#and most of all i hate that he fired izzie !

[idk-i-just-really-like-tsc]

OH MY GOD RICHARD THIS IS NOT ABOUT YOU!!! Alex did not “make a mistake” !! He chose his family !! stop being a little bitch !

[angelst4re]

heyy!! so I was wondering if you could do a like a oneshot of being enemies with jace and him teasing you about liking him and then it ending with him eating the reader out?? IM SO SORRY ITS VERY SPECIFIC LMFOOAOAOAOOA 💀💀

hi love!! ahh i had so much fun writing this!! i was tired when i wrote this so i got a bit carried away at the end and kinda turned this into an enemies to lovers... but i hope you like it!!

Heavenly Fire- Jace x Fem!Reader (he has too many last names.)

summary: in the request!

warnings: NSFW!! smut! porn with minimal plot... oral (f recieving)(jace is the king of giving head), fingering, first time(?), but no actual sex </3

notes: i couldn't think of a title for this :( fun fact: my shower isn't working right now that is what inspired me to write this! also i feel like i nailed jace's personality in this one, i always find it hard when i'm writing for jace because of his personality but this one...

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

“God! Do you ever shut up?!” You turned around to Jace, who was following you towards the kitchen as Isabelle had just made lunch. 

“Now, I know I’ve been called heavenly, but a God? I’ve not heard that before.” He teased, earning an evil stare from you. 

“What are you talking about?” Isabelle asked, placing some bowls on the table of what appeared to be soup? 

“Jace is being a-“

“Y/n confessed her everlasting love to me, we’re getting married next week, I better go and inform Alec and Magnus-“ 

“Oh shut up, Jace! You know I don’t like you!” You gave Jace a shove before you sat down at the table. He snickered as he sat down opposite you, clearly happy with your reaction. 

“Keep telling yourself that, love.” He said under his breath before Isabelle joined the two of you at the table. 

There was no denying Jace was attractive, it was almost annoying how he always looked perfect. His perfect blonde hair and his perfect eyes and his perfect smirk and his perfect body- But that wasn’t why you hated him. You hated him because he was such an asshole all the time. He knew he was good looking, and he was overly confident- or so it seemed to you. He never had an issue when it came to one night stands, but you noticed he could never hold down a relationship. You would never see him with the same girl more than once, sometimes twice on the odd occasion. Even you had longer relationships than that (although Isabelle would say being together for 5 days didn’t count as a relationship.)

After finishing the soup Izzy had made, you gave Jace one last glance before standing up and placing your bowl by the sink. 

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

After a long day of training, it was no surprise that you were sweaty and needed a shower. So, naturally, you headed to your bathroom, locked the door and began to undress. But there was a problem. 

Your shower wasn’t working.

You sighed and stepped back out, taking your robe which was hanging up by the door and slipping it on, tying it up, and unlocking the bathroom door again. 

You hoped that Isabelle would let you use her bathroom, as the spare bathrooms were tiny and quite frankly disgusting. But as you got closer to her room, you could hear music being played, and as you put your ear to the door you heard not only Isabelle’s voice but also Simon’s. You quickly dismissed this idea. 

But that meant you only had one more option. Jace. 

Alec was most probably at Magnus’ apartment, so you could use his shower- but you wouldn’t want to do so without asking him first. So you had no other choice. 

You felt a strange buzz of anxiety in your belly as you knocked on Jace’s door, all you wanted to do was have a shower, there’s nothing to be anxious about!

As he opened the door, you were met with a shirtless Jace, his hair damp and slightly wavy, his-

“Come to discuss our wedding, love?” He teased you, eyeing you up and down, trying to figure out if you were actually wearing anything beneath your robe. You let out a breath you didn’t realise you were holding and shook your head. 

“Jace, look, my shower isn’t working and Izzy has Simon over. I didn’t want to have to bother you but-”

“You want to take a shower with me? Without taking me to dinner first? Wow-”

“No, no! I meant, I- You-” You suddenly became quite flustered, unable to think of anything other than the sight of him in the shower, hair dripping, the way the water would fall on his body- Stop! You were sure you were blushing now, and as you looked back up at him, he confirmed it with a devilish smirk. 

“What’s got you so pink in the face, sweetheart? I thought you hated me?” He taunted you, and you couldn’t take it any more. The throbbing between your thighs was becoming almost painful as you wrapped your arms around his neck and captured his lips with yours in a needy kiss. You couldn’t help but think about what this would do to his ego. He was going to become unbearable to live with, but in the moment you couldn’t help yourself. He was so fucking hot, you could never truly hate him. 

You pushed him backwards a little, so you were both in his room with the door shut. If Isabelle saw the two of you right now, she would never shut up about it, telling you I told you so. You always denied your feelings towards Jace, hiding them with hatred, and he always expressed his feelings through teasing you, causing you to ‘hate’ him even more. 

Quickly, you pull away from Jace before he had the chance to rest his hands on your waist. 

“Oh, fuck!” You hid your face with your hands, turning away from Jace. You were such an idiot. 

“What is it? Did I do something wrong, I-” Jace genuinely seemed confused, and quite panicked by your sudden change in attitude. 

“No. Well, actually, yes you have. You’re such an asshole, Jace. But I can’t help every time I see your perfect fucking face, or your… What I’m trying to say is this was a mistake. I-” You were shut up by lips crashing into yours once more, this time more passionate than the last. His hand cupped your face as the other held your waist, leading the two of you closer and closer towards the bed. He must have seen the way your eyes were so lust-blown only a few moments ago, as his hand creeped towards the place where your robe was tied, and within seconds it had fallen to the floor. 

You would have felt nervous, even anxious about your body being on display like this, especially in front of Jace as he pulled away from the kiss, but as soon as you saw the way he was looking at you, your worries disappeared. His lips were slightly parted, his eyes half-lidded, his chest rising and falling as his breathing became heavier. 

“You’re so beautiful,” he said, his hand gently placed on your shoulder. He slid it down your body, touching you for the first time. He gently caressed your breasts, massaging the soft flesh as small whimpers left your lips and your eyes fell shut. He took a moment to toy with your nipples, and that was when you let out an almost pornographic moan. At that, he dropped to his knees, his hand sliding down your torso until it rested just above your cunt. 

He placed kisses along your thighs before looking up at you, as if asking for permission. You eagerly nodded your head, you desperately needed him to touch you. 

He moved slightly and took one of your legs, lifting it over his shoulder to put your slick pussy on full display for him. He parted your lips with two fingers, before leaning in and swiping his tongue along your clit. The action was so sudden that your knees buckled beneath you, so he moved once more and pushed you down onto the bed. As your back fell onto the mattress, he pulled you closer to him so your knees were hanging off his bed. Then, he resumed his attack on your clit. 

“Oh fuck! Jace!” You groaned, slapping one hand over your mouth and tangling the other in his hair as he ate you out. 

He sucked you clit between his lips, earning a string of moans to fall from your lips, and that’s when he decided to trace his finger over your hole, before replacing it with his thumb. He eased the tip of his thumb in before pulling it out again, watching as your hole pulsed, begging for more. 

Without any warning, he slipped his middle finger into you and curled it upwards in a ‘come here’ motion as he continued sucking, lipping and nipping at your clit. Your back arched and your legs wrapped around the man between your thighs, pulling him impossibly closer to you. 

“Shh, it’s okay, angel. Think you can take another one?” He teased, bringing a second finger to your entrance. 

Jace had assumed you were a virgin, and he was right. However, he knew you had touched yourself before. Occasionally, you would think you were home alone and your hand would travel between your thighs, small moans and whimpers would fall from your lips as Jace passed by your room. It took all his strength to simply walk past, especially when you would moan his name.

He slipped the second finger in, and you felt that familiar feeling in your belly. However, this time it felt ten times stronger. You were worried that you would actually explode when you reached your high. 

“I know you’ve been wanting this, angel. Coming undone on my fingers, my tongue. Pretending you hate me, but I could see straight through you. I knew all along you were just a little slut, isn’t that right? I knew just how jealous you would get whenever a girl would come home with me, just how angry it would make you. But it’s okay, they never meant anything,” his thumb replaced his mouth on your clit as he spoke, and his words went straight to your core, “I knew all along you wanted to be my girl. Cum for me and I’ll make your wish come true, cum on my fingers, darling, I know you’re close. 

Just as your orgasm washed over you and your thighs began to tremble, Jace leaned down and captured your lips with his. You couldn’t help but moan against his lips, followed by strings of profanities as his fingers continued to pump inside you, working through your high. You had never felt so… wonderful. You were gasping for air but Jace’s lips were still on yours, you could even taste yourself on his tongue. 

You wrapped both of your arms around him and held him close, hoping he would lie by your side when you finally came back to reality. However, he escaped from your arms and went into the bathroom to retrieve a soft, damp cloth to clean you up with. 

“Stay still for me, darling.” He chuckled as he spread your legs to clean up your messy cunt, but your thighs kept pressing together. However, he managed to clean you up and threw the cloth to the corner of the room, to a pile of clothes that needed washing. 

He helped you up the bed, so your head was against the pillows, and lied beside you, pulling you close to him in a warm embrace as your head rested on his chest. 

He stroked your bare back, causing you to shiver slightly as it tickled, which seemed to amuse Jace. 

“So what does this mean?” You asked, moving your head to look up at Jace who was sitting against the headboard, one arm behind his head. 

“What does what mean?” 

“Everything you said, about being yours?”

Jace took a moment to think, and you were filled with a sudden panic that he didn’t mean what he said, that it just felt right in the moment. 

“You can use my shower, sweetheart. When you’re finished, get changed into something nice, or not- but I don’t think you’d want to wear leggings and a hoodie on your first date.” He said, a smirk creeping up on his lips. 

“Are you, the Jace Herondale- who never dates- asking me out on a date?” 

“No, I’m not asking you,” he chuckled, playing with your hair, “darling, I’m telling you.”

[tizzyizzy]

Izzy-Misunderstanding Ed-Apologist: Ugh, I hate it when people ignore all of a character's flaws and demonize their victims.

Normal Person: Oh man, I hate that. What's this about?

IMEA: So there's this character called Izzy, and he's constantly abusing Ed, but people keep taking Ed's actions out of context and blaming Ed.

NP: What did Ed do?

IMEA: He forced Izzy to eat his own toe, well, toes, but—

NP: WHAT

IMEA: No, let me finish! I was saying he only didn't it because Izzy threatened to kill him if he wasn't a tough pirate.

NP: I...I guess that makes sense if they're pirates. He didn't have a lot of other options.

IMEA: It was such a messed up scene. Izzy said he should have let the English kill him, Ed had better watch his step, and that he'd only serve Blackbeard.

NP: So this Blackbeard guy was Izzy's boss?

IMEA: Ed's Blackbeard. Well, Izzy FORCES him to be Blackbeard.

NP: Ed's...Izzy's boss? Why didn't he just fire the guy?

IMEA: Izzy might have come back and hurt him!

NP: Well, I guess it's better than killing him? Feed Izzy his own toe so he's so scared he never comes back to hurt him.

IMEA: Oh Izzy's still there.

NP: Wait, he's keeping this guy around? Like, in the brig?

IMEA: Izzy is Ed's first mate.

NP: ...Ed was so scared of this guy he forced him to eat his own toes to keep him at bay, but he still acts as second in command?

IMEA: He had no other choice! Remember, Izzy threatened to kill him!

NP: Okay, so why didn't Ed kill him?

IMEA: Ed doesn't kill. Except for the time with the fire and when he steered the ship into a storm and killed most of his crew and everyone he killed in S2.

NP: Couldn't he have the crew kill Izzy?

IMEA: It's Izzy's fault his relationship with the crew is so bad! Izzy made him fell so unsafe that poor Ed went on a brutal, murderous rampage across the ocean, driving his crew to the brink. And then Izzy, who was ultimately responsible, had the gall to whine about the atmosphere on the ship and the crew being stretched thin, like it wasn't all his fault.

NP:...

IMEA: Frankly I think Ed feeding him his own toes and shooting his leg off was reclaiming his agency.

[canonizzyhours]

“Istg if I see another moron making an edit that overlaps Izzy's speech about piracy and belonging with images of Stede and/or Ed or even using the whole crew while deliberately excluding only Izzy from it I'm going to fucking set something on fire”

“It’s about belonging to something” is one of the thesis statements of OFMD. It doesn’t belong to Izzy alone and it doesn’t just apply to his story. Community is what the show is about.

Stede, a man who was isolated and in every way a misfit at home, really did find a family at sea. He brought his crew together, and his kinder ways of pirating changed them and served as a catalyst for their radical kindness and forgiveness in season two. This man created a safe community in an environment that usually fosters fear and violence and mistrust.

Ed was also isolated, not just from others but also from himself. He didn’t have friends. His closest companion was Izzy, someone whose sole purpose in life was keeping him trapped in his Blackbeard persona. In the course of the show, he learned who he was, embraced a community, and then had to work to earn that community’s forgiveness after a grave misstep. 

Jim abandoned a life of revenge for a life of love. They carried on Stede’s work in his absence and helped keep the Kraken crew together and sane. The Kraken crew held on to hope that Ed would recover. They helped Izzy even though they had every reason to hate him. 

And Izzy delivered our thesis statement because, more than anyone, he was impacted by the power of a community. The crew was kind to him even though he rejected them at every turn. They made him a prosthetic leg. Wee John taught him to apply makeup and everyone celebrated his drag moment. This community was good to him because that’s what they DO, and that kindness transformed him.

It’s not about glory. It’s not about being the most successful, competent, or terrifying pirate. It’s not about being hailed as a hero. It’s about belonging to a community that accepts you and allows you to make mistakes and grow. 

Izzy was not given this line because he’s the most important character. “It’s about belonging to something” is about everyone. No one’s stealing Izzy’s words, and it’s actually okay to take the core message of the show and use it in any way that feels fitting. 

It’s a beautiful message! I hope that you all feel like you belong to something, whoever your favorite blorbo is.

#430.

[blueikeproductions]

No trailer yet as of typing, but EarthSpark’s final (?) seven episodes synopsis have dropped.

Well rather six episodes, as the first episode just uses the “Terrans raised by their human family” stock jargon.

Spoilers obviously.

Just eyeballing what we have, the main story seems to be the Quintessons making their move with a spy planted on Earth, and possibly using the Hate Plague to cause trouble.

Prowl seems to crash land on Earth aboard a ship, so I guess he wasn’t already on Earth to begin with despite the G1 prologue suggesting he was. The seven episodes make zero mention of Cybertron so unless it’s explored briefly via Prowl or Cosmos, I’m leaning towards any sort of Cybertron plot having been cancelled.

I don’t see Terratronus or the Decepticons having a satisfying pay off either as the “Decepticon Dome” is only brought up once, and never comes up again, as most of the synopsis only talks about the Autobots, Terrans and Quintessons.

I’m going to hazard a guess Terratronus may be freed in the first episode but the Decepticons are still bubbled like Corrupted Gems, but I don’t know how that works as Terratronus is never mentioned otherwise. She could be used to fight the Quintessons again, or she’s just permanently immobilized stupidly like Trypticon was in Cyberverse at series end.

Unless there’s a mega happy ending that sees them revived, I don’t see Spitfire and Aftermath coming back. Animated Starscream got his Allspark shard ripped out and died when the Allspark reformed, and he would’ve stayed dead had Slipstream not reluctantly used a piece of her shard to reactivate him in a deleted scene. With the Emberstone dust now, there’s no conceivable way those two Terrans are back up and running, and if they are anyway, living in the Dome as if nothing happened, then that’s just bullshit writing. Besides I don’t understand why some fans were horrified at the Decepticons killing the Chaos Terrans. Let me make this absolutely clear: the Decepticons are the main villains of the franchise, their actions decimated Cybertron, killed millions of robots on their own planet, and saw the Transformers come to Earth in the first place. Starscream ripping out the life force of younger Transformers for a cheap power grab is absolutely in character for him. His entire role in Cyberverse saw him casually kill his own troops, and then try to kill his entire race multiple times for petty slights against him. This Starscream is revealed to be just as petty, nudging him closer to his G1 and Marvel G1 self. If they try to fix him again in the finale, that’s gonna be more bullshit writing. A perfect example of not picking a lane and sticking to it.

So @monocle-teacup and I have discussed this off and on, how the show seems hellbent on isolating the Maltos and not giving them any meaningful human interaction. Case in point: Izzy. The synopsis lets slip Izzy is working for the Quintessons, with the previous episode mentioning a shape shifting creature the kids encounter with a shocking secret. This suggests Izzy was an alien plant by the Quintessons, and isn’t human at all.

-rubs temples-

Why.

This is the same staff that made Prime, RiD15 and Rescue Bots (most of the S1 cast were fired and replaced with Aligned veterans), and Jack, Russel, Denny, Cody & his siblings had healthy human friendships outside of the Transformers.

Why is the show forcing the Maltos to be Transformer nerds so wrapped up in their hobby they’ve cut off other humans? It felt like they were fixing that with Izzy, but now she likely isn’t even human? And for that matter, why not just make Izzy a Transformer anyway via a Pretender. This show is so for hard core fans in the middle than casuals and kids anyway, so why not? Have her be a Pretender Shell, with the inner robot being Overcharge, a mass produced Triple Changer drone built by the Quintessons in Japanese media. That would be more sincere than whatever they’re gonna do in the end. It reminds me of the Irma being Krang Sub-Prime reveal in 2012 TMNT and I wasn’t fond of that either.

I’ve seen other fans bring up Hasbro’s inability to fully let go of G1, and I think that’s hurt EarthSpark, due to confusion in using the G1 art style to explain the show’s backstory. People still think it’s supposed to be a sequel to G1 despite it clearly not being one in execution. The old writers initially calling it “G1.5” absolutely did not help. And now we have the Hate Plague back. The Hate Plague hasn’t really been a popular concept writers feel compelled to go back to, with it seeing a brief return in Beast Machines where Megatron used it to make a point. It appears to be weaponized by the Quintessons here, and in G1, it famously was defeated by unleashing the ancient wisdom of the Matrix. Here, it sounds like Twitch is going to solve it, but how we don’t know yet as of typing, though I’m leaning towards Beast Machines’ more simplified “We put aside our differences and work together” approach to cancel it out.

So if these are the final episodes, it only being seven, that should tell you how Hasbro and Paramount were feeling about this show towards the end. They seem much more satisfied with One, which while tanking and toy sales not looking great that I can tell, is widely regarded very positively by fans and some casual audiences that DID watch it. So barring what CyberWorld does, and Lorenzo openly talking about doing more with One in a recent interview, it’s looking like EarthSpark’s era is truly at an end. A series that started off ok but went off the rails immediately, and no attempt at course correction has managed to put its train back on track.

Hopefully I’m wrong and these final episodes are more like RiD15’s own Weaponizer arc, a stronger story with fewer episodes, but EarthSpark’s track record speaks for itself…

[skyefullofdaisies]

I ran across a tweet this morning that said

‘What was one Grey’s Anatomy couple that just didn’t make sense?’ It had a picture of Izzie and George underneath it. Which is true. Those two were horrifying with no chemistry.

I wrote in the replies that Maggie and Jackson were a close second. It’s getting quite a few likes so it’s definitely a popular sentiment. Many others listed them as well. Mostly because of the stepsister thing. That’s not hate to Maggie’s character at all, though. She really got the short end of the stick at the end of the day.

Let’s be real here Jackson was using her to get over April and convince himself he wasn’t still in love with April. The fans wanted Japril. The two actors wanted Japril. The Montana episode was supposed to be their reunion for good until Krista (pretty sure that was the show runner at the time) bulldozed it because, I swear she had beef with Sara Drew and took it out on Japril. She shoehorned Maggie and Matthew in there. Fired Sara Drew, had April marry Matthew which made 0 sense for her character and tried to have Jackson act like Maggie was the one he wanted.

Just to turn around and bring April back during Jackson’s goodbye arc to undo the damage she wrought for Japril and pissing off us shippers, who never let her rest until she properly fixed Japril btw, then to bring both back again to drive home that they were back together as they should’ve been to begin with in the Montana episode. All that work just to do what we wanted in the end anyway, lol. Idk if there was actual beef there but the way Krista handled Japril and then fired Sara was weird.

Maggie got the shit end of that stick. It was so clear who Jackson really wanted to be with. The fans didn’t like the couple for the most part and the step sister thing was weird.

Anyway, Japril supremacy 💜💜 (because we ended up getting what we wanted anyway)

[tayas-words]

Shadowhunters Headcannons!

Hi! So this is like my first post post and I hope you like it and feel free to share some of your own head cannons!

——————————————

- first off not a head cannon but Simon Lewis is by far one of the most underrated characters in the books and in the show. He is my absolute favourite character and I love how Alberto Rosende plays him

- Within the Sizzy or Climon or Saia relationships, I think Simon would be the one to like read out loud to them if they’re just relaxing (rlly unpopular opinion I actually really liked Clary and Simon together)

-Simon will refuse to drink blood from Clary, no matter how hungry he is, he absolutely refuses to drink from her even if it’s just her wrist. He also doesn’t like doing it to Izzy, it was a one time thing when he almost died.

- When Simon and Clary were younger they would make Jocelyn and Luke play hide and seek, one time Clary dragged him up into a tree and he got a nosebleed from his cute little puppy love crush on her, and that’s how Luke found them in the tree.

- despite his flashy style, Magnus hates wearing suits

-on the contrary, he LOVES seeing Alec in suits

-Luke hates cats, but Jocelyn always wanted one so when he moved in with them, he bought her one. The cat hates him and he hates the cat, they fight when Clary and Jocelyn aren’t around.

- When figuring out his sexuality, he was caught staring at some of the older shadowhunters training, mouth wide open, Izzy walked up to him and went “close your mouth or you’re gonna catch some flies big brother” (she knew way before he did)

-After Jem showed up at the institute, Will found himself unable to sleep unless he heard Jem playing his violin

- Charlotte often found Jem, Will, and Tessa all asleep in the library; Tessa in a chair with a book fallen on her lap, Jem on the couch his hands protectively (cuddling basically) his violin, and Will sittin on the floor in front of the couch near Jem passed out drooling

-When Tessa decided she wanted to drink at the institute for the first time, Charlotte made sure she was there to make sure she didn’t over drink, they ended up basically having a girls night.

-As Magnus watched new shadowhunters train and as they came to bug him, as much as he denied it, he loved them all. He saw their ancestors in their faces or their personalities.

- Jace tried to teach Izzy how to cook, they almost set the institue on fire.

——————————————

Let me know what you think and if I should do more of these?

[neilandtodd]

Shared Heartstrings

summary

Clary was sitting on the edge of the roof’s railing, her feet swinging and dangling into the air. She looked out towards the skyline with a crease in her brow. Alec took a couple of steps towards her, trying to step louder with his feet so he didn’t startle her. He came up right next to her before she said anything. “Hi Alec,” she said, the hands in her lap suddenly very interesting. “I activated my equilibrium rune. Don’t worry.” “I wasn’t worried. You know your runes better than a lot of us,” Alec replied, taking out his stele and running it over his own equilibrium rune behind his right shoulder. 

Alec was quick to catch Magnus before he left the Institute. The context of their fight was important, and something they would need to talk about eventually, but with everything going on with Jace, he couldn’t handle fighting with Magnus, too. 

He had known, with every fiber of his being, that Jace had died at Lake Lyn. There was only one explanation for his rune disappearing. But actually hearing it from Clary was like losing him all over again. He had felt that familiar sting in his side that he did that night. It was still there, like a rock stuck in his shoe. Whether that was from the trauma of reliving the memory of Jace’s death or something going on with Jace right now, wherever he was, he couldn’t tell.

He couldn’t possibly be mad at Clary for using the wish. If it were Magnus, Izzy, or Max lying dead at his feet, he wouldn’t hesitate. But if it was Jace, Alec would offer that Raziel kill him instead. Being without him, even for only the few hours before his rune reappeared, were the worst moments of his life. He would do anything, anything, to never feel that way again. 

He wasn’t even upset that Clary hadn’t told him, at least not after a few moments to sit with it. Of course, Jace would tell her to keep this a secret. Clary had broken the Clave’s most fundamental law, had used the one wish from the Angel, all to bring Jace back. Jace couldn’t let the Clave execute Clary for something she did to save him. Clary also understood the horrible position this news would put Alec in with the Clave, and would never ask him to keep a secret like that. And it did. This put him in a horrific position, challenging his loyalty to his family and the importance of his job. The decision was simple, however; Alec owed it to Clary to keep a hold on this secret as long as possible. He would let the Clave continue to believe Clary preserved the wish for her safety. 

(Though, if he was honest, he was kind of glad the wish was gone. Its power to destroy anything and everything was too great a power for the Clave to have. Especially when it had almost been used to kill all Downworlders.)

After Magnus left, Alec had instructed all available personnel to watch the scanners for signs of Jace. He had also sent fire messages to those on patrol, asking them to keep an eye out in the field. Isabelle was researching demonic possessions to see if they would give us a clue on how to free Jace from Lilith’s influence. Scanning the Ops center, he didn’t see the flash of red hair he expected to.

He walked over to where Isabelle was pouring through the archives. “Where’s Clary?”

“Not sure. I saw Magnus give her another once over with his magic and then she disappeared after that. Do you want me to find her?” She said, not looking up from the screen.

“No, it’s fine. I have a pretty good idea of where she is,” Alec said.

The roof of the Institute was a popular spot for quiet contemplation, or, for Alec, secluded enough where he could send arrow after arrow exploding into Brooklyn’s skyline. It was also where Shadowhunters always seemed to go when they thought they had done something so irredeemable that only the call of the void could settle their screaming soul. He knew Clary would be there.

Alec wasn’t angry at Clary, nor blamed her, nor hated her, but she didn’t know that. She didn’t believe that. Pushing the bar on the door to the stairs, Alec was right.

Clary was sitting on the edge of the roof’s railing, her feet swinging and dangling into the air. She looked out towards the skyline with a crease in her brow. Alec took a couple of steps towards her, trying to step louder with his feet so he didn’t startle her. He came up right next to her before she said anything.

“Hi Alec,” she said, the hands in her lap suddenly very interesting. “I activated my equilibrium rune. Don’t worry.”

“I wasn’t worried. You know your runes better than a lot of us,” Alec replied, taking out his stele and running it over his own equilibrium rune behind his right shoulder. 

He had placed a lot of his runes under the assumption that Jace would always be there to activate them, thus making them more effective. That was fine; Jace normally was there. Now, his stomach hurt with that thought while trying to reach around blind. He felt the angelic energy imbue his veins with power. The little unconscious adjustments the muscles in his ankles and thighs made to keep himself upright stopped, and he moved with ease as he threw his legs over the railing to match Clary’s position. 

“Well, when you can draw new runes, it’s kind of important to know all the others,” she said, moving the hand that was on the railing closer to her body to accommodate Alec. 

“How are you?” Alec asked, mentally kicking himself. It was a stupid, bland question to ask, but every conversational script he had started with it. He was editing as he went.

“What? You mean sitting on the edge of the Institute’s roof hours after Jace threw me off one?” Clary said, wincing slightly when she moved. 

“Something like that.”

“I thought I’d be afraid of heights or of falling, but I’m mostly just angry. And I’m still sore, even with Magnus’ healing magic,” she said. Her voice had this uncharacteristic cynicism in it, which, while understandable, was extremely disheartening to hear.

“It wasn’t him,” Alec said simply. Clary already knew that, Alec was sure, but a reminder couldn’t hurt.

She inhaled sharply while shaking her head. “Yeah, but it looked like him. It sounded like him. As far as my nervous system is concerned, it was him. Laying on that car, my entire body screaming, I really thought that was it. And I was fine with it. I killed Jace, it was only fair that he killed me, right?” 

This took Alec by surprise. He had never heard Clary talk like this. Misplaced guilt was normally Alec and Jace’s thing, or maybe just a Shadowhunter thing in general. Hearing how little her life mattered to her, if only for a moment, was also uncharacteristic. 

“You killed him? What do you mean?” Alec asked. 

“I should have known Valentine would be there. He’s my father, of course he would have a plan like that. And now Jace is…what he is because of me. Because I’m selfish.”

“You’re not selfish,” Alec started, seeing Clary’s face shift in disbelief. “You’re not. I can’t live without him. I’ve already tried.”

“The only reason you know how that feels is because of me. I’ve caused nothing but trouble since I got here. Maybe my mom was right to keep me away.”

Had it been a few months ago, Alec would have agreed with her—he said as much to her face once. Now, though, hearing her say this actually hurt him. Clary was misattributing the chaos of the last few months to her arrival. It was true that all of them had been through a lot since she arrived, but that wasn’t directly Clary’s fault. It was Valentine’s and now Lilith’s. But more importantly, all of them were better since she arrived. Jace wasn’t living exclusively for the hunt anymore. Izzy had the best friend she had always wanted. Magnus had the girl he watched grow up in his life now. Alec himself likely wouldn’t have had the courage to accept his feelings for Magnus without her open-minded nature. Things were different since she arrived, but they were better. 

“Your mom wasn’t right. We’re Shadowhunters, trouble would have found us with or without you. Jace, too. Danger finds him easily. One of the major drawbacks to being his Parabatai.” Alec gave her a noncommittal shrug. Shadowhunters died young; Jace had always seemed intent on proving it. Alec had accepted that a long time ago.

“Why do it?” Clary asked. Alec gave her a puzzled look. “If being a Shadowhunter is so dangerous, why choose to tie yourself that close to someone?”

Finding a Parabatai was actually a rare thing for Shadowhunters; something easy to forget when Alec’s own father used to have one before the Uprising. Parabatai were a tough concept for people to grasp, even for those raised as Shadowhunters from birth. It made sense why Clary would be confused.

Alec, like always, saw fit to answer with a story. “It’s based on the biblical tale of Johnathan and David, two warriors whose souls were knit together by heaven. They loved each other as their own souls. The first Parabatai, Johnathan Shadowhunter and his companion David, took this idea and made the ritual. It made them stronger, much stronger than Raziel’s blood in their veins alone. Their bond was broken after David became the first Silent Brother, a pain so keenly felt by Johnathan that his screams were reportedly heard over miles.” Alec paused, the sharp pain in his hip making him wince. “We do it because it makes us better. Because finding someone whose soul is knit with yours is magic in itself.”

“Why did you do it?” Clary interjected.

“He makes me whole,” Alec said simply.

“What was it like? When he died, I mean,” Clary asked.

“Do you remember that blizzard that hit the city a few years ago?” A freak weather event that had turned out to be entirely mundane. She nodded. “After the excruciating pain of his actual death passed, it was like I was in the middle of that blizzard. The snow swirling in every direction, causing the landscape to look completely white. I was so unbelievably lost. Not being able to feel him anymore was even worse. A part of me was gone. Jace took it when he went. I have never felt that empty.”

He had thought about following Jace to wherever Nephlim went when they died in battle. If Magnus and Izzy hadn’t been there, he probably would have. Other people needed him and he vowed to be there for them in that moment, even if it meant living as a hollowed out version of himself.

“Alec, I am so unbelievably sorry. For not protecting him. For not noticing that something was wrong until it was too late. For not telling you about the wish. For causing you to know what losing a Parabatai feels like. For everything since I got here. I’m so sorry,” Clary said, eyes shining.

“You have nothing to be sorry for. I meant what I said. I would have done this same thing,” Alec said.

Clary didn’t respond, nodding and looking out towards the skyline instead. He saw a few tears escape the corner of her eyes that she hastily wiped away with the back of her hand. 

Glancing down at Clary’s hands in her lap, Alec saw her picking at the skin on her thumb. Without giving himself time to overthink it, he grabbed her hand and wrapped it in both of his. He stroked the side of her thumb with his. She was receptive to the gesture despite her thinking herself undeserving of it, Alec knew. Alec’s mind began to wander.

He didn’t know what to think of Clary when she had first arrived. His feelings towards her were so intertwined with his feelings for Jace that once he had let go of those, he wasn’t left with much to work with. She was a girl who wasn’t Izzy—he didn’t have a script for that. Things got even more complicated after he killed Jocelyn. 

(Or, after the demon killed her, as everyone kept telling him.)

Clary was inhumanly forgiving towards Alec. It had made him feel guilty to the point of nausea. A part of him was relieved when Iris Rouse’s spell made him hallucinate Clary being furious with him. He needed that. He needed Clary to call him a monster. He needed someone to tell him it was his fault. He didn’t deserve her forgiveness. Then the ruse was revealed and Alec felt even worse, if that was somehow possible. Again, Clary expressed her forgiveness, absolving him of blame. It made him want to tear at his chest like he, the demon, tore at Jocelyn’s, but it also helped him form some conceptualization of how he felt about her. She was kind, genuine, compassionate, unboundedly forgiving, and generous. He began seeing her as an ally and a friend; the sting of his guilt around Jocelyn lessened through her grace. It was still there, and likely always would be, but it was easier to manage every time Clary looked at him with a light in her green eyes instead of contempt.

Their relationship was like that for a while. They had each other’s backs. The script changed when Clary told him about the wish—about what she did for Jace. He realized Clary was the only other person in the world who understood the lengths he would go to for Jace, because she would go to them too; she did go to them. His family was the most important thing in Alec’s life, and Clary protected his family. She was family now, too. That was the only thing she could be to Alec after what she did. She was his little sister with the same ties that made Jace his brother; by something much stronger than blood.

The new realization hadn’t hit him until he was looking down at their hands, his eclipsing hers. The scene looked identical to his memories of doing the same with Izzy. He was a big brother before he was little else. 

Alec lost track of how long they sat like this while he was lost in thought, but it was apparently long enough for Clary to grow uncomfortable because she yanked her hand out of Alec’s grasp and swung her legs around to start pacing the roof with her hands on her hips, agitation clearly building.

“Yell at me,” she blurted, turning towards him as Alec got up. Her expression was tense.

“What?” Alec asked. He approached her slowly, like she was a bomb that needed defusing. 

“Scream at me. Tell me it’s my fault.” Her hands curled into fists at her sides as her chest heaved.

Alec knew what she was after—he had once sought the same thing from her. “I can’t, Clary.”

“Please. Please,” she begged.

Alec hated seeing her like this, but he couldn’t give in. Her forgiveness set him free; now he had a chance to do the same for her. She was beginning to collapse in on herself, her guilt and grief threatening to overwhelm.

Alec placed his hands on each of her shoulders gently, dipping his head down to meet her eyes. “It’s not your fault.”

She started beating against his chest, trying to push him off of her, but there was no energy in it. “Alec!” She shouted, trying to make him listen.

“It is not your fault,” he said, emphasizing each word.

With one final punch, she collapsed into his arms. Alec adjusted his arms to wrap around her shoulders. He rested his chin on top of her head while she grabbed onto him like a life-saving device, sobbing into his chest.

“Alec…” she muttered between hitched breaths.

“It’s okay. Just breathe,” he said comfortingly. “I know what you’re asking me, and that’s why I can’t do it. You forgave me once. Let me do the same for you. Let me be your big brother.”

She didn’t say anything for a few minutes; her sobs likely made it too hard to speak even if she wanted to. When her breathing had returned to a near normal speed, she started shifting in Alec’s hold, clearly uncomfortable. Alec let her go somewhat reluctantly. It was obvious from the pained look still on her face that she needed the comfort.

“You don’t need to do this,” she said after a while.

“Do what?” 

“Lie to me. I know we’re friendlier now than when we first met, but you don’t have to pretend that I belong here.”

This legitimately hurt Alec to hear. Alec knew he had been unfairly cold towards Clary initially, but he hadn’t known Clary thought he still felt that way. Their interactions with each other had defrosted lately and Alec thought that would’ve been enough for Clary to know he felt different now, but he couldn’t have been more wrong.

Even worse, Clary’s belief that she didn’t belong was Alec’s fault. He said that to her once. Jace had been missing, of course, and it was easier to blame Clary than blame himself. He wasn’t proud of it, especially because he never actually apologized. Jace came back, and they moved on—or, at least Alec thought they did.

He looked at Clary then, really looked at her. There were dark purple bags under her eyes that weren’t there a few weeks ago. Her hair was tangled from the earlier wind. He looked for any remaining marks from her counter with the Owl but there were none. His attention was drawn instead to the Iratze on her neck—the first mark she ever received. Drawn to save her life when she encountered her first demon without a single mark. The one drawn by the very person who caused its most recent use.

He saw in her eyes a defeatedness that he couldn’t recall ever seeing, and it tore at his heart.

“Clary,” Alec started, closing his eyes for a beat. “I’m so sorry for the way I treated you when we first met. There was a lot I needed to work through and I took it out on you. You didn’t deserve that.” He meant what he had said to Magnus; he really was working on his apologies. He just hoped he was a little better at them by now.

 Clary shrugged. “It’s okay. I could tell you were hurting.”

“I didn’t know how to love somebody outside of my family until Magnus showed me how. Something that never would have happened if not for you. Everyone I love loves you and considers you family. It’s about time I do, too,” Alec said. 

“You mean that?” Clary asked in a small voice.

“Of course I do. I’m sure after today.”

“Today?” She asked, tilting her head.

“You understand how far I would go to protect Jace. You’ve lived it. The rest of our family would do anything for him, too, but they don’t feel it the way you and I do. My instinct to protect him is as strong as my instinct to breathe. You understand that. No one else ever has,” Alec said.

Clary exhaled in a kind of laugh. “You know what Jace said to me after I made the wish?” Alec shook his head. “He said ‘you could have had anything else in the world, and you asked for me.’”

“You didn’t want anything else in the world,” Alec finished for her.

Raziel could have given Clary anything. World peace, the end of hunger and thirst—even her mother. But she didn’t. She asked for Jace. Anyone else would have judged Clary for that, even hated her, but Alec didn’t. Alec couldn’t. He understood what she must have felt that night, better than anyone else ever could. 

“You know, I never realized you’re the only other person who knows how it feels to love Jace like this. In the way that feels…”

“All consuming?” Alec finished again. Being tied to Jace felt like it could engulf him if he wasn’t careful. Like Jace was a star always moments away from supernova and Alec was a planet tied to his orbit.

They stared at each other for a moment. In all the jumbled mess that were his feelings for Clary, he never realized how similar they actually were; both exceedingly stubborn, protective and maybe even a bit excessively self-flagellating.

“I really do mean it, Clary. If you’ll have me, I’d love to be the big brother you deserve,” Alec said once their staring contest seemed to end.

After a few moments, Clary opened her mouth a few times, trying to collect her thoughts. “I think I—” Her breath hitched as she swallowed the lump in her throat. “I think I really need that.”

Alec’s own throat started to pang sympathetically. He met her eyes for silent permission before wrapping her in another tight hug. Clary’s family wasn’t like Alec’s; both of her parents and her brother were gone. Her father and brother were irredeemable monsters, and her mother died before they ever really had a chance to reconcile Jocelyn’s decision to hide Clary from the Shadow World. All she had left were the people she chose to let in, a circle that had gotten progressively smaller lately. He was beyond grateful to be granted this kind of trust.

“Then you’ll have it. You’ll have me.” And it really was that simple.

Alec tightened his hold and placed his chin on her head again. Clary sighed wearily as her body relaxed.

“We’re going to fix him, Clary.”

“We have to.”

There was an unspoken implication in her words, but Alec knew it. Neither of them had any other choice. They had to save Jace, or that was it; there was nothing else. Alec felt better knowing neither he nor Clary had to do it alone. As long as they did this together, Jace would come home safe.

[enteringdullsville]

Statistics, Facts, and Opinions About Total Drama Eliminations (SPOILERRIFFIC)

Harold probably would’ve been eliminated in The Big Sleep had Eva not had her meltdown.

Noah and Trent were probably the only Island contestants to be voted off near unanimously.

There’s no way Cody didn’t vote for Trent in Not Quite Famous.

I love the implication that Katie was eliminated before Sadie solely because everyone says her name first.

Likewise, given that Beth wasn’t in the bottom two in Paintball Deer Hunter, Lindsay went against Heather to vote for either her or Cody. Additionally, Trent (and Gwen, but that’s beside the point) had to have mercy-voted for Cody.

Izzy probably would’ve been voted off regardless of what happened in Up the Creek.

Many people assume Tyler was eliminated due to his comparative weakness in challenges prior, but more likely Duncan just stopped the others from voting Courtney.

Beth’s elimination makes more sense when you remember all her teammates are either superstitious, actively hate her, are at risk for elimination, or Leshawna.

Bridgette, despite being Courtney’s best friend, seemed oddly blasé over her elimination. Given that they’re still friends as late as Hawaiian Style, I think the writers/animators just forgot.

Either Harold, Courtney, and Sadie were in the bottom two in every ceremony they attended before their back-to-back eliminations.

We never find out who Trent voted for in Search and Do Not Destroy. I think the wiki claimed it was Owen, but it was probably Lindsay, who poisoned him a few episodes back.

On that note, I find it hard to believe that they couldn’t think of a better way to eliminate Lindsay, given that she wasn’t exactly popular with the other campers until after this episode. They could’ve easily just voted her out to remove Heather’s one ally. Action rectified this to a degree, since Duncan is constantly being targeted for this exact reason.

Speaking of Duncan, it rubs me the wrong way that he got the Guys Alliance to eliminate Bridgette, Geoff’s girlfriend, when his own girlfriend got eliminated only a week earlier (maybe he thinks he was lying about not voting Courtney). I elect to believe Geoff didn’t vote her off and that Izzy (who stops working with Heather around this point) just betrayed her own alliance to spare Owen.

I heard theories saying Geoff voted himself out in the triathlon episode due to not having fun anymore. Doesn’t explain why Gwen was in the bottom two, though.

Why wasn’t Leshawna eliminated in Camp Castaways instead of Haute Camp-ture? If they agreed to vote Geoff, they probably could’ve done so here. Although, given the events that happened two episodes ago, Duncan might not’ve gone for it.

Mr. Coconut was the first case of a camper being fired from their role, before Owen, Sierra, and Max later on. Granted, he wasn’t a competitor to begin with.

Building on that, we never find out why Geoff and Bridgette voted for Leshawna in Alien Resur-eggtion.

If Izzy was allowed to return because E-Scope was the one eliminated in her place, could Mike continuously dodge elimination by having his alters take his place and swimming back to camp each time?

The Lame-o-zine is the only exit Izzy has ever been seen using, the Boat of Losers is the most used, and Flush of Shame is the least used, beating out the Hurl, Cannon, and Drone due to Duncan’s arrest. The Drone of Despair’s naming structure is a remnant of how the Island/Action exits’ naming schemes, “of Shame” referring to how one gets there. World Tour blurs the difference by only having the Drop of Shame without a true elimination exit, and all further seasons of the original run followed suit.

Owen’s first elimination was technically fair, since it’s his team’s own fault for wasting their votes on an immune Courtney, but he probably should’ve been medically evacuated beforehand anyway. Cody too, for that matter.

I don’t think the Grips fairly won a single elimination challenge.

Beth would’ve beat Duncan by a landslide had everyone actually gotten to vote, although I really don’t think either should’ve won Action.

Izzy’s vote for herself to win was never actually declared invalid.

Up until Scary Girl’s elimination, Harold in Super Happy Crazy Fun Time Japan was the only character to try to vote themself off and fail to do so.

Had Chris stuck to the singing rule, Heather would’ve won anyway.

Had Izzy not returned last season, all three teams would’ve had their lowest ranking members achieve that on multiple teams.

DJ probably sets the record for most consecutive times on the chopping block.

Contrary to popular belief, Alejandro is only tangentially related to Tyler’s elimination. He presumably voted for Owen.

Blaineley was wasted potential, especially since they could’ve brought back a fan favorite in her role, although that’s mostly because the merge was so egregiously late in the season.

Staci’s elimination is unfair for the exact same reasons as Noah’s.

As we all know, Anne Maria never cast or received a vote during her tenure as a contestant.

There are two very different ways to interpret how Scott was eliminated, but what’s certain is that Zoey voted for him.

Cameron’s the closest thing we have to a canon winner, assuming Priya’s ending isn’t the only one for her season.

Lindsay clearly chose to vote herself off and you’re dumber than everyone in All-Stars combined if you think otherwise.

Chris was probably intending for Mal to get voted off in Moon Madness when he made their loser move to the Villainous Vultures.

Alejandro’s been voted off three times despite only getting eliminated once.

In spite of everything that happened in Sundae Muddy Sundae, Gwen still didn’t vote Courtney out, and I respect that.

Gwen, Cameron, Heather, y Alejandro technically reached the finale twice each.

Zoey is the first character since Island to be a finalist but not speak in every episode of the season, having remained silent in Food Fright. Likewise, Mike is the only finalist in the main series to not appear in every non-Aftermath episode of his season, not appearing in Zeek and Ye Shall Find.

It’s unclear if Leonard helped vote for Ella in I Love You Grease Pig or not.

It’s equally unclear if Amy formally returned to the competition.

How Scarlett wound up on the chopping block is never explained, since it’s incredibly out of character for Rodney to vote for her. Maybe Sammy’s still salty about Scarlett ignoring her plight in the last episode.

Given that Dave got one more vote than Sky, courtesy of himself, Sugar (who was uncharacteristically sympathetic to Dave here), Max (who wouldn’t care about Dave’s elimination campaign) and Scarlett (out of pure pragmatism) voted for Sky.

Max was robbed, but given that he had dodged elimination once before, I can forgive it.

Caleb’s elimination is the first time the earliest boot is directly caused by the antagonist.

Like DJ before him, Ripper is on the chopping block every ceremony he attends before his elimination.

Scary finished 13th and was the 4th camper out. Because of course she was. Ironically, between her, Sierra, Anne Maria, and Max, she’s the only purple haired contestant whose elimination was entirely fair (key word being “entirely”). RR has a better track record with Stephanie, Ryan, and Lorenzo.

After Zee’s elimination, Chris owes Courtney and Tyler their revotes.

Aside from Priya and Ripper, one can assume Bowie voted for Millie in the eating challenge, seeing as he said some people were getting too comfortable and Millie had forfeited the challenge immediately.

I find it funny how more boys made the merge than girls, only for them to get eliminated all in a row with the sole exception of Bowie.

Chris’ reaction to Julia’s elimination makes me wonder how often he reads the votes before the ceremonies, seeing as he clearly set up the new tiebreaker rule specifically to screw Millie over.

[dragon-queen21]

Empires + hermitcraft Halloween agere fic <3

Mumbo and Joel are in charge of helping the server’s regressors carve pumpkins

Just pure fluff :3

~~~

What was the worst that could happen with the two groups of players meeting up with each other and having a little fun? There were enough authority figures, that surely nothing that badly could happen. Right?

Wrong.

It started with Mumbo helping to carve pumpkins.

He’d been asked by Xisuma to watch over some of the smaller hermits to help with carving.

Which was fine except for the fact that Mumbo was not prepared for the sheer amount of pumpkin guts and seeds that would be everywhere despite his best efforts.

“Rawr!” Sausage pulls out a glob of the pumpkin insides, orange gunk and pumpkin seeds dripping from his fingers as he pretended to be some monster.

“You’re gonna get that everywhere.” Mumbo tried to say, to little avail. Only he can’t dwell on that fact for too long as soon he hears a frustrated cry from False. The girl trying to carve out what looks to be… something. Maybe a ship? It’s kind of hard to tell, but she’s got wooden rods, and pieces of carved pumpkin strewn across the table, and pumpkin on her skin and in her hair.

“I hate this, it’s not working at all!” she shouts, hands pounding a couple times on the table.

“You want help?” Mumbo asks, only to be met with a frustrated cry and a “I don’t wanna do this anymore.”

Mumbo, honestly had to agree with the teen regressor there.

~~~

Lizzie watched from behind Joel, scowling.

She had originally agreed to carve pumpkins because Sausage had wanted too and both him and Joel had claimed it would be fun. And it did sound like fun. To try and carve shapes into pumpkins and make elaborate designs. She didn’t know however, that in order to carve a pumpkin you had to touch all the gooey insides first.

She had tried to but her first reaction was to get the stuff off of her and never let it touch her hands ever again.

“You don’t like the texture?” Joel guessed, watching her face as it flashed through a hundred emotions in under a minute, most being unpleasant, while the little started shaking her hands about franticly.

“Yucky! Is ‘ucky Joel.”

He only laughed. “Well, what you want me to do about it?”

Lizzie didn’t answer and instead stuck her tongue out at the orange fruit, wiping her hand clean on the front of her shirt.

This was the exact moment that Sausage decided to pretend to be a pumpkin sludge monster.

“’Izzie rawr!”

“Yuck! Don’t bring that near me!”

“Imma get chu!”

“Joel!” Lizzie yelped, scrambling to the mentally older, to sit in his lap and stay there until they were ready to move on to another activity.

~~~

Scar’s pumpkin was carved to look like a cat. A slightly lopsided cat because of how he placed the ears on top using toothpicks, and maybe one eye was bigger than the other, but it was still, undoubtedly a cat.

“Are you done Scar?” Joel had asked, peeking over his shoulder. Lizzie stood behind him, trying to keep away from Sausage, who had still refused to go and wash his hands clean.

The little nodded, making jazz hands towards his creation. He was one of the last people to have finished, False having come back only momentarily along with Mumbo to fix her pumpkin, Sausage having more fun messing around, and Lizzie not daring to touch anything.

Joel ruffled Scar’s hair, pulling out a small match box from his inventory along with a wax candle.

“You ready to see what it looks like lit up?”

“You’re gonna put fire in it!” Lizzie gasped, coming over to get a closer look at what she hoped to be the destruction of the gooey mess.

Meanwhile Scar was appalled. “You can’t light my Jellie pumpkin on fire!!!”

“But that’s what you’re supposed to do, that’s the whole reason you carved the pumpkin in the first place. And you don’t light the whole thing on fire, just a candle that goes on the inside.” Joel tried to explain but the little was having none of it.

“No!” Scar cried, picking up the pumpkin, and running away to presumably Mumbo.

Joel just sighed.

[justamessedupdisneyprincess]

Lost in labyrinth mall! An onward fanfic! This fic focuses on Izzyley, a SI x Canon ship!

Part 3!

Izzy and Barley happily chatted during the drive to the mall. Along the way they had exchanged music, which was a little activity they tend to do during any road trips. Barley may introduce Izzy to a song he likes whilst Izzy would do the same. The elf was quite surprised to learn about Izzy’s preferred genre. He didn’t know exactly what she might like but it certainly wasn’t something so loud and full of energy and melody. Her love of dubstep was quite ironic given how she tends to hate most loud noises around her. She even introduced him to a new type of genre he has come to really like, even purchasing some of those songs for himself! Metalstep. Which is exactly what it sounds like. Izzy enjoyed many of his songs as well, she liked rock and metal as well. But she has a weak spot for a “sick” drop. Which would be the last thing one would expect from her.

“So ummm…I’ve actually been having some weird dreams where I can make music.” Izzy started at some point in the conversation.

Barley laughed a little. “Pretty much anyone can make music if they pour their heart’s fire right into it.”

“Yeah, but I mean like with mind powers. Like I can make my own dubstep out of thin air.” Izzy added.

Barley laughed a bit harder, he can see what she meant by weird then. “Now that would be one heck of a skill! Y’know I would listen to anything you make.”

“Well they actually sounded super good! Which kind of makes me wonder if I could become a DJ or something…but then I try to make music and it’s so much that I don’t have any idea what to do.” Izzy sighs. “I can hear the drops perfectly in my head but I can’t figure out how to make them a reality. It gave me a newfound respect for musicians.” She sounded a bit frustrated. In some cases Izzy had dreams where she wished so hard for it to be real, these types of dreams were one of them. Of course there are ones she is grateful that are not only real but she hopes to never ever have again, such as anxiety dreams about her teeth falling out, those ones always unsettle her.

Barley shrugs a bit. “You might be able to one day with enough practice. Actually ya know what. I know you totally can do that.”

Izzy chuckles a bit. “I dunno, it all seems pretty complex to me. I guess one day I might try and learn more about it.”

Her creativity, that was just one of the many things Barley loves about her. She is talented with quite a few things, such a writing, drawing and even sculpting. But the main thing that made her stand out were her ideas. She had so many of them, so many it can get overwhelming for her at times. She would often describe how she doesn’t get art block or writers block, but rather she gets so many ideas she doesn’t know where to start. She calls her brain a factory for concepts and that it’s both a blessing and a curse. Because of how bizarre and unique her ideas are though, Barley has grown obsessed with hearing any stories she may come up with.

They finally arrived at the mall and managed to find a park as well. Izzy looked on ahead and noticed a large tree just in front of the entrance, but this was no ordinary tree…it was alive! But alive in the sense it was sentient and aware. She saw the movement but this was her first time seeing anything like this! “Barley…Is it just me or is that tree moving?” She says nervously, worried if it may be a sign the ancient mall was haunted. Then she thought…’wait…this place could totally be haunted if it was literally a bizarre labyrinth where hundreds of explorers died in horrific ways!’

Barley nodded her head and couldn’t help but giggle as he saw the unease on her face. “Yep, he sure is!” He says.

Izzy looked over at him with a puzzled expression on her face. “He?”

“Haven’t you ever met a whispering elm tree before?” Barley replied with a little teasing smirk.

The imp’s blue eyes shot wide open. “No, I haven’t met one before! I did see them in movies before though- to be honest I actually thought they were fictional.” Izzy says, clearly amazed.

“Yeah, they are actually pretty rare now. They were rare in the olden days but now…it’s like shiny Pokémon sorta rare.” He says, just to give Izzy a better idea.

The couple began to walk towards the entrance. “I…kinda feel sorry for them though. Do you think they ever get bored or lonely being stuck like that?” Izzy asks, as usual she was the type to overthink things but in this case she did have a good point.

The grin on Barley’s face grew larger, as he had more knowledge to share. “For saplings maybe.”

As he had expected, his inquisitive girlfriend cocked her head to the side like a puzzled dragon pup. “Eh?”

As usual, Barley was happy to enlighten her, after giving her a little teaser for it first though of course. He just lots to see her little reactions! “Old elm trees can pull themselves out of the earth and use their roots to walk around.” Barley stated. “However, they can’t walk too far for too long because of how big and heavy their bodies are. So basically, they prefer to be sitting in the soil but they are not bound to it…or at least most of them are not.” He looked a bit saddened as he said this. He then leaned down to Izzy and whispered into her large pink ear. “Don’t bring it up but…the stupid idiots who decided to modify the place built tiles all around this guy and now he can’t move anywhere at all…he is a bit touchy bout it…rightfully so…but best to keep quiet.”

Izzy’s blank expression changed into an extremely exaggerated look of utter rage. Little wrinkles could be seen around her frown and eyebrows, her scowl was that intense. “Those thoughtless, inconsiderate ****s…!” She says with a growl, she has a very dirty mouth and tends to curse without even releasing it.

It actually took Barley a while to get used to her unique language. “Ok, I think ****s is a bit much. But I pretty much do agree with ya.” He says, smiling as he came to admire her feisty personality. She had a real strong sense of right and wrong and he loved that about her as well.

Although upon arriving it seems like Izzy completely forgot about Barley’s warning to not speak of this topic around the old tree, she was just too worked up! The whispering elm looked over to her in shock as she suddenly asked him a question that came from the heart. “Ummm…excuse me? Are you feeling ok?” She asked, worried for the tree’s mental health.

Barley gulped as he immediately clings onto Izzy, almost protectively. “Haha…pssst…don’t provoke him…” he whispered.

The tree spoke in a loud and booming voice, which caused customers who came and go to stare intensely as they pass. “Well if it isn’t the poor excuse of a knight! Think you can whisper around a whispering elm, can you?” He says, sounding angry.

Barley smiled awkwardly. “Aha…so you remember that do ya?” Izzy looked puzzled as her head flung back and forth between the two.

The talking tree had not only a mouth but eyes and a nose as well! His little face scowled, like an angry bitter old man. “How could I forget the man who broke my favourite branch?!” He says bitterly.

“Aww, c’mon, buddy! That was just an accident!” Barley pleaded.

Izzy looked more and more puzzled but the negative energy was starting to make her anxious. She was desperate for answers but had been cut off by the furious old tree. “Um- what’s-“

“If I tore off an arm of yours will you say it’s an accident?” The tree swayed around, a few leaves fall down to the tiles that were placed over him, locking him in place forever.

“Well that depends. If you tore off my arm with the intent to do so that sure as heck won’t be any accident…but-“

“Don’t play games with me! I’ve had enough of you youngsters! Always treating us elm folk as if we were nothing more than mere objects.” The tree sways more, the creaking wood echos around the parking lot in an unsettling manner.

Poor Izzy’s head kept snapping between the two who seemed to have been arguing. She got more and more anxious as she is still left in the dark. Barley continued to defend himself as best he can. “Hey, I was the one trying to help you, remember?”

The whispering elm scoffs. “Some help you were.”

“What is going on?!” Izzy suddenly shouted out. Every living soul quickly glanced towards her, but she ignored the unwanted attention from strangers who passed by, she was just desperate to figure out what was happening.

That is when the whispering elm finally seemed to acknowledge her. “Well young lady, this man here decided to sit his fat rump on my favourite branch and he broke it right off!”

Barley frowns a bit. “I told you it was an accident! Besides…it’ll grow back.”

The tree laughed sarcastically. “Grow back you say? That branch has been part of me for over 50 years! Do you really think it will even grow back the same? It will look completely different! Not only that but for it to simply “grow back” would be decades worth of waiting! Might I remind you time feels even slower being stuck in this retched gloomy place forever?! Why, with the lack of sunlight I am surprised I haven’t even died by now from malnourishment.”

As the tree angrily went on a rant Barley grabbed ahold of Izzy and dragged her inside the mall. Izzy looked back at Barley, still confused. “What was that all about?” She asks, she knew there was more to the story than that. Barley may be reckless but she can’t imagine he would climb all over him and break branches without a valid cause for it.

Barley groans a bit, seemingly embarrassed. “It…wasn’t my finest moment. I was trying to dig out the tiles and help him escape but…the mall cop got to me and I tried to climb away from him and uh…you can probably imagine the rest….argh! I should have done it by nightfall!”

Izzy angrily glared back at the direction where the tree is. “You were just trying to help…Hey, when a whispering elm’s branch breaks off does it hurt them?”

Barley looked quite surprised to hear her ask more questions so soon. It was not like her to move on so quickly. “Erm…well it doesn’t not hurt, but it sure as heck isn’t like getting an arm torn off. From what I have studied it’s more like a small sting, like a paper cut if you will.” Barley says, he smiled a little at the little joke he made towards the end. After all, paper is made from trees.

“Did he need that branch as an arm to grab things?” Izzy asked next.

Barley thought for a moment. Whispering elms can use their branches to swat at things but they could hardly be used as extra limbs to assist them. “Eh…not really. I mean he can move it for a bit but he can’t actually use it for much of anything other than swatting enemies away in Quests of Yore.” Barley stated casually.

Izzy suddenly turned around and stomped her way back towards the grumpy tree. Barley quickly realised why she asked such questions, to try and figure out if he had any right to be angry or upset. She was already furious to see the way he spoke to her boyfriend, but she needed more answers to try and see his point of view. As she had suspected, the tree was just vain about the branch’s appearance, nothing more, nothing less. “Oh no…Izzy! C’mon, just leave it alone!”

[actress4him]

Whumptober 2023 - Day 15 - The Shadow and The Brute

This is the latest Brumaria AU, a Hero/Villain story! Bruno aka The Brute belongs to Izzy, and bits of his dialogue in this were written by her.

Taglist: @painful-pooch , @sssunshinebreeze

The Shadow of Death Masterlist

No. 15: “I don't need you to help me I can handle things myself.” | Suppressed Suffering

Contains: lady whump, touch aversion, strangulation, referenced whipping, referenced stress position, corporal punishment, hidden injuries

.

.

Kamaria doesn’t feel like being here. Not that there’s anything new about that, being in good physical condition is a foreign concept and most of her missions aren’t anything she’s personally invested in, anyway. There are often a hundred other places she’d rather be than where she’s sent, in bed usually being one of them. 

But today is particularly bad. She usually at least gets a night to recover after a punishment before she’s sent out again, but no, Roderick had to get ticked at her for whatever reason this morning. And absolutely nobody cares that she has fresh whip marks on her back, chafing underneath her clothes, and they definitely don’t care that her throat is so bruised she can barely even speak. They only care about her taking out some low-level criminal that’s interfering with their plans for the city.

Which she’d be doing, no problem, except that The Brute showed up. Nothing new about that, either, and normally an encounter with him doesn’t exactly dampen her mood. But today, she really wishes that for once, he wouldn’t be so annoyingly good at his job. Why can’t he just leave her alone today? She just wants to kill the stupid criminal and go back to headquarters to lick her wounds in private, but she’s stuck here in one of their half-hearted fights, listening to his one-sided banter. 

“Looks like somebody didn’t get enough sleep last night.” Brute dodges yet another of her knife swipes easily, returning it with a punch that she just barely manages to miss herself. “You’re slow today.”

Usually she’d throw a barb right back at him, but just the thought of speaking makes her throat burn. She throws a knife, instead, which sticks in the brick wall just beside his ear.

“Ooh, not enough sleep makes you grumpy, too, I guess. Or should I say…even grumpier than usual? Going for the ‘silent and deadly’ style today.” He yanks the small knife out of the mortar and inspects it. “Doesn’t really bode well for me.”

Yes, she’s grumpy. She’d like to growl at him to shut up, she’s not in the right headspace to make light of this situation. Their fights barely qualify as such, since neither of them really want to harm the other, a fact that she absolutely refuses to examine and adamantly pretends isn’t true. She even sometimes enjoys getting to battle it out with the hero, even on days when her pain level is worse than usual. 

Maybe it’s because she can’t snark back at him and get into the mood of the fight. For whatever reason, she just wants to get this over with, but unfortunately just because he seems to kind of like her doesn’t mean he’s willing to back off and let her do her job. She’s going to have to somehow give him the slip if she wants to avoid even more punishment when she gets back.

“Seriously? Nothing to say at all?”

I have plenty to say. I’d like to say go away. Leave me alone. I need to do this so I don’t get beaten to a pulp tonight. 

I’d kind of like to ask how the only gentleman I’ve ever met ended up fighting on the side of the people I hate the most. Or why you seem to give a flip about me, a villain, at all.

I’d like to tell you that it feels like someone lit my back on fire, because I get the feeling you’d be the only person in the world that somehow actually cared.

She swings at him again, just nicking his arm with the tip of the blade. He doesn’t seem to notice, pushing closer and grabbing onto that wrist. Anyone else, she’d bring her left hand up and stab them directly in the chest. But it’s Brute. She can’t kill him, no matter how aggravated she might be with him. So she allows him to get close and doesn’t fight back yet, unaware of just how uncomfortable it’s going to be until he grabs her other arm, too, and spins her around to press her back into the bricks.

Her breath hitches in her throat, but her mind is only partially on the pain coursing through her back. He’s never pinned her before, she doesn’t usually let him. Being pinned means being hurt. 

But this is Brute. He never hurts her, not badly, at least. 

But he is hurting her. 

But he doesn’t mean to. 

Still, no matter how logical she tries to force herself to be about it, her instincts and memories are stronger. She struggles against him, face carefully blank but heart pounding too fast. 

Let go let go let go let go 

“Hey, calm down, Shadow. I’m not gonna hurt you!” He doesn’t let up, his grip strong but not bruising. “What is your deal today? Are you mad at me or something?”

Again, if he was anyone else, she’d be using the little bit of movement she has in her left arm to reach for another knife. Instead, she kicks at his shins, hoping to dissuade him. 

“Ow.” He still doesn’t let go. She might have to go for the knife after all. The longer she’s trapped, the less she’s able to think straight to see the problem with just stabbing him. 

“Shadow. Look, I’ll let you go in a second, but can you just tell me what’s -” He cuts off abruptly, leaning his face in closer. “Crap. What happened to you?”

She realizes suddenly that this close, he can see the bruises peeking out from underneath her hood. That’s not what she wanted at all, now he’ll start asking questions and she’ll have to try to explain, if not now then some other day because he’s Brute and he doesn’t give up. Forget not hurting him or her own split-open skin, she needs to get away. She shoves hard and kicks out again, reaching for the knife at the same time.

Thankfully, he lets her go this time, backing away with his hands spread in front of him. She still bolts away from the wall, adjusting her grip on the handle and holding out the blade as if he’ll attack.

“Who did that to you?”

Her back is even worse than before, thanks to scraping it up against the bricks. Now she needs to use her voice, too. “Doesn’t matter.” It sounds exactly as horrendous as she imagined it would, and feels like she’s swallowing nails. 

“Yes, it does.” He sounds so deadly serious about it. Is he offended that she’s faced off against someone besides him? If he knew it was her own handler he wouldn’t be. He’d probably laugh in her face about how pathetic she is.

“We’re in the same line of work. You know these things happen.”

Brute sighs, shaking his head. “I can barely get a hit on you…most days other than today. I know there’s more to this, Shadow.”

Kamaria forces a smirk. “Maybe you’re just not as good as the other heroes.” 

He rolls his eyes. “Or maybe there’s a villain that’s been picking a fight with you.” Crossing his arms, he looks her up and down. “So who is it? Asking for a friend.”

“Can’t stand for someone else to be the one beating me up?” He needs to drop the subject so that she can stop talking. Maybe she can pretend to lose her voice altogether.

“I don’t think that counts as beating you up.”

“Not everyone is as reluctant to dirty their hands as you are.”

“Are you sure it was their hands they were dirtying?” He’s walking closer again, and she resists the urge to skitter backwards until he reaches out like he’s going to lift her chin with his fingers and inspect the bruises again. His hands go back up in surrender when she jerks away before he can touch. “I’m sorry! I won’t touch. But Shadow…” He sucks in a deep breath, jaw clenching and unclenching. “Is that a boot print?”

She can feel it almost as clearly as if it’s happening right now and not a few hours ago. Her lying on the floor where she’d been struck down, Roderick looming over her. The tread of his boot pressing, pressing, pressing into her throat. The delighted smile on his face. Her body jerking without her permission, desperate to get away even as her mind tells her she’s not allowed to fight back. Realizing with sudden dread that he may actually completely crush her throat, either killing her or taking away her voice for good. The darkness slowly taking over her vision as her oxygen supply dwindles.

Kamaria inhales sharply as if to prove to herself that she still can and focuses back in on Brute’s face. “I still think you’re jealous.”

“No, I’m not jealous because I have no desire to do such a thing to you.” He sighs again, running a hand through his hair. “You’re just as stubborn as always. Would you actually tell me if something was wrong?”

No. “Nothing’s wrong.” She smiles a little, trying to reassure him. Nothing’s wrong, this is just how my life is.

He grumbles a little under his breath. “Fine. Can we at least call this done and go home, since you clearly don’t feel like being here? You can just nod, you don’t have to speak.”

Grateful but trying to seem nonchalant, she gives a distinct nod. 

“Good. I’ll see you around, Shadow. Take care of yourself.”

He turns to leave, and Kamaria begins walking in the direction she was heading before, toward the criminal’s place of work. 

“Excuse me, I’m fairly certain that’s not the way you should be going right now.” Brute is glaring at her, arms crossed. Again, being annoyingly good at his job when she really needs him to just let her be.

She gives him her best innocent stare, but he just points toward where she came from. “I won this fight. That means you go home and don’t cause any more trouble today.”

Giving up any pretense, she glares daggers at him and turns on her heel, marching away. She can hear him chuckling behind her, completely oblivious to the trouble he is causing for her. She won’t give up yet, though. Being late on a mission still means punishment - and a longer time until she can properly care for her wounds - but it’s far worse to fail the mission altogether. She’ll bide her time, take the long way around, and try her best to take out her mark without any of the heroes catching her this time. Maybe she’ll get lucky for the first time today and only get stress positions instead of a beating or another whipping.

[roadtogracelandx45]

Unexpected|1| Webgott

This was originally supposed to be a one-shot but the more I started getting into the more I realized it needed to be a two-shot. This is the first time I am really writing Webster, so forgive me if anything is too wrong with him. I am still learning his character. (and reading his book.)

This is also going to be a part of Courage Under Fire.

Crossposted on wattpad, and ao3

3 months after Easy Company

 returns to the States

San Francisco, California 

Liebgott Residence 

David Webster didn't know how he ended up in San Francisco or how he ended up with Joe Liebgott's address but here he was standing on the porch that wrapped around the house. A porch that had a porch swing with pillows on it and planted flowers on either side of the door. 

 Olivia's touch, he assumed, the Joe, he knew would never do anything like this. Her family must have funded the house and their lifestyle. 

Joe was a barber who sometimes moonlighted as a cab driver and Olivia from what he understood from the clipped answers he got from Bill Guarnere was working with the VA.

  No way they could afford all this. 

 He swayed back and forth raising his fist to knock on the door causing a dog to bark and lights to flip on. 

Shit, they had a dog. Of course, they had a dog, they were on the path of having the whole goddamn American Dream. 

The war hero who fought in the European theater and his sweet-as-pie Southern Belle wife. And not to mention a baby. 

A baby that they found out about right after Olivia was attacked and Grant was shot. An almost final nail in the coffin of hope that Webster had built up since he returned from the hospital. 

The door swung up and the familiar click of the hammer of a gun being pulled down shook him out of his bitter thoughts. 

Standing on the other side of the door was a sleepy, shirtless Joe Liebgott with a handgun in his hand pointed right at him. His visibly pregnant wife appeared at the top of the stairs rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. "Joe? Who is it?"

"Webster! What the fuck are you doing here?" His voice was hard and cold like it had been when he first put his barracks bag in the back of the truck after returning from the hospital after missing 3 months of action.

David didn't answer him, instead, he just swayed on the spot, his eyes going from the man to the pregnant woman who had come down the steps, pulling a cotton robe closed over her nightgown, hiding the swollen belly from sight. Something he was thankful for, he hated that he got so jealous that Joe and Olivia were both getting the life that he wanted. He had come to a startling realization the night that Chuck Grant and Olivia both got hurt, that he wanted to be the one with Joe and the feelings he thought were mutual between them, and then the night after they spent together after VE day things changed.

Joe gravitate more towards Olivia again.

"Olivia." He hiccupped up.

"It's Mrs. Liebgott." She sniffed, her own bitter anger showing through, 'Let him in the house love, we don't want the neighbors talking.'

 Flicking the hammer of the gun back up Joe stepped aside and motioned for him to step into the house. 

Through the blurry vision,  he saw framed pictures in the hallway, the most recent one being taken in France after the war was officially over was of the couple at Izzy, Olivia's step-sister's quick wedding to John Egan, one of the bomber pilots from the infamous Bloody 100th. Even then, he could see the ghost of the dopey love-sick creatures they had been even with everything tearing them apart and spitting them back out.

"What're you doing here?" Joe repeated, his free hand winding around his wife's waist pulling her close to his side. 

"Fuck if I even know." He returned as he stumbled towards the armchair and flopped down onto it like he hadn't been a pretentious asshole throughout the three years they all served together. "Well for starters you can start by saying you are sorry for letting Olivia get into that Jeep with Grant." Joe's voice gradually got louder causing Webster to flinch, he had regretted letting Olivia, who had been sick and fighting a severe case of shell shock go outside and then climb into the jeep with Grant and the two replacements.

 Grant had been shot in the head and Olivia suffered an attack that almost cost her life and the life of their unborn child.

"Joe." Olivia soothed turning into him, her nose nudging against his jaw, her hand fisting into the band of his pajama bottoms, soft words being exchanged. The guilt that Webster had built up suddenly turned violent and the whiskey he had drunk started working its way back up his throat.

The love between the two was undeniable, he saw it that night when they were sent out to find the guy and Olivia and the way that Joe pulled her into his arms and how she clung to him and cried. Repeating her nightmarish attack. Joe and Bobby, Olivia's twin brother, had left her with a

 murderous Lewis Nixon and Dick Winters to go after Mac and Webster out of guilt and not wanting to see the damage that was done to her followed them and stood outside of the door watching Talbert and Luz play cards.

"I am sorry." He finally said, raising his blue eyes to look at them. "I shouldn't have let her go out with Chuck, I should have stopped her from going outside." "You are god damn right you should have." Joe bit out. "Why did you let me go if you knew that women were being targeted by the replacements and by the Krauts?" Olivia questioned at the same time.

"Because."

"That's not a good enough answer David." She snapped, "You do realize that I could have died! My baby could have died! Joe's baby could have died. Come up with an answer, or get the fuck out of my house.' 

"Because I was jealous." He raised his glassy eyes to look at the couple, he could tell that Joe was going to back his wife up and decided to just come out with it, “I was jealous because I am in love with you, Joe and you chose the social norm and her over me.” 

Surprised Joe led his wife to the couch to sit down, he was thankful that Olivia insisted on getting up when Webster knocked instead of staying in bed like the doctors wanted her to.

Too much excitement wasn't good, Joe blamed the attack and the fact that their mother had been running around in active shellings and patrols to save the men and he tried to enforce it but it was hard.

 She couldn't even take it easy after she got hurt, they had to sedate her to make her rest. He hated to do it but it was the only way that she was going to rest and in turn the nightmares were horrible. 

She woke up in cold sweats or screaming.

If she hadn't insisted on coming downstairs to see what was going on he would have laid David out. The anger outweighed that fleeting crush he had. 

The more time Joe had spent around Webster, the more he understood why Olivia spent so much time with Lewis or even Dick. It was a different kind of relationship than what they had and sometimes they craved it. 

"You are what?" She questioned with a surprised laugh, her hand gripping his hand in hers, honestly, she wasn't surprised by it. She had spent a better part of two years in close quarters with Nixon and Winters and saw how they were with each other and understood, "You know what," Olivia started as she squeezed her husband's hand and started to stand up, "You two need to talk and I don't need to be present.' Joe tightened his grip on her hand to make her stay seated next to him.

"Babe, you need to work this out, I will be upstairs with Peaches." Peaches was their beagle, a pup from her grandfather's dog Addee. "You know that it's going to take forever for me to go back to sleep."

David felt even more guilty, he should have thought this through all the way. But when it came to Joe Liebgott, he never seemed to think properly.

[izzy-b-hands]

It's lovely.

Salt air, the gentle tossing of the waves, the increasingly heavy scent of smoke...

Smoke.

Izzy rouses, yanks on his clothes, and steps out of his room to an extremely on fire ship.

It isn't the worst way he's woken up, but it's up there.

Worse in the moment is the realisation that Ed and the crew are all very much already rowing away in the dinghies, not so much as looking back.

He's had nightmares like this, but in the actual moment it's somehow not as bad.

Or maybe he's just still half asleep.

"Stop!"

He blinks. There's Bonnet, waving his arms and fussing and-

Having the crew stop the dinghy he's in. Odd.

"Would you fucking jump off and swim over here already?!" Stede shouts. "What the fuck is wrong with you?"

He jumps into the water as it clicks, though it still doesn't feel real.

Nor does it when he's pulled into the boat and there's an angry Bonnet wrapping a blanket around him.

"Honestly, Izzy! Here I thought we had everyone and what if I hadn't looked back?! Were you just going to stand there and, oh, it doesn't matter but it does! And you were breathing that smoke in for how long-"

"You don't hate me."

Stede pauses. "No. I don't. But that isn't what we're talking about right now!"

He sits and lets Stede yell and tries to parse any of it.

When that fails, he leans against Jim and lets himself fall back asleep.

--

"We don't really have the funds," Stede admits. "But, we do have some blankets and pillows and the sand is soft enough."

"We won't have to worry about funding rooms at an inn if we find a new ship right away," Ed says. "Right, Iz?"

Izzy nods. "Um. Also, we can use some of the taller grass stalks to weave mats to lay on. Some of the crew mentioned that, earlier, so it's easily taught and..."

"How much smoke did you inhale?" Ed frowns. "What the fuck is your deal?"

"I don't think I know."

"Seriously," Ed continues. "Has Roach looked you over? He should. I expected you to be all over the new ship thing."

"We've been on this beach for a few hours," Stede says. "We have time."

"We do, but at the same time, we're sitting ducks with minimal weaponry and supplies."

"That is also true. Well-"

"I can go look," Izzy fumbles for his spyglass, nearly dropping it. "For a new ship. I'll be back."

"Oh for pity's sake," Stede snaps and takes the spyglass out of his hand. "You're in no shape! Sit and help us plan, but that's it for now."

"Okay."

Ed blinks. "What."

"Why don't we stow away in the actual jungle area for now?" Stede continues. "Tomorrow, when Izzy's feeling better and we've had some rest, then we can try and steal a new ship."

"I really would like Roach to look him over," Ed says, and pats Izzy's back. "No shouting at Stede? He took your spyglass, you know."

"He'll give it back. Don't need it now anyway."

--

"He did sort of nearly burn alive," Roach says as he examines Izzy. "That would fuck anyone up for at least a day."

"I know," Ed says. "But-"

"He made you all wait for me," Izzy tries to offer something out of the confused tumultuous thoughts that have been tumbling over each other since Stede pulled him into the dinghy.

"Yeah?"

"That is different," Roach notes. "Iz, random question. Don't think, just answer. Same situation, but roles reversed. Do you stop and call for Captain Stede to jump down and swim to safety?"

"Why wouldn't I? He's a member of the crew like any other."

"See? It's just that the near death experience shocked them into some sort of mutual respect," Roach shrugs. "Finally."

"Okay," Ed says. "That's...good. It is! Just...okay. Maybe you should rest, Iz."

"He's also definitely feeling it after the smoke inhalation, but the change with Stede is probably most of this, in my professional opinion," Roach continues. "But, he should be fine."

--

There's a small weaving party to create enough mats to layer and sleep on, then they tuck and hide themselves away in small groups in the trees.

And he can't sleep.

"I can hear you not sleeping," Stede whispers.

Ed is in between them, but he can just see Stede's face in between strands of Ed's hair.

"I'm alright."

"I don't know that I believe that. Nor do I think I would be alright after thinking I'd been left to burn alive and alone on my ship."

"Yeah, I'm waiting for that to hit."

Stede nods. "I think maybe it is right now."

"You might be right. Why did you stop and look back?"

"I don't know, exactly. Just felt like I should, and then I saw you and..."

"Thank you."

"You shouldn't have to thank me for that."

"I am anyway."

Stede sighs and his eyes close, and Izzy figures that's it.

"We could go scan the horizon for a bit. Shout everyone else awake if a ship comes round that we could steal. I still have your spyglass."

He and Stede sit not far from where everyone is hidden, but out in the open on the sand.

Stede peers out with his spyglass, but the emptiness of the horizon makes it seem an unfortunately useless effort.

"Thank you."

"You already said that."

"Yeah, but I don't... I've only said that to one other person."

"What, in your entire life? Izzy!"

"For fuck's sake, I meant in that I've only thanked one other person for saving my life like that! It was Ed, if you're curious."

"I am. But I'm not shocked by the answer."

Stede hands him the spyglass. "We might be stuck here for longer than I'd like."

"Then so be it."

"Ed seems a lot calmer about it now, but he was right earlier. We can't sit here for too long, not safely."

"We won't. I have a good feeling about it."

"Because of Ed?"

"Yeah. But because of you too. Never thought I'd say that."

"I'll go wake Roach; lay down and rest, and-"

His spyglass hits the sand as he pulls Stede in for a kiss.

"That was lovely," Stede smiles a moment later. "But if you meant to discourage me from thinking you need Roach, then-"

"Bonnet."

"Or not. Ed did say to expect this. Even tried to make a bet on if you'd go for it or not!"

Izzy smiles. "And what did he think I'd do?"

"Well, I don't need to go into detail like he did, but he definitely thought you'd do something before tomorrow."

"And he was right."

"He was. Say, if we were to lay out here a bit together, someone might think we're dead or injured and come to investigate," Stede muses. "And then we could take their ship."

"I like it. We're liable to fall asleep here though."

"Not if we keep each other awake."

He's not stupid enough to think they'll actually notice a ship approaching. Not like this, with Stede in his arms and his lips kissing every bit of bare skin he can reach.

But he might be able to stretch their laying out on the beach together for a bit longer as a part of his recovery (that's what Stede is murmuring in his ear, that he can tell he's feeling better, and he loves hearing it more than he would have ever expected.)

[georgekirrin]

Alright I'm nosy so here's a lot, kfjsks maybe choose a couple you'd like to answer most :]

6.what role do you play in your group of friends?

13.best compliment you've ever received?

15.favorite font?

19.what's been keeping you up at night lately?

28.if you could travel back to any one point in time, where and why?

52.what the best anon hate you've ever received?

68.what's the most recent entry in your notes app?

77.what's your plan for the apocalypse? (don't pretend you haven't thought about it a little bit.)

97.what's your lucky number(s)?

Have a lovely evening 🌌

Hi!! This is hilarious omg, I am also incredibly nosy so I feel you. I'm going to answer the ones that have the correct vibes rn and maybe come back tomorrow

6) I'd say I'm the advice friend. i think i look at things too logically most of the time but my friends keep coming back and saying they appreciated what I said so I guess that's good?

15) I usually do all my writing in calibri, but I do enjoy bell mt when I'm trying to make something look a little fancy

19) THE FIRE ALARM. WENT OFF AT 4AM TODAY. I STOOD OUTSIDE IN THE FREEZING COLD FOR AN HOUR

52) I got one a while back that was just like "Izzy isn't autistic don't be stupid". Like anon I hate to break it to you but... he isn't real. calm yourself.

97) 36!!! I also like 6 :)

[its-lovelyhappycollection]

I've made a start on my Dino Fury/Superhero au, it needs some editing here and there, but I want to hear what you think so far! (and also see if anyone wants to help me write this as I have way too many WIPs)

‘Over 100 hundreds years ago, a meteor crashed into the town of Pine Ridge, although there were no casualties, many people were injured, and taken to Hospital, it was there that it was discovered that these people had been given superhero abilities, ranging from flight to superspeed to superstrength to fire manipulation and so much more. Word got out that many other people around the world were also displaying superhero abilities, and from there were the birth of not only superheroes, but supervillians. However, a few years later, earth was under attack by an alien named ‘Lord Zedd’ who claimed to be the owner of the superpowers gifted to several humans. He threatened to destroy the earth in exchange for these humans to come forth, but thankfully these brave humans put their lives on the line to protect our earth and end Lord Zedd once and for all. Many years have passed since then, the human race has classified as one of two classes; the supes and the norms. The supes are those who are born with superhero abilities, the norms are those born without superpowers. The supes go to a special school where they can train and enhance their abilities and the norms are sent to a normal school on the very edge of most cities for their safety.

Many supes inherited their powers from their parents/families, it was uncommon for a supe to not inherit a Superpower, it was very rare for a supe to be born from a family full of norms, and it was even rarer for a norm to be born from a family of supes. In this case, many supes send those who are norms to live amongst other norms as they as expendable in their eyes’

Javi shut the book with a furious snap, tears threatening to fall as he clenched his hands against the Cherrywood table in the library he was sitting in. he hated being reminded of what he constantly was, a liability, expendable, useless, worthless, it was all stupid! Norms were just as capable as Supes, but they were too full of themselves to notice, not that it mattered, Norms admired them too much to take much noticed at being treated equally, some Supes seemed to flaunt their powers infront of Norms whenever they had to rescue them from a villain, especially if it was a norm villain such as the common mugger.. To be honest, most of them would be happy if they were even acknowledged by a superhero, whether by name or citizen. 

However not all supes were like that,  some did see Norms as equals and treated them slightly nicer than other Supes, Javi knew that some supes did infact see norms as equals, but he often thought they only treated him that way because they were his sister’s friends. His (half) sister, Izzy Garcia or Lightning quick as she called herself had the power of SuperSpeed, a power she had inherited from her Grandfather, attended the Superhero Academy that was in his city Pine Ridge, which was run by his father. His sisters friends were Zayto or Eagle had the Power of Flight, Ayion or Storm had the Power of Electrokinesis, Ollie or Helix had the power of telekensis and finally Amelia or Lady Warrior had Superstrength and Javi? Well, that was the thing, he didn’t have any superpowers. 

He was the first person in his family to not be born with superpowers, to his father, he was one of the greatest shames in the family as his family was one of the original superheroes, the ones who had defend the earth from Lord Zedd. the only reason he was able to know that izzy was his sister was because his father thought ‘it would be bad for his reputation if he let his non-powered son live away from the superhero academy’ considering his family’s legacy and all. Javi also thought that it would hurt his father’s ego if he couldn’t protect his own son, considering he was the superhero Pheonix and had fire manipulation/ 

It wasn’t like it mattered, Superhero Academy had no classes suited for Norms, so Javi was forced to go to the School for Norms all the way on the other side of the city, luckily the Train stop was right infront of the academy, meaning that Javi could easily take the train to school and back in under 30 min. however the Norm school was very different from the academy, for one thing it had very limited facilities, such as it had one toilet for each gender, a small gym and an even smaller library, and don't get him started on the locker situation. the reason they had very limited facilities was because the government believed in funding in the supes education over the norms education. 

Javi glanced at the book he was reading ‘a history of Supes and our greatest heroes’ and pushed it away, he hated this new history assignment. His teacher had assigned them all to write a report about the history of the Supes, but also how they changed the world, in 200 hundred words. Then in his Social Studies class he had to write a report on a famous superhero. Javi already had enough Superhero talk at home, whether it was Izzy talking about her Superhero training or his father talking about his latest mission and for him, it was a constant reminder what he could never be. A superhero.

i have no knowledge of what amercian classes are like, so hopefully I got the assignments right