#and what does a little spark of electricity compare to a star?

[lieutenant-fred]

I like them very much, I like seeing them be happy and together

Used the prompt Winter Waltz and the pallete Winter Wonderland with this. Characters are Sir Doe and Dr Solaris by the way!

[poguehearted77]

OBX Season 5: Payback for Maybank - masterlist

Actor! Au Pairing: Actress! Reader x Drew Starkey Your Character: Piper Monroe, a jack of all trades whose hustle was making a living as an arms dealer in Morocco. Until a group of foreigners find her with an appetite for revenge, and she decides to tag along.

These can be read in any order, the season summary is just to give you some background on the character and role you played in the final season. In this mini series you'll get to see what really goes on behind the scenes.

Lmk if you want to be added to the tag list <3

Season Summary: This season, the Pogues are back, and their hunt for Chandler Groff leads them through the scorching sands of Morocco—and straight into your path, a mischievous arms dealer with secrets as deep as your scars. Due to your betrayal, the Pogues are ambushed and barely survive, saved only by your last-minute change of heart. Even after your redemption and display of loyalty, Rafe still doesn’t trust you, and in your uneasy alliance, he keeps you close, sometimes too close. Tension crackles between you, with moments where his knife is at your throat, yet something unspoken simmers beneath the surface. In the final episode, as danger closes in, confessions boil over when you and Rafe find yourselves held hostage by the leader of the mercenaries, Finch. During your time in bondage, you connect on feelings of solitude and regrets, but you see a spark in him when he mentions a girl back home, a reason to keep fighting. It's a race against time before Finch comes back to kill you. To both your frustration, critical thinking and strategic camaraderie are necessary for your escape. When you find yourselves stuck in a sticky situation amidst your escape, you make the ultimate sacrifice for Rafe, reminding him, “You have someone to live for,” before initiating a human diversion in a suicide mission, giving Rafe the chance to make it back to the Pogues, giving him a second chance.

Below the cut you’ll find my masterlist of life behind the scenes of season 5. Including premiere appearances, bloopers, red carpets, interviews and your budding romance with Drew.

Lights, Camera, Action! -> It's your first day on set and your nerves are through the roof but the cast makes you feel at home. You practice your lines, but the sparks between you and Drew are unscripted.

Between the Lines -> It's the little things that go on behind the scenes between you and Drew that makes your chemistry electric.

Co-Star Confessions-> The cast takes you along for a trip to take a lie detector test. The jokes are rolling and the tea starts to spill.

Portugal Nights-> The day was tense. Rehearsals were much more heated than the lines intended and the thin rubber band of restraint holding you both apart was bound to snap, and it finally does.

The Wrap Party-> Filming is over and that's a wrap for Outer Banks. Things get emotional but Drew knows how to cheer you up.-coming soon (January 2025!)

Limelight -> Due to your smaller role in the season compared to the main cast, you only had a few solo interviews but not without a few surprises. -coming soon

Wardrobe Malfunction-> You and Drew were scheduled to make it to the red carpet by 8 sharp, but not everything goes as planned.-coming soon

Ship Wars-> The fans are back at it again, and the shipping continues. Debating that Piper and Rafe should've had a romantic arc. You and Drew are given a special interview to address them.-coming soon

The Power Couple-> Drew finally made things official, so you began to have your fun with the fans and let them put the pieces together.-coming soon

The After Party-> The champagne is bubbly in your systems when you and Drew are stumbling into your hotel room after the party.-coming soon

I do not own or take credit for the characters or cast of outer banks. These are all pure fiction and do not accurately reflect the cast.

[heymacy]

thank you so much for your answer! i actually didn’t expect such a in depth response— it actually made me kind of excited to rewatch the show so that i can give those seasons a try! i watched shameless as it was airing around s3 so it was really hard for me to cope with the idea of watching ian ‘moving on’ and bashing mickey without knowing he would be back etc. but i guess it should be time to face that considering who he gets married to! tho, if it’s okay, i wanted to ask more cause i love to see your take on it! for what ive gathered caleb cheated on ian with a girl saying it ‘didn’t count’, but was he also the one who told ian to try to be with a girl? cause i remember seeing something about it and it really pissed me off that ian even went and ‘tried’, considering s1 was him being very vocal about non being into girls! as for trevor, i did know about the monica ‘get over it’ clip because i always see people comparing it to how mickey has always been supportive no matter what (of course!!!) and also how trevor kind of forced himself on ian. i wanted to know what’s your opinion on those relationships of his, especially trevor cause it seems like it’s been the most controversial one as he spent two seasons around him. it’s funny in a way because the writers didn’t want mickey back but they still made every love interests ian had to be ‘wrong’ and showing everything that mickey would never do! also, this is out of pettiness mostly but considering all those seasons are about his bipolar disorder, does ian ever say that to his partners as a way to break up? or can i have a little of happiness thinking he just really wanted to protect who matters the most *cough* mickey *cough*. again, thank you for taking your time answering my question, i loved reading it!

hello again! more under the cut bc i'm quite chatty :)

first of all, yes, the "it doesn't count" + trying to have sex with a girl thing is true, and it honestly never felt very in-character for me. it was definitely A Choice on behalf of the writers. in fact, he gargles with mouthwash afterwards (or maybe it's vodka, i can't remember) and says "i think i have PTSD", which (of course) is meant to be humorous, but i do think it was a very jarring and confusing experience for him.

ohhhhhhh boy. the trevor of it all. well, let's begin by saying that there's a lot of controversy surrounding trevor. there are some really rancid anti-trevor takes that i don't agree with, primarily the ones rooted in transphobia, which i think is disgusting and abhorrent. i think people are generally either very anti-trevor or pretty neutral on him. i don't think anyone out there is singing his praises, or at least i've never heard a take like that in the time i've been in the fandom. as for me & my opinion, i think he is an incredibly frustrating, pretentious, self-serving character and he irritates me deeply. i think that while he could have been a good friend to ian, he fucked things up by trying to be his boyfriend. they were incompatible from the start and i honestly don't know why they started anything in the first place. like i know why, i just don't understand it. they had no spark. they had no connection. their only commonalities were that they were 1) both gay and 2) into advocating for homeless + at-risk youth. and that's like, it. they had friendly coworker energy, not electric, bone-shattering chemistry. my rating? 0/10 stars. i was very happy when he was written off and ian was left to sort his shit out on his own, unencumbered by a dissatisfying, toxic relationship.

and caleb.......ugh. fucking caleb! i'm surprised he doesn't get vertigo from riding such a high horse. he treated ian like an accessory and consistently put him in uncomfortable situations for no reason other than his own pleasure and/or to manipulate other people. the ONLY good thing he did was lead ian down the EMT path, and that is it. otherwise he was quite literally the worst. imagine cheating on someone and then being like "actually, this is a you issue." alexa, define "cold-blooded" 🙄

to answer your question, ian never credits his bipolar disorder when ending things with any other partner, no. trevor ended because ian ran off with mickey and lied to him about it/cheated on him (though they did spend another season in each other's lives in a really strange capacity, which was an interesting choice by the writers) and caleb ended because he cheated on ian. caleb was a clean break whereas trevor was super messy and drawn-out. but no, he doesn't talk about wanting to protect them from his disorder during their breakups. he tells them both about it early on, is transparent about it, and expresses his concerns about it being a lot to handle, but it isn't credited as the reason for the breakups, no.

i think when it comes to ian protecting mickey from his disorder, it's important for us to view things through an ian-centric lens. why did he do what he did? was it solely to protect mickey, or was it coming from a place of insecurity? a place where he felt like a burden? a place where he felt hopeless and aimless and scared? post-episode and post-diagnosis, it's very common to fall into what i like to call The Pit, which is essentially a shallow bed of self-loathing and the desire to self-isolate away from everyone and everything. we see a lot of that in the end of s5 and the beginning of s6. he's made himself very small, is afraid to do nearly anything for fear of further destruction, and feels incredibly trapped and frightened by his circumstances. all of these factors contribute to his behaviors and choices, including (but not limited to) breaking up with mickey. did he end things because he didn't want mickey to spend his life coping with the realities of loving someone with this disorder? yes. but he did what he did because he was scared. and i think it's really important we make that distinction when talking about and analyzing that storyline.

as always, if there's anything you want to talk about or if you have any other questions you are always welcome in my inbox! i hope you're having a lovely day 💛

[thebnha-auhoard]

Shaker Anon

YOU'VE GOT ME INVESTED NOW.

The art. The story telling. I crave more! What happened after! Does Kaminari get Electricity back?

you have something written for Izuku after?👀

Why thank you! And he might. Eventually. Not for a good while tho.

Anyways. I call this Rediscovery Of a Hoard.

Its kinda long!

Izuku Gasps awake. He slips into the kitchen for water and something with protein. He didn't know exactly why.

The recent encounter with Kasumi had left his Sensei and Kaminari shaken. And honestly. He was too. He hated Familiarity, and he hated the Implications.

He grabs some of the dinner's leftovers and silently watches it warm up.

He decides he needs a Familiar voice, he rings up his mother as he slid down by the Refrigerator.

"Hey mom"

"hey honey. What's up? You don't call this late usually."

"Events. Mom. Did I ever.... Seems weird to you as a Kid. Any weird behavior?"

"Well.... There were some, but they kinda passed after you were four."

"Can I know?"

"Of Course! You always loved warmth. And you sat way too close to the fireplace of my mother's. Scared me to death. Oh and your little Jewelry piles! Oh how you kept them so shiny, if you could keep it. You kept it."

"Mmm."

"Oh how Hisashi called you his little Dragonlet. Before he went missing he would hold you to his chest as you held his Fingers, what large hands he had compared to your tiny body.... He loved you so much"

Izuku hums. Dreading the answers

"Mom.... When did I stop?"

"Oh. Just before Katsuki got his Quirk. Why?"

"Research. Can't tell you yet. But thank you so much."

"Anything for you Izu. Get some sleep now"

So much for Sleep now. His heart pounds as he considers, it wasn't a Stretch unlike before.

His sight blurs as he hugs his knees.

He knew the Theories of Quirks affecting personality. For Nedzu's Sake! He Researched that himself! He hoarded Things. He knows that he was missing something, but it felt so much more literal.

"I had one. I had a Dragon Quirk. I felt it in Kasumi. I knew what she was going to do."

He paces. A strange itch to his neck and a pain in his bones edge his sleepy consciousness. The dull ache waking his mind more and more.

"I knew. And I was late" he growls. He grabs his phone and his jacket, needing fresh air.

Stepping out, he tries to calm his pounding heart and foggy mind.

Scratching his neck he sets off into a run under the moonlight. The pace of his feet sparking and flowing.

Missing, Null, Worthless, Quirkless. Words echo in his brain and tears flow as he goes faster.

He knows his eyes light up, he reaches that desperate ache of surpassing his limits. Black and green lightning arcing around his body like a warm embrace. One he clings to desperately.

Then he trips. He quickly rolls into a Tumble and lays on the ground. A sob escapes him, the itch worse and worse as he stares at the star filled sky.

Then the absolutely worst person to come at that time leans over him.

"What the fuck is going on Deku"

Great. Katsuki Bakugo.

"Go away"

"No"

Izuku stares and huffs, the itch getting worse. "Look. Bakugo-" a Flinch. Weird "- I am not okay and I just need you to leave me alone"

"No. Tell what the fuck is with you."

Izuku glares, a Perfect Mimicry of His Father. The lights casting his face in darkness.

"Oh I don't know. Maybe it's the fact that I know what it's like to be Quirkless and I can't fucking say a word to one of my Friends! The fact that I POSSIBLY HAD A QUIRK AND IT WAS USED TO MAKE A NOMU. AND SHE TOOK KAMINARIS QUIRK!? AND ACCIDENTALLY GAVE IT TO LOUD CLOUD?!" AND I PHYSICALLY FELT IT. LIKE A FUCKIN' PHANTOM LIMB.

Izuku flares his hands as he stands up. It felt good getting his anger out, especially to his main tormentor. The ache in his bones slipped away.

"Or the fact I knew in an instinctive way. That she was grabbing. That she was going to Hoard it. That I could've had that and done that to someone."

Katsuki looks pale as a white rose Izuku notes. "I-"

"don't" Izuku warns, his voice low. That damned itch coming back. Word poison on his tongue as he steps forward

"Goddamnit Deku, get your head out of your ass and suck it up" Katsuki snips and immediately Izuku sees his hands flex and spark. Unwanted memories scratching his mind.

Izuku's face darkens. The morning fog licks their feet, maybe that's what should have tipped him off.

Izuku just screams "go away!" And his back explodes. Whips of Green and Black Energy tearing at the air as he screams in both anger, Pain and everything else. The ache in his bones exploding as the whips lash. Izuku's eyes widen, his hands shake as he tries to keep them from hurting his Childhood friend/Bully.

At one point Izuku screams and for a Split second… Katsuki was Afraid of him.

The way the Whips formed into a tangled Mimicry of a Dragons wings and the whips that flow out of his childhood friend's mouth like Dragons Breath.

suddenly Izuku can't see, cold water droplets soothing his sore eyes and itchy throat. And Katsuki runs from the terror that he saw in Izuku.

A gentle calloused hand grabs his own. He knew those hands. "Cloud Sensei. It hurts. Help me it hurts" Izuku begs. Cold clouds gather on his back, as Shirokumo slowly guides him in a silent breath exercise. Izuku practically collapsed against Shirokumo, tears dripping into his shirt.

Izuku would later ask how Shirokumo knew what he needed at that time.

A sad look passes over his Sensei, like a wound that couldn't heal.

"I was once in a similar spot-" a small smile. Storm clouds lick his face. Bringing up memories and a popular theory to Izuku's mind. "-May have ended up with a Quirk Awakening as well and I would have loved someone giving me a silent hand of help instead of me getting so bad….." Shirokumo trails off. And all Izuku could do was watch as he walked away. He silently wonders what layers are yet to be seen of his teacher and his cloudy past.

[askthekirbysquad]

( @nocturneofoddity )

For the second thing, nope! Magolor's basic magic sphere with no charge is still electric-elemented (and so is the attack at its first level of charge). I speak from recent experience, since I've been grinding out a bit of Star Allies' Guest Star mode lately, and always have Magolor in the party when I can! He doesn't need to charge his attack in order to imbue other allies' weapons with lightning.

But as a further bit of proof, you can also see that there's a little electric effect when enemies are hit by the attack:

( ^ Also gonna note that the same is true in the Epilogue too, even if this is mainly about Star Allies)

You do need to fully charge the attack for it to eventually become fire-elemented, though! Maybe that's what you were thinking of?

Gonna put the rest of this under a cut, since it's gonna be long dgdhshf ((Update after finishing writing the post: can confirm, it's Extremely long lmao))

You do have a point about Taranza, though! To compare the two attacks...

Magolor:

Taranza:

The two are very similar! Though they're not quite the same; Magolor's has that little lightning-like design inside the sphere, while Taranza's is more glowy, just in general.

That said, Taranza's attack also isn't electric-elemented---at least in Star Allies, anyway. In both Clash games, I will give you that both attacks have the lightning effect when Kirby is hit by them. I don't know why that's different in Star Allies (especially since Taranza still does supply the electric element with his Sectonia attack!). Should it be considered retconned? Or different Taranzas with slightly different abilities (both Clashes' Taranzas do look different from our usual one)? I dunno, but the information is there.

Also, while I'm posting images, here's a look at Gooey's laser attacks:

(Which, again, aren't actually electric-elemented, but do bear similarities to Magolor's electric spheres. Though admittedly it is less than I initially thought, now that I'm able to see them side by side. But I guess also at the same time, it's comparing orbs to spear-like attacks.)

And the only other instances of purple electricity in Star Allies, from ESP, Beam, Doc from Daroach (...kinda. It still does grant the electric power though), and Taranza's Sectonia attack:

Spark is green or blue depending on the attack, and Adeleine's summoned Kracko painting is blue. I didn't check Zan Partizanne's moves outside of her boss fight, but I'm fairly certain her stuff is primarily yellow with maybe the occasional green or blue flash.

So Magolor's electric attacks are still very noticeably different from any others in Star Allies!

Looking at these attacks borderline frame-by-frame also caused me to notice that weird, dark, smokey trail behind Magolor's spheres. Taranza's similar-looking spheres don't have that, and certainly neither do any of the game's other electric attacks. The trail also just. Doesn't give Electric Vibes. Mind you, Gooey's dark lasers don't have anything like it either.

And now. I'm about to make a massive stretch BUT---

Eh? Ehhhh? Dgdhsffg

Anyway. Back to Taranza. All of his attacks, aside from the one where he summons the Dreamstalk, are pink and/or purple. I'm guessing it's just the natural colour of his magic? I dunno, dghghsf. Maybe it's possible that Taranza's specifically a dark mage? And so he just naturally has a slight overlap with Dark Matter magic-wise, even though they're completely unrelated to each other?? All the canon descriptions of him (e.g., pause screen stuff) that I could find listed on the wiki just call him a "magician" or a "puppeteer" though, so there's nothing to confirm that. ...And. There is also a Bright Glowing Light coming from the center of his magic orbs so djhgdhf. Or it's just. A Generic Manifestation Of Magic, and it's purple because that's just the colour Taranza's magic defaults to when there's a high concentration of it packed into one ball. And that's why it's elementless. ...Except that it's Not elementless in the Clash games. I Dunno. I don't like the inconsistency dgshgfhdsf. Especially since Star Allies (including Wave 3) was released in between the two Clash games

Magolor, though, is very much a versatile, generalist elemental mage. He can use lightning, fire, and wind magic (which does raise the more lighthearted question of why he doesn't know water or ice magic. haha catboy doesn't like water, and Frozen Water is just as bad dghsgf), as well as some dimensional stuff with his teleportation and black holes. Lightning is most likely his 'default' element and the one he finds easiest to use, seeing as that's what his most basic attacks are (and is also the only ability he keeps, and least in some form, when he loses all of his other powers). Which, actually, also fits quite well with his affinity for tech! I like that

...I. Am just rambling at this point dhggshgf

Anyway. Yes! You are right about some of Taranza's attacks looking similar to Magolor's electric spheres. Whether or not Taranza's magic is also electricity-based is. Weirdly Inconsistent. And I don't quite know what to make of it, because there really is no reason for it not to be electric in Star Allies if it's supposed to be. Still, at least as far as Star Allies specifically is concerned, Magolor's electric attacks are very different from every other instance of it (and it's. certainly Interesting to see when you've got the rest of your party powered up by his lightning, and everyone's attacks are all yellow n' stuff and then there's his Dark Purple Orbs).

If we're okay to follow Star Allies and say that most of Taranza's magic is not electrical (and the Clash universe's Taranza is just Built Different, on top of looking different), then I Think it might be okay to just brush him aside? He's got his own thing going on with his own type of magic, and it doesn't affect the fact that Magolor's specifically electricity magic is Weird As Hell and Not Normal. Since even Taranza's one electric attack in Star Allies, while pink, is still Light and Bright and also has yellow lightning bolts in it, with no dark colours to be found outside of the Sectonia illusion.

So! I'm gonna go with the thought that Magolor's electric spheres weren't always purple! They used to be one of the more standard electricity magic colours. But! After the possession and Soul Eating done by the Master Crown, his magic was permanently Tainted by Dark Matter. The other types of elemental magic he uses are different enough from his base and need to be more... Refined? Specially crafted? ((it's 3:30am for me at this point and I Cannot think of the exact word(s) I want dghsgfhfh)) in order to use cast them, so you don't really notice the corruption in those spells. But for the default, most natural manifestation of his magic? The type closest to his core being? It's very clearly been visually altered. (And perhaps its effects have changed a little too? Like, it's still lightning, but maybe getting hit by it feels somewhat Different compared to other forms of lightning magic. An added touch of... Whatever Dark Matter projectiles would do to you gdgfdfb. An added chill of sorts?)

He... Doesn't like to think about the changes much.

Thinking about how Magolor's electric ball attacks look nothing like any other instances of electricity in the games that I can recall (particularly in Star Allies), but do resemble Gooey's Dark Laser attacks quite a bit

[anxious-changeling]

GN Witch!Reader x Familiar!Crusaders (-Joseph)

We hope you enjoy this!!! We put a lot of love into it!

Avdol

His animal form is a Partridge Rock Chicken!

The only traits he carries from his animal form is small feathers dusting his cheekbones!

You met him while you were walking around Cairo and just happened to feel a pull towards a curtained area.

Following the pull you found yourself in front of a fortune tellers booth, a beautiful man seated behind a table.

With a kind smile he welcomed you to sit and have your fortune read, you could almost feel the electricity crackle in the air.

When he grabbed your hand it felt like lightning had struck you. You knew what he was and he knew what you were. A witch and an unbound familiar staring into one another eyes.

Still he amused you with a palm reading reading of coming good fortune and a lifetime of happiness. With a hint of mischief coloring his voice while saying the latter.

You proposed him the idea of him becoming your familiar to which he agreed after some bargaining. Such as what days he would be employed and what he could and couldn’t do!

He told you of his previous witch, a cruel woman named Enyaba, who would clip his wings so he couldn’t fly. A sad fate for such a beautiful bird.

In his chicken form he’s very cuddly and makes adorable cooing noises when you pet him.

He looks so cute when he falls asleep on your lap as you read from a grimoire you recently bought. Burrowing deeper into your warmth subconsciously as you idly fun your hand over his feathers.

He’s the perfect familiar and the perfect partner, attentive to your every need and attuned to your aura!

He’ll be your loving guardian against any spirits that may try to target you! Beings with malicious intent don’t stand a chance against him!

He specializes in fire magic and reading the auras of the world! Making him perfect for monitoring potions that are volatile!

He likes to show you all the little designs he can make with his fire magic. He loves even more the look of your face illuminated by his flames~

Has a fire elemental he calls Magicians Red that likes to follow him around! Going as far to take orders from him.

Once Magicians Red grows to like you it’ll lean down to let you sift your fingers through it soft head feathers!

Fully expect MR to join you and Avdol to cuddle! Personal furnace right there! Great in winter, intolerable in summer.

Polnareff

His animal form is a Stoat!

Carries his ears and tail from his animal form into his human form! When his hair is down it’s easier to see his ears since they aren’t covered up!

You met Polnareff while sitting in a local cafe, where he had approached you boldly to flirt. When he grabbed your hand to plant a kiss on the back, spark flew.

You could only stare in shock at one another before he grinned largely in joy! An unbound familiar finding a witch, what a lucky day!

You sat in the cafe for hours learning about one another, and eventually you extended the offer for him to become your familiar!

He accepted enthusiastically and thus you set off on your adventures!

He had a previous witch who he was bound to, known as Mariah, but she passed leaving him unbound for a long time.

He’s just as playful in his animal form as he is in human form, and enjoys rough housing with you! He likes to be tossed in the air and caught!

Likes pull pranks by hiding under furniture and farting out to nip at your ankles as you pass!

He enjoys being in contact with you someway, whether it be an arm over your shoulder or his head in your lap.

If you’ve been over working yourself on a potion he’ll whine loudly demanding your attention. He wants your attention but also knows you need a break.

He specializes in earth magic and spell casting! He is a vital help during long spell casting sessions as he helps balance you.

He’s a very affectionate and kind partner making sure to never overstep your boundaries!

Beware anything that sets its eyes upon you with malicious intent because he’ll make sure to tear them asunder.

Has a metal Gollum named Silver Chariot bound to him and it follows him everywhere, silently like a shadow.

Chariots emotions compared to humans is very muted, but if he feels affection for you he will hold onto you.

Chariot shows his affection through gifts and will often present you with flowers he’s found!

You make his bonded one happy which makes him happy! It also helps you’re kinda to him and give him gifts too! He cherishes every treasure you’ve gifted him!

Jotaro

His animal form is a Moray Eel! He’s also quite large for his species coming in at 6 feet long!

The traits he carries from his animal form are that his teeth are sharper than normal!

You met Jotaro while lazing in a secluded cove soaking in the sun. Charging a few crystals for an upcoming major spell.

You barely heard him enter but you did feel when he passed your rune barrier.

You had expected to see maybe a minor demon or a pixie, but not a hulking man who’s cold glare pierced you.

You both exchanged words as the adrenaline wore out, and you just waved him off so you could enjoy the sun without him.

He scoffed shouldering you as he walked past, electricity ran through you both. Like a live wire had hit your skin.

To be an unbound familiar this close to a witch could be dangerous when caught off guard in a secluded area.

So when Jotaro whirled around to bare his teeth at you, he was surprised to find you moving to sit back down. Didn’t you want to enslave him to you?

After a few hours of coexisting on the beach you break the ice asking questions. Sometimes he’d grunt in response or answer in rambling sentences. What an enigmatic creature.

You learned that his last witch had been a hideous woman named Midler. He had been wandering unbound for many years, ignoring every witch who begged to become bound to him.

Humming you told him that your homes open to him and left your address on the sands as you left for home. Faintly feeling blue eyes drilling into your retreating form.

Weeks later as you sat slouched over a grimoire taking notes, you heard someone pounding on your door.

When you answered the door you found yourself face to face with none other than Jotaro.

After sitting him down and going through the motions of being a host you began to talk.

He laid out his demands, days he could and couldn’t fulfill his duties, and his boundaries. You beamed at him while signing the contract agreeing to your partnership, kick starting a wonderful future!

It took a bit for mutual comfort to happen but in the end it’s well worth the wait!

Jotaro compliments your spellcasting style and is an excellent potion making assistant! Both of you taking your craft very seriously.

When your relationship takes a slow turn to partnership neither of you are surprised!

Jotaro isn’t much for outward displays but he does like to show his appreciation through gifts. He’ll drop a new griomoire he acquired in you lap saying it was an “accidental buy”.

If you’re sick he’ll call up his mother to get her soup recipes. He’ll complain as he does but you know he really doesn’t mind it.

He specializes in water magic and energy manipulation making it easier for him to control volatile spells! He’s also very proficient in drawing spell circles with near perfect precision!

Has a minor water deity named Star Platinum that always follows him around much to his annoyance.

While Jotaro isn’t affectionate Star very much is and makes up for Jotaro in that aspect!

Star will twirl you around gleefully and enjoys hanging off of you as you read or spell cast!

Both Jotaro and Star would tear apart the world with their bare hands to ensure your safety.

Kakyoin

His animal form is a Orchid Mantis!

He doesn’t retain any traits of his animal form in human form except for some pink dusted here and there!

You first met Kakyoin at your local library as you scoured the shelves for your favorite book.

As you went to grab the book a slender hand grabbed it first. Silently huffing you turned to swear at the thief but found yourself face to face with an interesting man.

He already started to walk away but you felt something pulling at your gut to stop him.

As you grabbed his wrist you felt electricity hum through you and his pupils expanded in surprise.

He tugged his hand out of your grasp and took long strides to the check out and out the door.

Well that’s one way to make an impression on a witch. You by instinct wanted to race after him but your gut anchored your feet as you watched him flee.

You didn’t run into him for many months, a careful unbound familiar who had no doubt been mistreated in the past.

You didn’t actively seek him out but it seemed that fate put its back into dragging you two together.

You found the strange man at your door one morning bloody and bruised badly. Hauling his lanky form onto your couch you got to work fixing him up.

Spell after spell you cast and even eased mild healing potions down his throat. Now all left to do was wait, so that’s what you did.

Curled up on your armchair with the newest grimoire to your collect you began reading. It took him a few hours but finally he began to stir.

He looked defensive as his purple eyes scanned your living room. Eyeing you warily as you slowly stretched from your arm chair.

As you explained what had happened and how you treated him the calmer he became. He also explained he just came to the closest house after he was attacked. A low level demon having gotten the jump on him as he slept.

You happily welcomed him to stay in your heavily warded home, which is near impossible to break into. He hesitantly took your offer and so began your journey with your new roommate!

It took months of tip toeing around one another before he finally approached you with a deal. Very clearly and sternly laying out his boundaries and expectations.

You gladly welcome his into the bond, celebrating by making a nice meal! After many years you finally had a familiar!

He helps a lot to cover the areas you lack in and help mishaps before they happen! If one side of the spell isn’t reinforced he’s there working on it! Making sure it won’t backfire in your face!

In his mantis form Kakyoin is content in just punching on you as you go about doing what you need to! He doesn’t enjoy touch as much as others but enjoys your warmth!

Enjoys looking at the outside world from his smaller perspective, behind glass and wards of course can’t have a bird snatching him!

It takes a while for Kakyoin to allow himself to court you and at first he’s very cautious. Aware of your ever movement, but as he get more comfortable he opens up more!

He enjoys holding hands with you and resting his head in your lap as you read or watch tv.

Enjoys baking for you because he’s a horrible cook. He enjoys making a great variety of desserts and you are his personal taste tester!

If you become sick he’ll show how he can make a mean chicken noodle soup from scratch. The only dish he can’t mess up when cooking!

Is a helicopter partner when you’re sick, worried if he takes his eyes off of you he’ll miss something!

He specializes in air magic and has a keen eye for plant identification! Making him useful very useful when you go foraging!

Has a bonded nature spirit named Hierophant Green that follows him wherever he goes. They’re very attached to one another.

Hierophant will be very wary of you for a long time, but as he sees that you treat Kakyoin well it’ll win his favor.

Once Hierophant becomes attached there’s letting go, he’ll follow you everywhere demanding pets.

He lets off a strangely high pitched purr when you pet him and wraps around you protectively at home.

Hierophant and Kakyoin would sacrifice the whole universe to make sure you stay safe.

Holy shit that’s.. long. We hope you enjoyed and we bid you a good morning/afternoon/evening! A lot of love went into this piece :D

[agorejessstone]

Duskwood: Remembering Duskwood Part 6

EPISODE 1 - 10 SPOILERS

As we arrived home, I carefully considered my options. Jake had been kind, offering to sleep on the couch, but was that really what I wanted? I couldn’t be sure. On one hand, it often felt like things were moving extremely fast between us. On the other, we’re both adults. I for one had enough experience to know that this sort of thing happens when it’s supposed to. Most of the time, anyway.

As we exited the car making our way towards the front door, hand in hand, I slowed my pace. Once we were inside, what would happen next? Was I nervous? Apprehensive? Excited? I really couldn’t tell. I’d just had my first real date with MY hacker, and I was still reeling from the kiss, but overall, my mind had settled in the meantime. Until now, that is.

What does he want? What is he thinking? He was so hard to read. I’d thought that his little “flaw” would translate to him being an expert in person, but I found that it was more the opposite. I could somewhat understand his thoughts, just by looking into his eyes, but when it came to us; I was more confused than ever. Did that mean he was confused too?

I fumbled with the keys at the door, nearly dropping them as I flipped through to the correct one. One hand occupied by his, the other carefully navigating the keys, I felt a tug on my arm, sending them toppling to the ground. The stars and greenery spun as I found myself suddenly pressed against Jake’s chest. As I peered up at him, he avoided my gaze.

“Jake?” I narrowed my eyes in the darkness, trying to read him.

“I…” he chewed his lip nervously, “I want to do this right.”

“Do what right, Jake?” I wrapped my free hand around him, gently rubbing his back in circles.

“I’ve been trying to make this date as normal as possible. For all we know, this could be the only typical date we go on, ever.” It was hard to tell under the cover of night, but his voice gave him away. He was overly emotional.

“Jake, I’ve been on a decent number of dates, and this one has been far from normal.”

He shifted uncomfortably, “It wasn’t? Am I really that out of touch?”

“That’s not at all what I meant.” I cupped his cheek running my thumb beneath his eye, “This was the most amazing date of my life. Honest. Those other dates don’t compare to this one bit. If you wanted this to be more traditional, you’ve done just that, but most guys, they don’t even care to put in the effort, you know?”

I felt his face crinkle beneath my touch as he smiled gently, his face barely visible under the moonlight, “How do you do this to me?”

“Whatever do you…”

Before I could finish my snarky reply, his lips were crashing down upon me. For a moment, I forgot how to breathe, relying solely on his lips to keep me alive. Sparks ignited somewhere within my chest, sending waves of electricity through my veins. My hands sought him out, gripping onto every bit of fabric they could find, slipping their way beneath his hoodie. His chest and abs were surprisingly sculpted, and his shoulders were far broader than I expected. I’d only ever seen him in this damn hoodie, so I truly didn’t know what to expect.

As we broke apart, gasping for air, clinging to each other, his eyes focused on mine, searching for something. Whatever it was, he seemed to have found it as he let go just long enough to snag the keys from the ground and cram them into the lock. As the door swung open, he lifted me from the ground, carrying me across the entryway.

“Is this okay?” He mumbled as he kissed down my neck and past my collarbone, nipping here and there.

Words escaped me. I gave him a quick nod and a breathy sound escaped my lips, encouraging him onward. He set me on my feet somewhere in the hall, and I realized he had absolutely no idea where my bedroom was. Even though the apartment was small, the bedroom door was tucked away near the back. Stumbling over each other, I guided him leaving a trail of clothing in our wake.

“Jake…” I moaned his name as I reached for the handle, hesitating for a moment.

“Yes?” Voice thick with desire, panting, he waited for me to continue.

“Are you sure? I mean, I don’t want to assume, but…”

His response; was a devastatingly passionate kiss. I pushed the door open, backing my way into the room between desperate attempts to stay as close to him as possible. Stumbling over the mess my room had become, we toppled onto the bed, a tangle of limbs. As he hovered over me, in the dim light of a bedside lamp, I realized for the first time since we’d arrived since he’d arrived; I was vulnerable and on full display both physically and mentally.

Suddenly realizing that this was the first time we’d seen each other, at all really, but especially in this state, I was suddenly self-conscious. He could see everything. Every curve, every scar, every stretch mark, every flaw. Was it what he expected? Was it what he wanted? As if responding to my sudden nerves, my body tensed beneath him.

Realizing I was still, he stopped, looking me over, gauging my change, “What’s wrong?”

He tucked a strand of hair behind my ear, one arm beneath me, propping me up against him. I bit my lip trying to gather my thoughts. Everything I thought to say sounded stupid in my head. Of course, he was attracted to me. If he wasn’t, then why would he be… Unless of course, it’s just been that long for him… but then…

My head was a mess like my bed. I’m a lost cause. I’d wanted nothing more than this, all of this since we’d started chatting, but now that it’s happening, is it what he wants? Is this enough for him?

“Jake…” I stumbled over the words cluttering my mind.

“Oh,” as if he’d suddenly realized my predicament, he slipped his arm out from beneath me and pushed away from me, “You’re not sure then?”

“Oh! No, Jake, that’s not it,” Of course, he doesn’t understand.

“Am I not…” He started and I realized that I’d just planted the very same seed in him, that I’d been watering.

“NO!” I bolted upright, “I actually, would you believe me if I told you I’d had the very same thought?”

“What?!” suddenly enraged, but seemingly more with himself, he pushed up from the bed and started pacing around the room.

It took everything in me not to laugh at the situation. Here we were, completely naked, and just like you’d expect, Jake was worried about the same thing I was. As always, we were butting heads over something we both felt the same about. How very us.

“Jake, I’m sorry.” I watched him pace a hole in the floor, “I should know better. You’re here. You risked your life for me. You sacrificed everything for me. 4 years of hiding and protecting yourself and you gave it all up in a matter of weeks. For me.”

“No, this is unacceptable.” He plopped down on the edge of the bed, taking my chin in his hands, “Absolutely unacceptable. I thought I made it overwhelmingly clear that I wanted to be with you, that I was at your mercy! I thought you understood the lengths I would go to see you happy. Seeing you here, like…” His voice falters as he looks me over, and drinks me in for the first time in my entirety, “This.” He swallowed nervously, letting his hand fall away, “If anything you’re too perfect, too amazing, too beautiful. It’s intimidating. What do I have to do to make you realize just how special you are to me? Tell me, Jess. Please. Obviously, I’ve not done something right, or you wouldn’t have even considered that.”

“Jake, you’ve done nothing. This one is on me.” I smiled softly, kissing him carefully, gently. Resting my forehead against his, suddenly everything felt right, peaceful, “Well, there is one thing you could do.”

A thin smile spread across his lips as he lifted me up, gently laying me back on the bed. The rest of the evening was full of passion, heat, and an exorbitant amount of kissing and cuddling. As the sun began to rise, and I began to drift to sleep, a thought crossed my mind.

“Jake.”

“Yes, my love.”

“Don’t we have a flight to catch today?”

He kissed my forehead sleepily and said, “I scheduled it for late evening, just in case.” Comfortable and safe for the first time in what felt like forever, I drifted off to sleep, in the arms of my hacker.

Continue to Part 7

[deadontheinsidebut]

⤷ Day 10: Kaminari Denki + “are you flirting with me?”

Synopsis: You, Kaminari & the rest of the Bakusquad go to see the fireworks on the beach but the fireworks aren’t the only sparks flying.

Word Count: 1.5k

Fluffvember Masterlist

The Bakusquad was finally celebrating their last year at UA and what better way to celebrate than to get it on with fireworks? It was currently summer break which means it has only been a couple months since the school year started, but the Bakusquad wasn’t really one to follow those end-of-the-year traditions.

Mina was ecstatic because she had finally managed to convince Bakugou to leave the house and meet up with you guys. With the entire Bakusquad in toll, the six of you found yourself at the biggest beach in the city.

It was fairly empty since it was nearing the end of the day and this was exactly how all of you liked it. You were walking next to Kaminari, your best friend and the boy you’ve liked since your first year. He was, for a lack of a better phrase, an electric presence. Every time he walked into the room, you could feel yourself breathe a little easier and your body relax. It was the opposite of what a crush should be, or at least what the rest of the girls considered a legitimate crush.

They described it as endless butterflies and unintentional stuttering but those things never happened with you and Kaminari. Instead, every time he was in your presence, you felt the urge to be closer, just like you were right now. You wanted to feel your arm on his. You wanted to feel his spark.

You were snapped out of your daydream when Kirishima and Bakugo start a play fight next to you, bumping you into Kaminari’s back and causing the both of you to plop onto the sand.

Kaminari’s face was pressed into the sand and you face planted onto his back. Mina was quick to react, taking out her phone to snap a picture and commenting that this was one moment to add to the Bakusquad scrapbook.

Sero was holding his stomach and bent over laughing at the scene before him as Kirishima and even Bakugou were staring down at you with feared looks on their faces because they know they have incurred your wrath.

When you stand up, they swear they could see your hair standing up with the fires of hell behind you and you grabbed the two idiots by the collar and starting to lecture them on being careful, especially in public.

Kaminari seemed to have short circuited at the contact between you two and was standing aside all bashfully, admiring your assertiveness as you lectured your two friends. Mina noticed this dynamic long ago. She considered you two electric loves and is still confused as to why you two haven’t admitted your love to each other, but she has made it this year’s goal to get you guys together.

Mina separates you from Kiri and Baku and pushes you towards Kaminari so that you fall back into his arms, “ok miss y/n that’s enough aggressiveness for today, the boys are sorry,” she glares at the blond and red head, “so now we’re gonna have fun... the right way!”

Your back is pressed up against Kaminari’s chest and he’s holding you by the arms from catching you but you can feel his heart beating against you. It’s loud and powerful... and something you wouldn’t have expected. Could Denki possibly be nervous?

When you step away, it was as though an electrical connection had fizzled out. His face is flustered as he scratches the back of his head. He mentally notes how warm you felt all against him like that. The lingering feeling of your body still on his hands, he can’t bring himself to move.

Sero has to slap him once on the back to get him to walk forward which he does. He doesn’t know if you will ever feel the same way he does. You’ve never ever been embarrassed around him and he wonders why. He wonders why he’s the only person you’ve never felt flustered around. Was he in the friendzone or something? Pushing the thought aside, he catches up to the group and offers you a side smile because at the end of the day, no matter what, you are his best friend forever.

Your group finally picks a spot to light the fireworks and it was a quiet place a few feet away from the ocean. You leave the setting up to Bakugo since he likes explosions and Kirishima since Mina said it was punishment for fighting earlier.

You, Kaminari, Sero, and Mina have made your way over to the ocean. You feel the water lap at your feet and you breathe in the salty air. There’s something so majestically unknown about the ocean; no one knows what’s really out there and you’re able to imagine endless possibilities. You look for Kaminari and you find him flinching and jumping back every time the water comes in and you put two and two together: electricity and water do not mix.

You want to burst into laughter but you hold it in long enough to reach your friend. He sees you come over and his body starts to loosen up.

“Isn’t it crazy that we’re in our last year of high school now?” He begins, “it feels like only yesterday I bumped into you in the hall and we had our first conversation.”

You sigh as you seat yourself on the sand, “time goes by so quickly so I want to cherish today for as long as I can,” you reply.

He sits next to you and you swear he was only a mere 10 mm away. You wanted to close that gap so badly.

“Knowing us, things will go completely wrong and the night will end with one of us losing our hair or something,” he chuckles, letting his eyes close in comfort.

“Yeah, but as long as you’re here, I think I’ll still enjoy it.”

You don’t know what overcame you to be honest, but you just felt like it had to be known. How could you close the distance when you two can’t even overcome the obstacle of words?

There’s a moment of silence before Kaminari speaks up, “are you flirting with me?”

He doesn’t sound angry or annoyed in the slightest. Instead, he’s a million different shades of red and his voice comes out in a shy and hopeful manner.

“And what if I am?” You mumble, feeling nervous for the first time in the past three years.

Almost as though he were reading your mind from earlier, he intertwines his fingers with yours, ultimately closing the 10mm gap.

“I mean... I wouldn’t mind it,” he drags out the last half of his sentence.

You look at him for the first time since you sat down and maybe it was because of the moment but you were completely bewildered by how magnificent he looked with the stars hovering over his head. His golden eyes were radiating happiness and you could feel his genuine feelings pulling through.

“Hey lovebirds! Get over here the fireworks are about to start!” Mina calls out, waving you two over with sparklers in hand.

You two rush over to your friends and they hand you two sparklers each. They ask Kaminari to use his quirk to light the fireworks and with a little spark, the fireworks fly through the sky, bursting into an array of colours and sparkles. The six of you run around the beach, barefoot and barely clothed with sparklers in hand. The sparklers flicker as they leave a trail of light behind them.

You match your speed with Kaminari and the two of you are laughing as you try to outrun the other. When you finally stop, you two are catching your breaths, panting from the adrenaline. This is the rush that could only be compared to love.

Your eyes lock onto one another once again and you have an exhilarating feeling. Is that what people mean when they say sparks fly?

When the rest of your friends finally catch up to you, they’re complaining about how you guys didn’t wait at all but it was going in one ear and going out the other. All you wanted to pay attention to was the boy standing in front of you. When he’s finally caught his breath, he reaches an arm out towards you and you’re stunned at his next words, “everything is fine as long as we’re together, right?”

You accept his hand and the two of you are off again, running and laughing without a care in the world.

“Oi! What do you two think you’re doing without us??!?” Bakugou shouts as he chases after you guys.

If anyone asked you what was the best part of your time at UA, you would tell them the story of tonight: the one that opened your heart to a new chapter called love.

Fluffvember Taglist: @kenmakodzu @millie-mint @mrs-kuroojinguji @h4nabi @hajibee @todoroki-vivian @galaxyvixen-blog @haiikyuuns @woah-there-cowboy-or-cowgirl @stargirlara @sachirou-senpai @celamoon @macchiatoast @cowbeboppy @astrxrism @avis-writeshq @tsanimefic @katsushimaa @bbakougo @luvkeigo @e-wwis @fee-btheweeb @a-bakuhoe @patricia-ceballos @imnothere-butiam @emsvegetables @animatedarchives @kodzusamu @blushingbaka @churochuu @bulba-baby @abuliawrites @kacchansmc @yuueisteria @findityourselffsworld @shibayamasbae @tamaguchi @archivednikes @tpwkatsumu @zoamour @madskaay @thesecondapplepienation @doodleniella @xx-tiny-dinosaur-xx @deephasoceanmagic @tetsujime @trippiekay @waitforitillwritemywayout @kellesvt @blueberryong

[cosmiceverafter]

My @malexsanta Secret Santa gift for @gra-sonas 🎁🎄 I was thrilled to give you a Malex gift this year. You're one of my absolute favorites and such a dear friend. You wanted all the holiday cheer: Christmas ornaments, cookie recipe, market, and FLUFF! I hope this domestic fic truly delivers, brings joy to your holiday season, and fills your heart with warmth during the hiatus. I love you, hun! Xoxo.  ❤️️💚

(PS: there's a little surprise in this fic, just for you, inspired by you)

***

Christmas Cookies & Holiday Hearts 

"You know, this will be our first Christmas together. Officially." 

As Michael says the words, Alex glances over at him, and his heart skips a beat. How is it that his alien still manages to take his breath away after so much time? 

Alex smiles and gradually runs his fingertips up and down Michael's strong arm, feeling the smooth skin there. "You're right, even though I know you've tried to get me under a mistletoe for years." 

"I mean, yeah...." Michael beams. His tan shoulders shrug as he kisses Alex's chest softly, "You aren't wrong, babe. Who could deny those luscious lips?" 

Michael's fingers slowly trail up Alex's chest, which currently has imprints of his lover's glowing handprints left lovingly due to their intimacy with each other.

When he sees them, Alex knows with certainty that their love can move mountains and is capable of expanding through galaxies. 

As Alex feels the calluses of Michael's hands on his body and now his lips, he closes his eyes to embrace the effect it manages to bring. It's as if a spark of electricity courses through his veins and ignites his soul. That's the only way he can explain it. 

Nothing ever compares to this—what they have together in these silent moments. Alex will always cherish this peace with his loved one. 

After a moment of soft loving caresses, Michael's smile disappears. Alex knows he's traveling deeper into that intelligent mind of his, the way he always seems to do these days. "But here's the thing, I want it to be special, meaningful. Christmases were never something to be excited about for me, you know? Just another shitty day."

Alex holds his breath but nods. Unfortunately, he knows precisely what Michael means. Though different, the events of their past, parallel each other in many forms worth forgetting. Alex's upbringing was painful in its way. Still, Alex wishes Michael, his sweet, brilliant alien, could have been spared the misery. 

All Michael Guerin has ever wanted was a home, to feel like he belongs on this planet, and Alex wants to spend the rest of his life giving him precisely that. 

"So, you've never done anything memorable during the holiday season? Not once?"

Michael raises an eyebrow as if to announce come on, but then he suddenly laughs as a memory resurfaces, "Well...there was that one time Sanders and I attempted to bake Christmas cookies for his customers." 

Alex smirks as he imagines how that scene played out. A younger Michael Guerin, who was in-and-out of the foster system, and the older man with one good eye, baking in a small trailer. "And uh, how did that turn out?" Even though he can take a wild guess.

Michael shakes his head as his golden curls bounce and sway. He holds up his arm, "Badly, I have a battle scar from the process."

There is a slight white mark on the inside of Michael's arm, which looks a bit like a four-leaf clover. Alex has always wondered about it. "Damn, and here I thought that was a lucky birthmark."

"Darlin', the only good luck charm in my life is you. Never forget that." Alex feels his heart flutter in his chest at Michael's words, and Michael gently kisses Alex's forehead. But before Alex can return the sentiment, his love continues, "But yeah, Sanders' oven was old as hell at the time, and I guess no one taught me not to stick my whole damn arm right on the rack. Sanders felt awful about it. Poor guy." 

"Were the cookies at least good?"

There's a sparkle in Michael's eyes as he says, "You know what? They were. I need to find that damn recipe—it has to be somewhere. Then maybe I can take the old man one, even though you are the better baker." His fingers lace together with Alex's, and Alex gives him a loving squeeze. 

"You're right, I am," Alex smirks as he wiggles his eyebrows. "But I would be happy to help you. Sanders would seriously love that!" 

Alex looks down at their hands still together. He is so happy that Michael now spends so much time with Walt. It is not a boss-employee type of relationship, but more of a familial one. After everything they had both been through, this progression felt natural. And if he's honest, Alex loves seeing Michael finally opening up to others, the way he does with Alex. 

Michael nods and grins, "Done." His caramel eyes gaze at Alex, and he turns over to his side. "But I want new memories, too. Truthfully, besides the cookie disaster, I've never had anyone to share the holidays with."

Again, Alex knows all too deeply what he means, "I know the feeling, my love. I've always admired Christmas from a distance, and it seemed...well, always on the outside looking in." He squeezes Michael's hand tightly through the sheets once more, "I'm thankful to have you by my side. We're both on this journey together." 

"Baby, I can't think of anyone else I'd rather share the memories with." Michael brings the back of Alex's hand to his lips, "Always and forever." 

****

The next day, Alex and Michael decide to go Christmas shopping for their friends, who were more like their found family at this point. 

Roswell had turned festive overnight, and it warms Alex's heart as if he were sitting by the crackling embers. 

Truthfully, he loves the magic that comes with Christmas: The twinkling lights aglow; the cheerful, upbeat, and often, repetitive music; the smiling faces of those who don't wait till the last minute to shop; the smell of cinnamon sugar baked goods; and the falling snow—when they were lucky enough to get some. 

For the first time, Roswell has even set up a Christmas Market like the ones you'd see in Europe. Alex's desert town has turned into a quaint storybook village.

Somebody has strung up multicolored lights between the small buildings, with brightly colored booths, side-by-side. There are reindeer attached to strings high up in the air, and a magnificent tall Christmas tree is sparkling within the town square. Above the tree is a halo of orange lights, symbolizing their golden desert sun. 

It brightens both their spirits to witness the magic created. As Alex and Michael walk around, they hear the soft holiday music surrounding them, which only rekindles their melody passion. 

They travel to each booth as they look for treasures to buy for their loved ones. Alex also keeps his eyes open for something unique he can get his Michael, but nothing quite captures his glance. 

"Look at this!" Michael calls in the distance. He's standing in front of a lovely booth with peppermint designs on the awning and dangling glimmering white lights.

Alex sees what Michael is holding—it's a beautiful guitar ornament. Painted on the guitar are swirls of green, blue, and black, sparkled with stars symbolizing the night sky. 

"Wow..." he says in response. "It's breathtaking."

Michael winks and bumps his shoulder lightly into Alex's, "Pretty cosmic, eh?"

"I'll say," Alex agrees as his grin widens. 

"It was clearly made for us," Michael acknowledges as he wraps a strong arm around Alex's waist, "I think it would be the perfect ornament for our first tree together." 

Alex kisses Michael softly on the lips, "I couldn't agree more, my love." 

****

"So, you have no idea what you're getting him?" 

Michael looks over at Isobel feeling exhausted, not at all how he felt when shopping with Alex, "Obviously not, that's why we're here, Iz." 

"Michael, Christmas is less than one week away, and we're sitting in some random store, shopping for the love of your life, and you don't have a clue about a special gift for him?" 

"Yup, that sounds about right."

Isobel shakes her lengthy blond hair back-and-forth. "Have I taught you nothing over the years?"

Michael groans, "Remind me again why I asked you to come with me?" 

His alien sis just shrugs, "Because I'm brilliant, and it's obvious you need me. I would even add the word 'desperately.'"  

"No...I don't recall that being the reason," Michael teases as he slings his arm lovingly over her shoulders. "You just love this stuff." 

"You're right, I do. It's the best holiday these humans celebrate!" They both laugh, but Isobel kisses his cheek, "Listen, deep down somewhere underneath that dirty white tee of yours, you've gotta have an inkling of what you want to get him." 

Well, if he had a clue, he would know it, wouldn't he? 

But then Michael freezes as he sees something across the store, "Um, wow...that was fast, but you're right, I do."

 Isobel pops a hip out, "Told you so." 

"Yeah, the only problem is I'm not sure how he'll react to it." 

Isobel smiles genuinely, "You know your man; you always have. Go with your instinct, Michael. I mean, word around this town is that they call you a genius or something." She gives him a look as she ruffles up his curls. "But pull away from that mind for once and go with that heart of yours. I, for one, know it's a pretty damn good one." 

Michael snickers but truthfully feels loved, "You could write a self-help book, you know that?"

She winks and bites her red-stained lip, "Who says I haven't already?"

"Give your brother a signed copy. He'll appreciate it." 

"As if," Isobel rolls her eyes, "You know Max wouldn't read it. That poor miserable fool who I love dearly." She pauses but adds, "So, Mr. Guerin, what'll it be? You going to listen to your heart?"

Michael narrows his eyes at the prize. Already knowing the answer to her question, he decides to let his heart follow the lead.  

****

"A little to the left, babe!" Michael calls out to Alex as they attempt to fit the oversized tree through the cabin door. "Darlin', my left." 

They spent the evening looking for the perfect tree, as it was their official first Christmas together. However, they ended up going with a taller sparse, and lopsided pine because, truthfully, life wasn't perfect, and neither were they. 

Life is what you make it, and Michael is confident they can make this tree as bright as his heart feels when he's around Alex.   

"There, perfect spot by the window," Alex smiles beautifully, pulling Michael back into the present moment as he nods in agreement. 

"I should've tried harder not to get it through the door, though. Those muscles of yours are worth staring at a bit longer." 

"Well, hold that thought, Guerin, because I'm hungry for food at the moment," Alex replies as he wraps his arms around Michael. "I'm thinking of soup; it's chilly tonight. Maybe it'll even snow." 

Michael runs his fingers on Alex's thick biceps, feeling hungry for something else, "I doubt it. The forecast didn't show it. And knowing our little city, we'll probably end up having a heatwave tomorrow." 

"Hey now," Alex remarks, looking deeply into Michael's eyes, "you never can know future outcomes." 

Michael smiles mischievously, "I dunno...I think your future looks pretty damn bright tonight, babe." 

"Is that a promise?" Alex asks, clearly flirting back. 

"Always, darlin'.'" 

They lean in to share a long lingering kiss, but before it turns too heated, Michael's belly moans in betrayal. Alex pulls back as he chuckles, "Raincheck for later, okay? I'm going to start dinner. Can you set up the tree so we can decorate afterward?"

Michael glares down at his stomach for the interruption but nods, "Absolutely." He moves his fingers, "I do know how to use these hands."

Alex grins in that sexy way of his as he walks into the kitchen, "Don't I know it." 

Michael loves this. He loves that he decided to take the leap of faith and move in with Alex. This cabin has become their oasis, his true home. And here with Alex, he feels like he finally has a place here on earth. 

Everything they had been through, even the pain, was worth it to get to this moment. Michael can't help but feel tears form in his eyes as he feels overwhelmed in gratitude. 

While Alex moves around in the kitchen, Michael cheats a bit to get the tree set up. His powers hover the pine in the air as Michael uses his hands to set up the tree stand. As he moves the small box of ornaments and lights over from the closet, Michael smiles as he hears Alex humming a new song as he cooks. 

Michael wants to live here in this domestic bliss forever.

Alex brings out his home-cooked meal, and damn, Michael thinks as he eats, his man knows how to cook. After they eat the delicious soup, Michael scrubs the plates as Alex makes them each a cup of hot cocoa with marshmallows, just the way Michael likes it. When the kitchen is clean, they sip on the chocolatey warmth as they string lights and decorate their tree. 

"Here's our new one," Alex says as he holds their new cosmic ornament in his hand. 

"That's a special one that needs to go right in front," Michael replies, as he hangs it up, hand-in-hand with Alex. "There." 

Alex leans over and kisses his cheek, which warms Michael's heart. "It's perfect." 

"You're perfect," Michael states as he leans his head onto Alex's shoulder. Alex slides his arm around his waist. Their movements are continuously in sync, and they are always somehow touching. 

As Alex's fingers softly graze over the skin on his hip, Michael knows what kind of touch he desires right this moment, "Now, how about we curl up by the fire, and I show you just how talented my hands can be?" 

"Yes, I could use the reminder," Alex responds with a slow grin.

They quickly light the fire, then Alex gives Michael the look as he pulls him towards the couch. 

Being so helplessly caught up in each other, they miss the first few snowflakes that fall in Roswell. 

****

It's cold out, but worth the trip. Alex gives the nod towards Michael, who taps gently on Sanders' trailer door. 

Michael shifts uncomfortably, but Alex is proud of him for facing the emotions he knows his love feels inside. 

After Sanders admitted to trying to adopt Michael, it indeed did something to Michael's heart. He opened up more, and Alex knew that Michael slowly realized he was always wanted and truly loved where it counted. It did something to Sanders too. Alex could almost see the young boy Walt coming through when they spoke now. There was a twinkle in his eye, and he would share memories with a smile instead of sadness. 

They felt like a family. 

That's why they had talked before coming to the old man's house with the cookies. There is something big that Michael wants to do, but Alex knows he's scared. 

Alex is by his side the entire time. 

Sanders opens the door with a smile, "Oh, Michael! Alex! Welcome! I wasn't expecting you." He shakes his shirt with a look of embarrassment. 

"We wanted to surprise you!" Alex says with a grin. He shakes the old man's hand. 

Sanders pats the back of his hand lightly, "I'm glad you did. Please, come in, you two. It's actually cold out." 

Michael takes a big breath and follows Sanders inside. 

When inside, Michael hands him the cookies, "Merry early Christmas." 

"Oh! These look delicious," Sanders says admiringly. 

"I'm not sure if you remember, but these are the exact cookies we made that one Christmas together." 

Sanders looks up at Michael with surprise, "Truly? The... 'burn on the arm' year?"

Michael nods with a jokingly wince, "The very one."

Sanders blows out hard, "Well, it always pained me that you got burned on that damn old oven of mine, but I must say, those cookies were superb, weren't they?" 

"They were, burned and all." 

"And you baked these all by yourself? Uh, should I be scared?" Sanders teases with a nudge. 

"Nah, I had some guidance," Michael mentions as he casually puts his arm around Alex. 

Alex shrugs, "I barely helped at all. Michael here did an excellent job. I tried one, so I can promise you that you'll survive." He winks at Michael. 

"Oh, phew! That's a relief," Sanders chuckles. "Michael, where did you find the recipe?" 

"In the garage, it was in a wooden box on one of your shelves. The one that's slightly tilting. I remembered you putting it in there." Michael taps his head, "I'm pretty observant if you haven't already noticed."

Sanders sighs with a lopsided grin, "You get it from me, I think." He pops one in his mouth. "Wow, absolutely delicious." After he chews, he looks towards Michael with an expression of gratitude. "Well, thank you, son, this means a lot to me."

Alex knows what the word son does to Michael, its effect on him, and Michael shifts awkwardly. He looks over to Alex for reassurance, and Alex holds his hand, comforting him the best way he knows how.  

His strength, after all, is linked to Michael's. They go together in every way that matters. 

"That's not the only thing I brought for you," Michael whispers. He reaches into his back pocket and hands Sanders the envelope. 

"Oh, a Christmas card?"

"Um, well, not exactly," Michael replies as he squeezes Alex's hand tighter. 

Sanders puts on his reading glasses and switches the lights on brighter in the trailer. He opens the envelope and starts to read. The small smile on his face begins to fall, and he becomes nonplussed.

Alex acknowledges that Michael gets uncomfortable, maybe even nervous, but Alex knows that Sanders is touched. 

Finally, after what feels like an eternity, Sanders looks up, and his eyes are full of tears. His voice comes out raspy and hoarse as he asks, "You sure? You want that?"

"More than anything," Michael responds, his voice also full of emotion. "If you'll have me, of course." 

"It would be an honor, son." Sanders sets the adoption papers onto his small wooden table and pulls Michael tightly in his arms. "You've always felt like mine, anyway." 

"I think my mom would be happy about this," Michael cries, letting the tears fall down his face. It's the most beautiful sight to witness, and Alex can't help but let go, too. 

Sanders nods and closes his eye as he holds his son, "You know, my boy, I think she would." 

****

A few days before Christmas, Alex and Michael decide to throw a little festive party at the cabin. They spent the morning stringing up lights outside, getting the drink station ready, and preparing their friend's gifts around the tree. 

It was perfect. 

Isobel is the first to arrive, of course, and she brings so many gifts, she can hardly get through the door, "Hello? A little help here, Michael?" 

"I'm coming. I'm coming!" 

Alex finishes up in the kitchen, and even though the feast smells delicious, Michael's man looks good enough to eat. 

Soon after Isobel has her martini in hand, the others follow suit. 

Liz and Kyle come together, hand-in-hand, and Michael prays it won't be awkward with Max. Gregory shows up, and Isobel immediately wraps her arms around him. Michael and Alex share a knowing smile, especially when she holds a mistletoe above his head. Then Maria and Mimi head inside with a few bottles of wine. With holes in the top, Rosa brings a large box inside, making Michael wonder what it is, but Arturo follows with a banana cream pie from the diner, and the rest is history. Sanders joins, of course, and Michael can't help but hug him longer than the rest. And finally, his boy Max. 

Luckily everyone gets along perfectly. The group has been through so much together that they make a toast for a fresh new beginning. 

Everyone at the party finally knows about the aliens being, well, aliens, and swore to protect them. The secret has bonded and united them in ways Michael never expected.

The group mingles as they sip their drinks, and Michael looks around the room at his friends and family, feeling lucky. He made a life for himself in Roswell, and as he looks towards the love of his existence, Michael knows it's time. 

He takes a moment to just stare at Alex, and suddenly he's beyond grateful he listened to his heart. 

Alex is the one for him. Michael now understands that this human was his reason for coming to this planet—they were written in the stars long ago, destined to be together. 

This is why Michael stands up bravely, walks towards Alex, and gets down on one knee. 

Michael opens the little black box he got in the store with Isobel and reveals a silvery gray tantalum band, one he knows will fit Alex perfectly. 

Isobel hushes everyone down and clasps her hands together as she sends Michael a wink from across the room. Max also gives Michael an encouraging nod, which provides him with the strength he needs at that moment. 

Michael stares up at the man he adores, and Alex's perfect mouth falls open. Taking his love's hand, Michael finally finds his voice, "Alex Manes, you are my whole world. When we were teens, you looked at me in music class and sparked something deep inside me; something I didn't quite understand, but it was there with me all along. And when we kissed for the first time, you woke me up to the life I had always dreamed of having. You are that dream, Alex. You are my family, and you've given me a place to call home. I have loved you from the beginning, and I'll love you to the very end." Michael takes a deep breath, "I would be the happiest alien on earth if you would yes. So please, darlin', will you marry me?" 

Alex gleams as tears fill those beautiful eyes, "We truly are linked...." 

"What...what do you mean?" Michael whispers, but Alex immediately joins him on the floor, kneeling in front of him. 

Alex pulls out an emerald velvet box and opens it. Inside is an engraved bronze band that matches the color of Michael's eyes. He holds his breath as the rest of the world fades away. "I mean, you beat me to it even though I've had this ring since we officially got together." Alex places his hand to Michael's face and strokes his cheek gently. "I was waiting for our first Christmas together because I wanted to give us both a happy memory to erase all the bad ones. The plan was going to ask Walt for his approval, which he wholeheartedly gave." They both look at Sanders, who nods with a loving grin. "And then I'd get down on one knee in front of all our loved ones and ask if you'd continue to create this life together with me, a true home." Then Alex holds Michael's hand again, "All I can say is that I love you more than I could ever begin to put into words, and I'm asking you if you'd do me the honor in marrying me?"

Michael doesn't realize he's crying until he feels the drops land on his outstretched hand. "Oh my God, Alex...." 

"Is that a yes?"

Michael laughs softly as he strokes the back of Alex's hand gently, "I believe I asked you first, darlin'." 

Alex nods with a breathtaking smile, tears flickering those beautiful dark eyes, "Of course I will. A hundred times, yes!" He leans in closer to Michael, "And you?"

"That would be a hell yes, baby!" He hears a whoop from one of his friends in the background, but then Michael gets serious. "It's always been a yes for me." Michael cups Alex's face, "You're my human, Alex Manes." 

"That's Alex Sanders if you don't mind."

Michael looks over at his adoptive father again, who's now wiping his eyes and positively glowing. Michael kisses Alex's lips, "I don't mind a bit." 

As they finish their first engaged kiss, their friends cheer, cry, and hug them both tightly, then Isobel giggles, "Is now a good time to give you two our gift?" 

"Go for it, Scooby Squad," Michael exclaims as he takes Alex's hand in his own, never wanting to let go. 

Isobel looks to the room they had closed, "Okay, Rosa, bring her out!" 

Michael and Alex exchange a look. Bring who out?

And before Michael can overthink it, Rosa comes out holding a beagle puppy. "It's a rescue. The shelter I volunteer at found her abandoned on the side of the road." 

"We thought it would be perfect for you two, plus, remember that dinner we had a couple of weeks ago?" Isobel says as she looks towards Alex. "You practically said you were going to start looking for one. I remember you saying, 'the cabin is much too quiet, I think we need to get a dog.'"

Alex laughs and takes the small puppy into his arms, "I don't recall those were my exact words, but it doesn't matter; she's perfect."

"Lost without a family," Michael says, petting the puppy's long ears, "sounds like the two of us all right."

"You mean a found family!" Liz calls out. "Just like all of us."

Alex looks at Michael and nods. Michael smiles back, "We love her. Thank you, everyone!"

"I knew this pup would be a part of your future," Mimi exclaims, and Michael watches Alex wink at her. "She's a gentle soul. I'm happy she'll have you two." 

"Best dog daddies ever," Maria smiles happily. Everyone in the room has what seems to be permanent heart-eyes. "We will miss her, though! She's been staying with us." 

"Well, you know you all are welcome here anytime!" Alex says. 

"What will you name her?" Gregory asks as Isobel leans back into his arms. 

"How about Kyletta?" Michael laughs as he looks towards Kyle. "Kyletta Barklenti." 

"Real funny, alien boy," Kyle responds, as he rolls his eyes looking reasonably amused. He looks over at the food, "How about Bagel? You seemed to be pretty obsessed with those today, Guerin. I mean, how many did you actually eat?" 

"I was hungry!" Michael retorts, "You didn't bring nearly enough to share." 

"Okay, okay," Alex intervenes as he shakes his head. Michael enjoys ruffling Kyle's feathers, but Michael doesn't mind the guy beneath his human annoyances. He's a good friend to Alex, making him a good man in Michael's book. 

"So, what are you going to name her then?" Max asks from across the room.

"Yeah, I mean, you don't actually have to name her after a food," Kyle teases. 

"No," Michael grins, "you know what, Doc? I like it. Bagel. It has that—" 

"Bagel! Yes, call her Bagel. I love it!" Isobel interrupts. 

"Not again..." Michael groans quietly. Isobel + anything bagel = interruptions, which is a no-go, especially when it comes to Alex. 

After they finalize the name, everyone gushes over the puppy and their rings. They eat, share stories, and finish opening gifts. 

The day is perfect in every way. Even on the Hallmark channel, they don't make them better than this.

Michael holds Bagel in his arm and takes a break from the crowd. He sits on the couch in the living room, and the puppy folds up into his lap, falling asleep as Michael rubs her ears. 

After a moment or two, someone strokes his shoulder lightly, and he looks up to see his fiancé's beautiful face. Michael feels immensely grateful, not for the first time this holiday season.

Alex scoots in close and whispers in Michael's ear, "So, my love, would you say this Christmas is worth remembering?" 

Michael pulls Alex in his arms, "Yes, darlin'. I've never been happier in my life." He takes Alex's hand with the ring and kisses it. "Our family is already growing."

"It sure is," Alex says, putting his forehead against Michael's as he strokes Bagel's soft fur. 

They sit there for a while, just the three of them, with the comforting hum of loved ones surrounding them. 

"Wow...Look, Michael." Michael looks out the window to see it snowing.  The snowflakes fall to the ground in a swirling dance. It reminds Michael of their life together, new and old memories, coming together in a story of love. 

Michael feels complete peace in his heart as Alex says, "Merry Christmas, my love."

It was merry, and their future, well, Michael knows it will be very bright as long as they always have each other. 

"I love you," Michael answers. 

Alex's reply is the kiss they share and would continue sharing for the rest of their days. 

[pinestripes]

Quiet Day (The Last of Us)

Summary:

The last few months in Jackson have been paradise compared to the hellish cross-country road trip that came before. But scars still run deep, and shadows can lurk around even the brightest corners. 

Ellie has a bad day. Joel wants to help.

Rating: T for a bit of language

Can also be read here on AO3 and here on FFN.

Author’s Note:

I liiiiive! Feels good to publish something for the first time in...a year, actually, as of yesterday. I've had a busy and stressful year, though I'm sure a lot of you can relate. Anyway, I just love TLOU (as much as someone who has only watched playthroughs of it can), and I especially adore Ellie and Joel's dynamic. Thank you for reading!

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

Joel is a light sleeper and an early riser. The latter has been a trait of his for most of his life; the former, however, developed by necessity once not being able to jerk awake the instant something went bump in the night became a death sentence. Both of these qualities together means that he rises before the first rays of sunrise stream into his room.

He throws on stained jeans and an old shirt. Scrubbing a hand across his bleary eyes, he lumbers into the bathroom. Once done in there, he heads downstairs and to his front porch, sinking into the rocking chair there with a sigh.

He opens the worn science fiction novel he’s been making his way through for the past week or two, quickly thumbing through the brittle brown pages before finding the one he dog-eared the day before. He wasn’t a big reader, back before everything went to shit, but he had been known to pick up a sci-fi or western, sometimes even a mystery novel, every once in a while.

Joel reads in the soft morning light for half an hour or so before he exchanges the book for the guitar that has been resting by the front door. He lazily strums a few bars of a couple different songs, humming. Ellie will be awake soon, and it’s their morning ritual that when she comes down he helps her practice for a little while before breakfast.

Contrary to his expectations, Ellie doesn’t make her appearance. A familiar anxiety, one he feels less and less often the longer they stay in Tommy and Maria’s compound, clamps down on his chest. He stands and leans the guitar against the wall, the instrument making a discordant twung when he drops it less than gently in his hurry. He stalks into the house and through the barebones living room, eyes on the stairs to the second floor as his footsteps quicken and the clamp squeezes, squeezes, squeezes—

He jerks to a stop when he sees movement out of the corner of his eye. He whips his head around to peer into the kitchen. Ellie is sitting there hunched over at the table, nibbling at a piece of buttered toast.

Suddenly Joel feels a little foolish. His heart is pounding, breathing shallow and quiet. He forces himself to take two slow breaths in and out, feeling the clamp slowly release, lungs expanding and taking in air once more. Finally, he says, voice nearly steady, “There you are, kiddo. Thought maybe you were still asleep.”

Ellie startles, looking up at him with a sharp intake of breath. (He’s surprised she didn’t hear his heavy footsteps into the house from the porch, actually.) Her shoulders relax again when she sees him. “Morning,” she says and returns to her toast.

Shaking off the last of the adrenaline rush and deciding he may as well join her for breakfast, he pads into the kitchen and starts getting out supplies for omelettes, thanking his lucky stars the hydroelectric plant has been providing the town with electricity, and therefore refrigeration, consistently for the last few weeks. “What do you want in your omelette?”

She doesn’t answer.

“Ellie?”

“Hm?”

“What do you want in your omelette today? I got some more green peppers from the garden yesterday, and we’ve got some ham, believe it or not—”

“I’m just going to have the toast today.”

“That all?”

“Yeah, I’m not really hungry.”

“You sure?”

“Mm-hmm.”

He leaves it alone and goes back to making his own breakfast. Usually Ellie would be chattering up a storm by now, but when he’s nearly finished with his omelette and she still hasn’t said a word he finds himself speaking again. “So, didn’t want to do guitar today?”

Silence.

“Ellie?”

“Yeah?”

He sets the omelette on his plate and brings it to the table, taking a seat to her left. “You alright? You seem kind of out of it this morning.”

She shrugs. He notices she hasn’t made much headway on the piece of toast. “I’m fine. M’just tired. Didn’t sleep much. What did you ask?”

He quirks a doubtful brow. “I asked if you didn’t want to practice the guitar today.”

“I just thought we could...take a break today.”

He nods, and returns to eating, deciding once again not to push the issue. By the time his plate is clean she’s finishing the last few little bites of the toast. They both stand to wash their plates and utensils. Per routine, Ellie washes and Joel dries.

Concerned with the continued silence, he decides to give one last try. “So. It’s Sunday. Got any big plans?”

“No, don’t think so,” she responds.

“Not gonna go see Jessie, or, uh, Dina? Or anyone?”

“Nah.” She scrubs at a pan mechanically. “I think I’m just going to stay in and read a book.”

“Alright, then.”

They finish up, and Ellie heads upstairs to her bedroom. He goes to bring the guitar back in from the porch, then stands in the middle of the living room for a minute, feeling a little lost. Finally he sighs and heads out back to weed the vegetable garden. He can tell it’s going to be a quiet day.

Every once in a while, something—a nightmare maybe, or maybe a bandit attack, he can’t always figure it out for sure—will shake Ellie. She’ll retreat into herself, go quiet and distant. She’ll be spacy and—well, he isn’t sure what else to call it but flat. Which is decidedly not Ellie-like.

He’s learned that if he tries to push too much, if he tries to convince her to get out of the house or to talk to him, she gets cagey and defensive. So, even though he hates to see her light so dim, he gives her space and makes sure others do the same. Sometimes she’ll reach out to him of her own accord, looking to talk or a distraction in the form of a guitar lesson. She’s usually back to herself by the next day.

It’s lunchtime once he’s weeded the garden and patched up a few wobbly posts on the porch railing, a continuation of his ongoing attempts to renovate the house. He heads up the stairs and to Ellie’s door. He raps his knuckles against it twice. At her affirmative response, he opens the door and pokes his head in. “I’m thinking I’m going to head to the mess for lunch. You hungry?”

She’s laying on her bed in a loose fetal position, facing the door with a book lying open in front of her at an angle that suggests she hasn’t actually been reading it. “I’m okay.”

“You sure? You didn’t eat much for breakfast.”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine.”

“Suit yourself, then.” He almost shuts the door, then remembers something else. “Hey, Tommy mentioned something about a roof needin’ fixin’ yesterday. He might try and drag me into helpin’ him with that after we eat, so it could be a couple hours before I get back. That okay?”

“Mm-hmm.”

He doesn’t worry; he knows it’ll be a few hours at least before she wants company. “Alright. See you later.”

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

Tommy does drag Joel into helping fix a roof, and it takes almost three hours, but he finally finds himself at Ellie’s door again.

He knocks on it, twice again. “Hey, uh...just wanted to let you know I was home.”

“Okay,” she responds through the door.

“...I’ll be downstairs.”

When she doesn’t respond, he walks away, intent on continuing his ongoing Sunday project—fixing the floor in the downstairs bedroom. He’s been replacing the busted up hardwood in the downstairs bedroom little by little on Sundays—when everyone gets the day off in town, with the exception of a regular rotation of necessary jobs like patrol duty. It gives him something to do.

When it gets close to 5:30, according to the cracked, flickering display on the oven, Joel squares his shoulders and heads back to his familiar place outside Ellie’s door.

He knocks, asking “Can I come in?”

“Yeah.”

He opens the door to see that she has shifted onto the floor, leaning against the side of the bed that’s facing the door, a book in her lap. He thinks she might have actually been reading it, which is a good sign.

“About time for supper. Ready to head over to Tommy’s?” Sunday night dinner at Tommy and Maria’s place is a regular part of their routine. Joel and Ellie host dinner on either Wednesdays or Thursdays, depending on the schedule.

She shrugs. “Eh, I’m not really hungry.”

Joel’s already decided that he is going to press the issue this time. She seems a little perkier, so he figures it should go over okay. “All you’ve had today is some toast. And they’re expectin’ us.”

Ellie pulls a face. It’s not as exaggerated as usual, but it’s close. “Do I have to?”

He jerks his head in the direction of the door. “Come on.”

She sighs and pulls herself up off the floor before shoving her hands in her pockets and trudging out the door. He follows behind, the twitch of a smile on his face.

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

Ellie’s still quieter than usual at dinner, which earns Joel questioning looks from both his brother and sister-in-law. He just answers with a shrug and a meaningful look, which they accept, already having witnessed a few of these days before.

As they finish up their lasagna, Joel goes ahead and suggests watching a movie. He knows Ellie loves the compound’s movie nights just as much as the little ones.

“Can we?” she asks eagerly, a familiar spark flickering in her eyes.

Tommy and Maria look at each other. “Well, sure. Why not?” Maria says.

They clear the table quickly after that and select an action movie that Joel is pretty sure he caught on TV one night ages ago when Sarah was at a sleepover. The pang the thought sends through him is quick and biting, but the way Ellie bounces in her seat on the couch with anticipation helps him put the thought to rest once he recognizes it.

He takes his seat next to her. Ellie starts out resting against the arm of the couch, chin propped in her hand, but by the beginning of the movie’s second big action sequence she’s shifted to lean into his side. He adjusts so they’re both a little more comfortably settled into each other, his arm draping around the back of the couch.

Neither of them move for the rest of the movie, except for when Joel’s arm shifts to settle around her shoulders.

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

By the time the credits roll, it’s dark out. They walk through the cool fall night back to their house. Joel is glad to see that the movie night has helped Ellie perk up to her normal self. She babbles about the film’s effects and discusses the story’s various plot holes and inconsistencies. For his part, Joel mostly just listens and occasionally responds in agreement.

“I mean, what even was the bad guy’s plan?” she asks. “The bald asshole kept babbling about missiles or something, but I’m pretty sure he never actually said what they were going to do with the missiles. Right?”

“Don’t believe he did,” Joel responds.  

“And why did that one agent think going in without backup was a good idea? I mean, yeah, it was badass, but it was obviously going to fail from the beginning.”

“Don’t rightly know.”

“And for pete’s sake, why did the woman agent not have pants on for half the movie?”

“Because the people who made the movie were gross old men, probably.”

Ellie snorts. “You’re probably right.”  

They lapse into a companionable silence for a few minutes before Ellie suddenly leans over to nudge Joel’s arm with her elbow. “Hey.”

“Hm?” he questions, turning to give her his full attention from where it had been scanning the night sky—as far as he can tell, the single positive effect of the apocalypse is the decrease in pollution, including light pollution, which means the sky is blanketed in stars no matter where you are.

She sticks her hands in her jacket pockets, looking away with flushed cheeks and scuffing the heel of her shoe in the dirt before turning to look him in the face. “Thanks, Joel.”

He doesn’t need to ask what for. “Anytime, baby girl.”

[fallen420]

Rebel Spy - Chapter 13: Trust In The Force

WARNING: major rebels spoiler and ofc mandalorian spoilers

Masterlist

“Right, it’s always nothing isn’t it.”

I see his shoulders stiff as the air gets tenser. I know he can feel the frustration coming off of me. I sit here hoping that he says something, anything to make the tension go away. I want him to tell me what he’s thinking, what he’s feeling. I love him and I just want to know if he’s okay.

But of course, that’s not Din. He doesn’t talk. He doesn’t tell me anything. Stars, sometimes this relationship feels entirely one-sided.

I feel the crest take off and soon we get into space. With the ship falling apart he doesn’t want to go into hyperspace sooner than we have to or even at all.

The kid falls asleep in my lap as I stare at the stars trying to ignore the tension and - for some reason- the tears that are started to form in my eyes.

I don’t think the tears are from being sad. No, I’m not sad. The tears are from frustration. Is it too much to ask for him to talk to me? I know he’s not used to sharing his feelings so I shouldn’t push him too much.

The sound of him turning around in his chair snaps me out of my thoughts. However, I don’t make eye contact.

“Cyar'ika.” I don’t look up like he wants me to. It’s mostly because I don’t want to explain the tears threatening to leave my eyes.

“What?” The question comes out broken and barely a whisper.

“Please don’t be mad at me.”

“I’m not mad Din.” I turn my head to look at him, “Honestly.”

“I don’t know how to feel.”

“I know.”

I carefully lift the kid off my lap as I stand up. I sit him back in the chair making sure he’s still fast asleep. Once I’m sure he’s good I take a seat in Din’s lap snuggling myself into him. My head stays under his chin as he pulls me closer to him. I fall asleep listening to his steady heartbeat.

-

“You want me to fit inside there?” I say referring to the very tiny compartment where wires are that we need to get to, to fix the ship.

“Well, I can’t fit.”

“Din I can’t even put my head through there.” The kid’s coo draws our attention toward him. He sits in his pod playing with the stuffed Wookie I got him a few months ago. “You don’t think he could?”

“There’s only one way to find out.”

-

“No, don’t put the blue one back. Put the red one where the blue one was. And put the blue one where the red one was.” The kid just continues to look at the wires in his hand.

Din is kneeling next to me as we both try and direct him, “But be careful,” Din warns him, “They’re oppositely charged, so keep them away from each other. Make sure you hold them apart from-” And of course he puts the wires together causing sparks to fly and smoke to fill the compartment.

“That went exactly as how I expected.” Din just sighs next to me, “Are you okay?” I ask the kid and he just responds with a cough. “Okay come on let’s get you out of there.” I motion for the kid to come towards me and he crawls through the compartment and into my arms safely. “So now what?”

“There’s no way we’re making it to Corvus in this shape?”

I look around at the shaky ship that’s covered in fishing nets, “No shit.”

“I think we need to visit some friends for repairs.”

“Back to Nevarro it is then.”

-

We land the razor crest right outside of the city and Greef is there to greet us.

“Looks like someone could use some repairs,” Greef says as Din and I both have to jump off the ramp. Din being extra careful because he’s carrying the kid.

Din and Greef shake hands before Dins asks, “How’s my credit around here?”

“I think something could be arranged. I’ll get my best people on it.” He gets a few people to work on the ship before turning to look at me “Aurora good to see you again.”

I offer him a smile, “You too.”

“And you, come here, little one!” He says referring to the kid. He takes the kid out of Din’s arms and starts asking him all the questions he of course doesn’t have the answer to.

We walk through the city and the streets are full. People are everywhere each booth selling something different. There’s so much life here compared to the last time we were here.

I get pulled out of my thoughts when we stop at the cantina. The one Din almost died in, “Here we are,” Greef says.

“I’m surprised this place is still standing,” Din says.

“Wait until you see what’s inside.”

Din and I exchange a look before following Greef.

Inside is a school. There’s a droid at the front talking about the five major trade routes in the galaxy. “Not what I expected,” I tell Din. It puts a smile on my face to see a place that was once full of death now filled with the next generation.

“We’ll leave the little one here so we can talk business,” Greef says taking the kid to a desk.

“Uh, what?”

“Wait, wherever I go, he goes,” Din also protests.

“Mando please,” Greef says, “Where we’re going, you don’t wanna take a child. Trust me.”

This time Din looks at me and I just shrug my shoulders not really sure if he’ll be safe here or not. “He’ll be fine,” Greef reassures us. Greef puts him in a seat at the end in the second row. “Come on.” Greef walks out.

Din and I linger for a few moments, “Nobody knows we’re here, he’ll be fine,” I say more to myself then Din.

“Right,” Din says and we both walk out.

-

Greef shows up this map of an old imperial base. He says how there’s heavy weaponry and that the black market would love to dismantle and get their hands on. So we agree to help take out what’s left on the base so that Navarro would be completely safe.

Mythrol, one of Din’s old bounties and Greefs bookkeeper, drives us to wherever the base is located. Greef and Mythrol sit in the front while Din and I are in the backseat. Din’s hand has found its usual place on my thigh.

“The whole place is powered by a reactor. So we sneak in overload it and get the hell out of there, “ Greef says.

“Let's be fast,” Din says, “And keep the speeder running.”

We travel a little more before Mythrol stops the speeder at the front door, “Let's go.” I say as we all hop out.

I try pressing a few buttons on the panel but nothing happens, “Controls are using, they’re melted.”

After some convincing, Mythrol decides to get out of the speeder and help us out. He grabs the flange cutter per Greefs request.

While Greef and Mythrol bicker I notice Din is looking up at something. I look up to see a platform above us. And I know exactly what he's thinking.

“Are you gonna…”

“Think it’ll work?”

“It's you, Din, it’ll work.”

“Hold tight,” Is all he says before flying up to the platform. Mythrol tries to use the flange cutter again but all it does is make electricity fly everyone. I look back up at the platform when I hear blaster shots. Then there's screaming and a stormtrooper lands right at my feet. Behind us, the elevator door opens and the three of us pile in.

After a few moments, the elevator door opens and Din is standing there with three stormtroopers laying lifeless around him.

“Good job,” I say to Din as I stand at the edge of the platform looking at the lava.

“The reactor should be set in the heat shaft,” Greef says, “If we drain the cooling lines this whole base will go up in a matter of minutes.”

“Look,” Mythrol says getting our attention, “It's a mint Trexler Marauder. We can get a lot for this on the black market.”

“And it's gonna get vaporized like the rest of this base. Now, let's go,” Din says.

-

Din leads us to the command center. He goes in first and takes out the imp that's in there. The rest of us go in after. I go to the panels, looking through the cameras to find the heat shaft, “Okay I found it, let's go.” Din looks to see where it is before leading us there.

We get there successfully without being spotted. Mythrol opens the door using the code cylinder they swiped on the imp from earlier.

The door opens and we stand on a platform right above a pool of lava. We all look over the edge and Din puts a protective arm out making sure that I don’t fall over.

“That's it,” Greef says pointing to a panel which will make this place blow, “Get on the reactor controls, drain the coolant lines, we’ll watch the door,” Greef says to Mythrol.

He protests at first but Greef threatens to put him back in carbonite. He gets to the pannel and starts pressing buttons but nothing seems to be working, “Hurry up!” Greef tries to rush him. I don’t know what he does but alarms start to go off and the lava below us bubbles.

“All right, she's gonna blow,” Mythrol says getting away from the panel.

We start running down the hallways trying to get out of there as fast as possible.

“How long do we have?” I ask.

“Ten minutes at the most,” Greef answers.

We turn the corner and Din puts his hand up stopping us. In the distance, we hear stormtroopers running to fix what we did.

Din leads us down yet another hallway which brings us to two guys frantically trying to fix what we did. “Destroy it!” one of them say as we walk in. The three of us start shooting them while Mythrol hides behind us.

Din gets one and I get the other. When the shooting stops I look around to where we are exactly. Behind the glass, there are what seem to be like failed clones.

“What the…” Greef says

“I thought this was a forward operating base,” I say still staring at the disfigured body in front of us.

“I thought it was.”

“No, this is a lab. They’re doing some type of experiment, I don’t know exactly but we need to figure it out.” I ask Mythrol if he can get into the system and like always he protest but I get him to do it.

“I don’t like this,” Din says.

“Me either.”

Mythrol gets a Holocron appears at the desk the imps were trying to destroy, “Replicated the results of the subsequent trails, which also resulted in catastrophic failure. There was promising effects for an entire fortnight, but then, sadly, the body rejected the blood. I highly doubt we’ll find a donor with a higher M-count, though. I recommend that we suspend all experimentation. I fear that the volunteer will meet the same regrettable fate if we process with the transfusion. Unfortunatley, we have exhausted our initial supply of blood. The child is small, and I was only able to harvest a limited amount without killing him,” Din and I look at each other and I’m sure under that helmet hes just as shocked as I am, “If these experiments are to continue as requested, we would again require access to the donor, I will not disappoint you again, Moff Gideon.”

Hearing his name makes my body freeze up, my breathing gets shallow, and my heart thumps a mile a minute.

“This must be an old transmission. Moff Gideon is dead,” Din says.

“No, this recording’s three days old,” Mythrol confirms that Moff Gideon is alive.

I fight the tears that want to leave my eyes and I push back all the memories, “Din if he’s alive we have to get to the kid and we have to go now.” He grabs my hand as we ran out of there to get our kid.

-

“You got your eyes on it?” Din asks as I aim the gun at the tiefighter in front of us.

“Hell yeah, I do.” I press the trigger and it hits the fighter directly making it go down in flames.

After getting back to the city and grabbing the kid, we assumed Greef and Mythrol were in trouble considering they weren't back yet. So we got into the new and improved crest and headed over there. We found them in the Trexler Marauder Mythrol pointed out earlier.

“Hang on kid,” Din says but he's very distracted by the blue cookies I’m sure he stole from someone at the school.

Din pulls the lever making the ship go up after the tie fighters and the kid starts to giggle.

I shoot at the fighter but all the shots miss, “We need to get closer.” The ship somehow goes even faster. I hear the beeping meaning that the guns are locked in at the target, again I pull the trigger and the second tiefighter goes down, “One more.” The kid has his hands up cheering us on.

Din turns off the engine making the ship fall for just a moment before turning them back on again so we are right behind the last tiefighter. The tiefighter shoots at us but with Din piloting skills none of the shots hit us. We keep getting closer to the fighter and right before we collide I shoot and it goes down.

“Not too bad huh?” Din says turning around to look at me and the kid. I laugh and the kid throws up. It's blue from the cookies he hasn’t stopped eating.

“Oh stars,” I say in disgust. While Din talks to Greef on the coms I grab the end of Din cape and I try to clean the kid off as best as possible.

After saying bye to Greef Din turns back to us. I unbuckle and kid picking him, “I should get him changed.”

“Wait,” Din stands up placing his hand on my arm, “Are you okay?”

“I’m scared,” I tell him honestly my voice breaking a little, “He scares me, Din. He's not gonna stop until we’re dead.”

Din puts his helmet covered forward against mine, “I’m not gonna let that happen, cyar'ika.”

I nod my head letting a single tear fall before climbing down into the hall to get the kid changed.

-

“Alright so tell me everything you know about Jedi,” Din sits on the cot with the baby in his lap. The ship is on its path for Corvous so we should be there by tomorrow. Din and I are both getting ready for bed after a long couple of weeks.

“Like I said before I ran with a crew. By the time they picked me up they were basically family but they never treated me any different.” I pull one of Dins shirts over my head and I sit down next to him, “There were two Jedi. One master and one padawan.”

“Where are they now?”

“One um- one died so we could live and the other, he- he just went missing. Also so we could live.” Din puts his hand in mine, “I knew another. Fought with him in the rebellion. After the empire fell I lost contact with everybody. I have no idea where he is. I don’t know a lot about Jedi. But I do know they have strong connections to the force and the things they would do, the kid can do.”

-

Din and I step on the ramp looking out at the planet of Corvus. It's dark and gloomy. There's no color in sight. None of the trees have leaves on them. There's no life here.

“This place gives me the creeps,” I tell Din both of us looking around.

“Better than the ice planet.”

I scoff, “Yeah that's for sure.”

Din and I hear cooing and we both turn around to see the kid holding the little metal ball he must have stolen again.

“What did I say about that?” Din takes the ball from him, “This needs to stay in the ship,” and puts it in his utility belt.

He picks up the kid and stands next to me again, “I’ve never had dealings with a Jedi before, so you do the talking.”

“I got you,” I saw with a smile.

“Let's head into town. See if we can pick up a lead.”

-

After walking for a little while we make it to the town. There are stone walls all around it with guards in imp uniforms at the top. The guards have masks that I’ve never seen before. A man in armor asks us what our business is here and Din lies by saying that we’ve been tracking for a few days and that we're looking for a layover. He agrees to open the gate letting us into. The kid is in the bag that's around Din's shoulder this way he stays hidden.

Inside the town, it's just as lifeless. People are around there's just no life in them. Even five years after the empire fell they still find a way to make people miserable.

We walk through the town and neither of us really know what we're looking for. Din tries asking a vendor but they just walk away. We see a man in the alleyway with two children, “You there,” Din says getting the man's attention, “We need some information. We’re looking for someone.”

The man tells the children to leave and then walks up to us, “Please do not speak to them or any of us.” He's scared. It's obvious that everybody in this town is scared.

“Look,” I say softly hoping I can gain some trust since Din is a little intimidating, “We just need to know-” but I get rudely interrupted by two guards saying that the magistrate wants to see us. Giving us really no choice we follow them to wherever this magistrate is.

They lead us to another gate, Outside the gate people are strung up, “Help us,” One of them say as we walk by. The chains electrocute him and he screams out in pain. I wince angry at the fact that I can’t help them at the moment.

The gate opens and inside is the only place on this planet that has green. The trees have leaves on them. There's a bridge over a pond which is also the first water I’ve seen on the planet.

The magistrate asks us to haunt down a Jedi that is after her in exchange for a pure beskar spear. Obviously needing to find Ahsoka Din and I agree.

-

“These are the coordinates, keep your eyes open. We must be close.” We’ve been walking for a while now and so far there are no signs of life. Din hears something in the distance so he places the kid on a rock to be safe.

Looking around we decide that it's a false alarm of course that's before someone jumps out of the tree attacking Din.

Din pushes me out of the way. Once I get my senses back I realize that the flash of white I saw were lightsabers and that this must be Ahsoka Tano. Luckily lightsabers can’t cut through beskar. Din is a great fighter probably the best I’ve ever met but he's no match for a Jedi especially one with lightsabers. There's no point in me trying to join the fight considering a lightsaber could cut through me with ease. So I do the seconded best thing I’m good at. I talk.

“Ahsoka Tano!” I get her attention. She looks at me both her white lightsabers still up, “Bo Katan sent us. I’m Aurora and we need your help.”

She looks down at the kid still sitting on the rock next to me, “I hope it's about him.”

-

Ahsoka and the kid are sitting by a lantern. She requested that she speaks to the kid alone for a moment. So Din and I are away but not too far. I sit down on a rock while he paces back and forth.

“Would you stop pacing, you're making me nervous.”

He stops and looks at me, “You’re not?”

“Trust in the force Din.”

“That means nothing to me.”

I chuckle, “He’ll be fine.”

After a few moments, she picks up the lantern and the kid and walks over to us. She sets the lantern down and hands the kids to me and he sits peacefully in my lap. She sits down on the other rock. They both look at each and she nods while the baby makes what sounds like grunts.

“Is he speaking?” Din asks, “Do you understand him?”

She puts her hands under her robes thinking about her answer, “In a way. Grogu and I can feel each other's thoughts.”

“Grogu?” Din and I say at the same time. The kid coos immediately looking up at Din then at me.

“Yes,” Ahsoka says, "That's his name.”

Din takes a small step closer, “Grogu,” he repeats. He coos again looking at Din. It brings a smile to my face to finally know his name. To see him and Din connect even more.

“He was raised at the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. Many masters trained him over the years. At the end of the Clone Wars when the Empire rose to power, he was hidden,” Din sits down as he listens, “Someone took him from the Temple. Then his memory becomes...dark. He seemed lost. Alone.” I can feel his slowly falling asleep in my lap, “I’ve only known one other being like this. A wise Jedi master named Yoda.” The name gets Grogu to look up at Ahsoka. They seem to communicate in their own way before his head drops back down again. “Can he still wield the Force?”

“Yes he can,” I answer, “We’ve seen it.”

“To wield the force it takes a great deal of training and discipline.”

“Our task was to bring him to a Jedi,” Din says.

She pauses for a moment, “The Jedi Order fell a long time ago.”

“So did the empire, yet it still hunts him.”

“He needs your help Ahsoka,” I say hoping we can convince her.

There's another long pause before she sighs,” Let him sleep. I’ll test him in the morning.”

-

With it being dark and both of us too tired to walk to the ship we decided to camp. Din made us a fire. Grogu sleeps on the rock as Din and I lay on the floor, my head on his beskar covered chest.

Din and I are relaxed until of course, we hear a branch breaking in the distance. Both of us stumble to our feet grabbing our blasters. It's silent for a moment and all you can hear in the crackle of the fire burning.

Out of the darkness is a small animal. The closer it gets to us the more obvious it is that it's a loth-cat.

I put my blaster down. I bend down near the cat, I put my hand out and it slowly walks to me smelling it. I start to pet him and he purrs at that, “I haven’t seen a loth-cat since well I was on Lothal.”

“You were on Lothal?” Din puts his blaster away sitting back down.

“Yeah, my Jedi friend was from there. You could almost say Lothal is where the rebellion started.”

“We’re not keeping it we have enough pets.”

“You’re so lame.” He laughs at me before laying back down. I join him as we both try to get some rest.

-

In the morning Ahsoka tried getting Grogu to move a rock but when he wouldn’t she asks Din to do it. After he wouldn’t lift the rock he took the metal ball he stuck in his utility belt. The kid pulls the ball to him instantly.

Din and I both walk over to him telling him that he did a good job. I smile at the fact that he was able to do it and at Din’s excitement.

“That's right I knew you could do it,” Din grabs the ball from him.

“He's formed a strong attachment to you,” Ahsoka says, “Both of you. I cannot train him.”

“What?” Din says standing up, “You’ve seen what he can do.”

“His attachment to you two makes him vulnerable to his fears.” I pick Grogu up, “His anger.”

“All the more reason to train him.”

“No,” she steps closer, “I’ve seen what such feelings can do to fully trained Jedi Knight. To the best of us. I will not start this child down that path. Better to let his abilities fade.” She starts to walk away, “I’ve delayed too long. I must get back to the village.”

“The Magistrate sent us to kill you.” This gets her to stop and face us again, “I didn't agree to anything.” Normally I’d be trying to help Din but I don’t want to leave the kid, “We’ll help you with your problem if you see to it that Grogu is properly trained.”

-

Din and I are able to help her get the imps out of this town and free the people who were imprisoned.

We stand outside the gate walls, “I believe this was your payment,” Ahsoka says, holding the beskar spear.

“No. I can’t accept. I didn’t finish the job.”

“No, but this belongs with a Mandalorian.”

“Just take it,” I say and Din grabs the spear from her.

“Wheres your little friend?” She asks.

“He's back at the ship,” I answer her.

“Wait here we’ll go get him.”

-

“Do we have to?” I ask as we approach the ship.

“Yes.”

“But why? She said herself training him was dangerous.” Din presses his vambrace dropping the ramp.

“Because we were tasked-”

“Fuck that. What do you want to do Din?” As usual, he doesn’t answer me he just walks into the hull of the ship.

When I walk in Din has Grogu on his lap as he sits on the edge of the cot leaning against the wall. I lay my head on Din's shoulder trying not to pretend this isn’t breaking my heart.

-

Din carries him as we start to walk out of the ship, "You're like a father to him,” Ahsoka is outside of the ship, “You his mother.” Din and I walk farther down the ramp, “I cannot train him.” I feel a weight get lifted at the idea that I don’t have to do goodbye just yet.

“You made a promise. We held up our end.”

She walks up to us and gently holds Grogu’s hand, “There is one possibility. Go to the planet Tython there you will find the ancient ruins of a temple that has a strong connection to the force. Place Grogu on the seeing stone at the top of the mountain.”

“Then what?” I ask.

“Then Grogu may choose his path. If he reaches out through the Force, there’s a chance a Jedi may sense his presence and come searching for him. Then again, there aren’t many Jedi left.”

“Thank you,” Din says.

“May the force be with you.”

-

taglist: @tortles​

[black-streak]

Waiting for the Worms - Hey You

Part 15

I had planned to be so much further in the plot by this chapter and yet here we are. I don't want to say this is a filler chapter, because the reunion of the team and all is important but like, nothing exciting happens here. Very tame. Don't expect anything crazy. That's next chapter.

Special thanks to @cassiopeiathequeen for reading this over for me when I second guessed if I should even post this one or not.

CLOSED list of dinner specials (I'm tired, shush): @northernbluetongue @thethirdwheelfriend @shizukiryuu @theatreandcomicfreak @michellemagic @karategirl119 @moonlightstar64 @my-name-is-michell @mystery-5-5 @zalladane @queen-of-the-trash-planet-tm @miraculousdisapointment @dorkus-minimus @jardimazul @allthebooksandcrannies @g-arya @worlds-tiniest-spook-pastry @persephonescat @mycupisbroken @luciferge @18-fandoms-unite-08 @dawnwave16 @alwaysreblogneverpost @kris-pines04 @mysteriouslyswimmingfan-blo-blog @weird-pale-blonde-person @you-will-never-know-how-i-think @kokotaru @naclychilli @slytherinhquinn @clumsy-owl-4178 @ladybug-182 @darkthunder1589 @evil-elf16 @dast218 @lysslovsanime @emilytopaz @naoryllis @iloontjeboontje @thepeacetea @danielslilangel @finallyaniguana @i-like-fairytail-and-stuff @vixen-uchiha @yuulxd @bleeding-heart-romantic @magic-inthe-stars @st0rmy-w1th1n

~---~

It took a moment for anyone to move, all still looking back and forth between Jason and her, as though unsure how to proceed.

While they took their sweet time figuring it out, Damian glanced at Jason, then back to her, "I see what you meant now. This will take time to adjust to."

"Oh?" She inquired, a quirk to her eyebrow.

"I keep looking to him, but that isn't correct, is it? It's annoying to think I might accidentally treat him as I treat you just because his flesh prison is the one I am accustomed to."

"Would that be so terrible?" She offered, face barely hinting at amusement.

"Yes."

Chuckling, she drew him closer into her lap where he allowed himself to huddle close, turning to watch the masses once more.

Jason, a state of content shock, kept their hands tightly bound, watching the two before him interact with such ease. Meanwhile the others only just now found the nerve to move fully into the living room, very aware of the two sets of eyes observing them. One pair, they thought they were used to, had seen almost everyday for years, but the glow to them was different. Electric green seemed to spark through the vivid blue, dangerous and wild. 

Kagami never felt fear as a civilian, especially after having been a superhero for so long. Had never felt threatened or like an easy target, but those eyes on her suddenly made her feel like prey in the sights of a killer. The dark green eyes set below only added to this.

Juleka couldn't explain how on edge the little boy put her. His hardened eyes never strayed from their little group, harsh and judging. No child should be so intimidating or coiled so tight, as though to pounce. The protective arms wrapped around him seemed less for their safety, but rather hinted at more than one opponent should things go downhill.

Marc suddenly had a new idea for a story about a lone wolf and her wolf cub, living in the wilderness, avoiding conflict but capable of taking down even the mightiest of warriors. They could wager a guess where that idea came from as they stood behind the armchair Kagami placed herself in, Chloe sitting on the arm of it, Juleka sitting on the carpet between her feet.

As for Chloe, she simply stared at who she could only assume was Jason. That tall, ridiculously muscled man, with his white streak and swimming teal eyes was who they had fought alongside so long? How in the hell did he pull off a tiny little teenage girl for so long? How old was this guy even to have such a scarred, built body? What had Mari been through in her time as him? She couldn't help it, she needed to know.

"Jason, how old are you?"

He startled in his seat, turning to look at her, "uh, well I was a year older than her, so eighteen, I guess."

"Seventeen and a half," Marinette corrected.

"But he said-"

"You don't continue aging in a dead body."

She answered so matter of fact, so flippantly, they fell silent once more. Kagami was the first to regain her bearings.

"Must you be so blunt about it?"

Those eyes swung to focus in on her, sharp with challenge, "Why not?"

Chloe rose to it first, "Because it hurts okay? Your acting like it means nothing, but it does. It hurts-!" 

"Like a crowbar to the face?" She cut in, a dark little smile twisting her face as the green seemed to flash in her eyes.

Damian snickered at the playful jab, adding on, "Such cutting words, Mari, how do they compare to the autopsy?

"Like a gentle caress, little one," her grin becoming more wicked as she nuzzled the top of his head. Right then the hand she forgot was gripping her own became nearly crushing as it shook.

"Fucking hell, Mari," his voice rattled out and as her head jerked in his direction, she saw his crumpled expression break into a broken laugh. He ran his free hand through his hair, "I only found out you were alive an hour ago, could we maybe hold off on the morbid humor?"

"Hey, that means I was alive two and a half more years than you thought though," she attempted to comfort him.

"Yeah? And how were those two years spent?" He snarked back, though she could hear the desperation in his voice, begging to know why she hadn't come back sooner. Hadn't looked for him.

"Curbing my bloodlust," she easily replied, not outwardly reacting, eyes searching his for understanding. The flash of green in his own answered. 

He shook his head and nudged Damian, the boy instinctively moving at the nudge from a familiar hand and looking pissed upon realizing his mistake as he dropped onto the other end of the couch behind where Mari had ended up. Jason heeded him no mind as he pulled Marinette closer until she moved herself into his lap, letting herself marvel at how small she now was.

"Excuse me? Do we just not exist over here?" Chloe snapped into their little bubble.

"I wish," Damian muttered.

"Watch it brat."

"Chloe," Marinette growled out the warning.

The blonde teared up, "Mari, we're friends. You remember right?"

Sighing, she clamped down on the anger, "Of course I remember. Please try to refrain from calling him names though," swiveling towards Damian, who had started smirking, she snapped him out of it, "And Damian, learn tolerance. More people will be entering our lives now and we'll have to navigate around those the other chooses to associate with." He hunched in on himself at her reprimand.

"She lashed out at you. Her feelings about your death are not your fault."

"They aren't, but I also have zero tact about the topic of my demise. Maybe I cannot be blamed for her feelings over my dying, but I could control how hurtful my words are. Then she wouldn't have felt the need to lash out, just as you wouldn't. I won't become more tactful and I'll understand if she doesn't wish to talk to me because of it, but I could have," she turned back to Chloe with that, noticing the contemplative look to some, sadness to others. Jason simply looked like he understood and sympathized.

"So how exactly did this group come to be?"

"It took less than two months for Jason to fire Chat," Juleka spoke up, gripping Kagami's calf from her spot on the floor, purposefully drawing attention to the person she held, " choose her as the new black cat."

"Fair enough, and the rest are holders as well, I presume?"

At this moment, kwamis began to reveal themselves, Longg peeking out of Chloe's bag, Trixx popping out of Marc's hoodie, Mullo showing off their spot amongst Juleka's hair. Tikki eventually floated out of Kagami's blazer, looking at her with forlorn, yet hopeful eyes.

Feeling a purr start up against her neck, she twisted to look up at Jason.

"You two switched?"

"We switch often," Kagami spoke here, cradling Tikki who sat her palm holding back tears at the lack of reaction given, "good for confusing the enemy. They never knew which of us it was until the fighting style gave it away."

"It also became necessary due to my not being a very good fit for Tikki despite my body being the proper match," Jason cut in here.

"Juleka and I switch often as well. Fits us better that way."

"I stay the same, but I have three different forms, so I suppose it's fair," Chloe added.

"And Hawkmoth?"

"Gone. We ended it about a year or so ago," Jason reassured.

Only then did a tiny, happy smile slip onto her face, lightening the atmosphere and allowing everyone in the room to relax.

"Tikki? I've missed you sweetie bug," Mari cooed, the little goddess perking up and launching herself forward into the other side of her neck to cuddle close.

"Mari? I'm so happy you're alive! I missed you so much, you don't even know!" Tikki sniffled then immediately begin to scold her, "don't you ever pull a stunt like that on me again, do you hear? I can't lose you again."

"I know, I'm sorry. I cannot promise that."

"What does that mean?!"

"I might not have known I would die in that moment, but I would do so again," she looked over to Jason now, "I would take that hit again without hesitation. And I'm sure my life being threatened isn't going to suddenly stop. I will however do everything within my abilities to prevent another unnecessary death." 

The kwami gave a little huffy sniffle and ducked back into her neck once more, as Kagami gave a cough. "Don't worry, I have no intention of taking back your miraculous. You fit Tikki quite nicely from what I can tell."

"You.. Don't want me back?" Tikki spoke up.

"It's not that I wouldn't like to have you back by my side, but tell me truthfully Tik. Looking into my soul, could you see me being able to use your miraculous?"

The kwami deflated once more at that, knowing her to be right. At that moment, she felt a small hand softly tap her back before reaching up by her neck and slowly cupping the sleepy cat resting there. Sitting perfectly still until Plagg had been completely extracted, she turned to watch Damian slowly pet the God, the surprisingly docile kwami watching the boy out of the slits of his eyes. 

"What is he?" Damian looked to her, wide eyed and curious.

Chloe spoke up, trying to amend the static from earlier, "He's a kwami. They're like pocket sized Gods, bonded to pieces of jewelry. The person who wears that jewelry is granted the ability to use the corresponding kwami's power. His name is Plagg and he's the kwami of Destruction."

Damian nodded along, eyes filled with wonder as the others took turns introducing the other kwamis in the room, Tikki joining them as Plagg floated back over to Mari. For her part, Mari relaxed further as the others became purposefully distracted so as not to overwhelm each other any further, while also keeping Damian occupied.

Turning to greet Plagg, she offered a considering look, "You were on my person in the cafe."

He nodded.

"You adjusted my aim during the attack."

"You were going to kill them," he tensed up, tone defensive.

"I know."

"Marinette-"

"I'm glad you stopped me. They were not lives that needed taken."

"You've changed so much," the cat kwami sounded remorseful and desolate, taking her in, soul and all. 

"I have. You still love me though?"

"Course I do, sweetheart," the big green eyes teared up, never good at hiding his real feelings around her, especially now that he could see his own destruction magic in her soul and consuming Jason's body.

Taking a deep breath, she spoke out to the room, informing them that she'd be in the kitchen, making lunch. They all nodded in agreement, knowing they all needed the space to figure out their thoughts.

Jason followed her, "Mind if I join you?"

Turning around, knowing they no longer had an audience, she let her tears fall freely, speaking softly to not alert the others "Jay? This is real isn't it? You're really here?"

Holding her by the shoulders, he leaned down to meet her eyes, "shouldn't I be the one asking that?" He teased, smiling at her small laugh, "This is some surreal shit, isn't it?"

"Yeah," she choked out, rubbing her eye as she pushed forward and pressed her face to his chest, wrapping herself around him, feeling his arms hover a moment before pulling her in tight.

"You're being strong for him, aren't you?"

Grabbing his hand, she led him into the bedroom, closing the door softly, "He doesn't have anyone else, Jay. I'm sure he told you about the league?"

"Yeah, something like that."

"Didn't happen to mention what he was doing there, did he?

"He slipped a bit, but I'd rather hear it from you."

"Talia is his mother. She took me in so I could get him out. Trained me to be the perfect protector, gave me the means to leave, disconnected from him completely so he wouldn't argue. And of course I agreed. He was being abused, Jay. It was so terrible, the way they were raising him. But I don't know what I'm doing."

"I don't know, you seemed to be doing a pretty amazing job out there," he brushed tears off her face, still amazed that he could, "How do you want to handle this? With me having taken my body back. I'll follow your lead here."

"About that… You and I have joint custody."

"What?"

"Legally, you're his older brother, who adopted him after your parents died, since you were of age to do so. Marinette Todd is your wife who adopted him with you."

"Wh-why would you- I mean-?" He cut himself off, confused.

"Well I mean, I didn't think the connection would ever come back, but in case it did or if I felt it safe to find you. I didn't want to take a chance. We can go back and change them?"

"It's fine, just, how old did you make us to be married and able to adopt a child?"

"Well he's your brother, so the adoption part would be easy despite age, plus we forged documentation for cps check-ins for two years, so they won't be checking now."

"And how old does that make us?"

"You're twenty one and I'm twenty. We've been his legal parents since you turned nineteen. We married the year after I graduated high school. You looked old enough to pull it off and I wasn't sure what I looked like anymore but doubted anyone would look twice."

"Well alright then," he blinked, pulling her close again and setting his head on top of hers, "It's going to take a while to get used to being this tall," he admitted.

"How do you think I feel," she rested fully against him, blown away by the ability to lean on someone for once.

A knock sounded on the door and Damian peaked in, "Mari? You need to come see this."

[starlightsearches]

Office Romance: Ch. 21 Subterfuge

General Hux and Kylo Ren have found themselves competing for the affection of a lieutenant aboard the Finalizer.

Series Warnings: Language, some violence, near-death experiences.

Masterlist

AN: Remember how I said this series was on hiatus? Turns out I’m a huge liar! This came to me a couple days ago and I have no self-control so here it is; hope you enjoy to everybody still following!

Chapter Warnings: Hopefully without giving away too much, there’s some drugging and some kidnapping in this chapter! Read with caution!

The rumors going around the Finalizer said that the Annual First Order Anniversary Gala would be a party unlike any other, and standing here in the middle of it all, you're sure they must be right. Everyone is here: all of the Finalizer's officers, plus the crews of all the other ships—some of them people you hadn't seen since the Academy—the entirety of the Directorate, and a handful of celebrities, all sympathetic to the cause: politicians, holo-stars, stage performers. It's a massive, swirling body of people, an electric meeting of heartbeats and minds under the glittering lights.

And certainly many of them are eager to meet you. Your reputation precedes you, it seems, the young, brave Lieutenant General—you're the talk of the party, your name on the lips of many of the guests. The hushed voices follow you like trails of ribbon flittering on a breeze; they talk of the assassination attempt, the mysterious death of Antibree Soar.

The conversations always grow quieter, here, delicate whispers laced with smiles. I heard, they say, that she's become involved with the force user, Kylo Ren. The rest of the party will gasp, the speaker's lips turning upwards with triumph, with the power that comes from sharing a secret. The smile falls though when another guest interrupts. No, no, you've heard all wrong, they say, it's the general who's caught her attention. I heard . . .

And so it goes. You have to admit you look the part—mysterious, powerful. The gown you're wearing is unlike any other: the silver material flows over you like a waterfall, shimmering in the light. The cut of the neck is low, daringly so, the skin of your chest exposed all the way to the waist of the gown, and the cape, secured around the neck, falls over your shoulders, fluttering in your wake as the crowd parts around you. You've never looked more beautiful. And you've never felt more miserable.

You bid farewell to your latest dance partner whose name you've already forgotten, making your way to the edge of the crowd again. You had hoped that the determination in your gait would discourage any more invitations to dance, but you still have to tug your arm away from a few of the more persistent men, telling them that you'd love to join them, in just a moment. You needed to get some air. Alone.

It’s quiet on the balcony, private, and there’s no other guests taking advantage of the darkness that would be afforded to them out here. The night air is cool on your flushed skin, the twilight a blessing to your eyes after the bright and colorful chaos of the ballroom. It's quiet out here on the balcony, and when you look up, you can see the tiny pinpricks of stars flooding the night sky.

You had talked to the general, the night after Pryde's visit. It had been a stilted conversation, full of long, awkward pauses, your eyes traveling the walls of his quarters, your throat stinging as you tried to hold back the tears that kept threatening to spill onto your cheeks. You don't remember everything that was said, and it's probably for the best. You had left in tears.

As bad as that was, your conversation with Ren had been worse. He hadn't even taken off his helmet, standing there with his arms across his chest, solid as a wall and just as responsive.

You hadn't been lying before. You wanted to make a choice, but wanting and doing, you had quickly come to realize, were two very different things. And despite everything that had happened, you were still unsure.

You weighed the options in your mind again, as you had done a thousand times. The General. Ren. And just as before, a sick feeling of dread poured into your stomach. It was no use, and now you'd be lucky if either of them would have you. Once again you had lost your chance to do something that actually mattered.

The door to the balcony opens behind you, but you don't turn around just yet, still wishing to be alone. The sound of the music swells and then lulls as the door is once again closed, the soft footsteps of the new visitor approaching.

"I'm alright, Doe," you say, eyes still straight ahead. Mitaka had been very understanding after you told him about what had happened. He must have seen your flight from the ballroom and come to check on you, but you couldn't look at him now. Seeing his face full of concern would certainly make you cry, and you were already blinking faster to quell the tears.

It's quiet still, and you're about to turn to face him when the warm arm wraps around your waist, and for a fleeting moment, you think it might be Ren, or Hux before there's a hand covering your mouth, and you don't have time to fight before you're sinking, darkness clouding the corners of your vision and a voice in your ear, low and mean, saying," guess again." You recognize the voice now, but it's too late. The sky fills your vision, melting into a swirling mess of stars, and then everything fades to darkness.

_______________________________________________________

Based on the dull headache growing between his eyes, and the way the words of the conversation he was pretending to listen to were slurring together with the blush of wine, Hux estimated that this ridiculous party had been going on for about an eternity. Although it certainly didn't help that he had wanted to leave before the party had even begun.

He had shown remarkable self-restraint, hardly looking at you all evening—or at least hardly looking at you compared to a normal amount. He'd see how long he could stretch that self-restraint once he was alone, how long it would take before he was driving himself mad thinking of you again, how long before he was waking with a pounding headache, an acrid taste in his mouth, and the distinct feeling of guilt in his stomach that came from wanting you so deeply and refusing you so harshly at the same time.

Hux takes a long sip from his glass, using the action as an excuse to close his eyes for a moment against the grating lights. He sees your face, as he expected, maybe hoped for. It's still there, playing on the back of his eyelids—the way you leaned into him, your words echoing over in his mind. Maybe I wouldn't have stopped you either. Suddenly the cool feeling of the glass against his lips is all wrong, too hard and unyielding. He pulls the glass away.

There's a new face in his line of sight when he opens his eyes, and it's not one he had expected. As if Hux’s evening could somehow get worse.

"The lieutenant," Ren says, in the closest approximation to a whisper he can manage with the ridiculous mask, "she's missing."

________________________________________________________

Ren watches the general carefully, waiting to see if the mask of indifference will slip. Hux immediately guards himself the moment he sees Ren, but he can't hide his surprise quickly enough. Ren sees it. And for a moment, he lets himself be glad.

"What should that matter to me, Ren?" Hux turns away from Ren rather stiffly, staring towards the dance floor with a falsely blank gaze. He’s looking for you. Ren knows he won't find you there.

"I thought you might know where she'd gone." Ren almost wants to laugh. This stilted, whispered conversation is a far cry from the one they had only a few days ago in the training room. It's driving him insane that he knows so little about what happened after.

The rage had left him feeling emptier after the confrontation in the training room, as it often did, but there was nothing to fill the aching cavern in his chest once it was gone. He was well and truly hollowed by your rejection. Left with nothing. And so with nothing left, he had simply watched, waiting to see if his fears had come to fruition.

But nothing had happened between you and the general, as far as he could tell. There was no weight to your interactions with him. He couldn't sense a spark, no smoldering glances or subtle smiles. He could discern the truth if he really wanted to, of course—he would have no trouble pulling the information from your mind or the general's. But he couldn't. Maybe he didn't want to know.

"I don't know where she is." Hux is as close to snapping as he could get in public, leaning in for a moment to utter a harsh whisper, before he remembers himself, "she probably stepped outside for a moment."

Hux excuses himself from the conversation, not that anyone notices his departure, but Ren refuses to be brushed aside so easily. Hux could try to fool him, to convince him that he didn't care, but Ren knows better. And more importantly, he knows something isn’t right. He can sense that you’re in danger—he feels it in his very core.

"I already checked," Ren says, loud enough to disturb the other guests, and Hux pauses, turning to face him again. There's conflict in his eyes, his mouth set in a hard line of frustration, but he doesn't walk away.

"I've looked for her everywhere. She's gone," Ren steps closer, and Hux turns to face him again. There's hatred, pure and arrant and clear in every facet of Hux’s face, and for Ren the feeling is mutual. But he hasn't even gotten to the worst part yet.

"There's something else," Ren lowers his voice again, and Hux leans closer to hear, "Pryde, he's gone too."

____________________________________________________

You open your eyes to the darkness, conscious, but not awake—like your mind is submerged in deep and turbulent waters—and you wait for the feeling to pass. The relief doesn’t come, and your stomach rolls, and for a moment you think you might die here, alone in this hellish darkness. Or maybe you’re already dead. It’s hard to tell without a frame of reference. You’re lost without your senses—no sight, no feeling or movement in any of your limbs, and, maybe the most frightening of them all, no connection to the force. You reach out for it, stretching yourself to the limits, and your stomach gives another heave, threatening to spill its contents. The tears that track down your cheeks in response to the feeling burn as they go, and you let out a single, pitiful sob.

    You hear something, just barely, at the same time the little animal noises first start to make their way out of your mouth, and you clamp your lips tighter, hoping to muffle them enough so that you can hear. There’s someone else here with you . . . wherever you are. They shift again, and the soft rustle of their clothing seems deafening in this small space. 

    “Please . . .” you try to form the word, but your lips feel enormous and unwieldy, and you’re still trying to choke back the sobs. “Please, let me go.”

    They get to their feet, stepping around into your line of sight. Your vision is blurry, and you squint, trying to get a better look.

    “You’re awake,” there’s the voice again, you recognize it instantly, and with the recognition comes a new wave of fear, “that’s a pity. The dosage I used could have killed you. Such a shame he wants you alive.”

    He peers closer, and your vision finally focuses in the low light. The edges of his face still blur, but you can see his eyes with poignant clarity, harsh and full of cutting animosity.

    “Allecul,” his name comes out jumbled, but he recognizes the sound all the same, “you’re the spy, working with . . . with Pryde.” He tenses in response, bringing his hand to your face again, and you feel another rush of darkness coming swiftly towards you. There’s no use fighting, but you struggle against it regardless, your mind desperately thrashing, urgently working to keep a hold of the sliver of consciousness you’ve gained. It’s no use. You sink back into the restless darkness. And you stay there.

Tags (lemme know if you want to be added or removed!): @acunningstargazer, @itsa-pseudonym, @ddaeing, @dark-night-sky-99, @i-jus-wanna-writehappy, @fresa-luna, @leiadelreyy, @averillian, @sunbanna​, @foggyturtleknightangel​, @liceforlunch​ 

[inikavulpixelreviews]

Let’s Talk About Pokemon - Toxel and Toxtricity

848: Toxel

Mmmmmm. I don't remember if I've ever said it in this review series, but I have a really bad repulsion to babies. Toxel isn't exactly being an exception here. Combination of the baby fat in the cheeks and lips and dumb little oversized head and its tongue and its bald-looking lightly misshapen head and AUGH. No sirree, Toxel had a snowball's chance in hell for falling into my good graces just from being so heavily baby-based alone.

It doesn't help that it has a diaper and... oh no... is that why it's Poison type? Please don't tell me that's why it's Poison type. Oh god I dreaded what this thing might turn into when it evolved, and I probably only would've evolved it because my own sister was insistent I keep this horrible little slime goblin around to see what it turns into.

Maybe, just MAYBE I'm being a little too harsh on Toxel, maybe not any of its features are inherently bad but that's just too bad for me I guess. I just had to be a kid in the 90s when a cartoon that was big at the time just happened to air an episode that highlighted all the gross things about babies all at once in a nightmarish context that gave me a goddang phobia of the friggin things as a child. While I don’t really have a crippling fear of them anymore I sure as hell don’t wanna go near one if I can help it. Maybe I'd be writing a very different review right now if a show like that didn't ruin babies forever for me but I guess we'll just never know. And I can’t say I’d ever be very affectionate to a Pokemon that instantly made me think of a scene that scared the ever-loving shit out of me as a kid thank you very much.

...Other than... ALL that... Toxel doesn't have anything going for it anyways. Poison/Electric is a neat typing that was feeling like it was going to waste because it's just some purple thing with a spark of electricity glued to its forehead I guess because they didn't think it looked “Electric” enough. I don't even like the grumpy face cause it's still very babyish. At least in this context... plant these grumpy eyes on literally anything else and I'd probably be all for it but euch. EUCH. The only advantage it really has going is that it’s fairly non-descript as an animal so it looks fairly solidly just-a-monster in a Gen 1 sorta way. But other than that...

Personal Score: 2/10

849: Toxtricity

...How the hell did one of my new least favorite Pokemon of all time suddenly become my top favorite in all of Galar???? Well, whatever. Be careful who you call ugly in preschool, I guess.

Gamefreak must've known they had a hit on their hands with this one, I'm surprised it was a Pokemon they kept secret until the game came out given how much it's skyrocketed into popularity (Striking number 2 in Gen 8 in the Pokemon of the Year polls, only just behind Galar's pseudo legendary). It's definitely at least pushed like one of the flagship Pokemon of Galar, with statues dedicated to it and its own G-Max form that they felt the need to keep further under wraps until very recently, only teasing its appearance as a hill figure. You're even handed a free Toxel at the Daycare. Frankly I'm alarmed no major character even has one on their team!

But this design in general totally is one of the stars of the show in Gen 8. While it definitely lifts aspects of salamanders and other amphibians into its design, it feels a lot like the classic “just a monster” type design from Pokemon's early days. The way they anthropomorphize it is neat too. It has an overall comical body structure with a long neck, lanky long arms and amusingly tiny legs.

Its face is also great. The tired, dreary eyes are cool and it thankfully turned that badly implemented bolt feature from Toxel into a full on electric mohawk! The head spikes are also neat, especially at the angle it holds its head back in its default pose ingame, it sorta evokes the look of the head of an electric guitar.

And that right there's the whole aesthetic of Toxtricity, of course! They're punk rockers! All covered in spikes and everything, even right down to having spiked belt. The little wart-like bulges on its chest are also doubling as guitar strings! There's plenty animations where it strums them to rock out, mohawk lighting up and everything. It strums these warts to generate electricity and make a ton of noise while it does so. That's such a cool way to incorporate an object into a naturalistic element on an animal. I like my objectmon and monsters with on the nose object motifs quite a bit myself, but it's cool that Toxtricity managed to fit an element as specific as an electric guitar's strings into an animal that would normally have no business having such an element but it just works.

And I can understand not everybody digs that color scheme; fairly bright purple and yellow is brave, to say the least, but I'd say it works! Even if I'm oddly enough, kind of a fan of color schemes other people might consider garish, you could say it just works because Toxtricity as a punk rocker is all about tearing down the norms, man. It also helps to make it look far more lively than its more mellowed out cousin.

Which, by the way, Toxtricity has a form gimmick too. A pretty unique one at that, and now that they've had it happen I'm surprised it's only happened just now, but what form your Toxel becomes depends on what Nature it is. The more excitable, energetic sounding natures will become the Amped form above, while the more chill or relaxed sounding natures will become the “Low Key” form.

At first, you'd wonder what that has to do with punk rock and why Toxtricity out of all the band-themed Pokemon we've already had up to this point, but a closer inspection highlights that Low Key is more of a bass as opposed to Amped as a guitar. They even have bumps mirroring their respective instruments! Amped has six just like an electric guitar has six strings, while Low Key has four, just like an electric bass has four strings! Low Key even seems to have a slightly longer neck than Amped form does, again, just like how basses have longer necks compared to guitars! It really is so much fun how much mileage they're getting out of the visual theming here. It’s really cool how we got a Pokemon that imitates an inanimate object in a way that’s totally organic and natural-looking way.

To tie all the theming up in a nice bow, they have a unique ability called Punk Rock, which increases the damage their sound-based moves do while halving the damage they take from the same kind of moves. Given that there's some Pokemon that are outright deaf with the ability Soundproof, it's easy to assume that Toxtricity unfortunately suffers from hearing loss. They can still hear, just not as well. Indeed, right under natural aging, the number 2 cause of hearing loss is listening to music too loudly. Much like punks are one to do. Turn down your music, kids!

That said, if I had to pick just one, I'd easily pick Amped just because it generally looks cooler and has a bolder color scheme. The only thing I'm less than sure on for these two is their “tails”... which rather than being tails are now just stiff extra-large spikes jutting out of their butt. And since I used a Toxtricity on my team, thus was looking at the backside of one for most of the game, yeah, hard to not notice. I would've much preferred a more normal tail that could've also had some spikes around the tip of it if you must carry the punk theming that far.

Also I'm not a fan of their name. “Toxtricity” is just toxic and electricity clumsily mashed together and it doesn't really roll off the tongue. Like, was that really the best localization could come up with?? If I had to take a crack at naming it, I would've called it Punkture or something similar.

Personal Score: 10/10

G-Max Toxtricity:

The two Toxtricities share a G-Max form that incorporates elements from them both. And hmm... I'm not as much of a fan of this G-Max, sadly. It's still cool, don't get me wrong, but the tesla coil look to the tail feels out of place and a bit more “generic electric type” imagery to me compared to all the electric guitar/bass theming the previous two had.

It's also huddled down on all fours. I'm sure some are happy about that much, and it helps differentiate it from its normal-sized self, but I felt like being anthro was a little vital to the line's theming, given it needed some free hands to strum its bumps. The spark eyes are also neat but the tired look just looks more amusing to me. Eh. Just every feature here feels “It's neat and all but the basic forms did it better.”

Oh, wait, there is ONE thing!

Its attack animations sees it pulling a literal electric guitar out and smashing its opponents with it. Now THAT is wicked cool!!

Personal Score: 9.5/10

[Archive]

[lightanddarklove]

Connverse Week Drabbles - Day 1: Exploration

Explore Your Options

Rated: Gen  | Words:1631 | No Archive Warnings Apply

Connie Maheswaran/Steven Universe | Connie Maheswaran & Steven Universe Read on Archive of Our Own | Day 2 prompt | Day 3 Prompt | Day 4 prompt | Day 5 prompt | Day 6 Prompt | Day 7 prompt | My Writing Masterpost

I don't know if I'm be able to do all the days of Converse Week but I was thinking about giving this a try. I have ideas for at least 2 more days, but since this one is on the longer side, if I cop out before day 7 I'll say this counted for Future as well as Exploration.

I’m more than halfway done with prompt 2. Here’s hoping I can just edit the link in when I’m done.

Quick note: These are the state names Connie’s talking about (because everyone should get Keystone and Jersey):

Buckeye - Ohio

Empire State - New York

Lone Star - Texas

Steven and Connie are trying to figure out where they're going to be spending the next few years. New exciting things seem on the horizon for Connie, but Steven needs a bit of encouragement after Little Graduation. Mostly platonic with a side of romantic pining. Steven Centric. 

Jam bud conversations on the phone were nice, but Steven missed seeing Connie in person. This as one of those weeks where a call was the only way she could fit him into her busy schedule. He draped himself over the bed, lying on his back, trying to relax as she told him about her plans and projects.

“Have you given it much thought where you want to go to school?” Steven asked, trying to sound encouraging and avoid sounding clingy.

“Well, there’s lots of options, but I haven’t nailed down anything exactly,” she replied. “I really think I want to work at Nasa, or do science communication elsewhere in the engineering field. But I’m worried that I’ll get to a big expensive school somewhere and after taking a few classes I’ll want to change my major and should have gone somewhere else.” Steven hummed in thought. “Right now I’m thinking about an Engineering major and either minoring in Video Journalism, or double majoring and then maybe Political Science as a minor?”

“Well,” he responded, “I know that your parents will support you no matter what you want to do or where you go.”

“I’m not super worried about that,” she said. “It’s more about wasting time or money. I know that they have enough in my college fund for in-state schools, public or private. But if I broaden my search to out of state, I’ll need to secure good scholarships to leave school debt free, which they’ve stressed will really help me in my early adulthood. And in turn, if I need to get scholarships, I should really know what I’m going to school for, because some scholarships are dependent on majors.”

“What about a sport scholarship for tennis or fencing?”

“I haven’t dedicated the time into those to get the majority of my funding from that.”

“I don’t think you need to get most of it from the scholarship, you’ve got the college fund. Plus you’ve trained so hard for swordsmanship. And didn’t you go into a state competition for fencing this year?”

“I wasn’t in the top of them,” she replied dourly. “I placed 6th.”

“For a completion that was state wide, including seniors?” He responded with enthusiasm. “I think that’s got to count for something. If you place in the top 3 next year, you could probably go anywhere you want with at least half of your schooling payed for.”

“I wish fencing was a more recognized sport. But anyway, I have some in-state schools I was looking at, and only a few out of state. A couple in Keystone, one in Buckeye, and Jersey. The furthest ones are in the Empire City area. Well, except for the one in Lone Star that’s supposed to be one of the biggest pools that Nasa pulls from. But that one’s pretty hard to get into.”

“You’re smart enough, I think if you keep trying as hard as you have been, you can get there,” he said trying to keep his voice light. He paused for a moment. “I will miss you though, if you move so far away.”

“Well Lone Star does have a warp pad,” she replied. “I found out it’s a bike-able distance from the school. Forty minutes doesn’t sound that bad. Plus there’s Lion and planes and stuff. It won’t be too hard to see each other if we try.”

“Yeah,” he said, trying to keep the sadness from creeping into his voice. “But if you double major, would you have the time to see me, anyway?”

“You’re my best friend, Steven. I’ll make the time,” she responded confidently. He smiled wistfully, knowing she couldn’t see, but it encouraged him all the same. “There’s probably going to be heavy weeks where I can’t, but I feel like if I get into the Lone Star Aerospace University, I won’t need to impress as much by double majoring. So we can probably see each other most weekends. If you aren’t too busy, anyway. What do you think you’ll be doing next year? That would set you up for what you’re doing while I’m in school.”

“Now that Little Homeschool is done being set-up, and I’m not heading it anymore, I’m not sure.” He paused again. “I’ve been doing the gardening thing, but it’s just something to fill my time. I don’t think I’m becoming a botanist anytime soon.” Connie chuckled.

“Do you think you’ll want to teach again?”

“Even if I could become a teacher, what would I teach?”

“Why couldn’t you?” She sounded firm in her conviction. “I think if you wanted to, you could get your GED, and start school when I do. You’re organized and creative, plus you really seemed to enjoy helping the gems learn. I think you could do the same for music, or cooking, or anything creative, really.”

“I wasn’t as good as I wanted to be,” he replied solemnly. “I’ve had a hard time letting go, and I was so busy I let a lot of things get pushed to the wayside that I should have been better with.”

“Learning about being a teacher from professionals would help you get those kind of skills,” she rebutted.

“I don’t think I have what it takes,” he said sadly. “My dad never finished Community College, I don’t think I could get a four year degree, let alone a teaching degree.”

“That’s bull and you know it,” she replied. “You’re smart and very hardworking. That’s all it takes.”

“You think so?” he asked, hope inching back into his voice.

“I think you’d do well as a music teacher. You could also do design, you learned Illustrator in like 2 months to design those pamphlets for Little Homeschool. You’re a good cook, and you also have make-up skills, if you wanted something that doesn’t take as long to learn, those are good options.”

“Dad helped with the pamphlets,” he replied. “Also, I haven’t done much in terms of music in about 3 years, I’m probably pretty rusty.”

“You learned how many instruments before you were 14?”

“Uke, guitar, bass, drums, piano and vocals. So 6.” He counted on his fingers.

“Plus a few percussion instruments,” she responded.

“The cymbals and triangle barely count.” He rebutted, slightly disdainful. “And I learned harmonica while in space since it was easy to keep in my pockets for when I had too much downtime.”

“That’s something musical you did in the past 3 years. Plus, you have perfect pitch, you’ve taught Peridot about music when you guys were working on the drill, so you have some experience there. Why not share your talents with young musicians?”

“I haven’t been writing songs lately, not since Spinel-“

“So? Learning new instruments could be what brings that spark to make something new. You don’t have to focus on Music Theory, unless you find that’s where your driving energy is pushing you.”

“Other than figuring out what GED requirements are to see if it’s feasible for me to finish in year or two, where would I even start? If I want to teach music, don’t I have to learn like, all the instruments?”

“Start with orchestra instruments, there’s only 4 of them, so it’s more manageable. You already have experience with other stringed instruments. And since you know what the notes on electric bass are, a stand-up base wouldn’t be too different. They’re also the same strings on a violin. The main thing is learning how to grip the bow so you get a clear sound.” Connie paused. “Don’t you think you’d look good playing bass?”

His voice lowered to a mutter as he spoke, “aren’t I too short for that?”

“You aren’t shorter than the senior girl in my school who plays a full-size bass,” she teased. She paused thoughtfully and her tone changed, seeking to uplift Steven. “You don’t need to keep putting yourself down where you feel like you haven’t measured up, especially when it comes to music. You’ve done a lot of great things, and you can still find ways to improve, if you’re willing to learn.”

“Sorry,” he replied. “I just haven’t figured out where I’m going from here. You’ve got a plan, and I’ve…” He trailed off, considering his words carefully. “I’ve been looking for a fresh start, but haven’t found one yet.”

“Steven, comparing yourself to others isn’t helpful, especially since nobody has done the things you’ve done. You have so much to be proud of, you know that? It’s amazing what you’ve accomplished in just a few years.”

“You’ve done amazing things too, Connie,” he said pensively. There was a moment neither of them spoke, and he blushed, taking in all she had said.

“I, your knight, haven’t toppled an empire through Charisma and conviction,” she rebutted.

“Uh, well-“

“Just think about the music teaching, or culinary school, or beauty college, ok? You should have things to look forward to. You deserve that, I promise.”

“Thanks, Connie,” he replied admiringly, trying not to be overwhelmed with her praise. He heard her chair scoot back and she moved to stand.

“I gotta go, Steven. Mom just called for dinner and then I have to finish my paper for History tonight. I’ll text you when I take a break, ok?”

“Ok, talk to you later.”

“Bye!” she said, hanging up. He waited a moment as the call ended, phone still in hand.

“I love you,” he said, knowing the call was over. He hadn’t been able to say it with words to her, not since he had said it when leaving her behind to head for his trial on Homeworld. He hoped that the presents and gestures he had made for her spoke what he couldn’t say aloud. Someday, he could tell her, but not yet.

[wheremytwinwatches]

[Where My Twin Watches]: Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood Episode 1

All right, time for a new show! Tephi’s been pushing me to watch Fullmetal Alchemist for a while now, and now that I’ve finally moved into my apartment I can sit down and watch this show. I understand that there are two versions, one original that outpaced the manga and another that was made after, and based on recommendations I’m going with the second, Brotherhood. For those following along at home I’m going with the iTunes version of Brotherhood, as this lets me watch on my phone and type at the same time, and frankly at my pace of reviewing any subscription way of watching Brotherhood would probably be more expensive than just getting the series. Here’s what I know starting out: -The main characters are Edward and his brother. -Due to Reasons, Bad Things happened which resulted in Edward getting a robot arm and his brother(‘s soul?) getting put in a giant suit of armor. -The magic of this setting is Alchemy, with all sorts of rules and laws. -The phrase “Equivalent Exchange” is something that comes up a lot, and whenever I say those words where Tephi can hear she starts cackling. And that’s it! So Tephi’s highly recommended this show, I’ve got the first episode downloaded, and some spare time this afternoon. Let’s do this!

Familiar little Aniplex jingle… Funimation logo… Overhead shot of a city at night. Interesting layout, what looks like a castle in the center, with brightly lit lines tracing away from it. And a hexagon street layout? Suddenly I’m getting the biggest Lumiose City vibe right now. But the screen fades to someone drawing a circly-chalk thing, while a bunch of string instruments make it clear that This Is Not A Good Thing. The amateur artist is some dude with dark hair and stubble, looking grim as the camera pans out of the dark alley to the brightly-lit castle. “The Freezing Alchemist?” says someone who the subtitles have helpfully named Roy. Another guy, apparently Bradley shows a file with a picture of yup that’s the guy trying to set up hopscotch. Seems he snuck into ‘Central’ a few days ago, and now Bradley (who has an awesome eyepatch, and I will now call Fury) is making it Roy’s problem. Wait wait wait, “Mustang”? This character is named Colonel ‘Roy Mustang’? Damn but that’s a manly name. Mustang’s ready to go catch Mr. Freeze, but it seems Bradley has one last thing: a certain ‘rising star’ is here as well. Hmmmm, my Protagonist senses are tingling. And Fuhrer Bradley- Wait. What? ‘Fuhrer’? Um. I am torn between the unfortunate connotations, and glee that I get to call this character Fuhrer Fury. But no time to think about that, because Fuhrer Fury confirms that he’s talking about The Fullmetal Alchemist. Edward Elric. “Aw damnit. The colonel’s never gonna let us get outta here, is he?” What’s this? Anyways, I can recognize this guy as Edward, our special little star. Wonder what this is about. “We already got our tickets to Liore, too. Does this mean we’re not going?” And this is…Alphonse? Not gonna lie, a little thrown by the voice here. I look at this metal helmet, with glowing eyes and stylized fangs, and it just seems… young… oooh, I just realized. Whatever caused Alphonse to end up in that suit, if it’s just his soul he wouldn’t technically age, would he? How young was he when whatever happened? And holy crap that’s a really big suit of armor, like Edward looks tiny next to it. What’s the story with this armor anyway, how did all this stuff happen? Eh, maybe I should stop wondering and just keep watching. Intro! Edward with a ponytail and ragged shirt? And I thought he had a robot arm? Lady smiling with leaves blowing around, then AAAAAWWWWW lookit the widdle babies, widdle Edward and Al ooooh so cute wait why do you look scared and the door’s closing? Sudden Shiny Glasses on frowning man with strands of blond hair. Explosion! Edward and Al facing a wall of fire as the title comes up. Burning tree/house? Shot of Determined Edward scowling at wind that’s mussing up his hair before throwing his hands out. Casting? Shot of what I believe to be the Shiny Glasses man from before, has a ponytail and epic beard along with those unruly hair strands. And the glasses are remaining Shiny. Is he their dad? Guessing at family connection here. Turns away. Absent dad? Back to cute widdle kids taking a nap, along with a blonde girl. Sibling? Now they’re walking along a country road. Al’s armor? Running through a field. Shot of Colonel Roy Mustang (so manly!) also with the Shiny Glasses until they fade so he can glare directly at us. Then another black-haired man? Wait, was the second one Mustang, because I don’t remember seeing him wearing glasses. Who was the first person? Then someone singing? Then what the heck Kid Edward just lost an arm and a leg. And then Kid Al completely vanishes. And Kid Blond Girl looking shocked and stumbling. Flashes of people dressed in black against a red background, I have the sneaking suspicion that they are Not Good People. Shots of scowling people in blue uniforms like Fuhrer Fury and Colonel Mustang, the good guys? Smug looking guy with sunglasses and a fur coat, who just turned into a Terminator? Shot of Terminator running towards the Castle, where a Disapproving Fuhrer Fury is glaring. Lots of glaring in this intro. Edward running along a vent of some sort, fighting people in black clothes before EXPLOSION. Guy in white jacket sitting in the rain until it passes and he rushes off, white hair and some sort of facial tattoo? Small smoking lady with a barking dog. Edward running along and Earthbending to fight the Goth Villains. Then another shot of someone singing, I think this might be the Blond Girl grown up. Edward dressed in a black uniform (noo, don’t join the Goths! ) and a metal arm breaking. Foreshadowing? Final shot of two people standing against a setting sun. So… fairly standard anime intro. Granted, after PMMM’s Intro of LIES I will take all of this with a grain of salt. Back to the dark alleys of the city, what sounds like a cop’s whistle. Seems the police are trying to catch Mr. Freeze, but yup he’s a Waterbender and is knocks them aside with some painful-looking ice spikes. Two more cops try to stop him but...oh. Oh my. “Water freezes, water boils. Either way you’re just as dead.” Um. Wow, ok. That’s legitimately terrifying. Sudden spear from the sky, Mr. Freeze remarks that it was Alchemy before oh ew ew ew they showed the hand of the guy who got boiled please don’t show that again. Newcomer (probably our Protagonist) remarks that it was a nasty thing to do, but Mr. Freeze spouts out about great deeds requiring sacrifice. “Isn’t that the Law of Equivalent Exchange?” Oh hey, there’s that phrase. You know, I feel like this deserves some recognition, and Tephi finds it quite funny. So I’ve decided I’ll keep track of each time this phrase is said. Equivalent Exchange Count: 1 Regardless of whatever the rules of Alchemy are (and believe me, I wanna know these rules soon so I can try and figure out ways to minmax them), Edward says they don’t justify killing people. Edward grabs the spear and electricity sparks as he reforms it as a spiky club- pffffahahaha! That- that face! He put his freaking face on the tip! He put his freaking hair! Mr. Freeze’s all shocked about “no transmutation circle” but come on! That face! Sudden attack from behind by a surprisingly stealthy giant suit of armor, but Mr. Freeze dodges that and blocks the Face Mace, before shocking Edward and throwing Al. But he’s surprised? Oh, I get it. He tried to one-hit kill Edward like the cops, but grabbed his metal arm instead. Edwards mostly ticked that his coat got ruined. “An automail arm…” Dramatic cloak swoosh and oh good he just wears dark clothes below the red coat, he didn’t turn to the Goths in the intro. That’s a relief. Young talented alchemist, who doesn’t use transmutation circles (is that like HP wandless magic?) and who has an automail right arm. The Fullmetal Alchemist: Edward Elric! Episode 01 - “Fullmetal Alchemist” Now Mr. Freeze is pointing at Al?... Ah! Ha! Mr. Freeze is confused by the giant suit of armor being the younger brother of the “runt”. Edward take offense to that. Caught in an Earthbending prison, Mr. Freeze mumbles about the Fullmetal Alchemist being just a kid, and *wham*. Yeah, I’m guessing Edward being called little is a peeve of his. But come on, man. You travel with a giant suit of armor, you really do look tiny compared to that. Well, regardless of height complexes, Edward has caught the guy, and the NPC cops are suitably grateful… to the giant suit of armor. Yyyyep, I think this’ll be a running gag. Oh hey, so Alchemy can fix clothes too! That’s handy. Edwards all set to catch their train, now the cops have Mr. Freeze cuffed. They should be able to handle- nnnope. Just a few seconds out of their sight, and Mr. Freeze has split the scene. Colonel Roy Mustang’s snarking at Edward now. I like this guy! And looks like we’re starting with the Overconfident Non-Team Player Protagonist Model #17 with this show, looking foward to his character arc. Ooh, who’s that blonde officer standing next to Roy? The third of the Blonde Kid Trio? To recap the ignored briefing: Mr. Freeze is Isaac McDougal, aka “Isacc the Freezer.” Former State Alchemist (like these guys in blue? Government mages?), served in the ‘Ishvalan War’, never gave any signs of turning, but resigned immediately afterwards and has been working with the “antiestablishment movement” ever since. Capturing him is top priority… dead or alive. Hmmm. Ok, so I gotta be blunt. I’m obviously not going to cut slack on the whole ‘boiling a person alive’ thing, but… State Magicians? Their leader is ‘Fuhrer’? Pursuing a Rebel with little concern about their vital status? Maybe I’m still in a mindset after seeing the movie, but I could see this being replaced with ‘Sith’, ‘Emperor’, and… well, ‘Rebel’ can stay… and we’ve got The Empire. Maybe I’m reading too much into this? Anyways, back to hunting the Rebels. Edward resolutely states that he’s not going to kill for them, and Roy seems to respect that. Edward just has orders to help them contain Mr. Freeze. “Off topic…” Roy asks if they’ve got any leads for getting their bodies back to normal. Ah, so they’re trying to fix their bodies? ...why? I mean, if my guess about Al being soulbound to the armor is right that’s probably something you’d want to fix. Although, maybe the process can be used for older people? Like, immortal bodies and all that? Sorry sorry, off topic and way too early in the series for big transhumanist discussions. But, does Edward want to get a flesh-and-blood arm back, presumably a leg too based on the intro? Why? You have a robot arm, dude. I want a robot arm, and you want to get rid of yours? Heck, it saved your life just a few minutes ago! If you had a flesh-and-blood arm, then when Mr. Freeze grabbed you we’d get a Boiled Protagonist and an exceedingly short show. Anyways, Edward goes into yelling mode about ‘if they ever gave them time to look’. Sorry Ed, them’s the breaks of being the Protagonist. Every NPC’s got a quest for you to do, not much time to study. Door bursts open and a guy with square glasses and a cheerful greeting bursts through… with an upraised arm (damnit show, stop making me draw parallels). Roy… does not seem pleased with the interruption. “Here comes that pest.” I like this guy! And yup, Lieutenant Colonel Maes Hughes immediately goes to the Giant Suit of Armor to introduce himself. “What?!.. You’re the Fullmetal Alchemist?” What’s up with that name, anyway? Totally misleading, Edward’s only about ¼ metal with the arm and presumably leg. Anyone hearing ‘Fullmetal’ would obviously assume that the guy who’s, y’know, made entirely of metal would be the Fullmetal Alchemist. But Hughes isn’t just fanboying, he’s here on Official Business. Since the Elric’s don’t have a place to stay, they’ll *Sudden Shiny Glasses* have to go with him. He pulls out… a picture of his wife and daughter. Nevermind, let the fanboying continue. Pffft, I’m loving these subtitles. [Wholesome Laughing Continues] as Hughes hugs his daughter. The daughter points… “Big Brother! Little Brother!” Ok, do I need to start keeping a count for this too? Off to supper they go, and man am I glad I made my own food before watching this, it all looks delicious. Hughes is smiling at his guests, and then… uh oh. He asks why Al’s wearing all the armor at the dinner table, suggests he take it off and relax. Um. Awkward. Edward starts claiming that he’s not “allowed” to take it off, says it’s part of his training. What, is it a secret that he’s soulbound? Later that night… [Evil Laughter] at “Central Prison”. Somebody named Kimblee is laughing that the Freezing Alchemist wants him to play sidekick. But the Crimson Alchemist works Alone! Mr. Freeze appeals to Kimblee, mentions the horrors of the Ishvalan War, the things that Bradley ordered them to do… coming from the guy who BOILED SOMEBODY (I am still not over that), my concerns about this government continue to grow. But Kimblee just laughs, says he killed people not because of “honor” or “revenge”, or anything like that. “The reason I killed all those men, was because I could. It’s that simple.” Damn, but this show’s proving great for the villain lines. Mr. Freeze leaves in disappointment… pushing over a frozen guard with the sound effect [crash and shatter]. Guh. Back at Hughes’ place, he’s having a Late Night Thought in the living room when his wife Gracie comes to ask what’s wrong. She says he’s worrying about the Elric brothers. Hughes talks about how State Alchemists are called “the dogs of the military”, not exactly popular. Being referred to like that at their young age… what made them take that path? Edward’s lying in bed staring at the camera- I mean, ceiling, when Al asks if he’s awake. He asks about Mrs. Gracie’s quiche, how it looked like their Mom’s… aw damnit, they’re orphans, aren’t they? What the heck is with anime and killing off mothers?! Heh! Hearing it was almost as good as their mother’s, Al immediately adds it to his Book Of Things To Eat Once I Get My Body Back. And then… hurk! Nope! Nopenopenope, I do not need to hear that young voice quietly say “I sure would like to get our old bodies back soon…” Right in the feels! I’ve known this kid for all of ten minutes, and already I wanna punch whoever stuck him in that armor. And aaargh Mr. Freeze is back at it, setting up hopscotch. What’s with the Transmutation Circle? I’ve gathered that (most) alchemists need one to do their stuff, but the powers I’ve seen worked from emblems on their armor or skin. What does drawing the Circle on the ground do? “One more… one more and ‘Fuhrer’ Bradley’s on his way to hell.” Yeah, I get it orchestra, probably not a Good Thing that Mr. Freeze is doing whatever this is. Intermission! Cards of Edward and Alphonse Elric. The next day, Roy’s reporting that Mr. Freeze broke into Central Prison. He orders all roads be closed, the city searched. “When you find him, shoot on sight. That is an order from the Fuhrer himself.” So much for ‘Alive or Dead’. Yes, I know he’s killed quite a few people already, but still, you’re Alchemists, right? Can’t you Alchemy some way to catch him without killing? Edward did it quickly enough… Man down! With a lot of steam coming off him, guh… and another soldier reporting five men dead. Edward remarks how it looks like a steam blast, how if water’s heated fast enough it explodes, and the human body’s 70% water… guh guh guh, Mr. Freeze is freaky. Mr. Freeze is in yet another alley, says he’s finished, when there’s a spark on the wall… he leaps back to avoid a burst of spikes. Somebody named Armstrong sounds amused that he dodged? Did… did this guy just punch through a wall? Caption [Adventure Strings]? “It is I! The Strong Arm Alchemist… Alex Louis Armstrong, in the flesh!” ...I am in love. This guy just punched through a wall, he’s got [Adventure Strings] as his theme music, the screen is shaking as he walks, and dat mustache. And… that tiny little spring of blonde hair… All Hail Armstrong! Mr. Freeze DARES to attack The Mighty Alex Louis Armstrong?! But The Mighty Armstrong dodges your feeble attack! And such a feeble foe will need far more than water to quench his fists! *EXPLOSIONS* Ohmygod there are busts of The Mighty Armstrong’s head flying out from the explosion. Yessss. Edward and Al arrive, but Mr. Freeze explodes his canteen and makes a break for it in the steamcloud. The Elrics follow The Mighty Armstrong in pursuit. Wait, it’s night now? How did Mr. Freeze manage to avoid them for so long? Anyways, he’s standing on a building, when… “It’s been a long time, Freezer.” Roy has arrived! And the Flame Alchemist has brought a bunch of guns with him. He tries to appeal to Mr. Freeze about being old ‘war buddies’, but Mr. Freeze takes offense to that, blocks a burst of flame, and then drenches the State Alchemist and soldiers before making yet another escape. Getting back to the alleyway where the last circle was made, he… … … Ok, that settles it. This is the best show ever, if only for the subtitles alone. The alleyway where The Mighty Armstrong confronted him? With lots of busts of his head still lying around, and scattered stones on the circle? Mr. Freeze started moving all of this, and the subtitle is, I kid you not, [Moving Stones and Happiness]. 10/10. Well, after that, Mr. Freeze is happy to see the circle is still intact… why is it still intact? Like, if you know that a Bad Guy is Up To Something, and is sulking around alleyways, wouldn’t you want to look for whatever they’ve been doing? And a white chalk Alchemy Circle isn’t exactly hard to spot. And seeing something used for Alchemy created by a rogue Alchemist, why would you not get rid of it? Anyways, Edward appears in the alley, and Al blocks the other end. Nowhere left for Mr. Freeze to run! “Clearly… but who’s running?” Um, what’s with the Red Glow of Evil? All the Alchemy Circles appear to have activated all over the city. Edward and Al are shocked at the scale of it, impossible unless he- “A Philosopher’s Stone!” Wait, what? Like, the Philosopher’s Stone of historical alchemy? The rock that turns base metals to gold and grant immortality? Interesting! With Alchemy being general magic in this setting, what’s their version of the Philosopher’s Stone capable of? Amplification of Alchemy to cover a city? Regardless, probably not the best idea to let him keep doing whatever he’s doing. But Mr. Freeze starts monologuing about how Edward’s a Dog of the Military, how his bosses have Sinister Plans- Edward cuts him off, says he doesn’t care and it’s Not His Problem. Um. What? Do… do you really not care if you’re actually working for Bad Guys? Al jumps in and kicks Mr. Freeze to the railing, says that they still need to stop the Alchemy. Edward asks where the Philosopher’s Stone is that’s powering it all. But… yup, they went and knocked the Waterbender right next to a canal. Brace for [wrathful water]! And Mr. Freeze rises up on the frozen wave with a [bad guy laugh]. I kid you not, these are actual captions. Things look grim… but lo! He has arrived! “Stand back and prepare for a display of Armstrong alchemy! Witness the alchemic arts passed down the Armstrong line for generations!” And then he punched the frozen wave… and redirected it into a nearby building. Um. Sorry, innocent bystanders! Whoops. Now the Ice Walls are merging on Central Command! Mr. Freeze is gonna freeze it over! The Mighty Armstrong, redeem yourself! Target the transmutation circles while the Elrics slow him down! “Fuhrer King Bradley…! For your cold-blooded (boo, that’s a terrible pun) crimes in Ishval, I condemn you to a frozen hell!” But not so fast! To [fightin’ strings music], Edward and Elric (ah, so Elcric can do Alchemy too, he’s not just muscle) jump to the frozen wave Mr. Freeze is riding. They trade blows for a bit, and then… no! Alphonse got grabbed by the helmet! And… confirmed for being soulbound, as he’s back up and fighting. Mr. Freeze is shocked- “You fools committed the ultimate taboo!” Wait what. “You attempted human transmutation, didn’t you?!” Wait WHAT. You mean to say that the Elrics are the way they are because of something they did? I was thinking they got attacked by an Alchemist or something, but it’s because they tried ‘human transmutation’?... What did they do? “Alchemy’s one and only unforgivable sin!” Flashback? A scream of “Al!”. Edward yelling and gah yup he lost a leg. A suit of armor falling over and Edward drawing a sigil in blood. Crying that his little brother was all he had left… Back to present, Edward looking down, background chanting starts up. “You know… there are some lines you really shouldn’t cross.” *braces for asskicking* Edward and Al lay the smackdown, knock Mr. Freeze to the ground. Says there’s no water for him to use… while standing maybe ten feet away from a giant iceberg, but whatever… 70% of Mr. Freeze’s body will be enough! And oh god he’s bloodbending now. “Why can’t you fools understand? I’m trying to save this country!” Dude, you’ve attacking the main keep of the city to the caption of [mad laughter]. Maybe if you stopped acting so Evil I might have more sympathy for you. NPC Soldiers are trying to blast the ice, but it keeps reforming. But here comes a drenched and ticked-off Roy! Down goes the ice, as Roy rants. Blonde lady with a case of alchemy-circle gloves complains that he’s bad enough on rainy days… so what, Colonel Roy Mustang is dead weight in a drizzle, always needs dry gloves to do his Alchemy? Interesting weakness. Mr. Freeze is stumbling through an alley, when… Fuhrer Fury. Not looking too happy. Screens gone black and white with Mr. Freeze’s blood standing out as a bright red, he laughs and transmutes a Blood Spear and charges… and Fuhrer Fury isn’t moving? Still not moving. Still not moving… he drew his sword and sidestepped? Oh. Damn. Note to self: don’t piss off <<The Flash>> Fuhrer Fury. Roy’s keeping up the blasting of the ice walls, calls out for the Major wHO BURSTS OUT OF HIS UNIFORM WITH A GLARE AND EYEBEAMS OF DETERMINATION YES. “Leave it to me! The Armstrong fists will not fail!” MANLY GLEAM, AND PUNCH THE GROUND. TAKE THAT, CHALK CIRCLE! Image of white-haired person looking down? Who dis? Edward and Al arrive in the aftermath, see Fuhrer Fury looking down at the covered form of Mr. Freeze. And back to the cheerful attitude from his talking to Roy, complimenting Fullmetal. He came out to “see if I could lend a hand”... sure, ok. Makes sense that the boss of a bunch of reality warpers would be fairly strong. He just seems happy that he’ll have an exciting story for his son. He has a son? Have we met him yet? Next day, the ever-cheerful Hughes jokes about Roy having a cold, and congratulates him for taking down Mr. Freeze. Apparently Fuhrer Fury is going around saying it was Roy who beat him? “Oh, it’s like that, huh? Suit yourself. But some friendly advice- next time a superior tells you to take credit for something you didn’t do, you might try it for once.” In the hospital, Edward and Al are talking about how they never found out about the Philosopher’s Stone. Maybe in the official report- what, flowers? WHAT. “Greetings, Edward Elric.” ARMSTRONG WHAT. “When I heard you were here in the hospital…” WHAT ARE YOU OH MY GOD DETERMINED EYES. “I DASHED RIGHT OVER!” *Edward and Al sharing my reaction* “And as I suspected, you are in desperate need of my assistance!” WHY DID YOU TAKE OFF YOUR SHIRT. “You need the example of a perfect physical specimen to inspire your recovery! You see? You’re looking livelier already! Hahaha!” “Will you get out!” Scene transition to a lady in a red light, talking on a phone? “Ah… I see, so Isaac’s dead, is he? That’s a shame, I had such high hopes for him, too… But- the Philosopher’s Stone? Heh. Sounds like he overused it.” What the heck what’s with this pudgy guy with red eyes eating something, [disgusting chewing]. Wait, I recognize you from the intro. It’s the Goths! Lady tells Gluttony to eat quietly, she’s on the phone. Ah, so they’re naming themselves after the Seven Deadly Sins? Lady (who I’m making a wild guess and naming Lust) says that things are going well in Liore (hey, isn’t that where the Elrics were going to go before Mr. Freeze delayed them?), ominously says it all beings very soon as the string orchestra once again tell us that Bad Things are going down. End credits! Crayonish, drawing of Edward and Elric, taking a nap under a tree, blonde girl playing with a dog, the Elrics sparing, Edward flying past the State Alchemists until he bumps into The Mighty Armstrong, who throws him back and proves his Manly Spirit is bound by no medium. Shots of Edward talking with the blonde girl… and running off a cliff? Story? Workshop at night, blonde chick who I will now call Mechanic petting her dog and thinking. Al sitting in a dark room, Edward resting on a bed, then Earthbending and running along the pilliars with Al past the Goths (only three?), then closing a pocketwatch and the Elrics walking along a train track… and camera pans to show the Elric Kids were drawing all of this. After credits: Shot of the Blonde Kids, before the apparent botched Human Transmuation. Backstory episode? “Resembool. A quiet town.” The Elric Kids talking to a brownhaired woman in an apron. Their mother? Did… did she get caught in the Human Transmutation botch? “The place where Edward and Alphonse were born. The home they once shared with their mother.” Wait no, there’s both boys sitting at a grave. Wait. Um. Oh dear, I think I just realized. “In the hopes of returning to happier times, the boys commit the ultimate taboo, and are forced to confront the truth. Next time, on Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood- ” Episode 2: The First Day “The day they resolved their hearts to begin their journey.” Well. Initial thoughts are I am very impressed with what I’ve seen so far. Animation is smooth, humor is topnotch, and my compliments on making this setting so that I can see the episode’s Bad Guy literally boil a person, but still be very uneasy about the System that the Protagonists are working for. Definitely going to get some mileage out of this.