#and sorry for pointing out how amy is boring and not the same character now

[kittydoremi]

"I like Amy, but I don't like Sonamy or how Amy is characterized now-"

"SO YOU'RE JUST AN AMY HATER, HUH!?"

Liking Sonamy and liking Amy aren't always mutual opinions. And I can point out how I don't like how Amy's character changed recently

[cursed-sonic-opinions]

Despite originally liking Sonic Frontiers, now I'm beginning to realize just how boring it is.

It's giving me the same feeling as the IDW comics. Sure, I read them. But there's literally no risks, like in the game as well!

Amy has been watered down so much that I find it kinda hard to pinpoint her personality. Sonic and Knuckles is just... Weird, also there seems to be a lot of Soknux bait which I don't get. And Tails had to relearn his confidence which he already did in Sonic Adventure One. Eggman literally does nothing, and between Sage and Sonic for the majority of the game it was "Leave" "No I need to find my friends" "No you need to leave" over and over again. It feels really tedious.

Not tto mention certain plot points feel rushed, like Sage realizing her familiar relationship to Eggman with some music and it's just... Them standing around and talking. How is that supposed to make me feel bad for her? It's just bizzare.

And oon the topic of the idw comics... Literally the only things that are interesting enough and are given genuinely more focus are the OCs. Not the original cast, the new characters for the comics specifically. I get people like them, but I wish they'd use the original cast more and also NOT BUTCHER THE CHARACTERS.

Seriously, I've been realizing how Sonic is behaving in the comic and he's literally ignoring red flags, giving too many second chances than what I feel is normal, and remember that time he weaponized someone's trauma to win an argument when the other person was RIGHT along with everyone else? Yes I'm referring to the Metal Virus incident. And adding onto all of these factors, Sonic comes off as delusional and I wished someone would call him out on this behavior but NO Sonic's gotta be the "perfect little hero who can do no wrong!"

I'm just sick of it. I'm sick of everything. And I'm sorry if this comes off as ranty or aggressive but this is just how I feel about the current state of the franchise.

.

[d0d0-b0i]

(SPOILER FILLED) alrighty, time for some more cohesive thoughts on prime for me (since my last one was written directly after finishing it and now its had time to sit in my brain) (long post btw, i ramble @w@)

overall, i very much enjoyed it! the animation had me positively salivating over the fact that its /actually/ using animation techniques and not just. moving characters from A to B without the time for proper stylization. the overall plot was enjoyable and i am excited to see what the rest of the season will offer.

the fact that it is only one-third of the whole season also makes me a lot more forgiving about certain flaws i found at first, like only showing three worlds and not giving the characters a lot of time to breathe. theres the very high likelihood that such a thing actually will happen, and we might even see more places and worlds, which is an exciting thought! nonetheless, going in i did not know this as i was sleep deprived and had forgotten how many episodes the season has, so i felt a little bit salty, ngl.

Devon Mack does a very good job as sonic, and it makes me feel warm inside hearing his portrayal! every actor does a great job honestly, and it truly feels like they all understand the respective character they voice act(especially considering they have to acclimate the character /and/ voice for each new world. very talented!). the eggman voice actor could use some rerecords at times honestly;; but he does a good enough job that i only notice it sometimes; and he is fun to listen to regardless, and is just a subjective thought of mine.

the different universes also intrigue me! :D i really enjoyed the first one the jungle one was interesting and had beautiful flora models, but it is with this one that a problem of mine arises (but ill get to that later). the waterworld was also interesting, but kind of boring worldwise, since its just. water. (i get that its a pirate world and thats fine! i just cant give a good description of my feelings besides just. water. yknow?)

ive seen that a lot of people think rouge shouldve been the captain in the third world and. honestly. yeah. i think we might get to see why later on? but idk. i hope they have a reason that makes sense as to why she isnt, like if the worlds stick around and dont fuse back, shed be the next captain? weh! (i do love knuckles in a captains outfit though, so bonus points for that!)

now. i only have a few “criticisms”, and although some can be attributed to not being intended for me(and i will therefore not include cus. duh), there is one thing i just cannot let slip by.

(CRITIQUE START) the issue i have is that it feels so empty. new yolk (i refuse the yoke) is populated, but later episodes only really reuse the same five models roughly multiple times and i think had at most like 30? of them at the same time, and obviously could not have had more due to budget and such (which is understandable, but that still doesnt mean i cant point it out).

the jungle episodes! THE JUNGLE EPISODES?? ONLY HAD 5?? CHARACTERS MINUS SONIC (froggy counts) AT ALL TIMES?? and even the flashbacks only show those, probably so as not to imply death but like. come on. not even a few background characters at all? am i meant to believe they will all die out anyway simply by being the last people on this earth? im sorry i just cant get over this. you can make sean mcloughlin, mr jacksepticeye, get a cameo and his own personal character model, BUT CANNOT EVEN FILL A JUNGLE WITH PEOPLE?? did i miss something? if theyd shown even /one/ bg character once in a single frame in the flashbacks, id forgive it but i. cannot. im sorry. im nitpicking but come on! this is like the only issue i have. you only have 11 of the original characters in the first place (sonic. tails. knuckles. amy. rouge. big. froggy. shadow. eggman. orbot. cubot.), and then half of them are pretty much gone most of the time.

i just. its so empty? DO NOT GET ME WRONG I HATE WHEN THAT HAPPENS. I DEEPLY ENJOY THIS SHOW! I LOVE THE CHARACTERS WEVE GOTTEN TO SEE !!! THAT DOES NOT MEAN I CANNOT COMPLAIN ABOUT SOMETHING I HAD TROUBLE PROCESSING. if its gonna be a show about sonic and his friendships. where the fuck are the rest of them? is all we’re gonna get homages to their characters? (jungle knuckles was just sticks. come on now. just put her in shes already canon to the mainline games now) sega, if youre going to make a show about his friendships, why wont you let his friends be there? why can you only license 11 of your characters to the show? please make me eat my words.

and yeah you could say that the reasons others arent there (in-canon, not because of legal issues) is because they werent hit close-up with the prism shatter, but neither was big? he was shown to be down by the hills when it exploded, and i dont know if that counts considering that orbot and cubot arent even in any episode besides the first one, and they werent visible in the blast, i do not know what the blast radius would be to affect anything else. eugh. idk man. this is like the ONE issue i have, and its so small it feels meaningless. yeah yeah the budget the tight grip on characters yadda yadda i get the reasons behind it but it still affects the endgoal and i should be allowed to point it out.                                                                                                                     (CRITIQUE OVER)

that being said. i am in love with the character designs! especially a big fan of sonics gloves and shoes in the pirate world. i fuck w/ that very much <3

anyway, thats it. show good. binge it if possible! we need netflix to know that we like this. and maybe theyll realize that one episode per week for this show would be perfect (im looking at you episode recaps)

[shkspr]

hi. on your post where you may or may not have ended on 'moffat is either your angel or your devil' did you have maybe an elaboration on that somewhere that i could possibly hear about. i'm very much a capaldi era stan and i've never tried to defend the matt smith era even though it had delightful moments sometimes so i wonder where that puts me. i'd love to hear your perspective on moffat as a person with your political perspective. -nicole

hi ok sorry i took so long to respond to this but i dont think you know how LOADED this question is for me but i am so happy to elaborate on that for you. first a few grains of salt to flavor your understanding of the whole situation: a. im unfairly biased against moffat bc im a davies stan and a tennant stan; b. i still very much enjoy and appreciate moffat era who for many reasons; and c. i hate moffat on a personal level far more than i could ever hate his work.

the thing is that its all always gonna be a bit mixed up bc i have to say a bunch of seemingly contradictory things in a row. for instance, a few moffat episodes are some of my absolute favorites of the rtd era, AND the show went way downhill when moffat took over, AND the really good episodes he wrote during the rtd era contained the seeds of his destruction.

like i made that post about the empty child/the doctor dances and it holds true for blink and thats about it bc the girl in the fireplace and silence in the library/forest of the dead are good but not nearly on the same level, and despite the fact that i like them at least nominally, they are also great examples of everything i hate about moffat and how he approached dw as a whole.

basically. doctor who is about people. there are many things about moffats tenure as showrunner that i think are a step up from rtd era who! actual gay people, for one! but i think that can likely be attributed mostly to an evolving Society as opposed to something inherent to him and his work, seeing as rtd is literally gay, and the existence of queer characters in moffats work doesnt mean the existence of good queer characters (ill give him bill but thats it!)

i have a few Primary Grievances with moffat and how he ran dw. all of them are things that got better with capaldi, but didnt go away. they are as follows:

moffat projects his own god complex onto the doctor

rtd era who had a doctor with a god complex. you cant ever be the doctor and not have a god complex. the problem with moffats era specifically is that the god complex was constant and unrepentant and was seen as a fundamental personality trait of the doctor rather than a demon he has to fight. he has the Momence where you feel bad for him, the Momence where he shows his humility or whatever and youre reminded that he doesnt want to be the lonely god, but those are just. moments. in a story where the doctor thinks hes the main character. rtd era doctor was aware that he wasnt the main character. he had to be an authority sometimes and he had to be the loner and he had to be sad about it, but he ultimately understood that he was expendable in a narrative sense.

this is how you get lines like “were the thin fat gay married anglican marines, why would we need names as well?” from the same show that gave you the gut punch moment at the end of midnight when they realize that nobody asked the hostess for her name. and on the one hand, thats a small sticking point, but on the other hand, its just one small example of the simple disregard that moffat has for humanity.

incidentally, this is a huge part of why sherlock sucked so bad: moffats main characters are special bc theyre so much bigger and better than all the normal people, and thats his downfall as a showrunner. he thinks that his audience wants fucking sheldon cooper when what they want is people.

like, ok. think of how many fantastic rtd era eps are based in the scenario “what if the doctor wasnt there? what if he was just out of commission for a bit?” and how those eps are the heart of the show!! bc theyre about people being people!! the thing is that all of the rtd era companions would have died for the doctor but he understood and the story understood that it wasnt about him.

this is like. nine sending rose home to save her life and sacrifice his own vs clara literally metaphysically entwining her existence w the doctor. ten also sending rose with her family to save her life vs river being raised from infancy to be obsessed w the doctor and then falling in love w him. martha leaving bc she values herself enough to make that decision vs amy being treated like a piece of meat.

and this is simultaneously a great callback to when i said that moffats episodes during the rtd era sometimes had the same problems as his show running (bc girl in the fireplace reeks of this), and a great segue into the next grievance.

moffat hates women

he hates women so fucking much. g-d, does steven moffat ever hate women. holy shit, he hates women. especially normal human women who prioritize their normal human lives on an equal or higher level than the doctor. moffat hated rose bc she wasnt special by his standards. the empty child/the doctor dances is the nicest he ever treated her, and she really didnt do much in those eps beyond a fuck ton of flirting.

girl in the fireplace is another shining example of this. youve got rose (who once again has another man to keep her busy, bc moffat doesnt think shes good enough for the doctor) sidelined for no reason only to be saved by the doctor at the last second or whatever. and then youve got reinette, who is pretty and powerful and special!

its just. moffat thinks that the doctor is as shallow and selfish as he is. thats why he thinks the doctor would stay in one place with reinette and not with rose. bc moffat is shallow and sees himself in the doctor and doesnt think he should have to settle for someone boring and normal.

not to mention rose met the doctor as an adult and chose to stay with him whereas reinette is. hm. introduced to the doctor as a child and grows up obsessed with him.

does that sound familiar? it should! bc it is also true of amy and river. and all of them are treated as viable romantic pairings. bc the only women who deserve the doctor are the ones whose entire existence revolves around him. which includes clara as well.

genuinely i think that at least on some level, not even necessarily consciously, that bill was a lesbian in part bc capaldi was too old to appeal to mainstream shippers. like twelve/clara is still a thing but not as universally appealing as eleven/clara but i am just spitballing. but i think they weighed the pros and cons of appealing to the woke crowd over the het shippers and found that gay companion was more profitable. anyway the point is to segue into the next point, which is that moffat hates permanent consequences.

moffat hates permanent consequences

steven moffat does not know how to kill a character. honestly it feels like hes doing it on purpose after a certain point, like he knows he has this habit and hes trying to riff on it to meme his own shit, but it doesnt work. it isnt funny and it isnt harmless, its bad writing.

the end of the doctor dances is so poignant and so meaningful and so fucking good bc its just this once! everybody lives, just this once! and then he does p much the same thing in forest of the dead - this one i could forgive, bc i do think that preserving those peoples consciousnesses did something for the doctor as a character, it wasnt completely meaningless. but everything after that kinda was.

rory died so many times its like. get a hobby lol. amy died at least once iirc but it was all a dream or something. clara died and was erased from the doctors memory. river was in prison and also died. bill? died. all of them sugarcoated or undone or ignored by the narrative to the point of having effectively no impact on the story. the point of a major character death is that its supposed to have a point. and you could argue that a piece of art could be making a point with a pointless death, ie. to put perspective on it and remind you that bad shit just happens, but with moffat the underlying message is always “i can do whatever i want, nothing is permanent or has lasting impact ever.”

basically, with moffat, tragedy exists to be undone. and this was a really brilliant, really wonderful thing in the doctor dances specifically bc it was the doctor clearly having seen his fair share of tragedy that couldnt be helped, now looking on his One Win with pride and delight bc he doesnt get wins like this! and then moffat proceeded to give him the same win over and over and over and over. nobody is ever dead. nobody is ever unable to be saved. and if they are, really truly dead and/or gone, then thats okay bc moffat has decided that [insert mitigating factor here]*

*the mitigating factor is usually some sort of computerized database of souls.

i can hear the moffat stans falling over themselves to remind me that amy and rory definitely died, and they did - after a long and happy life together, they died of old age. i dont consider that a character death any more than any other character choosing to permanently leave the tardis.

and its not just character deaths either, its like, everything. the destruction of gallifrey? never mind lol! character development? scrapped! the same episode four times? lets give it a fifth try and hope nobody notices. bc he doesnt know how to not make the doctor either an omnipotent savior or a self-pitying failure.

it is in nature of doctor who, i believe, for the doctor to win most of the time. like, it wouldnt be a very good show if he didnt win most of the time. but it also wouldnt be a very good show if he won all of the time. my point is that moffats doctor wins too often, and when he doesnt win, it feels empty and hollow rather than genuinely humbling, and you know hes not gonna grow from it pretty much at all.

so like. again, i like all of doctor who i enjoy all of it very much. i just think that steven moffat is a bad show runner and a decent writer at times. and it is frustrating. and im not here to convince or convert anyone im just living my truth. thank you for listening.

[camelliacats]

written in your blood (part 1/6)

One last visit to Rowle's—and Flora's—saga with the Carrow siblings, written as my entry for the Death Eater 2022 Fest. Set primarily after this oneshot and this story.

Ch1: "Then: Amycus" [FFN] [AO3] | →

Pairings/Characters: Thorfinn Rowle & Amycus Carrow (implied/mentions of Thorfinn/Alecto Carrow)

Rating: light T

Words: ~1,020

Additional info: gen fic, angst, hurt/comfort, Dark magic, Marauder era, 3rd person POV

Summary: Thorfinn's made the same promise twice over already…and he'll make it again, if it means new ally Flora will be instrumental in getting his love and his best mate back. Ch1: Thorfinn swears his first oath to Amycus, as they finish school.

      Thorfinn has heard of such magic once or twice before, because it's the kind of Dark fairytale magical parents tell their children growing up, as a precautionary tale. "This is just a story," parents say in one breath. "But never try such magic yourself," they say the next.

      And, yet, Thorfinn Rowle finds himself in a dry corner of the library one particular Friday evening in his seventh year, standing opposite from Amycus Carrow at a windowsill, tired but ready and willing with a sharpened pond stone in his hand. "If we get the blood oath done and over with quickly, there might still be some sweets leftover from the Halloween celebration."

      Amycus—still pale even in the moonlight coming through the window but filling out now, thanks to Thorfinn's mother's cooking the last couple years—flushes scarlet. "Sweets?!" he hisses. "I ask you for a blood oath, and right now all you can think about is food?!"

      Thorfinn swallows a sigh, accustomed to how Amycus' temper flares. "You made me rush through dinner so we could do this tonight, Amy. Sorry if I didn't have the time to fill up."

      The thinner boy scowls at him, and Thorfinn risks a smirk. Sure, Alecto told Thorfinn not to use nicknames with her and her younger brother, but it's a little tempting sometimes, especially seeing either of them riled up. …although, Thorfinn's amusement dissipates when Amycus discards the friendly moment and glances at the stone in his compatriot's hand instead. Amycus huffs. "And you still want to do this?" His words are cautionary and whisper-quiet, like the turning of a page, though they have no open tomes around them.

      Thorfinn nods but once. "I wouldn't've gone hunting for the stone to carve if I didn't."

      Amycus lifts his gaze. He's got beady eyes, one of the many features reminding Thorfinn that Amycus and Alecto don't share full blood, and those eyes bore into him. "It's this or an Unbreakable Vow. And that wouldn't involve slicing ourselves open with something from the shores of the Black Lake." He sniffs. "With my luck, I'll catch something and die before I'm of use to Alec."

      But Thorfinn is done with Amycus trying to back out of this plan. He snatches Amycus' right wrist without warning, pressing the tip of the pond stone into the fleshy part of Amycus' palm below his thumb and cutting a mark an inch long before releasing him. Amycus barely has time to yelp before Thorfinn repeats the action with his own right palm. And then he holds his hand out for Amycus to shake.

      Amycus eyes Thorfinn's hand warily. He meets his eyes again, and it still amazes Thorfinn to find an ounce of warmth, of friendship in that gaze. He never would've guessed Amycus might really consider him a friend, a brother…but they're not first years anymore. And likely Amycus mulls over the same thoughts, for he next says, "…learning the Dark Arts together with me—that's enough of a promise, Rowle."

      He nearly laughs. If it wouldn't inflate Amycus' ego so much, Thorfinn would point out how much the younger Carrow has inherited his older sister's knack for pushing away those closest to him. But no. Thorfinn shakes his head and holds his hand steady. "It was your idea, Amycus, and I'm happy to oblige."

      Amycus pulls a face, puckered, as though he's eaten something mealy. "You're doing this because of Alec," he corrects.

      "It's because of the both of you. I can't help but get involved with the Carrow siblings, it seems."

      Amycus purses his lips and a little huff escapes him. Yet he seems satisfied enough with that, and he clasps Thorfinn's hand at last and recites nonverbally the spell he looked up at the start of the month.

      Thorfinn's fingers tingle, and he becomes disarmingly aware of the blood flowing through his veins, as well of the blood that drips from his palm and melds with his best mate's. When Amycus lowers his wand, a glowing crimson light pulses bright red and threatens to spill from between their fingers.

      Amycus clears his throat, but he keeps his volume lowered. "R—" He catches himself. "…Thorfinn, with this oath, you promise to join me in returning to Alecto's side and assisting her in whatever new endeavors she's found, no matter what they may be. Do you swear this oath?"

      Any other day, he'd love to write Alecto and point out that Amycus deigned to use his given name. But the magic requires it, so it's nothing much to celebrate. Still, the magic tingles in his hand and reminds him to stay focused, and Thorfinn doesn't hesitate to reply. "I swear this oath, Amycus."

      Such heavy magic—it shouldn't kill them, the way the Unbreakable Vow would, just dictate their actions to a degree, keep them on the right path—and such magic burns with their agreement made. As in, literally burns: Thorfinn grits his teeth as the glowing red light intensifies and turns hot, until it's impossible for the wizards to remain joined. They snap their hands apart, and Amycus even jumps a step back.

      The skinny lad eyes his palm in wonder. "Not even a single trace," he says in amazement, eyeing his bare, unblemished palm.

      Thorfinn does the same. There's no scar, no blood. Not even a drop made it to the cuff of his jumper.

      It's as though they never swore a blood oath at all.

      (But, no, Halloween of 1980 lingers in Thorfinn Rowle's mind as seventh year speeds past them. He briefly wonders about the magic's impact because he drowsed off every time he asked Amycus to explain the finer mechanisms and consequences of it. Consequences big or small, Dark Arts and more, Thorfinn has been prepping himself since the end of sixth year for what lies ahead for him and Amycus…

      …he's been prepping to say goodbye to his parents, as well…

      …but it'll be worth it, Thorfinn knows…he believes…

      He has to believe, because he needs Alecto back in his life, and the Carrow siblings come as a set.)

:') Much as with at last, with you, the longer I worked on this, the more I found clear distinctions in certain places, hence choosing to split this up into a few chapters. It does feel nice to revisit some things from "close to you" and alwy, tho, in a sort of missing-moments way. And now…onward!

Thanks for reading, and feel free to leave an anon/unsigned review via the FFN link or comment via the AO3 link at the top of the post, especially if you enjoyed this! (I mean, kinda nice to see the boys getting along considering past fics, right? *lol*)

~mew

And if you want to support written in your blood, please swing by its FFN and AO3 versions to review/comment/fav/leave kudos and like and reblog these posts on my HariPo fic tumblr!

[scrapyardboyfriends]

Guessing "drunk man" in this week's cast list will be Ben's dad *sigh*. The options people were coming up with on here for this Ben stuff might have actually made this nonsense slightly more watchable but instead it looks like they are sticking with their normal lazy painting by numbers approach. I guess the show think giving them both drunk relatives will give them something in common, I wouldn't be at all surprised if they go the whole hog and make the dad abusive too.

I’m already bored just thinking about it. Haha. I mean I think fleshing his character out more is necessary but I feel like just bringing in people specific to him is not really the best plan. That just further isolates him really. What they should have done initially is just have him actually interact with the rest of the HOP staff. And it’s still how I would try and integrate him now even though it will be less effective at this point than it would have been at the beginning. But having him be friendly with Amy/Matty/Vic/Gabby/Ellis/Billy etc would be good for him. Give him other relationships with characters we know. Make him have a run in with Al over something and have Billy or Ellis defend him. Billy would actually be really interesting for him to talk to considering his own history with Aaron. Just something.

I feel like bringing in his alcoholic father is just so…on the nose. It’s like, Ben only exists to be with Aaron and support him with Liv and he mentioned he had an alcoholic father so…here he is! And it’s just like…sure. But what do they do with that? Do they want us to feel sorry for Ben? Are we going to make him into a perpetual victim like they did with Rebecca to garner sympathy. Didn’t work that time either. Is it just a wake up call for Liv and that’s how we get out of this storyline? I mean that would be a benefit to this. But also Ben seems really worried about this mystery call according to the spoilers so is there more to it? If we have to deal with another abusive dad, I’m going to be annoyed. I don’t need Paul 2.0. I also don’t feel like he needs to have that to relate to Aaron. Speaking of Gordon though, does Ben even know all of that yet? I mean he magically knows everything else about Aaron’s life so it wouldn’t surprise me. But at the same time, that feels like an important one for him to learn on screen since it’s integral to their history that we’re maybe supposed to have forgotten about already?! I suppose this stuff with the dad could bring that up.

Sigh…who knows. If it is his dad, it’s not at all what I would have chosen to do with him and I think it’s a mistake but I guess we’ll find out.

[britishassistant]

But I Like One Piece (19)

She opens her eyes.

There are insects on her face.

Oh Luffy, there are so many insects on her face.

It’s only years of practice and the knowledge of how upset Shino will be with her that prevents her from swatting wildly.

“Why are there insects on my face.” She mumbles, moving her lips as little as possible and lifting a hand to her cheek so some of them can scuttle off and onto her fingers.

She doesn’t want any falling into her mouth on accident.

“Because my kikaichū are capable of injecting small doses of chakra into your system, which restores your reserves and helps return the body to homeostasis.” Shino extends his hand and the remaining insects begin flitting off her face back up his sleeves.

Her confusion must show on her face, because he sighs. “Chakra injections to help you wake up.”

“Oh. Thank you.”

Shino inclines his head as he retracts his arm, all insects safely retrieved.

She struggles to sit up. One side of her head throbs a little.

“How are you feeling, Ketsugi-chan?” Iruka-sensei asks. “Do you feel dizzy or nauseous at all?”

She shakes her head. “No, Iruka-sensei.”

He purses his lips and tilts her head to the side, before pulling a small flashlight out of his jacket pocket and shining it in her eyes. “No bumps, and your pupils seem normal...what caused you to collapse, Ketsugi-chan? Can you remember?”

Her breath stutters in her throat at the thought.

“I don’t. Like them. The g— them. Those.”

Iruka-sensei blinks. “The weapons? They upset you?”

She nods mutely.

“Seriously?” Uchiha mutters. “First chakra and now this?”

“Sasuke-kun!” Iruka-sensei scolds, though his tone is slightly exasperated. “Well, if you feel bad again, be sure to let me know, okay Ketsugi-chan?”

Her mind won’t stop racing, even after they return to the classroom.

How, how, how, how can those—those things be here?!

This world is supposed be a ninja story, where people use taijutsu and chakra and kunai and katana to fight.

She’s pretty certain none of the flame wars in her past life ever talked about any characters bringing shitty g-firearms to the mix.

And not just any firearms either.

Nothing like the older models found in One Piece and museums of her old world, where the bullet and gunpowder needed to be inserted separately into the barrel of the g— of the weapon before firing.

The existence of that older type of weapon here might make a small amount of sense at least.

No, those were high-tech, modern firearms, the kind with cartridges that are inserted at the bottom of the handle, with bullets that have gunpowder built into the casing, that are pointed so they can pierce—

She only narrowly keeps herself from retching.

Naruto keeps shooting her worried glances as the day goes on.

He’s resorted to scribbling what happened?? on the edges of her notebook by the time the last lesson of the day draws to a close.

She does her best to placate him with weak smiles and shaking her head discreetly, but that seems to have the opposite effect judging by the way his brows furrow.

Shikamaru keeps staring at her as well.

However, it’s not the same as the concerned looks that Chouji, Ino, Hinata, Sakura, Shino and even Kiba keep giving her.

He’s staring at her like he knows something isn’t right.

Like he suspects something.

She does her best to avoid his gaze when they leave the classroom.

Lee meets them outside the Academy.

His greeting trails off as Naruto grabs his hand and drags the pair of them over to the tree swingset.

“Naruto-kun, what’s going on?” He asks, brows furrowing.

“Mayu passed out when she saw the weapons from Yuki.” Naruto accuses, arms crossed over his chest and brows furrowed. “And don’t say it’s nothing, ‘cause you’re still pale and shaky. Not even chakra has ever done that to you, believe it.”

She glances down at her trembling hands. She squeezes them together to try and make the tremors stop.

“Mayu-chan.” She looks up when Lee claps his hands on her shoulders, staring her dead in the eyes. “Are you okay?”

She starts to nod.

Lee raises an eyebrow.

She doesn’t end up shaking her head but it’s a near thing.

“I’m—” She cuts herself off. “I’m not alright, but. It’s not something I ca-need to talk about. Can we just go?”

Naruto’s brow furrows even further and he makes a face. It’s the same face he made when confronting Ami over bullying Sakura, or confiding his worries about Uchiha’s diet in her. It’s his “I’m not happy and going to do something about it” face.

Lee’s frowning too, now gripping her hands tight. “You can talk to us about anything, Mayu-chan. You know that, right?”

Unseen stares from the surrounding trees bore into her as she nods. She very carefully does not look up.

She flounders for something, anything to make them understand.

“It’s a Tamara thing.” She hisses quietly.

It takes them a moment, but then sweet, merciful understanding flashes across Naruto and Lee’s faces, the pair of them stiffening like they’ve been pricked with pins.

“Ah! Is that so!” Lee’s laugh is too loud, too boisterous to anyone who knows him well. She prays to Robin that the masks don’t. “Well thank Luffy it’s nothing to worry about, right Naruto-kun?”

“Y-Yeah!” Naruto agrees, hesitating a fraction of a second too long for comfort. “You shoulda told us that’s all it was earlier, Mayu-chan, I was worried over nothing, believe it!”

She feels an eyebrow twitch, but tries to contort her expression into an apologetic smile. “Sorry, it’s just a little embarrassing, you know,” She fakes a laugh. “Girl problems and all that.”

“I see! Girl problems! Of course!” Lee says, clearly not understanding at all.

She takes a moment to wonder what exactly the boys do while the girls are in kunoichi classes.

Naruto loops an arm around her shoulders. “Yosh! Let’s get home then! Oka— Mayu’s okaa-san will be waiting for us, believe it!”

“Well said Naruto-kun!” Lee loops an arm around her other shoulder. “Yosh! Onwards!”

The three of them frogmarch home, chattering loudly about nothing.

They could not be more conspicuous if they were dressed in animal costumes and singing a musical number.

The unseen stares following them now have an added side of judgement which she does not appreciate.

She’s already racing upstairs to grab her coats and yukata when they all tumble through the front door.

“Welcome ba—” Okaa-san gives her an odd look when she clatters back down the stairs, clothes in her arms. “—Mayu? What’s going on?”

“We’re home Chie-oba-san! Nothing happened at all!” Lee proclaims in the same breath as Naruto blurts, “Mayu passed out!”

Okaa-san blinks, then grabs her shoulder as she makes for the front door. “Not your nice yukata, young lady, I just finished ironing it again. Go get your towel instead. Then you’re all going to sit down here and tell me exactly what happened calmly. Understand?”

“Yes, okaa-san.” They chorus meekly

Naruto calls dibs on telling his side of the story first.

She begins to regret letting him a few moments after he opens his mouth and launches into an embellished retelling of how she made a wheezing noise at the mere sight of the weapons and dropped to the ground like a broken mast, startling everyone and interrupting Uchiha.

He’s tearing up as he continues, “An’, an’ Mayu just wouldn’t wake up, no matter what, even when I shook her an’ everythin’ believe it, an’ Iruka-sensei yelled at me because he said I mighta’ hurt you worse, an’ then Shino did his bug thing an’ you woke up but you were still so pale an’ shaky an’ scared but you wouldn’ say anything, an’, an’—”

Okaa-san pulls him into a hug as he trails off into frustrated hiccoughs, rubbing his back soothingly.

Lee’s grip on her hand is so tight it’s beginning to hurt a bit.

“Well, Mayu?” Okaa-san says, voice slightly strained. “Was that what happened?”

“K-kind of?” She shifts forward so she can give Naruto a one-armed hug. “Sorry I scared you, I was just...just really, really freaked out. I never meant to scare you too.”

“...s’okay.” He mutters into her hair. “Dun’ do it ‘gain, kay?”

She nuzzles into his shoulder, “I’ll try. Promise.”

Lee gives a cough behind her. “So...what alarmed you about those weapons, Mayu-chan?”

She stiffens, drawing back out of the hug.

“They— they aren’t right.” Her head throbs. “Maybe if it was earlier, a prototype model, maybe. But that kind of g—of weapon shouldn’t be here, shouldn’t even exist.”

Okaa-san’s brow furrows. “What do you mean by that?”

“I mean it shouldn’t exist!” She snaps. “This place prizes ch-chakra too much for their existence to make sense! You lot place a premium on throwing projectiles and close combat because chakra allows you to compensate. The existence of those kind of g— of firearm doesn’t make any sense, because there’s not a need for that kind here like there was in my world, it just, it just doesn’t make any sense, why is it here, why is it here?!”

Her breathing is ragged.

Her head hurts.

Everything’s so blurry she can barely see.

“Mayu-chan?” Lee’s voice sounds very small. “Does that mean those weapons are from your world?”

“I don’t wanna get shot again.” She chokes out. “I don—I—it hurt so much last time.”

Lee hugs like he’s trying to both squeeze the pain out of her and shield her from it ever returning.

It’s almost painful how tight his arms are around her shoulders, but it does help ground her somewhat.

Then there’s softness pressing against her side and Okaa-san’s arm is curling around Lee’s shoulders to pull them both to her, burying her face in the crown of Mayu’s head.

Naruto reaches over and threads his fingers with hers from where he’s curled into Okaa-san’s other side, squeezing as hard as he can.

They stay like that for a long time.

They startle when the front door snags on her winter coat when it opens.

“I’m baaa-ah? Darling, is the door broken?” Otou-san asks, poking his head through the small gap at the threshold.

“Welcome home Jirou-oji-san!” Lee waves.

“Otou-san! It’s coat and stair time!” Naruto yells. “You gotta come in right now, believe it!”

“Hang on, I need to get the door unstuck first!” Otou-san replies. “Hm...maybe if I unscrewed the hinges...”

Okaa-san gives a weak chuckle. “Mayu-chan, go pick up your coat before it rips or your father dismantles the front door.”

Otou-san smiles at her when she opens the door properly, coat in hand. “I’m home, Mayu.”

“Welcome back, Otou-san.”

The smile drops slightly when he gets a good look at her, and he reaches out to brush a thumb over her temple. “Ouch. How’d this happen?”

She winces slightly at the pressure. “I fainted at the Academy. It’s...a long story.”

Otou-san gives her a searching look, then turns that stare on the interior of the front hall, where her raincoat and towel block the entrances to the kitchen and the living room.

He closes the front door behind him and lays her winter coat back at the bottom of the threshold. “Well, I’d better hear it sooner rather than later, hadn’t I?”

She’s a little proud that she’s able to say, “I freaked out at the sight of the weapon that killed me in my past life” on the third try without blubbering.

Much.

Okaa-san drums her fingers on her arm. “How can you be sure that these weapons are from your world? After all, your world had katana and kunai and other weapons that are found here— maybe it’s just that our technology is beginning to catch up to yours.”

She shrugs in Otou-san’s hug. “I’d believe that if they weren’t so...so modern. This world relies on c-chakra a lot, which makes bladed weapons and thrown projectiles much more viable than they are in mine. We haven’t even been taught about the existence of g-firearms at the Academy before today. Yet, despite that, those things are just as if not more advanced than the ones from my world, with no precedent.”

“Yeah!” Naruto nods decisively. “What’s a preceden?”

“It’s when certain things have to happen first for something to exist.” Okaa-san explains. “Like you need to have eggs if you want to make omelette rice.”

Otou-san hums. “You’ve never spoken to anyone else about your past life, have you Mayu?”

She shakes her head. “Only you lot and Gai-sensei. And I wouldn’t tell anyone about...those things.”

“Where is Gai-sensei, anyway?” Naruto asks.

“He has a mission today.” Okaa-san says. “He dropped by earlier to say he would be back in time for training tomorrow morning.”

Lee nods, smile small and happy.

Then he leans against Okaa-san, arms crossed. “So if the guns are from Mayu’s past life, but Mayu-chan didn’t have anything to do with their creation, how did they get from that world to here?”

She purses her lips. She’d like to know that herself.

Naruto closes his eyes and tilts his head from side to side, like a dog trying to listen to something. “Hmmm...a wizard...no, a mindreader...Iwa nin...hmm...Mayu’s evil twin...magic teleporting frog...”

She snorts and opens her mouth—

Then freezes.

“Naruto, what did you just say?”

Naruto blinks. “Magic teleporting frog?”

“Wh-no! Before that!” She says, mind whirring a million miles a minute.

There’s a moment as Naruto’s lips work soundlessly, going back through what he said.

Then his eyes widen and he rears back. “What the heck?! Mayu—you��you have an evil twin and never told me?!”

“You think I would’ve noticed if that was the case.” Okaa-san mutters.

“Kaa-san!” She yelps, flustered. “And no I don’t have an evil twin—that’s not the point!”

“What is it?” Lee leans around Okaa-san to stare curiously at her.

“It’s just an idea, I don’t have any proof for it or anything,” She gently digs her teeth into her lower lip. “But when Naruto said ‘evil twin’, it made me think what if—what if there is someone out there who was like me? What if I’m not the only one who was reborn into this world from mine?”

The room goes still.

“If such a person did exist, why would they do this?” Otou-san asks carefully. “Why manufacture and export these weapons, if there’s no real need for them here?”

She shrugs. “Money? Power, maybe? I-I don’t know, I have no idea. It’s just— nothing else makes sense, does it?”

There’s a sharp rap at the front door.

They all freeze.

“Dear. Gai said he wouldn’t be back from his mission today until tomorrow morning, didn’t he.” Okaa-san says.

Otou-san stands, one hand on his bokken. “Yes. He did.”

He moves towards the door, while Okaa-sama pushes them behind her, hissing, “Go upstairs to the door of our bedroom. Do not come down until we call you.”

After a moment, her towel and coats are lobbed up after them.

The zip on her winter coat smacks her in the lip.

She pulls it off her head in time to hear her father faintly say, “...Nara-sama! What an unexpected surprise!”

“Geez, Nara-sama’s such a drag. Nara-san will do just fine.” The lazy drawl floats up to them as Naruto leans forward to try and get a glimpse of Shikamaru’s dad, towel wrapped around his shoulders like a cape.

“Thank you very much, Nara-san. Would you like to come in?” Okaa-sama asks as Lee fidgets with the zipper on her raincoat.

“Nah, we’ll be quick. Shikamaru here just wanted to check with your kid, see if this whole shrine thing tomorrow is still going on.”

“Oh! Well we haven’t discussed that with her yet, so we’ll call her down.” She only gets a brief moment to panic before Okaa-san is raising her voice. “Mayu-chan! It’s one of your friends from the Academy for you!”

She shoves the coat behind her and traipses down the stairs.

“Hello Nara-san,” She says, a fake smile plastered across her face. “Hey Shika.”

“Yo.” Shikamaru replies.

His eyes still have that assessing quality from earlier.

He knows nothing, she tells herself. He hasn’t figured out you’re reincarnated, he doesn’t know there’s anything to figure out, please, please Sanji don’t let him figure anything out.

“So,” Shikamaru says suddenly, startling her. “How’s the head? It’d be troublesome if you woke up tomorrow too hurt to fix up the shrines.”

She touches the bruised area. “It’s a little sore, but I should be fine for tomorrow!”

“Are you sure, Mayu?” Okaa-san squeezes her shoulders. “We could always reschedule for next weekend if you aren’t up for it.”

“But Okaaa-saaan,” There’s a series of thumps as Naruto slides down the stairs one step at a time. “We’ve been waiting ages for this! Oh, hi Shika!”

“Hey Naruto.” Shikamaru raises a hand.

“I’m sure,” She nods her head. “Plus I think they’re eager for the shrines to finally be done too.”

Okaa-san’s expression goes tight and unamused, like it always does when they interact with her without it being an emergency, or Mayu asking permission first.

It’s not quite fair because Mayu suspects they can’t really help it, and it’s not really anything too direct, just flashes of emotion that are a little too intense to be her own.

She’s just glad they’re excited about the shrines too.

Then Shikamaru says, almost too casually, “The guns really spooked you earlier, huh?”

She can’t help it. She flinches.

Otou-san lays a hand over one of Okaa-san’s on her shoulder. “Ah, that...we were just discussing it with Mayu. We’re sorry for any worry her behavior caused, but...well...”

“But what?” Nara-san asks, one eyebrow raised.

Otou-san looks down, face twisted as if contemplating a difficult memory. “We don’t...enjoy talking about the journey from our homeland to Konohagakure. The...trials...we all had to weather. We’re just thankful we all made it here in one piece.”

Okaa-san nods and returns Otou-san’s doting smile, pretending to discreetly dab away tears with the sleeves of her kimono.

Shikamaru’s eyes widen slightly and he shifts, scratching his cheek and looking away.

It’s all she can do to not gape at the scene.

Are they—are they insinuating that her reaction to those things stems from their escape from Iron to hide her reincarnation? To the Jounin Squad Leader of Konoha and his son, no less?

She gives silent thanks to Franky and Robin.

She has the best parents in this world. The best.

“So the fact that the manufacturer of these weapons is based in Yukigakure comes as no surprise to you?” Nara-san says.

Otou-san jolts behind her.

Then after a moment, he sags, scrubbing one hand over his face. “You know, it really doesn’t. Does Yamanaka-san know?”

“He knows.” Nara-san nods, seemingly disinterested. He does a much better job of faking it compared to Shikamaru.

She glances back and forth between them, but there’s nothing on either man’s face that gives away any meaning to these non-sequiturs.

At least Shikamaru’s calculating look isn’t directed at her anymore.

Instead, he squints at Naruto. “Why are you wearing a towel?”

“Uh.” Naruto says, eyes darting to her.

Usopp help.

“We...were deconstructing a pillow fort! In my room.” She lies.

“A pillow what?” Shikamaru asks, eyes...oddly bright.

“A pillow fort! It’s where you take a whole load of pillows and blankets and towels and stuff and you create a fort using chairs and tables, or a chair and your bed if you have a raised one.” She explains.

Shikamaru nods, like this is only logical, though his expression has gotten even more weirdly intense for some reason. “Is that so? What do you do once you’ve built it?”

She shrugs. “It depends. You can just hang out in it and tell stories? Or nap?”

A slow, almost vicious smile spreads across Shikamaru’s face. He turns it upwards towards his father, who’s gone a worrying shade of grey and is staring at her like she’s pronounced a curse on his clan.

“Why.” Nara-san says, tone despairing. “Why would you tell him something like that exists?”

She shuffles so she’s partially hidden behind Otou-san. “...Sorry.”

Nara-san sighs, tugging gently on Shikamaru’s ponytail. “C’mon you. Let’s get going before you get any more ideas.”

“Actually, Nara-san, I have a quick question.” Okaa-san steps forward. “Would it—would it be acceptable for me to write to my relatives in Water Country? Perhaps inviting one or two of them over?”

She blinks up at her mother. She knows she has relatives in Water, but this is the first she’s heard about potentially meeting them.

Nara-san cocks his head to the side. “Writing a letter isn’t a crime. Inviting them here, to this village, for a visit...that’s more dicey.”

Okaa-san nods, chewing on her lower lip. “I suspected as much. Is that the same for all of Fire Country, or...? Ideally, we wouldn’t want to travel very far from Konoha.”

“Ideally.” Nara-san sighs again. “There are some villages nearby that might suit your needs. For now, I’d just put in a request for mail delivery at the mission desk. They can help you with any questions you have from there.”

“Thank you very much, Nara-san.” Okaa-san bows at the waist. “I hope you and Shikamaru-kun have a pleasant afternoon.”

“You too.” Nara-san bobs his head and takes Shikamaru by the shoulder. “C'mon, say goodbye.”

“See ya.” Shikamaru says, inclining his head like his father before the pair of them begin to walk away.

“See you tomorrow, Shika!” Naruto calls.

“Remember to wear clothes you don’t mind getting paint on!” She yells after him.

Shikamaru raises a hand in acknowledgement, before turning back to say something to his father.

Otou-san lets out a heavy sigh once the door is closed. “Right. Lee, could you bring the coats down with you?”

Lee obligingly comes down the stairs with both coats in his arms. “Are your relatives coming to stay, Chie-oba-san?”

“Maybe not to stay.” Okaa-san says. “But hopefully my brother Ikei and cousin Mei will get to meet you all.”

“All? You mean me, an’ Lee an’ Gai-sensei get to come with?” Naruto pipes up as he finishes setting down the towel, a huge grin spreading across his face.

Okaa-san beams and gathers the two of them into a hug. “Of course. I can’t let them leave without introducing them to three of my four favorite boys, can I?”

Lee’s eyes are shining and Naruto’s grinning and giggling. Otou-san leans over Okaa-san’s shoulder, pouting playfully. “Then what am I?”

“You’re the fourth favorite, of course.” Okaa-san teases, planting a kiss on Otou-san’s cheek.

Her mother turns and shoots her a small smile. “I also thought we could ask them it they’d met anyone who behaves...well, like you do. We’re a large merchant family spread all over, so it’s not unlikely that one of them has met someone in your circumstances without knowing it.”

“It’s not a bad idea, considering there’s likely one in Yukigakure.” Otou-san says glumly.

[quitereal]

Spoilers for the movie Trust (2021) and trigger warning for discussion of cheating/infidelity below the cut, it will be a rant

I love Kat, and she was amazing in this movie. Seriously, just look at the gifs, she’s sensational, her acting was honestly the highlight of the whole film. But I’m just gonna say, that was not a high bar, because this movie is hot garbage. Hot entirely because of Kat, because she is fucking hotter than hell, and she brought her A-game, which is frankly more than can be said for LITERALLY ANYONE ELSE ON THE CAST. Obviously she was better than Matt Daddario, because he has all the acting skill of a potato. Victoria Justice was... fine. She was clearly phoning it in, and same for Lucien Laviscount. They were there, that’s about the extent of what can be said for their performances, but honestly, I can’t blame them. It is a testament, frankly, to Kat’s talent and dedication that she put as much into this shitty film as she did. 

I’m not gonna mince words here, it was bad. It was just bad. Kat’s performance was a bright spot, but she didn’t save the movie by any stretch. Everything from the music to the writing to the editing to the very premise of the plot was just bad. The music was jarring, there was no theme to it, some scenes had no background music at all, others had weirdly upbeat music, and others felt like they were trying to set the tone of a film noir, which this “mystery” certainly was not. The writing made no sense, the characters were not compelling, they seemingly had NO motivation whatsoever, and the ending was just trash. The editing was all over the place, and sorry, I’m just never going be a fan of tons of flashback cuts. START THE STORY WHERE THE STORY STARTS. Don’t do this flashback nonsense to try and make a boring story better, it was not good. If you need to pull these sort of tricks on your audience, then you don’t have a good enough story. And onto the plot, which is probably the worst part of this suck-fest.

Okay, so the story starts by trying to convince us that Brooke (Victoria Justice) and Owen (Matt Daddario) are a married couple that are deeply in love. Except they’re just not. From the get-go, they’re both suspicious that they’re BOTH going to cheat, and that’s what gets us started down this road. At one point, Brooke describes her suspicions as a “sliver of doubt” except that if it’s truly just a sliver, you go to counselling, you don’t hire a decoy to trick your husband. Owen also clearly knows his wife is suspicious and actually uses her insecurities to needle at her with a business trip he’s going on with his (apparently entirely female) production crew. They are just deeply trashy people who are not at all in love, and are apparently married because... I can’t think of a reason, they’re terrible together, they have zero on-screen chemistry and I just did not believe for a minute that these two people even LIKED each other, let alone were deeply in love. 

Like, I get it. She has to hire a decoy instead of going to counselling because going to counselling does not make for a good movie, but neither does what they did here. The ending is really the part that makes everything else make no sense, because if the movie is about this deeply unhappy couple who are wildly suspicious of one another and don’t even trust each other enough to have a FUCKING CONVERSATION about their insecurities, they really should break up right? Well, not in this fucked up world. In this world, after both spouses have cheated on one another, apparently the logical step is to immediately forgive one another, and have a baby within the year. BECAUSE BABIES MAGICALLY FIX SHITTY RELATIONSHIPS RIGHT?! Oh my god, it’s so bad, I cannot.

And let’s get into the WORST part of this movie, the fucking misogyny and slut-shaming portion of the film. So, Amy (Katherine McNamara) is introduced as the decoy that Brooke hires to essentially seduce her husband to see if he’ll cheat. Notably, Amy is NOT supposed to sleep with Owen, only find out if he’ll take the opportunity, but lo and behold, apparently Owen is on her “hall pass” and when given the opportunity to sleep with one of her top-five celebrity crushes, Amy takes it. But Amy actually proves to be the only character so far to have an ounce of integrity, which is actually not a good thing in her line of work, because for some reason, after she sleeps with Owen and he treats her like ABSOLUTE GARBAGE, she tries to protect him, and then tells him about the whole arrangement with his wife as if she owes him? Her coming back to tell him the truth is absolutely nonsensical, the way he treated her after their tryst showed his complete and utter disdain for her, even before he found out she was part of a trick his WIFE was playing on him. And of course, everyone turns on her, even though she wouldn’t even have been involved if they would just talk to each other. The worst thing I can say about Amy is that she’s DUMB AF, like she clearly made a mistake here, but in her defense, she is the ONLY character who actually seems to feel bad that she slept with a married man and acknowledges that SHE MADE A MISTAKE. She even gives the money back. Neither Brooke or Owen seem at all bothered that they cheated on their spouses, Owen only shows any signs of distress when he thinks he’ll get caught (and then when he is) and Brooke never even admits to what she did (and yes, I realize she didn’t sleep with Angsgar, but she did get almost naked and make out with him, so like, where are we drawing the line in the sand? In my book, that’s cheating too). Neither of them seem to feel badly for hurting their spouse, and to solve their problem, they cut out Amy & Angsgar, as if they’re the source of the problem. Like no guys, temptation is not your issue. You are the issue here, but sure, have a baby, slap a bandaid on your problems like it’s gonna make everything better. I feel so fucking bad for that kid, they are gonna need ALL the therapy.

Like I do realize I probably have issues with the entire premise of the film, but it’s just so, so poorly executed. If you’re going to do a movie about cheating spouses, you should, at some point, have them acknowledge the deep betrayal that infidelity is and actually DEAL WITH THE FALLOUT. Like they should’ve lost the nonsense back-flashes and spent that time exploring how Owen & Brooke moved past their mutual betrayals and forgave one another, but instead they just seem to say “well, I guess we’re even now,” and live happily ever after. 

Honestly, the whole film feels like someone is desperately trying to justify their own cheating behavior with a movie about how “everybody does it” and it doesn’t really hurt anyone. It’s bullshit, and so is the whole movie. 

It was not good. But Kat was great. If you haven’t seen it, don’t. Just look at the gifs of Kat, because she looks fucking amazing. 

[cadomoisspokenfor]

Legion Rewatch Notes,

Chapter 4:

Frizzytop

I theorized in episode 2 that David could see through the 4th wall, or at least into a different universe. At the start of this episode Oliver outright breaks the 4th wall. Perhaps powerful reality benders just have that capability. If David knows, and Oliver knows, then Farouk definitely knows.

“A great philosopher once wrote, ‘In times of peace, the war like man attacks himself.’ This is the route of all our problems.”

“We are the route of all our problems. Our confusion, our anger, our fear of things we don’t understand.”

If we carry those 2 quotes throughout the rest of the show, then no doubt the tragedies that happen later on are caused by a collective misunderstanding of each other. And a collective lashing out at that misunderstanding of each other.

“Violence, in other words, is ignorance.”

The most central theme of the show is empathy vs fear. I s’pose whenever there’s a conflict in the show we’re supposed to be asking whether the characters should answer with empathy or fear. Certain characters lives have revolved heavily around fear. And that informs their decision making quite a bit. This will all come up again at multiple points throughout the show.

Syd... probably can’t break the 4th wall. So maybe it’s most logical to interpret this as her inner monologue. Very Jessica Jones esque.

The same voice lines from when Syd was searching for David in episode 1 are played. I guess there go to whenever Davids lost (whether in the world or in his mind) is to transmit Syds voice calling his name in hopes he’ll hear it and come back.

Kerry can pick locks.

The concept of “bad mutants” is well established amongst the veteran summerland crew. Ptonomy’s caution about David is probably because he feels he has a selfish vibe, and that’s a well known red flag of “bad mutants.”

It should also be noted he’s partly afraid of him because he has so much trouble understanding him. His powers, which when used affectively are essentially the ability to understand where someone’s coming from, keep getting overrided by Davids.

It’s now to the point where Ptonomy is doubting his own ability to tell what’s real and what’s not real. He was pretty confident he’d always know somehow in episode 2. Now, not so much.

Ptonomy very early on is open to the idea that David both has powers and psychological issues. “He’s unstable. You try hearing voices for 10-15 years, self medicate with hard drugs and then get dumped in a looney bin.”

Ptonomy also determines that because of his instability combined with the fact he has powers, David is a bomb waiting to go off.

I suppose if we’re trying to figure out their logic with the whole “the combination of being mentally ill and having powers makes him dangerous”, and considering that their right now going over an incident where David robbed his therapist for drug money and then bashed the doctors head in when he came back, the direct concern is that David makes bad decisions and/or selfish decisions (at least), and if he were to make a bad decision regarding his powers a lot of innocent people could get very badly hurt. Or killed. Along with the worry that the voices in his head don’t exactly give him the most angelic of advice at times, and because of his powers he’s very capable of fulfilling their wills, so to speak.

Based on Olivers speech at the beginning of the episode though, it might be safe to say the overall message is instead of acting on fear they should act on empathy and help David overcome his problems instead of vilifying him for his mental illness.

Syd suggest Davids hiding his real memories behind a fake ones and Ptonomy says she going through a lot of effort just to convince herself Davids a good guy. I never really got what he meant, but I guess what he meant is that Syd’s trying to find a justifiable reason for why David would attack Dr Poole like he did when the obvious answer is just “He’s got violent tendencies.” I always just thought she was genuinely hypothesizing, ya know, trying to solve the case. Maybe she was and Ptonomy’s just mean.

“I was looking for the man I loved. Or did I just love the idea of him? The face he showed me?” Doubt springs up early. Why can none of the characters reconcile that a person can have both good and evil in them at the same time? That’s... all people, in fact.

When Kissinger ask if Amy knew David had powers Amy says, “I think so.” Amy potentially acted on fear as well, in regards to her and Davids childhood that is.

Kerry mostly only thinks of herself in relation to Cary.

Cary misses Kerry when she’s gone. Even besides the roles they fill for each other, they generally enjoy each others company. They’re quite literally as close as 2 people can be. Each one living for the sake of the other.

Davids once again surrounded by a crowd of people all yelling in his face. After they disappear though he recovers pretty fast. I guess he’s used to it.

Clockworks Podcast pointed out that the music Davids wincing at is sax heavy Jazz, which is (abstractly) the sound The Devil With Yellow Eyes makes whenever he appears. If my theory about David seeing through the 4th wall is correct, then maybe he’s actually hearing that sound whenever TDWYE is around. Alternatively, Farouk blast that in his head everytime to mess with him.

“Sorry... I forgot about your um... I had a similar- proclivity? Malady? I forget the word- what’s the word? I’ve been here a long time.”

If the previous paragraphs are right, Oliver’s probably implying he was also affected by a mental parasite at some point. It might’ve even been what stranded him in the astral plane.

From Davids perspective he skipped over the entire second half of Chapter 3.

Oliver is essentially explaining the plot of the show to David and the audience before it’s even been unfurled.

“You have an unquiet mind, so you war with yourself, like a dog trying to chew off its own tail.”

David’s still in a very pessimistic guilt ridden place at this point in the story. That’s probably the internal war Oliver’s talking about.

... why can’t Oliver leave the astral plane again? If he did have his own mental parasite, it seems long gone by now. If he just can’t find his way back, then how does he do it in Chapter 7?

Syd calls non-mutants “normals.”

“We were the ghost in a haunted house.” ~Syd, Chapter 4

“You think ghost like living in a haunted house?” ~Syd, Chapter 12

Why does Syd keep hallucinating The Angriest Boy? Or is that just visual metaphor?

Ptonomy’s a very, “Get the job done and look classy while doing it” sorta guy.

“To fight and conquer in all our battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting.” ~Sun Tzu, Ptonomy

Is the above quote perhaps relevant to the shows message during other conflicts throughout the series? Could it be subtly implying all the characters should always look for non-violent ways to defeat their enemies? I.e. not just a classy line from Ptonomy, but a statement of themes within the show.

The food David, Philly, and Dr Poole are having in Philly’s memories is cherry pie.

In Philly’s memory David says, “I don’t keep a lot of stuff.” And Philly comments that there’s no evidence David had a past. At least among the things David owns at that point. I know Farouk edited a lot of Davids memories, but why did David himself get rid of so much physical stuff? Syd said the reason he broke into Dr Pooles that day was to destroy their taped conversations. What’s compelling him to erase himself from existence? Is it as simple as “Farouk”? It seems like on a deeper level David doesn’t want anyone to know too much about him. Everyone’s only allowed to know what he tells them. His way of feeling in control I guess.

Philly did the classic “I can fix him” when she started dating David.

Philly implies David going off his medication and keeping bad company is what caused the downfall of their relationship. And subsequently his life, probably.

Despite everything, Philly still feels sympathetic towards David.

“Whoever altered Davids memory-“ Ptonomy very early on humors the idea that Davids being acted on by a 3rd party.

The longer Kerry is away from Cary, the more antsy she is for a fight. She’s not supposed to have to sit through all this “boring stuff.”

Ptonomy left after he got the info on Pooles location from Philly. He probably wanted to get the rest of the information from the source. Ironically, they probably woulda gotten closer to the real answer if he’d just looked a bit longer.

Sys proudly says “Yes” when “Dr Poole” ask if she’s in love with David.

It never really comes up again, but Kerry and Cary are physically linked. Maybe even psychologically. When one of them gets hurt, or even exerts their body a lot, the other can feel it, even if their own body doesn’t take on the actual damage. This is still true even if they’re miles apart.

Syds definitely portrayed as the hero at the end of this scene.

“All those years of practice-“ A part of David always knew he had powers. I wonder, did he practice a little in secret? Or is he saying he was at Summerland for years? That doesn’t really add up. But then... what does he mean by years?

Lenny encourages David to get angry so that his powers will strengthen enough for them to overpower the astral plane. Sort of... cheating his way out. David will later achieve more feats of strength through honing his emotions. Like many heroes, his level of power is intrinsically linked to his emotional state.

Very directly here, Davids violence is caused by ignorance. He doesn’t know Syd switched bodies with Walter and is trying to escape.

[another-sonic-blog]

Fic prompt: character A has been dosed with a love potion but thanks to sheer luck they dont notice until the time period for its effects wear off. It isnt until character B notices that they were dosed( like they find an empty vile) that they being to get concerned.

Love Potion

ShadAmy 3k600

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When the sun began to set and the warm wind became colder, a pink lady walked towards the coziness of her home looking from side to side making sure no one was looking at her.

With brown paper bags on both of her peach-colored arms, Amy Rose successfully opened the door to her pink home. Not wanting to waste time, the rosette hedgehog placed her bags on the dining table. It didn't take her long for the pink one to pull out two vials. Circular crystal clear vials revealed two different colors, a pink and black substance for each of the small vials.

Amy looked at them like a treasure because they were.

It was a love potion and an antidote.

Suddenly, there was knocking coming from her door. The pink hedgehog excitedly went towards it and she didn't doubt a second to open the door.

There he was. The not so tall black hedgehog. His vermillion eyes would naturally show a bit of cruelty but when it came to the pink one, his eyes naturally soften.

"Come in!" Amy said as she opened the door him, stepping side for Shadow to get in. The red stripped hedgehog walked in quietly absorbing the coziness of the house and aroma of Amy's home.

"What is that you need me for?" Shadow asked as he turned around to face Amy who was closing the door behind her. It didn't take the dark hedgehog a lot of time to figure out that Amy meant trouble this time. Her smile was a quirky one and her eyes showed decisiveness.

"You are going to drink something and you are going to tell me how you feel, alright?"

It was too simple that Shadow found it too risky. He was called in by Amy in such a short notice that he thought there was something important going on. It just couldn't be this easy.

"This seems too simple," Shadow said. "What else if there?"

"It is that simple! Please just try it out," Amy clasped her hands together. "I'll tell you what it is afterward ... Just trust me on this one."

Shadow the Hedgehog was the Ultimate Life Form, he really could do anything he wanted. There were a few things he just couldn't do, however, and one of those things was to say no to Amy Rose.

Defeated, Shadow sighed and said, "Fine."

Amy let a small squeal out of excitement and Shadow mentally smiled to himself. If he could make the girl happy by just drinking whatever she was going to give him, then so be it.

The pink hedgehog quickly went towards her kitchen and she came back with a spoon on her hand. Meanwhile, Shadow went towards the dining table where he noticed the pink and black vials. He sat in front of them knowing that this must be the things he was supposed to be drinking.

Amy sat next to him as she grabbed the vial that contained a pink liquid. A small 'pop' sound occurred the moment she took of the cork.

Delicately she poured some of the liquid on the spoon she had grabbed from the kitchen.

"Alright, say ah~" Amy said as she got closer to Shadow who was already thinking about going back on his word. It wasn't that he didn't want to help but Amy offering good as if was a baby made him feel the slightest embarrassment.

He rolled his eyes and he accepted his fate. Shadow opened his mouth and the pink one didn't hesitate to shove the pink substance in Shadow's mouth.

Now it was a matter of waiting.

Shadow tasted the liquid on his mouth and he was incredibly surprised that he actually liked the flavor of it.

"Tastes like strawberries," Shadow said. "Where did you get it?"

"You don't feel different?" Amy asked.

"No."

"Like, you don't see flowers around and think I am the most beautiful hedgehog in the world?" Amy asked again.

"What is all of this about?"

Amy sighed in defeat, once again she had her hopes too high. "I bought a love potion from a gypsy and I thought it would work."

"You were going to make me fall in love with you?" Shadow said his tone voice showed concern.

"Yes, but then I was going to give you the antidote ... It's this black potion." The rosette hedgehog said as she pointed to the other vial that contained a black substance.

The black hedgehog noticed the disappointment of the pink lady. Of course, this was one of her tricks to get the blue blur's attention, and once again it had failed. He tried to come up with some type of encouragement but he wasn't good with his words.

"If you want the faker to truly love you ... I don't think this is the way." Shadow said.

"I know! But I just wanted to know ... What it feels like." Amy looked down at the table, staring intensely at the pink love potion. "I just wanted for Sonic to love me one day ... I was going to give him the antidote afterward."

Shadow just couldn't stop himself from feeling a little bit sad for Amy. After all, they were good friends and he felt the pain of the pink one even if that pain was due to that blue hedgehog.

"Well ... At least you got yourself a good strawberry extract."

Amy giggled a little. She loved it when Shadow tried to be funny in order to cheer her up. Although he wasn't the funniest, the thought was what counted.

The pink hedgehog looked back again at the love potion and got curious.

"I am going to try it," Amy said as she placed some of the pink liquid on the spoon she had used before with Shadow. She didn't care if it was in his mouth before, they were past that point of caring in their friendship. The pink one placed the spoon in her mouth, letting herself enjoy the strawberry flavor of the liquid.

"Wow, you are right! This is really good, I should use this for baking," said Amy. "Glad to know my money didn't go fully to waste."

The two began to talk more after that, completely forgetting about the potions in front of them. Amy then proceeded to cook for Shadow who was more than happy to eat one of his friend's amazing cooking. They watched TV together and without noticing Amy fell asleep on the couch.

Shadow didn't think about it much and instead, he picked her up princess style. She was very light and the black hedgehog made a mental note to remind the pink flower to eat more whenever he could.

Walking through the hallway, Shadow tried to make as little sounds as possible. Finally, he reached the room of the pink one and he placed her delicately on her bed. When she was fully resting, Shadow placed some blankets on top of her and as he did he noticed something. Right next to Amy, on her right drawer, there were frames with pictures of her friends. Sonic, Cream, Knuckles, Tails, Blaze, Rouge, Silver, and everyone.

Even him.

It was an ID picture of him, the one G.U.N. took of him in order to create him a pass card.

He felt a bit embarrassed that he didn't' have any other pictures to offer. The black hedgehog was even surprised Amy had that picture but knowing her, he was sure she asked Rouge for a picture of him.

"Shadow?"

The black hedgehog heard a soft voice calling to him. He faced Amy who was directly looking at him.

"Yes?"

The moonlight coming from outside her window illuminated Shadow's face. Enhancing all of his features, especially his vermillion eyes which brighten by the outside light. Amy has always been aware that Shadow was a very attractive hedgehog, gaining the sighs of all of his females (And even some male) coworkers at G.U.N. However, it wasn't until now that Amy really took the time to appreciate all of him. He was like a fallen angel too ethereal to look.

"Your eyes are really pretty."

.

.

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It was a pretty boring morning at the headquarters of G.U.N. After a long meeting with G.U.N.'s commander and other officials, Team Dark was ready for a well-deserved lunch break.

When they entered the agent's lunch and resting room, they were surprised to find a pink hedgehog sitting at one of the tables.

"Amy?"

Shadow asked as he walked towards the pink hedgehog who face brighten up the moment he noticed Shadow walking up to her. Rouge was following close and Omega would be too if he wasn't getting lunch at the Mechanic's Department.

"I brought you lunch," Amy said.

"Lunch?"

"Yes, I don't know I was cooking at home and made some extra so I decided to bring it to you."

The black hedgehog gulped saliva because he was surprised at Amy's actions. Not because he wasn't used to Amy cooking for him but because she went all the way from her home to G.U.N. to bring him food. It wasn't only that, Amy had brought him lunch on a pink bento box with stickers of cute bunnies around it.

Add those things plus the people watching them in awe, especially the white bat behind him who was known to be a tease.

"Well, Shadow aren't you going to say thank you to your girlfriend?" Rouge said as she patted his back making him realized once again his embarrassment.

"She's not my girlfriend," Shadow faced Rouge, giving her a cold stare.

"Of course I am not!" Amy said loud enough for everyone to hear. Shadow let out a small smirk, thankful that Amy was sharing the same sentiment. However, that feeling didn't last long because Amy was fast to go against his predicament as well.

The pink hedgehog stood up from her seat, her hands smacking against the table.

"I am his wife!"

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Now there he was, walking Amy outside G.U.N.'s headquarters. A sad look on Amy's face and an angry look the black hedgehog.

"Don't say things like that Amy," Shadow said as he let go on Amy's wrist. Finally, they were outside the building, and Shadow was ready to talk. "Didn't you see how the other females were looking at you? They were ready to hurt you."

"I am sorry ... I just wanted to make it clear to all of those girls that I am the one you love," Amy was looking down to the cement, feeling a bit ashamed of her self. However, she just couldn't control her jealousy sometimes. She could hear how the other girls at G.U.N talked so dreamily about Shadow and her anger just got the best of her.

"Besides ... I just want to be with you today."

The black hedgehog watched her moved her right foot in circles in a shy manner. She was still holding the pink bento box in her hands.

"Rose, as much as I like your attention, you are usually not like this," Shadow looked down to the pink one, making eye contact with her. He didn't want to make her feel sad but it was too risky for her to say those words out loud. Someone may take it seriously and try to hurt her. Hell, even Rouge had gotten some death threats because she goes on missions with him.

"I think I may know what's happening, but right now I have to go back to work," Shadow said. "I'll see you after at your house"

"You mean our home?"

The black hedgehog would be lying if he said he didn't feel something when she said 'our home' However, he didn't think too much about it. It must be the love potion speaking that somehow it has done its effect on her last night.

"Yeah, whatever." Shadow crossed his arms as he looked away, not wanting to make eye contact with Amy anymore.

"What about your lunch?" Amy extended both of her arms, holding the pink bento box right in front of Shadow. The dark hedgehog gave it one last look before saying,

"I am not eating it."

Shadow regretted saying that the moment the words escaped his lips because as he saw Amy's disappointed and sad face was something he just couldn't stand.

Amy let out a small sniff, "I am a bad wife, aren't I?"

And just like that, the pink bento box disappeared from Amy's hands. Shadow held it close to his chest as if it was something precious to him.

"I don't want it but since you came here all the way to give it to me I'll accept it."

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Amy thought that today was going to go peacefully. Central City was known for its safety because it was the home of world heroes. As well that G.U.N.'s main headquarters was located in the city in case anything happens. Our pink lady was more than ready than to go home and cook something for her lovely Shadow the Hedgehog.

She was singing to her herself, a smile decorated her face and she was just radiating happiness. Amy didn't remember being this happy before, maybe she was but it was a distant memory now.

The streets of Central City were lively, full of people talking, whispering, walking. Tall, medium, and small buildings decorated the sides of the streets. Coffee shops, clothing, restaurants, malls, and many more businesses were the epitome of a modern city. Very few cars passed once in a while, which was a normal sight since the city mainly focused on subways and trains.

It was a good say ... way too good.

And of course, to ruin Amy's beautiful day, people began running. Horrible screams of panic filled the city's air. Families ran towards the closest restaurants to hide, some coffee shops closed their stores, and others just decided to make a run for it.

It didn't take Amy long to figure out what was happening.

Eggman.

"HOHOHO!"  

Yeah, definitely him.

Eggman was in his Eggmobile, following his 100-meter tall robot. Amy rolled her eyes in annoyance, did she really have to fight the robot now? There was a possibility that she might get her new dress dirty and she didn't want Shadow to see her like that either.

Seeing that no one else was going to appear any time soon. The pink lady snapped her fingers and immediately her iconic hammer appeared on her right hand. She approached the robot, a fearless expression on her face.

"Hey, Eggman! Do you think we can reschedule this for another time? I really can't today." Amy said loud enough for Eggman to hear.  

Eggman looked down to the ground where he found a pink dot which he immediately recognized.

"Oh? What about tomorrow afternoon?"

"I don't think so, I'll be with Shadow."

"Oh, then what about next weekend- Wait no! I'll attack now!"

It took only the pressing of one red button in the Eggmobile for the 100-meter tall blue robot to start moving and destroying things with his missiles.

Amy was fast to take action as her hammer made direct hits to the robot's center.

And then, G.U.N.'s troops began to appear. From left to right, down to the bottom, helicopters, cars, motorcycles, guns, officers, and agents. The pink hedgehog let out another smile, knowing better well who was going to appear at any second now.

As if Chaos heard her prayers, it didn't take long for her favorite hedgehog to appear.

Shadow the Hedgehog.

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.

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"What did you think you were doing?!"

It was already late at night at Amy's house and the last thing she expected was to get scolded by her love.

Like a child that got caught painting the walls, Shadow was in front of Amy as she was sitting on her sofa looking down to her feet.

"And what was I supposed to do? Let that bullet get to you?" Amy said quietly.

"Yes! Bullets can't go through my skin!"

"But still!"

The black hedgehog sighed in defeat. He knew that he shouldn't have left her just like that. Now here she was, with an injured arm and a white bandage wrapped around it where the bullet had pierced through. She was alright, the wound would heal soon enough. However, Shadow would be lying if he wasn't the slightest worried about her.

More than that actually ...

"Quick, we need to get her to a hospital!" Shadow was screaming to the other agents to get help from them. He was becoming desperate as no one was showing up.

"Shadow, there's no need. I am fine-"

Amy was trying to calm her lover seeing that he was panicking more than necessary. She even felt a bit guilty for making him feel like that.

"Don't waste your energy talking! I need to get you to the hospital now!"

"But Shadow-"

"I don't want you to die!"

"But I won't!"

.

.

.

Looking back at it, Shadow was just overreacting. He was exaggerating but could you blame him for not understanding a normal Mobian's body? For all he knew, they could easily break like glass or paper.

Now he was sitting next to the pink flower. For a few seconds, none of the two were saying a word until once again, Amy broke the silence.

"You looked so cute!"

"Cute?"

"And cool too! Amy said. "And when the robot kept attacking me you were like 'damn' ... You were so romantic!"

Amy kept babbling about how 'cool' Shadow was. He rolled his eyes in annoyance but in all honesty, he was enjoying Amy's admiration. Her words were full of love, appreciation, and Shadow wonders if she really thought of him like this. Part of him didn't want for her to stop or whatever was happening to stop. However, he just couldn't let Amy live like this. This wasn't the real Amy, this wasn't her friend.

This whole love potion needed to end now.

"Alright, time for your medicine." Shadow stood up from the sofa and walked towards the dining table were thankfully he found the black antidote for the love potion on a vial. He then went to the kitchen and grabbed a spoon. Finally, he walked back to the pink hedgehog was waiting for him patiently.

"What is this medicine for? I don't feel sick." Amy said as she watched her black partner sit next to her.

"Just drink it, it will help you heal faster." Shadow took off the small cork out of the crystal vial and placed a good amount of black liquid on the spoon.

"Alright, drink it." The black hedgehog puts the spoon close to Amy's mouth but to his surprise, she looks indifferent to it.

"Before I drink that you have to answer a question." Amy looked directly at Shadow vermillion's eyes. He was a bit annoyed at her stubbornness but he couldn't do anything about it at this point. Shadow nodded as to finish this as soon as he could.

"I love with all of my heart but ... do you love me?"

What could he do? What could he say to make this situation better? He knew that Amy didn't love him and it was just the love potion talking again. He simply could say yes, and get this over with. However, his friendship with Amy was based on honesty, and lying to her just didn't feel right.

But maybe it wasn't all a lie.

"Well ... What do you think?"

.

.

.

The next day when the love potion wore off, Amy didn't' doubt to go see the gypsy who sold her the love potion and antidote and ask for a return.

Besides not being able to remember what happened yesterday, and having a feeling that something interesting happened, the pink hedgehog had enough of messing around with magic.

She looked around the forest where she last stumbled upon the gypsy's tent. Glad to see that the purple tent was still there, Amy didn't doubt to enter. It was bigger than it looked. A shelter full of potions decorated the left side, while on the other side jars of unknown substances were placed carefully on the placed at the top of the right corner. Under it was a very beautiful gypsy fox. Her yellow fur made her blue eyes stand out and the soft smirk placed on her face made her look too good, even Amy felt a bit intimidated by her.

"Do you know how to knock dear?"

"Is a tent, you can't knock," Amy replied.

"Touche,"

The blond fox stood from her chair and slowly approached the pink hedgehog. "What do you want now, didn't the love potion work?"

"No, actually it did and that was the problem," Amy said as she pulled the love potion and the antidote out of the bag she was carrying. "I am returning them because they worked too well ... Well, almost."

"Almost?"

The gypsy asked intrigued as they took the vials from Amy's hands.

"Well, my friend tried it the first time and it didn't have any effect on him," Amy replied relieved that the potion was no longer on her hands.

"My love potions never fails ... Do you know what that means?"

The gypsy fox gave Amy a teasing smile, one in which it almost the pink one tremble in fear. Amy shook her head side to side indicating her lack of knowledge.

"That means that your friend is already in love with you."

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A/N: This was supposed to be a quick 2k word ff but it turned to be almost the double of it. I honestly didn’t want this to be long lol. Oh well, sorry for the mistakes and I hope you liked it!

[boomstyle]

Sonic Boom: Friend or Foe

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters and settings of Sonic boom. Oh, watch out for OCs!

Robot Apocalypse (Part 1)

As soon as the robot merged, my gang and I set ourselves in a battle.

Time for spin dashes!

I spin dashes cubot prototypes while Amy hits another robot with her hammer.  We noticed a group of villagers escape from the Octopus bot.

Geez, something tells me this is not from Eggman. No one operates the machine.

"Hahaha... Octo-pie Mainstreet!", Orbot laughed. Yeah! Funny, Orbot! (Don't laugh at that!) Orbot is clearly on the right mind.

Male Fennec protects himself from a Mantis Bot with a broom. Lady Walrus runs with her baby Chumley from Bee-Bots.

"It's pandemonium... is what I'd say if we were being attacked by pandas. But in this case, it's Robo-monium. Residents young and old are all falling victims to this mechanical onslaught. [Turns to Mrs. Vandersnout] Ma'am, care to comment?", Soar the Eagle reported.

"Don't just stand there. Help me!", Mrs. Vandersnout instructed while she was struggling to fight off the crab bot. Exactly, Mrs. Vandersnout! There's no point to report news in a life-threatening situation like this, Eagle guy. We've got to do something man.

"Oh, what a sad world we live in. We live in a world where brutal robot attacks elderly woman. Pity...Tsk...Pity....", Soar the Eagle continued a while until one of Eggman's robots fire a minor missile at him and he ran away. Not a good time for news reporting, Eagle guy! Cut the crap, Sonic! You're supposed to focus on the battle, not the news reporter.

As soon as the eagle guy ran away, I give a little help to Mrs. Vandersnout. Not exactly, more like rescuing her but whatever.

"Thank you. You saved my life, young man.", Mrs. Vandersnout thanked then I bowed in reply.

Afterward, I rushed to Octopus Bot only to see Orbot and Cubot coming out of Egghead's lair. Get it? Nah, just ignore them!

Octopus bot soothes inks through every road. The villager nearby walks away in fear while I approached the target and destroys Octopus Bot with a homing attack.

Meanwhile

"ugh... The malware signals are everywhere.", Tails complained.

"Tails, can you reach team cyborg, bolts, and Mighton for help? We're outnumbered right now.", I called. This is just like last time but I am sure this is going to end sooner than last time because we have Team Cybonic, Bolts, and Mighton to aid us. At least that's what we thought

"Let me try! (communicator ringing)....", Tails launched a video call.

"Hey, Cyborg Sonic. Can you guys help us down here? We have a robot situation"

"Hi, Tails. Sorry, but we're full of hands as well. The snake guy sure is powerful. He dodged off all of us(Team Cyborg) at the same time. Ooo... We're toasted(sound of Enerbeam and cage)", Cyborg Sonic answered the video call. What? Lyric was still alive and in Roboken. That's impossible. He fell when Shadow disarmed him and I opened the hatch. Who would survive on that fall? No one will survive from the fall unless there's someone else saving him but he would be severely injured by now.

"HAHAHAHA... You think you could defeat me. You and your foolish friends are wrong. Now, taste my wrath, you fools. Your robot friends can't defeat me. 

HAHAHA", Lyric the Ancient bragged himself. Oh, you think capturing them scares me. If you think so, then you got it wrong, Snakehead.

"You'll pay for this, Lyric.", Cyborg Amy said. Yeah, as interesting as the conversation is, there's a pressing situation to deal with right now.

So, I quickly grab Tails' communicator and shuts it. Tails must be amazed but we don't have time for this. Then, Mayor Fink quickly approaches us. Must be about the campaign or anything. Whatever.

"Sonic, Tails (gasping) Don't just stand there! The town is in the middle of a robot apocalypse while 20% of my campaign contribution came from this town. I need the town or else my future election and campaign will be affected.", Mayor Fink said in despair.

"This is just like last time. The source derived from Roboken and we have GPS coordinate of where the skyscraper lies.", Tails explained.

"Well, you seemed so sure of it. So, have at it!", Mayor Fink replied.

After our conversation, we eliminate some of the robots along the way to request an offer from Shawn, Sticks, Amy, and Knuckles before we left the town again.

"Sonic, Tails", Shawn called.

"Gang, could you guys hold these robots for a bit?", I requested.

"I'm on it, Sonic", Shawn replied.

"No problem!", Amy answered.

"You got it!", Sticks replied.

"Regular force or blanket?", Knuckles asked a stupid question again.

"Tails and I are going to Roboken to address these robot issues.", I explained. Phew, luckily, the town's name has changed. Morristown? What a mediocre name.

Tails and I got into Tail's plane with Tails as a pilot, just as usual. Not that plane, again! I wish for a better ride just to be comfortable or at least just add some amenities.

Sky

"How much longer?", I asked desperately. Ugh! I wish Tails upgraded the plane by adding entertainment, a food counter, or anything fun(grumble).

"Don't worry! Morristown is ahead.", Tails assured me. Oh, come on, Tails. I wanna get out of the plane.

"Uhm... Tails.", I called.

"Yes", Tails replied.

"Would you mind if you offer some in-flight entertainment or a bag of peanuts next time? It's boring up here.", I offered some advice on amenities.

"Sonic, cutting amenities is the only way to keep the budget low. Besides, Roboken is close-by", Tails explained. Yep, it is indeed very close but we have a problem. The place was locked down and worse, the sentry spaceships pursue us just like last time.

"OOO! The place is locked down and the sentry spaceships chase us down."

"Oops, we're doom. The sentries spotted us.", I said out of concern.

"You think?", Tails said confidently.

Speaking of that, the spaceship launches laser attacks at us. However, Tails manage to dodge them by tilting and steering the plane.  It's good that he dodge the lasers off but now, he's lining the plane up to fly-in between spaceship. That's crazy but he knows what to do. Oh, no! What is he going to do now? Wahoo, it great! Tails dodges a laser by pulling the plane upwards. A laser strikes an ally sentry, setting it on fire. The pilot of the burning ship uses his ejector seat to evacuate, flying his way back to Roboken.

"Woohoo! That's totally great. Hey, Tails. You've got a great amenity right here.", I complemented excitedly as I notice the fire lasers.

"Let's do a barrel roll like last time."

And yeah, he barrel roll the plane. OOO..., this is going to be excited.

"Hey Sonic. Wanna pay this guy a visit?", Tails joked sarcastically.

"Oh, yeah! I'm dropping by, baby. Don't try this at home, kid", I am super excited to drop the plane. This is so amazing. Adventure... Action.... Thrills....

Tails rotates the plane upside-down. I jump down onto the sentry, winks, and does a Homing Attack. My homing attack take down the second sentry in the process thus bouncing back off and falling towards the canyon.

"Arghh! Any time now, Tails! Woah!", I am frightened of my life but luckily, Tails' Plane swoops down and manages to rescue me. I am not satisfied with the landing though. Ouch! That hurts

"How's that for in-flight entertainment?!", Tails responded.

"Great, but you still could do the bag of peanuts.", I replied to his rhetorical question

Tails has another 2 sentry behind his back. He flies inside the canyon, steering around a rock wall. Both sentries are confused thus Tails ends up behind the sentry, and aims the target to hit the middle of the radar. Tails fires the Unbolterizer, paralyzing both sentries. The pilot uses an ejector seat to get out. Both ships fall into the sand. Tails' Plane lands on the site of the fallen spaceship. Tails and I jump off.

"What are you doing? Roboken's that way!", I am confused again.

"Yeah, but if there are more sentries, my plane's got no chance of making it through. Time for plan B.", Tails talked back but he got a good point. As soon as we take off the plan, we run toward the sentry's ship and jump of the plane. Hereby, there are 2 sentries behind us, one from the left and the other on the right. We choose the right side and hop in the spaceship. As soon as we hop in, Tails works on setting up the ship, while  I played around with the chair feature. It was great while Tails got to some work, I just seat and watch Tails do the magic.

"Elevator up, elevator down.", I laughed.

"I figured out how to fly this thing.", Tails said while he's repairing the machine. "Great job, Tails! I knew if we work together we'd figure it out. [shaking] Oh, massage function. Ahh...", I said. 

Thanks to Tails, the spaceship boots up, reverses out of the sand, turns around and flies back up towards Roboken.

"Woohoo!", we saluted at each other. We did it.

"I gotta get me one of these!", Tails said.

"Hah, looks like it worked. Those chumps don't suspect a thing.", I replied back.

The Plane's HUD Changes

OOO... What is going on?

"Tails, what's happening?", I asked.

"It's an auto docking sequence. They're bringing us in.", Tails explained. Yep, he's right. The ship closes in on Roboken.

"Here it is. The robot-utopia in the clouds."

"Roboken, here we come!", I said excitedly.

Finally, we reached the entrance of city skyscraper of Roboken. As we enter and land to the skyscraper, we explore Roboken once again. However, our excitement is replaced by shock when we find out this place is deserted and in smoke.

"Whoa, what happened here?"

"Enemy spotted. Engage robot formation attack!", a robot mechanism detected. Whoa, suddenly we're attacked.

Hey, guys. Guess what happen to Roboken and Hedgehog village later? Did Shawn and Lyric has something to do with this? Please answer in the comment section! Until next time!

[vernonfielding]

I’ll keep it (our secret)

Jake agrees it's best they don't tell Charles they're trying. It's just really, really hard. (Yep, it’s a missing scene from Pimemento.)

Thanks to @fezzle for the beta! She’s just the best, you guys. And thanks also to @exploding-snapple, who inadvertently inspired this story, somewhat, from a conversation we had last week.

Read on AO3.

The morning after their first foray into baby-making sex, Jake is sitting at his desk when a woman walks into the precinct holding a baby on her hip and weirdly, his first thought is, ‘That was fast.’

It’s followed immediately by his second thought, which is that the baby, of course, is not his.

“Can I help you?” Jake says to the woman.

“Someone broke into my apartment last night,” the woman says, and then bursts into tears.

Jake’s not bad with people who are crying; he’s not great with them either. But the bullpen is currently empty of detectives other than Hitchcock and Scully, who appear to be playing cat’s cradle with their toes, so he leads the woman to the chair by his own desk and waits for her to calm down enough to tell him more. He gets why the woman is freaked out -- she woke up this morning to find her living room in disarray, her TV and laptop and purse all gone -- but it’s a relatively boring case. When he’s done getting the basics, the woman -- her name is Caroline Wu -- dabs at her eyes and sniffles dramatically.

“I’m sorry I’m such a mess, it’s just my wife is out of town and this is my first time alone with the baby,” Ms. Wu says, gesturing to the kid on her lap. He has black hair that sticks up straight all over, like a cartoon character who’s just been shocked, and he’s been drooling steadily for the past half hour.

“It’s okay,” Jake says. “We’ll take care of this.”

The woman gives him a weak, watery smile and rubs at her nose with the sleeve of her shirt. Her eyes are bloodshot and swollen and her cheeks are a splotchy pink and he feels bad for noticing that she’s kind of a wreck. He feels worse when she sighs and says, “I’m such a mess. Is there a bathroom I can use?”

“Yeah, down the hall,” Jake says, and nods in the right direction.

The woman stands, shuffling the baby back onto her hip, and then she bites her lip and shuffles her feet before saying, “I hate to ask, but- would you mind holding my son? I’ll just be a minute.”

Jake feels himself go wide-eyed for a moment, then shakes himself and says, “Sure, yeah, here,” and holds his hands up for the baby. Ms. Wu passes him over and thanks Jake and heads down the hall, her sneakers squeaking against the linoleum.

The baby is heavy in his arms, and Jake sets him on his knee and bounces him a little. The kid could be three months old or three years, Jake honestly has no clue. He blinks up at Jake, looking totally unbothered to be left here without his mom, and Jake wonders if it’s too early for a “stranger danger” conversation.

“Can you talk?” Jake says to the baby. The baby drools. “Okay, well. I’m Jake. I guess you can’t tell me your name.”

He’s held babies before, of course: Ava and Iggy, Amy’s niece Dolores and her nephew Reggie, Cagney and Lacey, though not when they were this small. He’s never really noticed before how warm babies are, and how sturdy. This baby’s eyes are so brown they’re almost black, and he’s looking at Jake like he can see straight into his soul (and hasn’t yet made up his mind about whether he likes what he sees).

The baby jams a fist in his mouth, and in the same instant he grabs for the badge around Jake’s neck and yanks, hard. Jake lurches forward in his chair and throws his arms around the baby to keep him from slipping off his knee to the floor, and that’s when he hears the shutter-click of an iphone camera and looks up into the gleeful face of Charles.

“This is so beautiful,” says Charles, who may or may not be crying. “I’m sending it to Amy.”

Jake hears the “swoosh” of a sent message, and less than a minute after that his own phone vibrates on his desk. Jake shuffles the baby to his other knee so he can pick up the phone. It’s a text from Amy, all caps: DO NOT TELL HIM.

Jake sighs and sets his phone face-down on his desk. The baby has stuffed Jake’s badge in his mouth, and Charles is still taking photos. This is going to be impossible.

+++

It’s not like Jake actually tells Charles everything. He kept the proposal a secret -- never even let on that he was buying the ring. He doesn’t talk about his sex life (it’s too private, and Charles’ brain and/or heart couldn’t take it anyway), or about how sometimes Amy’s tendency to schedule every minute of their shared days off makes him want to burn her special weekend binders (just a little burning -- like a light char).

But this feels different. A baby -- that’s such a huge step, and Jake’s excited, his whole body practically thrumming with a nervous, joyful anticipation, but he’s still scared, too. And now that they’re committed to this, like actually having the unprotected baby-making sex (and oh god, Amy could be pregnant right now), Jake doesn’t want to lay all his fears on Amy. She needs him to be all in, and he is all in, he truly is, but it’s possible to be all in and also terrified, he’s realizing, because that’s where he’s at.

He can’t even articulate to himself what he’s scared of, exactly. He knows by now that he won’t be his dad, that he would never abandon Amy or their child and that he’ll always do his very best. But what if his best still isn’t good enough? What if he lets them down in some way he can’t even begin to imagine right now, because he never had a dad to let him down (other than the obvious let-down of total abandonment -- but aside from that)? Jake doesn’t even know what he doesn’t know about being a good father. 

Charles would say, ‘You’re Jake, any baby you father is going to be the luckiest baby in the world.’ And then he’d say, ‘You’re going to be top ten, maybe top five dads of all time, like probably not better than Mufasa or Full House’s Danny Tanner, but right up there.’ And then things would start to get weird and Charles would talk about how he wishes Jake was his father, and Jake would have to hang up on him or walk away or whatever, but the other stuff? Jake kind of really wants to hear that right now. He wants Charles’ uncomplicated, unrelenting confidence in all things Jake.

+++

“You can tell Charles if you really want to,” Amy says that night, after their second round of baby-making sex of the evening.

Jake’s feeling pretty spent as the sweat cools on his face and chest, and he idly winds his fingers through Amy’s hair. She’s tucked up against him, her head on his shoulder, and he can feel her heart still beating fast.

“Are you really talking about Charles?” Jake says, and Amy chuckles.

“I was thinking about how right now one of your little sperms might be swimming to my egg and this could be it,” Amy says, and Jake feels a nervous, happy flutter in his belly. “And then I realized that was exactly the kind of thing Charles would be thinking about, which, by the way, is why we’re not telling him. But he’s your best friend, and-”

“Ames, you’re my best friend,” Jake says, and pulls her closer to him. “It’s fine if we keep this just between us.”

“And Rosa,” Amy says.

“And- You told Rosa?” Jake sits up a little, and Amy rolls onto her back and gives him a sheepish half-smile.

“I’d told her when I thought I might be pregnant. You were dealing with the manhunt and I was freaking out a little and I needed her help,” Amy says. “And then the next day she asked how you’d taken it and I kind of just- told her we were trying. I’m sorry!”

“It’s fine,” Jake says quickly, leaning over to kiss her briefly. “At least we know Rosa won’t tell anyone, ever.”

Whereas Charles -- well. “I just don’t want everyone to know,” Amy says. “We don’t know how long this will take, or if there might even be problems along the way. And if we tell Charles you know he’ll start bringing in some kind of animal placenta soup and trust me, there will be plenty of time for morning sickness later, I don’t need the nausea now.”

“I get it, babe,” Jake says. He lies back down alongside her, and this time he rests his head on her shoulder, and he traces his fingers over her flat stomach. “Just us. And Rosa.”

Amy laughs, and Jake feels it under his fingers and imagines a baby there. He lays his palm over her skin and concentrates.

“I love you,” Amy says.

“Love you too.”

+++

The next morning Jake gets a call from Terry before Amy’s first alarm has even gone off. He’s got a suspected kidnapping case, and he needs Jake and Charles at the scene ASAP.

“Please tell me this is kicking your paternal instinct into overdrive,” Charles says, as soon as they’ve walked into La Petite Bebe daycare center, where a dozen children of various sizes, shapes and colors are toddling and squatting and crying and chewing on things.

Jake hisses, “Not now, Charles,” and squares his shoulders as a middle-aged woman with her hair pulled into a messy ponytail rushes toward them and introduces herself as Lena, the owner of the daycare.

One of the children has gone missing, Lena says, and shows them the ledger where she keeps track of drop-offs. She points out the name of the 5-month-old who was delivered by her father that morning at 6 a.m. and is now nowhere to be found.

“Could she have left on her own?” Jake says.

Lena stares at him, and Jake feels his cheeks start to burn. “She’s 5 months old,” she repeats. “She can’t even crawl yet.”

“So, no,” Jake says.

Lena leads them to a sofa where they can talk while her aide watches the remaining kids. She gives them a description of the baby: short brown hair, blue eyes, wearing pink leggings and a white onesie printed with “Welcome to the Shit Show” (“I don’t dress them,” Lena adds quickly). The parents are married and don’t seem to have any conflict. She’s called them both and left messages but they haven’t replied yet -- they don’t know their child is missing.

Charles takes notes and Jake is doing a fine job of not getting distracted by the total chaos around them, until a small child suddenly crawls right up to him, uses his knee to leverage herself to her feet, and makes a grab for his badge. She’s shoved it in her mouth before Jake can figure out what he’s supposed to do. 

Lena sighs and picks up the child, who wails when Jake’s badge slips out of her mouth.

“Sorry about that,” she says.

“It’s okay. I haven’t even cleaned it since the last one,” Jake says.

Five minutes later, the mother calls and tells Lena there was a miscommunication with her husband -- little Leslie wasn’t supposed to go to daycare at all that day, so they came by and picked her up and took her home and oops, forgot to tell anyone. She’s sorry for the inconvenience.

“Parents,” Lena says, shoulders slumping with relief or exhaustion, or both.

“Quick question,” Charles says, eyes darting to Jake and then back to Lena, “do you have a waiting list? And would it be presumptive to get on that waiting list before the child has been conceived?”

Jake stands up so quickly he pulls a small muscle in his back, and yanks Charles to his feet.

“Have a nice day, ma’am,” he says and hauls them both out the door.

+++

They get sent to a kid’s first birthday party in the afternoon, after a man who had been stabbed multiple times stumbled into the parents’ Greenpoint backyard. Fortunately none of the babies saw anything.

“You have to feel like the universe is sending you a message,” Charles says, after the paramedics have hauled the man away. He and Jake are following a blood trail, which starts at the sidewalk in front of the house and ends just beneath the pinata strung to a tree branch. Jake’s pretty sure 1-year-olds are too young to be swinging bats at pinatas, but he’s not a dad (yet), what does he know?

Jake takes off his sunglasses and pinches the bridge of his nose. He does actually feel like the universe or whatever is trying to tell him something, but he doesn’t know what. Behind him, he can hear children squealing and parents laughing, and then everyone starts singing “Happy Birthday.”

In a year and nine months, it might be his own kid’s first birthday. The image of it flashes before his eyes: A brown-haired baby with bright laughing eyes and a huge smile, chocolate cake smeared all over its face. Amy is crying a little, and Jake is too, and Charles makes them stand on either side of the high chair for a photo. Charles is, of course, bawling.

Jake realizes he’s smiling to himself and bites his lip to stop. He puts his sunglasses back on and turns to Charles, who is watching him expectantly, rocking back on his heels.

“It looks like the stabbing happened out front,” Jake says, wincing a little when Charles’ face falls. “We should start there.”

Later, the father of the birthday boy invites them to the party for cake, and they both politely decline. But when they’re alone again Charles says he knows of a place nearby that has a pork-and-beans cupcake he’s been dying to try and Jake opens his mouth to say yes, of course (even though -- no, absolutely not).

But he thinks about dodging Charles’ comments and questions about babies and biological clocks and fertility windows and he knows he’ll never survive.

“Sorry, bud. I’ve got plans.”

“Sure, okay,” Charles says, voice gone flat and horrible. “Some other time.”

+++

Jake’s standing at the kitchen counter wiping down his badge with Purell when Amy gets home that evening. She raises a questioning eyebrow but doesn’t actually ask what he’s doing.

They have salads for dinner because Amy read an article about fertility superfoods and apparently spinach and kale are the superest. When Jake doesn’t even raise a cursory protest, Amy asks him if he’s feeling okay.

“Yeah, fine,” Jake says, and stuffs a forkful of deep green spinach in his mouth. It tastes chalky and bitter and he swallows it down with grape soda (he’s trying to branch out a little).

Amy tells him about Gary’s latest accidental attempt at a coup among the beat cops -- “I know he doesn’t mean to undermine me, but he really needs to shut the f up about color-coding the weekend rotations” -- and Jake tells her about the not-missing kid from the morning and finding a man bleeding to death under a pinata.

They’re cleaning up together, Amy wiping down counters while Jake gets the dishwasher going, when Amy asks how it’s going with Charles. “He must have been losing it with all of those babies in the vicinity,” she says, and though she’s laughing a little Jake senses that she’s concerned.

“He was fine,” Jake says, and off Amy’s skeptical smirk, adds, “Okay, he was Charles.”

Amy tosses her sponge into the sink and rests a hip against the counter, and he can feel her gaze on the side of his face as he crouches over the dishwasher. He sets it running and then wipes off his hands on a towel and steps over to her. He loops his arms around her waist, tugging her to him, and kisses her, gently at first. When she hums against his lips he opens his mouth, tilts his head just so, and slides his tongue alongside hers. They make out for a while, Amy’s hands curling over his neck and his fingers reaching up under her shirt to stroke over her back.

Then the dishwasher gurgles loudly and they break apart, laughing.

“C’mon,” Jake says, letting go of her waist to grab her hand and pull her toward the bedroom. “I think it’s time for me to put some bludgers in your golden snitch.”

He hears Amy sigh behind him. “That’s not how Quidditch works, Jake.”

+++

Pimento, at least, takes Charles’ mind off of babies. It helps that they’ve gone more than 24 hours without a single child sighting.

Which is why Jake’s glad he’s alone in the main hospital waiting area when a couple emerges from an elevator. They’re young and their eyes are bruised with exhaustion and they both have the shell-shocked look that Jake usually associates with people who have just survived near-death experiences, but there’s a glow about them that he recognizes too. The man is holding a tiny pink bundle in his arms, and the woman keeps peeking over at them both, like she can’t help herself, like she can hardly stand to look anywhere else.

Jake’s heart is beating too-fast, because that will be him -- he’ll be the man with the bundle, the father taking his little girl or little boy home for the first time, and Amy will be right there too, and it’s going to be incredible. 

And when they get home, after they’ve settled in a bit, Charles will bring them so much soup and so many casseroles and they’ll even eat most of it because they won’t have time to shop or cook for themselves. And Charles will take photos and change diapers when they both need a break, and he’ll tell Jake he’s doing great, he’s doing his best, and that’s all any kid needs, after all.

“We can go up and see him now,” Charles says, breaking into his thoughts. Jake jerks and looks away from the new family, just as they disappear out the main hospital doors.

“Huh?”

“Pimento, we can see him,” Charles says. “Are you ready?”

Jake thinks about that for a moment and then grins up at Charles and stands. “Yeah,” he says, “I’m ready.”

End Notes:

The title is from Feed the Beast (Bash Brothers, of course).

A note on the timeline: I THINK this fits with what we have so far from the season? I notice some people are thinking that a couple of months have passed since the first episode, but I’m going with this being Jake and Amy’s first round at baby-making. If I missed some canon detail, please let me know! 

[kyu-bri]

Magia Rapport pt 2

@magiarapport​

August 24th prompt: What was your favorite event, and why? Is it because of gameplay or the story?

It’s hard to choose so I’m gonna just, gush a bit.

As you can probably tell I’m very biased toward the OG girls, I started Magia Record primarily because PMMM had become my new obsession and I wanted some sort of constant flow of content out of decade old anime lmao.

But another thing I think I hooked onto was Inu Curry’s writing. They really know Madoka Magica and aren’t afraid to really play with them- something the writers for a spin-off gacha game (as with most spin-off stories honestly) can be scared to do. Inu Curry made references, revealed secrets and built upon the story we already know- which lets be honest is what we always truly want from a spin-off series. Magia Record proper does this well by putting more magical girls into the world and letting us see things work out better for them than for the original cast, but what I really appreciated with this story was getting to see that old original cast get to get in on that, and these events managed to do that without watering them down any.

Under the cut is me going on for 3000 words about why I love these three events I’m so sorry. TL;DR at the very end-

I’ll go in release order,

A La Carte Valentine was one of the first if not THE first event I got in on. I was eager to bc 1 Gay Magical Girl Shit Guaranteed. And ofc 2 OG Cast participation.

I want to preface by saying I actually loved all the girls’ stories in this. I was very much still in a state of getting used to Iroha’s gang let alone trying to care about the secondary girls. I knew Tsukasa had this angsty Twins Separated At Birth Deal and liked seeing her home life (also I immediantly stanned Take. Regular well-meaning dude who has no idea whats going on just trying his best and hating his boss). I knew nothing about Ami except Cowgirl Meguca and getting the bulk of her personality in one short even I think really kept me from being absolutely sick of her, she’s just a cute silly teenage girl who could be in literally anything and I was able to just endearingly giggle at that. Hinano managed to do the heterosexual unrequited crush cliché without me groaning or missing any of her regular personality. Also was there a Ren part? I don’t remember because everything Ren does feels like a Soft Yuri Valentines Special. Also I love Momoko. Ok moving on to what I Really wanna talk about.

Madoka is genuinely my Least Cared About of the Holy Sextet. I don’t think she’s bad or even boring- Madoka has a depth to her character, like, really deep- but that’s not something ever really touched upon by the fandom. Even when people like her and make her the Heroine she’s Supposed to be, it’s usually in the context of “Girl who feels nothing but kindness and happy thoughts would cut off her right hand to feed to a hungry dog. Isn’t she so Good????”. And honestly, while I understand the point it was going to make, I wasn’t crazy about her sacrifice in the end of the series. (Team Homura “Rebellion Is Good Actually” ftw) All because I think that I’m an Adult Woman watching this like “You are 14yrs old and need to be home playing Sims and not sacrificing yourself for the greater good you stupid silly little baby girl”

So my point is here near all fan content I encounter tends to emphasize whats sort of my least favorite facet of Madoka. I don’t think she made the ‘wrong’ decision in the context she and the story were given, but it’s still a sad thing to show a depressed(!!!) insecure girl resolving to give away her very existence so that every other girl on earth has a chance to just Dream. Oh and they still usually die young. But that’s ok because then she takes them and lets them sleep peacefully forever in her Heaven Basement (Yes I am bitter stan Homura I would yank this savior complex infant girl out the sky too)

MY POINT BEING (The servers closing let me BLEED OUT ALL MY FEELINGS) This event did not do that!!! It made Madoka…….. EVERYTHING SHE SHOULD BE??? ALWAYS??? Showed her HOW WE SHOULD BE ABLE TO VIEW HER??? (Read: Happy and Alive and Confident at no foreboding or sacrifice of anyone else!!!!)

She is Sassy and Surrounded By Friends and Really Funny??? And we get this Ridiculous Oh My God On Crack metaphor about her being this all-powerful apocalypse bringing being which is representing her love for the universe through her Witch form of Wanting Everyone To Be Happy And Safe With Her??? And she still risks herself to save everyone as is her Thing to do but we get to have her do it without erasing her existence as a human being at the end and if that is not some GOOD SHIT????

Ok next:

NGL Sayaka’s (fav character, inarguable best girl, can u not tell) parts in MagiReco til like the last arc have always left me a bit disappointed. She was the only late comer of the OG girls from what I understand and it kind of gives her the air of what a lot of the second(/thirdary?) girls suffer from. You can tell the writers can’t even figure out a trope to apply her to to make her easy and two dimensional to write about so they just don’t know what to do. They definitely try to make up for it (especially in the anime which Praise Be but that’s probably Inu Currys doing) but she’s still lacking like, any of the depth of her personality. Which, I guess I could anticipate. Because most of the fandom tends to as well. (again)

Gonna stop complaining and get on with- That didn’t feel as much the case in her Valentine event. Sure it was still the same formula of “The Issue Is Kyosuke” but that didn’t play out as grueling as her personal story did with “Nine Episodes Of “The Issue Is Kyosuke””

There was one big glaring heart-aching detail of “Mami isn’t really there because SHES IN A FUCKING CULT RIGHT NOW” which kind of jarred the event out of the ho-hum silly valentines sidestory these events usually keep up.

Sayaka has this crisis about Doing Anything Meaningful With Kyosuke which we all know what That’s calling back to, but in this environment we get to have Kyoko come right up and be in a position with her to earnestly and affectionately Push Her To Do It. The lonely little tsundere bitch girl pushes her Not Friend to Give The Bastard The Gotdamn Chocolate Already and for a moment you can only think about What If’s and If Only’s. Sayaka’s is still the weakest of the threes stories in this event but it worked harder to show us different sides of the characters then 6 chapters of Another Story managed to do.

And then there’s fucking Homura.

I will be, eternally grateful for Kuro. As a character that becomes metaphorical for the 2D ways we initially viewed the feathers and just NPCs in games in general, and also like, giving Homura a friend she actually cares about that isn’t the tangled dark web of Bullshit she’s gotten tied up with Madoka in. Please ask me about all my AU’s where Kuro is Homuras first girlfriend.

Seeing Moemura in Magia Record has always been a bit surreal, we never really understand just what stage of Trauma this Homura is in because Multiverses Are Hell, but this event gives us a good chunk of a Homura who still has hope and faith both in the world and Madoka. Theres this wonder to her that while still bogged down by terrible experiences still has the energy to be Trying. And she sees a girl who used to be like her- which when you think about it is probably what Madoka saw in her- and she wants to help. Because Madoka helped her. And Madoka is the best thing in the universe and maybe Homura can be just a little bit closer to that.

Kuro is too far gone though, as is the reality frequently in this series, things don’t work out just because of circumstance. Kuro was a bullied, insecure little girl who realistically shouldn’t have had to become a rampaging monster because of it. We’re reminded of this being the reality of the Madoka universe. Homura, is reminded of this reality. Homura loses this one chance to bring hope into the world like Madoka brought hope into hers.

And then her story ties into the ending of Madoka’s. Madoka saves her life yet again, even as Homura continues to feel miserable and empty. But at least Madoka is with her. The girls then share a quiet, intimate Valentines together. And you sort of understand how Homura fell so far into the darkness that the only thing she was able to still care about and fight for was Madoka’s safety.

That shit slaps. It slaps you right in the heart and causes fucking bruising but then u want it to do it again because you’re masochistic and Meguca Is Suffering.

Anyway I hope Kuroe slaps our hearts more in season2

MOVING ON!!!!

~Nagisa’s Wish~

Ok, I don’t remember what got me so simp over Nagisa, I think it was the heart-aching irony that Mami adopts the witch that fucking ate her. But that is my baby now and I’d die for her. Fandom Charlotte whose pink and silly and loves her mom and is Mami’s cancer-riddled girlfriend is cool and all but she isn’t a tiny Halloweeny baby whose fucking bitter angry and manically obsessed with cheese due to PTSD.

I had saw a summary of Nagisa’s Wish reposted just to quickly explain Nagisa’s backstory, and as such immediately had to search out if that crazy ride was true- so I actually watched this whole event probably before I downloaded the game. It was surreal on its own but replaying it when it came to NA didn’t lessen it any- I got to process more of what I was witnessing and as result stanned Yu pretty hard.

I guess to explain my Emotions here, saving Yu for later- calls for me to just, describe who Nagisa is as a human being and my headcanons surrounding it all with what this event gave us. Whether you consider it canon or not it’s one version of events that we were given and that I am all for accepting.

Nagisa’s Mom was a celebrity, she could have been an actress though I also like the idea of her being an Idol. She met Nagisa’s Dad oh-so romantically and got knocked up- they very well could have been married but it doesn’t seem clear enough. He seems to have left too suddenly for legal matters like that. Nagisa is approximately 11, and while she seems to remember her Father, she doesn’t in the sense of having had a relationship with him or any feelings. Her Mother has to “explain” why he left, so Nagisa was probably still young even if not a baby. What I’m getting at here is the timeline for when Nagisa’s Mom Got Like That. Nagisa can remember her from before she was, and then says that she got sick after her Dad left. So what I’m wondering is did Daddy Momoe ruin this young rich girls life, give her syphilis and then leave her with a baby she was unfit to care for in poverty? I know half of this is running on anime logic but Holy Shit all the possible ways reasons and ideas for why things could’ve gotten This Bad.

Is it ridiculously dark and edgy that the original story we were given was “Girl wishes her dying mother could have her favorite cake but then realizes OOPSIE-DAISY I could have wished for her to Not Die instead!!!!” got turned into “11yr old hates her abusive mother so much she wants to make her suffer in the most symbolic way she can and then goes mental when she isn’t able to do it”??? Yes. But if I had the mental capacity to I have to admit I was in a position to be just as bitter at that age too. I can’t call it unrealistic. I may infact be projecting hard with how much I support and enjoy this backstory.

Anyway Nagisa was in such a state of trauma and distress at a horrifically young age when she died that it broke her mental faculties so severely that even when she came back as a literal Angel of God she had blocked it out so deeply and thoroughly she seemingly regressed to an even younger capacity and hyperfixated on the trait that she has before used to try to bond with her Mother who she had died hating.

And that also slaps u right in the heart.

A N D T H E N !

~Beachside Bonds~

Just the simple structure of this story was so enjoyable and nicely done. We finally get to see the OG girls in a context we wouldn’t be able to in literally any other scenario. They’re going on a summer vacation together and Homura is sentimentally journaling every single second of it. Is this mayhaps because she’s never gotten to be this happy and blissful with these girls she loves so much??? Of course this is are you not paying attention what the fuck. Homura is so optimistic and healed and hopeful she’s acting like what she might actually be doing as a normal teenage girl. (A heartrending contrast to the end of her Valentines Special)

We get nothing short of pure fluffy Slice Of Life shenanigans on the beach which even includes a bunch of the Kamihama girls that the OG crew knows! And they talk about it! And introduce eachother! And their friends commentate on it! Ren gets to see Kyoko Not Being A Bitch and then Sayaka teases her about having made friends and oh my god my heart is turning into cottoncandy as we speak Mom holy FUCK

Sayaka’s existence fucking matters in this story! It’s her families Hotel they’re staying at and she has relationships and memories with the creepy twins that live there and she talks like a fucking person??? And gives opinions??? That aren’t just copypasted “Justice is Good and Bad things are BAD!!!!”

Mami is fresh out of her fucking Cult Drama and she’s still trying to be cool Senpai but then she DECKS Homura in the face and gets scared by the ghost stories and then turns into pudding and waxes nostalgia at Kyoko out of nowhere IT’S ALMOST LIKE SHE’S A FIFTEEN YEAR OLD GIRL????????

G H O S T S ? ? ? ?

Y U ! ? ! ? ! ? !

(IS G A Y ! ! ! !)

This whole fucking backstory and truly horrifying Romeo and Juliet on Acid love and death story between Yu and her girlfriend and like if I wasn’t fascinated enough by Yu just being the creepy organ harvester before but apparently thats what she became after she literally made some sort of wish that erased all of her memories besides the nickname her sweetheart used for her and coincidentally also added to her the task of killing all Bad People?????

Yu made a wish to be able to get rid of All Bad People preserving the innocent version of herself who grew up with this girl and it was right after a failed double suicide attempt on fucking Doomed Lovers Cliff fucking Lifetime Will You Ever.

It then pairs with Homura whose PTSD gets to shine through a bit in being unable to believe any bad sort of Madoka which how could you try to force her to at this point while Also pairing Homura with Ren in the “Gay Love Saved Our Lives: Traumatized vers & Vanilla vers”

I don’t remember if there was a symbolic finale and tbh I have forgotten a lot of the details with Yu and her girlfriend Whatsherface because that shit was just so shocking and bizarre to read and much too painful to reread in a timely fashion just.

That shit hurted but it was full of so much love and hope both doomed and stolen but still was wrapped up in the comforting concept that This Is The Universe Where Homura Gets To Be Okay This Time.

She’s still scarred beyond comprehension and this ghost drama accentuated it all but at the end of the day this is still the Safe Universe where all of them are alive and the Holy Quintet are friends and they’re all going to be okay (Godoka & Aniplex willing) and so many of us love Madoka Magica because it shows girls fighting through the same pain we’ve been through and keeping their hope alive and here we get to see them actually find peace in a clunkily written fanservicey spin-off mobile gacha game and hey, that made me happy while I got to experience it. Thanks for the ideas and memories and tragic backstories and funny thirdary characters MagiReco I’m gonna take em all and Run.

Akjsladbfalkjfsbslk If you read this all without getting a migraine or blocking me ily thanks for listening!!!!!!

TL;DR

Me likey A La Carte Valentine bc it’s silly and gay and I simp Kuro

Me likey Nagisa’s Wish bc sawft baby is good and so are Tragic Edgy Backstories

Me likey Beachside Bonds bc Gay Ghosts and Our Girls Finally Get To Be Happy Peaceful(ish) Teenage Girls and that’s all I want for them ;w;

Reeses In Pieces ya’ll

1Ten 2More 3Words 4To 5Hit 6(3000 7Words 8Woo 9Boy 10Howdy

[saiilorstars]

Stars Dance

Ch. 17: The Ghosts of Christmas

Fandom: Doctor Who

Pairing: 11th Doctor x Original Female Character

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Chapter summary: It's the first Christmas the Doctor and his companions get to spend together after putting the universe back together. Of course the Ponds aren't having the best of their honeymoon, and Lena is terrified of a flying shark...but Avalon does get to reenact one of the most classic Christmas stories to make everything all better!

(Previous chapters) // Sequel Story!! 

Fairy Tale Memoirs (Companion story)

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"I'm not doing it," Avalon crossed her arms as she peered down the chimney of a rather large house, ignoring the pouting Time Lord beside her.

"But it's Christmas!" he sighed in exasperation, gesturing to the chimney that was just begging to be climbed into. He thought this would be something Avalon would literally jump to do. It was part of the classic movies, right? Why was she all frowny in the face then!?

"Yes, and I'm not Santa Claus," Avalon snapped at him. "I am going to take the front door like a proper person." She headed back to the TARDIS when Lena stepped out.

"Guys, Amy and Rory are pretty distressed up in that ship of theirs, what are you both doing here?"

They'd recently gotten a distress call from the newlywed Ponds that the cruise ship the Doctor had brought them to for their honeymoon had entered some sort of problem and the ship was actually going to crash if the clouds in the sky weren't cleared up. Apparently, the clouds were controlled by a family in the planet they found themselves in and for some reason the Doctor thought going down the chimney was the best way to enter the house of the man who controlled the sky.

Avalon felt ready to smack him for being such an...idiot. "Your 'big brother' wants to play Santa Claus and go down that chimney," she sighed.

"Cool!" Lena beamed and shut the doors of the TARDIS before running over to the Doctor, "Can I be one of those helping elves? I think they're so cute."

"No!" Avalon turned to them, gaping at her sister. "Lena, you can't jump into a chimney! Do you know how bad that'll be for your asthma?"

Lena rolled her eyes, "Here we go again," she muttered to the Doctor. She really thought Avalon was finally going to let go of her over-protectiveness and simply have fun. But apparently that was going to be something difficult judging by what they were seeing now.

"It's Christmas," the Doctor called back to Avalon, as if that alone was the perfect excuse, "C'mon, Ava," he hurried up to her, grinning widely, "You're fun, you're...a bit wreckless-"

"I am not!" she huffed and crossed her arms.

"But you're fun," he pointed, "And fun people always take the fun route..." he nodded back to the chimney, "...c'mon, Ava," he poked her hair.

"Don't touch my hair," she closed her eyes with irritation as he continued to do just that, "Don't...Doctor, don't...don't...FINE!" she snapped and startled him enough to back off, "Fine, we'll...play Santa," she huffed again, "But I am not gonna be the elf," she warned.

The Doctor hadn't listened as he'd grabbed her hand and brought them back to the chimney where he peeked again, hearing the loud voice of an elderly man coming below, "Geronimo," he smirked at the twins.

"Not with me you don't," Avalon took back her hand, "You go first and break our fall," she smiled sweetly, hoping that it would make the man realize he was being completely childish and ridiculous and would end up getting hurt.

It was like she didn't know the Doctor at all, thought Lena.

The Doctor clapped his hands together and jumped into the chimney.

"You have got to be kidding me," Avalon sighed while Lena giggled.

"Wonder if he got hurt," Lena peered inside.

"Probably," Avalon shrugged and sighed, "Well...better get it over with," she sighed again, unable to believe she was actually going to do this.

If she still had more space in her journal she would've written about it.

~ 0 ~

The Doctor had fallen down the chimney and managed to land with a perfect somersault on the floor. He stood up to greet an elderly man, a family of four with one daughter and son, and a couple of servants. He dusted the soot off himself and grinned, "Ah! Yes, blimey. Sorry! Christmas Eve on a rooftop, saw a chimney, my whole brain just went, "What the hell!" Don't worry, fat fella will be doing the rounds later. I'm just scoping out the general...chimney-ness. Yes," he leaned against the chimney and smirked when he started hearing the shrieks of the twins.

Avalon came toppling down the chimney first and ended on the ground on her stomach. She groaned and lifted her head up to look at the Doctor, "I hate you."

He absolutely grinned at her soot-covered face. "No you don't!"

"Eek!" Lena came down right after and landed on her back, laughing to herself, "Okay, even I have to admit that was fun."

Now the Doctor softly smiled at his baby sister. His hearts warmed seeing her having so much fun again. She was alive and having fun. He still couldn't get over the fact she was back!

"Sorry," Avalon noticed the others after the Doctor helped her and Lena up. "He wanted to play Santa."

"Santa?" the little boy of the family spoke up.

"Father Christmas," Lena offered another alias, "Santa Claus?"

"Or, as I've always known him, Jeff," the Doctor shrugged.

"Shut up, you do not know Santa Claus," Avalon nearly laughed but got paused when the Doctor gave her a smirk. Her eyes widened - did he know Santa Claus? Wait, was Santa Claus real?

"There's no such person as Father Christmas," the boy shook his head, cutting the silence.

"Oh, yeah?" the Doctor pulled out a small, black and white photo from his inside pocket and walked up to the family, "Me and Father Christmas, Frank Sinatra's hunting lodge, 1952. See him at the back with the blonde...Albert Einstein. The three of us together...vrrroom! Watch out! OK? Keep the faith, stay off the naughty list."

"No way!" Avalon snatched the picture right out of his hand to see for herself. "This is impossible!"

Lena sighed and tapped the Doctor on the shoulder. "We have our friends stuck in a crashing spaceship, remember?"

"Oh, yes," the Doctor quickly ran to a large panel filled with buttons of all kinds, "Now, what's this? And I love this, a big flashy lighty thing - that's what brought me here. Big flashy lighty things have got me written all over them. Not actually, but give me time and a crayon," he sat on the chair in front of the panel and swivels to face the others, "Now, this big flashy lighty thing is connected to the spire in your dome, yeah, and it controls the sky. Well, technically, it controls the clouds, which technically aren't clouds at all," he stood up and walked up to the elderly man, "Well, they're clouds of tiny particles of ice. Ice clouds, love that. Who's she?" he pointed at a silver chamber containing a woman inside.

"Nobody important," the elderly man, Kazran, dismissed.

"That's rude," Lena frowned.

"Do you know, in 900 years of time and space, I've never met anyone who wasn't important before," the Doctor agreed and headed back to the control panel to use the controls, "Now, this console is the key to saving that ship, or I'll eat my hat... if I had a hat. I'll eat someone's hat. Not someone who's using their hat-"

"How about you don't eat anyone's hat and we save Amy and Rory?" Lena raised an eyebrow, making him stop his rambles and see he was once again trailing off into another subject.

"You can't know Santa Claus!" Avalon finally looked up from the picture she'd taken from the Doctor, still unable to wrap her mind around it.

"I do," the Doctor returned and took back his picture, smirking at her. "And those controls aren't working!"

"The controls are isomorphic – one to one - they respond only to me," Kazran informed as he moved up to the Doctor.

"Oh, you fibber... Isomorphic! There's no such thing."

Kazran pulled a switch on the panel and shut down the machine to prove his statement. The Doctor went ahead and used the same switch only to see it wouldn't respond. With a frown, he pulled out his screwdriver and used it over the controls and Kazran. Once he checked the readings he blinked and looked at the others, "These controls are isomorphic!"

"The skies of this entire world are mine. My family tamed them, and now I own them," Kazran explained, getting more and more irritated with the Doctor.

"Tamed the sky? What does that mean?" Lena looked at Avalon, knowing that didn't sound very good for their situation.

"It means I'm Kazran Sardick," Kazran glared at them, "How can you possibly not know who I am?"

"Because we get bored easily," Avalon snapped, not liking the attitude the man had taken with her twin, "Point here is we need your help to save our friends."

"Make an appointment."

"I wasn't asking for your help, I was informing you," Avalon crossed her arms.

"There are 4,003 people in a spaceship trapped in your cloud belt," the Doctor stepped in before the ginger went off with a full temper, "And what my friend is trying to say is that without your help, they're going to die."

"Yes," Kazran nodded.

"I think the correct answer is that you're going to help," Lena spoke up again.

"You don't have to let that happen," the Doctor agreed.

"I know, but I'm going to. Bye-bye. Bored now. ..Chuck!"

Avalon's mouth opened with horror, "You old-"

"I'd watch the tongue," the Doctor pointed at her before she finished her sentence.

"I'll take it under consideration," Avalon mock-glared at him as servants neared them from behind to get them out the door.

The Doctor managed to break free from the servants restraining him and rushed back to Kazran as the man had sat down on his chair, "Ooh, look at you, looking all tough now," the man mocked.

"There are 4,003 people I won't allow to die tonight. Do you know where that puts you?" the Doctor asked.

"Where?"

"4,004."

Kazran let out a small laugh, "Was that a sort of threat-y thing?"

"Whatever happens tonight, remember... you brought it on yourself."

"Yeah, yeah, right. ..Get him out of here," Kazran called to the servants again, "And next time, try and find me some funny poor people."

The Doctor was forced towards the doors along with the twins and family. The little boy took a lump of coal on the ground and threw it Kazran, hitting him on the head. Kazran stood up in anger and headed for the boy with a raised hand to strike with.

"No, stop, don't!" the Doctor struggled to free himself of the servants holding him back.

"Don't you dare! You leave him!" the father of the boy was in the same predicament as the Doctor.

After a moment, Kazran seemed to realize what he was about to do and lowered his hand, "Get him out of here! Get that foul-smelling family out of here! Out!"

Although the family was taken, the Doctor remained in the house, nodding for the twins to go ahead and leave as well. He waited a moment until Kazran noticed he was still there.

"What? What do you want?" Kazran rolled his eyes with irritation.

"A simple life," the Doctor shrugged, "But you didn't hit the boy."

"Well, I will next time!"

"No, you see, you won't. Now why? What am I missing?" the Doctor turned and started to focus on the details of the house.

"Get out! Get out of this house!" Kazran shooed him off to no avail.

"The chairs! Of course, the chairs! Stupid me, the chairs!" the Doctor smacked his own forehead.

"The chairs?"

"There's a portrait on the wall behind me. Looks like you, but it's too old, so it's your father. All the chairs are angled away from it," the Doctor gestured to each chair facing the portraits away, "Daddy's been dead for 20 years. But you still can't get comfortable where he can see you. There's a Christmas tree in the painting, but none in this house, on Christmas Eve. You're scared of him and you're scared of being like him. And good for you, you're not like him, not really. Do you know why?"

"Why?" Kazran blinked.

"Because you didn't hit the boy. Merry Christmas, Mr Sardick."

"I despise Christmas!"

"You shouldn't," the Doctor headed for the doors, "It's very you."

"It's what? What do you mean?"

"Halfway out of the dark," the Doctor mumbled as he finally left.

~ 0 ~

The Doctor and the twins were outside of Kazran's home where they spoke to Amy and Rory on the phone. Up in the ship things were growing more and more frantic and so it was no surprise that the first thing Amy said to the group below was, "Have you got a plan yet?"

"Yes, I do," the Doctor answered almost immediately, prompting Amy to respond with...

"Are you lying?"

"Yes, I am," the Doctor bowed his head.

"Don't treat me like an idiot," Amy snapped.

"OK, the good news. I've tracked the machine that unlocks the cloud belt. I could use it to clear you a flight corridor and you could land easily."

Avalon took the phone from the Doctor and scolded him, "Don't give false hope," she rolled her eyes and spoke into the phone, "He can't control the machine, Amy."

"Less great," Amy sighed.

"But I've met a man who can," the Doctor shouted into the phone, making Avalon flinch with his voice right beside her ear.

"Ah, well, there you go!" Amy cheered.

"And he hated you," Avalon reminded the Doctor who stuck his tongue out at her for ruining it again.

"Let me guess, he was being extra charming and clever?" Amy sighed.

"To the max," Avalon nodded even though Amy couldn't see it.

"Say what you want but all I heard is that you thought I was being charming and extra clever," the Doctor pointed at Avalon with a smirk.

"Oh don't get too riled up on that," Avalon looked at him with a smirk of her own, "That was my own Christmas present for you, one nice lie."

The Doctor frowned and pointed at her again when Lena cut in, "Alright, stop it." She looked at both with a scolding face before she took the phone from Avalon.

"Sir, sir," the father of the family they'd been thrown out with came towards the group.

"Hang on," the Doctor told the twins and met with the father, shaking his hand.

"I've never seen anybody stand up to Mr Sardick like that," the father remarked, "Bless you, sir, and merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas. Lovely," the Doctor nodded.

"But a bit busy," Avalon reminded.

"You'd better get inside, though," the father warned.

"Why?" Avalon asked as she looked around.

"The fog's thick tonight, and there's a fish warning."

At that, the trio gave the father an odd look, "The fish?" they asked together.

"Yeah," the father nodded, "You know what they're like when they get a bit hungry."

"Yeah, fish, I know fish," the Doctor looked at the twins, "Fish?" both sisters shrugged in confusion.

"It's all Mr Sardick's fault, I reckon. He always lets a few fish through the cloud layer when he's in a bad mood," the father shrugged, "Thank you. Bless you once again, sir," and with that he hurried on out.

"I'm sorry but did he just say fish?" Avalon scratched her head.

"OI!" they heard Amy's voice from the phone, "The Captain says we've got less than an hour. What should we be doing?"

"Uh, hang on..." Lena said to her while she and the other two looked around and saw small fish swimming around a streelight as if they were moths.

"Fish," the Doctor blinked.

"Fish that can swim in fog?" Avalon frowned, "That's a real thing?"

"How's that for impression Miss Reynolds?" the Doctor shot her back a smirk.

"Now I feel terrible for my lousy present," she playfully rolled her eyes.

He shook his head and stepped closer to the fish, "Now, why would people be frightened of you tiny little fellas?" he held up his hand and let the fish go near it, "Look at you, sweet little fishy-wishies. Mind you, fish in the fog, so the cloud cover... Ooh. Careful up there."

"Big brother, Amy's very adamant about being saved," Lena called, holding the phone from her ear as the ginger shouted over it, "And she says they've got less than an hour."

"I know,' the Doctor mumbled as he glanced at a nearby clock.

"Then best stop messing around with the 'fishy wishys' and get to work," Avalon clapped her hands to get the attention off the fish.

"Big Brother, it's Amy again," Lena sighed, her ear partially ringing from the loud tone Amy was taking with her.

"Oh alright, let's see," the Doctor started pacing as he thought, "Can't use the TARDIS, cos it can't lock on. So that ship needs to land, but it can't land unless a very bad man suddenly decides to turn nice, just in time for Christmas Day!"

"Oh!" Avalon suddenly squealed, startling him and Lena, even Amy as the phone had gone quiet for a moment.

"What?" the Doctor looked back to see her clapping her hands excitedly with a huge smile.

"I got it! I got the plan!" she cheered, "Don't you hear the singing?" she gestured to the speakers of the town that were playing a Christmas song, "A Christmas Carol! A Christmas Carol! A Christmas Carol!"

"I'm scared," the Doctor looked at Lena, never seeing the ginger acting like such a...ray of sunshine? If that even made sense.

"Me too," Lena admitted as she stared at her squealing twin.

"We have to do this," Avalon ran up to the Doctor who instinctively took steps back, "Oh please, oh please, oh please!?" she clapped her hands together, "A Christmas Carol is one of the best stories I've read!"

"That's great...what does it have to do with this though?" the Doctor asked, taking one more step back for caution.

"You said it yourself!" Avalon laughed, "How do we turn a man who's been bitter and mean his entire life? A Christmas Carol!"

The Doctor blinked as he finally got what the ginger was so excited about. Of course, a story, a classic story that Avalon loved. She had the opportunity to play out an entire story...on Christmas...of course she was squealing and clapping about it. That made more sense.

"You are clever," he concluded, "Well done," he did a mock-bow, making her laugh.

"Can someone explain to me, please?" Lena came up to them, "And perhaps Amy?" she held the phone between them, "She's yelling again," she whispered.

~ 0 ~

The Doctor and the twins managed to sneak back into Kazran's house, after the servants had 'luckily' won the lottery. The Doctor set up a projection of a young Kazran while the current, elder Kazran slept. With a loud shout of his father in the

projection, the current Kazran awoke with a startle. He was stunned to see the projection of his younger self talking about the fish in the skies when his father came in...and struck him. He quickly stood up from his chair and rushed up to the wall where the projection played.

The trio had entered the room without Kazran noticing and the Doctor cautiously walked up to him and set a hand on his shoulder, "It's OK. It's OK."

Kazran jumped and turned around, angrily shouting, "What have you done? What is this?"

"Found it on an old drive. Sorry about the picture quality, had to recover the data using quantum enfolding and a paperclip," the Doctor stepped back as the twins joined him.

"Oh, I wouldn't bother calling your servants, they quit. Apparently they won the lottery at exactly the same time," Lena crossed her arms with an innocent smile, "Which is a bit lucky when you think about it."

"There isn't a lottery," Kazran pointed at her violently.

"Extra lucky," Avalon remarked as she plopped down in Kazran's chair.

"Who are you?"

Avalon smirked and looked at her sister and the Doctor, "I've always wanted to do this, eek," she took a breath and got into character before she leaned back on her chair, "Tonight, I am the Ghost Of Christmas Past," she dramatically waved her hands.

The Doctor playfully rolled his eyes at her, glad to see she was at least beginning to have some actual fun, "Did you ever get to see a fish back then, when you were a kid?" he asked Kazran who scoffed.

"What does that matter to you?"

"Look how it mattered to you," Lena softly said, gazing back at the projection where the young Kazran cried.

"I cried all night, and I learned life's most invaluable lesson," Kazran turned to her with a dark look in his eyes.

"Which is?"

"Nobody comes. Get out!" he startled them with his shouts, "Get out of my house!"

"Okay, okay, but we'll be back," the Doctor warned as he gathered his two companions and brought them behind him, "Way back, way, way back," they moved to the door where the projection played, the TARDIS waiting behind.

Kazran heard the wheezing sound of the TARDIS slowly leave his house...only to be heard again in his younger self's room...

~ 0 ~

The Doctor excitedly opened the window of young Kazran's bedroom, "See? Back!" he shouted to the recorder young Kazran had on his desk.

"Nice, Doctor, just enter a boy's room without greetings and introductions," Avalon came through the window next and helped Lena last.

"Who are you?" young Kazran asked them all, debating whether he should start calling for help.

"Right," the Doctor agreed with Avalon's statement and turned to the boy, "Hi, I'm the Doctor, that's Avalon and her sister Lena. We're your new babysitters."

"Where's Mrs Mantovani?"

"Oh, you'll never guess!" the Doctor hopped onto Kazran's bed and started jumping on it, "Clever old Mrs Manters, she only went and won the lottery!"

"There isn't any lottery," Kazran frowned and looked at the women.

"She got extra lucky," Avalon shrugged then looked at the Doctor with a sigh, "And so your dad got a babysitter that acts younger than you."

Lena laughed as the Doctor stopped jumping and let himself fall on the bed with a small bounce afterwards, "I would've liked one like that," she shrugged.

Kazran checked his open window and frowned, "If you're my babysitters, why were you climbing in the window?"

"That is a very good point," Avalon mused for an excuse and glanced at the Doctor, "Doctor?"

"Need saving again?" he smirked and raised an eyebrow, earning a mock-glare back, "The answer is simple, really," he turned to Kazran, the boy still expecting an answer, "Because if we were climbing out, we'd be going in the wrong direction. Pay attention."

"Smooth," Avalon rolled her eyes.

"Mrs Mantovani's always my babysitter," Kazran slowly said, still unsure they were actual babysitters.

"Times change," the Doctor peered into the camera, "Wouldn't you say? You see... Christmas Past."

"Who are you talking to?" Kazran frowned.

"You," the Doctor pointed, "Now, your past is going to change. That means your memories will too. Scary, but you'll get the hang of it."

"I don't understand," Kazran turned to the women again, wondering what kind of answer he'd be getting from them.

"I'll bet you don't! I wish I could see your face!" the Doctor exclaimed as he pointed between Kazran and the camera.

"And you're scaring him," Avalon pushed down his finger, "Quit it."

"Yeah, maybe we should focus on the plan," even Lena agreed that the boy looked a bit frightened and confused.

"Right then," the Doctor finally focused and looked around, "Your bedroom. Great! Let's see, you're 12 years old, so we'll stay away from under the bed. Cupboard! Big cupboard, I love a cupboard," he ran up to said cupboard and opened it up, poking his head inside.

"What've you been doing inside cupboards, Fairy Tale Man?" Avalon smirked, even making Lena giggle when the Doctor nearly slipped inside from her comment.

"Ava!" he turned around, a scowl on his face as the two sisters laugh.

"I don't get it," Kazran said to the Doctor, thinking it must have been a girl thing as the women kept laughing.

"Good," the Doctor pointed at him then sighed, "So what are we going to do? Eat crisps and talk about girls? I've never actually done that, but I bet it's easy. Girls! Yeah?"

"I'm not so sure you can do that," Avalon looked at Lena with another laugh wanting to slip out.

"Shut up!" he pointed at her.

"Are you really babysitters?" Kazran had to question again, "You keep arguing..."

"Bantering," Lena corrected with an amused smile.

"Wish it would stop," the Doctor shot Avalon a look before he pulled out his psychic paper and held it to Kazran, "I think you'll find I'm universally recognized as a mature and responsible adult."

Kazran looked at the paper and tilted his head, "It's just a lot of wavy lines."

The Doctor took a look and raised his eyebrows, "Hm, it's shorted out..." he looked up at Avalon who was biting her lip with a smile that was threatening to turn into another laugh. She was making the effort not to laugh but the psychic paper had really done it this time. "Oh alright, have at it!" the Doctor rolled his eyes, resigned to another round of bantering.

Avalon instantly burst into laughter that could probably be heard a mile off. "You shorted out a paper designed to lie to everyone about anything! This is too good!" She clutched her stomach, her face beginning to match the color of her hair from how much she was laughing.

The Doctor huffed after a few minutes. "Okay that's enough!" But Avalon kept going. Her legs almost buckled that she had to go near the bed to keep her footing. The Doctor followed her wobbly walk with another huff. "Ava, c'mon! Stop it!"

"I don't think she can..." Lena remarked, genuinely surprised to see that side of Avalon. She'd seen Avalon laugh, sure, but not even Rory had made her laugh that much, "...well done, big brother," she looked at him with a big grin.

"Welcome...sure..." the Doctor wasn't paying attention as he was focused on the ginger making fun of him, "I know someone who's getting coal for Christmas."

"I never get anything anyways," Avalon wiped some tears from her eyes, "Woah, that was a fun," she glanced at young Kazran, "Sorry about that, kid. Now then, you're right...pretty clear we're not real babysitters."

"That's an understatement," he crossed his arms.

"Oh, smart boy," she raised an eyebrow and straightened up, "Then I can tell you right now that we're gonna be much cooler than a regular babysitter who gives you a bedtime."

"And how are you going to do that?"

"Doctor," Avalon pointed at him, "You're going to show the kid the fish he wants to see."

"You don't have to point," he moved over and pushed her finger down, "But she's right," he nodded to Kazran, "It's going to be fish time!"

"Mind you, that's a bit strange," Lena thought about the creatures, "There's fish in the fog and the clouds..."

"My dad's invented a machine to control the cloud belt. Tame the sky, he says. The fish'll be able to come down, but only when we let them," Kazran said what he'd been told so many times, "We can charge whatever we like."

"Yeah, we've seen your dad's machine," the Doctor sighed, "Big, bad machine," he mumbled.

"Why would you charge, though?" Avalon asked, "Wouldn't it be fun to just let the fish down for everyone to enjoy? C'mon, fish? In the air?"

"Well technically," the Doctor began, "It's-" but he received Avalon's hand on his mouth.

"Like I was saying," she shot him an irritated look, no one needed to know the technicalities of the fish, "We can see a fish right now, and I won't charge you a thing for it," she tapped Kazran on the nose with her free hand.

Kazran raised an eyebrow, "Aren't you going to tell me it's dangerous?"

The Doctor pushed Avalon's hand down and looked at him, "The woman's been to jail many times, she's way past playing the goody too-shoes."

"He's right," Avalon agreed.

"But it's still dangerous," Lena had to remind as she moved closer.

"Dangerous!?" the Doctor raised an eyebrow and stepped beside Kazran, "We're boys," he put an arm around Kazran's shoulders, "And you know what boys say in the face of danger."

"What?" Lena looked at Avalon who already had a hand over her forehead, just knowing the Doctor would come up with something utterly stupid like...

"Mummy!" the Doctor grinned.

"And there we go," Avalon looked up and shook his head at them, "And then the girls-" she pointed at Lena and herself, "-will have to come and save your sorry behinds."

And so, the Doctor's screwdriver had a string tired around it and was hung in the center of Kazran's room, the string rigged up and going through the cupboard door where inside the Doctor held onto it. Kazran sat beside him while the twins across, the camera that would allow the older Kazran to see, being held by Lena.

"Are there any spiders in here?" Lena whispered to Avalon since she was deadly afraid of the creatures.

"No," she shushed her, for they had to be quiet.

"Are you afraid of spiders, baby sister?" the Doctor raised an eyebrow.

"Don't encourage it," Avalon sighed, "Why don't we ask Kazran why he likes the fish so much instead of poking at the fears of Lena?"

"I like that idea," Lena meekly nodded.

"Cos they're scary," Kazran went ahead and answered as he saw how pale the brunette woman looked just at the talks of spiders.

"That's a good answer," the Doctor pointed.

"What kind of tie is that?" Kazran looked at his bow-tie with a face that didn't exactly spell 'like'.

"A cool one," the Doctor tweaked his bow-tie.

"Why is it cool?"

"It's not," Avalon whispered, making the boy chuckle.

"Avalon," the Doctor sounded like he was pleading for her to stop.

The ginger playfully rolled her eyes, "So why are you really interested in fish?" she decided to give the man a break for the moment.

"My school. During the last fog belt, the nets broke and there was an attack. Loads of them, a whole shoal. No-one was hurt, but it was the most fish ever seen below the mountains."

"Were you scared?" Lena wondered, knowing she would probably be screaming about with terror if something like that happened.

"I wasn't there. I was off sick."

"Ooh, lucky you. Not lucky?" the Doctor observed the boy's disappointment.

"It's all anyone ever talks about now, the day the fish came. Everyone's got a story."

"But you don't," Avalon gave a small smile.

"Why are you recording this?" Kazran looked at Lena curiously.

"Do you pay attention at school, Kazran?" the Doctor asked.

"Sorry, what?"

"Cos you're not paying attention now," the Doctor's finger was tugged towards the door via the string, "Sh!" he quickly said as he stood up.

"Doctor, are you sure about that?" Kazran watched the man, debating whether he should stand or not.

"Trust me."

"Okay..."

"Oi! Eyes on the tie. Look at me. I wear it and I don't care. Trust me?"

"Yes," Kazran nodded and looked at the twins.

"That's why it's cool," the Doctor smirked to himself.

"It usually works out fine," Avalon gave a shrug, assuming what the boy was going to ask, "Just be ready to pull him back when he gets into trouble."

The Doctor had taken that as another sarcastic remark and was about to make a comeback...when he realized that had actually been something true. He shrugged and focused back on the doors, "Stay inside..."

"Now are you sure that's the best choice?" this time even Lena was hesitant to let him go out on his own.

"Listen to your sister, baby sister," the Doctor looked back, "And just be ready to pull me out when I get into trouble."

With that the Doctor slowly entered the bedroom and closed the cupboard, seeing the small fish repeatedly hitting his screwdriver, "Hello, fishy. Let's see. Interesting. Crystalline fog, eh? Maybe carrying a tiny electrical charge. Is that how you fly, little fishy?"

"What is it? What kind? Can I see?" Kazran gently knocked on the cupboard to be heard.

"Just stay there a moment."

"Is it big?"

"Nah, just a little one," the Doctor moved closer to the fish, about to try and touch it, "So, little fella, what do you eat?"

And then a shark zoomed into the room and swallowed whole the small fish along with part of the screwdriver.

"How little?" Kazran's voice was heard again.

"Erm..." the Doctor had jerked away from the shark.

"Is it time to pull you back inside, now?" Avalon inquired, the Doctor a bit surprised she'd pick up on the change of mood.

"No, no. Maybe just...wait there for a moment," he tried to play it 'cool' as he slowly made his way towards the cupboard.

"Don't think you can pull one over me, fairy tale man," Avalon warned.

"Yup, sorry," he swallowed and ran the rest of the way back to the cupboard, hastily leaning against the shut doors as the shark banged from the other side.

"What did you do!?" Avalon frowned and tried helping him keep the doors shut while Lena brought Kazran back with her.

"Well, concentrating on the plusses, Kazran's definitely got a story of his own now," the Doctor tried to smile but the shark was getting tougher and tougher, "Also, I got a good look at the fish, and I understand the fog, which'll help me land a spaceship in the future, and save a lot of lives. And I'll get some readings off my sonic screwdriver when I get it off the shark in the bedroom."

"There's a shark in my bedroom?" Kazran gaped, his eyes wide as could be.

"Oh, fine, focus on that part!" the Doctor rolled his eyes.

"It stopped," Avalon whispered and stood off the door.

"What's it doing, then?" Lena trembled with the eery silence that now laid around them.

"What do you call it if you don't have any feet, and you're taking a run-up?" the Doctor asked.

"Oh, this is no time for-"

The Doctor didn't wait for the finish of Avalon's words as he grabbed her and pulled her to the others, both falling a bit too close to with each other, while Lena and Kazran had fallen beside them. They looked at each other with mesmerization, even forgetting about a pending danger literally in front of them. Avalon then recalled her newest dreams and blushed like mad.

"It's going to eat us!" came Lena's cry, startling them back to reality.

Avalon cleared her throat and shuffled to turn away from the Doctor and to her twin, "Not on my watch," she managed to say, "Is that your screwdriver, Doctor?"

"Hm?" the Doctor blinked and looked at the shark that was stuck in the doorway with its mouth open with a green glow inside, "Oh, look at that..."

"That looks in reach, right?"

"Are you actually going to stick your hand inside that shark?" Kazran had seen where the woman was headed with her words and gawked.

"Lesson number one, kid, girls are so much better than boys," Avalon shot him a smirk.

"Ah, you will not be doing any of that," the Doctor kept her back as soon as she tried moving forwards, "My screwdriver, my arms," he gestured.

"Fine, but after two goes it's my turn," she gestured to her own arms, "And then Lena...and then Kazran..."

"Get the screwdriver!" Lena cried again, horrified to think of putting her arms inside a shark. She now recalled why exactly she didn't want to keep traveling.

"Right then! OK. Geronimo! Open wide," the Doctor took a breath and moved for the shark.

~ 0 ~

After managing to get his screwdriver back, the Doctor had gotten the rest of the group out into the patio outside Kazran's bedroom, the shark seemingly weaker all of a sudden. It had tried to make a move on them again but after entering the patio, it had slowly fallen to the ground and remained there.

Worried, Kazran moved to its side along with Lena, while Avalon stayed behind them just in case the creature tried to do anything more.

Meanwhile, the Doctor stood a bit to the side, checking his meek piece of screwdriver, "What's the big fishy done to you? Swallowed half of you, that's what. Half a screwdriver, what use is that? Bad, big fishy."

"Doctor? I think she's dying," Kazran called quietly, not wanting to startle the shark.

"Half my screwdriver's still inside, but yeah, I think so," he turned around, "I doubt they can survive long outside the cloud belt. Just quick raiding trips on a foggy night."

"Can't we get it back up there?" Kazran began sniffling, "We were just going to stun it. I didn't want to kill it."

"She was trying to eat you, Kazran," Avalon pointed out the events that had led to the shark's demise, "All of us..."

"She was hungry," the boy defended.

"I'm sorry, Kazran. We can't save her," the Doctor walked over, "I could take her back up there, but she'd never survive the trip. We need a fully functioning life-support."

At that, Kazran looked up with new sudden hope, "You mean like an icebox? OK."

And that was how the trio found themselves chasing after the boy, running down the stairs while Kazran only grew farther away, now even carrying a lamp to lead the way.

On their way to wherever Kazran led there was a large, decorated Christmas tree where the Doctor had to stop and gawk at, "Ooh, a tree!"

"C'mon," Avalon rolled her eyes as she walked past him, yanking him by the arm after her.

Kazran had taken the group into the basement of the house where a large, metal door with a security keypad on the side blocked their way into a new room full of ice by the glimpse they got from a small window. As the Doctor took a better look he saw the room was covered in ice and full of chambers like the one he'd seen earlier.

"What is this?" he asked Kazran with curiosity.

"The surplus population. That's what my dad calls it."

"Well that's nice," Avalon blinked.

Kazran was trying to turn the wheel for the door to open, even Lena trying to help as she thought the boy would need some extra strength. Unfortunately, the wheel wouldn't work, "Oh, it's not turning! Oh, why won't it turn?" Kazran stepped back while the Doctor used his remnant of a screwdriver on the keypad.

"Ah, what's the number?" he saw the keypad asking for the security code.

Kazran shrugged, "I don't know!"

"This place is full of alarms, it's not just the door. I need the number!"

"I'm not allowed to know until I'm older."

The Doctor huffed and ran out without a word, leaving Kazran to call after him.

"He'll be back," Avalon assured as she moved up to the window to take a look.

Just like Avalon assured, the Doctor had come back running only a minute after he'd left, hollering, "7258!" repeatedly.

Lena hurried to the keypad and typed in the numbers, opening the doors for them. Together, they entered the cold room full of thicker fog, Kazran once again taking the lead and sprinting over to a specific chamber.

"Ah, there's fish down here, too," the Doctor looked around as small fishes swam around them.

"Yeah, but only tiny ones. The house is built on a fog lake. That's how Dad freezes the people," Kazran stopped in front of a chamber, "They're all full, but we could borrow one," he pointed at the chamber he stood by, "Yeah, this one."

The Doctor held up the lamp they'd carried in to the chamber's window and saw it was the woman the family had been arguing over, "Hello again," he whispered.

"You know her?" Kazran looked at them all, seeing the similar expressions on each of their faces.

"What is so important about her?" Avalon wondered and blinked, "Sorry, that came out completely wrong," she amended her error with embarrassment, "I meant why this specific chamber? What's the significance?"

"She won't mind. She loves the fish," Kazran quickly typed in a number into the woman's chamber's keypad, starting a holographic video on the window of the chamber for them.

"My name is Abigail Pettigrew, and I'm very grateful for Mr Sardick's kindness. My father..."

"She starts to talk about the fish in a minute," Kazran assured with excitement.

"…but I would not allow it. I could not have chosen this path were it not for the compassion and generosity of the great philanthropist and patron of the poor, Mr Elliot Sardick, but I'm also surrounded by the fish, the beautiful, iridescent, magical fish..."

While the video played, the Doctor took the lamp with him and made a small walk around the other chambers nearby, "Why are these people here? What's all this for?"

Kazran sighed, "My dad lends money. He always takes a family member as... He calls it security."

"Hard man to love, your dad," Lena made a face and looked down at the boy, "But I suppose you know that." She thanked the heavens she had been given the type of father she had. He never struck her nor her siblings and always gave the best he could for them all.

Kazran had pressed more buttons on Abigail's chamber and lighted it up, activating the defrosting, "What's wrong?" he looked over at the Doctor who had been tampering with his screwdriver again.

"Just my half a screwdriver trying to repair itself. It's signalling the other half..."

The twins looked at each other with concerned looks, the same looks slowly making its way onto Kazran's and the Doctor's faces.

"The other half's inside the shark," Avalon breathed.

"Yeah. Sounds like she's woken up," the Doctor nodded, "OK. So it's homing on the screwdriver..."

The shark reappeared with its mouth open for another attack. The group quickly dispersed and ran off as the shark tried to attack once more, some of the chambers were even knocked down with the attempts. While each of them had taken a position to hide in, a new voice had taken over the entire vault room, a singer. With the singing, the shark seemed to have retreated from its attacks and so the group was able to come out of hiding and go check what/who was singing.

It was Abigail, who'd come out of her chamber, and was now singing to the shark, the creature at her side in a complete calm manner.

"It's not really the singing, of course," the Doctor began once he'd rejoined the group, all standing several feet away from Abigail.

"Yes, it is," Lena observed the manner in which all the fishes seemed to grow close to Abigail.

"Nah, baby sister..."

"The fish love the singing, it's true," Kazran agreed.

"Nah. The notes resonate in the ice, causing a delta wave pattern in the fog," but the Doctor stopped with a slap on the back of his neck, "Ow! A fish bit me."

"Shut up, then," Avalon smirked, guessing the fish had meant for him to be quiet so they could hear what they wanted.

"Of course!" the Doctor didn't seem to capture the message, "That's how the machine controls the cloud belt. The clouds are ice crystals. If you vibrate them at the right frequency, you could align them..." he slapped the back of his neck again, "Ow! Why do they keep biting me?"

Kazran rolled his eyes and looked up at him, "Look, the fish like the singing, OK? Now shut up!"

"Okay," the Doctor grumbled and finally stayed quiet like everyone seemed to want.

~ 0 ~

Once the shark had been placed into Abigail's chamber, the group, now with Abigail, had gone into the TARDIS. Upon entering, Abigail and Kazran had fallen into shock of the dimensions of the box.

"It's bigger on the inside," Kazran turned around in a circle.

"Yeah, it's the colour. Really knocks the walls back," the Doctor tapped the chamber on the floor.

"I don't think that's what he meant," Avalon gave him a look.

"Anyways,"" he rolled his eyes, "Shark in a box, to go," he ran to the console to set the box in motion.

Abigail was taking several steps around the room to gaze at every detail of the bigger place, "This is...amazing!"

"Nah, this is transport," the Doctor played innocent, "I keep amazing...out here," he ran for the doors and flung them open to allow them the view of millions of fish swimming among the cloud belt.

"Now that's just showing off," Avalon shook her head but nonetheless ran for the doorway to look out.

"Point one: big brother," Lena congratulated the Doctor as he returned for the chamber, chuckling to herself as Avalon poked her head out the doorway along with Kazran and Abigail.

The Doctor smirked to himself as he punched in numbers on the chamber, "Come on, then, let's get this shark out."

It was only a couple minutes when the shark was finally able to return back to its home with the other fish.

"Hey, look at her go!" Kazran cheered and laughed.

As the Doctor went to close the chamber he saw a couple numbers on the front of it, not belonging to any security code, "Abigail, this number, what does it mean?" he assumed she would know best.

"It pertains to me, sir, not the fish," Abigail tried to keep the smile she'd had since she stepped out of the chamber as best she could.

"Yeah, but how?"

She stepped towards him, slightly sheepish, "You are a doctor, you say? Are you one of mine?"

"Do you need a doctor?"

The bell chiming at the console broke through the conversation and made the Doctor hurry back to to the console.

"Ah! Sorry! Time's up, kids!"

"Why?" Avalon looked back with genuine disappointment, only making the Doctor smirk again of triumph.

"It's nearly Christmas Day," he informed and looked away before he was caught.

~ 0 ~

Abigail and her chamber were brought back to the Ice Vault to resume her 'sleep'. Abigail gave a small, genuine smile at the group, "If you should ever wish to visit again..."

"Well, you know, we're ever in the neighborhood..." the Doctor began to say when Kazran cut in.

"They come every Christmas Eve. Yeah, they do, every time. They promise!"

"We do?" Lena looked over at the Doctor, confused.

"No, we don't..." the Doctor blinked, confused himself, as Kazran closed Abigail's chamber's door.

But it had already been decided, apparently, that he and the twins would come back every year on Christmas Eve for Kazran ans Abigail. The Doctor hoped that by doing this they would be able to help Amy and Rory in the future with Kazran now a good man. So, every year, Abigail was greeted by him, Kazran, and the twins and was taken out to celebrate Christmas Eve. Beginning with a shark - carriage flight throughout the sky and to the rest of time and space. Young Kazran ended up growing up with each visit the Doctor and the twins made, entering his early teens ans finding a new, shy, personality...and a bow-tie.

While Abigail and the older Kazran walked (slowly) towards the console, the Doctor and the twins were battling it out to see where exactly they would be headed for this Christmas.

"You've grown," Abigail tried to be as discreet as possible.

Kazran gave a small nod, "Yeah."

"And now you're blushing," Abigail chuckled.

"Sorry," Kazran looked away.

"That's OK," Abigail shrugged.

"So, Doctor, where this time?" Kazran quickly looked at rhe others in hopes of ending the awkward conversation.

"Weeell..." Avalon discreetly walked around the console, "I've got Hollywood in mind!" she beamed excitedly.

"And I just want a snowy place," Lena remarked.

"And I've got time and space," the Doctor smirked.

"Might I make a request?" Abigail sheepishly stepped up.

"Of course," the Doctor moved over to them.

"This one," Abigail nodded.

~ 0 ~

After Abigail made her request, the Doctor brought them to her sister's house, the family that had been pleading for Abigail's release in the future. The blonde stood in front of a window of her sister's house, wearing a cloak over her. Off to the side stood the rest of the group, watching her begin to quietly cry.

"Who are they?" Kazran didn't understand why they stood in a random street.

"Her family. The lady's her sister," the Doctor answered, "We met her once, when she was...older."

"Abigail's crying," Kazran whispered.

"I think we've noticed," Avalon crossed her arms.

"When girls are crying, are you supposed to talk to them?"

"I've learned it helps," the Doctor glanced at Avalon with a small smile.

She caught the words and shared a look with him, "Yeah, it does..." she whispered with her own smile.

Lena looked between them and assumed it must be something while she'd been 'dead'. She had to admit it was a bit odd to see them closer, even their bantering had changed. Still, she preferred them this way than the early days. She turned to Kazran, about to suggest he go and talk to Abigail when she realized he was already doing that, "Smart guy," she smiled and then gasped, "Do you know what we should do?"

"What did you have in mind, baby sister?" the Doctor wondered, seeing her overly excitedly about something.

"Christmas with the family! C'mon!" Lena took his hand and Avalon's, rushing them for Abigail's sister's house.

~ 0 ~

Christmas Eve had been moved to be celebrated with Abigail's family. Although it was a strange for Abigail sister, Isabel, to see her sister with Kazran and time travelers, she had accepted Abigail right away. And while the two sisters caught up, Kazran had taken to helping Isabel's husband with the house decorations while the Doctor and the twins entertained the children.

The Doctor held up playing cards for the son, "Pick a card, any card at all. Memorize the card, put it back in the deck. Don't let me see it," the son took a card and studied it for a minute then returned it to the deck. The Doctor then took a card out and held it for the boy to see, "The three of clubs."

"No," the boy shook his head.

"You sure? I'm very good at card tricks," the Doctor made a face at the card he'd pulled out.

"It wasn't the three of clubs."

"Well, of course it wasn't," the Doctor chucked the card to the side, "Because it was the seven of diamonds!"

"No," the boy looked at the card with amusement.

"Oi, stop it, you're doing it wrong," the Doctor set the cards down with a huff.

"It's not his fault you're a bad card player," Avalon took a seat beside the boy and picked up the deck.

"Oh, and you can do better?"

Avalon raised an eyebrow, accepting the challenge, "Tell you what, let's make this interesting," she motioned for the son to move over so she could take his place.

"How so?" the Doctor curiously asked as she shuffled the cards.

"I wouldn't do that, big brother," Lena came over as soon as she saw Avalon shuffling playing cards.

"You place your wager and I'll say mine," Avalon smirked.

"Anything I want?" the Doctor ignored Lena's warnings. This was sounding pretty interesting and he could never resist anything interesting.

"Anything," Avalon assured him, her smirk widening once she knew he was hooked. Sucks for him because I always win.

"Fine," the Doctor officially agreed. "If I win, you stop all your sarcastic remarks for the rest of Christmas Eve and Day. No making fun of me at all."

"Difficult, but manageable," Avalon nodded, "I'll take it. But if I win..." she eyed him for a minute as she thought of what she could possibly want from him. She soon noticed the watch on his wrist. He always wore that thing even when he barely looked at the time. "I get your watch."

The Doctor immediately held his wrist wearing the watch to his chest. It was his favorite watch. Yes, he didn't really use it but it was a really cool watch. Why would Avalon want that? To make me suffer that's why, he rolled his eyes.

"Don't do this, please," Lena bent down beside them, almost begging them to stop altogether. But if she was being honest, she knew that they were practically the same person. Both Avalon and the Doctor craved adventure even in the smallest of places...like a stupid card game with a bet.

"Well?" Avalon raised an eyebrow at the Doctor. "Scared of little ole me?"

The Doctor scoffed and lowered his hands to his lap. "It's a deal." He shook hands with Avalon, truly making it official.

"Guys..." Lena tried again but Avalon was already shuffling the cards.

"Same rules go for the game," Avalon warned the Doctor, "Pick a card and study it, put it back and I'll pick out that same card."

"I know how the game works," the Doctor rolled his eyes as he pulled out a card, showing it to Lena, "Lena will be our cheater detector."

"I'm not gonna cheat," Avalon shook her head and held the deck for him to return his card. She shuffled them again and took out a card, "Was this your card?"

The Doctor blinked when he saw his card being held in front of him. "How did...?" he snatched the card from her and turned it around. She couldn't have done it! It was impossible! "That...that is..."

"Hand over the watch, Fairy Tale Man," Avalon chuckled as she set down the deck between them. He was utterly shocked. It was too priceless! "I wish I had a camera right now!"

"That was...but...no!" the Doctor snapped, throwing his card to the side.

"I did warn you not to do it," Lena sighed. "She's a very good card player."

"How did you do that!?" the Doctor was narrowing his eyes on Avalon, searching for anything on her that would prove she hadn't played an honest game. You cheated!"

"Like I said, it's not our fault you don't know how to play," Avalon wiggled her fingers at him. "Watch, now, please."

"Lena!"

"I'm gonna go help decorate," Lena cautiously stood up and hurried away, preferring to stay out of it.

"Hand it over, fairy tale man," Avalon insisted.

"You cheated," the Doctor pointed at her.

"No, I'm just really good at cards!"

"How do you even know how to play!?"

"My Dad taught me," Avalon smirked. "So cough it up."

The Doctor glared for a minute before finally removing his watch from his wrist. A deal was a deal no matter how badly he wanted to take it back. Avalon held her left hand out and watched with giddy smile as he wrapped the watch around her wrist. He had to admit, it was nice to see her openly happy...even if it was because she was taking something of his.

"You like my new watch?" she bared a teethy smile at him as she raised her left hand.

"You are evil," he said flatly, making her laugh.

Isabel suddenly cleared her throat and stood up at the dinner table. "Tomorrow's dinner is cancelled, as my sister refuses to attend."

"Isabella..." Abigail tried to sit her back down.

"Instead...we'll have it tonight," Isabel smiled, surprising the others.

And within the hour, dinner had been set up for everyone to be a part of. They even had all the crackers to pull!

"Three! Two! One! Pull!"

Everyone cheered after seeing the gifts inside, although the little boy was more surprised to see a playing card inside his cracker, "How did you do that?" he looked at the Doctor with awe.

"Your card, I believe," the Doctor pointed, smirking, until...

"No!" the boy laughed and set the card down.

"Oh, shut up!" the Doctor gave up on the game altogether.

"Maybe I can teach you later," Avalon laughed, "And maybe even win your screwdriver this time!" The Doctor looked horrified at that and quickly shook his head, making Avalon laugh even more.

Kazran cleared his throat and raised his glass, "Er, Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas!" the rest cheered.

~ 0 ~

Once more, Abigail was brought back to the Ice Vault, the blonde thanking the group for their gift, "Best Christmas Eve ever," she hugged the Doctor last.

"Ah! Till the next one," he stepped back.

"I look forward to it. Now I'd like to say good night to Kazran..."

"Of course," the Doctor nodded, "Well, on you go."

"You really are clueless," Avalon shook her head, "We'll be on our way," she waved at Abigail then took the Doctor back, with the help of Lena, towards the TARDIS.

"Wait!" Kazran rushed after them, "Doctor! I, er, I think she's going to kiss me."

"You are not asking him for advice, are you?" Avalon sighed.

"I can give good advice," the Doctor argued and pushed Kazran towards Abigail.

"I've never kissed anyone before. What do I do?" the teenage boy urgently asked.

"Well...try and be all nervous and rubbish and a bit shaky."

"Why?"

"You'll be like that anyway. Make it part of the plan!"

"That is the worst advice I have ever heard!" Avalon exclaimed, though not so surprised by it.

"Well, it's not that bad of an idea," Lena stepped forwards, "Just go for it, Kazran!"

"What, now? I kiss her now?" he blinked with wide eyes.

"Kazran," the Doctor put an arm around his shoulder, "It's this or go to your room and design a new kind of screwdriver. Don't make my mistakes. Now, go!"

"I am so not gonna let that one go," Avalon pointed and walked off, laughing to herself. "Of course that's what you would do!" her laughter because like a howl all the way into the TARDIS.

"Oh c'mon!" the Doctor went after her, Lena scurrying behind them to try and stop their newest banter.

~ 0 ~

California, 1952.

The Doctor hurried through some bushes that led into the pool area of a lovely Hollywood party. He'd listened to Avalon's request to bring them to the era - that was his first mistake - and even got dressed for the occasion as Avalon suggested...that had been his second mistake.

The third mistake had been listening to her to make friends at the party.

Now, he was on the run to gather up his companions and get the hell out of there. He came to find Kazran and Abigail kissing by the pool, "Guys, we've really got to go quite quickly. I just accidentally got engaged to Marilyn Monroe!" he rambled but the pair did not break apart, "How do you keep going like that? Do you breathe out your ears? Hello? Sorry, hello? Guys, she's phoned a chapel, there's a car outside, this is happening now!"

"Yoo-hoo! Yoo-hoo!" he heard Marilyn Monroe calling for him.

"Twins," the Doctor blinked and dashed off, hoping to at least get them to help him...even if it meant hearing the nonstop laughter of Avalon once again.

~ 0 ~

Lena plopped down beside Avalon at a table, Lena a bit distressed, "I can't find any of our friends," she sighed.

Avalon had a plate of food in front of her, the fork already in her hand, "Who cares, Lena. Kazran and Abigail are probably snogging somewhere and the Doctor is probably getting himself into trouble. Let me eat!"

"What is that?" Lena crinkled her nose at the scent the food was giving off.

"No idea," Avalon shrugged, "Nice fella handed it to me, asked for a dance afterwards."

"Avalon!" Lena took the plate from her before Avalon dug her fork into it, "You can't accept things from strangers!"

"He's a celebrity!" Avalon took back from her plate.

"Oh yeah, who was he?" Lena pulled the plate again.

"Um..." Avalon thought for a moment and realized she didn't have the foggiest idea, "...well, he's a celebrity so everyone knows him! That's not a stranger! Now give me!" she pulled the plate again and finally sunk her fork into it.

"Do you even know what it is?" Lena raised an eyebrow.

"Nope!" the ginger toasted with her fork and was about to put it in her mouth when she heard the Doctor calling for them.

"Ava! Lena!" the Doctor rushed up to them in urgency.

"What happened to you, big brother?" Lena asked, making Avalon look up to see what her sister was talking about.

The Doctor had been dressed in a white evening jacket and black trousers, only now his face wore the smudges of someone's lips on his cheek.

"Who have you been snogging?" Avalon raised her eyebrows.

"Shut up! Help me!" he clapped his hands together.

"Let me eat," Avalon shifted back in her chair, waving him off.

"Oh, don't be so mean," Lena looked at the Doctor who seemed very desperate.

"I'm eating!" but then Avalon tasted a bit of the food and spit it back out. That was horrible. "Okay, what do you need?" she turned to the Doctor, pushing her plate away from her.

"Marilyn Monroe! Engaged! Marriage! Chapel! Help me!"

"Okay," Avalon stood up and took a sip of her drink to get rid of the awful taste, "This is what we're going to do. Lena, give me your bag," she held her hand out as Lena gave her purse.

"What are you going to do?" the Doctor frowned as the ginger pulled out a lipstick tube.

"Oh, I get it," Lena stood up as Avalon applied the lipstick.

"I don't! What's going on!?" the Doctor flapped his hands with urgency, "I don't have time!"

"No, no, it'll be fine. She's done this before and it worked perfectly!" Lena assured and received her purse back.

"What?" the Doctor waited impatiently.

Avalon moved over to the Doctor's side and grabbed his face, kissing the corner of his mouth and making sure her smudge stayed on.

"Wh-what are you doing?" the Doctor stiffened, thoroughly confused.

He was expecting some kind of teasing laughter instead of kisses! Avalon had kissed him on the other side of his face, also making sure that her smudge would stay. He could feel her breath on his skin and frankly it...hadn't felt so bad. He looked down at the wrong time, for her lips were dangerously close and for a split second he wondered what it might be to k...

"Don't forget the jacket!" Lena exclaimed, startling the Doctor from his thoughts.

He blinked and stepped away from them while he gathered himself. What had that been about? He shouldn't have those thoughts at all! It was Avalon, his baby sister's twin (or step-sister, but no one really knew that), the woman who laughed and teased him all the time! What was wrong with him?

"What about it?" Avalon looked back at Lena, sporting her own blush from her kisses.

"It's not gonna work if you don't mess that up too," Lena moved up to the Doctor, "Sorry big brother," she apologized before pulling his bow-tie undone and ruffling his hair, "There!" she stepped back.

"What is the point of all this?" the Doctor frowned moving to fix his hair when Lena smacked his hand, "Ow!"

"No woman wants to share her man, whether boyfriend or husband," Avalon remarked, "Duh. That's why you and Lena are going back to Marilyn where Lena's going to play your wife, or girlfriend, whatever you want. I'll act as the previous woman you've been engaged to."

"And this works?" the Doctor raised an eyebrow, full of doubt.

"I've done it before with Mels and it is hilarious." Avalon crossed her arms, "Now go on! I bet Marilyn is getting frustrated!"

"I don't want to be his wife," Lena made a face.

"Thanks baby sister," the Doctor mock-glared at her.

"No, not like that," Lena chuckled, "You're my 'big brother', remember? I feel weird playing your wife..."

"Yoo-hoo!" they heard Marilyn calling.

"Well someone's got to do it or he'll be walking down that aisle in ten minutes," Avalon reminded.

"Yoo-hoo!"

"Ava please!" the Doctor hurried up to her, "Please! Please! Please!"

"Alright, alright," Avalon rolled her eyes, "Stole your watch and I keep making cheap remarks, least I could do is get you out of a marriage," she linked arms with him, "Let's go!"

Lena laughed as they all headed to get the Doctor out of his terrible mess, none of them aware of what was happening with Kazran and Abigail at the same time.

~ 0 ~

The group finally returned back to the Ice Vault to place Abigail back in her chamber, everyone alright and no one married. Abigail and Kazran asked for a moment to be alone before parting but when Kazran rejoined the group afterwards, there was an evident change in his mood and expression.

"There we go. Another day, another Christmas Eve. We'll see you in a minute, eh? I mean, a year," the Doctor clapped Kazran on the shoulder.

"Doctor... Listen, why don't we leave it?" Kazran quietly asked.

"Sorry, leave what?"

"Oh, you know. This. Every Christmas Eve, it's getting a bit old."

"Christmas never gets old," Lena frowned.

"Well, Christmas is for kids, isn't it?" Kazran countered, "I've got some work with my dad now, I'm going to focus on that. Get that cloud belt under control."

"Did we bore you or something?" Avalon raised an eyebrow, "Or is there something you don't want to tell us?"

"It's just times changing," Kazran shrugged and started walking away.

"Not as much as I'd hoped," the Doctor went after the teen, "Kazran," he handed his screwdriver to Kazran, "I'll be needing a new one, anyway. What the hell, Merry Christmas. And if you ever need me, just activate it. I'll hear you."

"I won't need you," Kazran took the screwdriver and mumbled.

"What's happened? What are you not telling me?" the Doctor eyed him suspiciously but Kazran walked off again, "What about Abigail?" he called.

"I know where to find her," Kazran shouted and disappeared through the chambers.

"Well that went well," Lena frowned, "What happens now?"

"I'll tell you what, the Ghost of Christmas Present happens now," Avalon stared at Abigail's chamber up ahead, "He won't tell us, fine. But he'll have to tell in the present," with that, she hurried back to the TARDIS, "Doctor! C'mon!" she called.

~ 0 ~

As Avalon directed, Amy took the role of the next 'ghost' and projected herself to the older, current Kazran in hopes of changing the man's mind and help the ship in the clouds. Once that didn't happen, Kazran was brought to the Ice Vault...in front of Abigail's chamber. It was there that Kazran explained the illness Abigail had before going into the chamber, the ice barely able to keep her alive. But with each Christmas Eve she spent out of it, her moments of life went down, hence the number in front of her chamber. None of them had realized it had went down to number '1'. She only had one more opportunity to go out before she would die, which was the reason Kazran had forgone the traditional Christmas Eve's.

"We're really sorry about Abigail," Lena had come towards the current Kazran, the Doctor and Avalon behind her, "We didn't know..."

"Because you didn't tell us," Avalon muttered, getting a look from the Doctor to get her be quiet. She was just upset that Kazran had left them to the side and then got angry with them for what happened to Abigail. It can't be their fault if they weren't even informed. But on requests of Lena and the Doctor, she was forced to say quiet about it.

"All my life, I've been called heartless. My other life, my real life, the one you rewrote. Now look at me," Kazran stood in front of Abigail's chamber with a heartbroken expression as he looked into the window.

"Better a broken heart than no heart at all," the Doctor tried to comfort the man.

"Oh, try it. You try it. Why are you here?"

"Have you even read A Christmas Carol?" Avalon huffed, "It's time for the Ghost of Christmas Future. The future's about to be shown!"

"Fine! Do it! Show me! I'll die cold, alone and afraid. Of course I will, we all do! What difference does showing me make? Do you know why I'm going to let those people die? It's not a plan. I don't get anything from it. It's just that I don't care. I'm not like you, any of you. I don't even want to be like you! I don't and never, ever will care!"

"And we don't believe that," the Doctor stood straight, looking the man in the eye.

"Then show me the future. Prove me wrong."

"We're showing you the future right now," Lena corrected, pointing past Kazran, "What do you think, sweetheart?" she called, "Is that who you want to become, Kazran?"

The current Kazran turned around and found his younger 12 year old self standing in front of him, "Dad?" young Kazran blinked.

The current Kazran dropped his cane and went for the boy, about to strike when he got the flashes of his father beating him then of himself trying to hurt Abigail's nephew. He came to a halt and realized the man he had become over the years, certainly not one he wanted to continue to be, "I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry," he reached out to hug his younger self, "It's OK, don't be frightened. I'm...I'm so, so, so..."

"Kazran. We don't have much time," the Doctor reminded.

There was only a couple minutes until the ship above would come crashing down...

~ 0 ~

With Kazran now changed, the group hurried back to the control room to turn off the cloud belt...only to realize the controls wouldn't work anymore. The Doctor realized they had made a mistake in changing Kazran too much. The controls were programmed for a man like Kazran's father, and since Kazran wasn't like that anymore...the controls were useless. Another option had to be thought of and fast because the ship would be coming down soon. The option, when thought of one, hadn't been the happiest of choices but it was the only thing that was sure to work. That was how Abigail had gotten out of her chamber for the last time, to sing for the fishes up in the sky. She stood outside Kazran's house, singing into the Doctor's screwdriver that was wired to Kazran's machine inside.

"Well?" Kazran quietly turned to the Doctor frantically, wondering if it had been worth it to take Abigail's last moments of life.

"Well, the singing resonates in the crystals. It's feeding back and forth between the two halves of the screwdriver. One song, filling the sky. The crystals will align, I'll feed in a controlled phase loop, and the clouds will unlock."

"And in English...?" Avalon raised an eyebrow, young Kazran and Lena wondering the same thing.

"Something that hasn't happened in this town for a very long time now will happen right about..." the Doctor didn't finish when the first couple of snowflakes began falling from the sky.

"Snow!" Lena cheered, "Yes!"

With the snow falling, the other townsfolk started coming out of their houses to celebrate. While the ship did its clear landing, the Doctor and the twins went to return young Kazran to his own time...while leaving the current Kazran and Abigail a familiar gift: a carriage, a harness and a familiar shark swimming above.

~ 0 ~

Once Amy and Rory had been released from the ship, they had quickly went to find their friends, hoping they were alright after such events. They didn't have to do much searching when they heard the calls of Avalon and Lena, both nearly tackled with great, big hugs.

"You guys alright?" Avalon pulled Lena back with her.

"Yeah, yeah, nothing like a crashing ship for a honeymoon," Amy joked and laughed.

"The best, I hear," Avalon joined in with a small laugh.

"Ah, yes, you two! About time!" the Doctor joined them, immediately eyeing the clothing they wore, Amy with her Kissogram outfit and Rory dressed as a Centurion, "Why are you dressed like that?"

The twins chuckled, "You are way too clueless," Avalon mumbled to Lena.

"Ah, kind of lost our luggage. Kind of crash landed," Rory rubbed the side of his neck.

"Yeah, but why are you dressed like that at all?" the Doctor insisted, genuinely curious of the attire.

"They really love their snowmen around here," Amy desperately changed the topic and looked at a nearby snowman, "I've counted about 20."

"Yeah, I've been busy," the Doctor easily followed without noticing the blushes of either married human.

"Yeah, yeah, you have," Amy nodded and hugged him, "Thank you. "

"Pleasure. Right, come on, then, let's go!" the Doctor clapped his hands and headed for the TARDIS.

"Got any more honeymoon ideas?" Rory dared to ask as they followed.

"Careful what you ask for," Avalon put a hand on his shoulder.

"Is that...is that your watch?" Amy looked at the Doctor with confusion when she spotted the familiar watch on Avalon's wrist.

"She conned me out of it," the Doctor muttered.

"Did not!" Avalon exclaimed, "I won it fair and square and Lena is a witness!"

The Doctor rolled his eyes, "Anyways, I do have another honeymoon idea, not sure if anyone's interested. There's a moon that's made of actual honey. Well, not actual honey. And it's not actually a moon. And technically, it's alive and a bit carnivorous, but there are some lovely views."

"Yeah, great, thanks," Rory shot Amy a look and mouthed 'no' to her before going inside the TARDIS with Avalon.

"Are you OK?" Amy looked between the Doctor and Lena.

"Course we're okay," the Doctor nodded and glanced at Lena for confirmation.

"Yeah," she agreed, "Just a bit sad that I'll be leaving."

"You can always stay, you know that," the Doctor pointed, Amy nodding in agreement.

"No, I just...I remember now why I was going to leave the first time around," Lena sighed, unaware of the questioning look Amy was now giving her, "I get scared easily and I become a burden. Plus, it's just not me," she shook her head, "Doesn't mean I don't want to take a trip here and then, it's always fun to be with my friends and sister. But, I think like Avalon, it's time I figure out who I want to be. I'm not going to stay as the 'sick girl' forever." She smiled and went inside.

"That was...wow," Amy didn't even know how to comment on that, "When was she going to leave?" she asked the Doctor quietly.

"Before she died'," the Doctor sighed, preferring not to remember that day.

"And let me guess, Avalon had no idea?"

"None whatsoever."

"Sounds right," Amy nodded and looked up to the clear sky, "It'll be their last day together, won't it?" she sighed when she thought of Kazran and Abigail.

"Everything has to end some time, otherwise nothing would ever get started."

Rory came back out with a concerned expression on his face, "Your phone was ringing. Someone called Marilyn. Actually sounds like the Marilyn. Avalon took the call and it sounds like it's not going so well..."

The Doctor blinked, "Right..." from now on, neither Avalon nor Lena were fans of Marilyn Monroe and vice versa. The blonde woman hadn't been too happy to hear that he had 'tricked' another woman (Lena) into marrying him while he was already 'married' (to Avalon).

"Doctor?" Amy smiled in amusement at his expression, "Something you want to tell us, maybe?"

"You may want to get Ava off the phone, I've learned her words are very colorful when she gets into her temper," the Doctor took a breath and shook his head.

"Yeah," Rory knew exactly how Avalon would get and so hurried back inside.

"Where are they, anyways? Kazran and Abigail?" Amy got over her chuckle from the Doctor.

"Off on a little trip, I should think."

"Where?"

"Christmas."

"Christmas?"

"Yeah, Christmas," the Doctor opened the door for her and let her go inside first. He glanced up with a small smile, "Halfway out of the dark," he went into the TARDIS a moment after.

~ 0 ~

"Oh my one, I'm so happy

That you've got so far

I know the good, the great

Is working you like a charm.

Oh my one, rushing away,

With a bag full of bones,

I know the place you left,

Still won't leave you alone.

The Doctor had come to a stop in the corridors of the TARDIS after hearing those melancholic words. He was looking for Lena since the brunette would be returning to her father and brother in a couple of minutes. She'd just excused herself to say goodbye to Avalon but was expected she'd taken slightly longer. The Doctor knew this would probably be the first time in their lives they would be apart, whether twins or step-sisters they loved each other sincerely. Of course, in his mind Avalon didn't know her status as a Reynolds was in question.

The Doctor had allowed Lena to spend as much time as she wanted in the TARDIS but after some time he was curious to see what the twins were up to. Now hearing the sound of a piano, he wondered if it had been wise for him to allow them the time together if they were going to be sad about it.

He stopped in front of the room the sounds were coming from and found Lena standing by a piano (one that he had no idea even existed in the box) where Avalon sat and played, and sang...sadly. He didn't like it, he didn't like it one bit for either of them to be sad. He strode into the room and cleared his throat, ending the music, which admittedly wasn't bad. He knew Avalon had a lovely singing voice, he just didn't know she had musical instrument talent as well.

"It's Christmas, why are we so sad?" he sighed as he came up beside Lena, giving her a side hug.

"I asked her the same thing," Lena agreed with a nod.

"I like the song, sue me," Avalon tried to defend herself, "I love its chords, the sounds, the lyrics..."

"Gloomy," the Doctor accused.

"I didn't force anyone to stay nor come," she pointed, "Sorry if I was bad."

"No, no, I think you were fantastic," the Doctor quickly clarified, "You're 'Ava Williams', of course you're fantastic!" she managed to smile at his words, "But perhaps your voice could do even better at joyful songs...Christmas songs."

"Hard to do so when you're not exactly in a cheery mood," she ran a finger down the piano's keyboard, "Christmas or no Christmas," she mumbled under her breath as her gaze fell down. "Everything's changing now. Lena's leaving and...I don't know what to do about that."

"Be happy," Lena gave her sister another side hug. "Plus, we've got our matching bracelets now, see?" she put her wrist and Avalon's side by side so the Doctor could see matching bracelets on their wrists. They were both pink and blue but one sister had a little charm with the letter 'L' and the other sister had the charm with the letter 'A'. "Thought they would be a nice gift."

"And they are," Avalon assured her. "Just doesn't mean it makes me any less sad."

"Baby sister, do you think you could give me a moment with Avalon?" the Doctor looked down at Lena, "I'll take you back home right afterwards, promise."

Lena nodded, "Sure," she moved over to Avalon and gave her a big hug, Avalon quickly retreating into it, "You take care, alright? And don't worry about me, you just have fun."

"It's impossible not to worry about you, Lena," Avalon pulled back, "Your my sister..." And she meant that with all of her heart, despite not knowing whether or not she was actually Lena's sister.

Lena felt that ping of guilt in her chest. She still didn't have the courage to tell Avalon the truth. "Yeah," she gave Avalon one last hug. She turned around and gave a nod to the Doctor, hoping that he could do something to help her sister when no one else had been able to.

"I don't need a pep talk, you know," Avalon spoke quietly as Lena left, her fingers playing with the piano keyboard.

"I'm not here to give you one," the Doctor took a seat beside her.

"Really?"

"Yes, really."

"Then what do you want? No offence, but...yeah."

"I just want to know one thing," the Doctor turned to her, looking her in the eye, "One thing that I bet no one has asked you since the wedding..."

"What?"

"How do you feel?"

Avalon stiffened and looked away, "Why...why do you ask?"

"Because you got a strange letter warning you of danger and your sister - whom you've never been separated from - is leaving you. I think it's valid for someone to ask how you feel about that."

Avalon had to agree with that but wasn't going to openly agree, "It's...I don't know," she shrugged, "There's no words that come close to describing it, honestly."

"I get that, but maybe you can say something so it doesn't stay bottled up inside. You remember how that went the last time with your nightmares, right?" for some reason, he saw her blush and was going to ask about it when she spoke again.

She let out a big breath. "I mean, what do you want me to say? That maybe it scares me a little? What'd be the point?"

"Ava, you know it's never a good idea to keep things bottled inside. We've been over this," the Doctor sighed.

"Yeah, fine, maybe I am a little scared. And I'm sad because Lena is leaving but at the same time I'm thinking it's better for her to be away for whenever this thing comes for me..."

"Nothing is going to come for you, Ava, I promise," the Doctor placed a hand on her arm.

"We'll see, won't we?" Avalon gave a brief smirk that the Doctor knew was just meant to make him believe she was better.

"How's about a small gift, hmm?" he surprised her with instead.

"What?" she frowned in confusion. He reached inside his jacket and pulled out a rectangular box wrapped in red and green wrapping paper. "What?" Avalon blinked as the gift was held between them, "But...I don't understand..."

"What's to understand?" the Doctor chuckled, "It's Christmas, it's a gift, and it's for you."

"You didn't even know it was going to be Christmas," she took the gift and turned it over, trying to learn what it was by shaking it. "Lena just stopped by a store before leaving, but you-"

"This is sort of something I've been working on for some time. Christmas just happened to complete it," the Doctor smiled, "Go ahead, open it."

Avalon studied the gift for another moment before she began unwrapping it. She found a white box underneath in the shape of a rectangle and took off its lid. Inside laid a silver journal with her initials 'A.H.R.' engraved on the bottom of the cover and a latch binding the journal shut, "It's a journal," she whispered as she took it out the box, "You got me a journal," she looked at the Doctor with blinking eyes.

"Well, yes, but there's more to it," the Doctor was now in complete smiles, nervous, but still smiles, and nervous. Why was he nervous? It was just a journal, "I know you said you didn't want to buy a new one because of the last one's special value to you, but this one might change your mind."

"Not to be rude or anything but I find that a bit difficult," Avalon admitted with a sad smile, "My mother, Emmalina, gave me that journal and it had this…" she swallowed hard, unable to finish her words anymore.

The Doctor set a hand on her shoulder, "I know…that's why I went ahead and did this…" he took the journal from her and kept it between them as he opened it up to the first page, making sure Avalon could see it.

Her eyes widened as she looked at the page that had writing on it, "Oh my god…"

"I didn't look, I just scanned and moved it," the Doctor quickly said before she jumped to conclusions, "I swear."

But Avalon had no doubt about it. Out of everyone of their group, only he and Rory had stayed away from all her writings in the past. She slowly took the journal from his hands and read the familiar words of the first page, "…these are my mother's words she wrote in my first journal. The ones that inspired me to write…" she looked up with teary eyes, "You did this?"

He nodded, "I know it's not the same as the original and that's okay, but this is a very special kind of journal that you'll never finish."

"Why do you say that?"

"Cause it's bigger on the inside," he whispered with pure excitement.

"What?" she frowned and turned the pages of the journal, "It seems ordinary to me…"

"It's like the TARDIS, it's infinitely endless," the Doctor declared, "You can keep writing in this thing forever and you will never run out of pages. It's the ultimate journal. Best of all is it contains all of your original journal's entries with your mother's writing in the beginning, see?" he made her flip to the first couple of pages, making sure to keep a look on the side so she wouldn't think he was looking at her writing, "You'll never have to buy another journal."

"This is…" Avalon bit her lip as she went through her old entries, "…there are no words to describe how perfect this is! It's truly fairytale like," she looked up with a happy smile, "I love it, thank you."

"Merry Christmas, Avalon," he smiled softly.

She hugged her journal with joy at the thought of writing again. Oh she had a lot of things to write about now and she finally could without feeling guilty, "Thank you," she looked at him and kiss his cheek.

As she pulled away, the Doctor had turned his head to kiss her cheek as well but accidentally found himself a bit too close to her lips. That was the second time something like that happened and it was really starting to take a toll on him. It made him feel...odd, not in a bad way but...odd. Avalon realized how close they were to each other and blushed as she looked away, a faint image of her dreams coming back and only making things worse.

"I, um...I think Lena is probably waiting," she finally said, her gaze locked on the piano's keyboard, "We should go take her."

"Um, yeah, yeah, don't worry," the Doctor quickly stood up, clearing his throat.

"Thank you, though," Avalon smiled softly as she gazed back at her new journal. "I won't forget this present ever, trust me."

She really wouldn't.

~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~

To be continued in...Falling in Temptation! 

Thank you to everyone who's read, commented, liked and reblogged! I hope you guys continue onto the second story!

I thought it might be fun to include a couple fun facts about the story while I was drafting? If it was boring then let me know and I'll never do it again xD

Fun Facts:

1. Avalon's name was taken from the street name of my old college!

2. Lena was originally named 'Melina' but since I totally fell in love with the character ‘Lena Luthor’ from Supergirl, I had to make the switch!

3. Originally, I was going to make Avalon confess to her dad that she knew she was adopted - it was going to blow up into a whole argument! I decided against it in the end because I didn't want her to join the Doctor out of anger. This way she joined because she wanted to and she's also going to be safer with him!

4. I originally intended on bringing Avalon along right after the Eleventh Hour but I thought it would be better to introduce each OC separately, leaving Avalon for last since she's the main OC.

Once again, thanks for reading and see you in the next story!!

[sonicfanj]

Hi! I saw your response from a post related to idw! Amy from the last number of the comic. For some reason I don't feel satisfied with the way idw is handling amy and your response got my interest cause you mentioned really good points. I don't know if you want to continue to talk about the topic but if you do I would love to read more about your point of view Thanks for reading

I rant quite a bit about how IDW Amy has been handled as a good deal of it is a betrayal to her character concept which you can hear Kazuyuki Hoshino explain himself here.

https://youtu.be/0nzxRoIX4QU?t=2315

Sorry I can’t embed in an “Answer”, but the general gist of it is, Amy was created as a character who was to be the Minnie Mouse to Sonic’s Mickey Mouse, but as Sonic is not that type of character they needed to mix it up. As was very true of the early franchise where traditions were turned upside down for the time such as Tails being a nerd and athletic enough to keep up with Sonic while Amy was both a girly-girl and a tomboy at the same time, Sonic and Amy’s relationship was inverted from guy chasing after the girl to much less commonly seen girl chases after guy trope. So Amy could actually survive in a role as the love interest of the main character where she had to the chasing of a character always seeking out his next adventure and challenge she needed to have the energy, good cheer, and optimism to never give up chasing him and the willingness to partake in and love his lifestyle.

Early on you would see this in the Japanese manuals so naturally they were missed outside of Japan, but localization and not bringing content out of Japan (no less cases of Amy erasure by SEGA of America with her even having several scenes cut from the western airing of Sonic X removing a lot of her humanizing scenes showing she was a well meaning girl but acts on a foundation based on having the necessary energy to keep chasing Sonic unendingl) still did not stop that foundation from appearing in the games that brought her into the forefront of Sonic stories. The Sonic Adventure games.

Now there is a lot here that could be unpacked, but I’m going to focus on two moments.

1) At the beginning of her story Amy laments her boredom and pines for Sonic to be in her life again so she can enjoy excitement again like she did back when he was around. This out of the gate shows you that Amy detests being bored, yet IDW has her actively announce it at one point while doing Restoration paperwork, and also has Sonic have to practically drag her out on an adventure. 

So not only is she betraying her character by refusing to do what she was created to do, with even her great handling in issue 2 has her actively reject her own character function, but when she is pulled out onto an adventure what is her reward? Well of course the start of the Zombot crisis, in which she gets to see herself maim someone and then see Sonic infected with the same stuff. From there her role in the entire arc is to just be a mouthpiece for how bad the crisis is on a global scale. Yet her character foundation states this should not be the case.

At one point during the Zombat arc we see Cream after losing Cheese and Chocola have to cheer up Amy who can’t herself understand how Cream is able to smile. Yet before this point, Amy’s history has always shown her to be the one who keeps people optimistic, who doesn’t let people get down, who always has the energy and ability to believe in Sonic saving the day in the end and is able to smile because of that. So again, not only is her character down and betraying who she is supposed to be, but a character she should be cheering up is instead cheering her up. Who Amy is and the foundation for her character is completely absent, and again, Amy is sitting still instead of taking action and going out into the world and doing her best in her way. Her adventurous spirit and get out and do something attitude are completely absent.

2) Now, the other line from the Adventure games which shows a problem with Amy just growing lifeless in a dark room is from Adventure 2 where aboard the Arc she complains about how the boys always leave her behind. She’s there because she wants to be and has done everything she can throughout the game to keep up, and started by infiltrating Prison Island and acquiring a key card to Sonic’s cell. She is demonstrated to be proactive and again has a love for adventure and a desire to travel with Sonic. Yet again this is actively ignored in IDW to plug her into a role in the Zombot Arc meant for Sally Acorn during the Archie New 252 run.

Ian Flynn has on record stated that the Metal Virus Arc was originally meant for Archie starting at or a little after issue 300. It was inspired by the “Metal” skins from Sonic Heroes and would have seen the Freedom Fighters tested against the horror of the Arhieverse version of Eggman like never before. At this point though a problem becomes abundantly clear, and that’s that you have a role to fill where Sally Acorn is absent in a more gamecentric setting. How Amy ended up in the roll is in part due to Ian Flynn typically righting characters and only really being able to use Amy, though he has admitted it’s not a role he believes she should have. Yet SEGA OKed it and for the Zombot Arc Amy has had to become Sally Acorn. Instead of being the cheerful girl who chases after Sonic and does her best to keep up with and help Sonic she has become the girl in charge he checks in on. Instead of being out in the field leading through motivation, encouragement, and example, she has become a war room tactician. These roles all fit Sally to a tee and she is a character designed to be able to serve the purposes of those roles and thrive in them. It is what she was made to do after all; lead a desperate group of mismatched people through an impossible situation. That is her core role and part of why she doesn’t work for the games where the narrative is simply where is Sonic now and what is he getting involved in. But for the Zombot Arc she was perfect, yet Archie’s bunglings put an end to that and to force his story into only the second story arc of a new comic before the characters had room to grow and become established with distinct identities in IDW, he took Amy and shoved her into Sally’s skin in what is one of the worst ill fitting results I’ve ever seen. She is at almost no point in the arc given even a single moment that speaks from the foundation of her character as she can’t for the sake of he plot. The plot needed Sally Acorn, but Amy was the only one available to fill the role, and as is typical when Sally is needed, Amy gets mistreated, misused, and winds up getting nothing in the end except more comfortless stress and worries with none of her actual character there to show she can actually smile through it all.

The funny thing is though, Amy’s actual character makes it into the Zombot Arc. It’s one of the best written scenes in the whole arc and occurs at a point when Sonic really needs that traditional Amy spunk to put the spring back in his step. In fact, the way the whole scene is written it is likely had the story been told in Archie it would have been the moment when Amy fell to the Metal Virus. And I would not have been mad in the least. In fact, I would have been eagerly anticipating Sonic’s eventual victory to see her faith rewarded and her sacrifice rewarded. Unfortunately though the scene was handed off to someone else, and I have had a hard time appreciating the character since as a result.

You see, in IDW there is a very energetic character who shares most of Amy’s core traits. Energetic, optimistic, and almost always full of good cheer. Where they differ is in their secondary traits, or more accurately the traits they don’t share with Amy. Being romantic, in love with Sonic, childish, occasionally bratty, and very old-fashioned girly. Those five secondary traits are completely absent from this character, and as a result, anytime they do something Amy would based on the otherwise same foundation they get praised where Amy would have been derided simply for being Amy. But the peak of it is again a moment that felt 100% like it was meant for Amy but as she was assigned to be Sally couldn’t have it. And yet, no one seems to notice, but rather cheers the entire scenario because Sonic needed that hug and physical contact. He needed those words of a faith that is placed solely in him. He needed to see that ability to smile and stay optimistic even when infected, and keep giving their all with boundless energy, good cheer and optimism. He needed Amy Rosy, Rosy the Rascal, the pink hedgehog girl who has followed him as best she can since Sonic CD. But instead, Amy’s very foundation and role was cheered not when carried out by Amy, but instead when carried out by relative new comer with none of the history or even reason to have faith in Sonic like he needed in that scene, Tangle the Lemur. And the scene was cheered even more due to the love that Whisper the Wolf has as her despair at losing the first friend she allowed herself to have since she lost everything just drove it completely home for everyone. And don’t get me wrong, the issue was brilliant written. Just enough was done to make sure you knew it was Tangle and not Amy at a casual glance. But I don’t look at scenes that scream Amy at me from the start casually. Her and Sonic are easily my favorite characters, so when I see her role being played by someone else you can bet I notice. And Tangle played it brilliantly.

But what did Amy get as a reward for playing Sally’s role in this issue? What else? She had to play the role of the incompetent villain. They barely saved anyone. Another town was lost on her watch. She had hold Whisper back from going out to try in vain to save Tangle. It would have been quite engaging to see Sally challenged as a leader of people and crisis manager as she specializes in it and this arc would have been great to see her character deconstructed and see what really makes her work. Instead, Amy was given her role when she has no business having it, and is shown to be completely worthless after a scene that reads like it was handcrafted for was played out by another character. And of course, that other character when finally cured even gets another huge hug, while Amy is left watching the skies to despair.

It’s hard to see Amy as being treated well by IDW when you really break it down, but because she has been stripped of her character and generally sidelined, her detractors are pleased and as new fans don’t know any better they can’t see what is wrong no less call it out. She played her role in the plot as written so time to move on. She doesn’t matter beyond that, though fans of Amy Acorn/Sally Rose have surely been born as a result, and as an actual Amy Rose/Rosy the Rascal fan that hurts as one of my favorite characters will continue to be slowly killed off as her heart and sole is siphoned out of her and only a shallow doppelganger is left in her place.

Thanks for the Ask anon. I hope that rant and breakdown wasn’t too long or cynical, and that it clearly illustrates why at least I’m not happy with IDW Amy. Maybe even it will help you reflect and see why you aren’t satisfied with her either.

Of course though I rant quite a bit about the franchise in general and have a whole list of other rants of mine you can track down by dropping ‘rant’ into my blog’s search bar. Though that won’t connect you to these four from twitter (though one is kind of segmented)

https://twitter.com/kokoloko45/status/1284905784531398661 (Quite a bit of ranting in here though you have to fish around through the replies to find it)

https://twitter.com/JoshTarwater/status/1283088147576795137 (this one I go off quite a bit about the depreciating meta narrative of the IP)

https://twitter.com/JoshTarwater/status/1254439910422925312 (And this one I go into where I see Amy’s character as mishandled and the necessary steps as I see it to put her back on track)

Thank you again anon, it was a pleasure to answer, even if it did get me riled up again XD 

[hellimagines]

Fake Characters -- Patrick Hockstetter

*My masterlist link can be found in my blog description*

Request: "Patrick headcanons for him having a girlfriend who's really preppy and innocent until he finds out one night how demented she actually is and she's actually crazier than him and his heart Z O O M S" - @saea

Summary: Patrick gets assigned to a project with you, and slowly finds himself trying to pick you apart.

Warnings: explicit drug use (cocaine), light sexual themes, blood, violence, and lowkey murder

Pairing: Patrick Hockstetter x fem!reader

Word Count: 5,700+

A/N: I'm sorry this is so late, but honestly, are we surprised? Anyways, this isn't how I usually write things, it's a really long imagine rather than HC's, and it doesn't follow the request entirely (sorry lmao). Also, we don't do Consistent Tenses in This House and we're not gonna talk about the ending. Enjoy lmfao

Patrick Hockstetter didn't care much for you or your 'type'. He, as well as the rest of the Bowers Gang, had a tendency to steer clear of the preps and the populars: too much attention and too much hassle in the long run. He liked the girls (and the occasional boy) who were quiet, kept to themselves, and wouldn't be noticed if something were to... go wrong. So, when Patrick decided to randomly show up for his AP Lit class one day (a class he didn't belong in but was in anyway), he instantly regretted it. — Only a few seconds into class and the teacher had already set his demeaning eyes upon Patrick, an eyebrow arched in distaste. "So glad you decided to show, Mr. Hockstetter," he says, walking to stand in front of Patrick's desk. "Today's the beginning of our new read, and we'll be doing the project in pairs."

Patrick doesn't care at first, he figures he'll be stuck with one of the nerds in the front, trembling in their seats with sweat dripping from their forehead. He typically manages to scare them into doing the work for him if the project that's being assigned doesn't interest him.

"Mr. Hockstetter, you'll be working alongside Ms. (Y/L/N) for this project."

Patrick wants to slit the teacher's throat then and there. He knows he can't get away with threatening you to do all the work; you have too many friends and too many allies willing to make his life difficult if he fucks you over. It's only when you saunter up to him, slamming a copy of The Odyssey onto his desk (Patrick swears he chokes on the dust), does he really know he's fucked.

Despite your harsh actions, you're staring down at him with a gentle, yet anxious, gaze. "My parents are gonna be at a banquet tonight. So, we'll start on the project at my house, five o'clock. Don't be late, Hockstetter- I'm not doing this on my own," you sigh, nervously tugging at the bottom of your sweater (nervous of him or the thought of doing the project on your own, Patrick isn't sure).

"Yeah, whatever." Is all he offers you before he's snatching the book off his desk and leaving the classroom, the teacher shouting loudly behind him as he goes. — When Henry finds out Patrick is going to be spending the majority of the month in class and alongside you, he isn't happy about it. Before Patrick can even begin to justify his reasoning or explain that he'd still be around, the ash-blond git is tackling him to the ground. Patrick's unlit cigarette flies out of his hand as he's slammed to the asphalt, but he doesn't have time to grieve its loss. Henry instantly begins to pummel away at his back, trying to smash Patrick's face into the street beneath him, effectively tearing up the taller boy's face, arms, and upper body. Patrick lays there, complacent, for a few seconds, before violently jerking his body and throwing Henry off of him. Vic and Belch stand beside Amy, watching with worried eyes as the dominant teens fight out their frustrations. It takes a while, but soon enough their fists are bruised and their mouths are bloody, both of them kneeling over as they gasp for breath.

"I'll still be around you winy piece of shit. I've just gotta handle this crap."

"Fuck you." — Patrick shows up at your house at exactly 5 o'clock, blood staining his shirt, and a cigarette hanging from his busted lip. His face is destroyed, to say the least: covered in scratches, bruises, and dry blood. The rest of him doesn't look any better.

You squint at him, "Please don't get blood on my carpet." Before leading him to your room, refusing to ask any questions or offer any medical attention. He's not your problem.

Patrick is only slightly suspicious that you don't question his injuries or tell him to put out the cigarette, but he shrugs it off and obediently follows you to your room. Your house is large and sparkling clean- the kind of clean that makes it seem unlived in, and Patrick feels wrong calling it a 'home'. But once he gets to your room, he can only shake his head with a quiet chuckle at the sudden contrast- your room is clearly not like the rest of the house. Patrick shuts the door behind him and lets his backpack thud to the ground, before turning to find you unexpectedly holding out a dish to him. It's stained grey due to all the ash inside and is littered with used cigarette buds. Patrick raises an eyebrow but accepts it without question, slumping himself into your desk chair while you sit on your bed.

You instantly begin digging around in your backpack for the materials needed for the project, and Patrick takes the chance to look around and further judge your room. Crystal-white Christmas lights are hanging up, bordering your ceiling and illuminating the room in bright, unnatural light. You have pictures of your friends, family vacations, cheer meets, and other mindless things scattered along your walls. Posters of people Patrick doesn't recognize are pinned in random areas as if you didn't care where they were placed. Your bed is made and void of any debris (probably the only thing that resembles the rest of the house) but your floor is scattered with clothes, school books, pencils, and a water bottle here and there. Patrick isn't surprised to find your room has character, but he doesn't entirely believe it's your character being shown.

"How long are you planning on staying?" you ask, causing Patrick's eyes to zip back to you and away from his surroundings. You're staring at him with attentive (e/c) eyes, waiting for an answer as you tap your fingers against the books in your lap.

"Dunno. 'Til you kick me out 'suppose," he shrugs, leaning back into the chair with a bored expression. He'd forgotten all about his cigarette during his wonder-filled daze, so he takes a long drag after speaking- not missing the way your eyes linger on the filter caught between his lips.

Your voice is soft, "Won't your parents want you home?"

Patrick's smirking now, "Nah. Didn't come home for a few weeks once and they didn't blink an eye when I finally walked in the door lookin' like the personification of Hell."

"Where'd you go?"

"Sewers."

You seem to take the hint and drop the conversation, rolling your eyes at his bluntness while tossing your backpack to the side. "My parents won't be home until tomorrow. You can stay if you want."

"You askin' me to sleep with you, babe?" Patrick takes immense satisfaction in the way your cheeks flush and your eyebrows furrow, your mouth gaping for a retort.

The books in your lap nearly slide to the floor due to your sputtering. "No! I'm trying to be friendly!" you shout, incredulously.

Patrick shakes his head and flicks his cigarette against the ashtray. "Don't need a friend. I need to get this fucking project done so Henry gets off my damn ass." He takes another long drag after that, eyeing you over the orange glow of his cigarette as his fingers subconsciously run along a cut on his jaw.

Your eyes scan over his injuries once more, as something seems to click inside your head. "Just because Bowers doesn't care 'bout school doesn't mean you have to follow."

Patricks scoffs on his exhale, narrowing his eyes when you don't move away from the smoke. "Don't need a therapist either, babe." He's met with an eye roll, but you leave the conversation alone. Patricks likes the way you don't prod at things that he clearly doesn't want being picked at. You begin to explain the details of the project that Patrick had missed after he had left class, your voice free of scorn or annoyance. He doesn't know what your angle is yet, but he feels like you should be yelling at him by now. Instead, your voice is almost... understanding.

"Mr. Higgins said it's due March 14th. So... about six weeks. Plenty of time," you finish, handing him the paper with all the rules, materials, and extra crap for the project. Reading the book, analyzing it, putting together a poster (and stealing the materials), working out a presentation, plus all the in-class work wasn't gonna be as quick as he hoped. He had to work at the same pace as the class, which was something that made his jaw tense and his fingers squeeze the cigarette to the point it almost broke. Henry was gonna kick his ass. Again.

"I don't wanna waste six weeks on this crap. I can get it done in four- on my own," he growls, taking a quick puff of the cigarette before angrily putting it out (he didn't need it accidentally dropping on your carpet from his anger).

"That's not how projects work, Hockstetter," you sigh, voice annoyingly patient. "I can get it done that quick, too. But then we'd be bored the remaining three weeks. A handful of coked-out all-nighters isn't worth that. Besides, we have the work to do in class, and if we read ahead or any of that, it'll mess shit up."

Patrick practically perks up like a dog. "You use?"

Your breath hitches and your eyes widen. "What? No, what makes you say that?" You speak too quickly and once again, your hands are fumbling with your sweater. A nervous habit, Patrick notices.

"Firstly, babe, you're a terrible liar. I never said what you use. Secondly, people wouldn't say a 'coked-out all-nighter'. A simple 'all-nighter', or some caffeine related shit would've done the trick," he smirks, leaning forward to stare you down. He had known there was something about you the second you had opened the front door, and now he had you trapped, ready to find out everything.   "It's just a saying, I didn't mean anything by it," you stumble, (e/c) eyes searching his murky ones in a panic.

Patrick shakes his head in false pitty. "Relax. I'm not gonna tell anyone," he scoffs, leaning back in your chair and kicking his boot-clad feet up onto your desk.

Your body slouches in relief and Patrick's smirk widens, watching as you busy yourself with handing him sheets of paper and a pen, trying to seem nonchalant. You weren't who you claimed to be, and Patrick was gonna figure out your real character. The universe was challenging him, and boy did he love a good challenge- especially a cute one. — As the week wore on, Patrick found himself spending more and more time at your house and beside you in class. You two were sometimes seen outside of class, but not often, silently agreeing to keep your two worlds separate. Patrick didn't want Henry baring down on you and being an ass, and you didn't want your clique scrutinizing and sticking their noses up at Patrick. Henry and the boys were getting bitchy about his absence, sure, but he had a job to do and he wasn't gonna let Bowers' profound jealousy fuck it up.

It was roughly a week and a half into the project when Patrick became tired of trying to manipulate and coax secrets out of you. You seemed immune to his words and his tricks, and after your last slip up you had become tight-lipped, refusing to see that satisfied smirk on Patrick's face again. So, becoming fed up with your soft words and nervous fiddling, he nabbed a hundred from his mom's wallet and had Belch drive him out to Augusta. He was going to get you to admit your imperfections no matter what it cost him (or his mom).

Your filthy rich parents are always gone because of work and socialite activities, leaving you home alone constantly, and to your own devices. Meaning, Patrick isn't suspicious anymore when you allow him to smoke inside your house or when you don't question his bloodied body being dragged through your doors. Today's no different.

After Patrick knocks on your front door, you lead him through your house, speaking nonsense to him about your day, despite Patrick's obvious disinterest (he's got other things on his mind). Once you've brought him to your room and he's shut the door, he can't hold back the wicked smirk from his face any longer. Patrick's quick to pull a cigarette from his pack and extend his arm, catching your attention, succeeding in shutting you up. He isn't stupid, he knows you smoke but have refrained from doing so around him (and others no doubt). But the way your eyes widen and a slight gasp leaves your mouth is priceless. It takes you a good 30 seconds of flicking your eyes back and forth, from him to the cig, before you're snatching it out of his hand with a shaky breath. You have it in your mouth without realizing what you've admitted to, but Patrick can tell you don't care as you furiously pat yourself down in search of a lighter.

"Here." Patrick snaps open a silver zippo, the flame flickering against the cigarette, as you instantly inhale, making sure it catches. Satisfied with himself, he kicks off his shoes and tosses his backpack on the bed before throwing himself beside it, getting comfortable. You stand in front of him, anxiously smoking, while looking anywhere but him.

"Why didn't you say anything?" you ask after a few minutes, the cigarette beginning to dwindle down between your fingers.

"Why'd you try and hide it?" Patrick shoots back, raising a challenging eyebrow.

"If anybody found out I smoked, I'd be kicked off the team. Everyone else does it, yeah, and the fucking captain does it, but I got on the team because the other chick... got in an accident. I can't risk anything." Your voice is shaking again, and now Patrick has another fucking secret to discover.

"An accident?" he asks, fingers twitching at your words while his eyes roam over your tense body. "Yes." Your answer is short and your eyes are narrowed, lip curled in an unconscious snarl. Patrick grins wickedly but says nothing more as you hastily put out the cigarette and collapse beside him on the bed.

He can't help himself, "What other secrets you hidin' from me, babe?" he hums, tugging on a strand of your hair, making you whimper in shock.

"Nothing, Hockstetter. Let's just get this project done," you growl, shoving his hand away from your silky hair.

'Nothing my ass', Patrick thinks, although proud of your sudden hostility.

The two of you work without incident for the next few hours, Patrick waiting patiently for his time to strike. He's sure he resembles a viper or a panther or a wolf or some other threatening animal ready to pounce, but you don't look the least bit threatened. You simply refocus his attention every few minutes, scold him when he's being an ass, and make sure things are getting done. He's getting tired and beginning to think his moment is never going to come; but when you yawn around 9:30, Patrick practically shouts in victory.

"Tired, babe?" he says, voice surprisingly smooth for the way his eyes light up and his fingers twitch.

"Not your babe," you hum, refusing to answer his question.

"You always could be." You answer with another yawn, turning your head so he can't see you proving his point. "Let's pull an all-nighter, hm? Just this once," Patrick knows it won't be just this once, "and then you can get your well-deserved break from me. We can get a few days, possibly a week, worth of shit done tonight, and you'll be free to be with your friends again."

The way you look at him, your lip tucked between your teeth and your eyes so soft, Patrick knows he has you before you do.

"What makes you think I wanna get rid of you, Hockstetter?" Or maybe you have him.

Patrick doesn't let his shock show though, and only shakes his head with a chuckle. "C'mon, babe. I'm constantly trailing blood in here, messin' up your sheets and your homework, and keepin' ya from your friends and your pretty little cheer uniform. I know that short skirt misses you almost as much as I miss it," he purrs, running the back of his knuckle over your cheekbone.

Patrick doesn't care about any of that stuff (save the skirt), and he knows you don't either. He sees the way you roll your eyes when you get phone call after phone call from your friends, begging you to hang out. The way you clench your fists when you hang up the phone, before turning and smiling at him brightly. He sees the way your eyes linger on his fresh cuts and bruises, and how you purposefully run your fingers over his damaged knuckles when handing him something. Your eyes and touches filled with longing. He knows you haven't washed your sheets in the week and a half he's been over, messing them up to piss you off. He knows they smell (reak) of him: cigarette smoke, blood, stolen cologne, and chaos. He knows how your cheer uniform is tossed carelessly in your room, not minding if it gets dirty or ruined, whereas you have a hidden leather jacket hanging up in your closet, void of any injury and no doubt in pristine condition.

You haven't told Patrick any of these things, but he knows.

You don't flinch away from his knuckle as it's run along your cheekbone, instead, you sigh softly, causing Patrick to smirk in victory. There's a war going on inside your head, he can tell, but as long as he wins, he doesn't care what you're thinking.

Finally, you nod, "Yeah, alright. I'll go grab some snacks and coffee-"

"Won't need that, babe."

It takes you a minute to process his interruption and it's meaning, but he grins once it hits you. "Patrick, you didn't!" you cry, and he doesn't admit how the sound of his name being spat out of your mouth turns him on (even if he has to shift on the bed to hide his hard-on).

"Sure did."

He reaches into his backpack (the one he brings to school and now he's laughing at the horror on your face) and pulls out a tiny bag of cocaine stored inside a CD case. He fishes out a dollar bill and a credit card (that is definitely not his) from his pocket before plopping the items in front of you. You don't say anything for a few minutes, and Patrick doesn't push. But, he does begin emptying out the coke onto the case and using the card to cut it up. You watch him quietly, the horror fading slowly as the powder becomes thinner and a few lines are formed.

"Bills have germs," you finally speak, and Patrick almost scoffs, but stops himself in the name of money.

"That so, babe? You got a straw then?" he asks, knowing damn well you more-than-likely do. You wouldn't have said something if you didn't. He watches you get up and walk to your underwear drawer, where you dig around for a second before pulling out a ziplock bag. Inside he can see tiny bags of blow, straws, cards, and other crap he can't make out.

"You have a fucking cocaine kit?" His voice is full of judgment, but he's shifting his hips against the bed, his cock aching, knowing you're too busy pulling out two straws to notice. You don't answer him, but you do hold up a middle finger before you return to the bed. Patrick's already cut up four thick lines and is grinning wildly at you, impatiently flicking the card between his fingers.

He nods to the straws, "Better?" He's smirking now and all you do is roll your eyes while tying your hair up into a ponytail.

Before Patrick can blink or offer any more witty remarks, you're bending over the case and snorting all four fucking lines in one fucking go and Patrick nearly chokes on his own goddamn tongue and practically cums on the spot. Two of those rails were meant for him, and he's pretty sure he poured out a little less than a half onto that case, but fuck, he's not gonna scold you. You seem to know what the fuck you're doing, and he's not the babysitter type anyways. When you pull back, fingers covering your nostrils and inhaling deeply, Patrick can't keep the smile off his face and the hearts out of his eyes (but if anyone asks they weren't hearts bc that's just not how he rolls).

"You're fucking staring, Patrick," you grumble, voice weak and airy from holding your breath.

"Yeah, because that was fucking hot and not what I expected. Granted, you took my lines, but whatever," he mumbles, still staring up at you in awe.

You look down at him when he says that, eyes wide in shock. "Oh fuck, my bad."

"So many secrets," Patrick's snickers, before busying himself with pouring out and cutting up his own lines (exact same as yours because he'll be damned if he lets you one-up him in his own fucking game). You hand him his own straw, but Patrick simply grins before snatching the one you had just used out of your hand. You shout in protest, but it's too late, he's already bent over and snorting the case clean. Patrick lifts his head with a dopey grin, sniffing noisily as you glare at him. Both of you split the residue on the case, silently rubbing it against your gums before Patrick shifts himself to lean against your pillows. You follow suit, instinctively laying beside him with a satisfied hum. Patrick had managed to not only unlock two of your secrets, but he also got you to perform them, and the thought caused his fingers to jump at his side, his grin spreading. Plus, he had also found another secret in need of unlocking, just waiting to be heard and discovered.

"What're you so happy about?" you sigh, your words rushed and airy as you turn on your side to stare at him. Patrick copies your position, allowing his fingers to run over the side of your face once more.

"Finally cracking you open, (Y/N)."

"Sure, Patrick," you laugh, and Patrick's eyes flutter shut at the sound.

The next few hours are spent contently working on the project, with the frequent bump and line to push you guys forward. As Friday night begins to turn into Saturday morning, Patrick finds himself melting into your bed and no longer wanting to pick up The Odyssey or anything else for that matter. He can feel you curled up against his back, the book tucked into your arms as your eyes scan the words lazily; he's sure none of the information is registering with you and you'll have to re-read most of it in the morning, but you don't seem to care. The coke had been put away roughly two hours ago, nearly three, and Patrick was trying his best to disregard the comedown washing over him in waves. 

"We should try and sleep," you finally declare, noticing the soft, warm light beginning to peak into your room from your curtains. It wasn't going to be easy to fall asleep, but it was a decent option with your current states.

Patrick only grunts, not wanting to have to walk home with his heart racing the way it is and his throat aching. His limbs feel like Jell-O and his eyes burn, but once you remove yourself from his side, he forces himself to sit up. As he begins to sluggishly slip on his shoes, your hand on his shoulder stops him, and he looks up to see you pouting.

"The fuck you poutin' for, babe?" he sighs, turning back to his shoes.

"Stay, Patrick. You've been up all night and you're dealing with a come-down. Besides, I don't wanna be alone."

Patrick is positive you don't care about being alone, but your pouty lips and tug on his shirt magically coax him back into your bed before he can realize it. He slithers under the covers with you beside him, tensing up when you bury yourself into his side. He wants to push you off, tell you to go fuck yourself and hug your pillow, but he doesn't. Instead, he drapes an arm over your body, loose and hanging, and lets his eyes slip shut, willing his heart to calm down and his body to sleep. — Patrick and you had managed to achieve a few days worth of work during that night, and Patrick kept up his end of the deal- he didn't bother you at school and never offered a glance your way. But, he could tell his absence was bothering you, and it made his smirk widen each time he caught you looking at him. Patrick didn't show up for class during those few days, purposefully leaving you hanging with the class work, and it only took two days for you to seek him out.

"Patrick!" you shout as he's about to clamber into the Trans Am and speed off to god knows where. Patrick and the boys turn, Henry beginning to stalk forward at the interruption. However, Patrick grabs ahold of his shoulder and yanks him back, waiting for you to continue. "We have more work to do for the project."

'No we don't,' he laughs to himself. Patrick smirks and flicks a dismissive hand at the boys, ignoring their shouts and insults as he walks to your side and throws an arm over your shoulder. "Miss me already?"

"Shut up." -- It's been three weeks and Patrick isn't any closer to figuring out the dubbed Cheer Secret. He gets you to smoke around him constantly, and the two of you go through a few grams when you can afford it, but you don't utter a peep about the chick who had the 'accident'. Sometimes you'll rant about your friends and your family to him, things Patrick doesn't necessarily care about, but he listens to you anyway in hopes of a slip-up. But, no matter how high or drunk you get, that secret stays hidden within you and Patrick is over it. You rile him up in ways nobody else has before, and he wants nothing more than to make you his, but he can't without figuring you out. So, he works out yet another plan, one he isn't sure is even going to work.

Patrick makes sure he gets into another major fight with Henry before going to your house that day. It's a pretty bad fight, one that leaves his lip split, a cut on his eyebrow, gashes on his forehead, cheekbone, and his jaw, and many more hidden injuries beneath his bloody clothes. He knocks on your door, leaning heavily against the doorframe and waits for you to answer. When you do, you're actually shocked at his state- he hasn't looked this bad in weeks, and you can't contain the gasp that falls from your lips.

"Won't get blood on the carpet," Patrick murmurs while stumbling into the house, mindlessly walking into the direction of your room. The fight was more severe than he had predicted, and fuck, was he hoping more than ever his plan would work. Even as blood seeps from his body and his head swims with lost thoughts, Patrick still needed to know your secret.

You follow him into your room and help lower him to your bed. "What happened this time?" you ask, gingerly lifting his shirt up to inspect further damage. Patrick doesn't stop you.

"Henry was bitchin'. Gave 'im a piece o' my mind, and he gave me his. Pretty sure I left 'im bleeding out by the fuckin' river," Patrick slurs, wincing when you press against a cut on his side. Blood drips out at the contact, and you're instantly swiping it away, frowning.

You look up at him, "You just... left him there?"

Patrick nods silently, laying back on the bed with a huff. "Not my problem if he fuckin' dies. He shouldn't have opened his damn mouth." Your grip on his arm tightens, and Patrick sighs quietly. At least you weren't running away. "You gonna rat me out, babe?" he sneers, but even he can tell his voice is void of any true malice.

You scoff, "No, Patrick. I'd be a hypocrite. I have no right to do that- besides, I'd miss you too much."

Patrick laughs before he's coughing and groaning in pain. "Hypocrite, huh? Whatcha hidin' now? Don't wanna die on a cliffhanger," he coughs, lifting himself onto his elbow to try and subdue the pain and look at you better.

"Don't worry about that right now." Is all you say and Patrick is groaning again because 'fuck, I was so fucking close'.

You begin to tug at his shirt, and Patrick complies with letting you take it off. It sticks uncomfortably to his skin, but you eventually manage to peel it away with only a few grunts and hisses of pain. Patrick allows you to spend the next hour tending to his wounds, trying to rethink his plan over and over again. You're gentle and careful with him when all Patrick wants is to uncover your dark and rough side- the side he knows is screaming to be let out. By the time you've finished, Patrick's torso is scattered with bandages, and his face has been thoroughly cleaned and disinfected.

"Don't let this happen again," you say to him while putting away all the supplies you had needed.

Patrick watches you quietly for a minute. "It will. That's how me and Bowers work, if he's still alive. If you've ever been in a fight, or even dealt with the life we do, you'd understand." You still at that, and Patrick smirks.

'There it is.'

"Don't... don't say I haven't lived that life," you whisper slowly, standing up and turning to stare him down.

"How can I not? I don't know a thing about you, babe," Patrick says, resting a hand against his side as he looks up at you.

"I'm on the cheer team, straight-A student, AP classes-"

"Shut the fuck up," Patrick interrupts, scoffing loudly. "I'm not talking about the fake shit, (Y/N). I'm talking about you. The real fucking you. The leather jacket in the closet, the longing for my bruised knuckles, refusing to rid your sheets of my smell, accepting my smokes and my blow- that's the real you. And she's amazing. She's the person I wanna sit in here with, not whoever is looking at me now. So drop the god damn act already." He wasn't supposed to rant and go on a tangent, but once he started he just couldn't stop.

You stare down at him, your (e/c) eyes slowly losing their softness. Something almost akin to relief replaces it, and you collapse next to him with a quiet laugh. "I don't know if I want to cry, scream, or hit you."

Patrick grins, "Why not all of it?"

"Nobody was supposed to find out... ever. All of it was supposed to stay a secret until I got out of this shitty town. I... god, I don't know how you've figured me out in three weeks but I applaud you," you hum, resting your head in your palms. Patrick lets the comfortable silence that follows wash over you for a short while, before growing impatient. "Tell me about the girl." It's not a question or a plea, but a demand. You look over at him, eyebrows furrowed before you sigh in defeat.

"I fucked up."

"We all do. Talk to me." Patrick doesn't like the gentleness of his tone, but he can't do anything about that now.

You take a minute before sitting up straight. "She was the weakest link. I needed on the fucking team for college, and she was my way in. It was the few days of tryouts, and it had come down to me and her, but I could tell they were favoring her. She just... fit right. And I couldn't have that. So... I did what I had to. Lured her to the quarry with the promise of a drug deal, before pushing her over. She died and everyone thought it was suicide. I was let on the team and the rest is history." Your voice didn't waver throughout the story, and at the end, you look up at Patrick with a simple shrug, showing no remorse.

Patrick looks into your eyes for a minute, taking in their apathy, before he strikes. He places his hand against your cheek and pushes you back against the bed, kissing you roughly. You cry out in shock, hands immediately shoving at his chest to push him away.

"I killed someone!" you shout in disbelief, staring up at him with wide eyes.

Patrick smirks, "I know."

Patrick dives back down and kisses you once more, maneuvering his injured body above yours. You whimper quietly in defeat and wrap your arms around his neck, tugging him closer to you. Patrick growls in satisfaction- you're everything he expected you to be, and he couldn't be prouder at having figured you out. Now that you were wrapped around him, literally and figuratively, Patrick wasn't letting you go any time soon.

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