#and i guess adam if your spirits haven’t been crushed.

[iamdieterbravo]

SO HOFFMAN IS CONFIRMED TO BE IN SAW X!!!!!

[aadikted]

Winners Keepers

A/N - Ok so until now, I have mostly written on Peter Parker x Reader. But i just had to write on Nick Scratch. I know its Nabrina for life, but a girl can dream, cant she? Special thanks to @darkshadowqueensrule and @miniaturepizzadyedhairfreak​  for helping me and encouraging me! Hope you guys enjoy it! 

Pairing - Nick Scratch x Reader

Enemies to Lovers

W/C - Around 5k!!

Warnings! - Some explicit scenes (no sex) and a lot of snarky retorts!

Enjoy!!

~~~

You and Nick had gotten off to a particularly rocky start. Anyone who knew you knew that you could hold on to a grudge. When you had first met Nick, you had to admit that he was dashing, and you may have developed the tiniest crush on him. I mean, come on, you were a witch after all! But all those admiring thoughts flew out of your head as soon as he had opened his mouth. He was probably the most arrogant and cocky bastard you had the misfortune of meeting. He hadn’t said anything to you, but the way he spoke with the others, you just knew. This was just your first day at the Academy of Unseen Arts, but everyone already knew you. It was quite inevitable, after all, you were Sabrina’s best friend and she was pretty popular here, even if it wasn’t for the right reasons. Sabrina didn’t have this class with you, but you knew you would see her later. Meanwhile, all you could do was marvel at Nick and his big head.

As if sensing that you were staring at him, he turned around and looked at you. He cocked an eyebrow, “See something you like, Y/L/N?”

“Nothing worth seeing here, Scratch.” 

You knew you were treading dangerous waters, but you couldn’t help yourself. Both of you maintained eye contact with each other, as though you were under a spell, and suddenly the moment was broken by the entrance of Lady Blackwood. 

“Now students, I expect that you all have memorized the lyrics of the song?” 

“Good.” She exclaimed as all the students nodded.  “Miss Y/L/N, please sing the first verse.”

You could feel everyone's eyes turn towards you and you decided that it was better to die than being in the limelight. You could see the weird sisters looking at you. They looked like predators, just waiting to hound on the unassuming prey. But what really irritated you, was the way Scratch was smirking at you. Like he knew that he knew that you would fail. This ignited a fire inside you and you decided right then and there, that no matter what, you would never let that asshole have the satisfaction of seeing you fail. 

Taking a deep breath and steadying your nerves, you started singing- 

“It's time we put our love behind you 

The illusion has been just a dream 

The valley of death and I'll find you 

Now is when on a sunshine beam

So bring all the young perfection 

For there us shall surely be

No clothing, tears, or hunger 

You can see, you can see, you can be”

You gave yourself to music and the notes. You were so engrossed in your singing that you didn’t notice that Nick was staring at you. 

~

Nick was enthralled. Your voice had captured his soul and he felt...light, as though he was floating in the air. If he hadn’t known any better, he would have thought that you were a siren, lulling unsuspecting victims into your trap. Nick, would never admit this, but when he had felt someone staring at him, he had totally expected it would either be one of the weird sisters or some guy who didn’t like him. He never expected that he would be looking at you. He was rendered speechless by you. It was not your beauty that captured his eyes, but the way you carried yourself. Your eyes looked as though they could drown someone in its depths. Your stance declared that you would not kneel to anyone and your lips looked like they could kill with just words. He was unnerved by what you made him feel, and in an effort to seem cool he opened his damned mouth and released a string of words. 

“See something you like, Y/L/N?” 

He cursed himself as soon as the words left his mouth. There was no way that that was playing it off cool.

“Nothing worth seeing here, Scratch.”

Ah! He should have expected this. She had a mouth on her. This just made her seem more interesting. He was unable to take his eyes off her and their eyes met, as though in a match to see who would emerge victoriously. Before a conclusion could be reached, they were interrupted by Lady Blackwood. She asked Y/L/N to sing the first verse. 

This is going to be interesting. He thought to himself. He couldn’t help but smirk. She looked like a deer caught in headlights. Guess the confidence was just in her posture. 

Suddenly, she threw a look at him, and then, it was as though another spirit had entered her body. She gathered herself and prepared to sing. She looked captivating as hell and he could only stare at her. He imagined he looked quite ridiculous then. He felt ridiculous. But it was impossible to rip his eyes away from her. She demanded attention, even if she didn’t want it. And then, she began singing.

~

You held your breath as soon as you finished the song. It felt that if you took even a single breath then everything would come crashing down on you. However, Lady Blackwood had no such trepidation.

“Oh my! That was rather...well done.”

You finally allowed yourself to sigh in relief and looked around you. Your eyes caught Nick’s, but you diverted them as soon as they met and in doing so you missed the soft, admiring smile which graced his face.

Fortunately, the rest of the class passed without an incident, and you were practically sagging with relief as you made your way to the Cafeteria where Sabrina was waiting for you. 

“Y/N/N!” She exclaimed as she waved you over. “Survived your first day I see?”

“Hardly. Most of the classes went fine, but Singing was horrible!” 

‘Lady Blackwood? She made you sing too?”

“Yeah, by myself too! As if my crippling anxiety and awkwardness weren’t apparent enough. 

Sabrina let out a laugh and just shrugged as if to say, School can be the worst. You gladly agreed with that.

You both continued to talk about your day but were then interrupted by Nick. 

“Nick!” Sabrina happily exclaimed as you made a face upon his entrance.

“Hey ‘brina.”

“Y/L/N.” he acknowledged you with a nod

“Scratch.” You replied coldly. 

Sabrina finally caught up on the tension between you. Too scared to address it, she continued to talk as though nothing had occurred. However, you were too busy staring daggers at Scratch to even listen to what she was saying. From the looks of it, Nick wasn’t paying attention to her too. 

Sabrina finally gave up and decided to address the elephant in the room. 

“I gather you have both met before?”

“It would be hard to forget that meeting” You replied from with a grimace.

 Nick just ignored her question.

“I see you are just as pleasant as ever Y/L/N.”

“Couldn’t find any other table which could accommodate your big head, could you Scratch?” You casually replied as you turned away from him.

“You know, you should come with a warning label. So that people know that you are just as snarky as you are pretty.”

There was a beat of silence. Sabrina looked like she couldn’t breathe, while Nick looked horrified when he realized what he had just spoken. You, on the other hand, were downright gleeful at this opportunity.

“You think I am pretty, lover boy?” You smirked. 

“No, I just think you are pretty dumb.” He retorts in the most flustered and juvenile manner. 

You can't help the smirk which was growing on your face. You felt evil and you liked that. 

“Are you sure, lover boy? The only one dumb around here would be you. I did beat you in singing today!” You sniggered.

Pfft, please! That was just singing. You are nowhere near as capable as I am and you never will be. 

The way he said that angered you. How dare he insinuate that you were not as capable as him.

While these thoughts raced through your mind, Nick just stared at you in awe. He knew that he was getting on your nerves, but it excited him. The way your eyes flashed, how your expressions changed just as swiftly as the conversation. If you had been any other person, he would have asked you out immediately. But you weren’t any other person, and he liked that about you. What he couldn’t seem to figure out though, was why you were so angry and annoyed with him. He hadn’t done anything when he had first met you. Sure, he had said a couple of things now, but you had been aggravated with him long before that. He knew he would never be able to get close to you the way he wanted. To get you flushed for him. To make you scream his name in pleasure and to make you hot for him. But he knew that you would never allow that. At least, not yet. So for now, he had to be content in just seeing you flush out of pure rage, to hear you scream his name from frustration and get hot and bothered by him. 

His thoughts were interrupted when you stood up and slammed your hand on the counter. Fortunately, it wasn’t loud enough for the other students to take notice. However, you couldn’t care less even if the entire world could hear your proclamation. 

“I warn you Scratch, you will be begging for mercy before the year is through and you will regret ever saying that I wasn’t as capable as you.”

“I assure you, darling, I won't be the one begging.”

If looks could kill, Nicholas Scratch would have been one very dead man. 

“Dream on, lover boy.”

“Is your drama going to have an intermission soon, darling?” Nick teased.

You just gave him an evil smile, 

Oh lover boy, the curtains haven’t even risen yet. 

~

You had meant every word you had said to Nick that day and you were adamant to prove that to him. You studied hard and practised every spell you could get your hands on, even the ones which weren’t in the syllabus. You were the youngest in the school, and Nick had been there for such a long time. You would be damned if you couldn’t beat him. 

Nick knew that you had been perfectly serious and had no intention of losing without a fair fight. He also started studying and revising. 

There was an undeniable shift in the air between the both of you. There was palpable tension and everyone could feel it. The competition between you just continued to grow and everyone was roped into it. Sabrina was shocked to see you so serious, but you were her best friend and she supported you. She became your study partner and you both tackled studies together. 

You and Nick spent most of your time in the library studying, Sabrina had other things to deal with, and you didn’t force her to join you. However, you would have preferred it, especially since lover boy had decided to torture you more by sitting next to you in the library. You never conversed with him, even if he tried to. 

One such day, you were doing your work in the library when you were interrupted by Nick.

“Your solution is wrong.”

“Funny. I don’t remember asking for your help.” you snarked back.

“Come on Y/L/N, wouldn’t it be just easier if we tried to get along?”

“No, and you shouldn’t even be here.”

“Why not,” he asked

“Because I don’t want you here.” 

Nick gave a sigh of resignation and just left the library. He really liked Y/N, and so he couldn’t bear to see her working herself to death.

You felt a twinge of guilt as you watched him leave. Maybe you had been too harsh, but you couldn’t help it. You had to pass. Failing wasn’t an option

The next day, you went to class with a determined stance. You would prove it to him. Your hand shot up in the air to answer before the teacher had even finished asking the question.

Yes, Miss Y/L/N?

You confidently gave the correct answer and turned back to throw a victorious smile to Nick. But you were surprised to see that he had never raised his hand. Maybe he didn’t know the answer, you mused.

However, when the rest of the day passed in a similar fashion you knew that he was doing this intentionally. With each passing hour, you grew more and more frustrated until you couldn’t hold it back anymore.

It confused you, you couldn’t understand why you were so frustrated by this. You should have been happy that he had given up, cause that meant that you had won. But, this felt empty and bad. That was when you realized that it wasn’t the competition you had been craving, but him and his company. The realization that you actually liked that fucker hit you like a bolt of lightning. You suddenly couldn’t breathe and had to lean against the wall to support yourself. How could you actually like him!? He had constantly made stupid remarks and his ego was so inflated that you actually wondered whether he would burst! But, even as you thought that, you started thinking about how he was nice with everyone around him. He helped the slower students and he was always courteous with everyone. Maybe you had been too quick to judge him. Sure, he got on your nerves and constantly rubbed off your wrong side, but he hadn’t been mean to you. You took a shuddering breath as you realized how wrong you had been. You groaned as you realized that you now owed him an apology, but only for being mean to him first.  You would never apologise for trying to best him because that was something he was responsible for. Your feelings for him was something you didn’t want to address yet. It would fuck up your already fucked up life. 

As soon as the school ended you made your way towards the library and waited for Nick. When he started passing by the door you grabbed him by the collar and pulled him inside a secluded corner as you slammed the door shut.

The surprised expression on his face would have been rather comical, had you not been mad at him.

“What do you think you are doing!?” You practically growled at him.

“I honestly have no idea right now”

“Don’t play smart with me,” you snapped, “Why haven’t you been answering the questions?

“Because I don't care anymore!

Any thoughts you previously had about apologising to him flew out of your mind. 

“What do you mean you don't care anymore?” You inhaled sharply, “You started this entire thing!”

“I didn’t know that you were going to make yourself crazy over this!”

Why do you care whether I make myself crazy over this? You started it and you are going to finish it!

Nick just pinched the bridge of his nose and exhaled, “I am not doing this Y/N.”

“Why did you start this then?”

“Because I didn’t know how else to get you to talk to me!” He finally shouted.

A queer silence descended between the both of you. He looked at you as though waiting to see your reaction. That was when you noticed how close you were standing to each other. Your bodies were practically touching, and your breaths were intermingling. You couldn’t stop your eyes from drifting to his lips. You lashes fluttered as you looked back up to him, only to see that he was staring at your lips too. You couldn’t hold back anymore. You rose on your tiptoes and kissed him. For a moment he didn’t kiss you back, and you felt like your hopes were drowning. Maybe he didn’t like you that way. But then, you felt his lips move against yours. Your hands weaved through his hair and his encircled your waist. You jumped off the ground and wrapped your legs around his waist, ankles crossed to support yourself. Your mouth never left his as he turned around and you felt your back hit the wall. It didn’t hurt you, but you just held him more tightly. Your tongues clashed and you could taste him on your mouth. His lips then left your mouth even though you didn’t want it to and he placed kisses on your neck. You both were heaving from breathlessness, but you didn’t let that deter you. You placed kisses on his cheek and felt his hands travelling up and down your waist ever so slightly brushing against the underside of your breasts. You threw your head back in pleasure as you felt him getting bolder and travelling further down your neck. His hands brushed against the sleeve of your top, but before he could push it down, the door flew open and you both parted as though struck by lightning. You turned around to see Sabrina staring at you with wide eyes. 

“What the fuck happened here?”

You tried to control your breathing, and you could see that Nick was doing that too. Thoughts raced through your mind as you tried to explain the situation. 

Did he regret it? Did you overstep any boundaries? You had practically attacked him and did not even give him a chance to say. With every such thought, you were getting more and more horrified. Your feelings must have been written all over your face, and Nick easily read them, however, he thought that you were horrified at the thought of having kissed him. He felt as though someone had ripped his heart from his chest. In a quiet voice, he answered Sabrina’s question, 

“Nothing.”

Nothing. That word broke your heart. Nothing. That’s what you meant to him. Nothing. That’s what had happened between you two. Nothing. That’s what would ever happen between you two. That word conveyed more than enough about what you meant to him.

“I need to go.” You said, as your voice broke over the last two words.

You rushed out before anyone could see the tears streaming down your face. You could hear Sabrina following you out, asking you to stop. But you didn’t stop until you reached your home, where you finally broke down in the arms of your best friend

~ 

Nick watched in devastation as you rushed off. He thought that when you had kissed him, it was because you had actually felt something for him. But upon seeing your reaction when Sabrina stumble upon the both of you, he knew that it was pointless. With a sigh of resignation, he started making his way out of the room. Before he could do so, however, he was stopped by a hand on his chest. 

Well, well, well. Looks what the cat dragged in. Heard you and Y/N finally decided to fuck the life out of each other.

“You have the rest of your life to be a jerk, Agatha, why don’t you take the day off?”

“Ooh. Snarky! I like that.” Agatha exclaimed as she fingered the collar of his shirt. “Why don’t you forget about her and let me show you a good time?”

Nick’s patience was thinning fast. He grabbed her hands off his body. “I don't have time for this Agatha.”

“Fine,” she said as she smiled evilly. But don’t come running back to me or my sisters when that bitch leaves you.”

She turned around and left the room, leaving Nick alone to ponder about everything that had just conspired. 

~

“What happened Y/N?”

“I kissed him”

There was a beat of silence.

“And he kissed me back.”

More silence. 

“Say something.” You pleaded as you looked at Sabrina. You both were sitting on her bed. You didn’t want to be in your house with your snoopy siblings, so you had begged Sabrina to have this conversation at her home. Sabrina was naturally dying to know what had happened so she readily agreed. 

Finally, she spoke, “I thought you hated him.”

“I thought so too.” You sniffled, “but I guess I got so caught up in the stupid competition that I didn't even realize when my feelings for him started changing. But it doesn’t even matter now. He doesn’t like me back the way I do. I was nothing to him.”

Sabrina felt helpless as she looked at you. 

“You should forget about him. You deserve someone who actually likes and doesn't just use you as a pastime. You deserve more Y/N”

You knew that what Sabrina was saying was correct but you couldn’t forget about Nick so easily. You needed some time alone.

“You’re right,” you said as you stood up from the bed. “I do deserve more, I just need som-some time ’brina. I’ll see you tomorrow, kay?”

Sabrina just nodded as she watched you leave.

Back in your home, you took a bath trying to forget about everything that had happened today. You scrubbed your body as though trying to forget about how he had touched you. How his hands had roamed on your body. How his kisses felt on your skin. The way he had kissed you, the way it felt when you touched him. Needless to say, the bath hadn’t helped at all. You came out of the bathroom more frustrated than ever and as you crossed your room something caught your eye. You turned around and saw your reflection in the full-length mirror. It wasn’t your nakedness that made you feel vulnerable, but the marks that had been left on your body. Love marks, you realized. Your neck was peppered with his love marks and it just served to make you sadder. Your fingers brushed against the marks and you thought that you could still feel the way he had touched and kissed you. You were startled out of your daze when you heard someone say your name. 

“Y/N”

You were shocked to find Nick staring at you and for a moment you were frozen. It was only when you noticed him averting his eyes, did you remember you were naked. Gasping, you quickly wrapped your towel around your body and stared at him

“Nick! What-how are you here?”

“Well, I am not really here. I’m astral projecting”

“Praise Satan! You can’t just do that. I was naked when you came into my room!” 

“I did enjoy the view though.” He joked, trying to lighten the mood. 

You felt your blood boil. He had no right to do that. To joke as though you were the best of friends, as though nothing had happened.

“Stop!” you practically screamed, “You, you can't just do that!” 

“Sorry, I was just trying to-”

“I know what you were trying to do.” you cut him off before you could finish. “But I mean nothing to you. You don’t get to kiss me and touch me and then just leave.” 

“You were the one who left.” He retorted

“Only because you said it meant nothing to you.”

“I didn’t mean that! Sabrina just startled me with her entrance and I said the first thing that came to my mind.” 

“Go away, Nick”

Nick inhaled sharply when he heard his name on your lips for the first time. 

“Why do you care so much about what I said”

“Does it matter?” You said resignedly “Why are you here?”

“To tell you that I don’t want to leave this time. 

You froze, worried that if you moved then whatever trance this was, would break.

“I want to go out with you. I want to kiss you and touch you. And I don’t want all that while we are hiding in the darkest corner of the library.”

You could hardly breathe. He wanted the same things that you did. If this was some kind of cruel trick then you would kill whoever was responsible. As you were thinking about that you realized that he had stopped speaking, waiting for your response

“Y/N, please, say something.”

Do you really want that? you said breathlessly like you couldn’t believe it.

“All of it. And all of you.” He smiled as he continued, “From the moment I met you, I was enchanted by you. Everything you did, captivated me. I wanted to talk to you but I was rendered speechless and somehow the first things that came from my mouth, were insults. Then, I guess you hated me and I knew that you would never talk to me. So, I tried to irritate you and mock you. I never meant to start this stupid competition but it was worth it if it meant that you would at least look at me, so I went along with it. Today, when you kissed me, I was afraid that if I stopped you would leave me. And then you did leave me. But I don’t want to leave now, not unless you want me to.” 

His entire monologue felt like a breath of fresh air. You felt like you could finally breathe again. As soon as he finished, he looked at you with hopeful eyes. 

A small smile graced your face, “I owe you an apology too. I judged you way too harshly, even before I knew you. During the entire competition, my only goal was to make you lose, but I couldn’t help but see how kind you were to everyone else. How intelligent you were and how much fun I had whenever we were competing. Every time I was away from you, I was craving for your snarky remarks and when you laughed that stupid laugh of yours whenever I said something even marginally funny. I don’t want to leave, nor do I want you to leave”. 

You were smiling so much that it hurt, but it was all worth it to listen to his laugh as you talked. There was a moment of silence when you finished speaking. 

“Do you really want all that?” He asked as if he still couldn’t believe what he was hearing. 

“I do,” you confirmed. “I wish I could touch you right now.”

“Me too. Would-would you mind coming out to the academy right now?” He asked in an unsure tone, afraid that you would say no.

Your smile grew, even though you thought that wasn’t possible. 

“Race you to the tree on the boundary?”

‘You’re on!’

Nick vanished, and you gave a disbelieving sigh, still only partially convinced that all this was a real. You quickly grabbed and wore the clothes you had laid out, and rushed from the back door towards the academy. 

You hadn’t expected that you would reach the tree before him and therefore you weren’t surprised when you saw him waiting there for you. As if sensing that you were approaching, he turned around and his face broke into a smile. You rushed towards him and threw yourself on him, hugging him with all your might.

“I was half-convinced that I was dreaming.” You confessed to him.

“Dream of me a lot, do you?” He asked you in a teasing tone. 

You laughed and pulled back from the hug, and instead leaned in, joining your foreheads. “I’m glad you are still the same cocky bastard.”

He smiled at your teasing and grabbed your hand, weaving his fingers through yours.

“I like the way your hand fits in mine.” He said bashfully.

You smiled and leaned in to kiss him, “You know...I can kiss better than you, lover boy...!”

You felt him silently laugh against your lips, “We’ll just see about that, darling.”

~~~

Congrats! You reached the end! I hope you liked it! Feel free to leave me comments and send some asks and love!!

[hit-me-with-a-ladle]

Ch.9 Creepypastas x Fem! reader

" Now, the first thing I'm going to be making very clear is. This isn't Harry Potter or whatever. You don't have a magic wand that you can wave and 'poof' all of your issues are gone. The only way you can cast spells is by studying a very old book that you humans know as a 'Grimoire'. Which, let me tell you, is super hard to learn so that's why we're starting out with potions. I'm not saying it is easy but you understand."

The girl began to vigorously take notes as she listened and watched him fill the cauldron up with water, putting it to a boil.

" So with that put aside, let's start talking about potion-making itself. Potions don't always have to be magical but to calm the soul in a way. Each potion's strength is dictated by what you put in it so, if you were to make a, I don't know, a power potion. Deciding what you put in it can define its overall effectiveness and strength. So for example, if you put peppermint instead of sage you'll get a weaker overall result. And also the time its effects will reduce significantly."

He spoke quickly and very precisely, the way he articulated and carried himself showed that he was in his element. He began to cut different plants with a sharp silver blade and put it in the cauldron, stirring it once in a while.

" You most likely know that it takes more than a few ingredients to make an effective potion, so that's why experimenting is crucial. Mixing and matching different ingredients, not just for the hell of it but with a purpose, will help you improve. But to do that you'll need the basic knowledge of what, most, of the things, you're using do. I don't have all of the herbs and plants that exist, I have a very small portion in fact. This little cottage was built by me for the sole reason to have a place to store things you'll need to, well basically, survive."

He was quick with his movements as he looked through the shelves packed with different jars and glass bottles filled with different coloured liquids. Reading the labels that were neatly put on each of them, searching for something. She thoroughly took notes as she listened to him talk.

" So you actually made this by yourself?" She asked surprised.

" Yeah mostly, I had some help from Jack. He knows his way around that kind of stuff. But everything else is made by me."

" Are you and him on good terms?"

" Yeah, you can say that we are. He's alright, very chill dude, calm, lever headed. Sadistic, yes, but he would never hurt someone he cares for too much. He loves messing with people. But Jesus doesn't get him mad. It's very hard to get under his skin, but the moment you do, it's over for you. I've seen him crush people's skulls with one hand. He got in a fight with Masky once, broke his arm like it was a twig. Got in huge trouble with The Operator for that, after that incident things between them haven't been the same."

" What did they fight for?"

" Not sure, I wasn't there when that happened, but it's most likely Masky's fault."

He shrugged as he carried on with work, the girl was deep in thought now, curious of why they fought. Hearing the snapping of fingers quickly averting her attention to Ben who now carried on with this lesson.

" Hey listen so you'll know what the hell you'll be doing for the next week."

" Sorry."

" Great. Now, where was I? Oh yeah, each of these ingredients has its own magical properties, some even have multiple uses. For example, this is one you'll most likely know." Holding up a purple plant in his right hand, twirling it in his fingers. " Is lavender, the main reason someone might use it is for warding off evil spirits and whatnot, but it can also be used for purification if used correctly. Understand what I mean?"

The girl began to shake her head as she took notes. He crushed the lavender in his hand and added it to the cauldron. Now that she thought about it. What exactly was he making all this time? Her eyes followed his lengthy form as he strolled through the cottage getting what he needed or put things back in its place. At times he would stand in front of the large bookshelves and search for certain books, comb through them, read what he needed to find and place it back in its place. He was truly in his element, his posture now perfect and he was dead concentrated on what he was doing. Seemed to have the placement of everything memorized to a T. It was nice in a way, he knew what he was doing and it showed.

" I don't have much to say really. Course, I didn't tell you everything, you have much more to learn but for now that is enough I think. So if you have anything you want to ask, go ahead." He said continuing with his business.

" Actually I do. So the Raskovnik, what does it exactly do? Masky was very adamant about me getting it so why exactly is it so important."

" Oh well, it's not that it's very important, it's just that I really need it. Used up the last of it I had a while back so I asked if he could get some. This stuffs super hard to find, ya gotta have a good ass eye to even notice it, I'm surprised you were able to even find it. And as for what it's used for according to lore I've heard, Raskovnik has the magical property to unlock or uncover anything that is locked or closed. Needed it for a potion I'm making and ran out. It's not the most powerful but it's still super effective."

" So it's able to unlock basically anything right."

" Yeah pretty much."

" So how do you use it?"

" You can use it in a bunch of ways, but the most effective way for me is in a liquidated state, I guess. you'll learn how to do that, don't worry."

A new sense of hope soared through the girl's body when she heard its usage. There was a way to leave. A small smile crossed her lips as she looked into her hands. Roughly scribbled on the pages were the many notes she took.

" Done."

Ben solemnly said, making her look at him in confusion. He approached one of the shelves and took out a wooden cup. Dipping it in the cauldron, filling it up to the top and handing it to the girl. She took it in her hands, careful not to spill it, now even more confused than before.

" Drink it." He said.

" What's this?" She asked.

"It's meant to help your wounds. They seem a little uncomfortable, so I thought it would be best for some of them to heal. Now it might not fully heal some larger wounds. But overall it helps with medium-sized cuts and bruises and reduces pain and blood loss."

Muttering a soft 'Thank you.' She drank the whole thing at once. It barely had a taste but there were chunks of different things that made the texture strange and unpleasant. Like drinking a thick crema. When she finished she felt tingling in her neck, legs and arms as the skin began to twitch. After about five minutes that gash on her neck was almost gully gone. The discomfort on her arms and legs was now non-existent. And a wave of confidence washed over Ben when he saw the result of his work.

" I feel really good. Thank you." She spoke up as she touched her neck. " Can we go now?"

" Yeah sure."

He answered, nearing the door and opening it up for them to leave. Walking outside about to leave he quickly stopped himself.

" Wait, I forgot something inside, you go ahead and I'll catch up to you."

With that, he ran into the cottage once more. Searching for something. The sounds of bottles colliding and papers being put aside were soon heard as he dug through his belongings. The girl only laughed and carried on. After a few minutes, Ben caught up to her and together they walked towards the cabin. Finally reaching it she walked in and was about to go and make herself something to eat. Ben grabbed her by the shoulder and stopped her. She looked at him confused and before she could ask he pulled out a small necklace from his pocket. Locking eyes with her.

" I made this a while back. It's a charm meant to protect the wearer, and as you're going to be guarding the whole forest you'll be the one needing it most."

He then began to put it on her neck. When he was done she got a better look at it. It was a chain necklace with a tiny glass bottle hanging inside. Inside was some sort of green herb.

" What's inside of it?"

"Rosemary." He flashed his signature creepy smile.

[starr-fall-knight-rise]

Humans are Space Orcs, “Confessions.”

Busy day, so just something quick for you :) 

“And so you see, it turns out that Senator Palpatine was Darth Sidious the entire time, and he manipulated the entire system into voting him in as emperor using Anikin to destroy the Jedi council and the next generation of Jedi in training thus securing his position as the most powerful man in the galaxy.” 

Sunny turned her head to Look at Adam Who rested against one of her shoulders using the armor slots in her back to support his weight as they walked through the halls. Their time in warp space was generally a very relaxed time, seeing as most operations aboard the ship were generally entirely automated leaving him with no captaining duties, and her with no security duties.

Taking walks had kind of turned into their thing, and Adam seemed determined to catch her up on the last two thousand years of popular science fiction. He swore that he had copies of all of these movies somewhere, but knowing how Adam was with organization, she doubted he would ever find it.

So far though she had heard fantastic tales everywhere from hard core touristic science fiction to space westerns to weird crosses of satirized science fiction disguised as serious science fiction. She wondered if he realized that he didn’t need all the science fiction geekery considering that he was actually captaining a space ship….

But then again she liked listening to him, so saw no reason to stop him. 

There was a silence for a moment before.

“What about the Drev? Do you guys have any stories, myths, oral traditions, anything like that?”

Sunny shrugged thinking, “Not to the degree that humans do, most of it is simply religious in nature to do with creation and the spirits, and how the different fighting styles were discovered”

“Well that sounds interesting. We talking like Kung Fu master meditates in a cave for forty years sort of thing…. Or am i being sacrilegious?”

She laughed, “No, to both. There isn’t a lot of discussion about the topic, they were warriors…. Generally saints, I guess you could say, and mostly the stories follow the same general structure. Their great clan is being threatened by an uprising power, and it seems as if their greater weaponry and numbers are going to destroy the saint’s home, so in a cry of desperation to the spirits, he wanders off into the wilderness. Generally it follows that he, or she, catches sight of a flame, a spore carried on a gust of wind, or the trickling of a stream, and in it they see some sort of movement that reminds them of fighting. Following the prompting of the spirits, and the movement of, whatever it is, they slowly develop a fighting style that is just enough to break the battle and bring their clan to victory.”

He tilted his head before raising his hand.

She shook her head, “Yes, you on the back.”

“He kneed her in the ribs for that before, “Hold on, I was under the impression that there was a fighting style for stone.”

“Yes.”

“So you're telling me that some poor sod was out waiting for the spirits to give him a premonition and he saw…. A rock.”

Sunny laughed, “No! It's not like that.”

He grinned and continued, “And he emulated the movement of the rock.”

“Stop being such a bastard.” She snorted, “It was a mountain, and he noticed the natural veins running through the stone, and the hard lines that they made with each other, ad emulated THAT.”

“Maybe he thought if he stood still long enough, he could confuse them.”

She shook her head at him, and he laughed, “So, what fighting style is your favorite?”

“I don’t know….” She paused, “Good question, problem is that most of the styles were made for people a lot bigger and a lot better at fighting than me. I know you don’t think so, but I’m not exactly a talented fighter.”

He shrugged, “Good, me neither.”

She stopped abruptly nearly flinging him over her shoulder and onto the floor. He would have gone over if he hadn’t grabbed her by the shoulders, “woah there, trying to throw me off now?”

She had her head turned down one of the nearby hallways, and he turned to follow her. A warm sort of orange light was spilling down from the mess hall, and from it, she could hear the roaring of laughter.

They exchanged looks.

“Should we go check it out.”

He nodded, and, still carrying him, they walked down the hall and into the large open room. What they found was a large group of humans gathered around the central table. The laughter came in bursts between moments of narrative form one of the crew members.

Adam leaped down from her back and walked with her across the floor.

Everyone looked up as he approached.

“Alright, what’s so funny, ad why haven't I been invited?” A group of people moved aside to give them a seat.

“Because we were talking about you of course.” Mav said from where she was sitting criss-cross on the table.

“Probably about how handsome and charismatic I am.” he announced taking a seat

She laughed, “Yeah, sure just that, you caught us.”

Ramirez waved a hand and Krill, who popped up from nowhere gave explanation, “Apparently the humans have found an online database full of anonymous embarrassing confessions, and someone made a… what was it… a thread for the ship, They are very funny.”

Adam raised an eyebrow and looked at sunny, “Oh, now I am intrigued.” 

Narobi reached out a hand handing him over the data screen they had been using, “Go on Commander,take a look.”

He glanced down at the screen expectantly one eyebrow raising, “At least once a week I find that I, without fail, accidentally fall asleep on the toilet. I don’t know why it happens, but the last time it happened I miss the announcement that we were coming out of warp and ended up face first on the bathroom floor with my pants around my ankles. It hurt a lot, but I didn’t go to the Doc because I knew he’d ask questions. I will probably have back pain for the rest of my life or until this deployment eds because I am too embarrassed to tell anyone,”

There was an eruption of giggling around the room.

The commander sighed, “Well now what is my boss gonna think when he sees we have installed seat belts on the toilets because of this guy. 

“I am afraid of space, I think I picked the wrong profession, the problem is, I love the work environment and don’t want to leave.” 

The commander looked up, “Ouch son, I am sure we can make life more miserable if it would make you feel more vindicated, jk I’m not going to do that.”

“My favorite era of clothing in 1700s ball gowns, problem is I am a very large man, and have always been too embarrassed by my size to go get one tailored. I think I would look awesome, but I am afraid what the tailors would think about me wasting their time.”

“Mmm, to bad, If you’re here Anon, I support your goals in life. Or lean to sew, whichever comes first.” 

“I don’t know how to tie my shoes. I grew up in a household with very forward fashion, and none of the new shoes have laces, but after joining the army, where all the shoes have laces, I have always been too scared to ask how. I just always shove the ends in my boots and hope no one notices.” 

More giggling.

“I had never thought that that could be a problem.” the captain Said nodding down at the data tablet, “makes sense though, promise I will teach you how to tie your shoes if you want to know, or you could look up some videos.”

Smiling 

He glanced back down, “I can’t poop unless I take my pants completely off, the only problem is, I have to wear a jumpsuit for work, so when I want to go to the bathroom, I have to be practically naked. No one knows about this, not even my wife.”

“Gota make sure you’re movement  isn’t restricted eh?” Came the next giggled comment. 

“Mmm, honestly I would be way to worried about there being an emergency and having to run out pantsless.”  the commander shrugged, “Lets just go ahead and say that I am perfectly fine with my clothing where it is thank you very much.”

Sunny peered over his shoulder to read the next comment doing the Drev equivalent to raising an eyebrow before reading out loud, “I am in love with my boss, but of course I can’t say anything, so they will never, ever know.”

The commander frowned, “Wow, that is sad. That’s making me said, quick, read another funny one.”

“I did it, I ate all the ice cream sandwiches, but to be honest, I had no idea they were for a thing, and just sort of ate them over a period of a few months. I would apologize, but I think I’d get kicked off the ship for such an offence. I’m Sorry commander, but my crime will remain anonymous.”

“You better keep it anonymous.” The commander grumbled, “You'd at least be demoted for that offence.

“When I was a teenager, I once spent a whole night in jail for trespassing because I went to my crushes house to see if I could get her to come out with me. Of course I threw some rocks at her  window to get her attention, however it turned out not to be her window, but her dad’s window….. He is a very fast sprinter.”

The commander looked up at Sunny, “that is a teenage experience I never had, and I am finding that maybe it was a good thing.”

HE looked back down at the data pad, “I flex in front of the mirror every morning  to get myself in the groove.”

The commander shrugged, “Ok, but who doesn't do that, seems like a perfectly healthy pass time to me.”

Sunny took the next one, “I am not a human, but I am a male, so one day I accidentally walked in one one of my female human friends changing. No big deal, but I saw a boob, and I feel really bad about invading her privacy. Can someone help? I don’t know what to do. I think this is a bad thing, but I don’t know the social rules of human conduct.”

That spurred a round of giggling form the humans.

“So wholesome and sweet.” Someone commented

“Don't worry, I’m sure she understands if it was an accident.” 

Commander Vir leaned back in his seat and cleared his throat to read the next one, “I am in love with my best friend, but don’t know how to go about telling them. I am worried that they would reject me and that everyone would think I am gross or weird.”

“That is also sad, come on guys why are you being so sad.”

The crew shrugged and laughed some more.

“I don’t know my left from my right, it is a legitimate medical problem or so I am told, I just never got the hang of it. The only problem is I am an engineer and directionality becomes kind of important when you are helping to maintain the warp core.”

The commander looked up from the data pad, “Well we haven't all died yet, so they must be doing a good job. Though wow guys. “ He grinned, “You’re all some serious social deviants, especially the dude who falls asleep on the jon. You really need to get that checked out.

[dweetwise]

day 21: i don’t feel so well

prompt from: whumptober pairing: felix x ace notes: the hanahaki au nobody asked for. i’m still a little confused about the trope but i tried <3 warnings: descriptions of illness, injury and blood, temporary character death word count: 3130

“That was awesome! She didn't stand a chance!” Steve cheers.

“That's what she gets for camping. What a bitch!” Nea laughs

Ace grins despite the pain, steadying himself against Jeff's sturdy form while the four of them are making their way back to the campfire after a successful trial.

His head is swimming and there's blood staining his teeth, his back stinging from numerous bloody gashes from the killer's katana. But he's alive, even if he had to crawl out through the exit, his teammates not letting the Spirit secure the kill on him.

When they get back to camp, Steve and Nea are off to spin the tale of their rescue to the others, and Ace can't help but smile when they generously color the experience; just like he would.

Jeff supports him to sit down against one of the logs, offering a somewhat awkward "There you go, buddy" in encouragement.

Ace sees Quentin hand Claudette one of his med-kits and then the group's resident healer approaches him with determined steps.

“Hey, sweetheart—” Ace starts with a grin.

“Stalling isn't going to work,” Claudette shoots him down quickly, seeing right through his act. So Ace sighs dramatically and shrugs off his jacket, and the girl immediately hikes up his shirt to start cleaning the wounds on his back.

Ace hisses from the sting of some kind of alcohol, turning his attention back to the others to try to distract himself from the pain.

Most of the others are listening to to Steve's and Nea's story while the rest are scattered around camp, doing their own things. Kate is tuning her guitar, Jake is stocking one of his toolboxes, and Cheryl seems to be practicing the card trick Ace taught her a couple of days ago.

And then there's Felix.

Finally giving himself permission to look at the handsome German, Ace's heart immediately starts beating faster. He's not even doing anything, just sitting by the fire engrossed in a conversation with Zarina, but Ace is so infatuated even just Felix breathing is almost enough to make him blush.

He thought he was too old for schoolboy crushes like these, but then again how could he not fancy Felix? The guy has some absolutely god-tier genes, a chiseled face and ice blue eyes and a body to die for. He’s also smart, and sophisticated, and filthy rich.

And god knows none of those qualities had ever been Ace's strong suit.

At first Ace had thought his hyperfixation on the man was jealousy, but then his body showed him that was definitely not the case; he didn't want to be Felix, he wanted to be in Felix. The realization didn't phase him as much as it maybe should have, because even the straight-as-a-board Ash had commented on Felix's good looks. And Ace sure as hell wasn't even straight to begin with.

No, his panic had come from when he'd caught himself looking at couples like Jeff and Adam being mushy together and imagined himself and Felix in their place.

Ace had a healthy amount of confidence, though the others might not describe it that kindly, but he wasn't blind. Felix was younger than him, maybe not by an impossible amount but still enough to be noticeable. He was also model-tier gorgeous with a body to match, and while Ace wasn't bad-looking he also had a crooked nose and a build solely used for drinking and gambling.

All in all, he recognized when someone was out of his league, and even though he couldn't resist a cheeky flirt ever now and then, he knew his feelings would never be returned.

But he still allowed himself to look; sue him.

He's in the middle of an indulgent daydream about laying his head on Felix's lap like Kate is doing to Yui on the other side of camp, all the while effortlessly keeping up small talk with Claudette tending to his wounds.

And then he starts coughing.

It's not a normal dry cough, it wracks his entire body and keeps going, and he curls in on himself because damn it’s making his throat hurts and his lungs ache something fierce.

“Ace, what's wrong?” Claudette's worried voice cuts through the attack. He tries to reply but it just makes him cough more, and it's not stopping—

Something slimy lands in the palm he's using to cover his mouth and then he can breathe again, taking sharp gasps of air while his throat tingles from the abuse.

He looks at whatever piece of his organs he managed to cough up, the Spirit's blade probably having rearranged some of his guts. He opens his hand and sees—

A flower?

It's absolute covered in blood, but there's no mistaking it, a single flower sitting in the palm of his hand with some loose petals surrounding it.

Why did he cough up a flower? Where did he even get it? It looks like some sort of cherry blossom, a far cry from the Entity's pustulas or the forest bouquets they pick and use for offerings.

“Are you okay?" Claudette asks, moving to kneel beside him in worry. When she sees the flower, she gasps in surprise.

“What happened?” Meg is quick to join her friend, coming up behind Ace to peer over his shoulder. “Uh… did that flower come out of you?”

“I… guess so?” Ace says, his voice raspy and throat protesting being used.

“So you just, like… ate it? Before?” Steve cocks his head in confusion.

“Come on now, I'm not that stupid,” Ace snorts, some of his worry giving way to amusement over the incredulous situation.

“Then what the hell was that?” Meg asks, scrunching her face up in thought while poking at the gross flower.

“I’m pretty sure I know what’s wrong,” Adam raises his voice from across camp, straightening his back when all eyes turn to him. “It’s an illness, I recognize the symptoms."

“Can't say I've ever heard of a disease that makes you barf petals,” Ash offers, clearly skeptical, and Ace shares the sentiment.

“Shh, hear him out!” Laurie scolds.

"It's a Japanese folk story,” Adam explains. “Flowers start growing in a person's lungs, causing coughing and bleeding and..." he hesitates.

“Well?” Meg demands.

"And ultimately resulting in death, unless the condition is cured," Adam says grimly.

“Are you talking about hanahaki?” Yui pipes up before anyone can question the weird statement. “You know that's just a shojo manga trope, right?”

“It's also mentioned in historical literature,” Adam argues, though from the way he refuses to meet Yui's gaze, he seems to be embarrassed over the subject.

“Dude, nobody cares if you read girl comics, just tell us what the cure is,” Feng snorts, and that's probably the most concern Ace has ever seen her display over his well-being.

“It's—” Adam starts, before faltering, awkwardly scratching at his neck while looking at the ground. “Supposedly caused by unrequited love.”

There's dead silence in the camp.

And then Nea bursts out laughing.

“Jesus, what a story!” the tagger snickers. “Can you imagine Ace as a fairytale princess?”

“Honey, I think you might have gotten some myths mixed up,” Jeff says diplomatically, patting Adam's knee affectionately.

“Yeah, you probably just inhaled a flower in your sleep or something,” Steve encourages Ace.

“I'm pretty sure this is just a practical joke from our dear spidery overlord,” Ace chuckles and pointedly doesn't look Felix's way. Come next trial, his injuries will have healed anyway, including the weird burn in his lungs.

But they don’t.

Trial after trial, the Entity resurrects him and heals all of his wounds but the coughing persists, more and more flowers following.

Even the others are getting worried.

“That's it, bud,” Ash offers, patting his back while Ace is wheezing for breath after coughing up some more petals. “It's just a weird flu, you'll be good as new soon.”

“At least the flowers go with my shirt,” Ace jokes, voice reduced to a rasp, clearing his throat. “Pink was always my color.”

He's trying to keep his and the others' spirits high, since there doesn't seem to be anything they can do to fix the situation.

“We need to do something,” Ace hears Laurie hiss to Dwight, apparently disagreeing with his sentiment.

“B-but how can we even help him?” their leader, bless his heart, looks genuinely upset over Ace's condition.

“Maybe we should try Adam's suggestion," Laurie says.

“Yeah, except you know he wouldn’t tell us even if he did like someone,” Yui huffs from beside them. “Good luck getting an answer out of a compulsive liar.”

Ouch, but also fair. Ace sure as hell isn't going to reveal his dumb little crush, especially since Felix has avoided him since this entire goddamn flower thing started. He knows there's only a slim chance that Felix realizes what's really going on, but it still feels like rejection nonetheless.

He can deal with this. Even if it kills him, the Entity will just bring him back anyway. It's not even that bad.

But then it gets so much worse.

After a week, Ace is laying on his side while black spots dance around in his vision and he struggles to draw enough wheezy breaths into his lungs. His chest hurts, and his throat is so sore even just the air passing through burns like fire. He hasn't been able to speak in days, and that's almost worse than the pain, not being able to use his only coping mechanism of running his mouth until something sticks to lighten the mood.

His head is cushioned on Kate's thigh and he gets a tiny bit of satisfaction from the knowledge that at least he managed to lay in one pretty blonde's lap before dying, even if it’s the wrong one. The touch is comforting nonetheless, though the fact that it’s accompanied by Kate's girlfriend practically screaming in his ear kind of puts a damper on the whole thing.

“I swear to god, I will make every single person in this camp kiss you, do not test me,” Yui threatens, one of the few who haven't given up on curing him. “Is it Jane? Bill?”

If Ace had the energy, he'd probably laugh about her choices, curious as to why those two were the ones she picked. As it stands, he merely stares at her, wondering if his eyes look as dull and lifeless as he feels.

“He's going to die,” Jake says from somewhere to his side, but Ace doesn't even bother turning his head or denying the statement. Hurried voices shush the saboteur while Kate starts humming a melody to distract him, Yui glaring absolute daggers in Jake’s general direction.

His next trial, Jake's prediction comes true.

Ace collapses to the ground in the midst of a coughing fit. The flowers are growing even bigger now, he can feel them tearing at his throat and vocal cords, retching when they trigger his gag reflex on their way out. His vision blurs and then goes black, body finally giving up as the illness consumes him.

He's not even injured from the killer, but the pool of blood he falls into is big enough to cover the entire side of his face. He lays there, not sure if he's even breathing, just thankful that the awful coughing has stopped for at least a moment.

When he comes to, he expects the small comfort of the campfire before he has to go through the same thing again. Instead, he doesn't have enough energy to even open his eyes, slowly realizing he's still in the trial.

It takes him even longer to realize he's being held partly off of the ground, his body hanging limply in someone’s grasp. He idly wonders if a killer is going to mercy hook him, but then he hears something.

Crying.

Focusing on the sound, Ace realizes he's not just being lifted, he's being held in someone's arms. Someone is holding his near-dead body and crying.

With both his mind and body broken from suffering for so long, he allows himself to imagine it's Felix, even though he knows it's not true. Felix has shown he doesn't care, not talking to him and being so grossed out by his symptoms he’s barely even looked at him—

“Das tut mir leid,” is whispered against his hair, and Ace wonders if he's hallucinating or if his brain has given up on speech comprehension, because that sounded an awful lot like German.

Suddenly, he gains some of his strength back, his chest not feeling nearly as tight as it has for the past few days.

“Felix?” Ace asks, and even though it comes out as a raspy whisper, it's impossible to miss in the stillness of the quiet moment. The surprised hitch of breath he gets in response sounds impossibly loud, and he manages to blink awake just enough to see the tear-streaked, wide-eyed face of the person he never thought he could have.

And that's when the Entity decides he's bled on the ground long enough and he blacks out from blood loss.

When Ace comes to, he's no longer in pain. He can breathe. And he wants nothing more than to get back to camp and be reassured that he wasn't imagining Felix being there for him in his final moments.

He runs to the campfire, panting from exertion once he's illuminated by the familiar glow and shocked faces turn to look at him.

“What the—did you run here!?” Meg exclaims incredulously.

“Yeah,” Ace says, eyes scanning the small crowd of familiar faces, so focused on finding a particular one he doesn't even realize the implications of managing to speak without issue.

“Your voice!” Kate exclaims happily, and Ace pauses to collect some of his thoughts.

“Shit, you're right,” he says, a smile tugging on his lips for the first time in what feels like weeks.

“Welcome back, you bastard!” Nea cheers and flings herself at him in a sideways hug, and Ace stumbles to catch himself from falling, chuckling at her antics.

Claudette is sobbing, looking impossibly relieved, and the others are cheering among themselves, though Ace can't make out the contents because he sees a familiar figure making its way to camp and his entire world zones in on that person.

Felix looks up at the sound of the commotion, and Ace's heart breaks a little over how puffy his eyes still look, but then their eyes meet and Felix looks so hopeful—

“Hey,” Ace says, and it probably gets drowned out by the others, but Felix's eyes widen in recognition and he starts walking faster.

“Are you…?” Felix asks, close enough for Ace to hear him over the others shouting.

“He's fixed!” Nea answers for him, finally letting go of the almost painful hug in favor of smacking Ace on the back encouragingly.

Felix glances at Nea but quickly looks back at Ace, waiting for confirmation.

“Yeah, I… guess I'm cured,” Ace says, and it almost feels weird to hear his own voice again. “Or... You know, I hope so.”

Because he's still not sure about Felix's feelings, and he has no idea where they're going to go from here.

But he doesn't need to worry, because Felix's face lights up in a way he's never seen before, letting out a disbelieving, genuine laugh. And then he's stepping forward and cupping his cheek and Ace only has time to blink in confusion before his head is tilted up into a kiss.

“Woah,” Ace hears Nea exclaim, her hand leaving his back like burned. “This, uh… this is new.”

Ace smiles into the kiss and tunes out the rest of her and the others’ surprised babbling, grabbing Felix by the collar of his dress shirt and pulling him deeper into the kiss.

When neither of them are making a move to pull away, their friends seem to be getting fidgety from the show.

“Why don’t we go for a stroll in the woods?” Kate suggests, and the chorus of “Sure!” “Great idea!” and “Oh fuck yes get me out of here” that follow are enough for a laugh to bubble up in Ace’s throat and get swallowed by Felix’s mouth.

When the last pair of footsteps have hurried away, Felix deems it appropriate to finally break away from the kiss. Though he doesn’t go far, burying his head into the crook of Ace’s neck and shoulder and wrapping his arms around him in a tight hug.

“Welcome back,” Felix murmurs against his skin, and the warm affection spreading through Ace’s chest is a welcome change from the constant pain he’s been in for way too long.

“Didn’t expect such a thorough welcome,” Ace can’t resist flirting, hands sneaking up to rest on Felix’s incredibly firm back. The chuckle he gets in return reverberates through both of their bodies due to how close they are, and Ace wonders if Felix can hear his heart frantically beating in excitement.

“I’m… shit,” Felix eventually sighs, lifting his head to meet Ace’s eyes. “I don’t know how to make up for being an idiot. I just watched you suffer and didn’t know what to do.”

“It’s okay,” Ace says, but now he’s curious. “Why did you avoid me?”

“Because I was afraid that I'd get the illness too,” Felix says, looking at the ground in shame. “I thought any one of us could get it, and because of how I feel about you… I was scared I was next.”

The confirmation that Felix had feelings for him even before this whole clusterfuck started is enough to make more butterflies dance in Ace’s gut, a flush creeping up his neck over how the other is openly spilling his heart.

“If I’d have known I was the one causing it, I would have done something sooner. I’m so sorry," Felix murmurs, looking at him with sad puppy eyes.

“Hey, it's not like I was being very cooperative,” Ace points out, giving his most encouraging smile. “It's not your fault, it's the dumb flower sickness.”

“I'm sorry you had to go through that, regardless,” Felix frowns. “But… I'm glad it lead us here,” he adds with a bashful smile that makes Ace’s heart do a couple leaps.

“Figures the best and worst things of my life would happen simultaneously,” Ace flirts, and apparently Felix enjoys being called the best thing in his life, because his sappy smile widens even further.

Ace can’t resist diving in for another taste, capturing smiling lips in a kiss that lasts even longer than the first one and makes their friends groan and complain about “Geez, you’re still going?” when they rejoin them at the campfire.

[mostlycompetentwriter]

I Am You- Chapter 4

Pairing:  OC x Bang Chan x Han Jisung x Seo Changbin

Genre: Romantic Fantasy

Warnings: None, I think

Previous Chapters: (Chapter 1), (Chapter 2), (Chapter 3)

Note: Since it’s Han’s birthday, I decided to post the next chapter as an impromptu (and unorthodox) celebration! #HappyHanDay #HappyBirthdayHan

I was losing my mind, and it was because of my three alpha mates.

I had yet to have a moment to myself in nearly a week, always shadowed by Jisung or Chan or Changbin. They hovered around me, tending to me like I was a child instead of the woman they regularly had sex with. I was beyond annoyed with their behavior, growing restless because every time I attempted to stand up, one of them was always there, lifting me into their strong arms. “Where to Myah?” or “Where are we going Princess?” or “Where do you want me to take you, Angel?”

My leg was practically healed. Woojin had even said so, coming to my room and updating my prognosis, now merely a long scar, nodding to himself slowly. “It’s almost healed,” he declared. “You should be fine, Myah.”

All three of my mates let out collective sighs like it was the most anticipated news of the century. “Woojin, I can start walking again, right?”

“Maybe soon, Myah.”

I tried not to sigh because Woojin wouldn’t have known that I required a straight answer. His response was vague enough to likely convince Jisung that I would be out of commission for another week. “What about more antibiotics?” Jisung fretted now, digging through Woojin’s bag. “Did you bring any?”

Woojin snatched his bag away from Jisung, glowering in his direction. “She doesn’t have an infection.”

“I can still smell it,” Changbin insisted, scenting the air with a studious expression that I would normally find hilarious under any other circumstances.

“Maybe another dosage wouldn’t hurt,” Chan added, perched on the edge of my bed, fingers running through my hair while he ignored my frown.

“It’s unnecessary,” Woojin insisted. 

“What about more pain killers?”

“Should it still be elevated?”

“Will it be okay in the water now?”

Woojin’s eyes widened, glancing between my three mates with evident exhaustion. “Honestly, some time away from the three of you would be best for Myah.”

Jisung protested immediately, launching into a long tirade about how Woojin wouldn’t understand how they felt since he didn’t have a mate of his own. And Jisung’s more spirited lectures tended to last far longer than necessary, so I somewhat eagerly awaited for Woojin’s inevitable breaking point. However, perhaps graciously, the sudden appearance of Felix interrupted Jisung’s passionate speech. “Chan,” the younger asked, glancing at me with uncertainty as if he wasn’t sure he could deliver his news with me present. “Another messenger from the NCT pack visited. They’d like to reschedule your meeting soon.”

“Impatient,” Chan grumbled. “Maybe in another week.”

I was ready to protest, knowing another week would be unnecessary. However, Felix beat me to it, supplying another idea that I wasn’t exactly too fond of either. “What if we asked NCT to come here instead?”

“That’s not a bad idea,” Jisung agreed, reaching over to ruffle Felix’s hair. “Nice job, kid.”

Felix frowned, giving me an apologetic look before closing the door. Meanwhile, Woojin was whispering quietly to Changbin, and their eyes kept roaming in my direction. What else was I supposed to think they were talking about?

I glared down at Chan and Jisung as they started crawling into bed on either side of me, snuggling against my sides. “Are you tired, Princess?” Jisung asked, leaning in to scent me.

Thanks to you guys, I wanted to say, but withheld the urge, managing a small nod to satisfy them. “I’ll come to check on you tomorrow, Myah,” Woojin said, and my eyes sorrowfully followed him all the way out the door, groaning when I heard Changbin announce it was time for another bath.

I wanted to be with my mates when we formally greeted the NCT representatives, but they forced me to stay in bed. I was a little heartbroken because I had been looking forward to meeting new faces. It was always exciting when new scents were around. Thankfully, kind-hearted Amelia, Hyunjin’s beautiful Omega mate, was keeping me company. The usually soft-spoken female was chattering openly about the unexpected size of the NCT diplomats. Apparently, Chan was very unhappy having so many foreigners around. “Do they have accents?” I asked.

Amelia giggled. “Some of them do. Not all of them are from the north, apparently.”

“I want to see them,” I sighed, glaring at my leg. “I hate being bedridden.”

“Maybe I can help you sneak out?” Amelia suggested mischievously. 

I briefly entertained the idea. “There’s no way I can get past three alphas. Especially Changbin, he’s too good at catching my scent.”

Amelia pouted, sharing my disappointment. “There’s a big dinner tonight to welcome them. Maybe you can convince them to let you go.”

But even such a simple request was like pulling teeth. 

“Please Channie,” I pleaded with my mate, nuzzling against him in the way I knew he liked, batting my eyelashes as I put on my best pout. 

Chan, however, was undeterred. “Not like this, Myah,” he said sternly. “There’s too many of them.”

Fine, I had two other mates who were less stoic. 

“I don’t think so, angel,” Changbin chuckled, further crushing my hopes.

“Chan already told you no, Princess,” Jisung said, but his resolve was not nearly as strong.

“Please, Sungie,” I tried again. “It would really mean a lot to me.”

“Well, maybe for a little while-”

And that’s how I found myself talking animatedly with Amelia and her younger sister, Lila, while the three of us eagerly made easy work of the feast the pack had prepared for our visitors. “I can’t believe they let you come!” Lila said at one point, shock evident on her face. “Chan made it sound like you would be out for weeks!”

I rolled my eyes. “He’s just being dramatic.”

“Mates are always dramatic,” Amelia agreed, glancing over at Hyunjin who was laughing with Felix and a few NCT members.

“They keep looking over here,” Lila said nervously and I immediately turned to glare at Changbin, the dark-haired boy sheepishly returning to his conversation with Seungmin.

“Ignore them,” I insisted. “Tell me about the newcomers.”

“Taeyong couldn’t make it,” Amelia said, “but he sent his Beta.” She nodded towards the smaller boy talking with Chan and Jisung. “Mark.”

I appraised him carefully, deciding his appearance must be deceitful, as he certainly didn’t look capable of harming a fly. “He brought seven wolves with him,” Amelia informed me. “That’s a lot more than we were expecting.”

“It’s disconcerting,” Lila admitted. “I think that’s why Chan is so suspicious.”

“They haven’t said anything to me,” I shrugged.

“They’re too worried about keeping you inside all day,” Amelia groaned dramatically. “The kitchens are boring without you!”

“I miss working,” I admitted. “I just wish Woojin would take the cast off.”

“He probably doesn’t want to take any chances,” Lila inserted. “After all, you are the pack alpha’s mate.”

“If it was up to Chan, I would stay at home every day,” I said, frowning. 

“He’s overprotective,” Amelia said. “All alphas are.”

“I like being outside and he knows that,” I said, suddenly feeling a burning irritation towards my mates, especially after having my first taste of freedom in over a week.

“Looks like Haechan is coming back,” Amelia teased her little sister and I glanced up at the approaching male.

“Hello,” Haechan bowed respectfully. I grinned at Lila’s blush. “It’s nice to finally meet you, Myah.”

“Likewise,” I returned. “I’ve been dealing with an injury lately.”

“Your mates told us,” Haechan said, nodding to the empty seat next to Lila. “Can I join?”

Lila let out a weak noise, perhaps agreement, and Haechan slid into the seat next to her. “Tell us about the north?” I asked eagerly, drowning out all other discussions as I allowed Haechan’s descriptions to fill my head. The north sounded beautiful, a land of snow and ice, unbearably cold in the winters, but rather pleasant during the hotter seasons. It wasn’t a long distance from the valley. An easily manageable walk when (and if) my mates ever decided I could make use of my own two feet again.

“I want to go! I think it sounds like a dream.”

“It’s fine,” Haechan said dismissively, but the look in his eyes told another story. 

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

One Year Ago

“You should ask Changbin.”

I glanced up in surprise. “You don’t want to help with my heat?”

Jisung always took pride in being my first choice, especially since it provided a way for us to spend some time alone together, even if I was an incoherent mess for most of the duration. It’s not that I didn’t want to be with Chan or Changbin, but Chan was rather aggressive when I was in heat and I had never asked Changbin before. He was adamant about refusing sex during his ruts, so I figured he would have a similar attitude when it came time for my heats.

Jisung shrugged. “I think Changbin is upset that you never ask him.”

“He’s never said anything before...” In fact, the idea of Changbin being upset over something like this was hard to grasp.

“Well, I think it’s because he thinks you don’t want him,” Jisung said.

I scoffed at the ridiculous statement. “He never lets me near him when he’s rutting. I figured he wouldn’t want anything to do with my heats.”

“I think you’re wrong this time, princess,” Jisung said. “Changbin’s told me before that he’s always available to help if I’m not feeling up to it.”

“Huh,” I drawled, deciding I felt very inconsiderate at that moment. I suppose I just got used to asking Jisung whenever my symptoms started to flare up. It became habitual, and I didn’t stop to think about how my other mates might feel. “Well, I guess I can ask him instead.”

Jisung offered an encouraging smile. “I think it will make him very happy.”

I found Changbin later that day, sparring outside with Chan. The two were imposing as wolves, teeth bared and jaws snapping at one another. I glanced around with amusement at the younger alphas, watching the exchange with wide, curious eyes. I had forgotten that Chan and Changbin were teaching the sparring classes now that Hyunjin was away with his mate, spending time with Amelia’s family before the two returned. 

I waited patiently for my two mates to finish, taking the time to admire how powerful they were together. Chan and Changbin were both larger for their size, extending from years of impressive breeding and mating with strong bloodlines. Of course, no other wolf in the pack could really compare to Changbin. He was by far the largest wolf I had ever seen, easily eclipsing Jisung in size and somehow managing to even make Chan look like a pup. 

The two were talking in low voices together, wearing nothing but sweatpants when I approached them after their lesson. Changbin picked up on my scent first, eyes easily locating me from amongst the other members of our pack. Chan followed his gaze and a wide smile filled out the corners of his lips. “I’m surprised to see you here,” Chan gushed while proceeding to crush me against his much stronger body. 

“Too much,” I tried to tell him, but eventually surrendered, taking in his familiar scent with a deep inhale.

“Do you need something, angel?” Changbin asked, proving to be my saving grace when Chan’s arms finally released me.

I took in a deep breath. “Actually, I’d like to talk to you.”

“This sounds serious,” Chan remarked, leaning in close as if the answer were waiting in my scent.

“Alone,” I emphasized, giving Chan a pointed look.

He let out a dramatic sigh but conceded the space I needed. However, I still waited until he was far enough away before reaching out for Changbin. “Let’s go somewhere quieter.” I wrapped my hand around his bicep, directing him through the lingering crowd of our packmates. Changbin grabbed a black t-shirt on the way, stretching it out over his head.

I was suddenly nervous when we were finally alone, anxiously fidgeting in front of the bigger alpha. “So, how is everything?” I asked cautiously, trying to reformulate my proposal, hoping to make it sound as casual as possible.

Changbin arched one brow. “Are you alright, Myah?”

I let out a nervous giggle. “I have something to ask you.”

Changbin nodded, encouraging me to continue. “I’m listening.”

“That thing is coming up,” I started, wincing when I realized I was already messing everything up.

Changbin smirked. “That thing?”

“Yeah,” I agreed as if he could possibly understand what I was talking about. “I was wondering if you wanted to help.”

Changbin crossed his arms over his chest, the sleeves of his black t-shirt straining. “Angel, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“My heat, Changbin! I want you to help me with my heat.”

My face was red, and I could feel my cheeks heating up because I knew how rushed I just sounded. The words had spilled out carelessly in one of the worst proposals in Werewolf history. Changbin even looked surprised, looking down at me wordlessly. “Uh, I mean, if you don’t want to-”

“I’d love to help,” Changbin finally said, a genuine, and rare, smile brightening his dark features. 

“Well, I know you’ve been busy lately-”

“Angel,” he interrupted again, wrapping an arm around my waist to pull me closer. He pressed a brief kiss to my forehead. “I’ve been waiting to hear you ask for a while now.” I leaned up to nose at his scent gland, amazed that he could ease my tension with just a few, select touches.

[mrslittletall]

Don’t tell me where to go.  Earlier I watched a video about the flaws in Pokémon Sun/Moon. One of them I heavily agreed with, that annoying red flag that indicates where you should go next. In an already very linear game.  Imo, it is just unneccessary. I barely am able to explore the world and even when I am allowed to go exploring, sooner or later I have to go back to the part where the latest roadblock was. I probably haven’t forgotten about it, because I am stuck in a small area. Also, Rotom Dex is reminding me constantly where to go anyway. So why is there this red flag on the map? It’s pointless.  Thinking about this, I started Trials of Mana to get the last spirit. The remake, not the original. And just like in Pokémon Sun/Moon, I got annoyed. There is always that glowing big star on the map, telling me where to go even though this game is as linear as Sun/Moon! The elfin elder told me to go the mana goddess statue in the northwest of the forest, I can press on minus and see a map with this exact same statue on it and still, a shiny glowing star points on it! It is unneccessary!  I played the original, the original didn’t had a map, the map was also divided in screens because old game and guess what? I still was able to found this mana statue! In fact, even just two weeks ago because I like to play the original with my husband.  Why are games so adamant to tell you where to go? Heck, even one of my favourite games, Okami, did it. Not often, but at a few points, mostly when you have to hurry (but actually have all the time in the world), a glowing red arrow shows in which direction you should run. This actually gets me out of the immersion. That giant red arrow doesn’t make any sense, especially when Okami normally never tells you where to go with a marker, you just can look into your log and normally get Issuns latest hint where to go, but you have to find out yourself just how to get there. And mostly, in this “hurry to a location” events you already know where the location is, because you have to run back to it!  I am getting more and more annoyed by this... do the game developer think we gamers are stupid? That we can’t find our way? That we have trouble when there isn’t a giant marker on the map, especially in linear games? Alright, now let’s talk about Open World games. One example I play atm is Death Stranding. That game actually TELLS me where I need to go, BUT, while I know where I need to head, the way to the location isn’t clear at all. Often you can’t just cross in a straight line, the world is in your way and you are just a basic human without any superpowers (ok outside of the whole BT sensing thing and not being able to die thing), but you get the gist.  The thing is, you have to go from point A to point B and have to figure out HOW you get there. Do you pack a bunch of ladders to scale the mountains in your way? Do you try to find a way around the mountains? Do you pack weapons to take out the MULE camp in your way or do you try to sneak through it? Do you try to avoid the timefall and the BTs or do you take them head on?  You have a lot of choices in this game how to handle the situation and it is beautiful. Moreso, the game profits from its online features. When you are alone, you can see and use structures of other players, you can see signs that warn you and you can see footpathes that have been created by other players. It really makes it fun to reconnect the world and connect with the other players you never see but know are there.  Alright, different game. Zelda Breath of the Wild. That game has a huge world. You are in a tutorial arena in the beginning, but after you got all your shieka stone apps, you are free to leave.  And that is meant literally. Once you are done with the tutorial, BotW lets you do WHATEVER you want. You can literally go straight to Hyrule Castle and defeat Ganon and it is a common speedrunner thing.  But you don’t have to defeat Ganon. The game gives you several objectives, like tame the titans or find the shrines or the memories.  Now, the only thing that downright points to where to go are the titans and they are actually pretty easy to spot from a hight point, because they are HUGE. Everything else? Find it on your own. You get a sensor for shrine and you get quests for them. Nothing ever points to them with a marker, you have to solve the hints and find the shrine yourself. The same for the sidequest of the game. You get pointed to who gave you the quest, which is a good thing because it isn’t easy to remember where they were, but the actual quest? Read the text and figure out where to go. Normally it is near the quest giver, so just exploring a bit will help.  And the memories! You have twelve photos and have to find the places they got shot at. So how do you find the needle in the haystack?  There is this painter in each main town and a few stables and you can show him the photos, he then gives you a hint just where to search! I pretty much found every memory with his hints, I just needed to look up the last memory that wasn’t on the shieka stone because it had been three years since I visited that area and I forgot where it was (I still remembered that it existed, so iconic did it look).  BotW gets praised a lot for his sense of freeness and I totally get why.  Ok, now let me talk about the last games for now...  Dark Souls, Bloodborne and Sekiro.  When I started Dark Souls, I was really upset. Why? Not because the asylum demon crushed my sorry ass five times, not because I thought I had to beat him with the sword hilt, not because of the boulder trap that killed me.  That game had no map! I would get so lost! I am HELPLESS without a map!  To my surprise... I was completely fine without the map. Sure, in the beginning I got awfully lost and stumbled to the skeletons, but then I found the Undead Burg. I fought myself through it, explored, remembered where which enemy was when I was running back to Taurus the 20th time (I really struggled, ok?) and the gameworld... just made sense.  It became a really aha-moment when the shortcuts clicked into place. Granted, the shortcuts aren’t a big part of the game anymore after the lordvessel, but the first half is beautifully done! Finding the shortcut back to Firelink, finding the back exit out of Blighttown, seeing how Anor Londo opens up, the shortcut in Sen’s Fortress, beautiful. That was what let me thought about Dark Souls as Metroidvania. That game is a Metroidvania. Sadly, Dark Souls 2 and 3 don’t have it as much anymore, especially Dark Souls 3 is a lot more linear, but still has loads of optional stuff to do for me and most importantly, never tells me where to go.  Bloodborne is a lot like the first Dark Souls and also different. Bloodborne has a lot more areas that are disembodied, but they have that beauty of the Metroidvania in them. One of the most mind baffling things was finding the back entrance to Iosefka’s clinic... coming from the Forbidden Woods! And the finding out, HEY, that is that gate I saw at the start of the game and couldn’t open!  Slowly, you open up Yharnam and even the other areas like the nightmares have cool shortcuts to find. It feels like your exploring got rewarded, that you don’t have to fight through all this enemies anymore, only a few, to get back to the boss.  Now let me talk about the last game... Sekiro.  This game opens up at a certain plot point and your only hints? You talk with Kuro and Emma and they tell you a few things they found out about. I was SO confused. I had no idea what they were talking about and where to go. So I decided to check the areas out they talked about and try to make sense of the riddles they told me.  I couldn’t find a lot at first and went back often to listen to their riddles, until I just went full risque and jumped into a pit only to find out that this indeed had been the right solution!  One by one, I found out how to find the other locations.  The game never pointed them out for me, I followed the hints and found them myself.  So, to conclude. Video games, please don’t tell me where to go.

[shooter-nobunagun]

Quarantine UST 5

//Seriously, writing for such a sustained stretch is...unprecedented...I think I haven’t done this since the beginning of my intro into this fandom. Maybe this period of time is good for something after all.

And yes, I definitely binged my way through FF7R as soon as it came out...

The days seemed to pass in a blur; yet as Sio woke up after another night of binging Netflix with Jess, it felt like nothing had changed, either. She’d adjusted to the rhythm of her new life fairly well: sleep in until 10am or so, leisurely troop downstairs for breakfast after brushing her teeth⁠—usually Adam was already up and frying some eggs, or sometimes they picked up coffee and pastries from a local cafe⁠—clean up, then she might go for a walk outside or spent some time in the yard while catching up on emails and texts from her family and Asao-san. By then, Jess and Mahesh were usually awake, and they’d all gather again for lunch (or in the other twos’ case, brunch), and afterwards Sio usually would do her training, either by herself or under Adam’s watchful guidance. Then it was free time (which usually involved another stroll outside), dinner, sometimes a group activity, and then everybody retired to their rooms for the night.

Recently, the group started venturing out a bit more; at first it was just to the local cafe for drinks and snacks, but yesterday the group’d gone for another grocery run, this time at the farmer’s market. Even with all the restrictions in place, Sio was glad to be able to spend some time outdoors again, and picking from the wide variety of fresh produce was much more fun than going to the grocery store.

Yawing, the sniper continued lounging in her bed, absentmindedly scrolling through her texts from last night. Her parents were doing okay (actually most of Japan seemed alright by comparison) though obviously they were concerned about her health and safety. Asao-san’s latest couple of messages contained the usual news and gossip, although the last one before she signed off left the sniper blushing and covering her face.

[Asao Kaoru]: By the way, how are things with Jack-san? You two seem to be getting awfully close... (ΦωΦ)~ Did you get any more peeks in during training?

“Moou, Asao-saaaan!! I-It’s not like, that!” The sniper screeched, tugging her hair. “Jeeze, why does everybody keep assuming we’re gonna...hook up or something like that...” 

Admittedly, her own brain wasn’t helping matters; at this point, she’d given up on denying her attraction towards him⁠—besides her nightly little ritual, she’d already had at least one...steamy dream involving him and no clothing. “Ugh...why do I have to make things so complicated...”

‘I just want to get to know him better, not get a crush on him! Besides, knowing him, he probably has a girlfriend waiting for him back in London. Or at least, had one...unlike me...’ A cool, good-looking guy like him who was the epitome of the tall, dark and handsome type? Sio looked down at her own flat chest, unfashionable haircut and childish face, and sighed. ‘Yeah right; I’d never stand a chance. He’s probably got way more experience and prefers girls who look like Newton...’

The thought depressed her more than she expected; even though she knew her chances were slim, and that shacking up with your platoon leader probably wasn’t the best idea, the thought of not getting any closer than just friendly teammates made her heart sink straight to the ground. ‘I know I’m just a below-average high schooler, and I don’t even have anything going for me except my e-gene; but even I can still hope, right...?’

She moped about all through her morning routine, not really bothering to fix her hair or wear anything aside from putting on a pair of shorts (why bother, it wasn’t like she was cute or anything). Walking into the quiet kitchen, she pulled out a box of cereal and some milk, sullenly eating her cold breakfast.

“Good morning, Sio dear. Oh goodness, is something the matter? You’re looking awfully peaked...you don’t feel ill, do you?” Jess came down the stairs, Sio a bit surprised as it was unusual for the blonde to be up before noon. “Hmm, you don’t seem feverish...”

“Oh, good morning, Jess-san.” She heaved another sigh, not really interested in finishing the rest of her soggy bowl. “It’s, nothing...I’m not sick, I guess I just feel...”

“The quarantine blues?” The sniper nodded, and the blonde patted her shoulder sympathetically. “There there, it’s perfectly normal. Things are unprecedented, you can’t expect to keep your spirits up all the time in a situation like this.”

“Yeah, well...I guess I’m surprised I’d let it get to me. I mean, all things considered, it’s not like we’re suffering or anything. There’s a lot of people who have it way worse than us...”

‘Yeah, and here I am moping about because I have the hots for my platoon leader even though I don’t stand a chance...’ 

Jess nodded in sympathy. “Definitely, I can see that. But you know, that doesn’t mean you can’t feel bad, either. I can’t say the past week has been much of a vacation, despite what Mahesh likes to claim. Feeling down about everything that’s been going on is understandable, and it isn’t healthy to pretend otherwise.”

“True...thanks, Jess-san...um, I guess it does feel a little better to talk about it.” Sio stirred her cereal a bit, surprised that she was finally having a true conversation with the blonde that didn’t involve a fear of tongues and kisses (mostly).

“Of course, dear. I apologize for my earlier behaviors...but I am still serious when I say I do want to be there for you, should you ever want another ear,” the blonde smiled kindly at the younger girl. “By the way, where is Adam? Don’t tell me he’s still asleep?”

“Eh? Adam-san...uh, I dunno. He’s usually here by the time I wake up, so...” Sio shrugged. “It’s not like I checked his room, but maybe he went out for something?”

As if on cue the front door unlocked, both girls turning around as Adam walked in, bag in one hand and a tray of drinks in the other. Sio rushed out to the foyer to help him unload and disinfect the door, keys, etc.

“Speak of the devil; we were just wondering about you,” Jess commented as Adam finally took his seat at the table. “New place this time?”

“Yeh; was checking out local places online yesterday and thought this might be a nice change of pace.” He passed out the drinks; only Mahesh’s chai latte remained untouched as the trio started unwrapping pastries and other baked goods. “Ogura, you’re alright with tea, correct? They didn’t seem to have anything like sencha, but I got jasmine, if that’s okay.”

“Oh, yes please; and thank you, Adam-san. You could’ve waited for us to get up,” Sio offered as she took a sip of her beverage. “I kinda feel bad for making you go all by yourself...”

“Eh, it’s fine. Even I like taking a break from cookin’ once in a while.” Their leader shrugged as he drank his coffee (pure black, no sugar or cream). “Besides, it’s nice to get some fresh air when it’s early in the morning. Also less folks t’ dodge...swear to god, every time we go out it’s like playing a game of Frogger...”

Sio sweatdropped, but it was true; as much as she cherished her daily walks, there was a reason why she preferred running on the treadmill. Trying to avoid other passerby who were also exercising or walking their dogs and also not getting run over by traffic... It was a good thing the yard was decently sized, and the days were slowly starting to warm up. The sniper glanced out the windows, where the golden rays were starting to bathe the garden with their yellow hues.

“Actually, I’m gonna eat out in the garden. The weather’s been so pleasant lately, might be nice for a change.” She took her tea and croissant with her; to her surprise, Adam followed. “Oh? Did you...also want to eat outside?”

“Why not; like you said, today seems to be shaping up to be pretty nice...would be a shame to spend it all indoors, again,” he gave her just a the slightest hints of a smile, and Sio felt her stomach fluttering with butterflies. Maybe she wasn’t insane for thinking it would be possible? Maybe?

“U-Um, s, so, how was the rest of the city?” She was stuttering again, much to her dismay; didn’t she get over this already?

Adam didn’t seem to notice, or at least, he didn’t comment on it. “Hm, mostly the same; not that many folks about, but all the better for me. At least we can still get takeaway and drinks.” He finished the rest of his cup. “I was surprised Jess’ up so early; usually she and Mirza sleep ‘til past noon...”

“Heh, me too.” Sio grinned as she finished her croissant. “Mm, this croissant is super flakey...so good...” If it weren’t for their training and exercise, she was sure she’d have gained at least 5 pounds by now. Even in the midst of a pandemic, San Francisco’s culinary scene did not disappoint; and that wasn’t even counting their cooking nights.

“To be honest, I’m more surprised you’ve been able to stick to a decent wake-up time every morning,” Adam teased, “considering someone always had to wake you for a morning meeting back at the Logan...”

The sniper nearly spit her tea back out. “H-Hey! Well, you’re always banging on my door every other morning anyway for some thing or other...so I figured, I might as well just save us both the trouble and get up anyway,” she pouted, cheeks tinged with pink. “Besides, those meetings were way early; if there’s one thing that’s better about this, is that I can at least sleep in a little...”

Adam smirked behind his sandwich, glad the sniper couldn’t see his face. For if she could, he was sure she’d be able to notice the warm flush spreading across his features, including his ears (mercifully hidden by his hair). She was adorable, really; the innocence of a girl, yet she was surprisingly insightful and able to see a clear line from point A to B, without being bogged down by details. ‘Not to mention that wit, when she actually works up the courage to talk back,’ he noted, recalling many of their previous conversations where she’d sparred with him using nothing but words.

Cunning, intuitive, determined and sincere; it was amazing how quickly his opinion of her changed, not just since she joined but even from the beginning of this quarantine. Hardly any of her quirks seemed detrimental now; silly at most, and charming at best. Was this what poets meant by love causing you to see everything through a rose-tinted lens? Even her appearance, which most people would probably consider average at best, gave him a flurry of feelings whenever he thought about them: large, round maroons, that cute bob with uneven bangs that could probably use a trim soon, and her slender, lithe figure... Adam swallowed and tried to turn his mind away from more lustful thoughts, but it was useless. It was obvious she was probably the most flat-chested female holder next to Geronimo, but it didn’t detract his attentions at all; if anything, he felt it suited her quite well. Once he’d caught a glimpse of those salacious photos Capa had distributed, and they gave him a bit of a shock—her willowy frame saddled with two huge water balloons that seemed to defy gravity, nevermind the fake, prancing-around poses the clones took.

All-in-all, good things definitely come in small packages, he decided. In fact, the smaller the better. Sio wasn’t that short, but her slight frame made it seem so, especially compared to him. He’d never paid attention, but Adam was sure the sniper would probably be just the right size for spooning, cuddled between his arms and those petite breasts could fit just right in his palms—

‘Hoo boy, stop right there Adam; you should not be thinking of your fellow holder in such a manner...’ But even his inner consciousness sounded half-hearted, as if it were just repeating things because that’s what was expected. And maybe it was right; even now, he still quarreled with himself on whether or not he should even pursue anything beyond friendly camaraderie with the girl. Her ambiguous feelings towards him aside, what if they got in trouble? What if it ended up interfering with their duties as e-gene holders? Or worse yet, what if it didn’t work out and the subsequent fallout ended up destroying their entire platoon?

“Adam-san?” He jerked up at her voice, having been lost in his own turmoil for the past couple of minutes. “Are you okay? You seem kind of...glum.”

You’re not wrong there, he almost said, but only shook his head. “Nah; just thinking about...stuff.”

The sniper nodded. “Yeah, I get that...I’ve been, kinda thinking on a lot of stuff too...”

Now it was Adam’s turn to be surprised. “Oh? Somethin’ else botherin’ you lately?”

“Ah uh, I mean nothing really...specific,” Sio squirmed, caught off-guard by his question. There was no way she could admit her burgeoning feelings for him. “I just...guess the whole pandemic situation is kind of getting to me, even though all things considered, this isn’t that terrible. But somehow things just feel...off.”

“Yeh, I get that too, sometimes. But I mean, this isn’t exactly a normal situation; people are sick and dying, we’re stuck in this house and still have to do our best to try and maintain a ‘normal’ life—and that’s not even counting the Objects mounting another attack at any minute.” Adam cut into the remainder of his muffin with a knife. “It’s normal to feel distressed about it—hell, I think I’d be more concerned if you weren’t...”

The sniper nodded, though she didn’t seem keen on finishing the rest of her pastries now, instead fiddling around with her fork. Adam felt a bit guilty; he hadn’t meant to ruin her nice garden breakfast with something gloomy like the virus. Especially not after they’d managed to have a normal, decent conversation.

“Hey uh, squirt? Y’know, if you need some time to yourself, you can skip your training for today,” he offered, the sniper blinking in surprise. 

“Oh...I-I mean, it’s fine, you don’t have to make an exception for me; it’s not like I physically feel bad or anything...”

“Don’t worry about it; I wouldn’t want you around that equipment when you’re all distracted like this, anyway. Last thing we need is an accident,” Adam muttered. To be sure, she’d definitely improved quite a bit, but sometimes he still did worry about her.

“...Are you saying you don’t trust me to handle myself?”

“...I’m just taking precautions.”

“Hnnn...” Sio didn’t say anything more, instead sullenly sipping the rest of her tea. 

Adam sighed inwardly. Why were girls so fickle to deal with at times? “...By the way, not sure if you’re interested, but one of our other care packages finally arrived, and they got our request for a game console plus some of the latest games, so...”

He didn’t finish, but Adam could tell by the way her eyes gleamed the second he mentioned the word Playstation. ‘Ah, so she’s also a gamer...’ Somehow he wasn’t surprised; it seemed natural that a military otaku would also be into video games, though he was curious if she played genres other than shooters or military sims.

“...What sort of games did they send?”

“Oh, I haven’t gone through them myself yet, but I’d assume a pretty wide variety...why, was there anything in particular you’re looking forward to?” Adam replied nonchalantly, testing out the waters. Maybe this would be a good opportunity to spend some time with her in a casual setting...

“Nothing really, but I mean, if there’s something good...” Her eyes shifted a bit over the edge of her drink, meeting his for a second before they darted back down at her plate. “I’ve been hearing a lot about Apex Legends...the guys from the Fifth Platoon are always talking about it.”

“Hm; I’m not that interested in battle royale types; I was actually thinking more along the lines of action RPG or adventure...”

They surreptitiously looked at each other for a few more seconds, before Adam suddenly got up.

“...You wanna go take a look, squirt?”

“...Okay.”

The two fast-walked back into the house, rushing by Jess who looked at the two in surprise and a yawning Mahesh, whom Adam barely had time to point to his drink—“don’t blame me if it’s cold, it’s not my fault you slept in”—and straight into the living room, where the 70-inch flatscreen sat in pristine condition, having only been used as a Netflix machine thus far. The package was still unopened, Sio carefully wiping it down first as Adam sliced the box open with ease.

“Oooh, what’s this? Looks like a headset...wait, oh my god is this one of those VR things everyone’s been talking about?” Sio’s eyes glittered with excitement as she dug around. “Wow, I wanna try it out later!”

“Let’s see, here’s the PS4,” Adam carefully set the machine up, along with its cables, “and as for games...well, looks like they did include Apex Legends, so if you want to give it a shot squirt, go ahead. Other than that...Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, whatever the latest iteration of Call of Duty is, Devil May Cry 5—that might be fun—Monster Hunter: World, and...well well,” Adam let a low whistle, “what do we have here?”

Sio looked over his shoulder, eyebrow raised as she read the title. “Final Fantasy 7...wait, isn’t this game super old?”

“Look closer, squirt; it’s the remake. I don’t know how those bastards managed to pull it off with everything that’s going on, but I know what I’ll be playing tonight.” Adam tried not to sound too eager, but it was hard; Final Fantasy VII, while already dated by the time he was old enough to enjoy video games, was still considered a classic, and he’d secretly been hoping for a chance to play it as soon as it was announced.

Sio looked on in wonder as Adam diligently set the rest of the system up. He seemed much younger for a change, almost like a puppy instead of a wolf. His boyish enthusiasm was charming, and Sio felt like she was seeing a part of his true self, for once. It made her feel warm all over, but not in a horny way; rather, it was the joy of seeing him genuinely happy for once, instead of shouldering the burden of being their leader. ‘So I was right about him being a gamer...I knew that Metal Gear Rising t-shirt was more than just a coincidence.’

“Well, I guess I know what we’re playing then...” Now that everything was finally ready, she took a seat on the couch next to Adam; both sets of eyes now glued to the giant screen as the opening sequence panned over the in-game city of Midgar, the classic theme blasting from the speakers.

Though Sio didn’t know much about the Final Fantasy series (famous as it was, she preferred her games with more bullet-hell sequences and tanks), within a few minutes she could see why it was so revered, and why Adam was so excited. Movie-quality graphics aside, the action was tightly-paced and almost non-stop, Sio getting more engrossed herself as Adam deftly controlled the action on-screen. Before either of them knew it, it was past lunchtime; the only indication any time passed at all was Sio’s stomach complaining rather loudly after Adam finally got Cloud & co. past chapter 3.

“Whoa, I didn’t know it was so...cool,” Sio sat down to their late lunch (Chinese takeout), still in a bit of a daze at her mind replayed the action sequences and storyline. “No wonder it’s so popular...”

“Oh yeh; holy hell, they did a banger of a job remaking it,” Adam dug into the boxes with relish, barely paying attention to what was going into his mouth. “Shit, the graphics, characterization, soundtrack—and the overhauled ATB system is amazing—”

“I like the characters a lot! They look so realistic...well, as realistic as anime characters can get,” Sio mused, remembering the intro with one very well-rendered Cloud Strife. “So, I’m guessing you like a lot of JRPGs then...?”

Adam nodded. “I do, but I’ll play pretty much anything, honestly. I think the only genres I don’t do are racing and puzzles.” He shook his head, emptying the rest of his plate. “You? I prefer it when the action’s hot, bonus points if it’s got a great story.”

“Uh, I don’t play that many RPGs in general, but sometimes I do if it’s really good. But uh, yeah, I...prefer shooters like Ikaruga, or Biohazard—er, I think they call it Resident Evil outside of Japan? Oh, but there was that one series that came out a while ago, and I was surprised because I also liked the plot a lot...it’s called Bioshock?” 

“Somehow, I’m not surprised to hear that; a military otaku like you, would be shocked if you didn’t have some type of shoot-’em-up as your top three,” Adam smirked, Sio laughing sheepishly. “Anyway, if you wanna start your own file while I’m working out, go ahead; like I said, you should take a break today, get some time in for yourself.”

“Ah—oh, uh, okay...thanks,” Sio trailed off as Adam left, presumably to change and then train. “Well...guess I’ll try playing by myself.”

The console booted up, and soon the sniper settled into a comfy pile of cushions, learning the battle system based on what Adam was doing earlier. While years of shooters—first person and otherwise—had honed her reflexes fairly well, Sio had to admit this system of ATB, materia, and character swapping was a bit of unknown territory. Luckily the game was generous with tutorials, but she still struggled a bit against her first real boss, after the beginning section was over. She groaned as the ‘game over’ screen flashed, kneading her temples. 

“Man, I thought I had it! What happened...did I not use the right skills?”

“You might wanna check your materia slots, squirt. Those’ll matter a lot in the coming battles.”

A low, husky tone breathed right next to her ear, and Sio nearly jumped out of her skin. “Aaagggh! A-Adam-san, don’t do that! You scared the crap out of me...” She protested, hugging a pillow to her chest as Adam chuckled.

“Sorry squirt, but I was curious to see how you’d do. Didn’t wanna interrupt the fight, though seems like you’re gonna need to retool your party’s materia and gear first.” When he left, Adam was curious if the girl would continue playing Final Fantasy, or pop in another game. But it seemed Cloud Strife’s fabulous chocobo-locks had worked their magic, and he returned from training to find the sniper valiantly trying to defeat the motorcycle-crazy Rosche.

“Hrrm...I don’t really know what some of these descriptions mean. Magic I get, but things like MP up? Chakra?”

“Budge up a bit there, squirt, and I’ll give you some tips.” The sniper scooted to make room for the silver-haired man, as he plopped himself onto the couch and took the controller. “First off, always get HP up; more health never hurts. And then of course, healing...”

Sio nodded, but in reality she was only half paying attention. Adam was sitting right next to her, along with those chiseled muscles still glistening with sweat as his shirt clung to those washboard abs...swallowing thickly, she forced herself to listen to his advice, but even his scent was distracting; there was sweat, but it wasn’t offensive, mixed with a rather musky odor that she couldn’t quite place...

“—and this should be a pretty good setup,” Adam finished. “Uh, squirt? Ogura?” He snapped his fingers in front of her face. “Oy, snap out of it; what’s gotten into you? 

“A-Ah—huh? Hai? I-I’m, fine...” Adam raised an eyebrow, but Sio snatched the controller back before anything else happened. “Th, Thanks for the advice...I think I’ll be able to get him this time...”

Adam blinked. “...Alright. Well, good luck then.” 

‘Was she checking me out?’ Though he tried not to rouse suspicion as he left, he’d definitely noticed Sio staring at more than just the screen while he’d been redoing her party members. ‘And I’m pretty sure she wasn’t randomly looking around the house.’ Oh no. The sniper definitely had a long way to go if she wanted to be more discreet about her little voyeuristic habits. 

The thought of their innocent little sniper actually being not-so-innocent made him hot all over again, and Adam groaned, because he knew this was the kind of heat that couldn’t be solved with simply a cold shower.

“Bloody hell...” ----- “Well, it sure seems like you two have found your quarantine activity,” Mahesh commented at dinner that night, both the sniper and the Ripper arriving long after the food arrived. “Sorry, we just went ahead and ordered some stuff we thought you’d enjoy.” He pushed their respective bentos towards the other two. “But it’s Japanese tonight, Sio, so hopefully it’s up to your standards.”

“Mmm...oh man, it’s so nice to eat Japanese food again...” Sighing with delight, Sio eagerly dug into her chicken karaage, potato salad and white rice. “A-Ah, that’s not to say the food we’ve been getting is bad or anything, it’s been really fun to try a lot of different cuisines and taste everybody’s home cooking too...”

“This is really good; I guess they weren’t kidding about San Francisco being a melting pot,” Adam nodded in approval. “Good thing DOGOO’s footin’ the bill...I wouldn’t fancy being the one having to pay for all this.”

“Just like they’re paying for all your gaming purchases?” Jess smiled knowingly at the other two, who proceeded to turn oddly pink. “What are you two playing anyway that’s got you so engrossed? It must be good, if you two are willing to skip dinner.”

“Oh, uh, it’s the latest Final Fantasy VII Remake! I’ve never played it before, but Adam has, and then I started playing it too and it’s just so good and the battles are super cool and it’s a lot of fun to play--” Sio started gesticulating wildly, chopsticks flinging rice haphazardly and Adam had to sternly remind her to not toss food everywhere.

“Oy squirt, calm down! Say it, don’t spray it.” He muttered, flicking a piece of rice off his shirt.

“And then they even sent a VR headset! Which I’m super curious about,” Sio finally finished her bento, so they could talk without the risk of food flying about. “You guys should try it out too! I-I mean, not that I’m forcing you two to play video games if you’re not interested...”

Mahesh hummed in amusement, looking at least mildly fascinated. “I’m probably a ‘casual’ gamer by yours and Adam’s standards, but I’d be willing to try out this virtual reality deal. I wonder how it compares with Capa’s illusions...”

“Ugh, don’t remind me,” Sio grimaced, still remembering all those inappropriate pictures Capa took (and then distributed, the nerve of him). “Pervy old man...”

“Well, certainly we won’t have to worry about that. Let’s all check it out, then; Jess, you in?”

The blonde nodded, though not without conceding that gaming wasn’t really her thing, but it might be fun to watch others. 

“I’m more of an analogue girl; I don’t care that much for all those flashy explosions on screen, but bring me a set of Catan or Dixit and I’ll play any day.”

Now the entire squad was circled in the living room, the large windows open for some fresh, night air. After some rigging, Adam managed to figure out how to configure an output so those who weren’t wearing the headset could see what was going on, via his laptop.

“Alright, now who’s our first lucky contestant? Sio-chan, since you seem so excited, why don’t you go first?”

The sniper squeaked, not being used to put on the spot. “M, M-Me? U-Uh, I’ve been playing a lot of games today, s-so, why don’t you or Jess try it?” She laughed nervously, hoping they wouldn’t force her to take center stage.

“Yeh Mirza, you seem awfully eager to see how it works...why don’t you give it a whirl,” Adam goaded. Those dark eyes seem to meet his in a challenge, before the Indian resolutely put on the gear.

Everybody else watched eagerly as the screen loaded up. “Whoa; I’m not going to lie, the graphics aren’t photorealistic, but it sure feels like you’re somewhere else,” Mahesh gingerly stepped around, everyone suddenly giving him a wide berth as he set up the boundaries. “Please warn me if I’m about to run into something, or someone; I can’t exactly see anything in the real world...”

“I wonder if we’ll ever get to the point where it’ll feel even more like we’re inside a different world,” Sio said quietly to Adam, as Mahesh started playing a rhythm-action game called Beat Saber. “I don’t like Capa, but I have to admit his AU weapon is incredible. When I was doing those training exercises, it really felt like I was in a jungle, or in the middle of Shibuya...”

“Maybe; but I think we’ve got a ways to go,” Adam responded dryly, arching an eyebrow as the Indian flailed his arms all over the place. “...Definitely a ways to go.”

After a couple of tracks, Adam couldn’t take it anymore; seeing Mirza’s piss-poor coordination and timing destroyed any sense of fun or pleasure from the thumping EDM/techno tracks provided by the game. “Alright, you’ve had your fun. Let me give it a try.”

“More like Adam can’t stand Mahesh butchering those songs anymore,” Jess whispered, and Sio giggled. “He doesn’t like talking about his hobbies, but I know for a fact he’s into these music-type games. Who else do you think petitioned to get that dancing revolution machine installed in the Logan’s workout room...”

Before Sio could fully realize that statement, Adam took over. He selected a track that none of them had ever heard of before, and despite this being his first time playing, immediately notched the difficulty up to Hard. “Someone’s tryin’ to show off, eh?” Mahesh teased, but that didn’t seem to deter the silver-haired man one bit. If anything, Adam was laser-focused on the track before him, slicing through the colored blocks flying past with coordinated ease, as if he’d memorized the track beforehand.

“Whoa, he’s so good...how the heck does he know where to slice and stuff? I can barely keep up with what color they are, let alone what direction to hit,” Sio murmured, staring at the neon-colored action in awe. “There’s no way...he hasn’t played this before, has he?” She watched as Adam completed another combo streak, his multiplier at the max of 8x. “What the hell...”

Mahesh shrugged. “Who knows; I don’t think so, since VR is so new, but that’s Adam for you. Always full of hidden surprises...and probably some he hasn’t even revealed yet.” The trio watched in silence until Adam finished the track, with an impressive score of A, to their fervent applause.

“Well that was an ace performance! Especially for your first try.”

“No kidding; what, can you see the blocks before they appear or something? Sure you don’t have some hidden ability to see the future?” Jess jokingly suggested, though for some reason Adam flinched a bit at the statement.

“...Ha ha, real funny. If you must know, it helps a lot when you’re familiar with the song...”

“Eh? Adam-san, so you like this type of music, huh? Electronica?”

For some reason the sniper’s question made him blush, his cheeks turning even redder than they already were from the faux-workout. “Uh, yeh...I listen to a whole bunch of stuff, just so happens I recognized this track, and uh, decided to give it a go...”

“Now now, no need to be modest! Music or not, you really are good at this type of stuff. I guess we shouldn’t be surprised, given how skilled you are on the battlefield...” Mahesh praised.

“Yeh, and it’s a good thing you’re a defender-type, not an attacker; otherwise we’d be long dead already,” Adam replied sarcastically, making a jab at the Indian’s less-than-stellar hand-eye coordination. “Anyway, I’m headin’ up; that took more out of me than I expected, and I want a quick rinse before bed. G’night.”

“Oh uh, good night, Adam-san,” Sio watched curiously as he climbed up the stairs. “I wonder if he’s upset about something...it’s not that late,” she glanced at the clock, which just hit 10:30pm. “Maybe he’s tired.”

“Or, more like someone’s just bashful. Don’t worry Sio, he’s not offended. I just don’t think he’s the type who likes being the center of attention all of a sudden,” Jess mused, as Mahesh picked up the controls again. “Ironic, considering he’s our de facto platoon leader.”

“Well, you don’t have to be outgoing to be a leader, I guess.” Sio nodded, reaffirming her thoughts. Adam was not the smoothest talker, but he had a certain charisma, especially on the battlefield. While Nobunaga’s e-gene was invaluable for strategizing, she wouldn’t deny that Adam knew how to adapt and call the shots, especially in the heat of battle. It was the same type of charisma she felt now, that inexplicably drew her towards him, despite his stoicism and sometimes abrasive words.

‘Though, he’s definitely less harsh, now. Not just his words, but the way he acts, around everybody too...’

He was a kind person, she decided. Probably just not used to letting his guard down, and Sio had a feeling that was partly due to his childhood, of being alone and having to fend for himself. ‘Kinda like me, except I’m just super awkward and terrible with talking to people in general...’

“I liked that song he played...I don’t usually listen to music without lyrics, but it’s really catchy. I kinda wanna listen to it again...” Sio pondered as the rest of the group finally decided to retire for the night.

“Why don’t you go ask him?” Sio blinked in surprise as Mahesh sidled up next to her. “He said he’d heard it before, right? Maybe he can share it with you.”

“Ah, I—uh, I don’t, wanna bother him with something trivial like that...” She laughed nervously, though Mahesh simply winked at her. She stopped short of the attic staircase right before the room, and looked up. The door was already closed, and he was probably already asleep, but Mahesh’s suggestion repeated itself in her mind.

‘Actually, maybe I will...after all, why not. I’ll ask him tomorrow...what kind of music he likes...’

If she was lucky, maybe he’d even offer to let her listen to some. Flushing hotly at the thought, Sio quickly went into her room and dove underneath the covers.

‘Ah Sio...what are you getting yourself into now...’

[180brg]

1 Corinthians 15

Resurrection

1-2 Friends, let me go over the Message with you one final time— this Message that I proclaimed and that you made your own; this Message on which you took your stand and by which your life has been saved. (I’m assuming, now, that your belief was the real thing and not a passing fancy, that you’re in this for good and holding fast.)

3-9 The first thing I did was place before you what was placed so emphatically before me: that the Messiah died for our sins, exactly as Scripture tells it; that he was buried; that he was raised from death on the third day, again exactly as Scripture says; that he presented himself alive to Peter, then to his closest followers, and later to more than five hundred of his followers all at the same time, most of them still around (although a few have since died); that he then spent time with James and the rest of those he commissioned to represent him; and that he finally presented himself alive to me. It was fitting that I bring up the rear. I don’t deserve to be included in that inner circle, as you well know, having spent all those early years trying my best to stamp God’s church right out of existence.

10-11 But because God was so gracious, so very generous, here I am. And I’m not about to let his grace go to waste. Haven’t I worked hard trying to do more than any of the others? Even then, my work didn’t amount to all that much. It was God giving me the work to do, God giving me the energy to do it. So whether you heard it from me or from those others, it’s all the same: We spoke God’s truth and you entrusted your lives.

12-15 Now, let me ask you something profound yet troubling. If you became believers because you trusted the proclamation that Christ is alive, risen from the dead, how can you let people say that there is no such thing as a resurrection? If there’s no resurrection, there’s no living Christ. And face it—if there’s no resurrection for Christ, everything we’ve told you is smoke and mirrors, and everything you’ve staked your life on is smoke and mirrors. Not only that, but we would be guilty of telling a string of barefaced lies about God, all these affidavits we passed on to you verifying that God raised up Christ—sheer fabrications, if there’s no resurrection.

16-20 If corpses can’t be raised, then Christ wasn’t, because he was indeed dead. And if Christ weren’t raised, then all you’re doing is wandering about in the dark, as lost as ever. It’s even worse for those who died hoping in Christ and resurrection, because they’re already in their graves. If all we get out of Christ is a little inspiration for a few short years, we’re a pretty sorry lot. But the truth is that Christ has been raised up, the first in a long legacy of those who are going to leave the cemeteries.

21-28 There is a nice symmetry in this: Death initially came by a man, and resurrection from death came by a man. Everybody dies in Adam; everybody comes alive in Christ. But we have to wait our turn: Christ is first, then those with him at his Coming, the grand consummation when, after crushing the opposition, he hands over his kingdom to God the Father. He won’t let up until the last enemy is down—and the very last enemy is death! As the psalmist said, “He laid them low, one and all; he walked all over them.” When Scripture says that “he walked all over them,” it’s obvious that he couldn’t at the same time be walked on. When everything and everyone is finally under God’s rule, the Son will step down, taking his place with everyone else, showing that God’s rule is absolutely comprehensive—a perfect ending!

29 Why do you think people offer themselves to be baptized for those already in the grave? If there’s no chance of resurrection for a corpse, if God’s power stops at the cemetery gates, why do we keep doing things that suggest he’s going to clean the place out someday, pulling everyone up on their feet alive?

30-33 And why do you think I keep risking my neck in this dangerous work? I look death in the face practically every day I live. Do you think I’d do this if I wasn’t convinced of your resurrection and mine as guaranteed by the resurrected Messiah Jesus? Do you think I was just trying to act heroic when I fought the wild beasts at Ephesus, hoping it wouldn’t be the end of me? Not on your life! It’s resurrection, resurrection, always resurrection, that undergirds what I do and say, the way I live. If there’s no resurrection, “We eat, we drink, the next day we die,” and that’s all there is to it. But don’t fool yourselves. Don’t let yourselves be poisoned by this anti-resurrection loose talk. “Bad company ruins good manners.”

34 Think straight. Awaken to the holiness of life. No more playing fast and loose with resurrection facts. Ignorance of God is a luxury you can’t afford in times like these. Aren’t you embarrassed that you’ve let this kind of thing go on as long as you have?

35-38 Some skeptic is sure to ask, “Show me how resurrection works. Give me a diagram; draw me a picture. What does this ‘resurrection body’ look like?” If you look at this question closely, you realize how absurd it is. There are no diagrams for this kind of thing. We do have a parallel experience in gardening. You plant a “dead” seed; soon there is a flourishing plant. There is no visual likeness between seed and plant. You could never guess what a tomato would look like by looking at a tomato seed. What we plant in the soil and what grows out of it don’t look anything alike. The dead body that we bury in the ground and the resurrection body that comes from it will be dramatically different.

39-41 You will notice that the variety of bodies is stunning. Just as there are different kinds of seeds, there are different kinds of bodies—humans, animals, birds, fish—each unprecedented in its form. You get a hint at the diversity of resurrection glory by looking at the diversity of bodies not only on earth but in the skies—sun, moon, stars—all these varieties of beauty and brightness. And we’re only looking at pre-resurrection “seeds”—who can imagine what the resurrection “plants” will be like!

42-44 This image of planting a dead seed and raising a live plant is a mere sketch at best, but perhaps it will help in approaching the mystery of the resurrection body—but only if you keep in mind that when we’re raised, we’re raised for good, alive forever! The corpse that’s planted is no beauty, but when it’s raised, it’s glorious. Put in the ground weak, it comes up powerful. The seed sown is natural; the seed grown is supernatural—same seed, same body, but what a difference from when it goes down in physical mortality to when it is raised up in spiritual immortality!

45-49 We follow this sequence in Scripture: The First Adam received life, the Last Adam is a life-giving Spirit. Physical life comes first, then spiritual—a firm base shaped from the earth, a final completion coming out of heaven. The First Man was made out of earth, and people since then are earthy; the Second Man was made out of heaven, and people now can be heavenly. In the same way that we’ve worked from our earthy origins, let’s embrace our heavenly ends.

50 I need to emphasize, friends, that our natural, earthy lives don’t in themselves lead us by their very nature into the kingdom of God. Their very “nature” is to die, so how could they “naturally” end up in the Life kingdom?

51-57 But let me tell you something wonderful, a mystery I’ll probably never fully understand. We’re not all going to die—but we are all going to be changed. You hear a blast to end all blasts from a trumpet, and in the time that you look up and blink your eyes—it’s over. On signal from that trumpet from heaven, the dead will be up and out of their graves, beyond the reach of death, never to die again. At the same moment and in the same way, we’ll all be changed. In the resurrection scheme of things, this has to happen: everything perishable taken off the shelves and replaced by the imperishable, this mortal replaced by the immortal. Then the saying will come true:

Death swallowed by triumphant Life! Who got the last word, oh, Death? Oh, Death, who’s afraid of you now?

It was sin that made death so frightening and law-code guilt that gave sin its leverage, its destructive power. But now in a single victorious stroke of Life, all three—sin, guilt, death—are gone, the gift of our Master, Jesus Christ. Thank God!

58 With all this going for us, my dear, dear friends, stand your ground. And don’t hold back. Throw yourselves into the work of the Master, confident that nothing you do for him is a waste of time or effort.

[supernatural-jackles]

Help Hotline

Title: Help Hotline

Pairing: Dean x Reader

Word Count: 2,496

Warnings: Fluff

Summary: How do you deal with life as a hunter. Dean drinks. Sam goes for runs. You? Well let’s just say that you have a friend you talk to every time. 

A/N: This is my submission for Mimi’s RomCom Fluff Challenge. Thank you @deansdirtylittlesecretsblog for giving me this awesome prompt. My prompt was: “if i’m too good for him, then how come I’m not with him?” from Clueless. I hope y’all enjoy this one! Feedback would be very appreciated!

x

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“Alright, beers are on Sammy tonight,” Dean cheered as he pulled into the empty parking space in front of the expensive looking bar. You smirked to yourself in the backseat, knowing Dean picked this bar for a reason and that reason being Sam.

 “How long are you going to play this one out, Dean?” Sam questioned. You could hear the pang of annoyance in his voice.

 “Until you make up for breaking my friggin’ stereo by jamming your crappy ass Bieber cassette in it,” Dean stated as he kicked the door open. You followed behind the two taller men, Dean glancing back at you just once, making sure you were there with them. You’d never stray too far from them, not at a bar like this.

 Dean held the door open for both you and Sam, the loud music escaping out the bar doors along with the screams of the drunk crowd inside. Dean shot you a wink before slinging his arm around your shoulder, heading into the bar right next to you.

 Between the people dancing and the stools at the counter, it was a busy bar, almost too busy for your liking. You were going to deal. It was a tough hunt and the three of you needed to let loose. A couple of beers was going to do the trick, before you could head back to the motel and calm down the way you usually did. The boys would unwind, maybe find a woman to take home for the night, then you’d be back on the road. Another day, another case and hopefully another couple of lives saved.

 “What’s your poison tonight, sweetheart?” Dean leaned down to ask you. The bar was too loud to hear him, or anyone you wanted to have a conversation with for that matter.

 “I’m just going to stick with beer tonight,” you shrugged with a smile. Dean nodded his head, leaving your side to head over to the counter to grab you a drink along with his own. You glanced around the bar, looking for a place to sit that would be a little more secluded, hoping that you could carry on a conversation without saying ‘what? I can’t hear you,’ every five seconds.

 It had taken Sam five minutes to find a beautiful blonde to flirt with. It had been a while since Sam last got lucky according to what he told you. It had been longer for you the more you thought about it, which wasn’t often. You had your eyes on one man and one man only. There was no point in any one night stand when all you were going to do is wish it was him.

 “One beer for the beautiful lady,” Dean grinned, handing you a bottle of your favourite beer, the same in his hand. “Sammy looks like he’s got his night planned out.”

 “Yes he does. Maybe now he won’t be so uptight about everything,” you let out a laugh. Dean chuckled, agreeing with you before taking one long swing of his beer, his adam’s apple bobbing as he swallowed.

 “You planning on seeking out any male attention tonight?” he asked plainly. You simply shook your head.

 “Not really feeling it tonight. I’m going to drink this beer, then head back to the motel room and take a nice long shower,” you licked your lips. “‘Sides, I ain’t wasting my time on the rich, married men in here. Why be disappointed when I could just do it myself.”

 “Mhh, I’d pay to see that,” he winked.

 “Why don’t you go out and get some? The motel is like a ten minute walk and I’m a big girl,” you told him. In reality, you didn’t want him to go home with anyone, anyone that wasn’t you anyways.

 You had the biggest crush on the older Winchester. The mere mention of his name sent your heart reeling in your chest. Sure, he was attractive, and the way his tongue peeked past his lips when he wet them made you weak in the knees. But Dean Winchester was more than a pretty face. You were in love with the little things about him and you knew more than the average person. Dean was the kind of guy that had a cup of coffee waiting for you when you woke up in the morning. He was the guy who left his shirt on your bed for you to wear when you forgot to do laundry before a hunt. Dean deserved to be loved wholly by someone and you wanted that someone to be you.

 You and Dean were best friends though and as much as you wanted to kiss those downright sinful lips for hours, you didn’t want to be selfish and ruin the four year friendship the two of you had formed. You valued that too much to ruin it.

 “I know you’re a big girl. You could kick my ass any time,” he chuckled. “Maybe I will scope around, see if there’s anyone worth a piece of this.”

 “You’re such a dork, you know that?” you giggled. “Have fun. I’ll be in my motel room.”

 “Call me if you need anything,” he added in. You rolled your eyes of course. There is no way you were going to call him and ruin his night.

 “Yeah yeah! Wrap it before you tap it, Winchester. See you in the morning.”

   You walked along the side of the road, the fall breeze whipping through you. You pulled your jacket tighter to your body as your speed picked up. You were mentally kicking yourself for not stealing the keys to the impala, or asking Dean for a ride. But you were determined not to ruin his night. He did so much for you already. You didn’t want to add yet another thing to the list.

 The second you were in the safety of your motel room, you locked the doors and relaxed. The warmth of the indoors was a delight. Feeling alone was even better. You were free to relax after the hunt in your own way and you had your own special way that no one knew about.

 After you joined the Winchester’s, the three of you had a really bad case where an entire bus of kindergarten children crashed, not one of them surviving because of the damn spirit that the bus was keeping here. It was one you weren’t going to get over.

 So you called a help hotline in hopes that maybe talking about what happening in a vague sort of way would help you deal with it in a healthier manner. Instead of drinking until your liver no longer functioned, instead of trying to deal the way the boys did, you did this and it seemed to help you. You talked to the same person every single time. Matt was his name and he was the one there for you every time you needed to talk to someone. Of course, you didn’t tell him about what goes bump in the night. To him you were an FBI agent who dealt with special cases.

 Matt was the exact person you wanted to talk to.

 You stripped off your jacket, throwing it over the back of the chair before hopping on the motel bed with your phone in hand. You dialed the hotline number and asked directly for Matt. A few seconds being on hold, you heard his familiar voice on the other end of the line. A voice you welcomed.

 “Hi Matt, it’s Y/N,” you greeted him.

 “Hey Y/N. I haven’t heard from you in a few weeks, how’s everything going?” he asked. You could almost hear the smile growing on his face as he spoke.

 “Busy. Been working a lot of cases these past few weeks. Nothing too exciting really. A couple of weird murders but not enough to completely scar me for life before you ask. I feel like I’ve been doing better,” you told him. You were proud to say that to him.

 “That’s great to hear, Y/N. You’re a fighter, that’s for sure. You’ve been using those breathing techniques I taught you last time right?” He brought up.

 “Yeah, the other day actually. My partner helped me out with it. It was surprising actually. He’s not exactly the cuddly bear type, but it was nice to have something to calm me down to. His heartbeat certainly helped. Thanks for that Matt,” you beamed as you flipped over, resting on your back to stare up at the ceiling.

 “Awesome,” he chuckled. For a moment, Matt sounded oddly like Dean. Of course, there was no way Matt would ever be Dean. He couldn’t be. It didn’t make any sense. “So since everything has been going well with you it seems, what do I owe the pleasure of this call?”

 “I actually need your advice on something. You’re the only one I can trust to talk to,” you started.

 “What about your partner you mentioned earlier?”

 “It’s about him. I can’t exactly talk to him about it without making a complete fool of myself,” you scoffed. “See my partner and I are best friends and we have been for years, Matt. And over time, I guess I’ve sort of, kind of, fallen in love with him. Now, that there could ruin my friendship with him for one. But I’m so certain that he doesn’t feel the same about me.”

 “How can you know for sure?”

 “He’s at a bar right now, hitting on the first girl to give him any kind of attention. Now granted, I told him he should have a fun night, but in my head I’m begging him to see me, to take me home with him. But I just feel like I’m not good enough for him. Like I’m not thin enough, not pretty enough. I’m not his type,” you huffed.

 “Oh sweetheart, you are too good for him by the sounds of it,” he told you, kindly.

 “If I’m too good for him, then how come I’m not with him?”

 “Have you ever actually tried to make a move on him? I mean, I’m a guy so what do I know really? But maybe he’s just slow, or just as scared as you are. Maybe he hasn’t clued in to what’s in front of him? You’re a confident girl from what I can tell by our conversations. Tell him how you feel and you might be surprised.”

 “Thanks, Matt,” you smiled softly. You rolled off the bed with the phone still pressed to your ear. Skipping out on your jacket, you made your way out of your motel room with both your room key, and the Winchester’s in hand as you headed straight for theirs. “I’m going to do it. No more waiting and pining. He’s going to know exactly how I feel.”

 “Atta girl! Just remember, if he rejects you then it’s his loss. You deserve a good man,” he stated as if it was a fact. You slipped the card key in the lock, successfully opening the motel room door. You stepped in to find Dean sitting on the edge of the bed with his phone pressed to his ear.

 “Thanks. Listen I gotta go. I’m sure we’ll talk soon, I owe you one, Matt,” you said. You waited for him to answer you but he never did. Dean stopped speaking on the phone. “Dean?”

 “Y/N, I can explain-”

 “You’re Matt?” You whispered. “You’ve been Matt this whole time?”

 “Y/N, I swear, I had no idea it was you at first and by the time I figured it out, it was too late. I’m sorry, I wasn’t trying to pry into your head or anything and I swear-”

 You waltzed over to him and straddled his lap with confidence. Dean was taken back for sure, his pupils dilated and his hands rested behind him so he wasn’t touching you and making you uncomfortable.

 “Stop talking for just a second!”

 “Shutting up.”

 “Why didn’t you just tell me, Dean? Surprisingly right now, I’m not mad. I don’t know how I’m not mad but I’m not. I just wish you would have told me,” you frowned.

 “I wasn’t sure how you’d take it. I mean, we’ve talked about a lot of your personal thoughts and I thought the second you knew that I knew about them that you’d bolt and you’d leave us and I didn’t want that. Sam doesn’t know about this, I promise. And I’ve never used anything you’ve told me against you or to my advantage. Sure, maybe I’ve been a little nicer to you and I have a soft spot for you, I’ll admit that but I promise you, what we talk about stays between us.”

 “Good,” you beamed, “Look, I’m just going to come right out and say that I came here, not to find out that you’re Matt, but to tell you that you’re the guy I was talking about. I like you, Dean. And it’s cool if you don’t feel the same. I don’t want to ruin our friendship because our friendship is the best thing I have right now, and I don’t want that to end on account of how I feel, and I know that you don’t exactly do the whole one girl type thing which I’m now just thinking about and this is such a stupid idea.”

 You ducked your head down, pulling your bottom lip between your teeth. You really didn’t think this one through. You were proud of yourself for finally making a move but it didn’t mean you weren’t scared.

 Dean’s fingers dipped under your chin, urging you to meet his gaze. His breathtaking green eyes were soft, crinkling at the sides. He had a playful smile playing across his lips before he leaned in closer. His breath mingling with yours. Was this really happening? Was Dean really this close to your face voluntarily? The second he inched closer, brushing his lips gingerly against yours; your heart fluttered in your chest. His soft, plump, pink lips were pressed against yours and not in the ‘I want to fuck you into the mattress in about five minutes’ kind of way. His lips parted, deepening the kiss a little more and you were reciprocating. It only lasted a moment or two but it was enough to take your breath away.

 “I was worried it was Sam,” he muttered. “I never thought a girl like you would go for a guy like me. Now Sam, he’s smart and he’s got a lot more going for him.”

 “So do you, Dean,” you beamed. “Sam’s great and all, and I love Sam as a brother. You? You’re so much different.”

 “Oh really?” he winked. “I’m glad it’s me. Even if you are too good for me, at least now I know you’ll be treated the way you deserve to be treated.”

Please tell me what you think here

Dean Girls:

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[dfroza]

the rebirth of a seed is everything.

and we see its significance in the reading of the Scriptures for Today from the Letter of First Corinthians with chapter 15:

[Resurrection]

Friends, let me go over the Message with you one final time— this Message that I proclaimed and that you made your own; this Message on which you took your stand and by which your life has been saved. (I’m assuming, now, that your belief was the real thing and not a passing fancy, that you’re in this for good and holding fast.)

The first thing I did was place before you what was placed so emphatically before me: that the Messiah died for our sins, exactly as Scripture tells it; that he was buried; that he was raised from death on the third day, again exactly as Scripture says; that he presented himself alive to Peter, then to his closest followers, and later to more than five hundred of his followers all at the same time, most of them still around (although a few have since died); that he then spent time with James and the rest of those he commissioned to represent him; and that he finally presented himself alive to me. It was fitting that I bring up the rear. I don’t deserve to be included in that inner circle, as you well know, having spent all those early years trying my best to stamp God’s church right out of existence.

But because God was so gracious, so very generous, here I am. And I’m not about to let his grace go to waste. Haven’t I worked hard trying to do more than any of the others? Even then, my work didn’t amount to all that much. It was God giving me the work to do, God giving me the energy to do it. So whether you heard it from me or from those others, it’s all the same: We spoke God’s truth and you entrusted your lives.

Now, let me ask you something profound yet troubling. If you became believers because you trusted the proclamation that Christ is alive, risen from the dead, how can you let people say that there is no such thing as a resurrection? If there’s no resurrection, there’s no living Christ. And face it—if there’s no resurrection for Christ, everything we’ve told you is smoke and mirrors, and everything you’ve staked your life on is smoke and mirrors. Not only that, but we would be guilty of telling a string of barefaced lies about God, all these affidavits we passed on to you verifying that God raised up Christ—sheer fabrications, if there’s no resurrection.

If corpses can’t be raised, then Christ wasn’t, because he was indeed dead. And if Christ weren’t raised, then all you’re doing is wandering about in the dark, as lost as ever. It’s even worse for those who died hoping in Christ and resurrection, because they’re already in their graves. If all we get out of Christ is a little inspiration for a few short years, we’re a pretty sorry lot. But the truth is that Christ has been raised up, the first in a long legacy of those who are going to leave the cemeteries.

There is a nice symmetry in this: Death initially came by a man, and resurrection from death came by a man. Everybody dies in Adam; everybody comes alive in Christ. But we have to wait our turn: Christ is first, then those with him at his Coming, the grand consummation when, after crushing the opposition, he hands over his kingdom to God the Father. He won’t let up until the last enemy is down—and the very last enemy is death! As the psalmist said, “He laid them low, one and all; he walked all over them.” When Scripture says that “he walked all over them,” it’s obvious that he couldn’t at the same time be walked on. When everything and everyone is finally under God’s rule, the Son will step down, taking his place with everyone else, showing that God’s rule is absolutely comprehensive—a perfect ending!

Why do you think people offer themselves to be baptized for those already in the grave? If there’s no chance of resurrection for a corpse, if God’s power stops at the cemetery gates, why do we keep doing things that suggest he’s going to clean the place out someday, pulling everyone up on their feet alive?

And why do you think I keep risking my neck in this dangerous work? I look death in the face practically every day I live. Do you think I’d do this if I wasn’t convinced of your resurrection and mine as guaranteed by the resurrected Messiah Jesus? Do you think I was just trying to act heroic when I fought the wild beasts at Ephesus, hoping it wouldn’t be the end of me? Not on your life! It’s resurrection, resurrection, always resurrection, that undergirds what I do and say, the way I live. If there’s no resurrection, “We eat, we drink, the next day we die,” and that’s all there is to it. But don’t fool yourselves. Don’t let yourselves be poisoned by this anti-resurrection loose talk. “Bad company ruins good manners.”

Think straight. Awaken to the holiness of life. No more playing fast and loose with resurrection facts. Ignorance of God is a luxury you can’t afford in times like these. Aren’t you embarrassed that you’ve let this kind of thing go on as long as you have?

Some skeptic is sure to ask, “Show me how resurrection works. Give me a diagram; draw me a picture. What does this ‘resurrection body’ look like?” If you look at this question closely, you realize how absurd it is. There are no diagrams for this kind of thing. We do have a parallel experience in gardening. You plant a “dead” seed; soon there is a flourishing plant. There is no visual likeness between seed and plant. You could never guess what a tomato would look like by looking at a tomato seed. What we plant in the soil and what grows out of it don’t look anything alike. The dead body that we bury in the ground and the resurrection body that comes from it will be dramatically different.

You will notice that the variety of bodies is stunning. Just as there are different kinds of seeds, there are different kinds of bodies—humans, animals, birds, fish—each unprecedented in its form. You get a hint at the diversity of resurrection glory by looking at the diversity of bodies not only on earth but in the skies—sun, moon, stars—all these varieties of beauty and brightness. And we’re only looking at pre-resurrection “seeds”—who can imagine what the resurrection “plants” will be like!

This image of planting a dead seed and raising a live plant is a mere sketch at best, but perhaps it will help in approaching the mystery of the resurrection body—but only if you keep in mind that when we’re raised, we’re raised for good, alive forever! The corpse that’s planted is no beauty, but when it’s raised, it’s glorious. Put in the ground weak, it comes up powerful. The seed sown is natural; the seed grown is supernatural—same seed, same body, but what a difference from when it goes down in physical mortality to when it is raised up in spiritual immortality!

We follow this sequence in Scripture: The First Adam received life, the Last Adam is a life-giving Spirit. Physical life comes first, then spiritual—a firm base shaped from the earth, a final completion coming out of heaven. The First Man was made out of earth, and people since then are earthy; the Second Man was made out of heaven, and people now can be heavenly. In the same way that we’ve worked from our earthy origins, let’s embrace our heavenly ends.

I need to emphasize, friends, that our natural, earthy lives don’t in themselves lead us by their very nature into the kingdom of God. Their very “nature” is to die, so how could they “naturally” end up in the Life kingdom?

But let me tell you something wonderful, a mystery I’ll probably never fully understand. We’re not all going to die—but we are all going to be changed. You hear a blast to end all blasts from a trumpet, and in the time that you look up and blink your eyes—it’s over. On signal from that trumpet from heaven, the dead will be up and out of their graves, beyond the reach of death, never to die again. At the same moment and in the same way, we’ll all be changed. In the resurrection scheme of things, this has to happen: everything perishable taken off the shelves and replaced by the imperishable, this mortal replaced by the immortal. Then the saying will come true:

Death swallowed by triumphant Life!

Who got the last word, oh, Death?

Oh, Death, who’s afraid of you now?

It was sin that made death so frightening and law-code guilt that gave sin its leverage, its destructive power. But now in a single victorious stroke of Life, all three—sin, guilt, death—are gone, the gift of our Master, Jesus Christ. Thank God!

With all this going for us, my dear, dear friends, stand your ground. And don’t hold back. Throw yourselves into the work of the Master, confident that nothing you do for him is a waste of time or effort.

The Letter of First Corinthians, Chapter 15 (The Message)

and these lines from the same chapter mirrored in The Voice:

Let me remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news that I preached to you when we first met. It’s the essential message that you have taken to heart, the central story you now base your life on; and through this gospel, you are liberated—unless, of course, your faith has come to nothing. For I passed down to you the crux of it all which I had also received from others, that the Anointed One, the Liberating King, died for our sins and was buried and raised from the dead on the third day. All this happened to fulfill the Scriptures; it was the perfect climax to God’s covenant story.

•

The seed you plant doesn’t produce life unless it dies. Right? The seed doesn’t have the same look, the same body, if you will, of what it will have once it starts to grow. It starts out a single, naked seed—whether wheat or some other grain, it doesn’t matter—and God gives to that seed a body just as He has desired. For each of the different kinds of seeds God prepares a unique body. Or look at it this way: not all flesh is the same. Right? There is skin flesh on humans, furry flesh on animals, feathery flesh on birds, and scaly flesh on fish. Likewise there are bodies made for the heavens and bodies made for the earth. The heavenly bodies have a different kind of glory or luminescence compared to bodies below. Even among the heavenly bodies, there is a different level of brilliance: the sun shines differently than the moon, the moon differently than the stars, and the stars themselves differ in their brightness.

It’s like this with the resurrection of those who have died. The body planted in the earth decays. But the body raised from the earth cannot decay. The body is planted in disgrace and weakness. But the body is raised in splendor and power. The body planted in the earth was animated by the physical, material realm. But the body raised from the earth will be animated by the spiritual. Since there is a physical, material body, there will also be a spiritual body. That’s why it was written, “The first man Adam became a living soul”; the last Adam has become a life-giving spirit. Everything has an order. The body is not animated first by the spiritual but the physical; then the spiritual becomes its life-giving source. The first man, Adam, came from the earth and was made from dust; the second man, Jesus, has come from heaven. The earth man shares his earth nature with all those made of earth; likewise the heavenly man shares His heavenly nature with all those made of heaven. Just as we have carried the image of the earth man in our bodies, we will also carry the image of the heavenly man in our new bodies at the resurrection.

The Letter of First Corinthians, Chapter 15:1-4, 36-49 (The Voice)

and paired with this chapter we see the True nature of a dream that Jacob had that has been written down and conserved in chapter 28 of the book of Genesis:

So Isaac called in Jacob and blessed him. Then he ordered him, “Don’t take a Caananite wife. Leave at once. Go to Paddan Aram to the family of your mother’s father, Bethuel. Get a wife for yourself from the daughters of your uncle Laban.

“And may The Strong God bless you and give you many, many children, a congregation of peoples; and pass on the blessing of Abraham to you and your descendants so that you will get this land in which you live, this land God gave Abraham.”

So Isaac sent Jacob off. He went to Paddan Aram, to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah who was the mother of Jacob and Esau.

Esau learned that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him to Paddan Aram to get a wife there, and while blessing him commanded, “Don’t marry a Canaanite woman,” and that Jacob had obeyed his parents and gone to Paddan Aram. When Esau realized how deeply his father Isaac disliked the Canaanite women, he went to Ishmael and married Mahalath the sister of Nebaioth and daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son. This was in addition to the wives he already had.

Jacob left Beersheba and went to Haran. He came to a certain place and camped for the night since the sun had set. He took one of the stones there, set it under his head and lay down to sleep. And he dreamed: A stairway was set on the ground and it reached all the way to the sky; angels of God were going up and going down on it.

Then God was right before him, saying, “I am God, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. I’m giving the ground on which you are sleeping to you and to your descendants. Your descendants will be as the dust of the Earth; they’ll stretch from west to east and from north to south. All the families of the Earth will bless themselves in you and your descendants. Yes. I’ll stay with you, I’ll protect you wherever you go, and I’ll bring you back to this very ground. I’ll stick with you until I’ve done everything I promised you.”

Jacob woke up from his sleep. He said, “God is in this place—truly. And I didn’t even know it!” He was terrified. He whispered in awe, “Incredible. Wonderful. Holy. This is God’s House. This is the Gate of Heaven.”

Jacob was up first thing in the morning. He took the stone he had used for his pillow and stood it up as a memorial pillar and poured oil over it. He christened the place Bethel (God’s House). The name of the town had been Luz until then.

Jacob vowed a vow: “If God stands by me and protects me on this journey on which I’m setting out, keeps me in food and clothing, and brings me back in one piece to my father’s house, this God will be my God. This stone that I have set up as a memorial pillar will mark this as a place where God lives. And everything you give me, I’ll return a tenth to you.”

The Book of Genesis, Chapter 28 (The Message)

my personal reading of the Scriptures for monday, february 24 of 2020 with a paired chapter from each Testament along with Today’s Psalms and Proverbs

[chicagoindiecritics]

New from Every Movie Has a Lesson by Don Shanahan: COLUMN: The 10 Best Movies of 2019

Before talking about this year-end best list from one of the most back-loaded ones in recent memory, reflection is needed and a deep breath for the next decade to come.  I am forever proud of what I do. I wouldn’t chase all the press opportunities and commit the time into it if I didn’t. In 2019, a great deal of change came to me and this website of mine this past year.  I am forever proud of what I do.  

The critics group I helped found and co-direct, the Chicago Independent Film Critics Circle, rebranded into Chicago Indie Critics.  We celebrate our fourth annual awards this week and our industry reach and reputation grows every year. Best of all, it’s a pleasure to count my peers there as friends in the press row trenches.  It’s nice to share smiles and handshakes at every screening I can.

Speaking of professional standings, I answered a call for writers and began contributing for another website this year.  Since June, I’ve been providing film reviews for 25YL, short for 25 Years Later.  Founded by Andrew Grevas, what started as a Twin Peaks tribute site has turned into “all your obsession in one place” to cover a wide range of entertainment.  I became their first Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic and have greatly enjoyed the new audience, increased exposure, and a chance to be a part of a bigger thing.

Here on Every Movie Has a Lesson, this was the first year the site has featured monetized ads.  I’m no longer doing all this for free, so thank you for dealing with the visual noise to help pay the bills.  Also, my site has been open to guest writers looking to get published. I was honored to help an astounding 44 writers get their work seen in 2019, including 21 Washington State University architecture graduate students with their movie-centered essays.  This school teacher couldn’t resist helping folks and I’ve enjoyed their content and contributions.      

Alright, let’s get to the scoreboard.  In all, I published “only” 94 film reviews in 2019, which is plenty, but down from 110 last year and my high mark of 126 in 2017.  I saw a dozen and a half more, but full-time school teachers, husbands, and dads like me only have so much free time to put 1000 words down every time.  Work-life balance, so to speak, is always a challenge, one that I aim to do better in the life direction. No matter, I think I’ve got 2019 figured out. Here are my picks for the ten best films of the year accompanied by, as always and true to my site’s namesake niche, their best life lesson:

THE 10 BEST MOVIES OF 2019 AND THEIR LESSONS

1. 1917

Full Review

I’m going to sound like an Olympic figure skating judge, but no film received higher technical marks on my scorecard in 2019 than Sam Mendes’ harrowing war thriller.  At the same time the filmmaking prowess captivated me, I was overwhelmingly swept up by the human elements as well creating a complete experience. Most people haven’t seen it yet and I cannot wait until you do.

BEST LESSON: WAR MUST BE ENDURED— All of those World War I combatants from over a century ago, including a family member of the Mendes lineage named in tribute during the end credits, may not be distinctly special or flush with a mythic history of certain destiny. Yet, what they endured was shattering and strengthening at the same time. The draw to see summoned bravery and weatherd tragedy in conflict will always be hugely magnetic. Rising with ambitious scale and a colossal level of enthrallment, 1917 will join cinema’s greatest exemplars of such captivation. 

2. Little Women

Full Review

Greta Gerwig took Louisa May Alcott’s seminal novel, something that could have easily been stiff and stale, and brought new spirit to it.  Yet, in doing so, she didn’t force anything. She didn’t shove showy modernity into faces, just for the sake of doing so. Her Little Women is a mainstream PG rarity.  The spirit she, the cast, and the artists brought was genuine, sumptuous, and vivacious.  What a marvelous achievement!

BEST LESSON: THE STRENGTH OF FAMILIAL LOVE — To borrow this time from the Greeks and a dollop of The Bible instead of the Fab Four, the level of “storge” love in this saga is exquisite. When family is in need, the annoyances and competitiveness of these sisters go away and bonds are renewed. As they say in the dialogue, “life is too short to be angry at sisters.” Once again, thanks to Gerwig’s tonal choices, you see it, plain as day, in the way the cast in character interacts. The emotional wreckage that results is incredibly genuine.

3. Marriage Story

Full Review

Neck and neck with Little Women comes the Netflix drama with the courage to bare truths from the maddening and draining process that is divorce.  Thanks to dynamite and Oscar-worthy lead performances from Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver, heartstrings are plucked, tightened, and unraveled by Noah Baumbach’s deeply personal tale of resiliency.

BEST LESSON: WHAT WOULD YOU DO? — It is impossible to watch this movie and not have it be a barometer check towards your own relationship status and integrity. Regardless how much yearning desire floats every now and then in Marriage Story, this trauma recovery. Normally in movies like this, we see the indiscretion itself, then the collapse, ink hitting paper, and maybe a gavel banging for a suspenseful decision. Few films go in between and beyond those decision points to show the fractured orbits and restarts of continuing life with heart and honesty. There is blame to be shared, but you feel for both leads and wonder about yourself externally. That is a substantially powerful effect of this film.

4. Luce

Full Review

Until the awards season parade of November and December releases arrived, this was my #1 in the clubhouse coming out of the fall.  Even though this is a wildly fictious morality play stretched into the settings of cinema, this movie gave me, the school teacher, a jaw-dropping heart attack.  Between Luce and Waves, you need to keep an eye on Kelvin Harrison, Jr., a certain star for this new decade.  

BEST LESSON: VENDETTAS ARE PROBLEMATIC — Simmering behind classroom smiles, what the mounting drama of Luce becomes is a straight-up vendetta, one between teacher and student. The bloodless lines of bitterness fortify to hurt people and force chosen sides. This is a saint versus a monster, with little middle, and a guessing game of which one is really which. It’s a battle the actors sell without flaw.

5. Parasite

Full Review

I was better late than never to this party for the most talked about niche film of the year.  Leave it to a foreign director in the form of Korean Bong Joon-ho to blow our American minds with the sharpest social commentary of a film this year.  Parasite’s bottle film suspense comes from the smartest and most cunning premise and screenplay of the year.  Subtitle-haters, get over your hangup and see this movie.

BEST LESSON: THE DEFINITION OF “PARASITE”— When you dig into this title (as it digs into you), three variations of meaning present themselves: 

an organism that lives on or in an organism of another species, known as the host, from the body of which it obtains nutriment.

a person who receives support, advantage, or the like, from another or others without giving any useful or proper return, as one who lives on the hospitality of others.

(in ancient Greece) a person who received free meals in return for amusing or impudent conversation, flattering remarks, etc.

You read those definitions and wonder, gosh, which one of the three will this buzzed-about Korean film seize or probe. Big or small, any one of them could take a toll.  The staggering thing is, with many flourishes, Parasite, is all damn three of them, in twisted and overwhelming fashion.

6. The Peanut Butter Falcon

Full Review

The Peanut Butter Falcon was one of a few “Little Engines That Could For Me” this year.  I couldn’t be more pleased that this labor of love and offbeat road movie, starring Zach Gottshagen and Shia LeBeouf, has been able to find a sizable audience. There’s always one movie a year that becomes my top casual recommendation when people ask me for something that haven’t heard of that is simply a good time.  This is the one for 2019. This is independent filmmaking done right.

BEST LESSON: HAVE A GOOD STORY TO TELL WHEN YOU DIE — The Peanut Butter Falcon doesn’t just tell a good story. It tells a great one worthy of attention, praise, and undying appreciation. The purifying freedom that churns throughout this movie could cultivate even the most barren heart. This little lovable film is the kind of experience that makes one rethink how their own story is going. That is a mighty, motivating accomplishment for something that couldn’t stand out more from the usual summer blockbuster fare. 

7. The Farewell

Full Review

Plenty of critics like myself (though I try so often to say it other ways) will use the expression “through the wringer” often when it comes to weathering difficult or excitable experiences at the movies.  Well, no movie executed that as many ways this past year than Lulu Wang’s family dramedy. It’s got the comedic peaks and the dramatic ones that both crush with frank honesty and genuine love. The premise of this movie is the curveball of curveballs.

BEST LESSON: COULD YOU DO THIS WITHIN YOUR OWN FAMILY? — The crux of The Farewell makes for several of those soul-searching quiz questions every viewer must ask themselves in a film plot as specific as this one. Should, or even could, you carry on like this? To do so would be illegal in the U.S. Can you justify your position? How long could you live with or act out what everyone calls a “good lie?” Is there even such a thing? In this culture, it is characterized as the family carrying the emotional burden for the dying. Sure, but if you’re helping them, who’s healing your internal injuries of the heart living with that weight? How you answer these will inform your connection to this film straightaway.

8. Joker

Full Review

I found what has stood to be become the most polarizing movie of the year to be one of the year’s best.  Go ahead and judge me. Called a masterpiece by some and trash by others, I fall definitely on the high end with this maniacal comic book tangent.  Joaquin Phoenix was too good to ignore. On every level, I admire the sheer cajones of this blockbuster to pulverize us with kitchen sinks filled with cajones and questions. 

BEST LESSON: THE DEFINITION OF “GALL” — According to Dictionary.com, the four possible meanings of the noun span impudence, severity, bitterness of spirit, and rancor. To saunter a little cruder, which is fitting for the movie in play, the Urban Dictionary defines the word as audacity, balls, or something risky. Hot damn, Joker is each one of those descriptors from both sources and then some.

9. Jojo Rabbit

Full Review

Yes, it is categorically crazy to reach a point of embracing a movie about Nazis, but leave it to Taika Waititi to pull it off.  He imbues enough heart into this satire to present a transformation of wrongs into rights that is entertaining and affecting in its own way.  The filmmaker said he was making a movie of hope and love that could echo into our own present times. He did that with infinite panache without sacrificing hard reality.

BEST LESSON: WHEN ACTUALITY HITS — Using the word “reality” in this comical setting is leaping too far. Stick with actuality instead and just look at the objects and actions. Knives hurt people. Grenades explode. Soldiers die. War destroys. Germans are fallible. Jews are regular people too. When the wrongs and horrors of war arrive, the movie shifts. Jojo Rabbit swells and elevates beyond farce with this actuality.

10. Knives Out

Full Review

This will sound poster-quote cliche like that “wringer” sentiment over in The Farewell at #7, but Knives Out was flat-out the most entertaining film of the year for me.  To name-drop a film lower down the list, the second most entertaining and surprising one was The Man Who Killed Hitler and then The Bigfoot at #13.  Back ti Knives Out, my review says it all deeper and better than cliches, but Rian Johnson absolutely nailed subverting the murder mystery blueprint to create pitfalls of depravity and delight.  Everyone involved is clearly having a blast and we do too.

BEST LESSON: HOW TO SUBVERT AN ENTIRE GENRE — The trope-filled mechanics of most murder mysteries create an antagonist while Knives Out has you pining for the killer instead. In flipping the rooting interests from the pursuing authorities to the identified perpetrator, the dexterous filmmaker shifted goals and bolstered energy to a different gear. Where the typical pulse rate of this kind of story opens and ends with a bang between a tedious, saggy middle, Knives Out is all about that rich center. What an equally delectable and sinful treat it is!

SPECIAL MENTION: Apollo 11

Full Review

I don’t see as many documentaries as I should, and I don’t find it completely fair ranking them alongside feature narratives that have completely different purposes, crafts, and objectives. That said, the argument can be had that Apollo 11 was the best thing to touch a silver screen this year, no matter the discipline and genre.  Edited like a bullet from thousands of hours of content and tuned to IMAX perfection, this chronicle of the first lunar landing mission was incredible in every facet.  I’ll be the school teacher that sees every science student in the country needs to see this documentary.  

THE NEXT 10:

11. Clara

12. Booksmart

13. The Man Who Killed Hitler and then The Bigfoot

14. Us

15. Uncut Gems

16. The Two Popes

17. Waves

18. Ford v Ferrari

19. Ad Astra

20. Wild Rose

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[littleshebear]

Memories (Someone We’ll Never Meet) pt.3

An accident, a meeting and a decision.

Destiny | The Reef | The Awoken | Zavala | Rahool | Ives | Tyra Karn | Various OCs | Impending Heartbreak | Gratuitous politics, poetry and philosophy

AO3 Link: http://archiveofourown.org/works/11388942/chapters/25503108

Sofia is ten years old and they are having a history lesson in school. Earlier in the morning, Papa had asked Sofia what she thought history is.

“It’s what happened in the past.”

“”No,” he replied in that serious way of his. “It’s the study of what people said happened in the past. Never forget that.”

They are studying Book One of the Maraid in class. It describes how the Awoken came to be, how the Reef was formed. Sofia thinks this is a strange place to start. She is fairly certain that History goes back a lot further than that, is has to. Papa’s poems are hundreds of years old, he said so. She decides not to say anything in class, mindful of her family’s private set of Rules. She will ask her parents about it later.

Sofia sits, elbows on her desk, chin in her hands. She’s pretending to listen to Ms. Sadler explain how Queen Mara saved them all from certain doom but instead, she is daydreaming about one of Papa’s poems, the one about the daffodils. It is a funny word. Daff-o-dil. Far too silly-sounding for such a pretty thing. At least, she imagines they are pretty. Ms. Sadler is droning on, something about Starlight and Darkness, while Sofia is fixated upon images of yellow flowers, blue skies and a carpet of green as far as the eye can see. Once she has the image fixed in her mind, she is loathe to let it go. It is so hard to properly visualise anything that is not in shades of blue, black or Royal Purple.

“Sofia?” Ms. Sadler’s voice cuts through Sofia’s reverie.

“Yes?”

What did I just say?”

Sofia has no idea. She was far too busy wandering in her head, lonely as a cloud.

“Uh,” she hazards a reasonable guess. “It was about Queen Mara?”

“No. If you’d been paying attention-”

Ms. Sadler is interrupted by a sudden rumble that seemingly reverberates throughout the whole station. Sofia grabs the edges of her desk to steady herself, expecting a shockwave to rock the little classroom. She feels vibration through her feet but nothing more.

“Stay in your seats.” Ms. Sadler heads towards a console behind her desk. She calls for silence as a ripple of chatter breaks out among the children. She frowns at a read out before announcing that class is dismissed and everyone is to return to their quarters and stay there until further notice. “Come along,” she says with forced brightness. “Quickly now, but no running. Two by two.”

The class pair off and file out in not quite as orderly a fashion as their teacher would have liked. Cries of “What’s going on?” and “Are we evacuating?” echo down the corridor.

“No one is evacuating, just…” She hesitates, as though she were unsure that she can project enough of an aura of calm. “There will be an announcement in due course.”

Sofia knows it is foolish to expect a straight answer from one of Them. She opts to get information from a source who is not programmed to lie. She spots a Frame standing at the end of the corridor. She breaks away from her classmates and and marches up to it.

“Frame? What caused the noise at fourteen-twenty hours?”

The robot swivels its head to face her. “Explosive decompression in Hangar Six.”

Sofia pales and just stares for a second or two. Mama and Papa are stationed in Hangar Six.

“Are my parents okay?” She quavers.

“Casualties reported. Identities unknown,” it replies in its maddeningly calm voice.

“Are my parents okay?” Sofia raises her voice. She knows she’s breaking the Rules here but she’s past caring. “My mother is flight engineer -”

Someone grabs her wrist before she can scream her parents’ names and ranks in this useless Frame’s stupid, oblong face.

“Sofie…” Marcus is pulling her back into line. “You’re not supposed to do that. Come on.” His lips are set in a thin line and he is frowning deeply. Sofia cannot believe he cares about the Rules at a time like this. She is ready to punch him again (and she would know how this time. Papa taught her). She is about to yell at him to let go when she notices that his mouth is curving distinctly downwards and his chin is wobbling.

“What’s wrong?”

“My dad’s in Hangar Six too.” There is a hitch in his breathing and his voice is strained.

Sofia puts aside her animosity and slips her hand into his. She can forgiving. “It’ll be okay.” She can be brave. “They do drills for this sort of thing.”

Marcus nods but his brows remain stubbornly knotted together . Sofia is not sure she believes it either but she feels strongly that someone should say it.

When Sofia arrives at her pod she gives Marcus’ hand a firm squeeze while saying, “It’ll be okay. It’ll be okay.”

Marcus nods and repeats the mantra. “It’ll be okay.” If they say if often enough, it will become true. He lets go of Sofia’s hand with some degree of reluctance and heads towards his own pod.

Sofia shuts the door and takes a seat at the table. Then she moves to the couch, perching on the edge. Then back to the table. She finally decamps to her bedroom. She grabs a stuffed rabbit toy off the shelf and curls into a foetal position on her little cot. She has told herself for the longest time that she is getting too old for the toy (what even is a rabbit, anyway?) but today, she clutches it to her as though her life depends on it. She stares across the expanse of the pod at the front door, waiting for some sign of movement. For all her grousing about how cramped the pod is, the thought of Mama and Papa never coming home again makes the place seem cavernous.

She glances at her chronometer periodically, each time expecting at least an hour to have gone by, only to see that the time has only advanced by a matter of minutes. She curls her fingers into her toy rabbit until her knuckles turn white, and her muscles start to ache from lying rigid and unmoving. After a seeming eternity, she hears the door seal pop and she springs back into a sitting position. She does not realise she has been holding her breath until the door finally opens and Mama walks through. Sofia exhales sharply before covering her mouth with her hand, stifling a sob. She does not remember running across the pod to meet her mother. One moment she is sitting on her bed, the next she is flinging her arms around Mama’s waist and sobbing into her coveralls.

Mama crouches down and to Sofia’s level and hugs her back just as fiercely. “Did someone tell you what happened?”

“I asked a Frame,” she whimpers in response. “Papa?” She asks, fearful of the answer.

“He’s out on patrol, he wasn’t there. He’s fine.” Mama insists she’s fine too but she is trembling, her hands are ice cold and she refuses every attempt Sofia makes to Link with her.

~*~

They pile into a cramped room in one of 10 Hygiea’s libraries. Sofia stares in wonder around the walls. They are covered in shelves which are packed with books, hard drives and engrams. She is dying to rifle through them but she is under strict instructions not to touch anything. Sofia turns her attention to the other people assembled. There are all sorts; Engineers like Mama, pilots like Papa, maintenance workers, archivists and even three Cryptarchs. Sofia stifles a giggle. Their bright yellow robes make them look like three intellectual daffodils.

Mama had not been sure if Sofia should have come to this meeting but Papa was adamant. “She’s old enough to understand. She deserves a say.”

Sofia can hear voices engaged in a spirited back and forth discussion but she finds it hard to follow the conversation with the crush of bodies obscuring her view of who is speaking. Papa eventually notices her standing on her tiptoes and craning her neck so he lifts her onto a library ladder. He holds her around her waist to steady her.

“Don’t fall.” Papa whispers, smiling. “You mother would have my hide.” Sofia smiles back, wraps her arms around his neck and grips his shoulder. She turns her attention back to the meeting. Two of the Cryptarchs are arguing.

“We have everything we need here. I see no sense in taking off into the unknown. We have defences, food, water -”

“Our material needs yes but-”

“What is more important than that, Rahool?” Counters the first Cryptarch. “This is a matter of survival.”

“I have no desire to live in a city of pigs,” The one called Rahool snaps back.

“Pigs? What are you talking about?”

“Oh read a book, Ives.”

Sofia frowns in puzzlement but Papa is smiling softly. She leans in to whisper, “What is he talking about?”

“He means there’s more to life than survival. There’s leisure, art, beauty. They’re important too.”

“Oh. I get that.” She nods until something else occurs to her. “What’s a pig?”

Papa shushes her gently, “Later.”

Another voice pipes up. “But he’s right though. Earth is dangerous, the Fallen -”

“The Fallen are manageable.” Papa does not raise his voice but somehow manages to cut through the hub-bub. “Besides, we should be uniting with Earth, not leaving the people there to their fate.”

“Well that’s very brave, very noble and perhaps rather too easy for someone in your position to say. We’re not all soldiers here.”

“If arguing from morality won’t convince you, very well. How about pragmatism? Earth has resources we could use, we have resources Earth could use. I see no advantage to this division.”

“We’re Awoken, we are not human,” that Cryptarch called Ives chimes in. “You may not see the sense in it but the division is there, whether you want it or not. Assuming we returned to Earth, there’s no guarantee they’d accept us.”

“We’re more alike than we are different,” Rahool steps into the fray again.

“And humankind has a long history of being accepting of difference,” Ives replies, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “Surely you of all people shouldn’t need a primer on that?”

“I like to think that we haven’t lost everything that the Golden Age gave us.” Rahool’s fists are clenched in front of him and his words are clipped.

“That’s just wishful thinking. You can hope Earth will be safe all you want but we know we’re safe here.”

“I lost eight members of my crew last week!” Mama isn’t yelling but she is not exactly calm either. Ives sits back in his chair a little, as though pushed back by the force of her words. “Two in the explosion, six got spaced. I was lucky I was hooked on, I’d have joined them if I hadn’t been. More than a dozen injured. Do not talk to me about safe.”

Sofia’s gaze drops to the floor. Marcus has not been in school since the accident. She thinks his father must have died. She did not much like him, from what she saw of him but she feels for Marcus. She hopes whatever happened to his father was quick. She does not want to think of the alternative. It’s too horrible.

Ives does not speak at first. He just looks at hands which are clasped in front of him. He will not look at Mama. Sofia does not blame him. When Mama and Papa stand shoulder to shoulder like this, she suspects the Darkness itself would think twice before taking them on. He eventually sighs and turns to Rahool.

“I can’t be a part of this, I’m sorry.” Ives’ voice is soft, like his words are directed only at Rahool. He stands and nods respectfully to the female Cryptarch. “Mistress Karn. I shall endeavour to keep the libraries in good order should you decide to leave.” He glances briefly at Rahool again before heading for the exit. Rahool goes to reach after him but this Mistress Karn shakes her head, lays a hand on his arm and gently lowers it back down. The room stays silent for a moment, as if everyone is unsure what to do now.

“What is our youngest attendee’s opinion?” The female Cryptarch fixes her gaze on Sofia. “After all, it is the young who will need to deal with the repercussions of what we decide here.”

Sofia freezes, acutely aware that dozens of pairs of eyes are suddenly trained on her. She glances at her parents for reassurance.

“Just say what you think, sweetheart.” Mama smiles encouragingly. “Don’t say what you think we want to hear. Be honest.”

“Uhm.” She coughs, then takes a deep breath. “The Fallen scare me. I think there could be lots of things about Earth that would scare me but…” She pauses to get her breath again. Her lungs seem too small all of a sudden. “The Reef is cramped. It’s dark. The water keeps getting turned off. And if anything goes wrong, people could die. At least on Earth, we wouldn’t have to worry about being sucked into space if we open the wrong door or flip the wrong switch. We wouldn’t run out of air if an engine broke down.” She takes another deep breath, feeling the words come more easily now. “And Earth has trees and rain and waterfalls and birds and clouds. And bowers. And daffodils. I want to see that. Don’t see why I shouldn’t get to just because I’m Awoken.”   

Mistress Karn steeples her fingers and smiles softly. “If you were told you could leave for Earth would you go?”

Sofia knows she should probably take a moment to think before responding but she knows her answer. She has known it for two years now. “Yes.”

“And what if you were told that if you left, you could never come back?”

Sofia nods emphatically. “Still yes.”

She senses both her parents on the periphery of her mind, waiting for permission to enter. She opens her thoughts to them and is suddenly deluged with Mama and Papa’s pride in her. She wobbles on her ladder perch a little, knocked off-balance by this happy onslaught. She rights herself and smiles sheepishly, the colour rising in her cheeks.

“This is all well and good, Tyra,” Rahool is speaking again but far less stridently now. It is like he has lost much of the fight in him since Ives walked out, “but this entire discussion may be moot. We’re assuming the Queen will just let us leave, and there’s no guarantee of that.”

“I’ll speak with the Queen, leave her to me.” Mistress’ Karn’s voice remains calm and measured. Sofia suspects that there is very little that could faze her.

“What if she says no?” asks a young corsair. He looks agitated, scowling and fidgeting with his gloves. “Do we just roll over and accept that?”

“I doubt it would come to that, it wouldn’t be politically expedient for her. I know Mara Sov. She is many things but she is not stupid. She knows there would be resistance and she knows that would be damaging for her. Far better for her to appear magnanimous.”

“Resistance is a mild word for it,” the young corsair growls and folds his arms.

Sofia broadcasts ripples of fear to her still-Linked parents. What does he mean? Is there going to be fighting?

No sweetheart, Mama replies silently. It won’t come to that. You heard Tyra Karn.

But what if it does?

Then Papa is in her head, calm and resolute. I’ll protect you, Starshine. I’ll always protect you, never doubt that.

~*~ Notes: If anyone is curious, the book Rahool is imploring Ives to read is Plato’s Republic. And I never expected to end up shipping those two but here we are.

[fireladybuckley]

Survey thingy

I was tagged by @southernbellestatues, and @outside-the-government! (and potentially others but broken tags, y’know) Thanks! :)

Tagging: @star-trekkin-across-theuniverse @fandomheadrush @medicatemedrmccoy @mcbonescoy @lt-sammi-matthews @secretgaygentdanvers @thevalesofanduin @kaitymccoy123  @dolamrothianlady @jefferson-in-the-tardis @taylorjacksonandtheolympians   + anyone else!  I have no idea who else has been tagged (I know quite a few people have already) so consider yourself tagged. :)

1. Drink? I’m trying to drink mostly water right now.  I am addicted to diet pepsi though (especially with cherry in it), and I’m also fond of most of David’s tea teas iced.

2. Phone Call? Usually my Mom or Gramma. 

3. Texting? Generally my Mom and @outside-the-government.  I don’t get a lot of texts lol

4. Last song you listened to?  I don’t remember what the last song I intentionally listened to was, but I’m currently listening to “Two Fux” by Queen/Adam Lambert in my head right now, so... that counts.

5. Last time you cried? When we watched Moana a few days ago.  

 6. Dated someone twice?  Edit: Was just informed this meant dating someone, then breaking up, then dating them again.  Yes, I have done this once, with my very first BF actually

7. Kissed someone and regretted it? Nah

8. Been cheated on?  Yes.  My high school BF was a dick.

9. Lost someone special? Unfortunately, yes.

10. Been depressed? A lot.

11. Gotten drunk and thrown up? Nope.  I get uncomfortable really fast when I drink so I’ve never even really been properly drunk, let alone so drunk I’ll puke.

Favorite Colors

12. Deep blues

13. Deep purples

14. the teals of shallow ocean waters 

In the last year have you…

15. Made new friends?  A few, I guess?   I’m pretty socially awkward so, I dunno.  I can never tell if someone is actually/wants to be friends with me regardless of how i feel about them.

16. Fallen out of love? Yep.

17. Laughed until you cried?  So many times.  Usually with Jules.  It hurts so much when we laugh that hard.

18. Found out someone was talking about you? *sigh* yep.

19. Met someone who changed you?  I once read that every person you meet shapes you and changes you, even just a tiny bit.  Some people far more than others... Jules, my family, several of my profs, and several of my friends have made me what I am today. <3

20. Found out who your friends are? Yep.  Too many people have stabbed me in the back in the past.

21. Kissed someone on your Facebook list? Yes indeed. 

22. How many of your Facebook friends do you know irl? The vast majority of them.  A few are internet friends that live too far away to have met

23. Do you have any pets?  My two gorgeous kitties and two fish tanks.  I love my furbabies <3

24. Do you want to change your name?  I’ve seriously considered it.  Also considered legally adding a second middle name.  Haven’t decided on the middle name yet but I’m not going to change my first name anymore.  I’m not overly fond of “Danielle” but I do like “Dani” so I’ll live with it.

25. What did you do for your last birthday?  IIRC we went to the Valley Zoo here in Edmonton, I remember seeing Lucy (the elephant) and Jules bought me a little chameleon plushie dude :D  This year we’ll be camping on my birthday!

26. What time did you wake up? 7am, then 7:30, then 8:30, then 9:15, etc etc.  Eventually dragged my ass out of bed at 10

27. What were you doing at midnight last night?  Ummm playing WoW, I think.

28. Name something you can’t wait for:  Camping!  In just 3.5 weeks now!

29. When was the last time you saw your mom?  Last May :(   Unless webcamming counts, then it was only a month or so ago haha. What happened to 30?

31. What are you listening to right now? Construction in the apartment above ours and the popping/cracking noises of Jules eating sunflower seeds. 

32. Have you ever talked to a person named Tom?  Yeah, I had a crush on a guy named Tom when I was like 13.  He was fun.

33. Something that is getting on your nerves? The construction in the apartment above ours.  (Though the fact that they’re renovating in there means that a major source of my usual irritation is gone-the guys above us used to be very obnoxious)

34. Most visited website? Absolutely Tumblr.  Also Facebook, Not Always Right and WowHead are probably the next most visited.  (CHECK OUT NOT ALWAYS RIGHT, they have all kinds of funny stories)

35. Hair color. Medium brown with red undertones and a bit of light chesnutty/auburn from a past dye job.

36. Long or short hair? Long-ish, I had to get a few inches cut off recently so not as long as before.  But past my shoulders several inches for sure

37. Do you have a crush on someone?  I have crushes on so freaking many celebrities/characters, but my only RL crush is @outside-the-government ;)  Because she is my awesome GF.  Unless you count my soci prof, then yes okay I have one crush

38. What do you like about yourself? My sense of humor and love of/passion for nature

39. Piercings?  Two per ear lobe, one on my upper right ear (helix), and my left nostril.  Love my nose piercing <3

40. Blood type? B+, so I have to Be POSITIVE.  Kek.  Sorry that was terrible.

41. Nickname? Dani, Wifey

42. Relationship status? Common law. *squee*

43. Zodiac?  Leo!  (Also Tiger, for the Chinese one)

44: Pronouns: She/Her.

45. Favorite TV Show: Supergirl, Smallville, Warehouse 13.

46. Tattoos? Just my Serenity tattoo on my left ankle (that matches Jules’) for now.  I don’t have money for more but I want more SO BAD

47. Right or left handed? Right.

48. Surgery?  Dunno if it counts as actual “surgery” but my wisdom tooth extraction (I had 5) and I had a small cyst-y thing removed from my boob once.

49. Piercing?  This is a repeat

50. Sports?  I played soccer for most of my adolescence (8-16 yrs old)

51. Vacation? I’m too poor for a proper vacation haha.  We’re going camping in less than a month though so I’m psyched for that!

52. Pair of trainers? I had to retire my favourite pair fairly recently and I’m still sad haha.  Generally I wear knockoff skechers because they’re comfy AF

53. Eating? I had hot dogs for brunch.

54. Drinking? Water and coffee.

55. I’m about to? Get ready for work x| kill me.

56. Waiting for?  short term:  getting home from work and soaking my feet (and playing WoW) long term: camping and going back to school

57. Want? Some money would be nice.  And time off with Jules so we can do fun stuff.  Our schedules seem to be opposite lately, blah.  And for people to just be NICE to others ffs.

58. Get married?  Hopefully to my wifey one day <3

59. Career? If student is a career, then that.  Bio major BSc student.  

60. Hugs or kisses? Hugs <3

70. Turned someone down? Yeah, surprisingly.  It’s awkward AF.  Especially when it’s a complete stranger.

71. Sex on the first date? Definitely not.  I’m demi, I need some kind of connection first.

72. Broken someones heart? Probably not

73. Had your heart broken? Yep, several times.

74. Been arrested? Lol no, the most illegal thing I do on a regular basis is jaywalk.

75. Cried when someone died? Uh, yeah... I cry at sad commercials ffs, my empathy knows no bounds, especially if someone DIES.  ;_;

76.. Fallen for a friend?  Hell yes :D  @outside-the-government have been best friends for 13 years and a couple for 3, so... perfect example :D

do you believe in…

77. yourself? Sometimes, but definitely not often enough.

78. Miracles? I dunno.  Crazy, seemingly impossible shit definitely does happen but I’m not sure how I feel about it being called a “miracle”.  Dunno.

79. Love at first sight? Potentially... My parents met and married within 3 months (and at least half that time they were apart in different provinces)... might not have been love at first sight, but it was definitely something at first sight.

80. Santa Claus? I used to believe, then I realized that Santa has the same writing as Mom and all the same wrapping paper as us haha

81. Kiss on the first date? Yeah probably :)

82. Angels?  I dunno.  To believe in the generalized concept of “angels” you kind have to believe in God, Heaven and all that jazz, and I don’t.  I feel like there could be spirits watching over us, but I don’t think they’re actual angels, no..

83. Current best friends name?  Jules (and technically Nicole, we’ve been internet best friends for like 15 years, even though we don’t talk much at all lately (goddamn timezones))

84. Eye color?  Blue :)

85. Favorite movie?  Of all time?  Legally Blonde. Most recent favourite? Wonder Woman

[moonsandstar-s]

The Final Warning - Chapter XXIX

Chapter XXIX - The Aftermath 

Summary:  As the year draws to a close, peace has finally dawned. The time for unity has arrived. In the Vytal festival, it is time for heroes to rise, bringing glory to their kingdoms. But as autumn dies, the first winds of winter blow over Remnant, chilling the hearts of the people; breathing doubt into their souls. Long-buried secrets will triumph, and every action will have a consequence. Ruby must reconcile herself with her own fate. Weiss struggles to escape her legacy. Blake cannot erase memories. Yang’s search leads her into more peril than ever— but none of them can outrun fate. Shadows turn on shadows, and bonds shatter as they are tested to the limit. For in dividing them, they will fall and burn; at the eye of the storm, no peace lasts forever. In the end and beginning of time, there is a place where the sun never rises, and the dead delight to teach the living. A great danger is rising from the darkness. It’s time to take sides. The final warning is coming. The first chill of winter is the most deadly; it is the chill that kills more than any other. The first betrayal is the most damaging; it is the act that shatters bonds of love and trust, crushing even the strongest heart, tearing teams apart. AO3: http://archiveofourown.org/works/7745314/chapters/22506284 Yang

For the next three days, she lay there. Every inch of her body was numb, the dark tide of icy grief washing over her every second. She was drowning, but she didn’t even have the energy to pull herself to the surface; it felt easier to just swim down.

Because what was the point any more? What was the point of trying, if all you got was pain? She had tried— she had tried so hard, and she had poured all of her soul into the trying, so much so that now, she was empty, completely devoid of any spirit. She had tried to find her mother, and failed. She had tried to win the tournament, and failed. She had tried to save Blake, and failed. And all of those failures had resulted in someone else getting hurt— her sister, the world, herself, Blake. She had nothing left to give, no scrap of spirit, and she felt almost like a corpse as she laid there, with no thoughts, no dreams to haunt her head, except the unshakable image of Blake’s face as she had seen it last: amber eyes terrified, her mouth shaping Yang’s name, and then utter darkness.

Suddenly, a loud popping sound shot through the room, like a gun going off. She jerked her head up as the window creaked, snapped inward, and a large mass of teenage boy and monkey tail tumbled through and landed in a groaning heap on the floor.

It was Sun.

“Jesus,” he said, lifting his head to glare at her, his tail flicking side to side in mock-irritation. “You couldn’t have laid down a pillow or something to break my fall?”  

“I thought you were in Patch waiting for an airship to take you home!” She snapped, drawing the covers up around her as he hauled himself to his feet, groaning and checking his extremities. “Why the hell are you here?”

“Easy, easy!” He held up two hands. “I’m here to check up on you. And I’m glad I did. You look like death. And it smells like heartbreak in here.” He squinted at her. “Wait a second, is that the shirt you were wearing like, a week ago when I dropped you off here?”

“I haven’t had much energy to do the laundry what with everything that’s been going on, idiot,” she said, wiggling her bandaged arm stump at him with a scowl. He let out a sniff, and she kicked the covers off and rolled onto her stomach, glaring at him through a tangle of dirty hair. “You do realizes that this technically constitutes ‘breaking and entering’?”

“No breaking here,” he said, ever-chipper. “I just unlatched the window.” Then he blinked as her words registered. “What do you mean ‘everything that’s been going on’?”

“Ruby’s gone, or hadn’t you heard?” She ground her teeth together. “Jaune, Nora, and Ren came by and picked her up and they’re off to Haven, or whatever. Looking for answers, I suppose.”

His eyes widened. his mouth forming an ‘o’ shape. “Wow,” he said faintly. “That’s, uh… that’s pretty hardcore of her. I guess… I can understand that. Cinder wasn’t from Haven… but it’s the only place she’d find answers, huh? It’s her only lead.”

“You’ve still got to explain why you decided to climb into my room,” she told him, tipping her head to the side. “I like you and all, Sun, but we were never best friends, and if my own sister ran off on me, I doubt anyone would stay, let alone a boy who happened to be friends with the girl who abandoned me.” Bitterness was thick in her voice. “You saw Blake after I passed out, didn’t you? Is that why you’re here?”  

Something in his gaze shadowed and he looked away. “I— yeah. I… I saw her before she vanished.”

“Before she ran away,” Yang corrected him flatly.

“That’s not what happened.” His face tautened in anger, and his hands balled into fists. “Don’t call her a coward in front of me. You have no clue what she did after you blacked out, do you? And you didn’t want to know, remember? I tried to tell you, that night on the ship.”

She let out a heavy, harsh exhale. “So maybe I made a mistake, shutting you up that night. I should have listened, I guess, but what does it matter? They told me she left. You told me she left. That’s all I know because no one’s been telling me a goddamned thing!”

Sun's eyes were angry. "Nobody told you what she did? Only what she didn't do?"

Mutely, Yang nodded.

"Those prejudiced idiots—” He broke off, throwing himself down across from her. "Okay. Fine. I'll tell you." He leaned forward, hands clasped, white where the bone strained against skin. "She did this. She threw herself, wounded terribly, in front of that White Fang member to shield you from death. Blake killed Adam because he hurt you. She killed a man who was stronger than the both of you combined, a man who she loved once with all her heart, a man who she could barely look in the eye, but she found the strength to do it after he’d threatened you. Then, Blake carried you, bleeding and unconscious, out of there. I saw her lay you down and scream for help. She didn't stop until Sage came and gave you a tourniquet. She almost blacked out after he finished healing you up; she collapsed, there was blood everywhere, and she wasn’t moving. I… I almost thought it was too late. Her Aura was totally drained, and Sage almost passed out, expending all his energy to keep her alive. I about had a heart attack, but all she could do was ask about you, to make sure you would survive. I wanted to get you both on a hospital airship, fly you back to Vale, but she talked to me. She told me that it was all her fault. ’She’ll never recover anyways, not when it’s my fault.’ That I didn’t know what happened, what you sacrificed, what you did for her… and then she said she didn’t belong there. Not if all she did was bring pain.

“We talked to Weiss and her father— total dick about everything, but that’s to be expected, huh?— and she seemed like she’d be okay there for a bit, and she talked to Weiss right before her father took her away… and then Blake left, but the way…” He swallowed, apparently summoning up his will. “The way she looked and what she did isn’t something I’ll ever forget. She murdered the leader of the White Fang to save your life. She chose you. Her eyes… I’ve never seen them so haunted, not even when she was working herself to the bone before the dance.” His voice rose in volume, jarring to her ears as he bristled at her. She had never seen Sun livid before, but he was right now. “Blake did all that for you— she saved your life and I don't think she would have done the same for herself, even— and you have the nerve to call her, to my face, a coward?"

Yang looked away, and Sun's voice gentled. "Yang, believe me, I get it. I know how much it hurts. She left you. She left me, too. But she loves you. There's no way she doesn’t— not after what I saw that night. You know how much Adam hurt her. She's scarred inside and out. The fact that she not only stood up to him, but raised her sword against him for not only you, but for the sake of Beacon itself... and she killed him. She killed him to save your life. Don’t you get that?” Sun flicked his tail around, lightly switching the side of her wrist. “She killed someone she once loved, who once was everything to her, just to save your life.”

Yang looked away. Adam’s face filled her mind. Once, he had not been her demon— only a half-remembered shadow from Blake’s past. But now, she knew, she would never stop seeing his face in her own nightmares, would never forget what he had done to her. She and Blake shared a demon, one that was dead, and Yang couldn’t decide if it scared or infuriated her.

“Don’t let that sacrifice be in vain, Yang,” Sun said softly, before he shook his head. "Anyway, what will you do now?"

Yang stood up, looking out the window, unable to face the gentle pressure of his gray eyes on her, pleading with her to make a decision. The dark shadow of a raven's wing swept over the setting sun, black over blood. Night was coming on fast, the stars blotted out by clouds thick with the promise of snow.

Raven left the ones she loved, didn't she? She gave up on them. She gave up on herself.  

I won't be my mother.

Yang felt tears silently sliding down her face, pooling as they fell, and the floorboards creaked as Sun came to stand beside her, his tail flicking agitatedly from side to side. "I should have died," Yang whispered. "I would have died. But she gave everything up for me. She was running out of time, but she still gave it up for me. If I… I would have never been able to do it, Sun. I never would have been able to kill someone I loved once. No matter how much they hurt me, or someone else. I’d always remember the past and what they once were. But she did it because she wanted me to stay alive above everything, no matter what the cost was… she wanted to keep me alive.”

"What are you going to do?" He asked her again.

A crazy, half-formed idea was beginning to spin into her mind, forming from the glimmerings of hope. It was the sort of idea that the old Yang would have had: something that was absolutely insane, but a plan that pulled through on sheer guts and determination, unable to fail because she simply would not let it. It was the spark of inspiration that the new Yang hadn’t felt in a long, long time, and she reached for it hesitantly, as if reaching out towards an open flame. Fire had never scared her before, but now, she knew to be cautious. Knew how it could hurt her, if left unchecked. The out-of-control inferno had hurt her once, but she couldn’t let that happen again. ”I have a motorcycle around the back of the house,” she said slowly. “Here are the keys. Can you bring it around to the front?"

Sun looked surprised, but he nodded, taking the keys and padding silently out of the room. / / / 

Sun

He hadn’t admitted it to Yang, but when he had tumbled into the room and seen her face, he’d gotten a bad scare— one of the worst he’d had in a long, long time. Sure, he’d joked about her looking like death, but damned if there wasn’t a kernel of truth in his words. She was so thin, so tired-looking, in a way he had never seen her before, in a way he’d never expected, or wanted to see her. Yang was always, always the happy one— the one who chased optimism, who joked and laughed and made things okay. To see her this broken, this damaged— he began to understand her anger at Blake, just a little bit. What right did she have— did anyone have, really?— to break someone else so thoroughly?

He had only chased after Blake in the first place because the sight of a Faunus in Vale— a relatively conservative place— had made him more comfortable. It had been a mistake to stowaway and get there earlier than his team. He didn’t know how close he would get to Team RWBY as result of his actions. And Yang— he had thought she was an idiot at first, one who was just going along with the flow, kind of like him. But she wasn’t; she was the pillar of her team, the smart one, the strongest. And seeing her this way was scary. She was none of those things now. All the time he had thought she would heal here, at Patch, even though Blake had broken her heart...

He had learned the truth too late.

Though she was lying in her bed, Sun could see the bags under her eyes and the shadows chasing each other within them, and he’d been willing to bet that she hadn’t gotten any real sleep at all since the Fall of Beacon. Snatches of rest here and there, sure, but definitely not a single wink of true sleep. She looked slightly less miserable after he’d left the room, but the haunted look was still on her face, and he knew she was a slave to her own fears in a way the old Yang never would have been.

God, she used to think she was invincible, like nothing could really hurt her that badly, and now... it hurts to see her this way. I saw her scared after she and Blake had their first fight, and she came to me, but that… that was nothing compared to this fear she has. She’s more than bent, she’s broken.

Why did Blake leave? That's what I don't get, no matter how much I try to understand it... Blake loved her a lot, she really did, everyone could see it... why run? Why flee? I understand that she must have been scared out of her wits, and that she believed she was dangerous to Yang, but why? The danger had passed by then, after she killed Adam, there was nothing to threaten her, so why...?

Or was she scared of something else entirely?

As he was submerged in thought, he nearly ran headfirst into a man as he rounded the corner. He withdrew with an apology, looking up; it was Yang's father, he guessed. He could see her in him— the brightness of his hair, stubborn set of his jaw, the shape of his face.

He seemed surprised to see Sun in his house. To his credit, he did not immediately lunge for a bat to swing at him— a reaction Sun was wholeheartedly used to, with his background as a part-time thief. He looked at him in confusion, before his expression cleared with recognition. “Wait a moment, I recognize you. Sun, right? You dropped Yang off here after… after the Fall… but we didn’t talk at all; you left right away. You're one of my daughter's friends, I think… how did you get in the house?”

"Yeah, I am. Well, Yang's, at least. I haven't talked to Ruby much— I’m sorry that she left, by the way, and if I run into her out there, I’ll try to help her out. And I, um, your windows were unlatched, but I figured Yang might not want me to be knocking at her door with how she’s been feeling, so…”

"I see." He frowned down at Sun's outfit. “So were you invited here by her? She never mentioned anything of the sort to me.”

Seized by an unfamiliar urge to button up his shirt, Sun gave a sheepish grin, scratching his head. "Ah... I, er, came to visit her. Patch is nice and all— don’t get me wrong!— but it’s not really my scene, you know? I like the tranquil-forest-setting as much as the next guy, but I’m a desert sort of person at heart. Exploring was cool, but kind of boring, and if I brought Yang back, I figure I owe her a check-up, at least. She wasn’t too frightened by me popping in. At least, I hope so.” He flushed as he realized he was babbling.

"Well, you'll find her in her room, son, not out here." Was it Sun's imagination, or did he sound amused? Thoroughly annoyed, he tried a different approach.

"Yes, sir. She, uh, asked me to bring her cycle round front..." His voice sounded pathetically feeble, and he cursed himself. “Sorry. We talked some stuff out; she’s… not healed, yet, but she’s a great deal better than she was a couple hours ago, and now… I think she’s got an idea. She's very determined. It's a better sight to see than her sadness, at least."

“You’re not telling me everything. She's leaving, isn't she?" Those words, especially the last four, seemed to be wistful and heartbroken in a way that made Sun feel curious, and Taiyang didn't seem to be seeing him at all; his expression was distant, looking at some faraway past. "Chasing after her sister and—”

"Her partner." Somehow, the prospect of hearing Blake's name out of this man's mouth— no doubt he would say it in that disgusted, edged tone, especially after Blake had abandoned his daughter—made him cringe. "I'm gonna help her. Figure I'm obligated to, and all that. It's the right thing to do. I owe her."

"Better to have someone with her alone, then, I suppose." He shook his head. “I’ve learned I can’t stop my daughter… and after what happened, I don’t want to. Go on, then. I'll go have a word with her."

"Of course," he murmured. "Thanks, Mr. Xiao Long."

“Good luck, child." His eyes grew dark. "You’ll need it.”

/ / / 

Yang

“Sun tells me you’re leaving, Yang.”

“Of course he did.” Crouched on her knees, Yang let out a sigh, closing her eyes as she heard Tai come into the room with his heavy tread and circle around to her front. She had been fumbling to tie the lace on her combat boots, and her father leaned down in front of her and finished the knot where she couldn’t, his hands inexplicably gentle as he looked up at her in sorrow. “I… I think I am, Dad.”

“What happened?” he asked. “You’ve been… I’ve been scared, seeing how badly off you were the last week. What changed your mind?”

“I did,” she said. “I changed it myself.”

“It wasn’t the letter from Blake? Or Sun talking you into it?”

“Partly, sure,” she said, tying back her hair and frowning at the floorboards, “but it’s more than that. The letter helped me understand that Blake never left because she wanted to… she left because she felt she had to. It doesn’t mean I’ve forgiven her, or anything… but now, at least, I have to know why. And Sun helped me understand too, in a way. I need to find out why she fled. Because no matter what I lost at the Fall, I can’t let it change me forever, or turn me into someone who’s bitter and pessimistic. I’ve got to find out why she had to go, why she felt the way she did, or I’ll never make peace with it. I’ll always be wondering why. And I've done that - Dad, I've done that my whole life. I can't do it anymore or I'll go mad.”

“You think I’ll let you go off like your sister, and you’re right,” he informed her, sitting back on his heels and regarding her thoughtfully. “Technically, yes, I can keep you here… but I’m not going to.”

She goggled at him. “Really? I would’ve thought…”

“That I don’t trust you? That I don’t think you can do this?” He smiled, but it was full of misery. “I know how strong you are. I raised you. I know you can do whatever you set your mind to… but I don’t want you paying another price so great that it almost kills you. You have to do it, though; I know that now. Find her, Yang. Find them both. I lost my team because of my mistakes, and theirs… I don’t want to see that happen to you, too. No one deserves that.” He held out his arms. “Come here, then.”

She stared at him for a moment, shocked, before going into his embrace, and he held her close, stroking her hair and whispering as she swallowed, fighting back a wave of tears.

“You’ve always had a habit of biting off more than you can chew, and trying to save everyone, rushing into danger heedless of the cost you might have to pay, with only the mind of saving others and not yourself…” Yang flinched, her arm giving a phantom echo of pain. “Ruby ran off because she thought it was her responsibility, her duty as a Huntress and daughter of Summer,” he continued, “and because of what Qrow said, that she had to save everyone… and now, you are doing the same.” He stroked her hair, holding her in his strong arms like she was still a little six-year-old again, when the worst thing that could hurt her was a scraped knee or a careless word. “Yang, promise me this: play the hero if you must, but don’t force me to bury my daughter.”

“I love you, Dad,” she whispered, voice muffled against the rough material of his vest. “But I’m scared. So, so scared.”

/ / / 

Sun walked in after her father departed the room, looking windblown and slightly pleased. “I’ve never revved up a motorcycle before,” he said. “That was fun. I almost wrecked your mailbox, though. I don’t think your dad will be too happy about the state of the lawn.”  

Yang smiled weakly, before it fell away, replaced by a worried frown. “Sun, I… I need to get to the airship port, if I’m going to get anywhere… and I can’t drive there on my own. Not with one arm.”

“I’ll drive you there, don’t worry about that, okay?” He gave her a half-smile, weary at the edges. She noticed the dark circles under his eyes, how his fingernails were ragged and bloody, bitten down the quick. Sun's kinetic, ceaseless energy suddenly seemed very fake, and exhausted shadows chased each other through his expression. “I owe you that much at least.”  

“You’ve changed,” Yang commented as he walked over and dropped the keys into her outstretched palm, not looking at the bandaged stump of her right arm with poorly-hidden pity or judgement as so many others had, and would. “I used to think you were just an annoying Vacuo boy who only wanted to get into Blake’s pants and had no regard for others, but… you’re a good person, Sun. I… what makes you want to help me?"

He stared up at the ceiling, as if seeing into some distant past. “There was a time when I had feelings for Blake, sure,” he said, “but I think the Fall of Beacon changed us. In ways we haven’t admitted to ourselves yet, in ways we’re only beginning to comprehend. That’s okay, but we can’t let it change us forever.”

She let out a quiet breath. “I guess so.”

“Are you all packed up?” He frowned, looking at the duffel bag she’d slung over her shoulder. “Never mind; I see that you are. In that case, are you ready to ditch this place?”

“I need to write a letter to my father,” Yang said. “I can’t… I can’t tell it to him face-to-face, everything I want to say to him, everything I need to explain…” Then she wiggled her arm; she was dominant in her right-hand, and her left hand was all she had left. “But I can’t write it myself.”

“Just say the word,” Sun said eagerly, using his tail to pop open the latch on her drawer, rummaging around inside for a pen and paper. “I’m the next Shakespeare in the literary world. Just ask my professors.” Then, he let out a yelp and flung out something past his shoulder that went flying and hit the shaded window with a smack. “Jesus, clean up your pigsty, Xiao Long! I didn’t need to see that.”  

She scowled irritably as she saw it was an unraveling camisole. “It’s a bra, Sun, not a severed head.”

“Whatever,” he said crossly. “I’m the one that goes around with my breasts uncovered, not you.”

She snorted. “You tell yourself that next time you walk by and approximately zero girls start drooling over your bare chest.”

“That hurts, Yang. That really hurts.” He flung himself down in the chair, having successfully located a paper and pen. “What do you want me to write to him?”

She sat down next to him, on the edge of the bed, relaying the words as they came into her mind, and Sun wrote them down, only interrupting to bid her to pause for a moment as he caught up, or to ask how to spell something, and for that, she was grateful.

“Okay,” he said after a long minute once she’d finished talking, setting down the pen and wiggling his hand. “Gosh, that’s a lot to write. I’ve never written that much before outside of a school essay. Want me to read it over, see if it sounds good?”

She nodded, and clearing his throat, he began.

“Dear Dad,

By the time you read this, I’ll be really far away— I’ll be on a mission of my own, and I’ll be safe. Trust me on that. I’m sorry for leaving you by yourself, and I’m sorry for making the past week filled with so much pain, for both of us. I know you know I’m leaving, but I want you to understand why I’ve left… and I don’t want you to come after me. It’s my choice to do this, and to do it alone; I know I can handle it. If I could handle losing all I have and still survive, I can handle this.

“I’m heading off on my own for a number of reasons, but Dad—if there’s one aspect in which you and I are exactly alike, it’s that we’ll both stop at nothing to make sure those we love are safe. I know you think I’m just heading after Blake… but there’s a lot more to it than that. I’ve got to put my team back together again. And that’s what I’m doing. I’m going to make sure those I love have me by their sides. I love you, but I know you can cope without me, because I have faith in you, as my father. I know you’re strong. But I don’t think my team is quite so strong yet, that we can be splintered and still remain standing alone and apart. So I’m going to bring us back together again.

“You said, a long time ago, that I burned. It’s my semblance. I burn both inside and out. And after what happened in the past weeks, I was extinguished, in a way. But it’s not like that anymore. I have a balance now. It’s a choice: to abandon everything I’ve come to know at Beacon, or to make an effort to keep it. I’ve got to choose the latter, or I’d never forgive myself, and probably never stop wondering, too.

“And as for the past week and my moping about, well, it won’t do any good to pretend I haven’t lost a lot. You never would tell me about Mom, and I, in turn, almost got killed trying to find out more about her. Blake didn’t tell me why she felt she had to run away, and she, in turn, has lost my trust. Weiss didn’t cut her ties to her family, and she, in turn, is now roped back into being with them again. It’s like a balance, and all our actions trigger another event to happen. My actions to run away on a mission are part of making the balance equal. I owe my team. You know about debts, too. Your team is broken, and I can’t let the same thing happen to mine. My team and yours are awfully similar: RWBY and STRQ, two colors. Both with siblings, both with two who love each other… and just as your team met a tragic ending, mine is heading down the same path. But I’m not letting that happen. Team RWBY will survive, I swear that, at least.

“It comes to this: should I be selfish and mourn over something so minor, when so much has been lost, or should I pick up my feet and keep moving? A Huntress would put her family and the wellbeing of her kingdom above whatever personal loss she suffered. And I am a Huntress, just like you said when I was a kid. So I’m doing what’s right, in a way. It’s time for me to put my loss behind me… and keep moving forward. If Ruby, my baby sister, can come back from having her entire world flipped upside-down in a matter of minutes, then I am able to do the same. I can’t expect her to do something so hard if I can’t— or won’t— do it myself.”

“Thank you for being there for me and Ruby in the last week.”

“Yes,” she said once he had finished. “Yeah, that sounds… it sounds good, I think.”

“I’ll drop it in the mailbox on the way out of here, then,” he said, rising from the chair, and as he did so, the reality of the situation sank in, making Yang recoil with a sudden, terrible fear. Was she really leaving the safety of Patch on a journey that was almost guaranteed to fail? She couldn’t even put on her own clothes properly, let alone fight, if she got into trouble. There was so much danger out there, and she barely had a plan, let alone any idea of what would happen. And when had she become so scared?  

“Yang?” he said, looking worried as she shrank back, breathing shallowly. “What’s wrong?”

“Sun,” she croaked, looking up at him. “Are you really— are you really going to do this? It’s not your job, to come with me, to do any of this…” You’re drowning, you’re sinking, you’re crazy, and it’s not his responsibility to pull you back up.

But he nodded, to her surprise. “Yeah. Of course I’ll come. I meant what I said; you’re not alone, okay? I’ll do whatever I can to help.”

Yang looked away, not quite trusting herself to speak again, and Sun lightly touched her shoulder, his brows knitting together in concern.

“Yang… everything’s going to be fine, alright? I know it might seem impossible now… and maybe it will for a long time. But things will get better eventually… maybe not today, or tomorrow, or the day after that… but one day, you’ll be fine. It doesn’t matter how. I promise.” His voice was full of conviction, the same conviction she had held once, when she had talked to Blake— the girl who had held her fragile heart in her hands and crushed it— who still held it, if she was being honest. But he was here, and he hadn’t left, not like the rest. He wasn’t here on Blake’s terms, he was here because he cared— he cared enough to make sure she was healing. She looked at him, and he gave her a smile, and a little bit of the emptiness that had been holding a hollow space in her heart, ever since Blake had left and the Bond had shut down, filled up again.

She nodded, rising up off her bed, and he helped her walk out of the room, propping her up. And when he caught her when she stumbled, she felt that for the moment, she might be capable of holding her head above the water.

[nora-reads-homestuck]

Nora Reads HS Part 68

Pages 6154-6184

Hey guys! Some quick background on why I’ve been a little scarce: I’ve mentioned a personal project that’s been eating into my free time, and that is... dun dun dun, a custom 5e D&D campaign I’m running IRL! The campaign is just starting, so I’m in the phase where I’m planning out a lot of details and building locations, etc. What that means is that sometimes I’ll need to take little breaks from liveblogging to work on the game, and other times, I’ll put D&D to the side to focus on liveblogging! I haven’t disappeared or anything like that, and once the campaign really gets going, my need to take short breaks should ease off. No need to worry! I am here and ready to find out what’s up with this robot bunny that young Bro has built Jane. *Seinfeld music* Does the auto responder have a connection to it the way he has a connection to the brobot? Does it fight with Jane? Is it... touchy feely?

Let’s... find out. Eurgh.

*click*

Poor poppop's severed head got nicked by the FIREPLACE POKER.

OH SHIT. I’m so accustomed to seeing damaged eyes that it didn’t really register the first time I looked at this panel. Is this Hussie teasing us with the idea of a Poppopsprite? Because I would be PERFECTLY OK with that eventuality. Circumstantial simultaneity.

Also, damn, check out all those Astaires.

Jane: Put head back.

You stick the poker down his neck hole and jam the head back on the spike as a temporary measure. That looks somewhat more respectable you guess.

THE PERFECT CRIME.

Looks like the troublemaker's father is calling.

That choice of language is weird and it’s skeeving me out. I DUN LIKE IT. On the other hand, yay, more kidchat! Or... robokid chat?

KID SIGHTING. And... well, he looks exactly as expected. He appears to be standing on the roof of his building, surrounded by... fucking... are those doves?

TT: Why have you activated dear, sweet Huggy Bear. TT: Are you in danger?

...I... it’s gotta be Snoop Dogg Huggy Bear, right?

TT: I disabled the AR for now. GG: Ok. Just making sure! GG: Jake was having some issues with it earlier, and I don't think he received its obfuscating tendencies in the humorous spirit intended. TT: Yes, I'm catching up with the situation now. GG: Oh, so you're talking to Jake then? TT: Nah. Just reading their chat logs.

Why does this seem weird and intrusive if the ‘AR’ is basically fucking him? (Haa haa.)

TT: Its demeanor leaves something desired though. I'd prefer it didn't make such aggressive and repeated claims of fidelity to my persona. TT: Be misrepresentin' hells of key subtleties, yo.

‘Subtleties’. Sure.

TT: Jake needs to be more skeptical. Rather than take a Pollyanna jackknife ass-first off whatever turnip truck is blowing through town that day, he's got to apply more critical reasoning to shit. TT: I keep telling him. TT: I keep telling him, dude, you got to be more like Jane. GG: These lectures I presume are roughly similar in complexion to those I'm familiar with? GG: Those wherein I have, and I quote, "got to be more like Jake?" TT: Yes, exactly. TT: You're finally fucking getting it. GG: I sincerely doubt that I am! TT: Said the stubborn skeptic, skeptically. GG: Let's not talk about my "issues" again, shalln't we?

Alright then. Young Bro is apparently trope savvy, so let’s see what tropes we can apply to him, so far. A: a fair few.

TT: Shalln't? TT: That ain't a thing to say, even for you. GG: Shush! GG: The word shalln't escape my vocabulary any longer, just as you SHALLN'T nitpick my language! That's my turf you're on, buster. TT: Alright. Kinda don't care.

WOW, what a jackass.

GG: What were you saying? TT: About what? Jake?

Careful, Strider, your crush is showing.

GG: About leaving the responder on! TT: Yeah. TT: Anyway, I kind of owe it to him to let the program run as often as possible. GG: Jake? TT: No. TT: The responder.

AHAHAHAHA. Yeah, this is going to get mined for drama later, isn’t it? Normally I’d be fucking allergic to the idea of a teen love n-gon, having experienced enough of them in YA fiction to make me sick, but then, this is Hussie. It’ll be amusing if nothing else.

(IF LITTLELONDE IS THE ONE TO END UP WITH JAKE I WILL SHIT. I might actually ship it??)

TT: It is a fully cognitive, self-aware entity I am responsible for, not even to mention an approximate cerebral duplicate of myself. TT: You don't just make a clone of yourself to live in a dead end existence where it has no chance to thrive as an individual or surpass its limitations. TT: That'd be sick.

That’s a charitable view to have toward an AI, and I’m going to remember this moment in case he reneges on his words later.

TT: Also. TT: The more the software runs, the broader and more detailed its experiential canopy becomes. Makes for a better dialogic partner. GG: Dialogic? GG: Are you saying you have conversations with your own auto-responder? TT: Of course. TT: Why do you think I made the thing? GG: Hrm, that's interesting. GG: I guess I always thought it was just a really elaborate gag! TT: It's that too.

Let me guess; the gag lies in the enormity of the narcissism involved in valuing yourself as the best possible dialogic partner, and is somehow tied up in ‘the ironies’.

God, what an insufferable prick. I think I would like him better if he were charming. Rose, for example, can get away with quite a lot by virtue of her rapier wit. What’s interesting to me, though, is that the most intelligent character in any work of fiction can only be as intelligent as the author. Rose and Doc Scratch were conduits for Hussie to show off his sense of humor and sesquipedalian loquaciousness, but Bro might be his chance to show off his raw intellect.

OH MY GOD JANE, YOU LOOK LIKE AN IDIOT. <3 And what the hell is the rabbit doing?

GG: Sometimes your sense of humor seems more impenetrably advanced than your robotics. I'll never understand this tapestry of irony you weave.

Replace ‘honor’ with ‘irony’.

GG: Maybe I'm just stuck in the dark ages of pranksterism with my funny mustaches corny old joke book. TT: Yes, you are. But that's fine. TT: We come from different traditions. Someone needs to keep that racist southern asshole's legacy alive.

WOW SUCK MY DICK. How can you even be mean to Jane.

TT: There's dignity in taking up the work of our familial predecessors, even if what they did was insanely fucking stupid.

So... adult!Dave is still all about irony post-Scratch, and Bro claims to have gotten his shtick from him, instead of the other way around, but... he thinks Dave’s work was stupid?? This is infuriatingly circular.

GG: Is that a note of bitterness directed at your superstar brother I am detecting?

I AM SO HERE FOR FAMOUS DAVE, YOU DON’T EVEN KNOW.

TT: No way. He's awesome. TT: I've told you, I don't begrudge any of his success. TT: I've also told you he isn't my real bro even though I call him that. We're related through an esoteric process of genetic reamalgamation. GG: Oh lordy. Yes, yes, I know. I don't need another ironic lesson in science fiction!

Wow, yet another Sburb process the post-Scratch kids are inexplicably aware of. Does Bro know the actual nature of their relationship? Because that’s got to be weird and squicky in a Freaky Friday parent-kidswap kind of way. Maybe... Did Dave tell him all this stuff about the game, and Rose told LittleLonde, and that’s why Jane is still in the dark? Because Dad wasn’t a player???

IT ALL MAKES SENSE! :D

If Dave and Rose remember the game and their other lives, that would explain the continued existence of SBaHJ without adult!Bro’s awful comics to inspire him! And maybe they were the ones to encourage this troll friendship the Scratch kids have got going on! It would seem to run counter to the previous example we have in the troll ancestors, who didn’t recall game details after their Scratch, but it’s not exactly a game-breaking retcon to have the humans remember.

I still wonder why Jade would make all that Lord English-themed stuff, if she knew he was an evil motherfucker, but ah well. At least we know why she was so adamant about engaging “”Betty Crocker”” in corporate warfare!

TT: The point is, obviously his satirical methods have flaws, and whatever tempered brand of hero worship I might be practicing isn't keeping me from seeing that.

WHATEVER, HE LEARNED IT FROM WATCHING YOU.

...LITERALLY.

GG: Flaws?? Talk about understatement. Those movies are unwatchable. GG: Unless your name is Jake English.

AHAHAHA.

TT: Yes, spectacularly so. But they will have profound historical significance. Mark my words.

Consider them marked. And knowing Hussie, it’ll be played for drama just as much as laughs.

TT: And flaws aside, it's a legacy I'm proud to inherit. My duty isn't to appropriate his methods with absolute loyalty, but to apply reason and improve upon them. To leave my own mark. TT: To perfect the art of irony.

UGH. Improve upon his methods by “”applying reason”’, as if, had Dave only been just a little bit smarter, just a bit more logical, he’d have told better jokes?? Bro’s one of those “let me play devil’s advocate, if I may” douchebags, isn’t he. He should’ve had a fedora on his shirt.

...OH MY GOD HE HAS THE KATANA TOO, IT’S PERFECT.

TT: It's just like what you're doing with the work of your ancestor. You are striving to perfect his hokey vaudeville bullshit, or something. TT: You seek the Zen of a pie to the face. The Tao of falling the fuck down.

Alright, that one’s actually funny.

TT: Can't fool me. You take your shit as serious as I do. TT: And if I wasn't serious about it, I wouldn't have made you that rabbit. Then where the hell would you be?

Still literally homestuck, if with an intact grandfather-son. But you don’t gotta be a fuckin’ prick about it.

Whoa, they’re not doves, they’re seagulls! Not unheard of, that close to Galveston. Also, the sky is lovely and blue. I would expect the post-Scratch Earth to be more of a crapsack world, a la post-Scratch Alternia, so this is interesting. Maybe it’s just because it’s Fall?

GG: Well, aside from thousands of dollars in corpse-repair richer, I can't say.

Ahahaha. Fuckin’ tell ‘im, Jane.

TT: Has he been sleeping in the old man hollow again? Shit, that's adorable. GG: I can think of cuter places for him to sleep, frankly! TT: Yeah, bullshit. TT: He's just being instinctive. In the wild, he would gut a carcass and sleep inside for warmth, as well as to secure tactical advantage for ambushing would-be scavengers. GG: Oh, please.

UGHH I AM QUICKLY APPROACHING MY LIMIT FOR DOUCHERY.

On a side node, what is the internal temperature of a tauntaun?

(What do you mean, an African or a European tauntaun?)

GG: Anyway, property damage and desecration to cherished elders aside, Mr. Bear has been a lovely addition to the family. TT: You haven't renamed him yet? GG: Oh... no. GG: I keep forgetting I'm supposed to! TT: You've got to fucking rename him. Or change him to a girl if you want. That was important. TT: When pets change owners they get new names. Fact. GG: Sorry.

Ok not only is that patently untrue, but I swear to god if this asshat keeps being rude to Jane, I will TURN THIS FUCKING COMIC AROUND.

GG: I will name him right now! GG: How about Lil' Sebastian? TT: Fuck if that isn't the best name a thing could get. GG: Yeah!!!

HALF MAST IS TOO HIGH.

GG: So then, are you saying Mr. Sebastian here was an ironic present? GG: Relayed strictly for guffaws?? >:B TT: Yes, but it's not that simple. There were many layers involved. TT: Some of them are literal layers, of metal and plush. GG: Huh? TT: There's a real stuffed rabbit beneath its exoskeleton. GG: What! Really? :O TT: Yeah. TT: It belonged to my bro. GG: I thought you said you didn't have such an heirloom to complete the plushie trifecta? TT: I didn't. He didn't give it to me, and never intended to bequeath it. TT: I stole it.

Huh. So, like Dave’s gift to John in the pre-Scratch universe is the “original” bunny, having at that point taken no trips through time, so the bunny inside Lil’ Sebastian is the post-Scratch universe’s original. Why did adult!Dave have it in his possession? He didn’t give it... to... 

Oh. Con Air came out in 1997, and John died in 1995. So he bought it and kept it as a keepsake, in memory of his departed friend, only to have Bro steal it. For a good cause, yeah, but still. :’(

GG: Ooh. Risky! TT: Nah. I got a little help from RL and ganked it out of his museum. TT: It's this whole "priceless" collection of stupid shit from movies, defended like Fort Knox. Ironically of course.

PROBABLY NOT IRONICALLY, YOU JACKANAPES.

GG: So it's from a movie? TT: Ever hear of Con Air? GG: Nope. GG: Wait... GG: Wasn't that some bit of action schlock from the 90's? TT: Yes. GG: Some of the silly nonsense referenced in his work was well before my time. I don't have the wherewithal to investigate all this minutia. TT: Yeah, it doesn't matter really. But it was from that. Dude weirdly obsessed over that shit movie for years, among others.

Awww, noooo, he's sad about John!! D:

GG: That does sound a tad obsessive. Wasn't he furious about your burglary? TT: Pretty sure he didn't even notice. In years since, I never saw a news story about a "daring heist" or anything. I feel like he would have made some hay outta that. TT: And if he did know, he'd probably just want to give me a stoic fist bump or something. 

Maybe, but probably not for the reason you think.

TT: Like I said, there are layers. TT: On one level, I gave you a filthy tattered piece of shit, albeit of tremendous cultural significance, manhandled by some old B movie actors, now candy coated to function as a highly practical defender droid for your personal protection. TT: On another level, I needed to incorporate something passable as a real heirloom. TT: For sentimental reasons. GG: D'awwwww. GG: Wait, real sentiment, or ironic sentiment? GG: Or is there no difference?? Am I missing the point here? TT: No, it was genuine.

So he’s not completely without a heart, even if it is, to quote him directly, a filthy tattered piece of shit.

TT: The upper echelons of irony should always include measures of sincerity. And if the satirical practice is executed faithfully it will achieve something bona fide in its own right regardless. TT: Through an intense commitment bordering on religious devotion to the absolutely inane, absurd, or plain fucking stupid, a very different kind of sincerity begins to materialize. One of reverence to the ridiculous. You begin to "mean it," but what exactly it is you mean is never quite what appears on the surface, and is utterly inaccessible to obtuse and literal minds. That you "mean it" then becomes inseparable from the joke, and additional rich strata of humor may be stripped aggressively from this irreconcilable truth.

I’m torn. On the one hand, I want to reach through my monitor and punch this kid in the face. On the other, even I can recognize that this is basically Andrew Hussie sock-puppeting his own ironic ideals. It’s just somehow more insufferable when Bro says it.

GG: I have so much to learn. And I am not even saying that "ironically!" GG: Will you teach me your ways one day, sir? Perhaps an apprenticeship will open? TT: Oh god, I'd love that. TT: Consider the position yours for the taking any time. Feel free to approach and kneel before Cal. With my sword and his floppy mitten, you will receive my flashstep anointment shoulder to shoulder, and to shoulder again.

UUUGHHHH. His head’s stuck up his own ass, but at the very least, he does seem to be sincere about enjoying teaching people things.

JESUS RABBIT, WHAT ARE YOU DOING. If it’s really got a mind of its own, then it’s like a hyper-competent dog with a sword. If you don’t walk it or play with it enough, it starts destroying things. LIKE SOMEONE I KNOW. *stares down the dog*

GG: Lil' Seb is beginning to act out, and I must put his fidgetiness to constructive use!

‘Fidgitiness’, that’s putting it politely.

TT: Cool. TT: Jane, one more thing. TT: I'm sure you must be aware by now that you'll be the leader of our group, as you will be the first to enter the session. GG: Um, no? GG: This is news to me. I never gathered that "team leader" was a thing for this game. TT: Trust me. It's a thing.

Hmm. Frankly, it’s a little surprising to me that Bro would both know about the leader position, and willingly give it up. He seems like the kind of person who would want to be calling the shots, if for no other reason that he’s SOOO SMAAAART.

GG: Are you sure? I have my doubts. GG: I believe as a group we will have the temerity to succeed, without my having to order people around like an insufferable bossypants. TT: That's why you're our leader, Jane. GG: Hm? TT: Optimism through stalwart skepticism is an affect not everyone is plucky enough to be graced with. GG: That's stupid! TT: Yeah yeah. I know. TT: You're not our leader, you're our FRIEND, right? GG: Precisely! GG: There is a BIG difference! TT: And statements like that are also why you're our leader.

Whoa, whoa. So like... Bro and LittleLonde have certainly been privy to a lot of things they have no business knowing, which I’m still assuming was imparted to them by their troll friend or by Dave and Rose. But either that’s just an extremely coincidental call back to that exact conversation between Rose and John, or... Or I don’t know. It’s probably just him knowing her really well, and her being a lot like John and Bro being a lot like Rose. B...Brose?

TT: But only in name and in spirit. Less so, functionally. TT: If it puts your mind at ease, I'll be the one pulling the strings here.

Oh. Oh, wow. Never mind. You know what? I hope it all backfires spectacularly, so that the pre-Scratch kids can swoop in and save the day, while Bro looks on in stupefied wonder.

They wait, bitches.

GG: Oh yes? GG: Then this whole affair will be one of D. Strider's grand productions in puppetry?

Alright, so his name starts with D. Not all that many 4-letter male D names. Dean, Doug, Drew (ahaha), Dale, Dane, Dirk, Dion, Dann, Dill... Dick...

Also, ‘grand productions in puppetry’ makes me want to punch (and judy) something.

TT: I will be the unseen hand whose nimble digits are behind every subtle twitch in our session's bulbous foam ass. TT: At least those gyrations not happening by the volition of its own quivering absorbant proboscis. TT: If you ever need help, Jane. If you're ever in any trouble at all, let me know. Just say the word. TT: I'll whip the toggle stick of this ludicrous marionette, cavorting its humongous bottom to intercept your freefall through the abyss.

Well, that’s... sweet? I guess he’s saying he’s got good intentions, but still, I can see this (and am sort of rooting for it) to backfire horribly.

TT: Snowcone you up in the fluffy crook of its cleft. Don't be alarmed if you're in no hurry to unpry yourself. TT: For the great jut of this impudent rump has more yield to your touch than you ever dreamt. Remember to catch your breath as it cherishes the imprint of your hand like a memento from a lover gone to war. TT: There's a lot of give to that ass, you may say. TT: Might like to settle in. Make myself comfortable. Start a family. TT: Bounce a coin off that ass, you'll demand of visitors. It's not going anywhere. TT: Bet that coin'll take a good nap there. TT: It's a gamble you win every goddamn time. TT: Yeah.

I hate to use the same gif twice in one post, but...

GG: These lessons we talked about... GG: They've already begun, haven't they? :o TT: Jane, soon you'll believe what I've told you. TT: You'll believe it all. TT: It's just a shame that believing will take something so coarse as seeing, for a girl as sharp as you.

How biblical. What all exactly is he talking about? Game stuff? Betty Crocker stuff?

TT: Critical thought can lead one to accept the unlikely, just as much as dismiss the impossible. TT: I can help with this too. Would you like me to program a Jane Crocker responder for you? TT: I only require a simple captcha of your brain.

Alright, Doctor Fuckin’ Jekyll; let me just get right on that.

Wait, doesn’t DAVE have a captcha of his own brain? ...Oh no. Also, that means the auto responder isn’t n% indistinguishable from Bro just because it was programmed to be; it’s literally a copy of his brain. That’s kind of disturbing.

GG: Holy moly! GG: Um, thank you, but no. GG: I'm not ready to get dialogic with my cyberself just yet. My friends keep me busy enough as it is.

YES, JANE, THIS IS A GOOD ATTITUDE TO HAVE. KEEP IT UP.

GG: Speaking of which, I really need to go. I know you love to talk my ear off, and it's always a treat,

Pahahahaha.

but let's catch up later after the game starts, ok? GG: And if I do need your help, I promise I'll take you up on your offer! TT: I made several. Which one? GG: The one where you, hopefully not literally, offered to catch me in the crevice of a great big squishy butt! Hoo hoo hoo!

I fucking love this kid. She’s a little more assertive than John so far, though she’s also less mean-spirited. What will it be like when they meet? Can’t wait to find out! :D

Jane: Command Sebastian to lift fridge.

You order dear, sweet Lil' Sebastian to put his fidgetiness to constructive use. He is eager to assist, and lifts the appliance with ease.

Y’know, I was about to say something like, ‘how the hell is that tiny little robot supposed to lift the’ but then he did it. Welp. that certainly makes for a convenient escape route! After all this trouble Dad went through to keep Jane inside, she’s not going to get, like... sniped or something, is she?

He finds a note taped underneath the fridge. It seems to be addressed to you.

UGH I want to hate this bunny because Bro made it, but it is SO CUTE.

Fat chance, dad. This bird's gotta fly!!!

Jane, come ON, you’re courting danger now.

Never would have seen that one coming. (Jane, I’m about to throw a fridge through your wall.)

I like to imagine that the water pressure from the hose was at blasting power just before this panel, and drooped along with Dad’s confusion.

Jane: Throw down your hat in disgust.

Here it comes...

Wait for it...

You've been climbing your echeladder very gradually for various minor accomplishments here and there since you were 13. That was such a sweet textbook HAT POF, it earned you just enough to clear the next rung, FEDORAFLEDGLING. Nice going!

Huh, now this is a more interesting panel than you might think. First off, the mostly irrelevant details: Jane’s hat has what looks like a flag or a tag on it, instead of a feather, and her boondollar total is inching closer to 111,111,111 (damn, she’s rich). Now for the real meaty stuff.

The lowest level we can see on the echeladder, which, since the scrollbar is at the bottom, we can pretty safely assume to be the actual lowest level, is ‘Baby Ectobotananna’. This one took me a second to figure out, but then I realize it’s a combination of John’s ‘ectoBiologist’ and Jade’s ‘gardenGnostic’ via ‘botany’, and then ‘Nanna’.

Batterlass represents the obvious; she’s the heir to BCCorp, next in line after the Batterwitch.

‘Overbite Restart’, ha ha. John had ‘Overbite Upstart’.

‘Snorkbait Sporkplu’g, I have no idea, other than that it’s a call back to John’s ‘Sharkbait Sparkplug’.

‘Bespectacled Skeptic’ reflects what Bro was telling her, that she’s gotta believe more.

‘Haberdasher’s Daughter’, because Dad and hats.

‘Britches Healer’ connects back to the earlier rung ‘Britches Ripper’, and is either a reference to her being the Maid of Life, or else she just sews things a lot?

‘Sodajerk’s Confidante’ took a little digging, but it seems to be a Problem Sleuth reference.

‘Maid in the Shade’... this one’s interesting. It’s already lit up like she’s achieved the rung, and I wonder what prompted it. My first thought just looking at the name of it would be that she’d have to visit the Land of Wind and Shade, but obviously that has not happened. ...Unless she mysteriously achieved the rung shortly after her 13th birthday, when Nannasprite “”concurrently”” appeared in LOWAS.

‘Mourning Starlet’ is also a mystery. I get the pun, but who or what was she mourning? Her freedom? Poppop was long since dead, and her Dad is still alive.

The next rung up from the current ‘FedoraFledgling’ is ‘Heiress Sans Parent’ (a reference to John’s ‘Heir Transparent’), and if that isn’t leading, then... then... THEN I’LL THROW DOWN MY HAT! *levels up* Sadly, it looks like this Dad’s going to bite it too. T_T

And that’s all I’ve got for now!

The well traveled HAT shares in your glorious spoils. The battle-hardened accessory reaches dizzying new heights, leapfrogging from the DOUCHEBAG'S DOMESUCKER rung, to the rare, highly coveted MARTYR'S PISSCRADLE rung.

This is because FedoraFreak tried to use his hat to strain his piss, isn’t it. Did we ever find out what happened to ol’ FF? Did he go god tier?

How can these things be so fast on land???

JESUS.

...Now, wait a second. Gamzee never spent much time with his lusus because it was always out at sea, and I assumed that was because it couldn’t come on land. But if it could, and it just didn’t want to...

Oh no, it's a hostile swarm of those little fairy bulls! They are probably pissed off about the one you killed earlier. They have come for revenge!

Maybe the tinkerbulls and the goatdad will fight each other, allowing Jake to escape! Or... maybe the goatdad will follow in Gamzee’s footsteps and get all weirdly attracted to the tinkerbulls, and the tinkerbulls will get all shy and moe. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

OH MY GOD THE HUMANITY. HOW THEY EXACT THEIR POUND OF FLESH. OH GOD NO OH GOD OH GOD OH GOOOAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH.

AHAHAHA, I love it.

> [S] ==>

Oh? Oho? What is this? *click*

...

This might just be the singular most beautiful moment in all of Homestuck. This is it. This is everything I’ve been waiting for. Everything I have ever wanted.

Nearby, someone or something bleats like a goat for strategic purposes. And also

Ironic purposes.

I can die happy now. Seriously, what was that, like, 3000 pages later?

Jane: Run.

The jig is so totally up. Nothing left to do but scurry your little legs to that box, snatch the mail and scram!

Ooh, are we going to get a strife? :D

God dammit, I love Dad so much. That his reaction to WORLD SHATTERING SHIT is just a mild ‘?’ and moving on just makes my fucking day.

Gasp!! He seems to be concerned about Jane being outside most of all! She’s totally gonna get sniped, isn’t she.

> [S] Jane: Get mail.

Wow, or that. I’m assuming Hussie’s pulling the whole ‘OH LOOK JOHN’S HOUSE EXPLODED, SURELY HE COULDN’T HAVE SURVIVED THAT’ thing again, but still, yikes. Poor Dad. :(

Also, if that ‘HOMESTUCK’ logo in the sky is an actual physical object like the words floating around Prospit and Derse are, can people see it? Does it spook the U.S. government? Have people been on manned missions to the Homestuck instead of the moon?

END OF ACT 6 ACT 1.

And that’s the end of this Act Act! (I think. I’m not gonna click that arrow just yet.) I know it makes for a short post, but I said I’d divide things up this way so that I didn’t get overwhelmed making an EOA reaction post for what is essentially half the comic, so there you have it! If you’d like, you can send me fanworks up through A6A1, though I warn you I’m still not done looking at all the stuff that got sent to me for A5A2.

Next up, Reactions, and then Act 6 Intermission 1! Or... maybe the other way around, if the Intermission deserves being included with A6A1′s impressions? We’ll see.

Until next time! ^0^