#and i also got the next chapter Unity of Magic almost done

[invye]

If any of you like some adorable WongStrange reading for Valentine's, Kay got you covered!

This is such a good little one shot, I can only implore you to give it a try!

Okay guys!! The Valentines Day YOTP 2023 challenge Wong/Strange One-shot has been posted 🥳

💖 Mutual Pining

😩 Double Date gone wrong

👨‍❤️‍👨 Friends to Lovers

https://archiveofourown.org/work

[jdrizzle15]

Her Second Return

Just like all of you, and especially my fellow Penny fans, I am absolutely devastated by the Volume 8 finale. I had been in quite a state these last few days, utterly heartbroken, and actually nauseous at times. It feels strange to me to be legitimately grieving a fictional character, but it’s not a bad thing to feel this way. To me, this just shows that CRWBY loves her just as much as us to have written her so well that we connect so completely with her, that it feels like we lost an actual piece of ourselves when she’s gone.

But as you can probably tell by the title, this mega post isn’t gonna be about accepting this end, not in the slightest! Today I want to share canon evidence that can point towards another return of our beloved quirky red headed cinnamon bun! I’m here to spread this hope that I and others in the Nuts & Dolts dolts Discord server have!

I have this separated into many different sections to keep these thoughts organized. With that said, here goes…

A Father’s Words:

In Episode 7 of Volume 7, ‘Worst Case Scenario’ we learn the origins of Penny’s aura, and thus her soul. We also learn that it takes more aura each time she’s brought back. This leaves open an option that could be used at a later point.

Many people theorized that Pietro could indeed revive Penny one more time, which he would absolutely do. But there also lies the possibility that someone else could donate some of theirs, I’m not sure about this as I feel like it’s akin to blood donation where compatibility matters or there's a high risk of altering her, but the possibility is definitely there.

Now, the conversation in Chapter 5 of Volume 8, ‘Amity’ that Pietro and Penny have is an important moment for both Father and Daughter. It was there to show how her death in PvP all that time ago really did have a heavy impact on him and is still affecting him to this day.

Instead of continuing to pretend that everything is A-okay, like he had done for most of Volume 7, he finally lets his true feelings about how it come out to Penny for what is quite likely the first time. Even going so far as to say "Are you asking me to go through that again?" when she offers to take the risk of trying to lift Amity with her power. He wants Penny to be able to live her life.

This entire scene with Pietro established “this is what will likely happen” even if circumstances are much different now, it doesn’t negate the fact that this is a key part of Penny’s story. Scenes like these have a purpose beyond simply making an eventual death all the more heart wrenching. Her never actually getting to live her life makes those scenes basically moot. It makes them effectively pointless from narrative point of view. Unless there's more to it.

Building Relationship:

The build up between Ruby and Penny the last two volumes has been absolutely phenomenal with a definite destination in mind, and this doesn’t feel like that destination. So much of the arc of this season was to help Penny. This girl that our main protagonist absolutely adores and treasures, it would just be awful to throw all of that out for what amounts to an avoidable end. Why use so much of their precious and very limited runtime on deliberately building up this relationship only to end it abruptly, and permanently, when they’re separated?

In my opinion, RT is definitely smarter now than to intentionally set up what was really looking like a budding gay relationship only to kill one of them for good. If N&D wasn't actually going in a romantic direction, why would they leave in all of the romance-adjacent stuff that they got, that's not how ‘just friends’ act. And that is not something you use such valuable time building up for absolutely no pay off whatsoever...

Representation of Hope:

At its core, RWBY has always been about hope. It’s not at the forefront the whole time, but there's been an underlying theme of hopefulness that has persisted since it began. Some describe the show as a Hopepunk, I personally find this to describe RWBY really well. This genre of storytelling is about caring for things deeply and the courage and strength it takes to do so. It’s about never submitting or accepting the way things are. Fighting for what you believe in and standing up for others. RWBY fits all of this extremely well. How does this relate to Penny? She has been shown to be a sign of hope for everyone, but especially for Ruby, the main main protagonist. A prerequisite for a Hopepunk story is the hope.

Her first death in V3 was something that fundamentally changed Ruby. For the first time in the series, we see our main character all but broken by this event. With the loss of Penny, immediately afterwards, Ruby’s hope followed. She made up for it through determination and force of will. We see it affect her multiple times throughout the journey to Volume 7. But upon her return in V7, Hope reached a high point for everyone, the sheer relief on Ruby’s face is plain to see!

In V8 chapter 5 ‘Amity’, Penny literally raises hope by lifting the arena into the sky so Ruby could spread her message. And when she falls, and Amity with her, the connection is lost and hope plummets again. From there things take a very negative turn with the hack begins to take Penny’s agency.

In chapter 11 ’Risk’ is the point in the arc where everyone is reunited for the moment, so two separate hero stories are no longer a thing at that point in time. For the time being focus seemed to be shifted to care about the characters and how they’re going to solve the current problems. This is also where Ruby reaches her lowest emotional point in the season.

It’s not huge, but it’s interesting how connected this is. Before Ruby and Yang share a good cry over learning the possible fate of Summer, Yang brings up restoring optimism and hope to Ruby after the younger sister storms out of the room in frustration. This is where Penny’s scenes take up the rest of the episode. Getting Penny back in control of her own body and safe again is what makes the ending of the episode much brighter, when just 5 minutes before Ruby had been distraught and scared. This then spills over into the group coming up with the plan to use the staff, putting the main group in a much better mood. Of all the things to go right, it’s interesting that it’s Penny.

Things go wrong with the plan in the end and Penny dies. I find it interesting that once again, Penny got them hopeful in their chances of doing something right. Given said plan succeeded but at the cost of Penny of all people, Penny is shown to be the beginning and end of hope for them

The highest and lowest points for hope seem to directly correlate to when Penny’s around. When she comes back again, hope will return too, just like it had before. And because she’ll likely be back for good this time, the second return will probably be close to when Ruby is nearing the complete abandonment of hope. This would be pretty par for the course of the show honestly.

A little aside, but in a sense, Penny also represents Unity. The CCT in Vale fell after her first death, knocking out global communications and the unifying connection it gave. When it was restored for the briefest moment, she was there. Her body connected so she could allow for its launch, her soul lighting the night to hold up Amity with every ounce of her strength. So of course when the Hack succeeds and she falls, she takes global comms down again with her. At a smaller scale - even at the Hack's second last attempt to control her, she draws everyone in the Schnee Manor together. At the start of the volume, Yang states the one thing that they all agree on is not surrendering Penny.

Unity seems appropriate for one whose first song and wish was for but one friend, who would go on to find so many more in the process, and permit for a moment the possibility of all Remnant becoming friends once more. Where she first died, the name of the episode devoted to her story - Amity, "friendship", from the Latin root amicus, "friend" - she almost lives and dies with the very possibility of a united Remnant. It's no wonder she's a priority target for Salem, the great divider, and it seems natural that her next restoration may very well allow the next bid to bring the world together.

The Void Screams:

Moments after Penny's death, we hear a weird scream in the void space. It was a guttural, pained, angry scream, almost like the void space itself was crying out. All the portals shuddered and flickered when it happened.

Some think that this scream was Salem returning, but that happens earlier than Penny’s death, her return is signaled with cinder's arm acting up. We know this because after the arm finished flailing uncontrollably, Cinder said triumphantly "she's back." If it were Salem screaming, it would have happened after she fixed herself, but it didn't.

And I doubt Cinder would have been surprised or unsettled by it considering she was happy Salem returned not long before it. And why would a Salem scream affect the portals anyway, she has no connection to the staff or it's magic.

Another thing to consider is the fact sound is not transmitted through the portals. Otherwise, they would've heard Oscar and the rest calling for them, or the screams of the citizens of Mantle and Atlas. This lowers the possibility of that scream being from Salem even further.

The sound really seems to be coming from something else entirely within the void, and that something is not at all happy. There’s also the fact that Penny was the only person who died in the void space, everyone else was just thrown out of it like Ruby and Co. The only logical cause to me is Penny. Her body was a product (or byproduct) of the same creation magic that made the void space, her blood seems to have been a trigger.

Now I can't be sure about it, but this makes me feel like Penny is almost a part of creation itself? For whatever this thing is to be so angry, that is the only explanation I can think of currently. But all of this could possibly relate to the Narnia allusion of 'the willing victim killed in a traitor's stead' that others have brought up, which will be covered next.

Narnia Parallels:

Atlas has several parallels and references to fictional places (putting aside real world ones like the United States). One of those is that of Narnia, both on the surface and on a deeper level. It is a land of winter year round, where people struggle to survive and there is a present divide between those loyal to the current Monarch and those who are not. James is a parallel to Jadis, the White Witch, a ruler whose thoughts and cares aren’t exactly centered around the actual well being of the people. The hologram table in Ironwood’s office is designed to look like stone, like the Stone Table which features prominently in the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. He has a handpicked cadre of special agents/secret police, like how Maugrim and his wolves served Jadis. Another key parallel is how Jadis’s winter sets in to oppress and kill everyone in Narnia, but the Witch provides aid and protection to her loyal followers. She has all the power to spare harm to others, and uses it only for the loyal. As soon as Mantle splits from James and Atlas, no care is taken to protect them from the cold of Solitas even though he has every ability to turn the heating grid back on. His protection is only for the loyal.

Now that the parallel is established, let's look into the details. Starting with how James plays the role of Jadis.

"I had forgotten that you are only a common boy. How should you understand reasons of State? You must learn, child, that what would be wrong for you or for any of the common people is not wrong in a great Queen such as I. The weight of the world is on our shoulders. We must be freed from all rules. Ours is a high and lonely destiny." These are the words Jadis says in the Magician’s Nephew to justify the blood civil war she and her sister had waged for rulership of Charn, before she came to Narnia. She won that war, technically, but only after the last battle had been lost and her sister had marched right up to her so that they were face to face. Jadis’s troops were dead, her followers had surrendered, and the capital was under full control of her sister. But, she still had one card, one ultimate play to win and prove the throne of Charn was rightfully her. The Deplorable Word, a piece of old magic that killed everyone and everything except for her on Charn. It was monstrous, senseless, cruel beyond measure. But it got her that hollow victory. This mindset, the disregard for the people except as tools for her own will, the ultimate ‘aoe’ destructive move that no one had even considered her using, the unwillingness to stop even when by all practical measures the war is over, is a shocking parallel to James. In many ways, he is Jadis in mindset and deed.

Then there is the shared desire for A Thing that both James and Jadis have. For James it’s the Winter Maiden and control over her. For Jadis it’s the Silver Apples from the Tree of Youth. And funnily enough, the Maiden Powers parallel the Apples quiet well. These apples grant power and a life of eternal beauty, but should not be taken or eaten on one’s own initiative. They must be given, a gift granted by another, or only suffering will come from obtaining them. "For the fruit always works — it must work — but it does not work happily for any who pluck it at their own will. If any Narnian, unbidden, had stolen an apple and planted it here to protect Narnia, it would have protected Narnia. But it would have done so by making Narnia into another strong and cruel empire like Charn, not the kindly land I mean it to be.” Jadis’s immortality, and some of her power, come from the fact that she ate an Apple of her own will after stealing her way into the garden where the Tree of Youth had been planted. She gained the eternal life she had wanted and the power along with it, but she did so by taking it and was cursed because of it. Her skin turned pale and her lips blackened as if she were a frozen corpse given life. She will be trapped in a life of misery and hate according to Aslan- oh hey Cinder, how’s having stolen the Power you always wanted working out for you? Cinder had the power she wanted, but she only got hungrier, eager to claim more and increase her might. But in her pursuit she was defeated and humiliated by Raven, had to steal her way out of Mistral, and then suffered defeat after defeat while in Atlas. Only in the end, when she didn’t keep pursuing the Maiden Power, did she get any kind of victory.

The reason these parallels to Narnia are so important is one of the most famous events of the series. The cracking of the Stone Table and the rebirth of Aslan after his death. ‘When a willing victim who had committed no treachery was killed in a traitor's stead, the Table would crack and Death itself would start working backward.’ Well, the ‘Stone Table’ in James’s office has cracked, and Penny strikes me as a pretty willing victim. She has never actually committed any actual treachery or harm, as she was the Protector of Mantle, and fought for its and Atlas’s people until the very end. And because of her death, the actual traitor, Winter, who loyally served James until he had gone too far, was saved. Through Penny’s self sacrifice, Winter was saved. So now Death itself will start working backward.

(Major props to my friend @catontheweb for writing this section, I was getting nowhere with it, if they weren't there this part wouldn't exist!)

Norse Mythology:

The tree we see in the post credit scene gives off some serious Yggdrasil vibes. Also called the World Tree, it is essentially all of creation in Norse Mythology. It connects all nine realms, including the God realms of Asgard, the human realm of Midgard, and the underworld of Hel.

Humans are born from the branches of Yggdrasil. The web of Wyrd is woven for every person once they're born, and their path is set from there regardless of how many times the souls cycle over. But at the end, they're destined to end up in one of the worlds, for a myriad of reasons.

I believe Penny landed closest to this giant tree. She was on the center platform in the void space, so if that space is directly above the island(?) the tree is on, it makes sense for her to fall by the center nearest to the tree. This would not only open up all kinds of possibilities for the volume in general, but it would also create options for Penny.

The whole of Yggdrasil’s representations fit well into Penny’s story. Birth, growth, death and rebirth. We can count Penny’s appearance in V7 as birth for now, her growth is all her development in leaving =the military and becoming a Maiden, her death just happened, and her rebirth would be her revival. And this is a cycle she’s gone through before.

The Norse god Odin and Yggdrasil have quite a connection. In one story, Odin cut out one of his own eyes to gain knowledge from a pool underneath Yggdrasil. The only one that fell whose eyes alone are incredibly significant to the story was Ruby. So, they could choose to have her allude to Odin by having Ruby make some kind of deal with whatever entity likely rules over this magical place. An eye for Penny’s life.

There’s another story about Odin, Yggdrasil and the pursuit of knowledge. Odin so loved knowledge, that he sacrificed himself in a quest to learn the deeper magic of runes. It was believed one could only learn the magic spells from runes in death. So, Odin hung himself on Yggdrasil for nine days as an offering, and teetered between life and death. After he mastered the last spell on the ninth night, he ritually died and all light was extinguished from the world. Odin’s death lasted until midnight, when he was reborn and light returned to the world.

This story doesn’t fit Penny perfectly, but allusions often don’t. So If she really did land near the tree, she could be another loose representation of Odin’s story here. What she did wasn’t for knowledge, but to save her friends and keep Cinder from getting the Winter Maiden power. She believed it necessary that she sacrifice herself to achieve this end. As we established, Penny represents Hope, so her death means the loss of hope. This parallels Odin’s story of his death meaning the loss of light itself. So if this theory holds up, it would make this death temporary, until her rebirth and the return of Hope with her once again.

Alternatively, Ruby has the potential of loosely representing Odin in this story as well. Odin later uses the knowledge of the runes to do many things, but the most relevant one right now is awakening the dead. Both of these stories are about making a personal sacrifice to gain something that is desired. Ruby would absolutely make such sacrifices if it meant saving Penny.

It is said that Odin lived “according to his highest will unconditionally, accepting whatever hardships arise from that pursuit, and allowing nothing, not even death, to stand between him and the attainment of his goals." This sounds like Penny's arc of accepting the WM powers. This is more just a general connection between Penny and Odin, but I found it interesting.

Side Note: I encourage anyone who’s interested to look into RWBY connections to Norse Myth, there’s a surprising amount of things that feel eerily similar to the show. Likely just coincidental, but it’s fun to think about!

(If I got any of this wrong, I sincerely apologize by the way. I researched as best I could, but I admit it could have been lacking.)

Ambrosius and the Staff:

Ruby told Ambrosius "we kinda wanna keep her around longer than that" as part of her very specific instructions. Then Penny died about ten to fifteen minutes, at the absolute most thirty minutes later in-universe. I don’t know about you, but to me that seems very short to be considered ‘longer than that’. Technically it is, but when writing a story and a character says something like that, you typically don’t just kill the character they were referring to basically right away. It makes sense for a week-by-week watch, but in a volume binge, which many viewers do, it becomes ironic how fast Penny dies after being removed from her robotic body.

The first time we see the staff of creation being used, it's to save Penny. Using the staff of creation to help Penny is a sign of how incredibly important she is.

They’ve even got this entire transformation sequence for her, so it wouldn’t make sense for them to throw all that away two episodes later. In a meta context, it’s a massive waste of time and budget considering the asset creation for Penny.

Penny is a character who has already hopped bodies two times. And now we're supposed to just believe that this time it really is a final death? Just two episodes after we were explicitly told her body isn't what matters, that "Her soul is who she is" and that "the mechanical parts are just extra"? From a writing perspective, it feels strange, like your breaking a promise right after making it. And frankly, CRWBY is better than that, which makes me think this is not the actual end for her.

A possible connection between Penny, Ruby, and the Staff (thus Creation) can be seen in the intro. As Ruby is falling and being dragged down into the darkness, she is shown reaching for the staff. In the void space, Penny is the one with the relic. So with Penny having this strong connection to Creation, and the lyrics “fight for every life” playing as Ruby reaches for the staff, it’s a safe assumption to make, with the knowledge we now have, that the Staff of Creation represents Penny in this particular moment. Which could mean that V9 will be about, at least partially, fighting for Penny’s life.

Musical Hints:

In terms of music, Friend, as a song for Penny, is very dissonant from the episode itself. The song is oddly cheerful for Penny’s recent untimely death, and it overall highlights the wrong parts of death. It’s simply too happy to be a song about losing one of the most, if not the most joyous characters in the entire show. The song also abruptly ends. There’s no outro, and while this could symbolize the fact that Penny died young, it could be that the song itself is unfinished in a story sense.

What do we hear just before the song finishes, though? A progression of notes that sounds eerily similar to the last line of the opening of Volume 8. The notes for “Fight for ev’ry life” and “Who fin’lly felt alive'' share a similar melodic structure, they aren’t perfect clones of each other, but they are incredibly similar, to the point where it seems intentional. Penny may very well be the life that the opening song is fighting for. It is also worth noting that the line “Fight for every life” comes just after “Sometimes it’s worth it all to risk the fall,” which is the exact wording used for the description in the Volume 8 finale. Team RWBY risked the fall, yet, strangely the opposite of fighting for every life happened with Penny’s sacrifice. Perhaps the time to fight for every life has yet to happen, and we will see it come Volume 9.

For another thing, the lyrics for Friend are entirely centered on Penny’s feelings for Ruby, to the point where they read very much like a bittersweet love song. The music itself is incredibly cheerful, as mentioned previously, creating a mood whiplash with the end of the volume. Why would we hear a song about Penny’s feelings for Ruby, sounding like a love song, if her death is supposed to be a tragic sacrifice akin to Pyrrha’s? The song may very well be giving a clue into its future use in the show proper.

If this was meant to be a good bye song, why make it so cheerful and romantic sounding? There's only one part about her dying and even then, it's just too accepting and goes right back into cheerfulness. The song is also pretty hopeful, telling Penny's story in a fairly chronological order. And the part where she talks about sacrifice is quite pointedly followed up by one about feeling alive. It also ends with the super cheerful chorus, the word "alive" being the last... (Remember the episode title: The Final Word)

(I want to thank my friend @shadow-0f-x for writing the majority of this section! I was struggling to choose how to tackle it as I am not well versed in music theory.)

What We Didn’t See:

It is likely that Penny understood Jaune's semblance better than him and figured something out about it’s abilities in the same way that she understood Ruby's semblance better than her. She had plenty of time to observe his semblance up close as he boosted her aura to stave off the virus. Because of that intentionally timed cutaway in the finale, we don’t get to hear her explain herself after her strained “Trust me.” All of that seems really suspicious to me.

Pyrrha Parallel:

Pyrrha and Penny both sacrificed themselves to stop or stall Cinder. Jaune tried to convince the both of them to stop. With Pyrrha, he failed, while with Penny he actively helped her sacrifice herself. Doesn’t make sense for the guy who was determined not to let anyone else do what Pyrrha did, unless of course Penny assured him she’d be alright.

The Moment:

RT including the suicide hotline in the description shows that they're aware that Penny basically committed assisted suicide, seeing it as a noble sacrifice worth doing to save her friends. They're aware, and I believe they're smart enough to condemn that decision to hell and back.

The best way to do that in my opinion is to pull her back into the land of the living and let her witness first hand the consequences of throwing her life away so freely. This would show Penny how her actions affected others so maybe she could learn to truly value herself. To not think herself expendable. It would be bold and unwise to portray this choice as something good, unless it was going to be called upon later and be pointed out for how horrible it really is.

On top of this, Penny was way too content with her death, happy even. There's no way team RWBY is letting her stay content with it. It’s almost as though we're supposed to join Ruby and Co. in calling bullshit on what Penny is saying and doing because no, Penny, this is not how things are meant to work. It's as if Penny was basically saying "I want to die for my friends" because most of the volume had been about everyone else making sure she didn't die. She knows it will hurt them. She knows.

At the peak of it all, a choice like this will totally destroy Ruby. It may very well be her breaking point for Volume 9. Curiously, the moment itself is written like it’s the first choice Penny’s ever made, yet the entire Volume shows this isn’t the case. However, this is the first choice that Penny’s made solely independently and it’s rather pertinent that the choice she makes is a mistake. Outside of giving Winter the Maiden gift and saving the day temporarily, this sacrifice will not have any lasting positive effects. Jaune will be saddled with the grief of killing Penny. Ruby will have to live with losing her best friend and not being able to protect her a second time, and Winter now has the burden of the Winter Maiden abilities, making her a target of Cinder. This is a bad thing, and Penny needs to see the long term consequences.

Transfer of Power:

As we all know, colors in RWBY are really important and get a lot of focus in the show. That means the yellow we see as Penny gives Winter the Maiden Powers was intentional and likely important, no matter how insignificant it may seem. It’s possible that the transfer effect being yellow could have something to do with Jaune’s semblance. When Fria gave the power to Penny, the effect was very much blue, so this transfer should have been green since she was the one giving it this time. The weirdness of this transfer and the focus on color in RWBY really makes it look like something’s up with how that went down.

A little off topic, but Penny saying "I won't be gone, I'll be part of you." makes me think... Winter is smart, so when she gets time to think about what Penny said, maybe she'll arrive at the same question many in the audience came to; if she's literally part of Winter, can they be separated again? If Winter starts questioning that, the possibility of Penny coming back just skyrockets.

Fria actually tells Penny "I'll be gone" before giving her powers up, which is an interesting contrast to Penny telling Winter "I won't be gone". She may have gotten that line from Winter be all philosophical in V7, saying Fria was now a part of Penny, but it hits differently coming from an actual Maiden. S5o it’s possible that Maidens usually actually will be gone, but Jaune's semblance did something to change that.

This could go well with the theory that they won't need to find an aura transfer machine, or build another one, because Jaune will have a semblance evolution allowing him to do the transfer instead. It might actually be that this evolution already happened and the golden light we saw was Jaune transferring penny's aura to Winter in some way?

An observation that I find interesting is when Penny gives winter the powers, not only is the aura yellow but penny completely glows yellow too, and she obviously starts to disappear, but she doesn’t seem to fully disappear, she just glows.

It's possibly a fading out effect and she does fully fade but animation makes bright light easier, and so we don't actually see her disappear because she's dead and not gone. But it does once again emphasize the color yellow here!

And the color is coming from Penny, it does go up Winter's arm a bit, but Penny is clearly the source. This transfer is so weird and I’m not really sure how to interpret it. There's just actually no reason that we are aware of to make the effect yellow here is the thing. Unless it has something to do with either Jaune or Ambrosius, or potentially a combination of both...

Jaune’s Aura:

The way we see Jaune's aura break in the finale is strange. His aura shouldn't be breaking here. It had been long enough since he was boosting Penny, he's had time to recharge, and it didn't look like it was a strain on him at all. Plus, we know he has a lot of aura, so there probably wasn't too much to recharge in the first place.

He has a massive amount of aura, it has never broken before as far as I remember. Even if it has though, that doesn’t make this occurrence any less odd. It should absolutely never be a one-hit KO. We didn't see anything that would've drained it, that should not have been enough to break his aura. Unless he did something - something that would require a huge amount of aura - that we just didn't see. That amount of aura drain is far more than just an attempt at healing would do, Jaune absolutely did something with his semblance that took up almost all of his aura.

Pinocchio Allusion:

As any Penny fan knows, her character allusion is Pinocchio, the puppet who became a real boy. Penny deviates from the allusion by having always been a real girl, as Ruby is quick to point out, but she shares many story beats with her original story including multiple deaths. In the original story, Pinocchio dies from being hung by his own strings due to his poor decision making and he dies. Sounds a little familiar, does it not? This is where his tale originally ended. Readers were unsatisfied with this ending however, so the author decided to change the story by reviving Pinocchio and teaching him to be more careful.

Unlike Pinocchio making all the wrong decisions, Penny often makes the right ones, or ones she thinks is right, when concerning others. While usually a good thing, this has meant Penny almost giving herself up multiple times during V8, her last attempt being successful. This is where Penny and Pinocchio begin to share similarities again. They are both very reckless when it concerns themselves. This carelessness comes from different places, but it ends with the same result of them endangering their lives and even sometimes losing them.

In the Disney movie, Pinocchio dies by drowning after going to rescue Geppetto and washes up on the shore (like the beach in V8’s post credit scene). His father is devastated and takes him home to grieve, but as a reward for his selflessness in rescuing his father, the Blue Fairy returns and brings him back to life, as well as granting him humanity. Penny sacrificed her life as well, and it stands to reason that she should be rewarded for it, much like her allusion was.

Penny got her maiden powers from someone with blue aura and then gave her powers to someone with blue aura. So it could be that not only Ambrosius, but Fria and Winter as well represent the Blue Fairy. It could be set up for Winter helping to bring Penny back to life once more. It’s an out there theory I admit, but it’s not outright impossible either. The Blue Fairy in Pinocchio saved him three times that I know of, so RWBY having three representations does make sense.

Geppetto wished for him to live as a real boy, but it depended on what path Pinocchio took. This is very reminiscent of Penny and Pietro. Pietro wants to see her live her life, and surely with him absent in V8C14 that didn't work, despite Penny choosing. Her father did not see her happy enough to live her life, and will only be able to learn her death through others. But Pinocchio's themes were life and being alive. So the likelihood that this is not her end yet is quite high!

A Girl That Fell Through the World:

Penny could be the girl who fell through the world. The girl in the story fled the consequences of a choice. The only person who chose her ultimate fate was Penny. The others were pushed into the void, but she chose to die. The consequence of her choice is Ruby’s grief first and foremost, which Penny won’t see. The girl who fell through the world does come back though, and the world will be changed severely with Penny’s absence. Alternatively, it could also be Penny coming back to Wonderland or wherever they currently are, as long as it’s unrecognizable to her.

What Returning Brings:

Others might say another return would have no story relevant purpose, but I wholeheartedly disagree. Penny gives a profoundly youthful, joyous, and wondrous outlook on the world and story that we hadn't seen since Ruby in Volumes 1-3(not the end), Penny returning would bring a much needed levity back in after the despair they will undoubtedly be going through. While not necessarily a huge thing in most other shows, for RWBY, a show largely about keeping up hope, an ounce of such relief is a necessity.

As much as I hate saying it, Penny’s death does actually make some narrative sense because she had to pass on the Maiden powers. (They could have done this in a number of ways, and I personally think they chose rather poorly, but I digress.) Throughout this whole volume, we can see Penny seemingly being set up to join the main cast, but would have been too strong with the powers. This also accomplishes ridding her of the burden of responsibility that comes with being a Maiden and lets her obtain the freedom that’s so important to her character.

Once she returns, seeing this grief that her actions caused, particularly to Ruby, will get her to realize more that her actions can have serious repercussions. She made a choice, but that choice hurt the people she loves. She must have known that it would but I’m not sure she ever realized just how much.

I didn’t want this post to be heavy in the shipping department, so I largely left it out, but I am going to say this one thing that could have an impact. If Nuts & Dolts is on its way to being canon, which this volume makes it feel highly likely, this could be a catalyst.

It could prompt an arc for the both of them in which Penny learns to live her life fighting for her loved ones, rather than sacrificing it for them. A relationship could potentially start from there. And Ruby seeing Penny learn these things may also help her to stop doing the occasional but very dangerous and reckless things she does. Ruby witnessing Penny coming to terms with what she did to the people that care about her would actually make her stop to think “wait, is this how everyone else would feel if I got myself killed?” That would be a very important moment of character growth for her.

I’m certain there are other significant things that Penny returning can bring to the show. And there are definitely more sections I could add to this. At this point though, assuming anyone even made it this far, I think I’ve been going long enough already. So let’s just roll into the outro!

As painful and hopeless as it seems, I'm choosing to trust them with this because there is absolutely no way they didn't see backlash coming. The way this finale went makes me think that they calculated for backlash and aren’t jumping into something they don’t have a plan to recover from. Whether this trust is unfounded or not remains to be seen, but I don’t think it is currently. I do think, however, that the cause of this backlash was a major misstep. Now that it has happened though, they have a chance to do something good with it.

I know for a lot of you, trust in CRWBY has been damaged, some even irreparably so. And for those that feel this way, I don’t blame you. My trust in them took a hit too, but isn’t broken completely yet. There are many ways that they can bring her back that would make sense with the narrative, they have the ability to make it right, and after going over all of the hints and general weirdness of things many times, I think they will.

I'm feeling pretty confident now and I really didn't expect that to happen at all to be honest. But discussing and theorizing with the discord server seriously helped get my hopes back up surprisingly fast! It’s actually thanks to all of them that this gigantic post even happened! So thanks a ton my fellow Dolts! And a special thanks to!!

@arcana-amicus

@catontheweb

@cosmokyrin

@gaydontmesswithme224

@jammatown919

@shadow-0f-x

They really helped get this thing across the finish line!

And thank YOU for reading all~ of this! I sincerely wish it gave you some of the hope and confidence that I now have!

[stusbunker]

A New Normal

For Better or Worst: Chapter Two

Featuring: Sam Winchester x Emery Simmons-Winchester (OFC)

OCs: Emery’s TAs Penelope, Hector, Morgan and Jasper.

Season 14 AU

Word Count: 3382

Summary: The new couple completes their soul oaths and reality sinks in. A different kind of life awaits them, together.

Warnings: Could be considered dub!con smut, but the intention and consent is clear. Hints of infertility. This is the longest chapter for a while. xoxo

Read Chapter One First!

^*^*^

“And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.“ Colossians 3:14

Wedding Night

              There had been no cocktail hour or reception. Once Sam had kissed Emery and they signed the marriage license, with the organist and caretaker as witnesses, they simply gathered their things and went home. Bandit was somehow waiting for them in the backyard, which was perfectly fenced for pets and privacy. The bungalow Sam had woken in, was a three bedroom, with plenty of space for both of them to feel comfortable. They changed out of their formal wear, separately, and went out to eat, each insisting the other pick the cuisine. Sam drove, which was still an adjustment for him, but it allowed Emery to search for restaurants. He kept glancing over at her, a weird feeling of satisfaction flowing through him as he watched her. She was smart and beautiful, and she was his.

              It was a bit of a head rush for her, to be honest. Emery hadn’t been in a relationship in years and suddenly she was seated beside her tall husband with his long hair and five o’clock shadow debating about what to have as their first meal together. Who wouldn’t be slightly frazzled?

              “Okay, we’re just going to find the closest place, and if it’s packed, we’ll go to the next one,” Emery announced as they chewed over their options. Sam had pulled over because he was driving in circles and didn’t know how to navigate the downtown quite yet.

              Sam smiled and nodded, bottom lip popping out in consideration. “Sounds good.”

              They found an Asian fusion place on 6th, it was barely four in the afternoon and therefore nearly empty. They got a table near the windows and took turns people watching. The older waiter smiled knowingly at the fumbling pair. “First date?”

              “Uh, yeah,” Sam chomped his teeth in chagrin.

              “Shut up Sam,” Emery corrected him. “It’s our wedding night, don’t listen to him.”

The waiter laughed, patting her hand. “We take good care of you. Congrats.” He had a bottle of Sake delivered, on the house, before the appetizer arrived. Emery toasted Sam and he raised his eyebrows just before she downed her entire glass, winking at his frozen face.

Emery had gotten comfortable on the ride home, resting her hand on Sam’s thigh and head on his shoulder, despite the space between seats in their hybrid. He felt tight around the collar and kept turning the defrost on and off, the winter air fighting against his growing body heat. He killed the engine, and waited for her to move first, but she just looked up at him, a tipsy smile breaking apart her soft features.

“Hey, so,” she inhaled over her bottom lip before continuing. “Um, I think we have to, ya know. For everything to be official. And, it’s—it’s been a real long time. And I know I just met you and we’re married. Yay! But also, scary—you know?!”

Sam nodded, letting her ramble, taking her hand from his lap, brushing his lips over her knuckles. “Emery? It’s okay. I’m not going to put any pressure on you, besides the whole wrath of heaven thing—” Sam smirked, before he pulled their hands over his heart. “I swear.”

She sighed, face falling nearly into a full swoon before she leaned up and kissed him. Lips slipping before Sam caught her and pulled her closer. Bandit, naturally, broke the moment, barking as a pedestrian crossed behind them where the sidewalk met their driveway. The newlyweds broke apart with a shared chuckle. ­­­­­­­­­­­

Later on, after overthinking, some feet dragging, and a skin care regimen more detailed than she had ever attempted, Emery walked into the bedroom. Sam was stretched out, above the covers, on what was quite possibly the largest bed she had ever seen in person. He wore a plain gray tee shirt and matching black and gray pajama pants, while nose deep in a read-worn hardback with one arm crooked behind his head. Emery herself had gone causal as well, forgoing the lingerie set that was not so subtly hanging in her side of the closet, instead she chose a simple oversized shirt that fell to her mid-thigh.

In all fairness, the delay and Emery’s nervousness wasn’t because she was self-conscious; it was just a lot of pressure. She took a deep breath, and another for courage.

“Hey—” Sam’s voice, still fresh to her ears, but reassuring all the same.

“Hey back,” Emery slipped forward, slow and steady, looking down her nose at his book.

“I hope you don’t mind, I’m sort of used to the left side?” Sam sat up, setting the book on his side table. Emery chuckled as she plopped down onto the cushioning bed top, curling on her side to face her husband, head propped up by an elbow.

“This bed is humongous, I don’t think I’ll even notice you there,” she fell back, kicking out her hands and feet. Suddenly she brushed reaching fingers, threading together in centering connection. She pulled Sam over in mock tug-of-war.

“I think you’re gonna notice I’m here,” Sam countered, eyebrows pitching suggestively.

“Is that so? Oh no, do you snore?!” Emery accused.

“No, at least I don’t think so,” Sam laughed, brushing her bangs back as he leaned in to kiss her forehead. “Don’t usually sleep that deeply anyway.”

“Yeah, sleep is overrated,” Emery agreed, eyes locking onto his shadowed hazels, a near mirror of her own. The quiet of the house echoed their conversation, hushed and buzzing, she wasn’t sure what was felt or heard, it was, just building.

“Tell me about it,” Sam whispered as he took her face in his broad palms, mouth claiming hers in hungered culmination. It was a calm tide, shifting and adjusting as they learned and shared one another. Her soft hands roamed his chest, sending chills as she smoothed over his tattoo. Soon, Emery was straddling Sam, her clothed heat stoking his desire with each gentle roll of her hips. She purred appreciatively as he nipped down her neck, mouth latching over her dark nipple. Memories flooded her, and she shook them away, hours of exhaustion and desperation with her son at her breast. Thoughts that would do her no good in the here and now.

Emery slid back to the comforter, pulling Sam’s shoulder with her, hoping he’d take over. He did, gladly. His hands quickly freed them of the last of their pajamas. Rough fingers smoothing over her tawny thighs.

“Do we need—” Sam started, but she shook her head almost regretfully.

“No, I can’t- it’s okay. We’re fine,” Emery answered without explaining.

“Well, okay, then.” Sam kissed her again, letting his tongue dance away from hers until she was writhing underneath him, knuckles barely brushing her folds. Sam noted every quake and quiver, wanting her ready. Needing her wanting.

The waves pitched and they moved to keep up, with each other and inevitability. Sam dragged his teeth down the valley of her chest, tasting the salty spice of her skin before diving into her heady juices. He teased her hood with the tip of his nose, tongue flicking out, drawing the most sinful exaltations from her. He worked her open, learning her body, bare and blemished with untold stories, yet perfect all the same. Once he added a third finger, she started to retaliate, carding her fingers through Sam’s hair as she nearly sat up, bending with the blossoming pleasure.

“Sam. Saaaaaamm. Sam!” Emery demanded.

“Not yet, Baby, you’re so close,” he shushed her, nuzzling into her thigh before returning with impossibly slow and wide strokes of that tongue. That damned tongue. He was right, but she didn’t know how she could get it out, let it go, or reach it. Everything ached with intensity, and as soon as one would snuff out a match, she barreled down that hill. Sam’s lips and fingers pushing her over and through as heat and sound merged into thought ending euphoria. Sam crawled back up his wife’s body, her blissed out and thoroughly worked over body.

“Oh, I could get used to that,” Emery giggled, kissing him firmly, before breaking off into a pleased groan. Her knees notched around Sam’s waist, as she played with his hair, a mixture of mischief and pride pulling at his features.

“It’ll be even better next time; I’m a fast learner,” Sam reassured her, and probably himself. She couldn’t imagine the learning curve after that presentation. He slowly laced himself with her desire, hard and ready at her core. This was their final hurtle, the last promise, the bow on the knot of their deals. Sam kissed Emery’s cheek, and eased inside her, the sizzling pressure, hot and tight over every inch of him. She whimpered and Sam froze, waiting for her to look back at him. The briefest flash of gold circled her pupil as she locked onto his stare. She saw a similar gilded magic “C” cord through the inside of Sam’s multifaceted irises, knowing it was done. They were permanently bonded, body and soul.

“Wow,” Emery gasped, a breath more than a whisper.

“Yeah?” Sam grinned, breaking the awe with a chest deep laugh before getting to work.

“Yeah,” Emery answered, pulling her knees back, giving Sam depth and space. He braced a hand over her shoulder, keeping her bent beneath him and he hammered into her. Her smooth wetness making his blood sing. The sweat beaded on his neck, his lower back and down his tummy, every inch of him flushed with effort and pleasure. Sam groaned as his balls hitched, he exhaled trying to hold out. He slowed his thrusts, meat of his hand falling over her mound. Emery bucked against the weight of his hand, earning a calculated shove back, losing her balance, her legs fell back down.

They broke apart, electric and panting. Emery rolled to her knees, as Sam’s hands found the delicate catch of her love handles, centering himself. He filled her this way, deep and fast, chest to back, palm over hand. Trembling and overwhelmed, the pair crashed forward. Sam’s solid weight just enough pressure to keep Emery alert, to balance the aftershocks. With the satisfying wedge of his fingers through hers, they drifted off. Naked and bound.

              Magic comes with a cost and a spell that binds one being to another, soul deep and unwavering takes an immense amount of energy. Energy that the casters didn’t have to spare, therefore the newlyweds woke a day later than they expected to. Sam groaned and rolled away from the cool fingers splayed across his chest. He felt his brain thud through his head like a marble in a maze, his every joint ached. Everything came rushing back like every whiskey fueled night rolled into one debilitating hangover and subsequent walk of shame.

Sam met Bandit in the kitchen, doing a double take before the inquisitive boy approached to sniff him out. This should have been the reassurance Sam needed, but his natural instincts left him to distrust the entire situation. Even the affection of a good dog was more than he was used to and therefore something to take with a grain of salt. Sam let the dog out and walked the yard, ensuring the fence would keep the dog in without a leash. Their breaths puffs against the biting chill in the dawn air. Sam was happy they weren’t going to have to keep him penned inside when they went to work.

Work; Sam Winchester had a job waiting for him Monday morning. He was going to be in the archives of the local college, which he was oddly grateful for, familiar toils in an unfamiliar setting was better than nothing. He made his way to the blessed coffee pot, his stomach growled, and he replied under his breath, “yeah, yeah.”

Upstairs Emery stared at the ceiling, the morning light casting streaks of color through the accent windows that met in the corner of their room. Their, shared, as in both hers and his. She had a roommate, an actual partner, a husband now. This deal was as complicated as it could get. The reassurance of the angelic influence had run dry; she felt very much trapped. And ashamed. She shuffled into the adjoining bath and tossed her pajamas into the hamper. The massive shower tried to make amends for the drain on her soul and resolve, jets coming from the walls at amazing angles, hot water pelting against her exhausted body. Her hands brushed past the places where Sam had held her, pinned her, pleased her. She knew it was a means to an end, sealing a deal and starting fresh. But Emery needed this to work. She had to go forward doing good with her life, otherwise, everything, every choice and every memory was all in vain. She finished her shower and decided to make breakfast, everyday needed a solid foundation. Every agreement needed a stepping off point.

Two Months Later

              Emery dragged her feet on Thursdays. She had office hours starting at ten, otherwise nothing until her one and three o’clock lectures. Sam never did, he was up at six like always. Bandit loved the early mornings jogs and Emery liked taking over Sam’s side of the bed. The weather had finally turned into a promising spring, bringing damp feet and panting breaths home with her two boys. Well, two of her boys. She lay in the cocoon of blankets as she heard them in the kitchen. Soon Sam would be back to wake her up, sweaty and insistent. She kept her eyes shut tight, waiting for her good morning kisses.

              “You are such a faker,” he teased, falling to her hip, caging her in with his arms.

              “Five more minutes,” she pleaded, turning her face into the mound of pillows.

              “Let’s go Doctor Simmons, you have students to teacher,” Sam ruffled her hair, earning himself a good swat.

              “Hey, that’s Simmons-Winchester to you, punk,” Emery sassed, finally facing Sam. He had leaned in, hovering with a look of an unexpected tenderness.

              His deep voice came out in a breathy whisper, “if you get up now, we can share a shower.” The hairs on the back of Emery’s neck stood up at his offer, heart beating just a hint faster. Something had shifted in the past few weeks; they had become cohesive, and as insatiable as true newlyweds. Most importantly: Emery felt that Sam had started to truly trust her, and she had started to lean on him in return.

              She raised her eyebrows as she replied, “you just want me to shave your back.”

              Sam chuckled. “Guilty— it’s just so much—” Sam broke off, “you know what, never mind.” He gave her a sad smile and squeezed her thigh through the comforter before standing to head to the bathroom.

              “Whoa, hey, what are you hiding Mister?!” Emery threw the covers back and chased after him, giggling as he turned and scooped her up by the legs, strutting into the bathroom before kicking the door closed.

              “Your nails, I love feeling them, and it’s not the same if I’m all wolfish,” Sam whispered into Emery’s ear, feeling her shiver from the stimulus. He loved watching her react to his every tease and taunt.

              She groaned, grabbing his face in both her hands. “Fine! Asshole. But you better make it worth it.” She was pointing a finger at his agreeing puppy dog face now.

              “Don’t I always?” Sam challenged, walking straight into the shower stall, fully clothed and dropping Emery in a huff on the cold tile.

              Emery arrived at her first lecture a mere ten minutes early, greeting her TA’s as they sorted through last week’s essays to return. One of her freshmen had kept her hostage with worry over their coming midterm exam.  She tried to placate the overachiever, but school was still life or death to these kids, if only they knew what those terms truly meant. She felt a tension in the air and tried to sense what was going on amongst the grad students, but unfortunately, she had given up that ability in pursuit of her deal with Naomi. Instead, she went for the obvious.

              “So, what’s going on guys?” Her smoky voice catching their attentions.

              “Papers. Just alphabetizing papers,” Jasper replied, overenthusiastically. Emery gave him a knowing look, gauging the other three’s sheepish expressions more harshly.

              “Sure, okay, but apparently Morgan and Penelope are on the outs? Is that what’s going on? Because it’s not the time or place for your personal drama.”

              “Sorry, Dr. Sim-Win, it’s just—” Penelope implored. Emery held up her hands silencing the blonde before she got the full run down.

              “I have the spreadsheets with the grades here, why don’t you post them for me, Hector?” Emery gave the remaining TA’s a cool stare before walking to the lectern as the undergrads started trickling into the hall in a post lunch haze.

              It was Sam’s turn to cook, allowing Emery to take her time at school, going over her notes for an inter-departmental meeting the next morning. Joining the school for the spring semester left her jumping through hoops to catch up and network. It was hard learning everyone and everything over from her previous position, luckily the material she taught rarely changed; the blessing of being a History professor. Sam usually worked until six, even though most of his team left on five on the dot, no questions asked. He told her he liked being alone with the stacks, the quiet was comforting.

She checked her watch before closing the spreadsheet she had been zoning out over and headed down to the library that housed the archives. She had started parking in the lot on the far end of campus, even on days when they didn’t drive in together. It was an easy routine and it kept her from circling campus trying to remember where she had parked. Not that she would do such an airheaded thing, more than twice. There were only a handful of faculty cars remaining as she pulled out of her spot, hoping Sam had enough of a head start on dinner; she was famished.

              Bandit greeted Emery at the backdoor, barking over the music Sam had blaring through the house. She left her stuff in the breezeway and snagged the leash before settling in.

              “Hey, fifteen minutes tops!” Sam called over his shoulder. She gave him an answering wave as the dog dragged her back outside, the lingering spices had her stomach growling. The music had been turned down and the table set by the time Bandit had let Emery drag him home. They ate themselves stuffed; the meal was a Jambalaya-like concoction with homemade bread. Sam had enjoyed cooking in a way he never had before, because on some level he was still used to being on the receiving end of a homecooked meal. It was nice to be able to experiment with the cuisine, besides, Emery only had about a three-meal repertoire.

              Later on, the couple sat in bed, watching their latest show on their wall mounted flat screen. Bandit curled at their feet until it was time for light’s out, when Sam would let him out one last time. In the interim, Sam checked the windows and doors, ensured there were guns accessible on every level of the house, though he wasn’t sure he would fire one if he had to. As soon as the dog was back inside, Sam set the alarm. Upstairs, he soon shut the bedroom door, leaving Bandit alone to roam the house.

              Emery snuggled against his chest and sighed in an exaggerated contentment, lips drawing up in a mischievous smile. Sam kissed her hair and shook his head at her intentions, smirking knowingly.

              “We’re in this together, for better or worse,” she promised, like she had the past sixty-odd nights.

              “For better or worse,” Sam agreed with a goodnight kiss. As he lay there in the darkness, feeling her shift against him, he was stunned by the comfort and ease he felt with Emery. He didn’t know what he would do without her now and he certainly didn’t know what he did without her before.

^*^*^

Read On: Below the Surface and in the Wild

[crazyzaika]

between hell and heaven chapter 4

Hey guys, here we are. Chapter 4. Hope you like it. Let me know your thoughts. Again a big thank you to my beta doginshoes.

Greets Z ♥

Chapter 4

She went up the stairs and grinned wide. Slowly she felt the exhaustion, but she didn't let it show. She never had. Lucy knew she had stomped him into the ground and it felt great. She loved to play, loved magictag and of course, she loved to win. And probably it hadn't been fair to delay everything for such a long time, but he should feel what it felt like to be ice-cold finished. After all, he'd finished off these four unfamiliar teenagers and risked a big mouth. Then he shouldn't have to be surprised if he got a return. Natsu was a little further behind her, she could feel his anger and magic, but she didn't care.

When she returned to the entrance area, she grinned broadly and the others welcomed her. The boys grinned as wide as she did and Juvia and Levy fell around her neck laughing.

"Wow, that was an absolute mega performance."

"This was the first time Natsu had ever been so beaten up."

"SHUT UP", his angry exclamation ripped the hum of praise towards Lucy and they all looked at him. He snorted and fixed her angrily.

"So... how did you do that, huh? Did you cheat?" he asked growling and she pulled her brows together. Couldn't someone lose? Her lips turned to a broad grin, then she laughed.

"I'm a former active member of Virgin Star," she said, shrugging her shoulders. His jaw dropped down, "but hey. You took my challenge, so keep your cheeky mouth shut. Someone who plays with so little mind and love has rarely come across me. Even the guys from Red Death played with more devotion than you and we even got broken bones and if I hadn't dodged one of the shots from one of their snipers, I probably would have died. Magictag is not a game to harass others, all right? It's a tactical war game," she said, and coldness lay in her brown eyes. Her words had silenced the others. Levy looked at Lucy with big eyes. She would have died in the championships? Bewilderment was also in the faces of the others. Nobody had heard anything about it. Sure, there were injuries, but... it was only color with which they shot. Could someone really die? Natsu also frowned confusedly.

"You almost died? Through paint? Are you serious?" he asked and crossed his arms in front of his chest. Somehow he couldn't really believe it. Lucy rolled his eyes.

"Sure, when the weapons are restyled like Red Death's," she said, remembering how much impact the enemy's weapons had had. This team had wanted them all dead. She smiled and then pulled up the black long top that was close to her skin. She pulled it up to her ribs and when Natsu saw the ugly scar tissue that destroyed her flawless porcelain skin, he was stunned.

His heart stopped for a moment and everyone else was speechless. His anger seemed to fizzle out and he couldn't take his eyes off her skin and scar. Lucy just smiled and you could see that she carried this old scar with pride. The skin was reddish and was like a notch in the soft pale skin. The edges were bulging and it looked like someone had ripped something out of her body. Not deep, only superficial, but it was enough to destroy the perfection of her body.

"Unfortunately it was a graze shot", Lucy said and Natsus eyes flew up to her own. She pulled the cloth down again and he swallowed easily. She was even wounded and he realized that she took this game much more seriously than he had ever done. Before he could say anything, Lucy looked at her friends and grinned broadly.

"So... do we still want to play or do we go back to the dorm?"

"Uh... "

"Juvia would love to go back," Juvia replied and Levy nodded. She had just been shocked. She hadn't expected anything like this to happen to her new friend. And it scared her. Magictag was a war game, of course, but so far she had never considered it so dangerous. Lucy smiled. She understood it and nodded.

"Okay, then we'll go back," she said and waved to the boys, completely ignoring Natsu, and to the hall employee and saying goodbye. They left the hall and walked through the city back to campus. Lucy yawned cautiously.

"Are you tired already? Because of the game?" Levy asked and grinned slightly. The blonde grinned back and shrugged her shoulders. The game had been minimally exhausting. Real competitions were much more strenuous, because you had to keep an eye on several opponents. So she shook her head only slightly, grinned.

"Not from the game. That did wear me out a bit, but rather because of the ride," she admitted and grinned broadly.

Natsu ran his fingers through his hair and sighed slightly. His shoulder protested as he moved, but he ignored it. She impressed him, even though somewhere he was still angry about his scratched ego. But he just couldn't change it anymore. And if he considered it carefully, then he hadn't had a real chance to win against her. She had been in the professional league. Well, she had only played in the junior league, but still. Maybe she could become a member of the team? After all, the university also had a team. But they weren't really strong. They were rather middle class and even if he didn't like to admit it, it simply irriated him.

"And what do we do now?"

"Good question, ask another one," growled Gray. Natsu loosened his shoulders, at least he tried. He pulled out his lacrimapad, took a look at it and frowned for a moment, then his lips turned to a big grin.

"We have an assignment," he said and laughed quietly. The others listened, looked at Natsu, who took a cigarette from Gajeel, stuck it between his lips and ignited it with his magic.

"A mission", Laxus asked, and the boys started to move, left of the hall. Natsu nodded and blew smoke into the air.

"Aye, Raven Blood is causing trouble again," he noted, "Erza says a raid is planned in the western part. Must be a drug deal."

"Interesting. Who's running it?"

"Erza's unity. Mira will keep out of it this time. We're supposed to stop by. As a backup," he added, enjoying the taste of the tobacco flowing through his lungs. The others also grinned as Natsu lifted his gaze from the device's display and he saw the silent approval in the eyes of the others. They stepped into the parking lot in front of the building and ran to the motorcycles they had come on earlier. Each put on a magic headset so they could communicate on the road if necessary. He pulled the cigarette one last time, then flicked it to the ground.

"Well then, let's go stir up some idiots who think they can shower our city with drugs," Natsu said and they started their machines, which came to life with a loud thunder. Of course, it would be easier if they let a car come, but none of them wanted to. And they were in the southern part, so the western part wasn't too far away. Houses just flew past them as they shot through the streets. While they were driving in the direction Erza had given them, Natsu called her to let her know.

"Scarlett," she growled after a click and Natsu suppressed a laugh. Adrenaline was rushing through his veins. He loved speed and accelerated again.

"Jo, are on the way. Exact location?"

"The warehouses, you'll see it as soon as you get there," she just gave back and his grin became diabolical.

"I'm already really hot on it," he growled and heard the annoyed sigh, but Erza didn't say anything about it, just hung up. Natsu, who drove at the head of the small squad, made a daring turn and skilfully turned and drove in the right direction and his boys followed him without a moment's hesitation. Today he would be able to rip some asses open.

When they arrived at the warehouses in question, Natsu already heard and saw the fights. For a moment he pulled a light pout because nobody seemed to have waited for him. But well, his team was the backup. Simply because they usually broke everything apart. He saw Erza's red shining hair, which was just led by a wooden sword. She ducked cleverly under her opponent, hit her opponent's throat and he overturned, fell unconscious to the ground. Natsu turned off his machine, pulled the helmet off his head and let his gaze wander. A total of 10 members of Fairy Tail were present, who were ready to arrest about 20 criminals.

"Do they need our help at all?" asked Laxus, who leaned forward on his machine and looked at the whole thing. "It can't do any harm, can it? After all, we are the backup and so we can rub Erza's nose in that she needed our help," Natsu said and laughed quietly. Then he swung off his machine, made sure it didn't fall over and loosened his shoulders again, stepping towards the fighting ones. Oh, that would be fun and clearly exhausting, he was convinced. Better than the fight with Lucy. And he could let out his pent-up aggression on these idiots. A guy he didn't know ran roaring towards him, swinging an iron bar. Natsu skilfully avoided the attack and then kicked the guy in the face. Then the guy simply fell over.

"Well then, let's go", growled Gajeel and the others followed their leader.

Lucy pushed through the rows of seats. Today she had her first course, her first lecture and was looking forward to it. Her heart was beating up to her neck and she was already jittery to learn new things. And although she wanted to change, she continued to wear her old clothes. She had already got funny looks and that was absolutely unpleasant for her. She wore a white blouse and a long dark blue skirt reaching to the middle of her calves. Simple wedge sandals in black completed her outfit. Loki sat two rows behind her at her request. What could happen to her here? Someone sat next to her. The room was already well filled. And she looked up to see who was sitting next to her. When she saw Natsu next to her she flinched back. Confusion gripped her senses. What was he doing here?

He grinned at her and leaned back. Her eyes scurried over his appearance. He wore a tank top, black jeans, jumper boots and a black leather jacket. Her brow twitched upwards, but she said nothing. Wasn't he a year above her?

"Uh..." she brought out and he grinned wider.

"Hello, beauty. Long time no see," he said and she pulled her eyebrows together. Yes, it was exactly a weekend ago. She had arrived last Friday and luckily hadn't seen him over the weekend. And that was a good thing. He looked good, yes. But his character was just disgusting and she knew about his reputation. Natsu leaned slightly in her direction as the auditorium filled slowly.

"So... my little flower," he grumbled and she opened her eyes. Did he just call her a little flower? She blinked and snorted slightly.

"Leave me alone. Aren't you a year above me? Then what are you doing here, mhm?" she growled and he shrugged his shoulders with a crooked grin.

"I have to repeat the course", he said and her eyes widened. Then he leaned towards her with a grin on his face and came quite close to her. Too close for her taste and she leaned aside to avoid him. Something that automatically lifted her upper softness and made her stand out even more than before. He grinned and waggled his eyebrows.

"How about we learn together, my little star," he asked with a broad grin and she felt redness on her cheeks. Why did he have to give her these stupid nicknames? She didn't understand it.

"L... leave me alone. I will not learn with you. You can do that very well alone", she brought out, but she was insecure. It was other on the magictagfields. . Her heartbeat accelerated restlessly.

"Sure? I wanted to offer you to join ou university team without having to do the test," he said and shrugged his shoulders. A fellow student pushed Lucy roughly aside to sit down and she was thrown directly against Natsu. His face landed between her breasts and she hissed in shock, but he laughed quietly and detached himself from her.

"Team," she asked and frowned in confusion. Natsu shrugged her shoulders.

"Yes ... magictag. The university has a team but normally you have to do a test to be able to join us and ... normally we don't take girls, but since you're good ..."

"I'm in," she said, and her eyes were glowing. Her heart was racing. Magictag! The university had a team where she could play! His brows went up and the grin on his lips widened as he bent over again, grabbed a blonde strand and wrapped it around his left index finger.

"But only when you study with me, my Beauty," he purred and again her cheeks burned with shame at this nickname. It was unpleasant for her and why for gods sake did he play with her hair? She didn't really like that. She bit her lower lip and he leaned forward to her again. Uncertainly, she looked to the side and saw the professor of the course come in and put his documents on the desk. She swallowed. She wanted to play Magictag again and sighed.

"All right ... but only on one condition," she said and smiled at him. Salmon eyebrows went up.

"And that would be?

"Loki comes with me," she replied. He frowned his and went through his hair, but still didn't let go of her strand. Then he leaned back and shrugged his shoulders.

"For all I care," he growled and she grinned. Then she pulled on her strand of hair and he reluctantly let go. She turned her eyes forward to the professor and listened to his explanations. While he explained things, she took notes and her thoughts were completely fixed on them. Magic in combat was incredibly wide-ranging.

"Read chapters 1-5 until the next lesson and think about what kind of magic you want to learn to expand," the professor pushed his sheets together, Lucy eagerly scribbled his homework, "see you all on the next thursday."

And so he finished the lecture. Lucy bent down and picked up her bag, which she had placed in front of her feet on the floor, then pushed in her notebook, pencil case and textbook and looked up. Natsu next to her was asleep in his chair. She blinked as everyone around her packed up as well. She frowned. Was he serious? He was asleep? In class? No wonder he had to repeat the course. She sighed and stabbed him in the cheek. But that didn't help. The girl who had sat next to her snorted amusedly.

"Just let the rowdy sleep, he'll fall through anyway, the idiot. How he made it to university surprised me anyway," she said, laughed hatefully and marched away. Lucy looked after her with big eyes. How could anyone be so rude? Sure, he was a player and had also behaved quite stupidly, but ... was he such a bad person? After all, he had been accepted at university, hadn't he? He couldn't have been that stupid. She shook his shoulder.

"Natsu, wake up," she said quietly and ignored the giggling of the other students. Then Loki pushed herself to her.

"Lucy," he asked and looked at her waiting. Lucy smiled.

"Uh... I can't get him awake," she said and Loki looked at Natsu. His eyes became narrow. Then he grabbed the sleeper by the right cheek, pinched in and pulled Natsu up from the chair. This immediately woke Natsu up and he slapped Loki's hand away.

"Dude, what are you doing?" he nagged and rubbed his red cheek.

"Very nice, you're awake. Lucy-sama, can we go then?" Loki asked coolly and looked at his guarded friend waiting. She smiled and nodded.

"Yes Loki. We can," she said and shoved herself past Natsu, shouldering her bag, but the latter held her by the arm and pulled her towards him.

"Loki is a guy," he asked and pulled his brows together angrily. Lucy looked up at him, smiled and nodded. She took her arm from him and then quickly pushed Loki out of the auditorium and followed him. Natsu just let her stand. He clenched his hands to fists and was annoyed. His dark eyes followed the two and he growled. This Loki wouldn't get in his way. Under no circumstances. Lucy would belong to him!

AN: So ... thank you for all your support. In german, my story is up to chap 12. And I have to say: sometimes I really got depressed in so much desinterest in my story. I mean I ask myself, if my writing is not good enough because of so little feedback. And some people dropped my story, because not enough NaLu(even if I had written in my summary, that the mainpairings are NaLu, GaLe, Gruvia and Miraxus). And yeah ... I got depressed and had fallen in a deeeep creativydeep. And after I oke part in a little writingcompetition and put so much work and love into it, only one person ratet for my. Yes I know I'm selfish and stuff, but I requested myself: I'm not good enough? And that broke my creativity again. But then I startet translate this because some person wanted to read it and know here are we. You all are so sweet, giving me so much backup. Thank you. You're words are so important to me *overwhelms everyone with hearts*

And know I'm nearly crying haha XD

Love you guys, Z ♥

[ayearofpike]

Remember Me 3: The Last Story

Pocket Books, 1995 244 pages, 20 chapters + epilogue ISBN 0-671-87267-2 LOC: PZ7.P626 Rg 1995 OCLC: 31863011 Released February 1, 1995 (per B&N)

In her second go at life, Shari Cooper has become a best-selling young adult author, and her success is confusing her mission to help make things better. They're about to start shooting the movie of her first novel, and as involved as she is in picking the actors she starts to get too involved with her male lead. This starts to drive a wedge between Shari and her life/afterlife partner, who wants her to listen to the words of a wise teacher and how they might resonate with the teacher they had between lives. By the time she finally starts to listen, will it be too late?

Huh, my blurb makes this book seem readable. In real life, it's more of a patchwork crazy quilt of ideas (and whole scenes!) we've already seen, which doesn't take long to get frustrating. This is even worse in retrospect, with the knowledge that Pike never really wanted to write this book and mostly did it out of obligation to his publisher. It's pretty slapdash and sort of lazy, and even where it wants to be deep it's more like stomping in the kiddie pool than diving in (certainly compared to these other stories he's already done).

Remember my white-savior complaint about Remember Me 2? It's back here, and worse because Shari, in the beginning, seems to have totally abandoned her mission to help. Like ... a year of learning from a master in the afterlife, and your strategy for bettering Jean's home culture and community is to write teen thriller novels? And also to adopt as your pen name "Shari Cooper," the most saltine cracker of names, thus totally obscuring your assumed ethnicity when a best-seller by a visible Latina could raise the water level for all of us? When we start, she’s signing her most recent book, the story about herself that she ghost-wrote inside her brother Jimmy's body, which she submitted (against his wishes) because she "needed another best-seller." Again, this is printed under her pen name. Which is SHARI COOPER. Do you really not foresee any problem with this?

Let's be real: there is nothing here that is remotely in service of leveling the playing field or raising up the inner-city Latinx community that Jean Rodrigues came from. In fact, Shari has totally distanced herself from being Jean, aside from using the name when it's convenient. She barely mentions Jean's mother, she doesn’t even think about her siblings at home, she briefly talks about her old friend Carol who is sick in the hospital, and don't even get me started on how Lenny is not Lenny even a little bit anymore, but now totally Peter. He even goes by Peter now; I think they only identify him as Lenny once, again for convenience's sake. (To his credit, Peter appears to have taken on the service bit of his return to a body much more readily: he coaches disabled baseball teams, and later invites one of his homeless blind players to live with them.)

Shari pisses me off so much that I almost quit reading this book twice. But I'd be annoyed with myself if this blog was "reading all of Pike's books except one," so I finished it. Still, I'm going to skip ahead on the summary and probably leave a lot of things out.

The movie they're making is a sinking-boat thriller, where a nerdy kid invites seven bullies out on a pleasure cruise and then sinks it in shark-infested waters, leaving only one lifeboat. The star they've got lined up is a drug addict, but the producer has found someone else who knows all Shari's work and blew him away on a chance audition, so even though they're going to start shooting in just a few days he wants to switch actors. And sure enough, this guy makes Shari feel like he belongs in the role, even though he's cocky enough to suggest script changes before he has it and to kiss her during the reading. Or maybe it's because of that last part. She's very confused.

So Shari gets in a fight with her nerd villain actor not long after, and this dude both stands up for her and takes her away, out for a romantic dinner. Did I mention that Shari lives with a dude that she's been in love with across TWO lifespans? But she still goes with this guy, and he kisses her again, but she does have the good grace to back away and go inside, where Peter tells her all about a meeting she missed with a yogi who teaches meditation for unity.

They fall asleep, and Shari wakes up outside her body, feeling just like she did in the first book when she died only she knows she's not dead yet. She jumps into Peter's dreams, where the yogi is hanging out, and they talk about their feelings and their actions and Shari's headaches, which she still gets, naturally, because Jean fell on her head off a balcony. Then Shari suddenly appears in her brother's bedroom, where he's naked in bed with her best friend. Not Carol — the half-sister from her previous life. It doesn't matter, because even this friend isn't that important in this story. Shari's suddenly whisked to her mom's bedside — but not her birth mom, her switched-at-birth mom, her brother's mom, her murderer's mom — who is crying herself to sleep next to a copy of Remember Me by Shari Cooper. (This doesn't make a lot of sense to me either. Wasn’t this the lady who suddenly jumped to Amanda’s side and hired her a lawyer when she realized she was her birth child? Maybe I'm making this more confusing than it needs to be, but after all, Pike put all the strings into this crazy quilt. I'm just unraveling them.)

Then she hops to the fancy hotel room where her star is sleeping, and she jumps into his dream and sees a creepy space battle where purple ships are blowing up white ones. What does it mean? Shari isn't sure, but she wakes up (confusing her dreams and jumbling them together) and is inspired to start a new story: “The Starlight Crystal,” about a fleet of white ships returning to Earth after centuries of travel, having found golden enlightenment and been told to bring it home, only to be driven away by a vicious attack from a fleet of purple ships. As far as I can tell, this Starlight Crystal has nothing in common with the computer game from See You Later except the name and the fact that there is interstellar travel, and likewise with the novel that'll show up later.

(And let me just take a second to be annoyed that she remembered the dream sequence enough to write it all down for THIS fuckin’ book but acts like it was slipping away from her as she’s writing “The Starlight Crystal.” Like Pike forgot how to acknowledge the present-tense narrator describing the past between the first book and now. It really doesn’t hold up by comparison.)

In the morning, Shari goes to the set they’re constructing for the exterior boat scenes. They’re excavating a pit somewhere in the desert, which they’re going to fill with water and surround with matte paintings of the Caribbean and deposit their rental sharks. Yeah, rental sharks, four of them, and apparently it’s OK to just stick them in a dredged hole with trucked-in pumped water without raising any eyebrows. The new star shows up and asks to take her to lunch, which, sure, he’s supposed to be rehearsing a movie and she’s supposed to be finalizing the script and also she’s WITH SOMEONE, but they can go have a two-hour lunch in a fancy restaurant in Beverly Hills. He tells her that he’s read all her books, including Magic Fire, a shoutout to a Pike novel that hasn’t come out yet. While they’re flirting, he reads her palm and is taken aback by the break in the lifeline that indicates she should have died three years ago. He also calls her both Jean and Shari, which ... fuckin’ sloppy, Pike.

I didn’t mention that Lenny’s body is impotent, right? He’s paralyzed from the waist down, and so Peter can’t get up to much in the bedroom. Plus he couldn’t help fucking around with the chest-burster alien thing in the afterlife when all Shari wanted was to get laid after the prom in their imaginations. Like the one thing she’s constantly wanted is to have sex with Peter, and all she has are memories of the premature ejaculator of her Shari life and of Jean getting pregnant. She’s been celibate for four years, even while she’s been with the one dude she constantly dreamed about. So I get why she’s horny for New Star, even if I still reserve the right to be a little judgemental. It isn’t helping Shari that he has some kind of undefineable it-factor that at least she’s learned to attune to in her afterlife training.

But now Shari wants to know just who this dude is and why he has these compelling effects on her. So naturally she decides to hire a private detective. Specifically, she goes to the detective that solved her murder. She’s pretty vague about why she wants New Star checked out, which makes the detective uneasy, but when she offers to double his rate he takes the case. Then they all go to the yogi’s lecture. Well, not the detective, but New Star tags along with Shari and Peter and her brother, and he’s pretty much a total asshole while the yogi is explaining how to share and communicate and love and help and find unity. Also, the lecture starts and ends with unguided meditation, and Shari finds that her headache is gone without drugs for the first time in months. Basically, it’s the same scene from Sati, except Peter and Shari and New Star don’t let anyone else talk.

She wakes up again in the middle of the night to write, this time adding a description of the pursuit by the purple ship and attempted escape of the white ship. She stops when she runs out of words, and finds that she has startled awake the blind baseball player sleeping on her couch. He tells her all about what a great guy Peter is and how he hopes that Peter’s spine will heal someday so he can walk with her on the beach like he’s always wanted. Shari never knew this was something Peter wanted to do, because she’s a self-centered asshole.

The movie starts shooting early the next day, and Shari and her producer have to immediately fire one of the actors because she can’t handle being in water over her knees. This is a movie about a SINKING BOAT and nobody thought to make sure the actors could deal with water. New Star has a ballsy solution: have Shari play the role. She’s not an actor! The villain points this out! She flubs half the takes! But it’s a low-budget picture, apparently, despite being based on a New York Times best-seller, so they have to go with it.

Afterwards he takes her out to dinner again, while Peter’s at the yogi’s meditation class. Then they go back to her place so he can give her a full-body massage. Then they get naked and make out. (Shades of Chain Letter 2!)  But before his ... uh ... purple spaceship can enter the wormhole to hyperspace, the blind baseball player comes home and walks in on them. He’s blind, so he assumes he’s caught Shari with Peter, and he’s contrite and apologetic and hides in the bathroom. So Shari sneaks New Star out of her house and then asks if the kid wants to go to Disneyland so he doesn’t hear when Peter actually comes in. After nine at night. Yeah, nothing weird about that. But he’s a kid, so he’s excited, and when they get home he asks Peter why he didn’t get out of bed and go with them if he’s awake now. So Shari confesses, and Peter cries, and Shari leaves.

She goes to the same hotel where New Star is staying, but doesn’t seek him out. I guess that’s one good thing I can give Shari: given enough guilt, she won’t immediately go climb on some dude’s jock. Instead, she writes more, about how the white ship jumps through hyperspace but the purple ship follows, and their ship is crippled from the pursuit so all they can do is send the crew off on the emergency escape pods and hope for the best while the captain and first mate hang behind to be boarded by the purple invaders and hopefully set off one last bomb and ruin the attackers’ plans.

During a break in shooting the next day, Shari goes to the detective, who has turned up some information on New Star. Specifically, he is a creep and an abuser who has beaten up his last two co-stars but because they didn’t press charges he’s walked. Shari doesn’t want to believe it, and the detective quickly susses out that she’s got more involvement with New Star than just being his boss. You came to a detective with good instincts, you idiot, what did you expect? At the end of the day, she calls Peter and apologizes again and says that there’s something she has to face, but that she loves him and hopes he’ll forgive her. And then in the middle of the night, her phone rings and it’s the movie’s villain, saying that someone is planning to feed someone to the sharks during the next day’s shoot and that she needs to meet him on the set to talk about it.

So who does Shari call to help her out with this situation, given what she just learned about New Star from the detective that day? That’s right — she’s a stupid idiot! They drive out to the set and find the villain waiting for them with a gun in his hand. He says that a real murderer’s only motivation is wanting to kill, and now he wants to kill. But first they’re going to rehearse. Shari and New Star must each paddle a lifeboat across the shark pond and back, and if they can both make it and come back and neither one bolts, they’ll both live. So Shari gets in the boat, which feels like it’s leaking, and quickly (through/around the panic) does her lap. But New Star refuses, and instead throws the villain to the sharks directly. Uh, no shit.

So the police come, and after hours in the clink Shari finally thinks to call the producer, who comes and gets her out immediately. She goes back to the hotel and sleeps for a whole day, dreaming about a golden being floating to Earth and living a life and dying and being reincarnated, each time hoping to impart a little more knowledge and love into humanity. When she wakes up, she remembers that Peter had wanted her to see the yogi one last time, but by the time she gets there he’s already left for the airport. She and Peter reconcile, but on the way home she gets a call from the detective, who must talk urgently. They pick him up, and he directs them to a certain address. A certain condo near the beach, where on the ground outside there’s a faint bloodstain that has never washed out.

It seems that the detective has read Remember Me by Shari Cooper. Also, he’s a GODDAMN DETECTIVE who was ON THE CASE it was about. Also, his daughter read it, the only one who would actually remember an angel and a devil showing up to scare her straight. He’s pretty freaked out at how this Latina from the barrio could possibly know what happened with saltine-cracker Shari in Huntington Beach, but she’s able to calm him down without actually answering his questions. I guess we have to accept that there are more than just knowable facts in this story, because the detective does and remembers that he’s called Shari because he learned some gruesome details about New Star. Which, so has Shari, first-hand. And they’re about to get some more, because New Star is at the door with a gun.

He pushes the detective off the balcony, I guess because nobody had gone off a balcony in this book yet. Then they drive to Shari’s grave, which he’s already dug up and is going to bury her alive with her old body. He throws her in the hole, and as she tries to climb out he nails her in the head with the shovel right where her headaches start. Like he knew. It seems that New Star is from the other side too, but his mission is to thwart the drive toward peace and unity. You know that dream he was having, the one that inspired Shari’s story? It’s all true, three hundred thousand years in the past, and Roger is one of the purple-ship aliens in a human body. And their grand mission is to ... kill a YA thriller writer because she’s getting too close to home. I don’t know why she has to be buried with her previous body, other than it happened in “Collect Call.”

So Shari looks to Peter for enlightenment and love to be the last thing she sees as she’s buried alive. Only he’s not in his wheelchair. The pain of his love being buried has magically healed his spine, and now he’s behind New Star with the shovel. Obviously they kill him, and then whisk Shari to a hospital, where she knows her brain only has limited time left but wants to get out to finish her story. Which she does: the captain blows up her ship and the aliens’, but only after remembering a fable her grandmother used to tell about a dragon stealing a heart and then being tormented to kill itself because the heart retained the love and desires of its body and wouldn’t stop beating. I don’t know, this seems like a pretty shitty story to kill someone over.

But then she realizes she has to apologize to someone. No, not Peter; that’s done and he’s still walking. No, not Carol, still sick in the hospital as far as we know — why would we be concerned with a bisexual Latina drug addict just because she’s Jean’s best friend and Jean’s body is dying? It’s her mom. NO, not her birth mom. NO, not her Latina mom. Switched-at-Birth Mom. Jimmy’s mom. The one who raised her. Which, OK, that counts for something. But anyway, she drives to her house and tells her that the story is true and that she can’t say why. Then she’s obviously in pain, so Switched-at-Birth Mom invites her to lie down in ... Shari’s bed. Where she dies.

The epilogue is literally Peter handing Jimmy the floppy disk that this story is written on and Jimmy finishing it. Which is maybe why the last little bit is about his mommy. But then again, Shari forced his body to write the first one, so maybe she guided him here too.

This shit is a hot mess, you guys. Let’s leave aside the fact that Pike didn’t really want to write it, and let’s leave aside the fact that all these pieces BARELY line up to form a coherent story, and let’s leave aside how the problems mentioned in the second book TOTALLY WENT AWAY for this one. Let’s even jump over how my Latino heart was stepped on and kicked aside along with the roots of these characters for the ENTIRE BOOK. Here’s the big issue: Christopher Pike wrote a story about an angel (I guess) returning to human form, with a mission to make humanity better ... and the BEST THING he could come up with, the DEEPEST POSSIBLE SOLUTION to our woes that crossed his sexy lizard brain, was that she needed to be a best-selling YA thriller author. Talk about an inflated sense of self-importance.

And with that, I am finally done with Remember Me 3: The Last Story. Which I am not ashamed to admit that I did NOT remember. Hopefully I will remember to NOT read it again.

[abrillherrera]

It movie

Director: Andy Muschietti Screenplay: Chase Palmer, Cary Fukunaga and Gary Dauberman. Based on Stephen King’s IT Stars: Bill Skarsgård, Jaeden Lieberher, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Sophia Lillis

PLEASE DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN THE MOVIE

I want to start by saying that this was the first time I saw something related to “It”, since I didn’t pay too much attention to the 90′s movie, and when I got the chance of seeing it a few years ago I didn't found it scary enough to be interested and call myself a fan. I guess I needed to read the book and to realize how great of a story was being broadcasted to me, to be able to understand why Stephen King is one of the greatest writers alive. 

Now that I have read the book and did a little research about it, I know that it is really hard and it is a really ambitious work trying to put on screen this beloved book. I do think that this movie is better than what I expected, but it is not good enough for me to love it more than the book, and I know this is so cliché, this is just my opinion.

There are details that were so far from the essence of the book and I think it didn't have to be that way. There are some other moments where I do understand the reasoning behind those desitions from the writers and that were the “solution” to the fact that they are recreating something already done in the past and something that had such a big resonance and impact on the kids that now want to see the same story improved. With that said, you have to admit that this production had a big task with this, trying to scare those kids that now are young adults. 

For the good parts: I loved that they respected the “friendship-essence��� of the original story, they focused on presenting the characters personalities and showing their fears and struggles, even to the point where you can feel empathy for them and laugh with their adventures, something that happened to me while reading the book. Also, the chemistry between those kids and the character each brought to their role were really cool and made me enjoy the movie more, as I did with the book, reminiscing about my days as a kid.

What I totally disagree with is that little fight that broke the unity of the Losers’ Club at one point because this sends the wrong message about their friendship, and that never happened in the book. I think they could probably fix the storyboard with something that didn't jeopardize the bond those kids build almost magically. Also, I hated that they didn’t respect the fear that each kid had, but also they pay more attention to some of the kids.

On the other hand, I felt a little weirded out by the fact that those kids were too  precocious in terms of sex and language, and trust me I’m not scared of those subjects being talked among kids, it is just that innocence is a really important detail from the book that plays a big part at the end of this chapter, when they defeat IT. Now, also on the same page, I didn’t appreciate the fact that they finished this movie with what it seemed to be a group of kids that have faced their fears and defeat them because it is not how the next part should start and that’s basically the reason of why IT comes back.

I do try to understand why the writers decided to make that many changes and how difficult must be to adapt to two hours so many details and emotions, but I still think that at moments the changes were so radical that it felt strange. To be fair, I enjoyed the movie and found the performance by Jack Dylan Grazer (Eddie) especially good, however, all the kids were great and delivered. My general rating will be “good”, nothing great, but not probable.

[mrevaunit42]

Nova vs Chapter 18: This is how we do it

Hello everyone, Mr.E here and back! Thank you for everyone who likes, comments and reblogs this story. it means a lot to me

i want to apologize to those who were waiting for this. I took a month off because in all these nearly 2 years of writing (holy snap that’s next month) and the random bouts were i didn’t post, I never actually took a break. but I’m back, refreshed and ready to keep stories for you amazing people.

Here it is, the finale of the current arc thought of by my good friend @marionette-j2x who was kind enough to let me borrow her ocs *Jelina, Mary and Berry with their lord Kim* and let me write out the arc idea she came up with and a special @thefandombytes who helped me with some translations. thanks buddy, I greatly appreciate it! 

This is not the story finale so no worries, there’s still some more nova on the way. Well I am going to simply let the show get on the road cuz I know a few of you waited a long time for this so here we go.

also here’s the link to the ff page in case you want read this from the beginning or stumble upon this randomly https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11773524/1/Nova-Butterfly-vs-the-Forces-of-Adolescence

Notification Squad 

@hipster-rapunzel @isolated-frequencies @artgirllullaby 

There was a deathly silence that filled the air, a stillness that no one seemed to want to break.

Katrina stood defiant in front of the children, hammer still embedded in the ground before the shifting, almost slithering robes of the cultists, their eyes empty and lifeless.

“Do you refuse to yield?” Katrina asked, body tensed with preparation.

She knew their answer already but never hurt to make sure. Royal bodyguard she may be but she was always fair.

The cultists stared at one another, not a single word shared among them but each agreeing with the same course of action.

Together as one, they surged forward, their thick black robes moving as a singular entity and making it seem like the shadows themselves were lunging towards the group.

“Yep” Katrina muttered to herself as she kicked her weapon into her armored gauntlet, lifting the massive object without pause “That's what I thought.”

Katrina leapt into action, swirling and twisting her body around faster and faster until she was a whirling hurricane of righteous fury.

The cultists paused in their charge, sharing a concern look of regret as Katrina crashed into the frozen foes and sending several flying helplessly through the air.

Katrina was relentless in her attack: Her hammer swept droves of enemies off their feet, scattering and breaking their formation with one blow.

The closest cultists jumped onto the armored figure, trying to use their weight to slow the juggernaut but all that managed to achieve was let loose a sigh of annoyance.

Katrina effortlessly gripped a helpless cultist in her hand, rolling her eyes as she threw them as far as she could, an unseen smirking gracing her lips while the sickening crunch of his bones against the solid stones walls filled the room.

However, Katrina was but one warrior among a sea of enemies and no matter how many she held back, she could not stop them all.

Katrina reached for one of the robed figures who managed to slip under her and bolted towards the helpless children but before she could grasp his hood, another one of his comrades slammed his fist against her chest plate. While the attack had done nothing more than broke the attacker's hand, it had startled Katrina enough. Instincts took over and she turned around, instinctively grabbing head of the unlucky cultist and smashing her helmet into him, sending him reeling to the floor.

“Wait, NO!” Katrina cried but the cultists were swarming and Katrina had no time to lament her failure. She thrust her hammer outward, catching an approaching enemy in the stomach before flexing. With one mighty shove, the nearest cultists skidded the floor with an angry Katrina looming over them.

Jack was the first noticed a few of the robed figures heading their way, a small group that manged to break through Katrina's defense.

Jack wobbled to his feet, his body tired and sore from the previous battles. Two transformations a day had drained a lot out of him but he had no choice but to attempt a third.

“What I do for covy....” Jack muttered wearily.

Jack stood up straight, trying to ignore the aches in his body but before he could even take a deep breath, someone gestured at him with a strange hand sign he vaguely remembered.

“Oh crap” Jack managed to get before he sailed through the air, the dark magic taking hold over him and bringing him closer to the figure.

Jack slid across the floor, wincing in pain as he fell a few feet short of the spell caster.

“You suck!” Jack shouted angrily, struggling to get to his feet “Seriously, my lola can do magic better than you and she doesn't understand what a wiccan is!”

The hooded caster made no indication he heard the half demon. Instead, he broke into a sprint, drawing closer and closer to the helpless Jack.

Jack gripped the stone floor rightly, his claws digging into the tile as he tried to will himself up but he felt like there was a massive weight on the back of his head pushing him against the floor.

“Stop struggling, I need a steady surface.”

“YOU!” Jack snarled when he finally noticed Jelina kneeling next to him, one hand held firmly on her massive bazooka and the other square on Jack's head, planting him firmly to the ground.

“I know you don't need my help right now” Jelina explained, a hint of sarcasm hidden in her neutral voice “But could you please stay down? I need to provide covering fire if we are to escape”

“I hate you” Jack muttered quietly as Jelina began unleashing a barrage of missiles into the thickest parts of the horde.

With hand grabbing at the scuff of Jack's collar, Jelina rose to her feet, hoisting the magician in the air like he was some sort of kitten.

“I don't have a lot of ammo so keep up” Jelina told him flatly

Jack struggled, flailing his arms and legs wildly in an attempt to break free of the mechanical maiden's grip “Well put me down and I'll...”

“No time”

and without warning, Jelina broke into a full sprint, the world becoming a blur of colors that lasted only a moment before Jack found himself unceremoniously dumped next to the still embraced figures of Nova and Connor

“Alright” Jack admitted “that was pretty cool.”

“I'm afraid we have to engage the enemy” Jelina glanced towards Berry and Mary who nodded in agreement

“I forbid it” Kim chimed in defensively “You will not foolishly risk your lives.”

“But master, we...”

“You live to serve me” Kim replied, a finality to his voice “You cannot do that if you are dead.”

Before Jelina could argue, the room was filled with a pinkish purplish light that glowed softly in the darkness.

Amidst the fighting, everyone had forgotten about the still massive dimension portal lazily hovering where the ceiling once was.

The sudden shift in illumination blinded many of the combatants (except Katrina who kept wailing away on her foes unhindered.)

Nova rose her hand to shield her eyes from the glow, Connor's embrace tightening despite the warm feeling that surrounded them.

Something descended slowly. Nova could hear the light fluttering of wings approach, softly growing louder as the source of the light drew closer to her.

Nova squinted, trying her hardest to see past the blazing light.

“What is that?” Nova muttered to herself, leaning forward to get a closer look.

A little gasp escaped Nova's lips, her eyes wide with awe and wonder upon seeing through the veil of illumination.

“Mom...” she softly whispered.

Nova couldn't help but stare at her mother as the light slowly dimmed. She had never seen her mother in her Mewberty form before and despite the descriptions from varying sources, none had done the sight justice.

Her mother's normally fair skin was now tinged a deep, rich purple. Her pink, rose colored wings with fluttered gently behind her. Her long, golden blonde hair was now faded and twisted into two antenna like cones. Star wore sleek, well polished sliver battle armor that had obviously been custom made for the queen given her pair of arms were now six. Her eyes and hearts glowed with a harsh light and for once in her life Nova could feel the royal authority behind her mother.

This was the Butterfly that would not allow anyone to deny her her choice of husband. That was the Butterfly that fought tooth and nail to reunite with her beloved and daughter. That was the Butterfly who defeated Toffee and reformed an ancient dynasty, bringing unity to two warring enemies. That was the Butterfly who connected two dimensions forever.

That was Star Butterfly.

The light faded from her eyes and hearts, returning them to normal.

“Mom!” Nova cried, unable to help herself as she raced forward (with Connor supporting from behind)

She lunged at her mother, locking her arms around her tightly as tears began to pool in her eyes

“Mommy, I'm so happy you're here” Nova sniffled “I was so scared. I thought I wasn't going to see you again a-and the wand! Mom, I'm sorry I couldn't...”

Nova fell silent as Star's hand gently brushed her hair, her touch soft and affectionate while she held Nova closer.

“I'm here. Mommy's got you sweetie. You are safe. Nothing else matters.”

Nova pulled away only to find a relived smile on Star's face, her eyes warm and loving.

“Hey, what about me?” A voice called from behind Star.

“D-dad? You're here too?”

Marco scoffed in mock annoyance as he appeared from behind Star, still well dressed though now rocking another accessory in the form of a sheathed katana.

“My little girl was kidnapped! Of course I'm going to be here.” Marco rolled his eyes playfully.

Nova tackled him, hugging her father tightly while the tears flowed freely down her cheeks

“There, there angel” Marco whispered gently, patting Nova's head lovingly “It's okay. We're here.”

Marco and Star shared a look, one that brought a shiver down Nova's spine.

“OOOOOOO KATRINAKINS!”

Katrina flinched in embarrassment, ignoring the thrashing of the figure whose figure she held by the throat.

“Your majesty, did you have to call me that here? Now?”

Star gave a peppy nod as Marco ushered everyone behind himself and his wife.

“Of course. Katrina, please come back and help the children through the portal. Kim and his maids included. We will take care of this.”

Katrina's mask was indifferent but the fierce warrior's posture changed at once.

“Oh boy” Katrina muttered to the still struggling cultist “You are all in trouble now”

Katrina smashed the figure against the ground and jumped high into the air, effortlessly landing next to Star and Marco in a single leap.

“Okay kids time to go!” Katrina instructed, hoisting Connor by the scuff and tossing him through the massive portal

Connor flailed wildly for a moment before landing on the Diaz's living floor with a muted thud.

Nova stayed back though close to Katrina who now was arguing with Kim about how much trouble he was in.

“In, now” Katrina snarled

“we refuse” Jelina shot back, the trio of mechanical maidens standing between the towering monster and their demon lord.

“I'm afraid you don't have much of a choice. You are under suspicion of conspiracy of kidnapping the princess and if I have to take you by force, I will.”

“Wow” Berry chimed in, thoroughly impressed “that sounds bad. Really bad.”

“Ugh, who cares” Mary crossed her arms “We're not going with you.”

“Our master has done nothing wrong. We refuse to comply with your request” jelina added in

“Ladies”

The trio turned to Kim who gestured them to remain calm

“I will go with you”

“Master!” The maids cried out indignantly

Kim raised his hand and they fell silent at once

“My maids will accompany me of course” Kim went on “I will go with you willingly though I suspect you to be honest in your findings.”

Katrina gave a curt nod “We just need to verify if you were working alone or of your own free will. Nothing more.”

Kim nodded “I agree to your terms, shall we?”

Katrina picked up Kim with one hand and the fuming maids in the other, placing them carefully on the floor away from the portal

Sol stared at the demonic overlord and the brightly colored maids that suddenly appeared in his home.

“Whoa” Sol nodded “I'm going to need more cookies” and promptly raced into the kitchen to get snacks for their guests.

Marco drew his katana, tossing the sheath into the portal and onto the couch.

Star took a step forward. There were still dozens upon dozens of cultists despite the countless groaning bodies that littered the floor.

Star took a deep, calming breath. She closed her eyes, imagining a peaceful relaxing field in Mewni she was so fond of.

Marco braced himself, hands covering his ears.

Star's eyes snapped open, her grin bending into a bone chilling smirk.

The cultists fidgeted nervously, their self preservation instincts screaming at them to run for the door.

“So.” Star spoke gently, her gaze scanning the sea of fabric that stood before her “YOU TRIED TO KIDNAP MY LITTLE GIRL!?”

Star's voice boomed with an unearthly volume, shaking the hooded figures externally and internally.

Despite their stoic, inhuman nature, they shuddered at the sound of pure anger laced within the mother's tone.

Star hadn't even waited for a response.

She gestured outward with a single hand and before faster than anyone could anticipate, ribbons of pink energy collided with several cultist chests, sending them crashing into those fortunate enough not to blasted by the righteous fury of Mewni's queen.

Silence as the world seemed to slow, Star's fingers smoking in the stillness

With a screeching battle cry, the figures that remained standing raced forward, hoping to overwhelm the Mewman with their sheer numbers.

Marco rolled his eyes, strolling past Star to place himself between the horde and his wife.

“Marco sweetie” Star cooed lovingly

“Yes honey?”

“Save some for me, will you?”

Marco a gave short nod as he held his katana at his side.

One poor soul made the unfortunate decision to lunge at Marco, thinking it was the most brilliant idea he ever had.

Marco smirked, swinging the flat of his blade against the mid-air foe who tumbled to the floor face first, his nose breaking with a sickening crunch.

Marco charged forward, pushing deep into the crowd while his sword blurred about his body with inhuman speed

Cultists fell at his feet, clutching the various body parts Marco struck achingly, thick, nasty looking bruises already forming.

Marco slashed towards a line of approaching hooded figures and with a flick of his wrists, pieces of hair fell gently to the floor, their owners clutching at their heads fearfully as they backed away from the king.

“got you!” Someone cried from behind, leaping onto Marco's back and attempting to trap him in a hold “Surrender or...”

Crack.

The figure stumbled backwards, a river of crimson leaking from his nose. Marco swiftly turned about and drove the hilt of his katana into the attacker's forehead.

He crumpled to the floor motionless at his feet.

The cultists were giving Marco a wide berth now, surrounding him a very loose circle.

“Look, I just want to go home” Marco told them, motioning with his weapon casually “Just back off and this won't hurt. Well it will hurt but it won't hurt as much as if you make me take you down. What I mean to say the ratio of pain is lessened if you just give up”

“Marco! Stop mathing at them and kick their butts” Star yelled

“You are but a man!”

“But I'm not” a voice called from the door way and stepping out of the shadows was Tom who was as impeccably dressed as Marco.

Marco waved cheerfully with his sword “Oh hey Tom! What brings you here?”

“I figured we could speed this along. Got word that Kim is not a board member and thus fair game. Hey, are we still meeting up for bowling?”

“Totally” Marco nodded in agreement “But this is getting boring. Let's wrap thing up.

“Boring?!” The cultists cried out indignantly but their groans of complaint grew into whimpers of fear as Tom's trio of eyes glowed with a blood red hue.

The CEO of the Underworld grew in size, his limbs and body elongating to an impossible length. his entire form changed, growing and growing as his muscles budged outward ripping the fabric of his shirt. His nails grew and glimmer with a razor sharpness. Glowing orange demonic runes were scrawled every inch of his body as his horns bent and curved backwards, twisting in a tight loop. Flames spread across the normally clean shaven face of the demon until a thick, burning beard made of pure fire crackled against his skin.

Tom let out a roar that shook the very foundation of the world before reaching for a hooded figure, easily plucking him from the sea of his comrades despite his struggling.

Tom swept outward, knocking rows of the cultists to the floor as Marco sprang into action, driving his hilt and flat of his blade into every forehead he could find.

Star took to the skies, bombarded the unlucky souls below with multicolored narwhals, ribbons of concussive force and bright pink gumballs of energy.

Nova watched in awe as the numerous enemies dwindled rapidly before her eyes.

Nova shifted guiltily at the sight of her parents

“They really are amazing.....” She mumbled sadly to herself.

Star waved with a free hand and at her command swirls of pink energy formed at the cultists feet,  spinning faster and faster with a reckless abandon before forming into a thick, powerful pink tornado that swallowed entire figures whole and trapped them in an endless cycle.

Several figures attempted to leap at Tom all at once in hopes of somehow overwhelming the demonic lord but Tom swiped them out of the air, sending them crashing against the solid stone floor before giving them a good punt outside the door.

Marco ducked and weaved through the hooded figures, expertly attacking any cultists who was foolish enough to try and stop him, making sure to give some warning cuts to some clothing for good measure

“That is pretty terrifying” Connor called to Nova, his green eyes wide with awe “I've never seen your parents fight before.”

“I've never seen mom transform before.” Nova replied in a stun awe.

“What is going on here?!” A new voice called from the Diaz household.

The fighting stopped at once with no one sure why exactly everyone had paused.

There was a dull thud as someone fell through the portal into the underworld, the darkness of the room against the illumination from the setting sun on Earth basked the person in a shadowy silhouette

“JACK!” A motherly whine called out and before the young half demon knew it, he found himself trapped in a familiarly tight embrace.

“MOM!” Jack cried out in embarrassment, much to his horror “What are you doing here?! AND STOP TRYING TO KILL ME!”

“How dare you run off to the Underworld without telling me?” Janna scolded, grabbing and pulling on her son's ear “Hmm? What were you thinking?”

“Oww, OWW! sinusubukan ko lang makatulong sa aking mga kaibigan!”

“Really?” Janna peered closer “AND YOU RUINED YOUR CLOTHES?!”

“MOM!” Jack whimpered helplessly

“Don't you mom me!” Janna frowned “I worked very hard to make you those clothes and you can't even keep them cleaned?!”

“I was in the Underworld mom! It's kinda hard to....”

“Excuses” Janna cut in.

“Umm...” Connor said calmly “is this really....?”

“Yep” Nova confirmed, her gaze never leaving mother and son “It's happening”

“and YOU”

A cultist froze as Janna pointed directly towards him, inching closer and closer with a blind rage in her stance.

“M-me?” The cultist stammered

Janna gave him a quizzically stare before punching him straight in the jaw and sending tumbling to the floor.

“not you” Janna scoffed before turning furiously at the towering Tom “YOU”

“Me?” Tom gestured helplessly to himself “Wait, what?”

“You let our son...”

“Mom, it's not...”

“... go on a dangerous rescue mission to the underworld.”

“Wait, Janna it's not like...”

“AND DIDN'T TELL ME?”

Tom taken aback “He just showed up on my doorstep! I didn't really have time to call you.”

“Did you at least give him the armor?”

“He's wearing it sweetie”

“And did you at least walk him here?”

“Janna I couldn't just.....”

Janna shook her head disappointingly “We'll talk about this later.”

Janna turned to face the few cultists that remained and told them in a low, dangerous whisper “get out.”

The cultists shared a surprised look with one another. Was this woman really expecting to...

One of the hooded figures jumped as a battle ax suddenly embedded itself in the floor, barely missing his arm by an inch or so.

Janna leaned in closer, hilt of the weapon still in her hand “I said go.”

The cultist opened his mouth to reply when he felt something warm tickling down his arm. He glanced to find a piece of his robe had been cut off and something red trickling down his arm.

The cultist fled at once, tripping and falling over their fallen in their race to escape.

Silence overtook the room once again before shattered by a loving, excited “JANNA BANANA!”

Janna barely braced herself in time for Star sudden hug attack, the queen of Mewni wrapping her arms tightly around her deputy mayor while bouncing up and down (Luckily she had returned to her normal Mewman form)

“Hey Star” Janna greeted in a lazy drawl, patting Star's back in a friendly manner “Been a while.”

“it has!” Star pouted “You have to tell me how it went in Paris. Tell me tell me tell me!”

“Star” Janna raised a hand to stop the mayor's pawing “Kids”

“Don't worry Katrina's got them buuuut we better go. We need to close the giant portal we left in the ceiling.”

“So...” Tom coughed, slowly approaching his wife “You look...”

“Yes I look good and yes I'm still mad. Come on hothead”

Nova felt strange sense of disconnection just sitting in the living room next to Jack and Connor despite being trapped with a demon's manor just moments before. The adults stood around them in a loose formation, talking about life and things that occurred since the last time they saw each other but Nova could feel the worry roll off of them, their gazes protective yet relaxed though it's probably the several massive Mewman knights standing at every possible entrance into the house, at the ready.

Katrina was sitting on the floor, laughing at Sol who was eagerly trying on her helmet despite the fact it was several times too big and span freely on his head.

“Everything is so normal” Nova said cautiously “ like nothing happened.”

“I know right?” Connor added in, eying his surroundings carefully.

Jack shrugged indifferently “This isn't our parents first battle.”

Nova thought back to her mother's Mewberty form, how majestic and powerful she had been.

“...yeah....”

Marco carefully approached the children, giving a reassuring smile “You guys okay?”

They all gave a nod

“So how many days were we gone?” Connor asked curiously

Marco scratched his chin thoughtfully “about 4 hours?”

“Four hours?! SERIOUSLY?!”

“Yeah, it's still Thursday”

Connor sunk into the couch in disbelief before wincing in pain.

“Connor!” Jack and Nova cried out in surprise.

“I'm fine” Connor tried to wave off their concern but he could the knowing glint of Mr. Diaz's eye

“Ah, first major battle huh? Probably got bruised pretty nicely”

“Connor!” Nova scolded.

“I'll be fine”

“Nova, bandage him up”

Nova sighed dramatically “C'mon Connor.”

Connor stayed still

Jack raised an eyebrow “I will carry you”

Connor shot to his feet at once, allowing the magical princess to lead him to the bathroom.

Connor sat there silently, trying his hardest not to flinch as Nova smoothed out the wrappings around his shirtless chest, her cold hands and the swelling of his bruises making it difficult to sit still.

Nova's face was bright red and she spent as much time as she could staring away from Connor.

“H-hey, you got muscles now?” Nova commented offhandedly

“I-I guess?” Connor coughed “I mean I just invent...but I guess some of the pieces are pretty heavy....”

“R-right....”

Awkward silence fell over the teens who were determined to just get this over with.

“....I'm...sorry....”

“Huh?” Connor turned around only to found Nova staring at him, tears in her eyes.

“This happened because I wasn't strong enough.....my own parents had to come and get me....”

“Nova? I don't...”

“I'm no Butterfly” she muttered sadly “I couldn't even fight off a stupid demon.”

“HE'S NOT STUPID” The trio of maids shouted back.

“You know what my mom did when she was my age? SHE SAVED MY DAD WHEN HE WAS KIDNAPPED BY TOFFEE! I COULDN'T EVEN....”

Nova stopped as Connor held her closely

“Nova, you're okay. Everything's okay. That's all that matters.”

Nova cried freely, wrapping her arms gently best friend.

Connor stroked Nova's hair softly, letting out a relived sigh.

Everything was okay.

Nova trudged her way to her bed after her mother decided it was best for the young ones to sleep. She threw off her father's hoodie and sat at the edge of her bed, preparing to head to sleep. Her father decided it was best if they all stayed home tomorrow given how chaotic today was.

She sighed deeply, holding her mother's devil headband gingerly in her hands.

What kind of princess was she? Not even a month with the wand and she was already kidnapped and endangering everyone. Who knows what could've happened if Connor and Jack hadn't came to save her or her parents failed to reach them in time.

Connor and Jack were asleep downstairs which brought her some small comfort but the failure of her duty gnawed at her entire being.

And as she tried to drift off to sleep, tossing and turning in her bed, all she could think of  is how horrible she was at being a magical princess.

Maybe the nobles were right. Maybe she was no heir to Mewni.

[maracate]

Fic rec list for @maternalcube

I avoided everything explicit and most of the things that haven’t updated since feb (unless I really liked it) which makes this list about 300% shorter (and also means there are very few soulmate aus, people do not like to finish those)

it’s still long though, so under the cut

Finished:

Unwritten (T)

Every Victor Nikiforov fan has three things in common. 1. They have unrealistic expectations for romance. 2. They mark their calendars with the dates of his newest book releases and the premieres of his latest movie adaptations. 3. They either passionately hate or love his greatest rival, a mysterious author whose pseudonym is only two letters: “KY.”

High flying, adored (G)

Being a superhero is hard. It's even harder when you're desperately in love with the most famous figure skater in the world, who never seems to notice you. Of course it doesn't help that he's a superhero too--and he's head over heels for your alter-ego.

Enjoy the awkward fumblings of these two erstwhile masked men as they dance the terrifying tango of young love and secret identities.

Starstruck (T)

(in which yuuri is a simple barista, viktor is a famous movie star, and yuri is an 8 year old kid stuck in the middle of it.)

Autumn in detroit (M but i think that’s for violence)

In a world where Viktor Nikiforov was forced to retire early due to a leg injury, he sought work instead as a police detective in Detroit. Now a young skater with a poster of him on his bedroom door has gone missing and Viktor knows beyond a doubt it's the work of a man who's been brutally murdering professional dancers for years. It's impossible not to take this case personally. Viktor will find Yuuri Katsuki.

Entwinning fates (T)

Imagine if Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, after the demise of you-know-who, started accepting foreign students in an effort for greater unity among wizarding communities around the world. Imagine that, in this changing climate of diversity and social acceptance, Hogwarts also decided to host an exchange programme with select students from Durmstrang Institute and Beauxbatons Academy of Magic for a semester.

Imagine, then, if a young Japanese wizard by the name of Yuuri Katsuki had transferred to Hogwarts to escape his past, just in time to meet a Russian Quidditch player who would blow open the very doors he was trying so desperately to close.

A story of love, magic, and teenagers trying to find themselves.

Dear mama (T)

In which Victor writes letters to his mother, who is fifty percent of his rationality and self-control.

Like your french girls (T)

in which Victor is an artist, Yuuri is his figure skating muse, and Yuri is so done hearing about their stupid love story through Instagram

Unwritten (T)

Soulmates AU where whatever you write on your own skin appears on your soulmate, but when there is a language barrier, meeting becomes just a little more difficult than it should be. 

I love you, my dear (T)

Musician au where famous YouTube singer Victor is practically in love with a famous singer/lyricist named Lilith (who has never revealed his true identity to the public). Victor feels compelled to go to Lilith's first show of his world tour (even though he's never met him) and on the flight there, he sits next to this guy named Yuri, completely oblivious to the fact that Yuri is his idol, Lilith.

or, the one where Yuri/Lilith accidentally says "I love you, my dear" to a man he has never met before.

Unfinished:

The power of love (T)

“The two Japanese singles medalists make a beautiful pair! Here, at the 2009 Tokyo GPF, we have the start of this power couple’s reign!” Yuuko and Yuuri dominate the singles skating competition as Japan’s power couple—except they aren’t a couple, and when their old skating idol stumbles into their personal life, everything rapidly goes downhill. 

The ice prince’s rose garden (T)

Light political struggle and mystery all spun up with master/servant Viktuuri.

bear your soul on the ice (M but it’s mostly in passing)

At age fourteen, Katsuki Yuuri had been determined to be Japan's next great figure skating hope, but with no coach that would never happen, so his ballet instructor packs him up off to Russia to train with Yakov Feltsman. The Yakov Feltsman, otherwise known as the coach to rising figure skating star -- and Yuuri's idol -- Viktor Nikiforov.

Dancing daffodils (M but I think it’s for violence? idk)

A god falls for a man.

Expomise (T)

Expomise: a transformation spell that bonds two objects together. / Yuuri is at Hogwarts. So is everyone else./

Nuclear hearts club (T)

Being seventeen and chronically confused isn't always a walk in the park - especially when you've been crushing on your brother's best friend since you were nine. You'd be crazy not to. Victor's the best thing to happen to the world since sliced bread.

(Join Yuuri Katsuki on this pine-fueled adventure full of teen angst and astronomical fuckery.)

A thread of silver (T)

Once upon a time, there was a boy who got lost in the woods... AU. Inspired by various fairy tales and mythologies.

That old-time religion (T)

Yuuri is pretty sure that when an impossible stranger turns up and tells you he’s the god of victory, it doesn’t matter how good-looking he is. The moment he asks you to abandon your mortal life and come back to his mountain kingdom with him, you turn around and walk away.

An AU based loosely around the Greco-Roman pantheon. Very loosely.

Death or glory (T)

aka 'The Hunger Games AU that happened by accident'. May the odds be ever in your favour.

I’d rather be skating (M for some reason idk)

Sometimes, when a muggle child gets an acceptance letter from a wizarding school, they say no.

Victor Nikiforov would rather be skating. Yuuri Katsuki would rather be normal.

The rules for lovers (T)

Prince Yuuri Katsuki has a duty to his country, above all else (his desires, his dreams, and his happiness included), and he knows this alliance will help to ensure the safety of his people. That’s the only reason he accepts Prince Nikiforov’s hand in marriage. The pleasant surprise, of course, is the part where they fall in love along the way. The unpleasant one, well…

That’s a long story.

Like a fairytale (T)

In which Prince Victor gets swept off his feet at a royal banquet and will go to any length to find his 'Cinderella' Yuuri. (And Phichit is the fairy godmother who has no idea what he's doing).

not gold like in your dreams (T)

in which Victor and Yuuri are roommates and Yuuri has a secret

taking the long way home (T)

In which Vicchan never died, Yuuri won bronze at the Grand Prix Final, didn't get drunk at the banquet, and never made Victor fall in love with him./

Aria: Stammi Vicino, Non Te Ne Andare (T)

The tale of a lonely traveler, Victor Nikiforov, and his encounter with an equally lonely immortal man.

Alternatively: the tale of Yuuri Katsuki, who never ages and never dies and has lived frozen in time for centuries, and his attempts to keep his adopted son from killing the new guest.

Destiny may ride with us (T)

Viktor Nikiforov spent the first twenty seven years of his life waiting for something exciting to happen. And then, it did.

AU in which Yuuri is a little bit more than human, someone seems to be stealing all of Viktor's spoons, and Yurio is the only person who thinks this is all rather strange.

Lost and found (T)

AU in which: Yuuri is a cop who works at the Hasetsu policebox, and Victor is the new skate instructor in town who almost always ends up on the steps of the aforementioned policebox to flirt with him.

The Castle Atop the Hill (T)

In a cursed land covered in unforgiving ice, Yuuri becomes a knight so that he and his family can survive. In the castle is where he finds Viktor, a prince with a magical gift, whom Yuuri believed could save anyone. But maybe Viktor needs saving too. 

One Shots:

Drunk on you (T)

A one-shot collection of soulmate AUs.

What you should know about dating a man with children (G)

"AU scenario where the skaters mistake the triplets for Yuuri's kids when they first meet him, possibly when he brings them to the skater-only area as a b-day treat, or something? (Kudos if you can work in jealous!Victor somehow, but the skaters having a fun reaction would be A+, tbh. Would be lovely if you could include Chris and/or Yurio :D )"

I’m just going to the store (T)

Accidental masked vigilante Victor Nikiforov.

Or: how Victor's impulsiveness backfires and creates one of the greatest living internet memes to ever come out of Russia.

hood and glove (T)

"I don't mess with the fae," Otabek says.

"I'm not asking you to mess with them," JJ flat-out lies.

"The Adventures of Sparkly Elf and Soft Hobbit, Endured With Great Patience by The Bright And Powerful, Best In The Land, Yuri Plisetsky." (T)

Critics have always considered "The Adventures of Sparkly Elf and Soft Hobbit, Endured With Great Patience by The Bright And Powerful, Best In The Land, Yuri Plisetsky." one of the most faithful descriptions of Legend Victor Nikiforov, the greatest elven fighter for more than eight centuries. Although it is narrated by Plisetsky as an adolescent, and thus contains strong language and spends more time ridiculizing his travelling companions than giving thoughtful insight into Nikiforov's psyche, it still remains as an essential reading in every scholar that decides to study Nikiforov [...] // Day 95: Caught Nikiforov writing love poems. Am appalled at bad writing more than anything else. Example: “I really like your dark eyes / and all the other parts of your face. Your butt is the perfect size / and I would love to see you in lace.” Hope the Hobbit cannot read, or am afraid this love story will not have a pleasant ending.

Never tasted rubies (T)

in which Yuuri is an unwilling radio host and Victor won't stop calling in to chat with him

love me do: a victuuri week compilation (t)

Every chapter is a short fic based on one of the Victuuri Week prompts.

The Goddamn Tie Has Got To Go (T)

Dear God. Yuuri was wearing the tie again.

The powdery blue monstrosity was not only unfashionable (and where did Yuuri even manage to acquire such a tie?), it also reminded Viktor, with shocking clarity, of a sweaty, half naked, pole dancing Yuuri. It reminded him of a night of joy, a night of passion. The night where he was finally, and without warning, lifted from the fog that had crept up on him in his last few years of skating.

Understandably, it elicited quite the unfavorable reaction in him when they were out in public.

For the sake of his remaining dignity, Viktor needed to improvise a plan to dispose of it as soon as possible.

Welcome Aboard Eros, Commander (T)

Commander Nikiforov is frustrated. For years, he has been chasing Eros, the most elusive pirate ship to ever sail the Seven Seas, and its even more elusive captain, whom it appears no one has ever been able to lay their eyes on. With the threat of every royal treasury in the whole of the Caribbean soon being emptied down to the last coin, the commander sets sail again, determined to track down Eros and its captain once and for all.

That is, if the mysterious Captain Katsuki doesn't find him first.

Victuuriweek day 2: Traveling AU: Historical

Winter Solitude  (T)

Victor was cursed by a fellow competitor many years ago, jealous of his skills on the ice. The curse limited Victor to a lake in Hasetsu, Japan, where he appears to others as a blue-tinted human.

He can't age. He can't leave. And he can't let himself feel emotions for the pain it causes.

But a skater comes to the frozen lake one day and ignites a fire in his heart that he hadn't felt in years.

Series:

Cubicle gods

Flourist and wedding planner au

stop, erase, rewind

Haven (okay this series is E and kind of messed up maybe? but i love it)

have you heard there's a rumour in st. petersburg

A Real Life Cinnamon Roll

Even Ice Gods Can Melt

warm-up hogwash

must love dogs

[goodra-king]

Transcript of How to Focus on High-Value Work

Transcript of How to Focus on High-Value Work written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing

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Transcript

John Jantsch: Hello and welcome to another episode of the Duct Tape Marketing podcast. This is John Jantsch and my guest today is David Finkel. He’s the founder and CEO of Maui Mastermind, and he’s also the author of a book we’re going to talk about today. The Freedom Formula: How to Succeed in Business Without Sacrificing Your Family, Health, or Life. So welcome David.

David Finkel: Oh John, a pleasure to be back here on the show.

John Jantsch: So there’s been a lot of work lately that I’ve covered, that a lot of authors who have covered, about this idea that that clearly working harder and longer isn’t the answer. Is that a way to maybe sum up the thesis behind the freedom formula?

David Finkel: It sure is, and I’ll give a different metaphor for it. I think we operate in the world in two different economies. There’s one economy, we call it the time and effort economy, and in a time and effort economy, we think we’re getting paid for hours, effort, and attitude, right? If it was a Hollywood movie, we would probably choose Rocky as its poster child. And we say, “Well, hey, he became heavyweight champion.” And I would just say to somebody who’s thinking about that, number one, that was Hollywood in the 1970s, but number two, there’s got to be a better way to succeed in business, whether it’s your own company, or you’re key executive somewhere else, than just absorbing hours and hours and hours of punishing time and commitment for a career to have that.

David Finkel: So then there’s the other economy that operates behind the scenes. We call this the value economy, and in the value economy we’re getting paid for results. And everyone says, “Oh, I get this.” It becomes almost a cliche in our culture that I should work smart, not hard. But the reality is most people don’t know how to operationalize that, how to actually do that in the face of 100 plus emails a day, probably four different app feeds, text feeds and other things that they’re dealing with. The world has just changed. I mean, it’s so easy to work from anywhere at any time, and the expectations around that have been such that we haven’t updated the way that we design how we run our day, week, quarter, and company to accommodate that so that we actually behave in the value economy. Because most people … Most people say, “Of course I should be in the value economy.” But we don’t realize how we ourselves live in the time and effort economy, or even worse, we push our staff to subtly behave in that time and effort way.

John Jantsch: Yeah. And I think it certainly, as I listened to you, and I know we’re going to unpack this, it really has to be an intentional thing too because, man, there are a lot of time stealers out there that, as you said, it sort of can unconsciously … The day goes by and you, you come home, and my spouse asks me, “So what happened good today?” Well, I don’t know, but I sure was busy. I think that that’s a trap, isn’t it?

David Finkel: It absolutely is. It’s funny. So in chapter two of the book, we have this quiz in there for the 10 time stealers. We had done this originally about four years ago at a large conference we had, we had business owners and key executives answer. On average, these 10 things were taking up 18 hours or more of their week. 900 hours of their work life every year was going to things that were creating almost no value for their company. When they added up those hours each week, and I had to multiply that by 48 assuming they were taking four weeks off, they were floored. Here’s what became even worse, John, when I said, “Okay, now do you think your staff [inaudible] as well, or better than you, or the same?” Most people said about the same or worse, which means it’s not just their 900 hours, but the 900 hours of their five people on their leadership team each. And they were horrified when they did the math on that,

John Jantsch: We only have so many days, or I’m sorry, so much time. Well, I guess we have so many days, but we only have so much time in the day. And so I’ve been a big proponent of this idea of focusing on your highest pay-off work if you’ve only got so many hours a day. But how do you advise people … Because I know you agree with that idea, but how do you advise people to figure out what is their highest pay-off work?

David Finkel: Yeah. The first step is to actually do that in writing. And so, I mean, I guess I’ve made a career out of not just telling people what to do, but being that anal retentive person that’s always said, “Well, here’s mechanically how you go about doing it.” So we’ve created what we call the time value matrix. This idea that Pareto’s principle just doesn’t go far enough. The 80/20 rule is phenomenal, 20% of what I do gives me 80% of the result, but I need to take that further. Well, then what’s 20% of the 20% going to get me? And we call that 20% of the 20% B time, and then 20% of that 20% of the 20% is A time.

David Finkel: So as we look through and we play this through, there are 4% items that we do, we call this the sweet spot things, that generate huge valleys, 60, 65% of the value for the week. And there’s a magic 1%, if you actually work the math, it’s 0.8%, but we round it up that creates half the value. So I start by asking, “Well, what is it on the payroll that just I’m there to do?” And so I gave an example from the book for my company, so I run a business coaching company. So the three things that I do that create the highest value, number one, are large scale promotional places where I can be a spokesperson for the company to bring in large numbers of people, and that could be from a interviews like this, that could be from the syndicated column I do for ink.com, that could be from a keynote at a large industry conference of our target market. That’s one thing that I do that creates tremendous value.

David Finkel: Another thing that I do that creates tremendous value would be developing my leadership team and managing them for accountability. So those are just some quick examples. What I know doesn’t create lots of value are doing things, like for me directly, any more coaching. I’ve got a great coaching staff that does that coaching. For me, that’s what I would call C time. It’s valuable. I can bill for it at a fairly high rate, but it’s limited for what I do. And, I’ll give the example with an attorney, most attorneys think, “Oh, what am I on the payroll to do? To produce law services.” Well, actually that’s just billable work.

David Finkel: Billable work is never more than that that 20% time value. We call that C time. But perhaps if I could focus on what can I do that brings in lots more work in the business, or like one of the law firms I talk about in the book, there’s this guy Marvin who runs a successful boutique law firm, and for him, making decisions about where he should set his fee structure, which he had been so busy doing actual legal work that he had never done before, and really thought about, looked at what his competitors do and he’s like, “Well, hey, I charge 600 an hour for my time. I’m at the high end.” I challenged him, I said, “Marvin, but your paralegals and your legal secretaries you’re billing 30, 40, 50% below your competitors.” And when we looked at that, it took him about two hours to make the decision, get the information, make the decision, John.

David Finkel: With that one decision there, he probably made a quarter of a million dollars more profit just by increasing his mid-level pricing for his paralegals and legal secretaries. And his clients were thrilled with it because more of the work was now incentivized to staff down so that rather than paying him 600, I could pay one of his six legal secretaries or paralegals that he worked with and I could do that at 195 and he just now had more capacity to get more work out the door, and he was more incentivized to do that because he made a fairly good spread on their work. So that’s an example of this value economy, about how do I identify in writing, and it’s almost never … My highest value work is almost never the production of my main product or service. That’s almost never the highest value of my timescale.

John Jantsch: Yeah. And I think … I work with a lot of smaller organizations and the founder typically sells the work, does a lot of the work is seen as the mentor for the client a lot of times. And even when they start adding staff, I think it’s really hard for them to let go of that work, but I think they really … I think they, in some, ways devalue their relationship or their ability to advise a client, because the client sees them not only … Like in my world, not only as the marketing strategist, but also as the person that fixes their blog post. And if you’re doing both of those, regardless of what you’re charging for it, you’re probably devaluing how your clients sees what you bring to them.

David Finkel: That’s a great point you make.

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John Jantsch: So one of the things that I … I was working with an organization on kind of marketing strategy and a lot of times we have quarterly planning sessions to try and say, “Okay, what’s next?” And invariably you get the team together and 19 objectives come out of that meeting because you know, everybody’s got their thing, and I know you’re a big proponent of the idea that you can only have a couple. So how do we get people to think in terms of fewer better?

David Finkel: Absolutely. I’ll go back to that example of those 19 different things that you have. What this becomes like, the analogy I’ll share is I start all these home improvement projects in my house, but I finish none of them. So not only does it absorb my time, but it’s made a mess of the house and nothing is actually better from it. Instead, what we would tell a client, and what the freedom formula chapter three goes into, is this idea of how can I turn my plan for every quarter into a one page plan of action, with no more than three focus areas for the discretionary time? Three top priorities max. It’s okay to even have one or two. And by defining these out, “Hey, for this focus area this quarter, here’s what I call my criteria of success for it. And then now I’m going to create my action steps in milestones.”

David Finkel: What it does, John, is it gives me a visual tool to hold myself and the rest of my team accountable to be focusing our best resources of time and attention on those fewer things that make a bigger difference. One of the things I would almost always tell some to look at is, well, what’s the single biggest limiting factor in your business or in your department right now that you’re dealing with? The one constraint more than anything else that holds you back from the results that you want? And some people might say, “Oh, I need more leads coming in the door.” Others might say, “I need more operational capacity.” Some people might say, “There’s a certain key hire I don’t have.” Great. Well that quarter, one of your top three focus areas is going to be solving, or at least making better, pushing back, that one limiting factor.

David Finkel: Then on that same subject there, people say, “Well, I have an action plan.” And I say, “Oh, great, show it to me.” Oh, it’s not in writing. Okay, well then you don’t have an action plan. And then those that show me the action plan, John, invariably it’s like seven or 17 pages long. And I laugh. I ask one question that really puts it into a new light. How often do you look at this action plan? And they look at me and go … Yeah, they don’t. They don’t. Once a year. So one page plan you can keep right there by the side of your desk, pull it out each week to look at what do I need to get done from this plan this week? And it just changes everything. It’s so easy. So simple. One page.

John Jantsch: So in your previous work, and you’ve been on my show before when we’ve talked about some of your previous works, it’s been very leader or founder-focused. And in this book you really go into the fact that systems and team and culture and all those things … And building leaders in internally are all the things that are, that are really going to set you free. I mean, ultimately if you’re going to go beyond where you are today. So I guess kind of paint the picture. What’s the freedom formula when it comes to involving the team?

David Finkel: That’s right. So the common denominator we heard from a lot of people who read earlier books that I’d written was, this is fantastic, but … And here came the common but. But I wish you had something for my staff, but I wish you had something that applied to me. I’m not the owner, I run the department, or I manage a team of six people. And that really stayed with me for a while, even though our core business is working with owners of small and mid cap companies. I finally sat myself down, it took probably almost two years to write this book, which is much longer than it typically takes me to write a book, and found a way to find a voice to to say, “Hey, this is the book, not just for the owner but for key executives.” And matter of fact, some of the people that I worked with to do this book, to validate the ideas, were fortune 50 companies.

David Finkel: I started working with some of the VPs and executive VPS and division leaders for various large name brand companies. I can’t mention names because part of that was signing nondisclosures on that, but it was really interesting to me to watch. I’d seen this work for companies of 100,000, a million, 10 million, 100 million, but I hadn’t had the opportunity prior to this project to be working with companies that were in the 10, 50, 100 billion dollar companies. It was really fun to do.

David Finkel: Also what struck me about this was the same challenges that we’re dealing with at $1 million or $10 million or $100,000 or $50 million, they’re still dealing with when you just add the word billion versus million. It’s the same stuff that they’re dealing with. How do I balance work with life? How do I get my team and myself to focus my best time on those things that matter most in the face of all these other demands, in the face of my own desire to have control, in the face of conflicting priorities and messages that I’m hearing. How do I do this practically behaviorally, in the marketplace? What do I need to do first? What I need to do second? And that’s why I wrote the book. And so this book would be for anyone, whether they’re the owner, self-employed professional, an executive, or someone who aspires to be.

John Jantsch: One of the sections, and I think it’s in the team accelerators, or the accelerators under the team, and it’s become a pretty popular topic of late, I think, is this idea that that really leadership today or raising your team up is about coaching more than maybe the traditional leadership models. So you want to unpack what coaching looks like if I’m a department head?

David Finkel: Yeah, absolutely. So, I mean, I come from a background that all the companies that I’ve owned for the last 25 years have been coaching companies. We’ve coached 50,000 or more people over that time for all the various companies. So we’ve learned something about coaching. The difference is that most people think about, “I’m going to manage.” Well, when I manage, I’m looking to work with somebody to make sure I organize, coordinate to get a certain result. When I’m coaching though, I’m developing a team so that not only do I get a result that moment, but I’m going to be increasing our capability to get more results, more autonomously over time. So, for example, one of the key coaching responsibilities I have is to ask myself, “Am I coaching this person for development, or am I coaching this person for a result?”

David Finkel: Let’s say I’m working with Joe, I might say Joe’s not one of the people that I’m looking to grow. So I’m going to coach him for the result. But Sheila, you know what? I’m coaching her for development, which means I’m not going to tell Sheila what to do. I’m going to ask her more questions that are open-ended. I’m going to follow back up with Sheila and challenge her thinking, helping her get to the conclusion, versus if I have a team member who’s been with me for awhile but really is never going to be capable or shown the interest of growing, I’m going to be more directive with him or her. Hey, this is how I want you to do it. Versus with Sheila, I’m going to help her get to the right answer so that next year she is more capable of solving all of those same challenges without me having to be there, and now I can work with her on the next level of development.

John Jantsch: I think it’s a like parenting, isn’t it, David? That you can tell a kid, “Here, go do that.” Or you can let them make decisions for themselves and let them figure things out on their own, and sure that’s going to take more time, but we all know the investment’s worth it, isn’t it?

David Finkel: That’s right. And so just me as positing as a leader, just saying, “Am I coaching this person for development, or am I coaching this person for the immediate result?” Helps me. And here’s one more simple one that helps me, John. I ask, “Where is this person on this function, on the spectrum of scale of capability.” If one to 10 says 10 is they know it cold, they could do this in their sleep, and a one if they’ve never seen this challenge, this responsibility, just by pausing and asking where they stand on a one to 10 changes how I lead them. If there’re two or three, I deal with them very differently than if they’re an eight, nine or a 10. Yet most of us never pause to ask that question, and as a result, some of our staff feel we micromanage, and other of our staff feel like we don’t give them enough support, we just advocate. And we can easily solve that.

John Jantsch: Yeah. And I think one of the things that should give some incentive to leaders who micromanage is that people just get used to it, and then they expect it. So then they don’t initiate, they wait for you to tell them what to do and give them the answers. And boy, if you can let go of that, all of a sudden, you’re going to bring a lot of innovation into your organization.

David Finkel: Absolutely. And that’s why they’re working 70, 80 hours, because they’re doing their job in the midst of doing three other people’s jobs at the same time.

John Jantsch: Yeah. Yeah. So another big accelerator is a positive culture. I mean, if we’re going to call a book succeed in business without sacrificing your family, health, and life, I mean, there’s certainly an aspect of culture just in that statement. So how does culture really play into your formula? Well, I know how it plays into your formula, but how does somebody use it as a positive driver?

David Finkel: Yeah. Well, we take it just in the context of this idea that we’re going to build a company where we don’t value people who just look busy or who are responsive, but we’re looking to value and reward and to give attention to people who truly do create value [inaudible] push the organization towards its goals. So one of the cultural aspects that I encourage them to do in the book is to actually have an honest conversation about this and run a 60 day experiment. And for 60 days you’re going to take a look at what are the boundaries and the ground rules? Where should people be responsive and where should people be able to put some boundaries? If Tim is going to be running a meeting with your three best programmers, shouldn’t he be able to have all those people turn off their email? Shouldn’t he be able to have all those people turn off their phones for that two hour meeting without other people saying, “Oh my gosh, you let us down by not being responsive.” Well, our culture is there.

David Finkel: How about our culture at nights and on weekends? One of the things we talk in the book is about take the needle out of the haystack. Well, a lot of people are connected to their phone because they’re afraid of missing that one email out of 1,000 or 5,000, and so they’ll literally give up their entire quality of life so they don’t miss that one email. Let’s be smarter than that. Let’s ask ourselves, “What’s a better mechanism to deliver that one out of 1,000 message that really is mission critical and needs to be addressed in the evening or on the weekend?” But outside of that, that gives me back my life, and because of that we’ll retain our staff longer, their families won’t resent them and their company, and will get more of their whole hearted buy-in for them because they can have a life and not have to sacrifice everything.

John Jantsch: Visiting with David Finkel, author of The Freedom Formula. David, one thing I know about you is you are a systems and process and tools kind of guy, and so everything we’ve been talking about, I know you have built into a toolkit that comes with the Freedom Formula, so you want to tell people where they can find out more about the book, and especially about this toolkit?

David Finkel: Yeah, absolutely. So they can go to freedomtoolkit.com, and while they’re there, not only can they can find links to go ahead and get a copy of the book at freedomtoolkit.com, but once they’ve gotten the book they should register it and as a free value add, there’s all kinds of PDF and video-based tools. For example, there’s a 90 day quick-start program that guides you and your staff through the book over the course of 90 days, where it gives you one page every month that you’ll go through with your team for a meeting to run about that particular section of the book. You get a copy for each of your staff, you follow it that way through. You can download the PDF, the rest of it. I think your listeners will really enjoy that. Just at freedomtoolkit.com

John Jantsch: Absolutely. It is, I mean, invaluable. Not only the book and what the book teaches, but just having those templates and those forms really can help you get started. So David, it was great catching up with you again. In fact, I was just out in your part of the world, I did a little backpacking trip through Yellowstone. So I probably flew right over you on the way up there.

David Finkel: Thank you for having me on here, John. I had a really good time here. I appreciate it.

John Jantsch: Well, hopefully we’ll catch up with you again sometime soon on the road. Take care.

from http://bit.ly/2pUHKi5

[takumazire]

Murenga Full Story. Chapter 1: Mbire The land of Huruhuswa was a land teaming with wild animals such as lions, and elephants. It was also populated by people and these people named their land Huruhuswa, a name which means “the land of big grass”. Though there were many groups of people, they lived in peace under the rule of their mambo. The mambo kept the balance between the people and the spirits, who lived in the spirit-realm of Nyikadzimu. The mambo dwelt in the stone capital city called Mbire. There his stone enclosed palace was situated on top of a hill with the stone city situated at its base. This mambo’s name was Mambire. One night, mambo Mambire met 15 high ranking members of the lion cult at the ritual enclosure on the hill. They were the largest and most extensive cult in all of Huruhuswa, though there were other kindred and rival cults. They clapped their cupped hands in order to greet the mambo according to custom. “Why have you summoned me?” Asked mambo Mambire. The high sage who was the most influential spirit medium of the lion cult then answered. “The spirits wish to speak to you, my lord. I have received instruction from Nyikadzimu, we must summon the Gombwe spirit tonight. When mambo Mambire heard this, he knew how serious it was. “The Gombwe is a high spirit, which exists next to Samasimba himself. Getting possessed by the Gombwe can be a dangerous thing, high sage, you could die in the process.” Said a member of the lion cult. “I know that.” Said the high sage. After hours of dancing and playing music from mbiras, hoshos, and drums, a light started radiating from the high sage’s eyes. “It is done, the high sage is possessed by the spirit.” Said a member of the lion cult. Everyone bowed down to it, and clapped their cupped hands, including mambo Mambire. “I am that which was sent by Samasimba himself.” Said the Gombwe spirit which was possessing the high sage. “Great spirit, what news do you bring from Nyikadzimu?” Asked mambo Mambire, who was not sure if this event would result in a blessing or a curse. “Do not be afraid for I bring you good news.” Said the Gombwe. Mambo Mambire was relieved. “Your wife will give birth to a son who will become a very strong-willed leader. He will stave off evil in the future, and so you must give him the name “Murenga”, which means resister.” Said the Gombwe. It then departed from the high sage and the mambo vowed to give more power to the lion cult as a result of their predictions. Many years later after Murenga was born, mambo Mambire had still kept peace and unity in the land of Huruhuswa with help of the lion cult which had become more influential. Mambire liked hunting, and he would sometimes hunt alone with his dogs. As he hunted, he encountered a lion. It charged at him so he sent the dogs to attack. The lion killed the dogs, but he had enough time to throw his spear at it and pierce it. As he let his guard down the lion got up and bit his hand, however, he took his bakatwa, or double-edged sword, and stabbed it, killing it. He then cut off its tail to use as a nyumbe, a magical item. As he returned to camp, his most trusted advisor and his guards ran to him. “Nyisai-” Said Mambire. “My lord, you are hurt! What happened?” Asked Nyisai, the advisor. “I was attacked by a lion. I have never seen a lion fight with such ferocity, it killed all my dogs and got my arm even after I pierced it.” Said Mambo Mambire. “Let us escort you back to the n’anga for healing.” Said the advisor. Mambo Mambire was then escorted back to Mbire, on the way he had lost some blood. He then rested in his n’anga’s hut, which was also on the hill complex, like his palace. The muchinda, or the mambo’s advisor, went into the forest at night time to conspire against the mambo and the cult. He wore cotton cloths from the waist down as a sign of high status. He met with a shadowy group of wizards and witches in the heart of the forest. “Ah Nyisai, you have come. The full moon is almost upon us.” Said the leader of the group who had a pet owl. “Yes, Shato, the time is almost ripe for the lion cult to end, and for the snake cult to rise.” Said Nyisai. “Did you bring the blood, and the totem of kings?” Asked Shato, the leader of the snake cult. “Yes, a bull’s heart, and the blood of the mambo, as you requested.” Said Nyisai. Shato then took the heart and the blood. The witches then surrounded Shato and started cursing the blood and the totem of kings. “The first mambo, Tovera, had power over us, but the power is in the blood, and the blood flows like the totem. I will put his son, Mambire, to death. In that moment the guardian spirits of this land will not be able to defend it or stop us from using our witchcraft in this land, for the throne of the land will be empty. Then we will invade Mbire, the headquarters of the lion cult, and destroy them all!” Lightning bolts struck the ground and thunder clapped. Shato then devoured the totem, which was the heart of the bull, and the blood of Mambire. “The throne of Huruhuswa is now empty, and the spiritual barriers of this land are now sundered. We will conquer Huruhuswa and wipe out the lion cult. The snake cult will reign!” Said Nyisai. Meanwhile at Mbire, there was a crisis. The royal family was in the N’anga’s hut. “Chiwoko, what happened?” asked Murenga. “No, it cannot be. Is he dead?” Asked the mambokadzi, or the first wife of the mambo. “No, mambokadzi, he is still breathing, and is still alive. His spirit is between the earth and Nyikadzimu. The mambo has been bewitched. He was going to die, but thanks to my medicine I have stopped the spell. He has now fallen into a deep sleep of which he cannot wake from until we deal with the witch, or wizard responsible.” Said Chiwoko, the royal N’anga. “This is witchcraft.” Said mambokadzi Danai. “Indeed, this is powerful magic, but a mambo cannot be easily bewitched. I beg of you mambokadzi, you and Murenga must be careful.” Said the royal N’anga. Three days later, the council was in court. “The mambo has been bewitched!” Said a muchinda, or a council member. “It was betrayal! I suspect it was the lion sages!” Said Nyisai “Yes, the lion cult has become very powerful lately…” Said another muchinda. “Yes, don’t you see, Chimombe? They harass our people across the land, and now they think they can be the rulers of the whole land!“ Said Nyisai. “Enough! You were the king’s most trusted advisor! You dare accuse the voice of Samasimba of treason?!” Said Chimombe. “Listen, we must act now if we want to stop them from usurping the throne! We must kill them all for betraying the mambo or we are going to be next!” Said Nyisai. “What of the nevanji? If the mambo is as good as dead, shouldn’t we put Murenga on the throne?” Said Chimombe. “No. The boy was raised by the cultists, he will be their puppet! We cannot risk that.” Said Nyisai. “This has gone on long enough. Let us vote. Those in favor of Nyisai’s plan put your hands up and those in favor of Chimombe’s plan don’t put up your hands!” Said a muchinda. The majority of the machindas put up their hands and voted in favor of Nyisai. “It is done, the lion cult will pay for betraying our mambo!” Said Nyisai. Chimombe shook his head. The whole army was mustered in the city. “Warriors you must go forward and kill those who have betrayed our mambo! I know it is a hard decision but this was an order by the mambo himself before he was bewitched! He knew who had done it! These are not innocent sages, these are witches who are in the same group as those who withhold the rains.” Said the Mukomohasha, who was the general of the army. “Do not worry! You will be given medicine to ward off their witchcraft!” Said the general. The warriors then went to be doctored by Shato, who had shapeshifted into Chiwoko, the royal n’anga. “You are now my slaves, you will do my bidding… You will kill any lion cultist you can find! As for the royal family, you must bring them to me, kill anyone who resists.” Said Shato, as he waved his nyumbe on the thousands of warriors, brainwashing them with his medicine. 8, 000 warriors were under his control. It was chaos in Mbire, and the greater area of the city, as the enslaved warriors went around killing any sages they could find. The warriors who were not brainwashed by Shato fought against their brethren who were under his cruel mind control. Many fled and some perished in the chaos, those who could not escape the city were captured by Shato’s henchmen. Chiwoko, the royal n’anga, who had been captured and sent to be executed in secret, by Shato, used his medicine to summon 7 lions, which fought against 3 of his captors. In the skirmish, he consumed his medicine, which he always carried with him, and became invisible. He then returned back into Mbire to rescue the royal family. Murenga and his mother were in the n’anga’s hut, where Mambire was sleeping. “Chiwoko has not returned. Something is not right.” Said Murenga. “Its just as we all feared. Murenga, go into your father’s hut and take your grandfather’s spear.” Said Murenga’s mother. Murenga agreed. “Alright.” Said Murenga. Murenga then went to Mambire’s hut and got inside. He looked at the long spear that his mother had sent him to retrieve. It had a magical glittering silver blade. “Pfumojena… Grandfather’s spear…” Said Murenga as he took the spear. As Murenga exited the hut and was going back to his mother he was met with Shato’s warriors who were being led by the brainwashed Mukomohasha, or general. “Where is the mambokadzi?” Said the enslaved general. “Mukomohasha! Tell me what’s going on first!” Replied Murenga. “You must come with us, or we will have to kill you!” Said the general. Realizing there was a coup, Murenga saw that he was in danger, so he got ready for battle. “No…” Replied Murenga. “Death it is, then… Men, to arms!” Murenga fought off the enslaved warriors. As he fought, he defeated some of them before being overwhelmed by their numbers. As he was being subdued, the lion cultists appeared with an army of white lions yelling their battle cries. “Reinforcements!” Yelled a warrior. The lion cultists armed with their bare hands, and wooden staffs went to battle along with their white lions which they kept as dogs. “Murenga, we won’t be able to hold them off for long, more reinforcements are coming up! We have sent Chiwoko to guard the mambokadzi, they both should be in the hut! Go now!” Said the high sage. As the reinforcements were coming up the hill passage which was very thin, the sages were throwing rocks from above, hitting many enslaved warriors as they ascended to the stone palace. Murenga managed to arrive at the hut to find his mother and Chiwoko arguing. “Mambokadzi, we need to flee now. I have seen what they are doing to members of the royal family who do not submit! They are executing them!” Said Chiwoko. “I have it! We must leave now!” Said Murenga. “No, I am not leaving him! You and Chiwoko must escape! Go north to kwaNzou, my home village! Ishe Nzou Samanyanga, will aid you. Tell him about what has happened here!” Said the mambokadzi as she insisted on staying with the mambo. She then took a bakatwa, or a sword, and got ready to fight. “I will stay here and guard his body… I will kill anyone who steps into this hut!” Said the mambokadzi. Chiwoko had already took his medicines and got them ready. “Murenga, come. We have no time, eat this.” Said Chiwoko. “One more thing, my son. Find whoever is behind this and use that spear to kill them.” Said Murenga’s mother. “I will.” Replied Murenga as he consumed Chiwoko’s medicine. They both became invisible and left the hut. They escaped the city and headed north to KwaNzou knowing that Murenga’s mother, the mambokadzi, would most likely die fighting. As they were in safe distance, they became visible again. “I vow to return!” Said Murenga. Chapter 2: Totem Wars

Murenga and Chiwoko travelled towards KwaNzou. As they looked back at the direction of Mbire, they noticed that a dark cloud was now covering the whole land of around Mbire. “That is not a normal rain cloud. I sense great forbidden powers within it.” Said Chiwoko. “What do you mean, wise one?” Replied Murenga. “Look. A cloud that black would be pregnant with water, but it does not rain. It’s obvious, this is witchcraft. Let us hurry before it overtakes us, and we get struck by lightning. We can rest at a cave near here.” Said Chiwoko. The two then continued walking north through the forest until they reached the cave. It was night time, so they made fire and sat down. “Who do you think is behind this treachery?” Asked Murenga. “It was most likely the Mambo’s advisors, though I don’t think they could have achieved this feat on their own. I suspect the snake cult was involved.” Replied Chiwoko. “What is the snake cult, and why did they do this?” Asked Murenga. “The snake cult is connected to the history of this land, going back to the very beginning. Samasimba, the Supreme Being, made the first man, Musikawanhu, in the heavens. He put the man to sleep and dropped him down to earth. As Musikawanhu was falling he awakened and saw a stone falling near him. Samasimba told hm to step onto the stone. Water gushed from the place the stone landed with Musikawanhu and it became a scared place for us, his descendants. Musikawanhu had a dream of birds and animals. When he awakened, his dreams had come true. Birds flew through the skies and animals roamed the earth. A woman appeared and when Musikawanhu touched her, she came to life and became his wife. Musikawanhu instructed their children in the ways they were to live and then he and his wife went to the heavens to dwell with Samasimba.” Said chiwoko the royal n’anga. “What does snake cult have to do with this?” Asked Murenga. “Our departed honored ancestors are our guardian spirits. The Snake cult does not believe this. They are nothing but a bunch of witches and wizards who have never seen the love of Samasimba. They worship the mashawi, foreign spirits such as the njuzus, and goblins, claiming that since they never had physical existence, they are closer to Samasimba, thus they are worthy of our respect, not our ancestors. Pure nonsense of course, but they will stop at nothing to spread their influence in the Huruhuswa. In fact, they are known to use the forbidden power of ngozi to achieve their goals.” Said Chiwoko. “Ngozi?” Asked Murenga. “Yes, it is the power of evil. Let me give you a word of advice Murenga, follow teachings of lion sages, for they are the mouth-piece of the ancestors. Do that and you never get lost.” Said Chiwoko. Murenga and Chiwoko reached the outskirts of a nearby village. They were being stalked by unknown men. “Let pass through the village and speak with the ishe, he might be able to aid us.” Said Chiwoko. As they walked they were ambushed by five thugs armed with staffs. “I am Chiwoko, the royal n’anga of Mbire. I am with the princ-“ “We know who you are!” Said the thug. “Nice spear you’ve got there!” Said another thug. Chiwoko took his staff and prepared to defend himself. With bloodlust in their eyes, the thugs attacked the two, but Murenga managed to defeat them due to his superhuman strength. “Time to finish this.” Said Murenga, as he was about to kill the remaining thug, the thug pleaded for mercy. “Wait, I yield!” Said the thug. “Tell us what is going on.” Said Murenga. “You see, with no mambo on the throne, and with the land in chaos, our ishe has decided that he is not going to submit to you. He and the other surrounding ishes have decided that they were sick of paying tribute to a weak ruler and have now declared their independence. We were sent to deliver the message! Nothing personal!” Said the thug. Murenga then let him go, and he disappeared into the bushes. “If what he said was true, then it won’t be safe for us to seek out the ishes’ help. We must avoid villages, and we must walk through the wilderness until we reach KwaNzou.” Said Chiwoko. They walked until they came across a young woman who was being chased by a group of warriors. “We must help her!” Said Murenga. Murenga and Chiwoko fought off and defeated the warriors. “Thank you.” Said the young woman. “Who are you?” Said Murenga. “I am Karuwa, a surviving member of the lion cult. We were on our way to Matonjeni to perform a ritual, then these men attack us. I think I am the only one in my group left. Who are you?” Said Karuwa. “I am Murenga and this is Chiwoko. We are heading to KwaNzou.” “The prince!? You should know that there is war at kwaNzou, and in all the lands.” Said Karuwa. “War?” Asked Murenga. “Refugees fleeing Mbire have spread news that the mambo and his family have been killed in a coup. In the confusion, the four great ishes of Huruhuswa, ishe Shumba (lion), Nzou (elephant), Shoko (monkey), and Hungwe (eagle), who were once subservient to the mambo have started fighting against each other for the throne. The fights have escalated into wars, and people have started calling these wars, the totem wars.” Said Karuwa. “Totem wars? The people are fighting among themselves? How are we going to go back to liberate Mbire if we don’t have an army?” Asked Chiwoko. “We can’t give up. We might convince ishe Samanyanga to lend us a hand since my mother comes from his village.” Said Murenga. “Let me come with you then.” Said Karuwa. “Why?” Replied Murenga. “I had a vision a long time ago. In my vision, the ancestors told me that I was going to help a hero who will save the land from a great darkness.” Said Karuwa. “The two men, then thought about it. “The lion sages have great knowledge and abilities. They can summon and become possessed by powerful spirits.” Said Chiwoko. “And we have great influence in the land.” Said Karuwa. “Very well, you may join us.” Said Murenga. The three then continued north towards KwaNzou. They walked through the mountains avoiding villages and towns. Meanwhile there was war in the valley. It was noon as the numerous Shoko people went to fight against the Hungwe people. “Do not be afraid warriors! We are going to be victorious, just as our ndudzo has shown us! Said the Shoko general, Sagudo. At Sagudo’s battle cry, the shoko ran towards their enemy, the Hungwe, who were archers. As the Shoko were running, the Hungwe released their arrows into the sky and when they fell, they killed some of the Shokos. However, Shokos kept charging, and going into the crescent formation known as muromo. “Now!” Said Sahanga, the general of Hungwes. Using their people’s medicine, the Hungwe flew up, and the Shokos were left alone on the ground. The Hungwes then started shooting their arrows at the Shokos, killing many of them. It was becoming dark, and the Hungwes were running out of arrows, so they decided to return home seeing it as a victory with no casualties. The Hungwes vowed to finish the Shokos off one day. Murenga, Chiwoko and Karuwa came across a great river. “The other side is KwaNzou territory.” Said Chiwoko. “How are we supposed to cross this?” Asked Murenga. “Allow me.” said Karuwa. She then got possessed as light started radiating from her eyes. She stretched out her hand and water from the river stopped flowing and was pushed back to form a wall. The three then crossed the river, and then the water continued to flow as it normally would. “That was impressive, not even I am able to do that.” Said Chiwoko. “I am an ancestral water spirit. I have borrowed this young woman’s body so I may aid you on your path. My work here is done.” Said the possessed Karuwa as the possessing spirit started to depart. Karuwa then returned. “Impressive for an acolyte. Getting possessed is dangerous, it can kill you if you mess up.” Said Chiwoko. They continued walking and Murenga asked a question. “What is the difference between the n’anga and the sage?” Asked Murenga. “While we n’angas are given knowledge to make powerful medicine by the spirits, the sages get possessed by these spirits and are able to perform magic beyond the n’anga’s capabilities.” Said Chiwoko. “So, the sages are superior to the n’anga.” Said Murenga. “I don’t know about that. There was a powerful n’anga who was my teacher. His medicine was so powerful that it could make an entire army of men invincible and summon fog.” Said Chiwoko. “You were initiated by legendary Kabudu Kagore?!” Asked Murenga. “Yes, but that was a long time ago.” The three finally arrived at the town of KwaNzou where they met a warrior who greeted them. “By the way you are dressed, I guess you must be someone important.” Said the warrior. “I am Murenga, the prince of Huruhuswa, and we need to urgently speak with ishe Nzou Samanyanga.” Said Murenga. “I will send a message to the ishe. Follow me, you must have had a long journey.” Said the warrior as he sent a messenger to the ishe. He then escorted the three travelers to get refreshed. After waiting the messenger returned. “My lord, ishe Samanyanga is ready to receive you. He sends his apologies for making you wait.” Said the messenger. The three then made their way to the ishe’s homestead. They arrived and they were greeted by the chief according to custom. “Greetings. I am Murenga, the son of Mambire.“ Said Murenga. “My lord, I apologize for making you wait. I have had many issues to deal with these days. Tell me, what has happened in Mbire?” Asked ishe Nzou Samanyanga. “The mambo was bewitched, and the city was in chaos. There was a coup. When we left, the army was executing members of the lion cult, and the royal family. We barely escaped.” Said Chiwoko. “What happened to the mambo, and the mambokadzi?” Said ishe Nzou. “I think it’s safe to assume that the mambo and the mambokadzi didn’t make it.” Said Chiwoko. “My goodness, who could have been behind this?” Asked ishe Nzou Samanyanga. “I was once kidnapped by the members of the snake cult. I suspect that their leader, Shato is the man behind this.” Said Chiwoko. “Have the guardian spirits of this land, abandoned us?” Said ishe Nzou Samanyanga. “We suspect that there was a traitor who gave the wizard the secrets to bewitching the mambo.” Said Murenga. “So, you have come here to request my men for battle? I am afraid I won’t be able to aid you with that.” Said ishe Nzou. “Why?” Replied Murenga. I have already just sent my best men, among them Chimhuru, Jinda, Gandaremvura, to battle Shumba’s forces and they haven’t returned.” Said ishe Nzou Samanyanga. “Could they have lost the battle?” Asked Karuwa. “No, they have consulted our medicine, and the signs were in our favor.“ “That’s unfortunate, how are supposed to retake Mbire?” Said Chiwoko as he started to think. “I have been trying to unite the four great dzinzas of Huruhuswa, but the divisive ishe Shumba has crushed my efforts in bringing back a form of unity. He claimed that the Shumba dzinza was superior, thus it was the one which was supposed to lead all the others. They started the aggression by attacking anyone who was allied with us. They attacked the Shavas, and the Gumbos, and it was our duty, as the Nzous, to protect the weaker groups. Mark my words, Shumba will pay for this.” Said ishe Nzou Samanyanga. “What about the other ishes?” Asked Chiwoko. “I have allied with ishe Shoko Vudzijena and had given him some of my medicine. I heard that he was having trouble the Hungwes who were raiding his territory.” Said the ishe. “So, our task is to unite the fighting ishes…” Said Murenga. “How do we make sure that the rebellious ishe Shumba listens. His fighting power is the greatest in all of Huruhuswa, it was second to that of the Mambo.” Said Chiwoko. “Yes, I must admit that even I am having trouble with the Shumbas. Their medicine allows them to transform into men beasts, half man-half lion. Not only does this give them great strength, but it allows them so see clearly in the dark. Giving them a big advantage when they raid at night.” Said ishe Nzou Samanyanga. “Wait, there is still hope.” Said Karuwa. “There is one item powerful enough to subdue this rogue ishe. If we go to Matonjeni, the secret headquarters of the lion cult, we might be able to get Ngoma Lungundu.” Said Karuwa. “Ngoma Lungundu, what is that?” Said Ishe Nzou Samanyanga. “It is a war drum that is kept in Nyikadzimu, so great is its power that mambo Tovera left it in the spirit world to make sure that no mortal could use it.” Said Karuwa. “But only a high sage can use the war drum without dying.” Said Chiwoko. “Yes, that is because the high sage is a person who has completed the sacred ritual.” Said Karuwa. “What is this ritual?” Asked Murenga. “The ritual involves going to Nyikadzimu and survive its trials.” Said Karuwa. “Then we must be off to Matonjeni, we don’t have time to lose. Ishe Nzou Samanyanga, farewell, we are going to retrieve Ngoma Lungundu, we will return.” Said Murenga. “I will hope for your success.” Said ishe Nzou Samanyanga. The three then left KwaNzou and headed towards Matonjeni. Chapter 3: Nyikadzimu They traveled southwest until they reached Matonjeni. There was a large rock with caves. “Over there. That cave leads into Nyikadzimu.” Said Karuwa. As they walked towards the cave then they came across the remains of the lion cultists. “It seems that the snake cult was here, too. They must have killed the remaining lion sages and left.” Said Chiwoko. The three then went to the entrance of the cave. “This is as far as we go. Further inside there is a portal which you must jump into, it will lead you to Nyikadzimu. That is where Ngoma Lungundu resides.” Said Karuwa. “Take this fodya, it might offer you some protection against enemy spirits. Be careful, Nyikadzimu could be a wonderful place, or it could be an unspeakable nightmare.” said Chiwoko. “Ngoma Lungundu will most likely be protected by guardian spirits, beware.” Said Karuwa. “I’m ready.” Said Murenga. Murenga then went forward and then jumped into Nyikadzimu portal without hesitation. Murenga landed in the spirit realm. When he looked back the portal was gone, and he was still in a cave which was inside of Nyikadzimu. Murenga looked forward and saw Ngoma Lungundu in the distance, floating above ground. It was being guarded by two guardian spirits. They were humanoid and wore feather crowns on their heads. These were the Jukwa, fighting spirits which served Samasimba. Murenga used the fodya, and carefully got closer to the drum. “A challenger is near.” Said one of the Jukwas. The Jukwa, challenged, started floating towards Murenga with its knobkerrie in hand, while the other remained behind guarding the war drum. When Murenga got into a fighting stance, and the spirit laughed. “Foolish mortal, you cannot harm a spirit!” Said the Jukwa. As it got closer, Murenga’s spear, Pfumojena, started to glow. The spirit tried to use its powers to defeat Murenga however Murenga was protected by the fodya. “It does not matter. No mortal can kill a spirit of war.” Said the Jukwa. Murenga fought the spirit. This was one of the toughest fights that Murenga has ever fought. As they fought the spirit knocked Pfumojena away from Murenga and was about to kill Murenga. “You are not worthy! You have not undergone the paths of enlightenment like the other sages! You will fail to claim Ngoma Lungundu!” As the Jukwa was about to strike Murenga, Murenga teleported to the location of Pfumojena without knowing how he did it. “Wait!” Said the other Jukwa Spirit. The other Jukwa halted. “That spear! It is Pfumojena isn’t it?! You use it like he did in combat.” Said the Jukwa. “What? How?” Asked Murenga. The Jukwa smiled. “Mortal, you must defeat the guardian if you are to be able to claim Ngoma Lungundu, and you are not even close to defeating him.” Said the Jukwa. “What is your name?” Asked the Jukwa. “Murenga.” Replied Murenga. “I will teach you how to use the spear, Pfumojena, properly, so that you can defeat the guardian.” Said the Jukwa. “I don’t have time for this!” Said Murenga. “Would you rather forfeit your life?” Said the Jukwa. “… Very well.” Said Murenga who agreed to be trained by the spirit. “What happened to me? I was there, but then I was here.” Said Murenga. “This spear, Pfumojena, was forged from materials from Nyikadzimu. It is the bane of spirits, and it was used by Tovera when he united Huruhuswa. It has powerful magic from Nyikadzimu itself… Here let me show you.” Said the Jukwa as it took Pfumojena and threw it outside the cave to the plains of Nyikadzimu. The Jukwa then touched Murenga and warped with him where Pfumojena was. “What just happened?” Asked Murenga. “This trick is called warp. Tovera and his kin can use this power if they wield Pfumojena.” Said the Jukwa. “Does this mean we are kin?” Said Murenga. “No. I am a Jukwa, a fighting spirit. Magic like this is within my grasp.” Said the Jukwa. “Oh.” Said Murenga. “I was once Tovera’s guardian spirit. I watched over him and defended him from evil. Let me give you my memories of him, how he fought in battle, and how he mastered Pfumojena.” Said the Jukwa as it gave Murenga knowledge of how to warp with Pfumojena. “Now, you can use Pfumojena’s full power, with great effort, I believe you can defeat the guardian spirit.” Said the Jukwa. Murenga then threw Pfumojena back into the cave and warped to its location. He used the fodya again and challenged the guardian spirit. They fought at full power. Murenga used Pfumojena to warp about the great cave, which was illuminated by strange lights. In the end Murenga managed to pierce the guardian spirit once, defeating it with Pfumojena’s magic. “No! Spirit bane…” Said the Jukwa as it was vanquished. Tired and injured, Murenga moved forward to claim the drum. “You have prevailed. Let me bless you, so you can use Ngoma Lungundu without dying.” Said the other Jukwa. Murenga got the blessing and was healed. He then took the war drum. “How do I get back to the world?” Asked Murenga. “Since you have not travelled through the paths of enlightenment, you must find a certain pool which will lead you back to Huruhuswa. Do not worry I will guide you, but be beware, this land is not for the living.” Said the Jukwa. Murenga and the Jukwa wandered the plains of Nyikadzimu with Ngoma Lungundu. It felt like they were travelling for days in the savannahs of Nyikadzimu; beautiful lands which were full of spirit animals. “Where are the dead people?” Asked Murenga. The Jukwa then looked at the great mountain in the distance without pointing at it. “They are there, at Gomo Ndimambo, the sacred mountain.” Said the Jukwa. “We have been travelling for a long time in its direction, but it feels like we are not getting closer to it at all.” Said Murenga. “That mountain is the seat of Samasimba. It is an aspect of Samasimba himself. He is the lord of all spirits, none who are not meant to get closer to the mountain can get closer to the mountain.” Said the Jukwa. “Does this mean I am not worthy?” Said Murenga. “No, it means it is not your time yet.” Said the Jukwa. The two then arrived at the glittering pool. “This is as far as I can guide you. You must dive into the pool, and you will emerge in Huruhuswa.” Said the Jukwa as it vanished. Murenga was about to dive into the pool, then he started to hear voices calling to him. “Murenga! Murenga!” Said the voices. Murenga looked back to see mambo Mambire, and mambokadzi Danai. “Mother? Father?” Said Murenga. “My son!” Said mambokadzi Danai. Murenga dropped Pfumojena and Ngoma Lungundu and went back to hug them. “My son, we are restless!” Said his mother. “We grow weary, and tired, trying to find the path to the sacred mountain. Our souls are full of anger, and rage, and it is stopping us from moving forward. You must destroy Nyisai, and the snake cult! You must avenge us before we become spirits of Ngozi! Said mambo Mambire. “I promise you, I will avenge you!” Said Murenga. Then a strange fog came and separated them. Murenga was left alone at the pool. He then took Pfumojena and Ngoma Lungundu and went forward to the pool; diving in without hesitation. Murenga then emerge from the sky, above Matonjeni. He started falling and then he landed softly with Pfumojena, and Ngoma Lungundu, on same spot Musikawanhu landed during the creation. Karuwa and and Chiwoko then went to see him. Chapter 4: Chindunduma

“You have it. Ngoma Lungundu…” Said Chiwoko. “You have been gone for days. How was your experience in Nyikadzimu?” Asked Karuwa. “It was strange, but now I can do things I couldn’t do before.” Said Murenga. “You have learned magic?” Asked Karuwa. “We have Ngoma Lngundu, maybe now we can convince ishe Nzou.” Said Chiwoko. As Murenga looked around he notices that there was a dark cloud covering the sky except for the place he appeared from in the sky. “What is this cloud?” Asked Murenga. “As I have said before it is evil magic. Looks like we have no choice but to go under it.” Said Chiwoko. The three then used Chiwoko’s medicine to become invisible and went under the cloud. The cloud started to rain and when the water touched the three, they ceased to be invisible. “This is not normal rain! We have been detected!” Said Chiwoko. As they looked in the sky they saw a group of giant lightning birds coming from a distance. “What are those?” Asked Karuwa. “Those are the impundulus, lightning birds! They are evil creatures which are sent by witches! They can take out an army!” Said Chiwoko. “Quickly! Use the war drum!” Said Karuwa. Murenga gave Chiwoko Pfumojena and started beating Ngoma Lungundu. The lightning which was sent by the great impundulus was blocked. Murenga continued beating Ngoma Lungundu, and it summoned flaming rocks falling from the sky; destroying the impundulus, and the dark cloud. The land around them was ravaged by lightning and fire but Murenga, Karuwa, and Chiwoko were untouched. “Incredible!” Said Chiwoko as he marveled at the power of Ngoma Lungundu. The three travelled to KwaNzou. Upon arrival at dusk they saw that the outskirts of the town were ravaged. Houses and crops were burning. They met a person who ran to them. “Reinforcements, finally!” Said the man. “What happened while we were gone.” Asked Chiwoko. “We were raided from the south by hordes of goblins. They came after the warriors returned from battle. They kept coming, raiding, day after day, for three days straight.” Said the man. “How is the morale? Where is the ishe?” Asked Murenga. “We have lost Chimhuru, and Jinda, our best fighters, in the battle before the raids. Morale is low. Ishe Nzou and Gandaremvura are at the ishe’s homestead recovering. I will take you to them.” Said the man. The three were taken to ishe Samanyanga’s homestead. “Ngoma Lungundu, you have it! Good.” Said ishe Nzou Samanyanga. “We know who betrayed the mambo. It was Nyisai.” Said Murenga. “How do you know this?” Asked ishe Nzou. “I met my parents in Nyikadzimu, they have told me the truth.“ Said Murenga. “Incredible.” Said Ishe Nzou Samanyanga. “Will you lend us your aid in battle?” Asked Murenga. “I will only help you, if you help us defend the town in tomorrow’s raids.” Said the ishe. “Fair enough.” Said Murenga. A warrior then came into the ishe’s house and bowed. “Speak.” Said ishe Nzou Samanyanga. “Ishe, we have followed the goblins as you have commanded. It seems they are being summoned by a witch.” Said the hunter. “Why didn’t you kill this witch?” Asked ishe Nzou. “We tried, but she was too powerful. The goblins were too many. Our hunters were eaten by those evil beasts.” Said the hunter. “The snake cult, they are behind this.” Said Chiwoko. “You did well, son.” Said ishe Nzou Samanyanga. “Murenga, let’s go to the people, they need to be prepared.” Said ishe Nzou. The people were gathered at night in the rain. “People of the Nzou totem! Hear me! Tomorrow we will defend our home. Here is the prince of Huruhuswa. Not is he the heir to the throne of the land but has been chosen by the ancestors to deliver us! All hope is not yet lost, for we have the war drum, Ngoma Lungundu! Let those who watch over in Nyikadzimu envy us tomorrow!” Said ishe Nzou Samanyanga. “Yeah!” Yelled the people. Morning came, and the people were in battle formation. Ready to defend their home, and their lives from the goblin horde. As the sun rose, it illuminated the goblins running towards the town. Murenga took his spear, Pfumojena, and threw it with all his might at the direction of the incoming goblin horde. It landed creating a crater. Murenga then took Ngoma Lungundu and warped to Pfumojena’s location. The goblins started pouring into the crater, however Murenga started beating the war drum. At its sound, the goblins were vanquished, turning into a black smoke. Murenga did not vanquish all of the goblins however, for they were too many. The Nzou people clashed with the goblins and in the chaos of battle, the witch appeared and faced ishe Nzou Samanyanga. “You will pay for crossing me, witch!” Said ishe Nzou. “You will fall on this day, on this battlefield!” Said the witch. The witch then fought with the ishe. As the NZou people were winning with the help of Ngima Lungundu, the witch, using her witchcraft, banished the ishe to the underworld of the Njuzus. Angered, Murenga took Pfumojena and speared her. The remaining goblins were vanquished, and the battle was won. “The battle is won, but our ishe is gone. What are we going to do?” Said Gandaremvura. “Your ishe said he was going to aid me in reclaiming Mbire and destroying the snake cult. You will honor his decision and follow me into battle.” Said Murenga. “Very well my lord.” Said Gandaremvura. Murenga, with the help of Ngoma Lungundu, led the Nzou army across Huruhuswa. He was successful in uniting the land under his leadership as the rightful ruler of the land, and thus he was known as “Sororenzou”, meaning, “the Head of the Elephant”. The only groups which were not united by Murenga were the Shumbas, and the Hungwes. Murenga now had a great number of followers. “What will you do when you have destroyed the snake cult?” Asked Chiwoko. “I will become the next Mambo.” Said Murenga. Murenga then send a messenger to ishe Shumba and ishe Hungwe. “Tell the ishes that they should yield to me or I will have to use force.” Said Murenga. “Yes, my lord.” said the messenger. In a few weeks there was news. “Ishe Hungwe has surrendered and he asked to meet with you.” Murenga then went to meet with ishe Hungwe. He took Ngoma Lungundu with him. They were in a forest which was full of trees. “An ambush?” Said ishe Shoko who was with Murenga. “Attack!” Said ishe Shumba. Ishe Shumba attacked with his lion men, and pet lions, however Murenga used Ngoma Lungundu, and put them all to sleep using the war drum’s power. The only people who remained awake were ishe Shumba and ishe Hungwe; who then surrendered. “Murenga Pfumojena Sororenzou, we surrender. You are the rightful mambo.” Said ishe Hungwe. “Will you return the Shokos’ territory?” Asked Murenga. “… Yes.” Said ishe Hungwe. “Ngoma Lungundu, in all my years I have never seen such a thing. Such power, truly, the ancestors have judged you worthy.” Said ishe Shumba. Murenga Sororenzou and all the ishes of Huruhuswa then went to the land near Mbire and made camp there. They were ready to assault the stone city of Mbire and retake the throne. The whole land around Mbire was covered by a dark cloud, similar to the one at Matonjeni, but this one was not raining. Under its shadow were dead creatures both men, beasts, and birds. Murenga’s war council was meeting in the war camp where all the ishes of Huruhuswa were in attendance, along with Chiwoko and Karuwa and the remaining lion cultists. They were interrupted by a hunter who had been scouting the area. “Speak.” Said Murenga Sororenzou. “My lord, we have investigated the cloud, and it seems that anything that goes under its shadow dies.” Said a hunter. “Dies?” Said Karuwa. “Yes, it just dies.” Said the hunter. “Another form of witchcraft. How do we get through this cloud?” Said Chiwoko. The war council was trying to find a way to remedy the problem, and the lion cultists intervened. “We can remedy this by using Ngoma Lungundu.” Said Karuwa. “Oh, then let’s do it.” Said ishe Shumba. “They went near the cloud, and Murenga beat Ngoma Lungundu, however, nothing happened. “It didn’t work.” Said ishe Shumba. “The war sages of old used to dance to the melody of Ngoma Lungundu. They called this dance the “war dance”. What if we danced to maximize the power of the war drum?” Said Karuwa. “Very well.” Said Murenga. Everyone was ordered to bring their musical instruments, such as drums, and mbiras. They were then ordered to dance and sing to the “war dance”. Murenga started beating Ngoma Lungundu and the people of Hurhuswa performed the war dance. After dance for a while the skies began to be cleared. “It is done. Warriors, ready yourselves! There is no surrender in the battle to come! Ndagara ngoma ini!” Said Murenga Sororenzou. “Chisadza muhomwe!” Yelled ishe Shumba. Murenga and his army marched to the city of Mbire where they were confronted by an army of mind-controlled warriors from the city. They were led by the Mukomohasha, the general. “Men, do not show mercy! You might know some of the warriors on the other side but they are under evil magic! Killing them will be an act of mercy!” Said Murenga Sororenzou. Murenga led the army of Huruhuswa, and they defeated the army of Mbire. “Find Nyisai! And bring him to me alive!” Said Murenga. Murenga then made his way up the hill to the stone palace, using Ngoma Lungundu to defeat his enemies. Chiwoko was close behind him carrying Pfumojena. They went to the hut where they left Murenga’s parents. There they were confronted by Shato. Murenga took back Pfumojena and gave Chwoko the Ngoma Lungundu. Murenga and Shato fought and Murenga ultimately speared Shato. “That’s one down.” Said Murenga. The medicine which Shato used on the warriors wore off and the warriors of Mbire came back to their senses. They surrendered and gave Nyisai to Murenga who then speared him. After order was restored, Murenga Pfumojena Sororenzou was then given the feather crown, and was crowned the mambo of Huruhuswa. He had defeated the usurper and avenged his last mambo and mambokadzi.

The post is compiled and authored by

Aldrin Samadera

Murenga ”The story of a great warrior who inspired Chimurenga’ Murenga Full Story. Chapter 1: Mbire The land of Huruhuswa was a land teaming with wild animals such as lions, and elephants.