooon!”

“That’s, uh, a good point, actually,” Marvin said. “Mam and Dad are gonna get worried if JJ isn’t home.”

Jackie frowned. “Well, uh... I-I don’t want you guys to get in trouble. So you can leave if you have to. The rest of us can do it.”

“My parents are gonna be worried, too,” Stacy added.

“A-and I do not want to make Aunt Jess worry,” Schneep said.

Jackie looked at all the kids. “Oh. So you’re saying I have to do it all by myself?” He groaned, just like Chase had. “Y’know what? Fu—screw that. People can just wonder what happened. Maybe they’ll think it was a prank.”

“Sooo... we’re just going, then?” Marvin asked.

“Yeah. Let’s just go.”

The group left the classroom and headed down the hallway. “Y’know, that was easier than anything else we’ve done,” Chase said. “I think we’re getting better at this.”

And then someone turned into the hallway. Someone familiar. Mrs. Karter.

The group stalled for a moment, all of them remembering at once her involvement with the planetarium stuff, and how she was one of the teachers who’d been pushy and weird lately. But then Jackie cleared his throat. “Hey, Mrs. Karter,” he said casually, and started walking around her.

She stepped in front of him. “I need to talk to you kids.”

Schneep tensed, grabbing onto Chase’s hand. Marvin’s fingers twitched, some speckles of greenlight flickering around them. JJ took a step back. Stacy stayed where she was, frozen.

“Uh... I don’t think we’re all in your class—” Jackie said.

“It’s not about that.” Mrs. Karter sighed. “It’s about... well, you all should know what. You kids need to know how dangerous this is.”

Marvin hissed, like a feral cat. “Dangerous?! You’re fucking talking about—fuck you!”

Karter frowned. “That’s not really acceptable language for a school—”

“Fuck you!” Marvin repeated, and JJ nodded firmly in agreement.

“Y-you know, our parents are expecting us to get home soon,” Stacy stammered out.

“I know, I know, I won’t keep you long.” Karter hesitated. “I’m... sorry about what happened in the hospital.”

“Yeah, fuck you!” Marvin said again, his voice trembling a bit this time.

“No, really, th-they were never going to hurt you. Or, at least, they shouldn’t have.”

The kids exchanged glances. The Circle must not have known they’d read their memos. They must not know that the kids knew all about their messed-up plan for Marvin, and any others they could get their hands on.

“Then... what were they doing?” Jackie asked slowly, testing her response.

“They were just supposed to take a little bit of blood,” Karter explained. “I don’t know why they decided to take him down there. Take you down there, Marvin. All of them have been kicked out for that.”

The kids didn’t bother to hide their doubt. “So... what do you want now, then?” Chase asked. “Why have you guys been staring at us all the time?!”

“We just want you to be safe,” Karter said gently. “We just want everyone to be safe. You see, about ten years ago these cracks started opening up in the ground all over town. Mostly in basement places. And things started to come out. Sometimes it was a... physical thing, but more often it was this energy that glowed green. You must’ve seen it around, right? We call it transformation energy. Because if something gets too close to the energy, it starts to absorb it and transform into a monster. And these monsters would cause chaos all across town. They would hurt people.”

“O... kay,” Jackie said slowly. “So what’s that got to do with us?”

“You kids have found some of those monsters, haven’t you?” Karter asked. “I know you probably think it’s fun to fight them. Just like a cartoon, right? But they’re very dangerous. They could hurt you very badly.”

They could kill us, you mean? JJ asked.

“Um... I’m sorry, Jameson, I know you speak sign language but I just don’t know it.”

“He asked if you’re saying the monsters could kill us,” Marvin said, glaring at her.

“Oh.” Karter looked faintly surprised. “W-well... yes. That’s what I mean. And we want you to be safe. You’ve done a great job so far, but we have a group who’s been keeping the monsters under control for a long time now. We know what we’re doing. So, you have to leave it to us now, okay?”

The group didn’t say anything. They just looked at each other, all equally uncertain.

And then, Mrs. Karter’s shadow shifted. It raised up from the ground—and became Anti. Chase gasped. Karter noticed the way they were all looking behind her and started to turn around. But quickly, Anti grabbed her by the shoulders. There was an audible ZAP! noise and Mrs. Karter suddenly fell forward. Jackie lurched forward like he wanted to catch her, but he wasn’t fast enough, so instead he crouched by her side and checked her pulse on her wrist.

“Anti!” Stacy gasped.

“What are you doing here?” Schneep asked.

Anti shrugged. “I was watching you guys fight that big paper thing. The paperpillar.” He grinned. “You did great! Marvin, I didn’t know you could do that!”

“Yeah, no thanks to you!” Marvin snapped.

“What did you do to Mrs. Karter?” Chase demanded.

“Sh-she’s fine,” Jackie gasped. “But—but you... knocked her out?” He stared up at Anti, eyes wide. This was his first time seeing him in person. And... he really did look like Jack.

“I don’t like bullies,” Anti said simply. “And that’s all the Circle guys are, really. A bunch of bullies pushing people around, like how she was trying to push you to stop.” He shook his head. “But you can’t stop now.”

“Why not?” Chase asked. “Why can’t we stop?”

“Well I mean... that’s boring,” Anti said. “But also that’s what they want you to do. So that means that it can’t be good, because nothing they want is good.”

“She... said the Circle is protecting the city,” Stacy said slowly.

“Yeah, she was lying. The Circle guys lie all the time.”

JJ frowned. I don’t want to agree with Anti, but that’s true. They lied and said Marvin ran away when he was really in the hospital the whole time.

Anti leaned back as JJ signed, folding his legs under him and floating in the air. He groaned loudly. “Oh you shut up,” he said, looking at JJ.

“Don’t fucking tell him to shut up!” Marvin shouts, while behind him JJ signs something about being done anyway.

“What do you want, Anti?” Jackie asked quietly.

Anti blinked. He paused for a moment, like he wasn’t expecting that question. Like no one had asked him that question before at all. “I want,” he said slowly, “to see what you can do. I want to set things up so that you can do it. It’s like... a challenge thing.”

“Okay, but... why do you want to challenge us?” Jackie asked.

“You guys seemed fun. And funny.” Anti giggled. “I saw Chase fall down on his skateboard, that was funny.”

“Hey,” Chase said defensively.

“So I thought that even if you guys don’t do good, it’ll at least be fun.”

“Okay, but why?” Jackie pressed. “Not, ‘why did you choose us,’ why do you want to play this—this challenge game at all? What do you get from it? What do you want?”

Anti was silent for a moment. Then he shrugged. “I dunno.” And before anyone could ask what that meant, he disappeared.

“...well then,” Schneep said. “That was... That was all strange.” He stared at Mrs. Karter. “I do not like the way she was speaking to us.”

“Yeah, me neither,” Marvin agreed, frowning.

It was like she thought we were dumb, JJ said.

“A bit condescending, yeah,” Jackie muttered. “I... Do you guys think we should call the hospital about her getting shocked, or...?”

But just as he said that, Mrs. Karter started to stir. “Let’s just get out of here,” Chase said hurriedly.

The group hurried down the hallway, disappearing from sight before Mrs. Karter fully woke up. They then continued down the halls until they reached a side entrance to the school and left. The air outside was crisp and cool, the trees around the school having lost about half their leaves. The remaining leaves clinging to the branches were brown and dead-looking. The rustling noise they made when the wind passed through sounded so much like the paperpillar did that Chase tensed a little bit.

“So... now what?” Marvin asked.

“We... go home?” Stacy said, confused.

“No, I know that. I mean... what about after that?” Marvin asked. “I think Anti’s gonna keep us involved in whatever he’s doing no matter what we or the Circle want. So... what? Do we just keep doing stuff? Or do we wanna stop so that the Circle stops bothering us?”

I think we should lie low for a while, JJ said. Maybe until after Christmas. Then, maybe the Circle will think the teacher convinced us to stop.

“But we do not know if they really want us to stop,” Schneep pointed out. “What if they are just waiting for the right moment to attack?”

Jackie sighed. “It’s all complicated,” he muttered. “Marvin’s right, I don’t think Anti will leave us alone. I think... I think we have to stop him, somehow? I mean... I think he thinks this is fun. But he doesn’t realize what’s really happening. He pushed Marvin down the stairs and didn’t see anything wrong with that. If we don’t figure out some way to make him stop, he might do more stuff like that.”

Chase nodded. “Yeah. I really think that Jack guy has something to do with this.”

“I do too, little man. It’s just hard finding him.”

“I think JJ is right,” Stacy said. “We need to take a break for the holidays. See if that, um, affects anything.”

“But what about after that?” Marvin asked. “Are we gonna stop?”

Chase looked at him. “Do you want to stop?”

Marvin hesitated. “No. I-I think—I think this could be—I mean, Anti’s an asshole, but—I-I have magic now! I want to use it!” He grinned. “And—and I think this is the best way I can use it.”

“We’re the only ones who know about all this, I think,” Jackie said. “Besides the Circle. And I don’t trust those guys to handle all their ‘Anomalies’ and junk. I mean, there’s like five that we’ve taken care of that they couldn’t.” He paused. “And... I think... we need to stop the Circle, too. Not just the Anomalies.”

JJ nodded. They’re going to do terrible things. I just know it.

“And the police won’t believe us,” Jackie continued. “I tried, and they won’t. We can’t just tell them, they’ll ignore us again. We need to either get undeniable proof... or do it ourselves.” He looked at the others. “I think Mrs. Karter was right about one thing back there. It’s gonna be dangerous.”

Chase tightened his grip on his Nerf gun. “We’re stuck in this anyway, aren’t we? You just said that Anti’s gonna keep dragging us in. So we should go in ourselves.”

“I do not want any other people to get hurt,” Schneep said. “If we can do something to stop that, I-I want to.”

Marvin nodded. “Yeah. No one else should be stuck in that hospital place.”

“I’m not gonna stop now,” Stacy said firmly.

They’re not going to get away with this, JJ said.

Jackie smiled at all of them. “You guys are so brave, y’know that? Alright. We’ll take a break until the holidays are over. Maybe talk about what we’ll do next. Then... then we’ll go in swinging.”

“Heck yeah!” Chase whooped.

“Fuck yeah!” Marvin added, upping the ante.

“But we really do gotta head home now,” Jackie said. “So... I’ll see you all later, then.”

The group said their goodbyes and went their separate ways. It was a cold day, and the days would get colder soon. But they wouldn’t turn away from the cold. They would bundle up and brace themselves, ready to take on what was coming together.

[plasticbcnes]

courtney eaton & she/her / cis woman — i see you’ve settled on stephanie gingrich ! fill your inventory, you’re heading to litwick. you look 27 years old and i hear you’re from seattle ? well, i think lemon lane will be the perfect fit for you. make sure you stop by the music shop and introduce yourself as their new manager ! it’s strange, you almost remind me of steph gingrich from life is strange. we hope you enjoy the slow life ! 

playlist | pintrest

content/trigger warnings: divorce, death, depression

full name: stephanie gingrich

nicknames: steph

pronouns/gender: she/her ; cis woman

sexuality: lesbian

birthday: december 14, 1996

zodiac sign: sagittarius ☉ | aquarius ☽ | libra➶

hometown: astoria, or & seattle, wa

neighborhood: lemon lane

mbti: estj

enneagram: 4w3

moral alignment: chaotic neutral

element: fire

bio

steph was born in oakland, ca to a couple freshly out of college. the couple ended up moving up to astoria, oregon where her father was originally from when steph was still a baby

the couple split up when steph was four, and her mom moved up to seattle for a job as an art teacher - and so began steph's time spent between the two towns

steph loved art and music from a young age, influenced heavily by watching her mother and her love for it. her father, though, was the first to float the idea of an private arts high school that was not far from where he lived in oregon, and steph jumped at the chance, and begged her mom to let her attend

steph took to the school like a duck to water, embracing her talent in music, and getting to explore other areas in the arts provided there.

during her senior year, though, her father died during a heavy storm from a fallen tree limb and electrical wire. with the loss of her father, steph isolated herself, finishing school was purely to open the escape route out to college back home in seattle.

she attended college, changing her focus to video game design - a passion that felt so separated from everything else. but it wasn't long until her old loves came back, and she threw herself into the music scene fully, making friends and having her favorites of local bands.

it was there where she met her first real girlfriend, izzie. she fell in love quickly, and the two formed their own music group, that very quickly took off in the seattle music scene, especially amongst the queer scene.

the two found minor success elsewhere around the US, finding blips of listeners anywhere from phoenix to little towns like rolling springs, pa. the two gathered what little money they had, and started a tour across the country, offering to do jobs on a short-term basis everywhere they went for some extra cash.

their stop in litwick was the longest stay they'd had found. before they wound up in litwick, their longest stay anywhere was a little over two weeks in denver, co, where steph will admit was mostly because they spent more money on weed than they should have

but something about litwick resonated with steph in a way that nothing really had in a long time, and weeks had turned to months in the small town. when conversations about leaving sprung up, steph dismissed them or changed the subject. she took a job at the local music shop, magical melody, working as a clerk, while izzie bounced impatiently between the books & the bees, dupont's grocery, and reece's bar and grill.

eventually the ignored conversations came to a head, and became a fight. izzie demanded to keep moving, and steph couldn't quite bring herself to leave. the couple broke up, and izzie left, returning back home to seattle, and after an extended depressive episode, steph found her footing in litwick, ingratiating herself into the town, and during the last 4 years in town, was promoted to manager at magical melody, and only sometimes has existential crises about having stayed put, and the stagnation that has come with her decision.