#and it’ll take much much longer for the support team to get it back up

[flimsyichigo]

can’t tell whether my writing blog makes me wanna cry or makes me feel nothing whenever i look at it

[moodriingz]

Waiting Room | Q. Hughes

Summary | Reader works for the Canucks’ socials and has an unrequited crush on Quinn. Based off of Waiting room by Phoebe Bridgers.

Pairing | Quinn Hughes x reader, Elias Peterson x platonic!reader, reader x oc

Warnings | unrequited love, angst, moving on?

Author's Note | Oh my gosh this ended up so much longer than intended, so buckle in it’s a long one. I thought about trying to shorten it but I had so many ideas about what to include. I was also so nervous to write this one that it took me forever to finish. Also thinking of writing a part two, but let me know what you think. Please send in requests for other players!

Masterlist

Part two

If you were a teacher, I would fail your class

Take it over and over 'til you noticed me

“This is why you are the best person ever,” Quinn said as you carried an insane amount of coffee for some of the team and the Canucks social staff.

“Oh, it’s no big deal I always just pick some up when I get mine,” you say as you almost drop the lattes from your hands. “I’m going to find Elias and drop his off and then head to my desk. See you at practice.”

“Y/N how did you know I didn’t get the chance to pick up my coffee?” Elias asked with a smirk. “Or did you just get extra so it wouldn’t be obvious you love to get Quinn’s coffee?”

“Goodbye Elias! I’ll see you on the ice in a bit!” You shout as you walk down the hall to the social media office.

You set down the last two coffees on your desk, go through your emails, and write down some ideas for content before your morning meeting. 

“Y/N you have to stop buying his coffee, you're just torturing yourself,” Megan says as she sets her bag down. “But please don’t stop bringing me coffee because I never have enough time to get some myself.”

“Ok Megan I’ll keep that in mind, but I don’t get it just for Quinn, I also got it for Elias today,” you say with a blush covering your cheeks.

“Yeah alright. Let’s go get this meeting started.”

If you were a waiting room, I would never see a doctor

I would sit there with my first aid kit and bleed

After the meeting with the rest of the social media and communications team, it’s decided that you have to go on the ice to capture content today. Usually, you can just film from the bench, but your boss wanted some trending content that required you to skate with the team. The only bad thing about filming on the ice was your awful case of clumsiness.

You were filming content with Brock when you tripped over your own two feet. Normally, you’d laugh it off after getting up, but your left foot twisted under your body. 

You wince as Brock helps you stand to skate off the pain but yelp the second you put your weight on the foot. Quinn watches as Brock’s hands are on your waste and immediately skates over the second you cry out in pain.

“Are you ok? What happened?” Quinn asked, putting your arm around his shoulders to support you as he took you to the bench.

“I-I’m fine. I just twisted my ankle as I fell,” You say looking into his worried eyes.

“Ok, let me take the skate off, and then we can go to the trainers and get you ice,” Quinn grimaces as he takes the skate off and sees your ankle already swelling.

“It’s probably just a sprain, but we need to get ice on this ASAP. I’ll take you to the trainers, let's go,” Quinn says standing to help you up.

“But what about practice? You guys have your East Coast road trip coming up, and I’m not going to be the reason you skip out on practice,” You say trying to figure your way to get ice or wait until Megan comes to help. 

Truthfully though, you don’t want him to take you because the way Quinn is taking care of you makes you fall harder for him.

“Don’t be crazy. Practice is almost over and they won’t miss me for the five minutes it’ll take me to make sure you’re ok,” Quinn says as you nod reluctantly. You feel your blush coming back and know you’re never going to get over your silly crush on Quinn Hughes.

I want to be the power ballad that lifts you up and holds you down

I wanna be the broken love song that feeds your misery

The next night the Canucks lost to the Flyers with just a game left before the two-week road trip. The loss was hard following Christmas, and Quinn was beating himself up over the game. You found him after finishing up your content for the night and he finished his interviews. He tried to smile at you, but it looked like a grimace from how tight his lips were.

“Hey how are you,” He asked, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Shouldn’t I be asking you that?” You say sheepishly.

“Yeah, I guess. Are you busy tonight? I was hoping we could hang out at my place and watch some movies,” Quinn’s question surprised you. You’ve only really hung out in group settings or when the team went out after a game.

“I’m free, let me just finish wrapping some stuff up and then we can go,” You say with butterflies forming in your chest. 

You go and find Megan and tell her everything that happened with Quinn.

“Shut up you’re going, right?” She asks.

“Yeah of course I am, I think I’d be stupid not to. I’m just nervous,” You respond. 

“Don’t be. He asked you over for a reason he must not hate you.” Megan says practically pushing you out the door.

You nod and go back to find Quinn talking to Elias while he waits for you to come back. 

“Hey ready to go?” You ask.

“You’re replacing me for our movie nights?” Elias blurts out of jealousy.

“No, not completely replacing you. I just didn’t want to wallow alone. Plus I figured Y/N would be free,” Quinn says nonchalantly. There’s a pang in your chest because not only is this a tradition with someone else, but that he just assumed you’re at his beck and call. You both arrive at his apartment after a silent drive from Rogers arena.

“Do you want anything to drink?” He asks, swaying back and forth. Is he nervous? Why would he be? It's not like this is a date or anything. This is something he always does with Elias. 

“Can I just have water?” You say quieter than intended. You felt small and out of place in his apartment.

“Of course. Do you want to pick out the movie? I figure you should do the honors for your first movie night,” He says as he pours your water. 

You think for a second and immediately know you should put on your favorite rom-com 13 going on 30. It’s kind of a comfort movie and you might calm down with something familiar. Once it’s pulled up he sits down with you on the couch.

And I can wish all that I want, but it won't bring us together

Plus I know whatever happens to me, I know it's for the better

He told you he’s never seen the movie as he sits down and watches intently until the birthday scene.

“Man, I feel so bad for that Matty kid.”

“Why,” you say, keeping your attention on the tv.

“His unrequited love with Jenna,” He says it so plainly like he’s toying with you for your confession.

“Yeah unrequited love is the worst,” You say finally looking over at him.

“Why do you have feelings like that for someone,” He chuckles at the idea. You realize he doesn’t know that you have feelings for him.

“No. I did at one point,” You say, and the subject is dropped. You watch the rest of the movie and he orders you an Uber home. You realized that night that your crush needs to end no matter how hard it is.

And when broken bodies are washed ashore

Who am I to ask for more, more, more?

Quinn seems to be in a much better mood from the loss the night before. But you want to avoid him at all costs today. Your boss asks you to do something with him later. There’s nothing you rather do than work with Quinn, but You want to stay in your boss’ good graces.

She asked you to shoot a video with a concept that had been performing well on socials with other players. You find Quinn before he steps out for practice to let him know you’re following him for the day.

“Hopefully you can keep a better balance than you did with Brock,” He chuckles.

“Yeah I’ll try my best not to fall today,” you say with your signature blush covering your cheeks.

“Well if you do I’ll catch you. Can’t have my favorite staffer breaking something.” Oh, he must be playing with you. Your face is completely flushed and you give a court nod before running to the restroom to calm down.

You start to think over your last couple of conversations. Had he been flirting? Or giving you more attention than usual? You think about how he rushed to your side and left practice just to help you even if it got him in trouble. You think about his smile when you bring his coffee. You think about last night how he was so tuned into unrequited love.

“No Y/N there are bigger things than a silly little crush. You have to go do your job.” You say to yourself in the mirror. After your pep talk, you go out on the ice, shoot your content quickly, and then go back to your office to edit. You tell yourself that you need to stop focusing so much on Quinn.

But you're breathing in my open mouth

You're the gun in my lips that will blow my brains out

The Canucks win the next game, and before you can make it into the locker room to shoot content Brock stops you.

“Y/N! Are you coming out with us tonight?” He asks. You can see Quinn’s head pick up waiting for your response.

“Yeah, I can. I just need to film a couple of the post-game interviews and then I can leave,” you say excited for a drink.

When you all arrive at the usual bar you head straight up to the bar. You give a once-over of the crowd and how many people are there tonight. You go find the boys at their usual table. And you find Quinn’s eyes already staring at yours. 

“I think I’m going to go dance,” You tell Elias before turning around to head to the dance floor.

“Where’s she going,” Quinn asks Elias, watching your retreating figure.

“Going to dance. Are you going to replace me there too?” He jokes.

“Haha, very funny. I’ll be back in a bit,” Quinn says as he leaves to find you.

Of course, you’re in the middle of the crowd and once he finds you’re already making new friends. Quinn laughs to himself because you’re so sociable unlike him. 

“Are you ok if I join you,” Quinn says leaning in. You can only nod and note his proximity but brush it off due to the crowded area.

He dances close to you as music plays over the speakers. His energy and presence make you feel alive. He follows your moves as you’re face to face and you never want this night to end. However, at the end of the song, he notices your glass is empty and offers you another drink. You nod and follow him back to the bar.

“Aren’t you going to order something?” You ask after he only requests your drink. He shakes his head no and gets closer.

“I figured I’d be the designated driver to take you home tonight,” he says with his breath hitting your ear. The alcohol already going straight to your head makes the room spin and gives you confidence.

“Usually I only take guys home after the third date,” You joke, instantly regretting it. He laughs it off and says that you need more water instead of a drink. Even though you’re tipsy you remember that this crush is going to hurt you regardless of how he feels.

I want to make you drive all night just because I said maybe you should come over

I want to make you fall in love as hard as my poor parents' teenage daughter

At the end of the night, Quinn keeps his promise as he ushers you into his car. You’re giggling as he pulls you towards safety and you say goodnight to all of the team.

“Goodnight Pettyyyyy,” you slur and yell as you get further from him. He just waves and chuckles. 

“Get her home safe Huggy,” Elias shouts back drunkenly.

“Will do. See you tomorrow,” Quinn says finally getting you in the car.

“You know my dad used to drive my mom back from bars back in the day,” you say once he starts driving as you stare out the window.

“Oh yeah?” Quinn chuckles at your drunken state.

You feel so grateful that he decided to take you home. You hate taking Uber, especially after drinking. You take note that the bar is nowhere close to your apartment and his place is on the other side of town. It wasn’t an easy thing for him to do, but he did it without you even having to ask. Maybe your unrequited love isn’t so unrequited and you fall asleep in your bed hopeful for what the next day could contain.

She'll be the best you ever had if you let her

The next morning was rough to get out of bed, but get excited when memories of Quinn going out of his way to bring you home come back to you. You get ready and go to the coffee shop you always stop at with a pep in your step.

Once you get to the arena you go straight to the locker room as usual except you stop right outside of the door when you hear Elias and Quinn talking.

“So you and Y/N,” Elias said with a suggestive and teasing tone.

“Nothing happened between us. She’s sweet and all, but I’m not into her that way,” He says quickly. Your heart shattered and you turned around to leave before you could be caught.

You drop your things off at your desk and run to the restroom to let out a good cry. After a minute or two you compose yourself before going back to your desk and delivering the coffee like nothing happened.

You hand Quinn's coffee and he thanks you with his usual stupid smile like he didn’t say anything ten minutes ago. You give Elias his coffee and leave the locker room without saying a word. Little did you know, Elias followed you out and caught up to you in the hallway.

“You heard him didn’t you?” He asks you with sad eyes.

“Yeah, but it’s ok I knew this would happen. I’ll be ok. It’s just going to be awkward on the plane because we always sit together for roadies,” you say with a sigh.

“Sit with me,” Elias says simply and you just look at him perplexed. “I’ll just say I wanted my own movie night with you.” You nod and tell Elias you have to go for your meeting before you all leave.

I know it's for the better

Know it's for the better

Know it’s for the better

You walk into the plane after your meeting and you finalize some posts to be uploaded while you’re flying. You see Quinn watching you expectantly for you to take your unassigned seat next to him. However, You miss the surprised and sad gaze he has after you walk past him to sit with Elias.

Elias always sits near the back of the plane, and Quinn knows you hate sitting so far back. He hears you and Elias pick a movie to watch during the flight and he gets jealous. It’s small but Quinn always wanted to do that on flights with you, but you always were more interested in reading or sleeping. 

“Do you want to watch 27 Dresses? Isn’t that your favorite?” Quinn hears Elias ask you and Quinn scoffs. He knew even before you came over to watch a movie that 13 going on 30 was your favorite move. That’s why he watched it before he invited you over so he’d have good commentary for your movie night.

You grab Elias’ hand as the plane lifts and apologize and say it’s muscle memory. You always get nervous on planes but Quinn always calms you down. You and Elias have fun for the rest of the flight. Watching movies even though it was something you wanted to do with Quinn. But you know getting over your crush is for the better. You and Quinn wouldn’t have worked out anyway.

Know it's for the better

Know it’s for the better

Know it’s for the better

The next day you wake up in your hotel room after letting yourself sleep in a little bit. Even on road trips, you would make a point of getting Quinn’s coffee. But you decided now that you know he doesn’t feel the same, so you didn’t see the point in doing it anymore. You come down from your hotel room and see Quinn in the lobby. 

“Oh hey, I was just going to wait for you to come back from getting coffee for everyone,” Quinn says sheepishly.

“Oh yeah, I guess I forgot to set an alarm and overslept. I can’t go today because I have to go meet the Blue’s social team before the game to go over rules for the game,” You say with little emotion.

“Oh ok, that makes sense. I guess I just see you at the arena,” Quinn says sadly.

“See you there!” You say with a smile leaving the lobby. This was the first time you felt like you could maybe get over Quinn Hughes.

Know it's for the better

Know it's for the better

Know it's for the better

The team returns from a successful road trip and you feel energized, which rarely happens after traveling for two weeks straight. You and Elias became good friends over the trip and now realize there is a lot more to your work than just Quinn.

After your meeting, you and Megan are talking about your plans as you settle back into Vancouver.

“You should let me set you up,” Megan blurts out, cutting off your list of chores.

“What? Who would it even be?” You’re intrigued where she’s going with this.

“My friend Evan just got out of a relationship a couple of months ago. I feel like you guys would really get along. Plus it could be good for-”

“You know what I’m in. Can you send me his number or something?” You decided you were ready to move on.

“Yes! I’ll send it right now. I'm so excited.”

You go to the ice to get ready for some practice content. Quinn is out first and gives you a weak smile. You feel a mixture of butterflies and your heart clenches. You missed Quinn. You haven’t had a full conversation with him since you all went out. Even though you’re trying to convince yourself to, you don’t know if you’ll be able to move on from Quinn Hughes.

Know it's for the better

Know it's for the better

Know it’s for the better

Your date with Evan is today and you’re excited. You feel giddy all day thinking about the prospect of dating again. Your boss lets you go home early because you’ve finished your content and are ahead of schedule. As you walk out to your car you see the team going back to the locker room from practice.

“Hey Y/N are you coming out with us tonight? It’s nothing crazy we just wanted to go out to celebrate the road trip,” Brock asks 

“I would love to, but I actually have a date tonight,” You say with a grin and blush on your face.

Know it's for the better

Know it's for the better

Know it’s for the better

There’s a couple of wolf whistles from the team when you tell them your plans. Quinn’s heart drops at the idea of you going out with someone else. He knew you guys hadn't talked a lot during the trip, but he just figured it was because you were busy with work or tired. He didn’t think it was because you started talking to someone.

He sulks as he gets ready to go home, and can’t stop thinking about who your date could be with and what you’re doing. He knows you look great no matter what you wear, but the idea of you dressing up for some other guy makes him uneasy. 

Quinn gets home and thinks about texting you, but what would he even say? “Good luck on your date hope you have fun” when he prays it goes badly so he has a shot again? He thinks about texting you to not go on the date, but knows it’s not his place and you might not feel the same way.

Instead he texts Elias if he wants to hang out. Elias comes over and immediately notices his sour mood. 

“What’s got you so down?”

“Nothing I guess I’m just in my head,” Quinn says.

“Is it about Y/N? I thought you said you don’t have feelings for her,” Elias says as a joke knowing Quinn would never admit it out loud.

“I didn’t think I did, but I’ve really missed her over the last couple of weeks and it made me think about her a lot. I just don’t know what to do,” Quinn says with his head in his hands. Elias is shocked at his revelation and doesn’t know what to say.

“I doubt the date is going to be that great. Tell her how you feel after,” Elias says and Quinn just nods his head. 

Know it's for the better

Know it's for the better

Know it’s for the better

You get ready for your date and get even more excited as it gets closer to your date. You know it might not go anywhere with Evan, but you’re just proud of yourself for trying to move on from Quinn.

You go to meet Evan at a restaurant downtown, and give him a hug when you see him. You quickly notice he’s the complete opposite of Quinn; he has brown eyes instead of Quinn’s blue eyes. Evan’s hair is light brown and barely has a wave vs Quinn’s dark brown curls. 

You quickly take note that Evan is more talkative and has a bigger personality than Quinn. He doesn’t seem to like silence and is always asking you more questions about yourself even as you try to look over the menu. Then you realize that if you truly want to get over Quinn, you’ve to stop comparing Evan to him.

That's when you guys hit it off. You realize he’s really funny and also understands your humor. You both have a lot in common too. You can’t stop smiling throughout the rest of the night. 

Know it’s for the better

Know it’s for the better

Know it’s for the better

After your dinner you both don’t want the date to be over just yet so you decide to take a walk down the street to continue your conversation. You have no idea how long you guys have been together, but haven’t gotten bored of each other for the night.

You stumble across an ice cream shop, and both note how much you love ice cream. And even though it’s freezing outside you both decide to get some to end the night. After you finish you both decide to call it a night and He walks you back to your car.

Know It’s for the better

Know It’s for the better

Know it’s for the better

“I hate to say it this way, but I didn’t think I could have this much fun on a date,” Evan says looking down at you.

“No me too, but I had an amazing time.”

“Do you want to go out again soon? I don’t know what your schedule looks like, but-” Evan rambles on and you decide to cut him off.

“I would love to. I’ll let you know when I’m free,” You say with a smile.

You get in the car and can wipe the grin off of your face as you drive home. You get ready for bed and almost want to text Elias, but know he’s with the team and didn’t want to interrupt their fun. 

Know it's for the better

I never grew up with you

And you’re not my waiting room

The next day you go into the office with your smile still wide. You see Megan in the parking lot and walk in together telling her about your date. 

“You were so right, me and Evan got along so well. He’s great. We’re going on another date too” Megan squeals and tells you she’s so excited for you. 

Little did you know that Quinn was nearby and heard everything. You spot him not thinking much about it and he gives you a small smile. You realize that your life will continue on after your crush on Quinn and you’re ok with that.

[gliphyartfan]

Hi I saw your last headcanons about The heroes joining The Villains to take down Hylia for readers sake(I really liked The headcanons, They were really good) But i have my question about The zeldas, I cant stop thinking that They would get an interest in The Reader (Maybe Platónic, maybe Romántic Is up to you) And I cant stop thinking that they Would join The chains plan to take down Hylia(Maybe The Make a truce with The chain to take down Hylia with The less count of possible deceased people to finally kill The Villain) I dunno i had this idea and I had to say it, hope you have a nice day

First off…I’m not much of a fan of the princesses…

BUUUUT, I can accept coming up with ideas about them for others…BUT NOT OFTEN!

Anywho I haven’t put much thought on all of them so I’ll just do a few. Sorry 😅

Sun wouod have the most complicated feelings here since she’s literally Hylia reborn as a mortal. Her interest in Reader would likely be tied to a deep guilt and sense of responsibility, she’s living with the burden of what Hylia does to Reader. Yeah the Hylia that did it is FAAAR into the future, but it’ll a version of her who no longer is SUN.

She probably sees helping the Chain as a way to make amends, even if it means going against everything she was once meant to represent.

She probably sees Reader as almost sacred and feels like she owes them something she can’t fully repay.

She wants to protect them, and there’s this raw, almost reverent quality to it. She’s the one who might pull Reader aside to give them quiet reassurances, to show that she’s on their side despite the history that hangs over her head.

Some of the guys, like Time, Legend, and Warriors, maybe Wild might not fully trust her, understandably so.

They’d question her motives and wonder if, when it comes down to it, she’d side with Hylia.

Sun would be determined to prove her loyalty to Reader, and that might lead to some pretty heated arguments, especially with heroes who are cautious around her.

Artemis wouod be all about strategy really teaming up with the Chain as a logical choice to take down Hylia, not just for Reader’s sake but also for the sake of her people. Considering hers is literal a war-torn era and even if the timelines were repaired, the damage the war did to HER era specifically is still there .

She’s not sentimental about it; she just wants to get the job done with minimal fallout.

Buuut seeing how devoted the Chain is to Reader, she’d definitely gain a lot of respect for Reader.

She’d have a lot of admiration for Reader, seeing them as almost warrior like in their own right. She’s drawn to how Reader stands up to things way beyond their control and keeps pushing back. There would be no flowery language from her; she simply respects Reader, and it shows. (Friendship no jutsu will happen eventually, it just takes time for her to warm up to Reader.)

Tetra would be in this for her own reasons, but helping Reader aligns well with her goals. She, like Wind, isn’t familiar with Hylia but seeing the Chain actively fighting against her is all she needs to dive in. Especially when she warms up to Reader. She’d be on board to take Hylia down without a second thought.

She would be egging the Chain on to take bold steps against Hylia. There’s no hesitation on her end; she’d be telling them, “If you’re in, go all the way.” Her approach would definitely add some urgency to their plans, maybe pushing the Chain into action when they might otherwise hesitate. (She’s a pirate, what do you expect)

She’d be the semi-tsundere, definitely would warm up quickly to Reader, especially if Reader adores her pirating stories or genuine is interested in learning how ships works.

Aurora probably the most lowkey out of all of them, but don’t underestimate her. She’d see the Chain’s determination and want to support them out of a genuine belief that Reader deserves a better fate.

Her relationship with Reader would likely be gentle and kind, she’s the one offering small comforts.

She sees something special in Reader’s humanity and probably feels they’ve been through way too much already.

She’d be the one who connects with them in quiet moments.

She’d mediate between any Zeldas who don’t see eye to eye. If Artemis is pressing for strict strategy while Tetra is pushing for impulsive action, Aurora would be the voice of reason, urging a balanced approach to keep them all on track

And….thats all I could come up with. Sorry I couldn’t think of the others. I may come back to this later if I think up more.

(I won’t mind writing for the Zeldas. It’ll just take some time 😅)

[yourlocalartsonist]

MONTHLY MFIP UPDATE✨✨

9/24 | Month 2 | Next Month | Month 1

Hey folks 🦐 I finally got the chance to make this month’s MFIP Update cuz god damn life was kicking my ass. College is fine for the most part tbh, just a lot of reading and writing cuz of the specific classes I chose. HOWEVER I have 💥FUCKING PMDD💥 so um skill issue on my part but it’s why I’ve been kinda exhausted as shit this week and was late with the update so my bad folks! (Also for more info on PMDD, click here! I don’t wanna spend this post yapping about it but wanted to leave a resource to spread awareness just in case :3). Also, Imma be tagging some of y'all who have been reading/supporting MFIP consistently just for this post, so yk you guys actually know these updates exist. I was gonna do that for the first ever update but as with many things, I forgor, so I'm doing it now! They’re supposed to come out on the 18th of every month, but yk sometimes life happens and I’m a lil late. It won’t be any earlier than the 18th tho so look out for these once it hits that date! Anywho, cheers to this month’s update!

Alrighty folks we be starting with the Art~!

Alrighty so obvious new thing, WE GOT RAPH’S REF SHEEEEEEEET TEEHEEEEEEE

BRO IM SO HYPE ABOUT IT! It turned out so genuinely amazing and I’m ridiculously proud of it! Especially cuz I honestly thought Raph was gonna be a harder design to figure out yk? I’m not used to drawing his body type, I wasn’t as familiar with his outfit, and even tho I’ve sketched him a few times before, I was just a bit nervous with Raph. Funfact, he’s also been the hardest to figure out how to write back when I was first starting MFIP. I genuinely don’t know why, but I got there eventually (I actually really love writing him now—) and same thing happened with his design!

Since MFIP’s taking place a few months after the Krang invasion, i’m able to take creative liberties and update the boys’ designs more! For some clarification btw, in my story’s lore, the invasion took place in September 2020, and MFIP starts on March 2021. Anywhizzle, my ideas for the boys’ designs is to combine their movie look with their show look, cuz while I do LOVE the black on them, it doesn’t feel right to me to not make them still unique in their own ways. These guys are all about authenticity, so why make their gear exactly the same, ya get me? I basically recolored his show gear to be black and red (and added a lil asymmetry on his legs) cuz I think it makes Raph feel older and more sure about himself, just feels right for him! I also just think the red fade on the black is hella cool! Fun lil color theory i think application, the black is more of a really dark, inky blue, so it makes the red pop out even more! I decided to make a bow out of his mask tails, too! I don’t wanna spoil the entire lore reasoning for it yet (it’ll pop up in the story), but I can indeed say it’s intentional that it looks a little like a lunamoth with damaged tails :3 I also took a BUNCH of creative liberties with his sais’ handles, since we haven’t really seen it much so like idk gaslight yourselves into thinking it’s always been this epic✨✨

Also I gave him his shorts back because FUCK YOU I LIKED THE RED TRIMMMM—

OH I ALMOST FORGOT yes he has longer eyelashes! I saw he grows to have really pretty eyelashes in the future cuz of his turtle species, and I wanted to lean into that by showing they’re starting to grow now :3

Bullshit Gag Because Yes‼️‼️

There ain’t shit to say about this, I just pulled a silly. I saw the fact Donnie was supposed to have a “Doctor Donatello” persona in the deleted episode where Dale turns into a werewolf. I’m really heavily on the train of Leo being the team medic and into medicine in general. I don’t think it makes sense for Donnie to be the medic judging by his sensory issues and this mf being as much of a germaphobe as my mom, and in my opinion it felt too stereotypical anyway to have Donnie be the medic. Ofc, to each their own, and this is just my interpretation of it, but I thought it’d be funny if Donnie still had this persona and was passionate about it, but was like horrifically bad at being a doctor. I made this dumbass sketch that I’ll finish sometime in the future (it’s gonna be a chapter in Arc 3 probably) and I just wanted to share it with yall~

THEY’RE HUMAN NOW⁉️

My ass wanted to show off cuz I’m sketching out some ideas of what my human designs for the boys culd be. I already did Leo’s like ages ago so he’s not on here but I’m realizing as I’m typing this my dumbass forgor to post it so um my bad I will do that in a few days—

But I wanted to design (or more accurately, redesign cuz I did draw em once a while back but I’m not satisfied with them) and I think I ate so far so uh yea. There isn’t any logic to sharing this, I just thought it was cool😭

And actually, imma share them here too just so y’all can see my boy ;w;

(A lil outdated cuz I didn’t give him lips at the time)

Okay there we go~

As you can see, I want all the boys to look kinda etherial and like they'd turn heads, and I think I am SUCCEEDING SO HARD SO FAR CUZ DAMNNNN THEY'RE ALL PRETTY AS SHIIIIIIIT TEEHEE✨ Also am tryna make sure they actually look Blasian since that's what the canon of my story says they are. I'll talk about them more another time when I have all of them on here~

But yea that's all for art this time folks :> ONTO THE NEXT THINGGG

Chapter Progress Time Whoop Whoooop‼️‼️

I didn’t make much progress on anything this month due to college—again, it’s fine, but there’s a shit ton of time management going on in my part to just manage everything and make sure I’m on track—BUT I am indeed still working on chapter 10. We’re up to 20 pages now which is only two more pages written from last month, but it’s kinda cool writing Donnie and I feel like I’m getting a better understanding of him! One thing I’ve been tryna do is understand autism better as a condition cuz I do wanna acknowledge and show bro’s autism instead of just ignoring it due to a lack of understanding. Donnie ain’t Donnie without it, ya know? I don’t know everything and tbh I would say I still have A LOT to learn on the subject matter, but I’m tryna expand my knowledge every opportunity I get and experimenting with how to better show it! This is to say tho, I’M NOT A MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL, NOR AN EXPERT ON THE AUTISM SPECTRUM. This is what I’m finding and comprehending via my own research, and can tbh end up being wrong so please don’t quote me as a reliable source, I’m still learning ;v;

I remember one of the things I kept hearing about was autism leading people to struggle with empathy. The best way I heard it being described was someone bringing the example of when their friend was upset. That person can’t truly feel their friend’s emotions because they’re not the one experiencing it, so can’t properly understand how it’s making their friend feel. But they can see that their friend is communicating their sadness, and they still try to comfort them and make sure their friend knows they’re there for support. I understood it as bringing logic to emotions in a sense; collecting data and figuring out how to handle the situation based on the data rather than using intuition alone.

I’ve been using that to figure out how Donnie might handle more emotionally subtle situations, where he might try to rationally work through what’s happening and kinda substitute it in place of natural empathy. Like the little tidbit I gave above! Instead of just automatically being able to get vibes that the other person is upset, I felt maybe Donnie would instead notice the fact their tone is kinda different from before; it’s basically a data point. With that data point in mind, he could connect it to past experiences where a tone change could indicate a mood change, and as a result he might conclude that Salena’s tone change means she’s upset. I comprehend it as manually working through empathy rather than it being second nature, if that makes sense. Obviously and thankfully Donnie isn’t gonna spend the entire chapter playing a guessing game or anything with Salena’s emotions, it’s just one lil moment that I thought was cool challenge to myself with when writing him! I really love putting myself in the characters’ shoes when I’m writing them or their dialogue. I highly recommend it as a tool too, since it's helped me a lot with staying in character!

Last Lil Segment Y'all

Aight so, I wanted to try doing something cool if y'all are up for it. I really love rambling about my story and lore and characters blah blah blah, but I don't really know how to do so tbh. I'm not that familiar with how social medias work cuz I just never took it seriously, and I don't wanna just keep being like HEYYYYY ASK BOX IS OPENNNNN like I'm screaming from the top of the hill either. Sooooo insteaddddd

I think it'd be fun to do Q&As here! Or at least something similar. I'll open my ask box again and feel free to send any questions you want; it can be about the story, past lore, design questions, getting to know the characters, absolutely anything! Then when I'm gonna do my update for the month, I'll compile all y'all's asks, (prolly will have to tag to make sure you guys know I answered it, or if you ask anon then uh idk look out for the monthly update) and then answer them during the monthly update as the last section! I think it'll be a cool way to make this feel more interactive, and gives me an excuse to ramble. Don't be afraid to ask potentially spoilery questions either! If it's something I can't spoil yet or even give hints or vague answers about, I'll just say so in the update!

Anywhizzle, That's All Folks~!

I'm glad there was so much to talk about this month! I actually deadass thought it would be short but I should know better with my yapping' ass💀✨ But yeah, thanks for reading everyone! I hope y'all enjoy the rest of your days, and I shall see you next month~ Bye :D

Tageroonies:

@yosajaeofficial @chaoticspeedrun @ramblehour @randomcerealbrand @goldanrabbit @m1sf0rtun3 @foundthethief @ackalice @jellyfishheartsss @dollyrin @harukonene @iieieiw @mwantstossleep @zipzaizen @hypocriticaltypwriter @lordfreg @rainbowpr1sm @idioticsky @oleander-nin @cheeselord-official @skittlesqueen101

By the way, if you guys think you’d like to be tagged whenever an MFIP chapter is posted, lmk in a reblog or comment (no asks or dms plz, too inconvenient) and I’ll be sure to tag so it’s more reliable than tumblr notifs :3🫶

ROTTMNT: Moths Fly In Packs

[pensat-i-fet]

No excuses (Rúben Dias x Reader)

**Another fluffy slightly ansgty request for today. Hope you guys enjoy it ❤️**

Word count: 1623

Masterlist

Wattpad

Final matchday of the season. And it had been a long season. Especially once the team had nothing to play for and you could only think about what was happening once there were no more matches. It was football wedding season.

When you looked at the stands before making your way to the bench, you saw Rúben there. Last time he attended one of your matches as a fiancé. Next time, he’ll be your husband.

“You’re on”, you heard your coach say when there were only 20 minutes to go. You really expected him to not play you but you’d never say no to any game time.

“Ok”.

City had nothing to play for after a not-so-great season but your rivals were trying to avoid relegation, so the level of intensity was very unbalanced.

“Watch out!”, you said to one of their defenders who tackled you. She was being unnecessarily aggressive.

“Sorry”.

But her apology didn’t mean much when, a couple of minutes later, she tackled you again, twisting your ankle. The pain you felt was so horrible, you fell to the floor and tried to grab your foot. But touching it sent more pain to your ankle and leg, so you let go of it.

The team’s doctors were there quickly and ended up deciding to ask for the stretcher so you wouldn’t have to force your ankle more by trying to walk.

By the time you made it to the infirmary, Rúben was already there.

“How is it? You seem to be in a lot of pain”.

“Always so observant”.

He let your sarcasm slide, listening to what the doctors were saying.

“We’ll need to do an X-ray but don’t have the machines here so off to the hospital we go. You coming, Dias?”

“Of course”, he said, smiling at you but you didn’t smile back.

An hour later, you were still waiting for the results but you had been in this situation before. You knew it was bad.

“It needs surgery”.

The words no athlete wanted to hear. Rúben took your hand to squeeze it, showing he was there to support you.

“Will I need crutches after the surgery?”

“Yes, and a boot. For about…4 or 5 weeks I would say”.

“And if I don’t get the surgery now?”

“What?”, Rúben didn’t understand your question.

“With some rehab, you could move around without them but the longer we wait, the longer it’ll take for you to go back to training”.

“Can I think about it?”, you asked, surprising the doctor and Rúben again.

“Of course. We can’t force you to have surgery. It’s not a life-threatening injury. I’ll leave you alone so you can talk”.

The doctor could read the room well and knew there was a conversation that needed to happen between the couple in front of him. And three was a crowd.

“What are you doing? You need surgery now”.

“The wedding”.

“It’s in three weeks”.

“Yes, do you want your bride to walk towards you waiting at the altar in crutches? To not be able to dance?”

“Is that really the problem? You’re being ridiculous! Your career and your health come first!”

“Rúben! I’ve been dreaming about my wedding my entire life. And about our wedding since you proposed. I don’t want anything to ruin it and we're not cancelling it and waiting another year to get married”.

“As long as you’re there and say yes to the priest's questions, we’ll be fine”.

“Easy for you to say”.

“My love, the boot will be covered by the dress. We can sit during the ceremony and take the crutches away. There are solutions to this”.

“I won’t be able to walk well. How do I walk to the altar with my dad?”, your dad’s health wasn’t the best and he couldn’t walk you there if you were going to have to put a lot of weight on him.

“Mine can help”.

“I want my dad to walk me to the altar. That's non-negotiable".

“Both can do it. One for sentimental value and the other to help”.

When you started to cry harder, Rúben sat next to you to hug you. It wasn’t just the wedding that worried you.

“Stop finding reasons to make me do it”, you said, finally allowing yourself to cry.

“I won’t. I’m not letting you ruin your career for stupid reasons”.

“I can’t do all of this again”.

He already knew what you meant and felt his heart breaking. He should have guessed.

“If you could recover from an ACL injury, this should be so easy by comparison”.

“It took so long to feel confident on the pitch again after that injury. What if I can’t manage it this time? I’m tired of being injured. I’m scared the next injury will be the one that ends my career”.

“It won’t be. And I’ll be there every step of the way, ok? Should we…should we tell the doctor you’re getting the surgery now?”

You nodded, still afraid. And worried about your wedding. The happiest day of your life wasn’t looking to be so happy then.

                                       **

A couple of days later you were back home after your surgery. Rúben and your family had been spoiling you since the day you got injured. Treating you as if you were made of glass and while it was nice…it was also really pissing you off.

“I think I’ll take a nap”.

“Me too”, he saw your expression and it confused him. “Do you not want me here?”

“It’s not that Rúben. I just think I need some alone time”.

“Right”.

He nodded and left but you could tell he had been hurt by your rejection. You didn’t want to hurt him but…you also needed to be able to breathe for a second. Since the surgery happened, there was always someone by your side. And while it was nice to be looked after, your anxiety kept getting worse because of it. That plus all the wedding drama…it was too much.

However, a good three-hour nap did wonders and when you woke up, you felt like a new person. Hearing a light knock on the door brought a smile to your face.

“Come in”.

“Feeling better?”

“Yes, and I’m sorry. I’m a grumpy lady but I just needed a second alone. It’s been a crazy couple of days”.

“I get that. You just have to tell me and I’ll understand”.

You motioned for him to get closer so you could kiss him. “We can cuddle now if you want to”.

“I need to go get some food first. Anything you want?”

“Could you get me a coffee on your way back?”

“Sure”.

“It’s a long order, grab some paper”.

“I’ll manage. Tell me what it is”.

You weren’t sure he’d be able to remember but didn’t want to argue.

“Ready?”, he nodded. “It’s a Venti Salted Caramel Cream Cold Brew with an extra vanilla pump. You got it?”

“Sure. Easy”.

On the way out, Rúben wrote it down on his phone, trying not to forget anything. He was far from being a coffee expert since he didn’t even drink it. But come on. How complicated could it be to order one? Though that order of yours sounded slightly complicated to him.

When he got back, you were itching to get up and go help him put all the groceries away. But you were still stuck in bed. The frustration made you feel terrible again.

“Here is your coffee. And I got your favourite biscuits. Do you want some with it?”

“Sure! Thank you. You are the best”.

Rúben left to find a plate for your biscuits and you took a good look at the coffee he bought you. It clearly wasn’t the one you liked but it could be nice too. Even if the first sip tasted terrible. He couldn’t know you didn’t like it.

But when you needed to go to the toilet, Rúben was there to make sure you were fine and he saw the cup was almost full. You always took your time drinking your iced coffee but it looked like you barely had any.

"Was the coffee ok?"

"Yes, of course", you said, avoiding looking at him. "But I think it doesn't agree with the meds I'm taking".

"I got the wrong one, right?"

There was no point in lying. "Yes, but it's good too. And I always drink the same. It's fun to try new flavours".

"Don't treat me like a child".

"You are doing the same to me", you tried to laugh but he didn't see the fun side.

"Because you're injured. And I can't even look after you properly".

"Where is this coming from?"

"I feel useless. You have all this anxiety and I can't do anything to help. You might not even enjoy your wedding day and what can I do about it? Nothing".

"If you show up, that'd be quite helpful".

"It's not funny".

"It is. And I can't walk to where you are so come here and sit", you waited for him to do that and took his hand. "This injury is a pain in the ass. The timing couldn't be worse but I've made my peace with it. But I need you to relax. Even if I don't want to think about it, it all stresses me. So I need you to be the strong one who pretends to have it all under control".

"I could try and have it all under control too".

"Let's meet in the middle with a fake it till you make it?"

"Deal".

"Also, next time you can write down the coffee order".

"Or you could start drinking cappuccinos. That's easy".

"But I'm not".

[actress4him]

Whumptober 2024 - Day 7

 Magic with a Cost

Contains: generic characters, team whump, empathetic healing, magic healing, blood, knife wound, broken bone

“Whumpee, you can’t. It’s too much!” Caretaker grabbed onto their wrist, eyes full of concern. “We…we’ll get them to a hospital. Teammate is on their way with the van right now.”

Whumpee shook their head adamantly and pulled their arm away. “It’ll be too late. They can’t wait that long.” They looked over at Leader’s prone form, then gave Caretaker a wobbly smile. “And we can’t lose them. I’ll be fine, it’s only pain, right? No danger for me.”

Before Caretaker could protest further, Whumpee limped over and gingerly knelt by Leader’s side. “Hey,” they murmured. “You’re gonna be okay. Just give me a minute.”

Leader’s gaze was hazy with pain as they stared up at Whumpee. “You…you shouldn’t. I-I don’t…want you to…”

“Yeah, well, I’m in charge now.” Whumpee gave them a soft smile. “I’m not giving you a choice.” 

They understood everyone’s concern, and it warmed them. After all, they’d already healed Caretaker’s broken knee in the middle of the battle so that they could keep fighting. This was going to be…a lot, and their team normally tried to keep them from using their power as often as possible. 

But there wasn’t a question in their mind that they had to do this. Leader had to live. 

Gently, Whumper moved Leader’s blood-soaked hands off of their wound so they could replace them with their own. Bright light immediately spilled out over their whole stomach, stitching up everything that the knife had split from the inside out. 

As the magic soaked up the wound, the pain was transferred directly into the same place on Whumpee’s stomach. They pressed their lips together hard, trying to keep in any sounds as long as possible. 

It wasn’t like the team didn’t know that it hurt them. But the less guilt they could pile on their shoulders, the better. 

Eventually they couldn’t help it any longer, though, and a long, low whine escaped. Leader’s hand came up to grip their elbow in support. They could hear Caretaker behind them, too, whispering, “You’re doing great. You’re almost there. We’ve got you.”

Finally, the light and magic faded. The feeling of a knife wound was imbedded in Whumpee’s stomach, pain burning deep inside of them and flaring through their torso at every tiny movement. The world spun around them, and they lost their balance…but a strong pair of arms wrapped tenderly around them and tugged them ever so carefully to the side. 

Caretaker smoothed back Whumpee’s hair as Leader tucked Whumpee’s head under their chin. Curled against Leader’s chest, Whumpee sucked in a shuddering breath and let it out as a quiet sob. 

“Thank you,” Leader whispered into their hair. “You saved me…again.”

“We’re gonna take care of you now, okay?” Caretaker’s voice was choked as they scooped up Whumpee’s hand and squeezed it. “Teammate will be here any second with the van. We’re going straight home to tuck you in bed and get you anything and everything you want. Promise.”

---

If you like the trope of empathetic healing, check out my series Querencia!

[leaentries]

Jamie is my absolute baby! (I know he’s a grown man-) I want to protect him with my whole life! how would the reader react to finding out Jamie’s injured again and just taking caring of him. if it were me I would get the poor boy some good vitamins or something

he’s just so princess it hurts😫 he needs someone to look after him

he needs to drink some milk or something i stg

also i just want to cradle him and tell him everythings gonna be okay

definitely not projecting

warnings: sad jamie

wc: 700+

Finding out your boyfriend was hurt, is never a good way to start the week. 

The joys of beginning the season seemed to come to a halt. Your heart physically hurt for Jamie, as you sat beside him in your shared living room. He had just come back after missing 90 percent of last season, due to his shoulder.

It was so unfair. Jamie was on the ice for two games before he was put out. You cursed the hockey gods for doing this to him. No matter how positive he acted around you, it’s extremely hard to miss the deep sorrow embedded in his usually bright eyes. 

Jamie looked so defeated, his love for his job making this situation just that much harder. Other than you, hockey was the love of his life. You often made jokes with him about this, but all of that seemed so far away now. You tried your hardest to cheer him up, bringing him his favorite foods, watching his favorite movies.

Yet, nothing seemed to shake his disappointment. You could tell today was gonna be harder for him, since it was the first roadie the Ducks would be making without Jamie. The day went by slowly, mainly consisting of Jamie laying pitifully on your chest all day. Although, with the exception of doing some much-needed rehab for his injury.

You made sure to help him when he got sore or felt he couldn’t go much longer. You stood by his side, encouraging him and bringing him anything he needed. Now, Jamie would never expect or ask this of you, but he found himself thanking the world for sending you to him. 

The sun eventually set, and the night sky leaked into the atmosphere. You noticed Jamie’s face fall as game time approached. You sat beside him, legs tucked under your body, as you rubbed soothing circles into his arm. 

“It’ll be okay, J.” You, of course, knew why he was so stricken over this particular game, but it still hurt to see Jamie so drained. 

He shook his head slightly, “It just sucks. Like I can’t even physically be there to support my team!” Jamie tried his best not to pour out all of his thoughts on you, not wanting to be a burden. But alas, you can always tell when Jamie is hiding something. The slight quiver of his lip gave him away every time. 

“That’s not all. What’s really bothering you?” You gently turned his face to meet yours. Tears welled in his blue eyes, threatening to fall with each passing moment. 

His emotions consumed him, overflowing at your delicate tone. 

“I just feel like a disappointment,” His simple sentence was barely over a whisper, “I just signed a new contract, and then now what? I’m useless to this team, Y/n.” 

You felt a wave of disbelief wash over you. You knew Jamie was upset over his injury, you just never realized he blamed himself. Your heart broke for the brunette in front of you. You tugged him into your arms, letting him bury his head in your neck as he cried. 

You felt your own tears spring up at the sound of his distressed sobs.

Softly caressing his hair, you placed sweet kisses to his head.

“Everything’s gonna be okay,” You reassured, “You’re not a disappointment, sweetheart. You got injured, nobody could have predicted that.” You slowly brought his head up, cradling his cheeks in your palms. “And I absolutely do not want you blaming yourself. It’s not your fault. You can’t control this, Jamie. But if there is anyone in the world who can overcome this, it’s you. Besides, you’ll come back stronger and better than ever.” 

By the time you finished speaking, his tears had stopped, leaving wet trails for you to gingerly wipe away. 

Jamie leaned in to place a small kiss on your lips, “I don’t know what I’d do without you.” His eyes flickered to your lips once more, bringing your face to meet his. 

You served as his rock when he felt like his world was slipping away. And he knew, no matter what happened, hockey or no hockey, he would always have you.

[footballxixstars]

I think some german readers are happy now since you‘re okay with writing about Florian Wirtz :)

He posted a Story on Instagram where he‘s on vacation at the moment, so maybe one where it‘s your first trip together and he randomly says thank you for supporting/encourage him during the last months because of his bad injury

Take your time with writing if you have to do some researching first! :) I think he‘s a very calm and chill guy

This Is A Thank You • Florian Wirtz

The season has been a tough one for both you and Florian. Florian had unfortunately got an injury in March, a cruciate ligament rupture, meaning that he has been out ever since and to make it even worse it was his first major injury. He’s had little injuries before that have kept him out for a game or two at a time however this was the first time he was going to be out for a prolonged period of time and even miss half of a season. The fact he was missing so many games was making Florian feel really uneasy because so much could happen during that time and he can’t do anything to alter what happens. The person who starts the games because Florian is out may do amazing and then Florian no longer has a position within the team or when he comes back he may no longer be as good as before his injury. There are so many things that can happen during this time so obviously, Florian is going to be uneasy. He has no control right now.

During that time you were his absolute rock. Whenever he was down you’d always be the first to talk to him and find various ways to cheer him up and distract him from football and his injury even if it was for an hour or so. Anything was better than him pouting about his injury for months upon months. It felt like you were the only person that he would listen to and even talk to about his struggles so obviously you were his rock during this whole ordeal and you never minded that. What made your support even better for him was that the two of you had only begun dating in September of the previous year, so 6 months before the injury occurred and you were still there for him. You hadn’t once walked away when he was really upset and doubting whether he would be able to come back or when he would sometimes get angry at you for no reason just because he was scared. You were always there for him.

From that moment he knew that he had to do something huge to thank you for all of the support and encouragement that you gave him. From that moment he knew that you deserved the world and so much more that he couldn’t give you but he was going to try. Whatever his brain could come up with he was going to do. You deserve to be spoiled and that is exactly what he is planning to do.

“How about going on a trip?” Florian asked you one day. At first you were confused because you thought that he couldn’t travel far because of his physiotherapy and all that but when he started to explain to you that he could do it online and as long as somebody was around to watch him and help him if need be then his trainer said it was fine. After some consideration and verification from his trainer, not that you didn’t believe Florian but it was nice to get verification from a professional, and as soon as you did you agreed to go on this trip with him. Why not? It’ll be a lot of fun to go away with him for a couple of days and just relax, especially after the past few months which have been a really tough time for the both of you.

After that conversation nothing else really got said about the trip except from Florian telling you dates so you could be ready and get the days off from work. You trust Florian to pick a good place and a place where you are both able to relax whilst he can carry on with his physiotherapy too. A place where there is nice food, both restaurants and things you are able to cook yourself, a place that has nice scenery around, that you won’t get bored of and can just enjoy, a place with nice weather, to relax and just take in the sun. There wasn’t a lot that you wanted and you trust Florian enough to pick a decent place for the both of you. Would that be a mistake? You are yet to see.

Slowly the day crept up and before you knew it you were on a plane flying to some remote destination that Florian had picked out. You were excited about it as it was your first trip away together and it was just the two of you too. It would be nice for Florian to be able to take his mind and not focus on the injury which was getting better day by day and it would just be nice for you to get out of the country for a little bit. Whether it is only a couple of days or a couple of weeks, any time will be nice.

And it was nice. He had rented this nice place for the both of you where there was a private pool and only a short walk away from the local market and shops and beach too so it was localised and easily accessible for Florian to walk even with his injury. Along with that the small place that he had rented had its own private gym too so Florian could do his workouts without being bombarded by people or feeling rushed too. It was a good pick. A very good pick from Florian and you can see yourself allowing Florian to pick the place of your next holiday together.

“Can we go out for a meal tonight at one of the local restaurants?” Florian asked you and he sounded pretty nervous about it too.

“Of course,” You stated, quite excited by that idea. It would be nice to go out and around the local area and eat some of their cuisine to try it out. It’s always fun to try new foods and you were excited to get out of the villa for a couple of hours with him. It would just be different than sitting inside and cooking for yourself or just heating up pre-made meals for Florian. A nice little date for both of you and you did get dressed up for it. Not a lot but just enough to know the difference between your usual wear and the fact it’s a special occasion so a little dressed up yet still comfortable. It was going to be nice.

Florian had picked out a lovely local restaurant, just a couple minutes' walk from the villa which was perfect considering Florian’s injury. The scenery around the place was absolutely stunning. It was the kind of scenery that you would never find in a touristy location or the hustle and bustle of a city. (Not that the scenery is bad in major cities or touristy locations, it’s just different and a change). It wasn’t modernised like the majority of the world is nowadays as it was clearly still in the original building and maybe a few structural bits were added to make sure that it meets the safety standards but it was still the original building which was built hundreds of years ago. Along with that, the inside wasn’t modernised either it matched the outside aesthetic wonderfully. It was a really lovely place and you’re glad that Florian managed to take you here for a mini date. Hopefully the food is as nice as the place looks and if the busyness of the place is anything to go by then you’re certain the food will hold up to your expectations.

The atmosphere around the place was calming just what you want it to be like when you go out for a romantic meal with your other half. A lot of other romantic restaurants are hectic so this one being all calm was nice. Even though it was quite busy, thankfully Florian put in a reservation, it still had a calming atmosphere and it wasn’t loud so you were able to talk to Florian without having to raise your voice at all. If there's one thing that you’ve noticed since dating Florian it’s that he’s good at picking locations for dates.

The two of you constantly talked and laughed together only stopping when the waiter came over but as soon they left the conversation sparked up again. It was always easy to talk to Florian about literally anything. If or when there were silences between you it was never awkward it was comfortable and that was something that you loved about hanging out with Florian since the beginning. The silence would never last very long either since you or Florian would come up with something else utterly random to have a conversation about and even if the conversation topic was one neither of you really understood or were into you still managed to converse in conversation with each other because it was highly likely the other person was into it and you both want to learn about each other's interests and hobbies. Even after dating for a few months there were still many hobbies and interests to learn about each other so those are easy conversations to start up. This time it was Florian’s turn to start one up. Not that you take turns.

“I just want to thank you for everything that you’ve done for me during my injury,” He started off by saying to you. As he was speaking he was trying to think of the perfect words then but he quickly realised there were no perfect words for it. There were no words to describe how thankful he was for your support and encouragement through the tough months. The holiday was one way to thank you but he knows that you deserve more than that and he will give you more than that.

“I love you and this injury has just made me realise how much and how lucky I am to actually have you by my side,” Florian continued but this time staring at you directly in your eyes and not anywhere else letting you know how truthful he was being. To let you know how much he really does appreciate you and everything that you have done for him, especially during this difficult period. He just knows that without you by his side it would’ve been so much worse to deal with so he had to thank you. This was only the beginning of the thank you, he’d thank you more a bit later and then again properly when he is fully healed.

“I love you too,” You whispered back leaning over the table, so Florian didn’t have to strain his injury anymore, just to place a kiss against his lips. There was no need to thank you for anything because you were doing what you should do for the person you love when they’re hurting and injured. It’s just the basics but it did feel nice to feel appreciated by him. You were going to take it all in and enjoy your first holiday with Florian. Your first holiday alone together. Hopefully the first of many.

———

MASTERLIST | MORE WIRTZ

[drarrytm]

I listened to Sk8er Boi this morning and have done nothing but think of this wolfstar au. ITS A RIFF off the song not a direct interpretation. Ps: they all live in NY

Skater Remus had a fling with a ballet dancer and he fucked him up cause he was like “you’re not good enough for me” when Remus wanted more because he is all scarred from skating . So he’s like got a terrible view of himself now. About everything and about his scars esp the one from a fall that almost ruined his career that runs through his face across his nose and eyebrow. But he stuck through it went on to be big in the skating world even making it to the summer Olympics in skateboarding.

He’s bffs with James who’s an Olympic snowboarder and he’s married to Regulus who used to do ballet full time but now he’s an instructor because they’re going to have a baby. Remus always goes to support James at the Winter Olympics. And he always hangs with Reg when James is competing or practicing. This year Regulus brings his brother who Remus has not met.

And there is Sirius Black and Remus is like “this is the prettiest person I’ve ever seen ever in my whole life”. Sirius still does Ballet full time at the most prestigious ballet company in America the NYCB. And Sirius is obv immediately obsessed with Remus and is like “I’m obsessed with you” and Remus is like…. “Ummm it’ll pass.” (It doesn’t)

James and Reg have Harry the summer after James won the Gold in snowboarding. They make Sirius and Remus the godfathers so they start interacting much more. They become close and they kind of start dating at the beginning of the next year when Harry is 7 months old and Remus is like *internal monologue* he’s gonna leave me I just have to take what I can get.

So they’re dating and spending all their time together. He watches Sirius’ performances and practice and Sirius goes with him to the skate parks and watches him and tells him how much he likes certain tricks. They babysit Harry together at one of their apartments. Usually Sirius’ cause his is definitely more baby safe. He honestly spends most of his time there anyway. Remus is falling in love but doesn’t want to scare Sirius off. Sirius of course loves him but he doesn’t want to spook Remus after it took him so long to convince him that he actually wanted to date him.

A year and a half flies by and it’s time for the summer Olympics Remus made the team and everyone comes to support him. Remus falls hard on the half pipe at a practice and is carried away bleeding. Sirius finds him in the medic tent and Remus is cleared of a concussion or serious injury. But he can feel his scar on his face has opened and gotten bigger and longer. And his face is wrapped up in bandages. Sirius is crying.

So Remus thinks he’s going to break up with him “I understand if you want to stop seeing me I know I’m hideous with these scars”

Sirius is like ??? “What??? I don’t care about that I care that you’re okay?? I love you!! I was scared to death when you fell because I didn’t get to tell you!”

Remus is shocked “You love me?”

Sirius sighs “You don’t have to say it back”

Remus kisses him even though it hurts and says “I love you so much I just didn’t think you would love me back.”

And then they’re both crying and then James and Reg and Harry are there. They got his Remus’ injury update from the nurse Poppy so they know he’s cleared. After making sure Remus really is okay James goes “Who said it first?”

They share a look before Sirius raises his hand. And James pumps his fist and says to Regulus “you owe me 10 bucks!!” Cue an eye roll from everyone except Harry who pumps his little fist like his dad.

Remus goes on the win the gold medal and dedicates the award to his family and the love of his life Sirius.

When they get back to New York and Sirius gets back to work with a shiny gold band on his left ring finger complete with a tiny diamond in the middle of an engraving of a star.

One of the lower level dancers that had never made it onto a performance. And was just around cause of family connections came up to him. “You know I used to date your skater boy.” He sneered.

Sirius took a deep breath and held his hand out to admire his ring he turns his nose up at the man “You mean my Olympic gold medalist husband?” He clarifies “Hmm he’s never mentioned you.” And turns away.

[spectres-swtk-thoughts]

The Monsters from Tellawna-4

This has been a draft in my docs since a year and ten days ago 😅😅😬 But here! Have a fic with Tech, Hunter, and Omega as the main cast!

Context: This is set in season 1 of The Bad Batch. Also, semi incorporates an au where Tech is physically younger than the others because a "glitch" of his experimentation stopped his accelerated aging factor at 5 (phys. 10) years old. So he's about 16 here even though he should be like 22-24. I plan/planned on writing a rewrite of season 1 from Tech's perspective in this au, I only have the first two episodes "done." This is therefore a deleted scene of sorts that'd fit in there somewhere

Summary: Hunter and Tech introduce Omega to the monsters that live aboard their ship.

Word Count: 1457

Warning: This is a tickle fic

Hunter watched Tech with a furrowed brow. To anyone else, his vod’ika would look fine as he sat in the co-pilot seat of their ship, one leg curled up to his chest to support his datapad while the other acted as an anchor for him to swing gently back and forth; the picture of relaxed. His brother’s words, however, betrayed this tranquility. Tech was info-dumping, borderline rambling, about the wildlife of the planet they were on. That in itself was normal for him, but the rapid fire facts going on for this long worried Hunter. That typically meant Tech was distracting himself, which meant Tech was stressed or tired or worried. Their lives had been nothing but chaos the past couple of months and it hurt to see that it was getting to his brother. Hunter couldn’t let him carry on much longer.

“What about invasive species?” Tech perked up at Hunter’s question. “What would a creature like, oh I don’t know, the one from Tellawna-4 do here?” His brother stiffened. Hunter, who tried to school his features, continued.

“Because I am pretty sure it’s stowed away on the ship again.” Before Tech could even protest, another voice piped up.

“There’s a creature on the ship?” Both of them turned to see Omega, clad in pajamas and holding Lula, probably coming to say goodnight. But now, her eyes were wide in excitement, looking expectantly between the two.

“Yes!” Hunter beat him to it. “We keep trying to shake it but somehow it follows us from planet to planet and gets on board.”

“Really? What’s it look like?”

“It’s very sneaky, hard to get a good look. But I’d say it’s fairly big, can walk on its hind legs if it wants. Its arms are great for capturing its prey, right Tech?” Tech just gave a shrug, trying to ward off his and Omega’s attention.

“Its prey? Is it dangerous?” Hunter couldn’t help the way the corner of his mouth quirked up.

“Hmmm, it can be. This creature is a tricky thing. Never strikes the same way. Sometimes it waits and pounces, other times it lures in prey with sounds.”

“Woah, what else does it do?”

“Well it doesn’t just devour its prey immediately. It’ll tire them out first, doesn’t it Tech? You can typically hear the prey from a distance because of it.” By this point, Tech had pulled up both of his legs to his chest and was watching Hunter’s every move, every little gesture, waiting for him to pounce. Hunter smiled.

“Tech knows all about this creature, don’t you Tech? He says that sometimes this creature teams up with others of its kind to corner their prey.” Hunter threw a wink in Tech’s direction as Omega turned towards him.

“Mm-hmm.” Tech swallowed. “They employ both hunting tactics here. One attracts the prey with the sounds they emit while the other strikes from behind.”

Omega squeaked as a hand dug into her stomach. She squirmed and thrashed, nearly doubled-over as Hunter, it was Hunter’s hand, continued to wiggle his fingers into her midriff. Giggles started pouring out of her mouth, Omega couldn’t seem to stop them. She had been tickled before, Wrecker had introduced her, but it was still so new. She didn’t quite know what to do. It did not take long for her legs to tremble and Hunter quickly caught her in one arm and stood from his seat, hand never stopping as he lowered them to the ground.

“You see Omega, this creature from Tellawna isn’t just any ordinary animal. It’s the tickle monster, and you seem to have been caught by two.” He looked over at Tech, who slowly unfurled himself from his protective position and sat down on Omega’s other side. With a tentative smile and an encouraging nudge from Hunter, he squeezed Omega’s knee.

“Thahahat’s mehehean!”

“Mean? Was it mean when that dragon took our power cell? Or when a tooka catches a mouse? They are just getting something to eat. And likewise, this catch will be a very nice meal for the two of us.” Omega didn’t answer Hunter, she just kept laughing.

Tech, for his part, was nearly never on this side of tickling. When they were younger yes, but as they got older, and his brothers got bigger, Tech stopped daring to do so. It was always a fight he knew he’d lose. So while he wasn’t a stranger to doing this, Tech was no longer used to being in this position. But what did he have to be nervous about? That he’d tickle Omega incorrectly? Tech tried to shake off his strangely timed fears.

Squeezing Omega’s knee seemed to be working well enough, but reaching behind to scratch at the back, that elicited a squeak. Tech had to bite down a laugh of his own at her reaction and did it again, rewarded with another squeak and stream of giggles. Hunter was smiling too, watching Omega (and Tech out of the corner of his eye) with immense fondness. She was very wiggly, not knowing what to do or how to escape. Hunter used that to his advantage, tickling one side of her ribs and letting her wiggle away into his other awaiting hand.

Tech decided to make matters worse for Omega and scribbled his fingers into her sides. Omega seemed to give up on squirming as means of escape and instead tried to curl up, grabbing at their hands.

“Now that just won’t do. Tech, can you take care of that?” Understanding his brother’s idea, Tech crawled up to the doorway of the cockpit to sit next to Omega’s head. Taking her wrists in one hand, he clawed his other into her underarm.

Omega threw her head back and began to kick. Hunter, sitting in the danger zone, likewise changed course and grabbed her ankles with one hand and scribbled fingers up her soles. Both Hunter and Tech kept their tickling light, spidering their fingers over Omega’s tickle spots. They didn’t want to tire her out too badly. The tickling lasted only a couple minutes more, Tech skittering his fingers down to Omega’s hip and back as Hunter wiggled a finger against her arches. Both brothers knew to stop when Omega seemed to accept her fate and melt into the floor.

“Hey Hunter, aren’t we forgetting something?”

“W-whahat could yo-you possibly be forgetting?”

“No, Tech’s right. We need to decide what to eat.”

“Eat?!” Omega exclaimed. “Eat how?”

“Oh,” came a voice from behind Tech, “like this.” Tech was lifted from the ground and wrapped into a large set of arms. He couldn’t help but squeal as a raspberry was blown into his neck, laughing as his attacker rubbed their stubble over the spot.

“You see Omega,” Hunter explained as Wrecker pinned Tech next to her, “sometimes tickle monsters will team up against themselves.” His grin was borderline wicked as he watched Tech get taken down oh so much like Omega as Wrecker’s hand vibrated into his tummy. Unlike Omega, Tech went to shield his ever-reddening face rather than fight back.

“So,” Wrecker chirped, “dinner?”

“Dinner,” Hunter agreed before he and Wrecker took dramatic breaths and blew a cacophony of raspberries into both their tummies. The cockpit echoed not only with the silly sounds of the ultimately ticklish torture method, but also childish laughter as Omega and Tech were overpowered by two evil tickle monsters.

The tickling stopped suddenly as both monsters let out a short yell and flinched away from their victims. Omega and Tech glanced up to see their savior, Echo, digging his hand and scomp between Wrecker’s and Hunter’s ribs.

“I think they’ve had enough.” Echo declared. His expression told them all his decision was final, though the look in his eyes betrayed his utter amusement. Wrecker sighed.

“Bedtime.” He scooped Omega and Lula up into his arms and carried her down to the gunner’s mount with the promise that everyone would stop by to say their goodnights. Echo and Hunter seemed to be having a silent conversation which Tech knew he was the subject of. It ended with a nod and a wave goodnight from Echo, leaving just Hunter and Tech in the cockpit once again.

Hunter stood and shut the door, giving them the tiniest bit of privacy on their small ship as Tech sat up, finally getting himself composed after that surprise attack.

“So…” Hunter started, “you’ve talked a lot today, but I don’t think you’ve been saying what’s really on your mind.” Tech shrugged in response.

“I promise no more monsters tonight so,” he reached towards Tech with grabby hands, the clear indication for cuddles, “how ‘bout we talk, truly talk.” And how could Tech say no to that?

~~~~~~~~~~~

Can you tell I just wanted it done there at the end? 😅 But, I hope you all enjoyed!

I don't know if that season 1 rewrite will ever see the light of day (aka ao3) but a little bit of Tech's feelings on his age can be found in chapter 4 of this fic I wrote here. (I have thoughts and opinions about this au and their canon ages that I want to talk about if that's not obvious.)

[realm-sweet-realm]

A Road Further, chapter one: New Journeys

The protagonist of Scarlet/Violet moves away, and the lives of the Paldea trio go on.

Nemona is ecstatic when Geeta decides to take her under her wing and groom her to be the next head champion of Paldea, and doubly so when it means competing against champions of other regions in a worldwide tounament. With Geeta’s very rigid ideas of how a champion should act, Nemona will have to find a balance between respecting authority and forging her own path.

Penny’s crimes begin to catch up with her as her parents send her to live with her uncle Looker in hopes that he’ll set her straight. But as Penny’s skills turn out to be quite useful for crime-solving, she might find out that her weird uncle Looker isn’t so lame after all.

Between the loss of his dad and his three friends moving away, Arven is crushed. When Clavell tries to cheer him up by introducing him to two Alolan exchange students including the tech-savvy Sophocles, Arven hatches a desperate and ill-advised plan to bring back his father.

I hope you all enjoy this.

---

The sky was grey and heavy as Arven walked Miraidon to what would be its new home in the Lighthouse Laboratory. Penny and Nemona followed behind, carrying supplies for the creature. Arven shifted the bags of Pokémon food he’d been carrying into one arm and stroked the creature with the other, trying to quiet its whining.

“I know,” he whispered. “I miss him, too.”

Not long after the annual treasure hunt, Florian’s mother had been transferred to a new location for work and they’d had to move away. They’d been forced to leave Miraidon behind, and Arven to try to find one of his father’s old lab techs to look after it. He wasn’t looking after it himself longer than he had to. It was just too much of a reminder.

There wasn’t much to be done at the Lighthouse Laboratory. The three students put down a giant pet bed for Miraidon, scattered its toys, fed and watered it, and they were done. Arven had called Penny and Nemona out for emotional support more than anything.

“Thanks for being here,” he said to the girls, sitting down on one of the old tables in the laboratory. “You know, I played it cool in front of Clavell, but losing my dad is... well, it’s a lot to process. I mean, apparently he did love me, but now I’ll never get to actually spend time with him. It kind of hurts knowing what could have been. But hey, at least now I have you two.” He gave them a smile. “Between that and all the schoolwork I have to catch up on, I won’t even have time to think about it!”

The two girls exchanged an awkward look.

Penny was the first to speak. “Actually, my parents are sending me away to live with my weird uncle Looker in Kalos. Probably for a whole year. They found out about the whole Team Star and stealing millions in LP thing and want to scare me straight.”

Arven got up, fists curled and teeth gritted. “Seriously?! But Geeta and Clavell let you off with community service for all of that! And you have a job lined up after graduation. How many 14-year-olds can say that?”

“Yeah, but they said that ‘it’s still a felony,’ and ‘I need to learn to respect the rules before I run into someone who won’t let me break them.’ It sucks.”

Nemona spoke up next. “...And Geeta wants to train me up to be the new head champion. Which means I’m leaving the Uva Academy, too. I’m really sorry, Arven.”

“Oh. Well, at least I’ll be able to reach you by flying taxi since you’ll be in Paldea.”

Nemona shared a pained look with Penny. “…She’s starting by taking me to a world championship event in Hoenn. It’ll only be for a few weeks!”

Arven felt like the lifeline he’d caught was disintegrating. He’d be all alone at school again, at the time he most needed not to be. It took him a second to blink back tears and figure out the right response. “Oh. Well, that’s amazing! I’m so happy for you. Are you excited?”

Finally released from the expectation to act sympathetic, Nemona’s eyes sparkled with excitement. “So excited! You have no idea. I’m going to get to battle some of the strongest trainers in the whole world! Up until a while ago, even meeting them would have been a dream come true!”

“Great. You’ll finally have some people who can keep up to you. I’ll watch all your matches.”

“If you can find time while digging yourself out of the homework pit,” Penny quipped. “But yeah. We’ll be watching. ...Assuming uncle Looker lets me. Or I can find a way around his rules. Which I will.”

“You heard it. We’ll keep in touch,” Arven agreed, crossing his arms. “Assuming Penny can go a couple weeks without doing something stupid and getting her phone privileges revoked.”

Penny jabbed his arm. Arven jabbed her back.

Nemona smiled. “You guys are the best! Yeah, let’s keep in touch!”

---

Nemona squinted into the sunrise as she tried to make out whether the flying taxi on the horizon was La Primera’s or if she still had a while to wait. She’d shown up twenty minutes early. Some might call that overkill, but one couldn’t take this too seriously, and Nemona had read that Geeta liked to be early.

As the flying taxi neared, Nemona could see that it was Geeta. She stood up and ran to it, getting in before it even touched down.

“I’m glad to see that you’ve kept your passion for battling,” Geeta said. Even in the early morning, her image- the suit, the elaborate hair, her gentle smile- was just as flawless as she’d been every time Nemona had seen her. It almost hadn’t sunk in yet that she’d be working for her. She’d be spending the next few weeks learning to be just like her.

“Oh yeah! I’m not gonna let you down.” Nemona replied. “Oh my gosh. Do you think Cynthia does autographs? Do you think I could get a picture with Blue’s blastoise? Or maybe...” Nemona caught something vaguely disapproving in Geeta’s eyes. “Uh, sorry, I’ll calm down.”

“No, go ahead,” Geeta assured her. “It will be best for you to get your excitement out now. Once we’re at the airport and especially once we’re there, you’ll need to keep that excitement under wraps. You’re representing Paldea, after all. You have to act like you belong with the other champions, because you do.” Those last three words were a jolt of energy to Nemona’s heart. “No autographs. Pictures are fine so long as they look professional.”

“You got it!.”

As it turned out, they had plenty to talk about on the flying taxi ride and then the flight to Hoenn. Nemona already knew a good deal about the champions and the teams and strategies they used, and Geeta helped fill in the gaps of her information. After getting settled at the hotel, it was late and Nemona was tired, but her energy came right back when she told Nemona that some of the champions were already competing.

“I thought that the tounament didn’t start until tomorrow?”

“The brackets will be announced tomorrow,” Geeta explained, “but for now some of the champions are doing some unofficial one-on-one matches to warm up the audience. Would you like to watch them?”

“Watch them? I want to join them! Let’s get down there,” Nemona replied, already running for the door to their hotel room.

“No,” Geeta said gently, making Nemona stop dead. “I’d like us to watch them from here, where we can discuss what they’re doing. It will be an important lesson for you.”

“Okay.” Nemona sat back down on the bench next to Geeta.

The television displayed the tournament arena. On one side of it, Diantha strode in alongside her gardevoir, mega-evolving it to the audible delight of the crowd. On the other, Cynthia glided down from the bleachers on the back of her garchomp, sliding off of her at the last moment and landing nimbly on her feet as the dragon took her position in the ring.

“Begin!” shouted the referee.

“Garchomp, Poison jab!” Cynthia ordered. Her garchomp lunged, her claws coating themselves in purple fluid.

“Ice punch,” Diantha returned. Gardevoir’s fists covered themselves in ice, and she countered the first jab. Garchomp was darting in and out of Gardevoir’s range as Gardevoir stayed stationary, blocking only as many quick but relatively weak jabs as it took and clearly taking more damage than it was dealing.

“Wait, why's she doing that?” Nemona asked. Gardevoir didn’t have the attack or speed for this, but with her special attack, a good dazzling gleam would have-

“Because,” Geeta explained calmly, “This is what everyone came here to see.”

“Ah,” Nemona said as she watched the garchomp’s speed and footwork.

“Dazzling gleam!” Diantha ordered. Gardevoir gathered energy and blasted a powerful beam of pink energy from her outstretched hands.

“Dig,” Cynthia retunred. Garchomp quickly dug into the ground, only its tail getting grazed. Earthquake would have been more powerful and maneuverable, but this was more of a sight to see.

“Send it into the earth, Gardevoir,” Diantha ordered. The gardevoir ran over to the hole and sent dazzling gleam down into it, filling the hole completely and leaving pink light overflowing from its edges. A roar of pain emanated from it. And yet, Cynthia seemed unworried. She closed her eyes and smiled as the ground behind gardevoir opened up, releasing pink energy and a battered-but-still-fighting garchomp, her claws coated in poison. Gardevoir barely had time to look back before a powerful hit took her out.

“Cynthia and Garchomp are the winner!” the referee announced, pointing his flag to Cynthia. The TV screen showed a close-up of her smile before cutting out to sports commentators.

“Wow!” Nemona beamed, clasping her hands together in excitement. “Man, it’s like they’re coordinating with each other in real time to give everyone the best show possible! Like, to show everything their Pokémon are capable of, while also trying to win as a second goal. That must be even more challenging than just winning!” Nemona gripped the pokéball at her belt, her body yelling at her to go and try out this new challenge.

“Yes, exactly,” Geeta stated. “You are a great trainer, Nemona. You will have no trouble at all upholding the Pokémon league standards, I’m sure. But I’ve brought you to this tournament so that we can work on your image and showmanship. Part of a champion’s job is representing their region, after all. There is much to attend to- we’ll need to design you a perfect outfit and figure out your trademark mannerisms and a team including a trademark Pokémon.”

“Oh, man, a trademark Pokémon!” The mere thought that one of her Pokémon could be as iconic as Cynthia’s garchomp or Diantha’s gardevoir... or Leon’s charizard or Steven’s metagross or... Nemona couldn’t help it. She let out some little squealing noises.

Nemona smiled. “Yes. I suggest you make a list of candidates for that role. We’ll go over them tomorrow morning and find just the right one.”

---

The heavy door that separated the prison from the outside world slammed shut, nearly making Penny jump. Looker walked in front of her and gestured for her to follow.

“This is what happens to people who break the rules,” Looker explained, stone-faced as they passed by cell after cell, each one containing two miserable, dead-eyed prisoners, two cots with thin mattresses and thin blankets, a metal toilet, and little else.

“People won’t keep giving you free passes forever! And there won’t be a warning for when they won’t. Every rule you break could be the one that puts you in here! Yes, even now. Stealing as much currency as you did could have given you more than two years, and once you’re sixteen, you would have been transferred to a place just like this! We don’t want that.”

Only if you get caught, Penny thought as she followed behind him, but she thought better of saying it. She settled for nodding along instead, with a face that she hoped said “I’m taking this seriously,” but might have been more along the lines of “how much longer until you shut up?”

“I love you, Penny! And that’s why I have to do this. You’re going to work here after school for the next semester. Maybe the next year if it’s necessary. I promised it to your parents, so to make sure it’s all the time you’ll spend there!”

The two ran into a gruff-looking security guard, who Looker handed Penny off to for a tour of the facility and explanation of her duties.

It was late by the time Penny was off work, done with dinner, and could escape to the room that Looker had her set up in. It matched the rest of the house in containing a functional amount of furniture- in this case, a bed, a desk and chair, a bedside table, and a closet with hangers- but nothing else. When one worked for the international police, one moved too frequently to make a house a home.

Penny sat down at the desk and pulled out her rotom phone, only to realize that its usual rotom had been replaced with a sharp-eyed parental control one. When exactly Looker had managed that was beyond her. Penny sighed. It was a good thing she’d prepared for just this situation. She opened the window and then dug into her eevee backpack and pulled out a plastic baggie of dead batteries interspersed with red and green loose wires.

“Want a snack?” she asked the rotom, firmly holding her phone in one hand and dangling the bag in the other.

The rotom nodded vigorously. Penny could feel it trying to get loose and float over, but she held the phone firmly. The rotom pulled until it popped out of the phone. Penny threw the baggie out the window, and the rotom chased it out. She closed the window, got up, and laid down on her bed, ignoring the creature as it tapped the glass. This should give her a few hours at least.

The phone’s screen was filled with new texts from Arven, Nemona, and the ex-members of Team Star. She could respond to them later. For now, she brought up the internet and typed “how to get fired from a prison job without getting killed.”

If Looker was going to give her a hard time, she’d give him a hard time right back.

—-

Late morning light filtered through the curtains as Arven laid in bed, phone in hand and Mabosstif curled up on top of him. He was missing second period and had missed his classes yesterday as well, but who cared? Clavell wouldn’t suspend him while he had nowhere else to go, and he was almost beyond caring if he took an extra year to graduate. He was scrolling through a some long-winded excited ramblings from Nemona when he heard a knock at the dorm room door.

“Arven?” came Clavell’s voice. Arven scrambled out of bed, almost kicking Mabosstif in the process. Thankfully he’d gone to bed in his clothes the night before, so he could pass as having been up for a while. He’d say he had to catch up on some important school project and had thought it was more important than a couple missed classes. Hopefully that would make Clavell go away.

Clavell opened the door and stood awkwardly in the doorway, looking like we wasn’t sure what to say. After pausing for a moment, he crossed the room, sat on Arven’s bed, and gestured for Arven to sit next to him. Arven obeyed. “How... how have you been handling the professor’s death, really?” Clavell asked.

“I’m fine,” Arven replied.

“...And your three friends being away?”

Arven closed his eyes and looked away from Clavell. “I’m fine, alright? I’m used to not having anyone around. It’s fine! Just punish me if you’re going to and go.”

Clavell took a deep breath. “I’m not going to punish you, I just thought...” Clavell shook his head as though reconsidering something. “Actually, very well. There is something you can do for me as punishment for the missed classes. Two exchange students are arriving today from Alola. If you could give them a tour and get them settled into their dorms, that would be wonderful.”

“Okay,” Aven replied. He had a strong sense that this was to get him moving or to cheer him up somehow. He would have thanked Clavell if it weren’t being framed as a punishment.

“Excellent. Stop by my office and I’ll give you the details. And let me know if you need anything.”

Hours later, the flying taxi touched down in front of the academy, containing a green-haired girl in her early twenties, a little boy playing on a gaming device, and their luggage.

“Hey,” Arven said to them. “Welcome to the Uva Academy. My name’s Arven. I’m going to be the one to show you around.”

“Mallow,” the green-haired woman replied, “Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you, too. first thing’s first, let’s get you guys set up in your dorms. I’ll lead the way.”

Arven navigated the crowded halls, checking every so often to make sure that Mallow was still following.

“So, what brought you to the academy?” Arven asked.

“Well, I aged out of being a trial captain- that’s like our equivalent to gym leaders, and only people under twenty can be one- so I thought I’d try to figure out what I want to do next. I’m probably going to be a cook, though. Alola is just so good for growing ingredients. Berries are the obvious ones, but you wouldn’t believe how many medicinal plants grow there. Maybe I could be some kind of healer!”

Okay, Clavell had definitely put him up to this to cheer him up. “Wow, you’re into cooking, huh? Me, too. And as for medicinal plants, trust me, I know more about those than I ever wanted to. But at least the little collection I got out of it can make anything taste great.” Arven stopped in front of their dorm room doors and turned to Mallow. “The teachers let me use the home ec lab so long as I’m out and it’s clean by the time it’s needed. Want to show me what you’ve got?”

“Yeah! Oh boy, I knew I didn’t bring those dehydrated rawst berries for nothing!”

“You brought dehydrated rawst berries? Oh my God, we need to put those in a stew, right now! I swear, they’re like the only thing that’s better dehydrated. Or un-dehydrated, as they’ll be once we’re done with them.”

“Sounds good! But only if you show me which of those healing herbs we can add to it!”

“Oh, you bet.”

“Can I help?” the little boy asked. Arven realized that he hadn’t spoken until now. He didn’t look older than eight or nine, maybe ten, and between the short, round physique, the bad haircut, the quietness and the resting grouch face, Arven predicted that he’d be spending most of his free periods at the academy alone, and that was if he was lucky enough to fly under the radar of bullies.

“Of course you can join us, little buddy!” Arven replied, giving him a big smile.

Mallow smiled down at the younger boy. “This is Sophocles. He’s also a trial captain. He invented a machine that can summon totem Pokémon, and he’s made a lot of other really cool stuff, too! His parents wanted him to come here so he could expand his horizons and hopefully make some friends.”

“Oh. He’s good with tech, is he?” Arven’s brain had practically shut off once he’d heard that, and it was currently screaming at him not to do what he was about to do. “Do you like robots, little buddy? Have you worked on them? Ever programmed anything?” he asked, crouching to get down to Sophocles’ level. Hopefully his voice sounded less suspicious to Sophocles than it did to his own ears.

“Yeah,” Sophocles replied nervously.

Arven’s heart was beating hard, the way it did when one was about to do something that could get them in immense trouble. “Oh, well, in that case the academy might just have a special field trip for you. I’ll be leading you on it, alright?”

“Okay.”

Arven stood up straight again. “Pack for a couple nights. I’ll meet you right outside Mesagoza at eight tonight.” Arven started for his room to pack. Going back to Area Zero would be risky, even with a gym leader-strength trainer coming with him. And who knew what the distant future would be like once they got to it using the time machine. But maybe, just maybe, Sophocles would be able to reprogram his dad, get him to come home and act like a parent to him.

Arven looked back to Sophocles and Mallow, the latter of which had definitely realized something wasn’t right. “Uh, your room numbers are 309 and 310. See you guys for your tour later,” he called out before running off.

[f1-disaster-bi]

Do you think we’ll see a female in f1 within 10 years and if so who do you think it’ll be/who do you want it to be

I would love to say yes, but I think there is a alot that would need to change in the next few years for this to happen. This is all just my thoughts and opinions and sorry that its long

W series (RIP) and F1 Academy are steps in the right direction....kind of. It is showcasing females in motorsports, but again it's not promoting them to the formulas where they can race against male drivers and gain the same type of opportunities. Even if we look at F1 academy, most of the drivers are running liveries with some support from those teams....but which of them are actually in drivers programs with the teams aside from Bianca who just got announced with McLaren? F1 Academy is great and important, and as Susie has said, change won't hapen over night and they need more support from drivers, teams and sponsors to give the girls equal opportunities to race

And that is a huge issue.

Drivers academies, teams and sponsors are more willing to take the risk on a young male driver than on a female one. They tend to be given the support whereas female drivers often have to bow out because of a lack of funding. I know its not every male driver that benefits, I know that, but when it comes down to it, a sponsor or team will back a male driver over risking investing in a female driver. This attitude needs to change. They need to be considered equally and investing in a female driver with a stronger talent shouldn't be seen as a risk.

This change also has to come from within the FIA and the structure of the entire series and feeder series. I was talking to a friend about this ask, and how to answer it, and they made a great point that another thing that is failing drivers (male and female) is the feeder series which no longer works. This was a series meant to promote drivers into F1, but teams are now retaining drivers, re-signing drivers that have been out of the sport, instead of signing younger drivers as is the purpose of the feeder series. The last time this worked, my friend pointed out, was really 2019 with the rookie trio coming to F1. Possibly 2020 with Mick getting a seat for 2021.

There are so many hurdle in place already for young drivers, and those hurdles are twice, if not ten times, harder for female drivers. From how some fans react to them (the way they spoke about Bianca in comments is disgusting), to how female drivers are compared to each other so much so that if a female does bad in the feeder series suddenly all female drivers are bad and teams won't sign them, to money and sposors and just it being impossible to get the opportunities that male drivers do.

I really hope we get to see a female driver in F1 in the next ten years but I do think there is a lot of work that needs to be down before that. Some of which I don't see happening any time soon sadly, but I am hopeful that time will prove me wrong

I do suggest listening to Jessica Hawkins interview after her test laps on her expereinces. I can only speak as a fan and observer. I cannot speak for female drivers because I am not one

As for who I'd like it to be? Honestly, all of them deserve their shot at F1, just like the F3 and F2 guys do. Ngl, I would like to see Bianca Bustamante up there some day, but any female who makes it to F1 would deserve it and be amazing to see

[maximuswolf]

Whats a game that you cherish that you no longer play but itll always be special to you?

What’s a game that you cherish that you no longer play, but it’ll always be special to you? What’s a game that you cherish but you no longer play because it’s gone down hill? Town of Salem is a game I’ve loved for around around 10 years or so. It was traditionally a browser game you’d play for free, but once they moved it over to Steam, I loved the game so much I wanted to support the devs and paid for it. I have 647 hours on it on steam so God knows how many I have altogether. I used to call myself a “veteran player.” I made sure I could play all the roles so I’d never let my team down. Part of the reason I loved that game is because I like the game “Werewolf.” I like to sniff out liars, and if I’m evil I like to lie and snake my way to the win. It’s just fun and it’s a skill that you learn the more you play. But… I haven’t played in a long time now. Every time I re-install it and open it up, I uninstall again cause it just doesn’t feel the same anymore. There’s not much that’s new to the game. But mostly it has to do with the community being soooooo awful and the devs don’t do ANYTHING about it. Too many spammers, bots, leavers, trolls and game-throwers…toxicity. nothing is done about it and it ruins the experience. And it takes a while to get a game going cause the community is losing genuine good players. Plus, when I did play, it stressed me out and gave me chest pains cause people often didn’t listening to facts and use logic… in a game that requires logic lol. Didn’t like the chest pains anymore. And this is coming from a 12 year long League of Legends player lol. I think I’m permanently done with Town of Salem and it makes me sad that I no longer feel the urge to play it anymore. But I still have a soft spot for that game. Maybe if I hear news about the game and community improving I’ll go back, but until then…I’ve since moved on to Among Us lol. Been playing that for a year and even though it has its differences, I really very much enjoy it. :) Submitted August 02, 2024 at 09:24PM by SnarkingSnarker https://ift.tt/dTlgJrH via /r/gaming

[denimbex1986]

'Christopher Nolan loves the big screen. Oppenheimer is proving, once again, that it loves him right back. But long before anyone had actually seen Nolan’s fantastic biopic, the director and his fans alike were talking about its biggest (literally) selling point: IMAX 70mm film projection.

As Nolan and IMAX said in the lead-up to the unlikely blockbuster’s release last month, the three-hour movie spanned a jaw-dropping 11 miles when laid out on IMAX 70mm film, and weighed around 600 pounds. But here’s a question that wasn’t part of the hype cycle: What happens to a 600-pound, 11-mile film reel when it’s done being played in theaters? Polygon reached out to IMAX for the answer.

It turns out that most prints of Oppenheimer will go into storage, despite their massive size. IMAX says it’s worth keeping them around because they will still get plenty of use. According to an IMAX representative, IMAX 70mm film lasts, on average, 10 times longer than standard 35mm or 70mm film, meaning that the existing reels can be used for the next 20 years. The rep noted that Nolan is one of the rare filmmakers to earn IMAX repertory screenings on the regular, and said that the company fully expects to be playing Oppenheimer again in the future.

The massive film drums will end up in a few other places, too. Some will be housed in the film archive at IMAX’s Los Angeles office, according to the rep, while others will remain on site at select IMAX theaters. The British Film Institute in London, for instance, is one of the locations known for retrospectives and marathons of Nolan’s work, “so [they] will certainly find use for it,” the rep said. The bulk of the remaining IMAX 70mm film prints for Oppenheimer will be sent to Universal Pictures, the studio behind the movie, for storage.

If Oppenheimer does one day return to theaters, it’ll be in part because IMAX spent top dollar preparing them to handle the projection effort. As it turns out, almost as much work went into making sure theaters were ready for Oppenheimer as the other way around.

Getting projectors ready for Nolan’s film was a process that took more than two years, according to the IMAX spokesperson. It started with IMAX’s trained teams checking in regularly on every projector that would be used. They disassembled and cleaned the machines, and ensured that the theaters they were located in had the proper equipment to support them.

Each site also had two or three technicians who would ensure that everything was set up perfectly for the film, including alignment, sound, and brightness. Not every theater did, so IMAX hired 50 career projectionists to make sure that the movie was played perfectly. Each projectionist was provided with special training courses for the movie, and IMAX then sent them out to locations that didn’t have dedicated projectionists of their own.

Thankfully, all two years of preparation seem well worth the effort. Oppenheimer is not only a tremendous film, but alluring enough to entice the common moviegoer to see it in its special format, too. In fact, most theaters are pushing to extend their IMAX 70mm runs of the movie as long as possible — which is good news, since scalpers are already trying to capitalize on demand by selling tickets secondhand. But when it finally does leave theaters, we can all take comfort in the fact that there are closets big enough to hold an 11-mile-long movie.'

[worksinprogress1]

The sky was grey and heavy as Arven walked Miraidon to what would be its new home in the Lighthouse Laboratory. Penny and Nemona followed behind, carrying supplies for the creature. Arven shifted the bags of Pokémon food he’d been carrying into one arm and stroked the creature with the other, trying to quiet its whining.

“I know,” he whispered. “I miss him, too.”

Not long after the annual treasure hunt, Florian’s mother had been transferred to a new location for work and they’d had to move away. They’d been forced to leave Miraidon behind, and Arven to try to find one of his father’s old lab techs to look after it. He wasn’t looking after it himself longer than he had to. It was just too much of a reminder.

There wasn’t much to be done at the Lighthouse Laboratory. The three students put down a giant pet bed for Miraidon, scattered its toys, fed and watered it, and they were done. Arven had called Penny and Nemona out for emotional support more than anything.

“Thanks for being here,” he said to the girls, sitting down on one of the old tables in the laboratory. “You know, I played it cool in front of Clavell, but losing my dad is... well, it’s a lot to process. I mean, apparently he did love me, but now I’ll never get to actually spend time with him. It kind of hurts knowing what could have been. But hey, at least now I have you two.” He gave them a smile. “Between that and all the schoolwork I have to catch up on, I won’t even have time to think about it!”

The two girls exchanged an awkward look.

Penny was the first to speak. “Actually, my parents are sending me away to live with my weird uncle Looker in Kalos. Probably for a whole year. They found out about the whole Team Star and stealing millions in LP thing and want to scare me straight.”

Arven got up, fists curled and teeth gritted. “Seriously?! But Geeta and Clavell let you off with community service for all of that! And you have a job lined up after graduation. How many 14-year-olds can say that?”

“Yeah, but they said that ‘it’s still a felony,’ and ‘I need to learn to respect the rules before I run into someone who won’t let me break them.’ It sucks.”

Nemona spoke up next. “...And Geeta wants to train me up to be the new head champion. Which means I’m leaving the Uva Academy, too. I’m really sorry, Arven.”

“Oh. Well, at least I’ll be able to reach you by flying taxi since you’ll be in Paldea.”

Nemona shared a pained look with Penny. “…She’s starting by taking me to a world championship event in Hoenn. It’ll only be for a few weeks!”

Arven felt like the lifeline he’d caught was disintegrating. He’d be all alone at school again, at the time he most needed not to be. It took him a second to blink back tears and figure out the right response. “Oh. Well, that’s amazing! I’m so happy for you. Are you excited?”

Finally released from the expectation to act sympathetic, Nemona’s eyes sparkled with excitement. “So excited! You have no idea. I’m going to get to battle some of the strongest trainers in the whole world! Up until a while ago, even meeting them would have been a dream come true!”

“Great. You’ll finally have some people who can keep up to you. I’ll watch all your matches.”

“If you can find time while digging yourself out of the homework pit,” Penny quipped. “But yeah. We’ll be watching. ...Assuming uncle Looker lets me. Or I can find a way around his rules. Which I will.”

“You heard it. We’ll keep in touch,” Arven agreed, crossing his arms. “Assuming Penny can go a couple weeks without doing something stupid and getting her phone privileges revoked.”

Penny jabbed his arm. Arven jabbed her back.

Nemona smiled. “You guys are the best! Yeah, let’s keep in touch!”

---

Nemona squinted into the sunrise as she tried to make out whether the flying taxi on the horizon was La Primera’s or if she still had a while to wait. She’d shown up twenty minutes early. Some might call that overkill, but one couldn’t take this too seriously, and Nemona had read that Geeta liked to be early.

As the flying taxi neared, Nemona could see that it was Geeta. She stood up and ran to it, getting in before it even touched down.

“I’m glad to see that you’ve kept your passion for battling,” Geeta said. Even in the early morning, her image- the suit, the elaborate hair, her gentle smile- was just as flawless as she’d been every time Nemona had seen her. It almost hadn’t sunk in yet that she’d be working for her. She’d be spending the next few weeks learning to be just like her.

“Oh yeah! I’m not gonna let you down.” Nemona replied. “Oh my gosh. Do you think Cynthia does autographs? Do you think I could get a picture with Blue’s blastoise? Or maybe...” Nemona caught something vaguely disapproving in Geeta’s eyes. “Uh, sorry, I’ll calm down.”

“No, go ahead,” Geeta assured her. “It will be best for you to get your excitement out now. Once we’re at the airport and especially once we’re there, you’ll need to keep that excitement under wraps. You’re representing Paldea, after all. You have to act like you belong with the other champions, because you do.” Those last three words were a jolt of energy to Nemona’s heart. “No autographs. Pictures are fine so long as they look professional.”

“You got it!.”

As it turned out, they had plenty to talk about on the flying taxi ride and then the flight to Hoenn. Nemona already knew a good deal about the champions and the teams and strategies they used, and Geeta helped fill in the gaps of her information. After getting settled at the hotel, it was late and Nemona was tired, but her energy came right back when she told Nemona that some of the champions were already competing.

“I thought that the tounament didn’t start until tomorrow?”

“The brackets will be announced tomorrow,” Geeta explained, “but for now some of the champions are doing some unofficial one-on-one matches to warm up the audience. Would you like to watch them?”

“Watch them? I want to join them! Let’s get down there,” Nemona replied, already running for the door to their hotel room.

“No,” Geeta said gently, making Nemona stop dead. “I’d like us to watch them from here, where we can discuss what they’re doing. It will be an important lesson for you.”

“Okay.” Nemona sat back down on the bench next to Geeta.

The television displayed the tournament arena. On one side of it, Diantha strode in alongside her gardevoir, mega-evolving it to the audible delight of the crowd. On the other, Cyntha glided down from the bleachers on the back of her garchomp, sliding off of her at the last moment and landing nimbly on her feet as the creature took her position in the ring. 

“Begin!” shouted the referee.

“Garchomp, Poison jab!” Cynthia ordered. Her garchomp lunged, her claws coating themselves in purple fluid.

“Ice punch,” Diantha returned. Gardevoir’s fists covered themselves in ice, and she countered the first jab. Garchomp was darting in and out of Gardevoir’s range as Gardevoir stayed stationary, blocking only as many quick but relatively weak jabs as it took and clearly taking more damage than it was dealing.

“Wait, why's she doing that?” Nemona asked. Gardevoir didn’t have the attack or speed for this, but with her special attack, a good dazzling gleam would have-

“Because,” Geeta explained calmly, “This is what everyone came here to see.”

“Ah,” Nemona said as she watched the garchomp’s speed and footwork.

“Dazzling gleam!” Diantha ordered. Gardevoir gathered energy and blasted a powerful beam of pink energy from her outstretched hands.

“Dig,” Cynthia retunred. Garchomp quickly dug into the ground, only its tail getting grazed. Earthquake would have been more powerful and maneuverable, but this was more of a sight to see.

“Send it into the earth, Gardevoir,” Diantha ordered. The gardevoir ran over to the hole and sent dazzling gleam down into it, filling the hole completely and leaving pink light overflowing from its edges. A roar of pain emanated from it. And yet, Cynthia seemed unworried. She closed her eyes and smiled as the ground behind gardevoir opened up, releasing pink energy and a battered-but-still-fighting garchomp, her claws coated in poison. Gardevoir barely had time to look back before a powerful hit took her out.

“Cynthia and Garchomp are the winner!” the referee announced, pointing his flag to Cynthia. The TV screen showed a close-up of her smile before cutting out to sports commentators.

“Wow!” Nemona beamed, clasping her hands together in excitement. “Man, it’s like they’re coordinating with each other in real time to give everyone the best show possible! Like, to show everything their Pokémon are capable of, while also trying to win as a second goal. That must be even more challenging than just winning!” Nemona gripped the pokéball at her belt, her body yelling at her to go and try out this new challenge.

“Yes, exactly,” Geeta stated. “You are a great trainer, Nemona. You will have no trouble at all upholding the Pokémon league standards, I’m sure. But I’ve brought you to this tournament so that we can work on your image and showmanship. Part of a champion’s job is representing their region, after all. There is much to attend to- we’ll need to design you a perfect outfit and figure out your trademark mannerisms and a team including a trademark Pokémon.”

“Oh, man, a trademark Pokémon!” The mere thought that one of her Pokémon could be as iconic as Cynthia’s garchomp or Diantha’s gardevoir... or Leon’s charizard or Steven’s metagross or... Nemona couldn’t help it. She let out some little squealing noises.

Nemona smiled. “Yes. I suggest you make a list of candidates for that role. We’ll go over them tomorrow morning and find just the right one.”

---

The heavy door that separated the prison from the outside world slammed shut, nearly making Penny jump. Looker walked in front of her and gestured for her to follow.

“This is what happens to people who break the rules,” Looker explained, stone-faced as they passed by cell after cell, each one containing two miserable, dead-eyed prisoners, two cots with thin mattresses and thin blankets, a metal toilet, and little else. 

“People won’t keep giving you free passes forever. And there won’t be a warning for when they won’t. Every rule you break could be the one that puts you in here! Yes, even now. Stealing as much currency as you did could have given you more than two years, and you would have been transferred to a prison just like this at sixteen.”

Only if you get caught, Penny thought as she followed behind him, but she thought better of saying it. She settled for nodding along instead, with a face that she hoped said “I’m taking this seriously,” but might have been more along the lines of “how much longer until you shut up?”

“I love you, Penny! And that’s why I have to do this. You’re going to work here after school for the next semester. Maybe the next year if it’s necessary. I promised your parents, so tomake sure it’s all the time you’ll spend there!”

The two ran into a gruff-looking security guard, who Looker handed Penny off to for a tour of the facility and explanation of her duties.

It was late by the time Penny was off work, done with dinner, and could escape to the room that Looker had her set up in. It matched the rest of the house in containing a functional amount of furniture- in this case, a bed, a desk and chair, a bedside table, and a closet with hangers- but nothing else. When one worked for the international police, one moved too frequently to make a house a home.

Penny sat down at the desk and pulled out her rotom phone, only to realize that its usual rotom had been replaced with a sharp-eyed parental control one. When exactly Looker had managed that was beyond her. Penny sighed. It was a good thing she’d prepared for just this situation. She opened the window and then dug into her eevee backpack and pulled out a plastic baggie of dead batteries interspersed with red and green loose wires.

“Want a snack?” she asked the rotom, firmly holding her phone in one hand and dangling the bag in the other.

The rotom nodded vigorously. Penny could feel it trying to get loose and float over, but she held the phone firmly. The rotom pulled until it popped out of the phone. Penny threw the baggie out the window, and the rotom chased it out. She closed the window, got up, and laid down on her bed, ignoring the creature as it tapped the glass. This should give her a few hours at least.

The phone’s screen was filled with new texts from Arven, Nemona, and the ex-members of Team Star. She could respond to them later. For now, she brought up the internet and typed “how to get fired from a prison job without getting killed.”

If Looker was going to give her a hard time, she’d give him a hard time right back.

—-

Late morning light filtered through the curtains as Arven laid in bed, phone in hand and Mabosstif curled up on top of him. He was missing second period and had missed his classes yesterday as well, but who cared? Clavell wouldn’t suspend him while he had nowhere else to go, and he was almost beyond caring if he took an extra year to graduate. He was scrolling through a some long-winded excited ramblings from Nemona when he heard a knock at the dorm room door.

“Arven?” came Clavell’s voice. Arven scrambled out of bed, almost kicking Mabosstif in the process. Thankfully he’d gone to bed in his clothes the night before, so he could pass as having been up for a while. He’d say he had to catch up on some important school project and had thought it was more important than a couple missed classes. Hopefully that would make Clavell go away.

Clavell opened the door and stood awkwardly in the doorway, looking like we wasn’t sure what to say. After pausing for a moment, he crossed the room, sat on Arven’s bed, and gestured for Arven to sit next to him. Arven obeyed. “How... how have you been handling the professor’s death, really?” Clavell asked.

“I’m fine,” Arven replied.

“...And your three friends being away?”

Arven closed his eyes and looked away from Clavell. “I’m fine, alright? I’m used to not having anyone around. It’s fine! Just punish me if you’re going to and go.”

Clavell took a deep breath. “I’m not going to punish you, I just thought...” Clavell shook his head as though reconsidering something. “Actually, very well. There is something you can do for me as punishment for the missed classes. Two exchange students are arriving today from Alola. If you could give them a tour and get them settled into their dorms, that would be wonderful.”

“Okay,” Aven replied. He had a strong sense that this was to get him moving or to cheer him up somehow. He would have thanked Clavell if it weren’t being framed as a punishment.

“Excellent. Stop by my office and I’ll give you the details. And let me know if you need anything.”

Hours later, the flying taxi touched down in front of the academy, containing a green-haired girl in her early twenties, a little boy playing on a gaming device, and their luggage.

“Hey,” Arven said to them. “Welcome to the Uva Academy. My name’s Arven. I’m going to be the one to show you around.”

“Mallow,” the green-haired woman replied, “Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you, too. first thing’s first, let’s get you guys set up in your dorms. I’ll lead the way.”

Arven navigated the crowded halls, checking every so often to make sure that Mallow was still following.

“So, what brought you to the academy?” Arven asked.

“Well, I aged out of being a trial captain- that’s like our equivalent to gym leaders, and only people under twenty can be one- so I thought I’d try to figure out what I want to do next. I’m probably going to be a cook, though. Alola is just so good for growing ingredients. Berries are the obvious ones, but you wouldn’t believe how many medicinal plants grow there. Maybe I could be some kind of healer!”

Okay, Clavell had definitely put him up to this to cheer him up. “Wow, you’re into cooking, huh? Me, too. And as for medicinal plants, trust me, I know more about those than I ever wanted to. But at least the little collection I got out of it can make anything taste great.” Arven stopped in front of their dorm room doors and turned to Mallow. “The teachers let me use the home ec lab so long as I’m out and it’s clean by the time it’s needed. Want to show me what you’ve got?”

“Yeah! Oh boy, I knew I didn’t bring those dehydrated rawst berries for nothing!”

“You brought dehydrated rawst berries? Oh my God, we need to put those in a stew, right now! I swear, they’re like the only thing that’s better dehydrated. Or un-dehydrated, as they’ll be once we’re done with them.”

“Sounds good! But only if you show me which of those healing herbs we can add to it!”

“Oh, you bet.”

“Can I help?” the little boy asked. Arven realized that he hadn’t spoken until now. He didn’t look older than eight or nine, maybe ten, and between the short, round physique, the bad haircut, the quietness and the resting grouch face, Arven predicted that he’d be spending most of his free periods at the academy alone, and that was if he was lucky enough to fly under the radar of bullies.

“Of course you can join us, little buddy!” Arven replied, giving him a big smile.

Mallow smiled down at the younger boy. “This is Sophocles. He’s also a trial captain. He invented a machine that can summon totem Pokémon, and he’s made a lot of other really cool stuff, too! His parents wanted him to come here so he could expand his horizons and hopefully make some friends.”

“Oh. He’s good with tech, is he?” Arven’s brain had practically shut off once he’d heard that, and it was currently screaming at him not to do what he was about to do. “Do you like robots, little buddy? Have you worked on them? Ever programmed anything?” he asked, crouching to get down to Sophocles’ level. Hopefully his voice sounded less suspicious to Sophocles than it did to his own ears.

“Yeah,” Sophocles replied nervously.

Arven’s heart was beating hard, the way it did when one was about to do something that could get them in immense trouble. “Oh, well, in that case the academy might just have a special field trip for you. I’ll be leading you on it, alright?”

“Okay.”

Arven stood up straight again. “Pack for a couple nights. I’ll meet you right outside Mesagoza at eight tonight.” Arven started for his room to pack. Going back to Area Zero would be risky, even with a gym leader-strength trainer coming with him. And who knew what the distant future would be like once they got to the time machine. But maybe, just maybe, Sophocles would be able to reprogram his dad, get him to come home and act like a parent to him.

Arven looked back to Sophocles and Mallow, the latter of which had definitely realized something wasn’t right. “Uh, your room numbers are 309 and 310. See you guys for your tour later,” he called out before running off.

[fahrni]

Saturday Morning Coffee

Kolby decided it was time to get up at 5:45 this morning and since our granddaughter is visiting it was best not to try and convince him to go back to bed. 😂

Bring on all the coffee! ☕️

Harpers

In 2006, when DeSantis was there, it was one of the worst times at Guantánamo. The administration, the guards, all of them were the worst.

DeSantis is more dangerous than Trump. He had a higher IQ and he’s managed to single handedly turn Florida into the absolute worst state in the nation.

How do these folks get into politics? 👹

TechCrunch

Bluesky, the Twitter alternative backed by Twitter co-founder and CEO Jack Dorsey, has hit the App Store and more testers are gaining access. Though the app is still only available as an invite-only beta, its App Store arrival signals that a public launch could be nearing.

From the screenshots in the article it looks a lot like Mastodon to me, but the account names are slightly different. On a Bluesky server my handle would be @fahrni instead of @fahrni@curmudgeon.cafe. It’s a matter of a single character.

More importantly it’s just like Mastodon in that here is no single authority or silo controlled by a corporation, as is the case with Twitter.

Are they late to the party? Perhaps. 🤷🏻‍♂️

New York Times

The drugmaker Eli Lilly and Company said on Wednesday that it would significantly reduce the sticker prices of several of its lifesaving insulin products that are used by diabetes patients and whose prices Lilly has repeatedly increased in the past.

It’s about time. Shame on them for taking advantage of folks who need this medication to survive.

Bloomberg

Apple Inc. has abruptly shut down one of its retail stores in Charlotte, North Carolina, after the mall where it’s located suffered at least three shootings in recent months.

This is kind of scary. Three shootings at a mall in recent months. Who can blame them for closing it down?

We are a uniquely violent nation. Violent with lots of guns. 🔫

Formula 1

American automotive giants Ford have confirmed their intention to make a Formula 1 comeback when new engine regulations are introduced in 2026, meaning another chapter will be added to the American organisation’s rich history in the sport.

This makes me extremely happy! I wish [Haas(https://www.haasf1team.com/) was using Ford engines since they’re an American team, but you can’t go wrong with the hottest team on the grid. 🏎️

Associated Press

Dilbert comic strip creator Scott Adams experienced possibly the biggest repercussion of his recent comments about race when distributor Andrews McMeel Universal announced Sunday it would no longer work with the cartoonist.

Flat out racist! He should be shunned but he has a friend in Elon Musk and I’m sure the white supremacist wing of the GOP loves him. 👎

9 to 5 Mac

Now, Kuo reports that Apple has restarted iPhone SE 4 development, which will be the first iPhone to include Apple’s in-house 5G modem.

I wonder if Apple is considerering this a replacement for the iPhone Mini?

It looks like it’ll be a really nice phone.

Business Insider

Perhaps the final nail in the coffin of Musk’s automation ambition came in early February when Mercedes-Benz received the first-ever certification for Level 3 driving automation — designed to require human intervention only in severe conditions — on public roads in the US.

Musk seems to have too much on his plate. He’s destroying Twitter and neglecting Tesla. 🚗

MSNBC

Ukrainian soldiers astonished the world last year by stopping Russia’s assault on Kyiv, liberating over half of the territory once held by Russian occupiers, and thwarting Putin’s attempt to overthrow President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Ukraine’s democracy. By providing weapons and economic aid, the U.S., NATO and other democracies have played a critical role in helping Ukrainians achieve these victories.

I hope we continue to support Ukraine and they defeat Russia and Putin once and for all.

Associated Press

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday signed a bill that gives him control of Walt Disney World’s self-governing district, punishing the company over its opposition to the so-called “Don’t Say Gay” law.

More of this guy. He’s wrecking Florida.🐊