#anyway i guess we're going to be going through everyone's dreams after all!

[egophiliac]

we were fucking ROBBED

[maya-caffrey]

Short Circuit

pairing: connor (rk800) x reader words: 1k summary: reader sees Connor outside of work for the first time in normal human clothes and dies a little bit (comedy, fluff) warnings: language, lack of proofreading, fic from reader's pov a/n: let's pretend this is after the good ending and androids can own property now cause we're going to Connor's place etc

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

Words cannot describe the amount of hate I have for Fowler. On my day off he asks me to take some evidence over to Connor for a 'quick analysis', like, Jesus Christ dude wait for the labwork like the rest of us. The nerve of this guy, honestly. Anyway, if you were wondering why I was driving to Connor's place first thing on a Sunday, that was it.

Yes, I hate my boss, how original, but I would never pass up an opportunity to see Connor. Sure, he's my colleague, but he's also my friend. And also I may be in love with him have a normal, tiny, minuscule crush on him. I don't know how it happened, I didn't even realize it, but yes, I do, in fact, have feelings for Connor. "Oh but he's an andro-" Go fuck yourself, he's more human than most people these days.

Before I realized it, I was at his place and almost knocked on his door. Almost being the keyword here, because I heard a voice from the inside.

"Detective! Just a minute. I will be right there."

"Holy shit, how did you know? Let me guess, X-ray vision?" It's always something with him. Of course, Cyberlife's most intelligent android comes with X-ray vision. I feel stupid for not guessing right away. Wait, does this mean he had X-ray vision all this time? That feels like an ethical grey area. Is that allowed? My rapid descent down that rabbit hole was interrupted by the sound of the door being unlocked.

"Ring Camera. Come on in!" He led me inside and I absent-mindedly followed him before I noticed it. He was wearing a T-shirt and sweatpants. Connor Anderson (legal name, yes), android detective by day, who famously only wore suits, was standing in front of me, in goddamn sweats. And he looked like he stepped right out of my dreams.

I did not know it was possible to be any level of attractive in fucking pajamas, but oh my god, it absolutely was. He looked hot as hell. I don't know if it was from having only seen him in formals, or the fact that Kamski knowingly made a hottie, but I was reveling in this sight.

His T-shirt fit him exactly as it should have, and his sleeves stopped halfway through the biceps I didn't even know he had. His hair looked unkempt and tousled, which was questionable because there's no way he slept, right? I was very sure he could hear my heartbeat because that sucker was betraying me and beating way too fast.

I could not form coherent thoughts for another full minute or so. I am not even holding back, he genuinely looked so attractive he quite literally stole my breath away. All I could do was mumble nonsense while staring at him like I misplaced my glasses.

"Detective, are you alright?"

"What? Me? Yeah, no problem, bud." Bud???? I'd have slapped myself if I could.

"Your body temperature is rapidly rising and your heart is displaying signs of arrhythmia. I suggest we-"

"I suggest we nothing, Connor. I promise I'm fine." See that kids, right there, is what we call a bald-faced lie.

"If you say so. What brings you here, detective?"

"Detective? Come on, we're not at work, man. Chill."

"Alright then, (Y/n), what brings you here?" (Y/n). The way he said my name made me want to explode. Sure, everyone says my name, its my name but oh my god, when he says it, he makes me want to change my last name to his. Which would be Hank's. Huh. That's weird.

"Right, yeah, work stuff. Fowler sent me with evidence for you to analyze. Apparently, they can't wait for the lab like the rest of us mortals." I shoved the file into his hands a little too quickly, hoping he wouldn’t notice how my hands were shaking. He noticed.

"Your hands are trembling." Of course he noticed. Connor notices everything.

"I'm just… cold," I lied, despite standing in his very well-heated apartment.

Connor tilted his head slightly, that signature analytical look of his making me want to crawl under a rock. "You appear to be experiencing stress. Should I—"

"Connor, no. I don't need an analysis, I need to… sit down." That was the best I could come up with. Great. Very smooth.

"Please, make yourself comfortable," he said, gesturing toward his couch. I moved to sit down, hoping a change of scenery would calm my nerves. It didn’t.

Connor sat across from me, still in those damn sweatpants, his expression unreadable as he opened the file and started flipping through its contents. His focus should’ve made me feel at ease- it was just Connor being Connor- but instead, I found myself staring at his hands. They were annoyingly perfect, like the rest of him, and I couldn’t stop imagining what it would feel like if he- nope. No. Abort mission.

"Is something wrong with the file?" he asked suddenly, looking up.

"What? No! The file's fine. Great file. Top-tier evidence. You're gonna love it." Jesus Christ, someone take my mouth away.

Connor raised an eyebrow. "You’re behaving��� unusually."

"I’m behaving perfectly normal," I said, crossing my arms in what I hoped was a casual way but probably looked defensive. "Maybe you're the one behaving unusually. I mean, sweatpants? Who are you and what have you done with Connor?"

He blinked, then looked down at himself as if realizing for the first time what he was wearing. "Hank suggested I try some human rituals like pajamas and sleep to better accommodate my deviancy. He claims it’s a key aspect of ‘human relaxation.’ Was this choice inappropriate?"

"No!" I said, a little too quickly. "No, you look—" amazing, perfect, hotter than anyone has a right to look "—fine. You look fine."

Connor studied me for a moment, and I swear I saw the faintest flicker of amusement cross his face. Was he… smirking? Oh no. Oh no, he knew.

"You should consider it," he said, casually returning to the file.

"Consider what?"

"Relaxing. You seem… tense."

And just like that, the ball was back in his court. I was flustered, he was composed, and I was left wondering how I was supposed to get through the rest of this visit without making a complete fool of myself.

Spoiler alert: I didn’t.

a/n: y'all, this is my first time writing dbh, sorry if it sucks T_T

[jenneyquinn]

𝐢 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐢𝐧 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞

in which the pine tree and llama are the epitome of soulmates (continued) w/c: 10.6k words *not proofread* (actually 2 words shy of 10.6k, but hey, who's counting? masterpost

once winter had its fun, spring rolls around, and so does that one day that everyone either looks forward to or is dreading with past trauma.

for mabel and dipper, they are one of both outcomes; respectively.

it was so uncharacteristic of mabel to not be excited over a holiday that spreads so much joy and love—regardless if it's platonic, familial, or romantic. as for dipper, he was never really much for luck in that department (love, that is), though not as sociable, let alone well known as his sister, he is very much content with being alone for the most part—especially knowing, deep down, he is grateful to have a family who loves him.

however, dipper felt that this year would be different. he didn't know why, couldn't put a finger on it, but he noticed that something would be stand out amongst the other years as the boy realizes that is isn't as disgusted with valentine's day as he commonly was before.

"duh—it's obvious why you're thinking about that, bro-bro."

"huh? oh, it's because we're technically teenagers and we're at that embarrassing phase in our life where romantic pursuits are more irrational and desperate to compensate for our lack of self-confidence?"

mabel rolls her eyes before answering.

"no, it's because you have a cru~sh! and you just can't wait to call her on valentine's day~"

"what?! that's—"

"don't worry, because being the matchmaker that i am, with the resume of skilled expertise, i can proudly say that i—mabel pines—will get you the valentine's date of your dreams!"

"but—"

"you can't say no, it's already happening."

"no."

"ALREADY HAPPENING!'

given it was already the first of february, it was going to take mabel less than two weeks to pull this off; presuming that she could, that is.

so, on that wednesday night, dipper lies awake at night, thinking about that special someone, despite fighting his feelings for so long. he doesn't want to admit it out loud, but dipper knew, subconsciously, that his sister indeed saw through him, and he is crushing on someone; bad and hard.

the first time dipper had ever lied awake at night, it was about wendy corduroy, the girl he ever seriously crushed on. though, as time passed after his confession, he stopped thinking about her that way. it look him time, fighting all those thoughts during the day while they continued their friendship, and many nights as she remained in his dreams; if he wasn't dreaming about his parents, that is.

however, when dipper lies awake this night, he isn't thinking about wendy. not at all. on the contrary, he's up all night, thinking of another girl—one he knew was perhaps just as (if not more unattainable) than wendy.

eventually, the guy gets some sleep, and mabel has already come up with a whole list of ideas to help her brother in his otherwise, lack of romantic expertise.

however, dipper fights mabel every step of the way, insisting that he has a plan of his own. though he is grateful for the support, the kid genuinely had a clear idea of how he wanted valentine's day to go, and as long as he's got his confidence—dipper is sure he'll have his first good valentine's day yet.

finally, when the big day comes, mabel's nothing short of estatic.

"oh my god, what are you gonna wear? please tell me you're going to wear something good?? what are you planning to do for your date??? it better be something fun! you don't wanna make a bad first impression by doing something lame—in that case, i have to make sure you avoid anything remotely boring!!"

dipper simply blinks, getting everything but also none of the words that just left mabel's mouth right now.

"uh… i guess i'm just going to wear what i usually wear. i mean, i didn't plan to go anywhere fancy anyways. saves time and energy for later, right? i even put together this nice gift and everything…"

"aww, dipper~" mabel coos, clasping her hands together at the last part of her brother's reply, "whatcha get her? actually nevermind, you can tell me later. i'm sure she'll love it anyways!"

then, she takes a quick look up and down at her brother, inspecting his outfit before continuing: "are you really going to wear… that?"

"what's wrong with what i'm wearing? i wear this every day!"

"i know, it's not bad, but that's the point—" mabel pinches the bridge of her nose with impatience, taking dipper by the hand, "look, we still got a couple hours before you're going. surely, there must be something presentable in that closet of yours… that's hopefully been washed."

so, thanks to mabel, dipper was able together a simple, but clean outfit for his first valentine's date: a marine-blue unbuttoned oxford shirt with a cream-white tee underneath, paired with a casual pair of black jeans and his shoes; completely gaining the latter's approval.

"now go on, enjoy your video-chat date with pacifica~"

"w-wait!" dipper exclaims. "how did you know—"

"oh, would you look at the time? candy and grenda must be waiting for me to join their call bye~"

"mabel!"

"look, i apologized, didn't i? i've been trying to be nothing but a do-gooder; no more evil business for me. even gideon is trying to give me a chance. so, sunshine, what is your deal?"

growing impatient with pacifica's rejections, dipper finally corners her at the ballroom of gleeful mansion—speaking in a hushed tone as to not draw any attention from anyone else.

the former, on the other hand, narrows her eyes; frowning deeply.

"you wanna know why i haven't forgiven you, gleeful? i was the first person to trust you, and what did you do with that?? you toyed with my feelings, deceived me—all for your personal gain?! how dare you think my feelings can't be justified when you suddenly decide to turn things around!"

dipper was baffled, to say the least. so, pacifica continues talking.

"what if will decides to return to you guys? what then?? is it the end of you and your family's redemption arc???" she asks, her facial features now beginning to soften as her eyes start to water and her nose going red as she sniffles.

"i don't want you to hurt me again. i'm not going to let you hurt me again."

as pacifica begins to run off, dipper instantly goes after her.

"pacifica, wait!"

then, out of the blue, the blonde is halted in her tracks. a ray of blue flames stike her, thereafter transforming pacifica from her authentic human state to a wooden statue of her likeness.

dipper gasps, reaching out to her: "pacifica!"

"gideon!"

mabel cries, redirecting her brother's attention to the now-wooden gideon pines; taking the mage aback even further.

suddenly, the gleeful twins hear a bellowing laughter, the source of them coming around the fireplace. a grandfather clock tolls, as the duo take sight of the ghost staring at the gleeful family portrait.

"a forest of death, a lesson learned, now the gleeful manor will burn!"

as the ghost of nathaniel southeast continues laughing, setting the family portrait aflame, mabel calls out to the entity.

"hey ugly! over here!"

the ghost seizes his laughs, spotting the gleeful twins.

"you want us to let in the townsfolk?" dipper asks, "'cause we'll do it! just change everyone back!"

nathaniel scoffs, "you wish to prove yourself? pull that lever and open the grand gate to the town! fulfill your ancestors' promise!"

pointing to the lever which opens the main gates, dipper looks from the lever to the wooden pacifica. then, for a moment, her voice rings in his head.

"i was the first person to trust you, and what did you do? you toyed with my feelings, you deceived me—all for your personal gain!"

you deceived me.

"she's right," dipper admits to himself.

"huh? who's right??" mabel asks, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

"mabel, our family has been nothing but liars and cheats. how about we do something right for a change?"

without saying anything further, mabel simply gives dipper a nod in the affirmative; grabbing onto the lever with him.

the twins share a look, then look back at the ghost as they pull down the lever together.

nathaniel gasps as the main gates which once divided gleeful mansion and the commonfolk of the town swing open. as the townsfolk swarm into the manor in waves, the ghost is finally appeased.

"YES, YES, IT'S HAPPENING!" the entity rejoices, "MY HEART, ONCE AS HARD AS OAK, now grows soft, like a birch or something."

as the gleeful twins look up at the ghost with satisfaction, the latter looks back down on them, equally satiated.

"dipper, mabel, you two aren't like the other gleefuls." nathaniel says as his spirit begins to ascend, "i feel… lumber… justice…"

with that, everything in the mansion returned how they used to be: the portrait showed no signs it being previously engulfed in flames, all the resurrected animals were back in their deceased state, and most importantly, all the people originally in attendance had been free from their wooden prisons.

even pacifica, who takes a breath of fresh air as soon as she's freed.

"pacifica!"

dipper runs to pacifica, visibly worried as he pulls her close to him in a tight, protective embrace.

"dipper?"

"you're… you're actually safe…" he exasperates, pulling back to look at her, "look, you were right. i was being selfish and i did mess with you just to get what i wanted, but i didn't fully realize how much i've hurt you until now…"

"dipper…"

"when you were encased in wood, i… i thought that i lost you. i… i… don't want to see you like that again. i don't ever want to make you sad again."

before he could even notice, a single hot tear runs down dipper's cheek, still holding his gaze at pacifica.

"i… i know it's too late for you to trust me… and i clearly don't deserve your forgiveness… but i do wanna try. i want to be a better person."

while pacifica listens to dipper's impassioned confession, she couldn't help but to focus onto the tear that runs down his face. then she looks back into his eyes—which she finally took in for the first time. though it was a glowing blue when they first met, she noticed how the loss of the amulet and will's emancipation from the gleefuls had effected dipper's eyes from the absence of power.

they were brown. it was nothing special, but it was like pacifica was actually seeing him for the first time. if she thought there was good in him before, it finally shown in his eyes now.

so, pacifica does the only sensible thing she could think of.

"oof!"

holding onto him tightly, pacifica buries her face into dipper's shoulder; trying not to cry.

"thanks, dipper. i… i forgive you."

"wait! where are you all going?! we're supposed to look for dipper pines, remember?!"

when pacifica sees all the government vehicles backing up and driving away from the mystery shack, she's enraged. after all this time, she finally thought that she would be getting him back—but why were the government guys leaving?!

"ahh!" pacifica yelps in shock as a pig runs past her, chomping on a drive labelled 'PINES'.

so, she looks up to the source of where the pig came from, back to the mystery shack, and simple to say the least—she could have never expected what, or rather who, would be standing before her eyes.

"great-uncle mason, that was amazing!"

pacifica's eyes widen at stan's words, as he approaches the aforementioned man with his brother. but whatever happened to—

"let's not go crazy; it was serviceable."

well, speak of the devil, the blonde thinks as the con-artist walks into the scene with the shack's handywoman, lita. welp, time to get over there and give that lady a piece of my—

yet, the man's chuckles cut off pacifica's thoughts: "thank you kids, but please, call me dipper."

dipper?!

"dipper..."

his eyes crack open the slightest bit before shutting again.

"dipper..."

he hears the voice once more, but the weight of his eyelids win another time, drawing him back to unconsciousness.

"wake up, dipper!"

he shoots up, fully awake at the sound of mabel's shouts.

"gah! mabel!" dipper frowns, turning to the digital clock atop his bedside table before shooting her a look. "this better be worth waking me up at seven in the morning for—you know it's apring break, right?"

"exactly—it's spring break, bro-bro. the first day of spring break."

mabel points to the calendar hung on dipper's bedroom wall; specifically on a date that reads 'pacifica visits'.

"yeah, yeah, pacifica's visiting." dipper mumbles, tucking himself back to bed and pulling his covers back up.

it takes him a second to realize the words that just left his mouth, then he really wakes up.

"pacifica's visiting!"

he throws his blanket aside, bolting right up from his bed, scanning his room left and right.

"oh my god, my room! i need to- i gotta-"

"stop hyperventilating, dippingsauce," mabel says, amused at her brother's behaviour, "that's why we're up early. we've got six hours before pacifica, candy, and grenda's bus arrvies at the stop. so, as your personal matchmaker, i'm here to make sure your room's spotless—as well as you. i'll never forgive myself if i let you talk to your girlfriend without taking a shower first."

"a shower? i'm fine, mabel," he rebutes, lifting up his arm to take a sniff from his pits, which he immediately comes to regret, "besides, pacifica's not my girlfriend."

"not if you don't take a shower, she won't." she jokes, poking him. "blop!"

so, after taking a shower while his sister gives him a head start on spring cleaning, dipper rushes to get ready and look decent for his crush special friend.

unbeknownst to the twins, three visitors had already made their way to the pines residence.

"ah, pacifica! so nice to see you again, sweetie." mrs. pines greets, giving the girl a welcoming hug.

"and i believe you two must be candy and grenda," mr. pines points out, also giving a warm welcome to the two girls, "of course, mabel's friends are always welcome here."

"as well as dipper's friends." mrs. pines winks, playfully nudging the blonde's arm; causing the latter to blush.

candy and grenda also giggle, making pacifica more flustered.

"but seriously, our kids have told many stories about you three," mr. pines says, gesturing them inside as he picks up the girls' bags, "pacifica and mabel's golf tournament, grenda's prince boyfriend in austria, and even candy's little crush on dipper."

"oh!" pacifica says, then she leans towards candy, continuing in a teasing tone. "well, i didn't know about this."

another day of weirdmaggedon dawns upon gravity falls, not that dipper gleeful minds. in fact, it's just like another regular day for him: he gets up from bed, changes out of his pajamas and into his turquoise suit, and walks out into the town.

just as he promised, he makes his way to the giant floating bubble in the sky—the pink one that's branded with an illustration of a llama.

good morning, sunshine, dipper greets pacifica in thought, looking up at the bubble; eyes half-lidded and smiling gleefully.

pulling out the key from his vest pocket, dipper unlocks the bubble and enters the spherical-shaped prison.

"ah! dipper, you came back!" the blonde cheers, donning an off-the-shoulder, spaghetti-strapped turquoise dress and her hair done up in a simple, but cute messy bun.

"sunshine, looking as radiant as ever," dipper replies, "as if i should've expected any different."

he takes her by the hand, pulling her close to him. swinging her along the floor, which has shifted from a bedroom to a ballroom setting, dipper looks into pacifica's eyes with adoration, feeling complete bliss.

"hey, dippington? can i tell you something?" she asks softly.

"anything, sunshine," he answers without hesitation, "shoot."

"i'm so happy here." pacifica confesses, smiling brightly. "being here, in my dreamland, with you... it's like everything i could ever want. i don't ever want to leave... i just want to be happy here, with you, forever..."

dipper returns her smile, looking down at her as she rests her head against his shoulder.

"i'm happy to be here with you too, pacifica," he admits wholeheartedly, "i don't think i'd want to be anywhere else, too."

so, the pair slow-dances in silence, letting the soft melody of the ballroom music fill the space instead.

ever since dipper's return, pacifica had intended to catch up with her old friend, but she knew that he already had a lot of catching up to do with his own family.

at least she had her own family to tend to, as well as her own career as gravity falls' top realtor, making her way to becoming the ceo of northwest realty from the past twenty years.

although she hated to admit it, pacifica kind of wished she was able to bond with her grandson preston as easily as dipper's twin sister and their two great nephews.

so, while preston is out on a date with his girlfriend priscilla, pacifica is left to her own devices as she finishes up paperwork for her recent client.

that is... until she hears the ever so familiar ring of the doorbell.

"heh... h-hey, paz," dipper greets; in his own, typical, awkward way, "l-long time, no see, huh?"

pacifica blinks once... then twice... three times, even.

"uh... pacifica?" he waves over her face; worry rising in his voice. "are you alright—"

dipper gets cut off abruptly was pacifica leaps toward him; wrapping her arms over his shoulders and enveloping him into a crushing embrace.

"dummy... don't leave me ever again."

"wait, what?!"

dipper stands in his now-clean bedroom proudly, his hands to his sides.

"you heard me: by the end of spring break, pacifica northwest will be my girlfriend."

mabel clasps her hands over her mouth, trying her best from squealing.

"oh my god, dipper! that's amazing!" she cheers, but then her face blanks—as if she's seen a ghost. "oh no."

"huh? what 'oh-no'? i don't like that 'oh-no'."

"look, it's great that you want to ask pacifica to be your girlfriend and all but.. how do i put this... when it comes to girls... sometimes, you tend to get in your own way."

"mabel, i promise," dipper says, placing a hand to his chest while raising the other, "no lists involved. maybe a plan to reference to from time to time, but no multi-phase lists i need to be following closely."

"okay..." she says hesitantly, narrowing her eyes and pursing her lips, "so... what's the plan then?"

"well..." he starts, rubbing his hands together.

"first, i figured there would be no harm in taking everyone mini-golfing. i can't impress her, but at least it's something she likes to do. pacifica will have a good time, so it'll definitely get things running in the right direction."

"um... mini golf?" pacifica asks, a bit weary.

"i guarantee you, there's no lilliputtians involved."

looking at him quizzically at first, she chuckles right after.

"okay, nerd. i've been looking forward to having a rematch with mabel anyways. she owes me a fair game, anyways."

"next, we'll go to the mall—it's full of stuff that pacifica likes, right? fashion and deep-fried foods!"

"here you go," dipper says, plopping down a tray of food onto the table before pacifica, "an order of french fries with a vanilla milkshake, just like the lady ordered."

he mimics a bow, gesturing to the fast-food before taking his seat: "just like home, huh? um... you still have a butler, right?"

the blonde giggles, nodding as she picks up a single fry and dipping it into the shake.

"only the one, though. we had to let go of a lot of staff after... you know."

"oh yeah..." he says, remembering the previous video-calls they've had, "it seems you've been adjusting well, though. oh yeah—how's greasy's? lazy suzan able to hold fort without you?"

"definitely. i miss her, though." she answers, twirling her straw. "between you and me, it's nice working at the diner. lazy suzan is more like a parent to me than my actual parents, and it keeps me distracted from thinking about home..."

looking up from the tray, pacifica looks at dipper with a gentle smile: "at least things in your home is better, right? i'm totally jealous of your parents."

"i guess you could say that..."

but it wasn't better. things at the pines' residence wasn't getting better at all. though there was still some sort of harmony in the household, it doesn't mean that his parents weren't still fighting almost every night.

but this didn't mean that things wouldn't be different with pacifica. sure, dipper's parents have been together for over almost two decades, and their marriage has still been on the verge of collapse even after their children had come back from their summer vacation in gravity falls, but it didn't mean—

oh, who was he kidding.

"hey, hello~" his friend snaps her fingers in front of his face, "anyone in there? you've been zoning out, wanna tell me what's on your mind?"

"um... heh, heh! you know what? how about we hit the arcade?? lost my appetite, anyways."

before she could have any input, dipper already grabs pacifica's hand, running down and out of the food court.

"there was also the arcade... but i don't know how she'd take it, but hopefully she'll come to like it. i mean—pacifica loves winning, right?"

"gleeful!"

"hm?" dipper gives a hum as he opens his eyes, peering up. somebody from the outside is calling.

"hey, sunshine, i gotta take care of something real quick." he explains, pulling away, his hands still on hers. "stay put, alright?"

she nods, still smiling: "okay, just... be careful, dip."

"you know i will." the brunette winks, causing his prisoner princess to giggle.

then, he finally departs, exiting the bubble.

"what the heck, dipper?!" gideon exclaimed. "i thought you turned a new leaf?! you said you were going to change!"

"oh, if it isn't lil' gideon—"

"don't call me that!" the small boy snaps back.

"never mind that! i'll have you know that i did, in fact, change," dipper continues, "i promised my sunshine, pacifica, that i wasn't going to hurt her, and i intend to keep that promise."

he then points to the bubble, wrapped in chains: "in that bubble, pacifica won't be hurt. never again. i was willing to let bygones be bygones, but she told me what you've done—and if you think i'm letting you in there, think again!"

"you can't do that, dipper!" robbie shouts. "you think you're protecting pacifica, but you're only imprisoning her!"

"valentino." dipper grimaces, his eyes narrowing and a threatening glint twinkles in his brown eyes. "you can't be any more wrong—pacifica told me herself! i am her protector! thanks to will, he granted me the power to create a dream world for her. in this world, i can shield her from anyone and everyone who can hurt her! even you!"

"but, dipper..." gideon speaks, his voice softens as he tries to empathize with the brunette, "do you really think this is the right way to protect pacifica? just because she's in that bubble, doesn't mean she'll be safe forever. eventually, one way or another, you'll hurt her too. so, when that happens—where will she go? who will protect her, then??"

dipper's cold expression slightly cracks, allowing his former enemy to reach out to him.

"we know you care for pacifica, we all do, too," the white-haired boy gestures between himself, robbie, and melody, "but we're still human. we make mistakes, and eventually, we will hurt each other—whether we mean to or not."

pulling out the slip of paper from the front pocket of his pants, dipper unfolds the paper to look back at the cut-out newspaper article; staring into the old picture of himself and pacifica.

she gave me another chance... even when i didn't deserve it.

"do the right thing, dipper. if you want to be pacifica's hero, please let us rescue her. please let us make it up to her."

"so, let me get this straight..." pacifica speaks, pinching the bridge of her nose in a mix of concentration and confusion, "this whole time, you had a twin sister? but you didn't tell me about her because of she wronged you about thirty years ago?? and then ten years later—she accidentally gets you sucked into this portal that you made??? so you've been stuck in there for the past twenty years until she reactivated said portal—in which she fixed, for the sole purpose to bring you back????"

dipper simply stares at pacifica, still struck by her beauty after all these years. yet, when he realizes a tad late that she had stopped speaking, he shakes his head; getting a hold of himself.

"y-yes. that's exactly what happened."

the blonde blinks once. then twice. then takes a long sip from her coffee; setting it down before slamming the empty mug onto the table.

"you never told me you had a twin sister!"

"well, i didn't think it was relevant..." he mumbles, annoyed.

"of course it's flippin' relevant!" she spats, "whatever mabel did to you in the past, she's still your family! i thought i knew everything about you, but you've been still hiding stuff from me!"

dipper sighs, looking at his old friend with a guilt-ridden expression.

"you're right, paz. i should've been more open with you, instead of being all mysterious and keeping stuff from you. i'm really sorry that i scared you and kept you in the dark all this time."

"ah, forget about it," she waves off, no longer upset. "you're lucky that i'm too old to be fussing over small things. besides, i guess i should be used to it by now, right? you never really trusted me, anyways."

"but i do trust you, pacifica," he says, placing a hand over hers, "i was just being an idiot, thinking that i was protecting you by not letting you into my world, but that's not fair. not when you've trusted me with your secrets. i truly am sorry, paz."

as pacifica looks down at his hand on hers, she looks back up to him; her diamond-blue eyes meeting his doe-brown ones. a twinge of pink spreads throughout her cheeks, letting her old feelings for the awkward man resurface; if only for a small moment.

for the first time in twenty years, her guard is let down again, baffled and stammering by the same guy who caught her heart two decades ago.

"it's alright, dipper." pacifica replies, the smallest hint of a smile graces her face.

"you're here now."

"SUGGESICA WIN!"

"ha, yeah!" pacifica cheers, pumping a fist up in victory, "in your face!"

though dipper wasn't happy at first that he was once again bested by her, he did have to admit—pacifica looks pretty cute when she gloats over a win. it's rare to see her geek out over an arcade game, after all.

"so, what was that again? didn't you say arcades were for nerds??"

"they're only nerds if they can't win," she corrects, poking his chest, "like you."

"yeah, yeah, you beat me," dipper says, rolling his eyes, "now enter your name for the high score so we can start heading back home. dad must've hooked up the karaoke machine by now."

pacifica giggles, inputting the name 'PAZ' before leaving the arcade with dipper; hand-in-hand.

"so, lovebirds..." mabel teases as she, candy, and grenda reunite with the pair, "ready for some karaoke?"

dipper blushes as pacifica rolls her eyes, smirking amusedly: "yeah, whatever. you wish i was dating your brother, it'll give you something to brag about."

"oh, definitely," mabel replies, "because i'm sure there's a lot of girls out there who are dying to say 'pacifica northwest, walking one-dimensional beached blonde valley girl stereotype, is dating my brother!'"

pacifica gasps, feigning offense...

before she laughs along with her former arch-enemy; walking out of the mall in a side-hug.

"look, after you said you weren't going to leave with me and move in my parents and i at the end of the summer, i wanted to hide in my sweater forever."

as pacifica explains her choice to stay in pacificaland, gideon feels the guilt rise within him as he is reminded of his promise from the beginning of the summer.

then, the melancholic expression on her face turns into one of resolve as she finishes her story.

"but then i woke up in a place that gives me exactly what i wanted: an endless summer where we'll never have to grow up! here, the sun shines all day, the party never ends, and now that you guys are here—it's finally perfect!"

"listen, pazzy," gideon speaks, "we're not here to party. all of this is crazy!"

yet, the blonde groans, disagreeing with her cousin's sentiment: "ugh! i figured you might say something like that, gid. would it kill you to be more like dipper sometimes? at least he's supportive of me!"

"sunshine..." dipper calls to her softly, placing a hand on her shoulder, "maybe you should go with gideon and the the rest..."

"huh?" pacifica's eyes go wide, suprised by the change in his demeanour.

"what are you talking about, dipper?"

"wait! hold on..." pacifica pants, trying to catch her breath after doubling down in laughs, "you... dated... a siren?"

blushing madly, dipper frowns: "is it really that hard to believe?"

apparently so, since the woman before him couldn't help but keep laughing; unable to control herself.

"uh—yeah?" she answers between cackles, "whew... oh my god, i'm gonna cry... that's hilarious... hah..."

"but you had two failed marriages!" he points out, still red as a tomato.

that doesn't stop pacifica from laughing herself breathless, wiping a tear from the corner of her eye as she finally starts to settle down.

"true... but i'm an heiress, dipper."

she had a point. twenty years is an awful long time, and it was like pacifica was getting any younger. it was inevitable that her parents wanted to secure their fortune by any means necessary—especially if said means was to marry their daughter off to another rich family.

hence, her two unsuccessful unions with marius von fundhauser and gideon gleeful.

"you never told me... how did you get out of them, again?"

"well, marius and i split because he fell in love with someone else..." pacifica answers, reminscing on her relationship with the austrian prince, "no hard feelings, though. it was for the best."

from the look on her face, dipper could tell that she was being genuine. he always loved seeing her soft side.

"and... gideon?" he winces.

"not as sweet as the papers put it." she replies bluntly. "he was just... too show-ey? even for me, which is crazy. i was able to find an out when i took the reigns on northwest realty—i got the chance to prove to my parents i was more than a pretty face, after all."

dipper chuckles, "as if there was any doubt."

"disco girl!"

"coming through!"

"that girl is you~!"

ooh-ooh's ring throughout the living room, followed by giggles and more of the musical works of dipper pines and pacifica northwest.

"more punch, kids?" mrs. pines asks as she enters the room; a tray of filled glasses in her hands. "gonna need something to drink so those singing voices won't be strained."

so, without any objections, the five kids take a break—drinking punch and catching up on town gossip.

"what?! you broke up with marius?!"

mabel's jaw drops nearly the same time the news drops, but everyone else remains indifferent. sure, candy and pacifica would have already known about this, but dipper was just plain uninterested.

"it wasn't a big deal, really," grenda explains. "there was only so much clinginess i could take!"

"speak for yourself," pacifica chimes in, checking her nails, "sounds to me like you could've been set for life. you were dating the prince of austria!"

"yeah, and it was a long-distance relationship, too!" mabel exclaims, "emphasis on distance!"

"what's distance if he wanted to fly me out to austria every weekend?! the guy just couldn't leave me alone!"

"yeesh," pacifica cringes; her facial expression in her signature look of disgust, "when you put it like that, maybe dumping the guy was right move. i can't imagine dating someone hovering over me like that, laughing and agreeing at every single thing i say."

"ha-ha!" dipper chokes out, blushing madly, hovering over pacifica, "you're totally right, paz!"

as the blonde in question raises an eyebrow, confused, the three remaining girls shares looks of mischief amongst each other; smirking slyly.

"speaking of your dating life, paz..." mabel begins in a teasing voice, "have you... say, got yourself any boyfriends, lately?"

now, it was pacifica's turn to blush—her cheeks a tinted pink.

"uh... no?" drawing out the confused 'no' in her reply, pacifica looks puzzled once more. "mabel, what—"

"AH-HA-HA-HA-HA~" dipper's forced laughs come out more obnoxious this time around, taking his sister's hand as he leads them out of the living room.

"mabel!"

"no... no... not you, too..."

"pacifica, you know in your heart that gideon's right. summer ends."

"but... i don't want it to end! i don't want to go back and... and..."

losing her words, pacifica looks back into dipper's eyes. deep down, she agreed with him wholeheartedly. she knew he was telling the truth.

but they were in pacificaland now. and the truth is not what she wants. especially if all the truth has done was hurt her and continued to do so.

"you said you wouldn't hurt me, dipper."

then there it was. the ache in his chest had returned. it didn't make sense, though! he was so sure that the guilt had been resolved after that night of the party at his mansion... so, why did it come back? he didn't so anything wrong. dipper made a deal with will so he could be granted full guardianship of the bubble and keep pacifica from harm.

she was all fine until that know-it-all gideon pines got in the way... he thinks he knows what's best for pacifica, and look what that go him—after all, he was the reason why the joyful blonde had felt so down in the first place! dipper didn't hurt pacifica, it was all gideon!

turning away from pacifica, dipper looks into gideon's eyes. if he could glare into them long enough, maybe daggers could materialize out of his brown eyes, shooting straight into gideon's blue ones.

what he didn't expect, however, was for gideon to stand his ground; staring back at dipper with the same amount—if not, more—determination than the once-evil psychic.

then, all at once, dipper's own words have struck him, remembering his promise to pacifica.

"i… i know it's too late for you to trust me… and i clearly don't deserve your forgiveness… but i do wanna try. i want to be a better person."

if i want to be more than pacifica's hero... he thinks to himself, i have to be someone worthy of loving... i have to do the right thing...

i have to be a better person.

"but, paz, you don't get it... mabel had cost me my dream school."

dipper repeats for the umpteenth time, lamenting over what could have been. he knew better than to be holding resentment over his twin sister for so long, but he just couldn't shake it off.

pacifica clearly notices this, which motivates her all the more to get her old friend to see sense.

"dipper, mabel and i haven't been on good terms this whole time, but after telling me the whole story, i've begun to see her in a different light." she confesses, laying a freshly-manicured hand atop inter-dimension traveller. "what baffles me is that while you can recall having a rich history with her, but it's only the two instances that she's done you wrong that keep a hold in your heart."

"but mabel was the reason i couldn't get into my dream school! she ruined my whole future in the blink of an eye—"

"she ruined your future, huh?" pacifica cuts him off, cocking a brow. "you want to know what i think, dipper?"

"paz—"

"no, maybe that big head of yours has influenced you in the past twenty years, and now it's got to your mouth—but i'm not going to stand for this. mabel is your twin sister. you guys sounded like two inseperable peas in a pod, but you've let that wrinkly brain of yours ruin probably the greatest friendship you've ever had."

pacifica pokes dipper's forehead for effect.

"sure, woe is you that you didn't get accepted to west coast. i'm sorry you didn't get to go into your dream school, but you went to backupsmore. you did the same work you hoped to accomplished at your first choice of school, but you pushed yourself even harder. if anything—you've probably found more success at backupsmore than west coast!"

"but mabel can't just get off scot-free—"

"your parents threw her out on the streets, dipper!" pacifica exclaims, utterly baffled by his sheer audacity, "things might've not have gone your way, but if they did back then, would you have been happier?"

hot tears begin to well up in the blonde's eyes, trying her hardest not to let them fall.

"you would have never come here! you would have never met... me..."

realizing that perhaps he did let his grievances get the better of him yet again, dipper had easily forgotten that he was only wanted to catch up over coffee with an old friend (maybe even get a second date afterwards), but he's blowing it.

blowing it big time.

"pacifica, of course i'm thankful for the way things turned out. meeting you was one of the best things that's ever happened to me."

"well, it sure doesn't feel like it..." she remarks, refusing to back down.

"look, i understand why you would be upset with mabel. sure, she ruined your chances of getting to your dream school, and got you trapped in another dimension for like, two decades, but she didn't mean to hurt you on purpose—and i think, deep down, you know this too."

though he wouldn't admit out loud, dipper did agree with pacifica's words. maybe it was just easier to stay mad at his sister because some part of him, subconsciously, knew that he was also to blame for where he ended up—especially getting himself sucked into the portal that he built himself.

"besides, if mabel was really as bad as you claimed her to be, then she wouldn't have spent all this time fixing your portal—just to get yourself out. in retrospect, what she did would typically require a prayer and a miracle to do: mabel self-educated in sciences, paid off your mortgage, and kept secrets to protect herself and her family. she did all this, her determined solely based on the very slim chance she could fix her mistake and bring you back home."

he wanted so badly to tell her that she was right. his mouth was already open, but with no words coming out, left speechless by the blonde's truth, he disappointed her; yet again.

"you know, i really missed you, dipper—but it turns out i didn't know you as well as i thought. call me when you decide to stop listening to your head and listen to your heart for a change."

with those final words, pacifica pulls out some bills from her wallet, before getting up from the booth, and out of the diner.

"what?!"

mabel yelps right before her brother frantically slaps a hand over her mouth, then peering over his shoulder to see if her loud reaction drew any attention from their guests.

with dipper's head turned, the other twin takes a chance and licks his hand, causing not only him to retract in disgust, but her as well; forgetting in that brief moment how sweaty her brother really was.

"mabel, seriously?" he asked in a hushed whisper.

spitting out and blowing raspberries with her tongue, she spats: "ugh! when do you ever not sweat?"

"whatever, that's not the point!" dipper replies, still hushed.

after blowing the last raspberries, mabel continues, whispering as well: "you haven't asked pacifica to be your girlfriend yet? spring break's almost over!"

"i know, i know, it's just..." he turns back to the living room, looking solemnly at the blonde; currently laughing along with candy and grenda. "i thought i was ready, i really did..."

seeing the gloom in her brother's face, mabel puts a hand to dipper's shoulder.

"so, what happened bro-bro?"

turning back to face his sister, dipper draws a deep sigh before asking: "mabel, do you think, if pacifica and i start dating... we'll end up arguing more than mom and dad?"

"huh?" she questions, her face puzzled.

"i mean, pacifica and i are just so different... and it's only been almost a year since we've met..." dipper explains, "on the other hand, our parents have known each other for almost twenty years... but that didn't stop them from those big arguments last year... do you think—"

"dipper, let me stop you right there," mabel interrupts, holding her hands up in a 'stop' gesture, "you and pacifica are nothing like mom and dad—and that doesn't have to be a good or bad thing! you guys have an awesome dynamic, whether as friends or as a couple—nudge nudge! the point is, you should ask pacifica to be your girlfriend when you feel you're ready. don't rush it, and definitely don't let other relationships like our parents get to you. after all, there's always summer!"

after giving it some thought, dipper looks away from mabel, turning to pacifica once more, then back to his sister; smiling.

"you make a good point, mabel... thanks. 'sides, there's always summer, right?"

after breaking free from the bubble in which will has imprisoned pacifica, she—along with the company of dipper, mabel, gideon, melody, and robbie—have made their way back to the tent of telepathy.

though found seemingly empty at first, the battle cries of the townsfolk taking refuge in the shack provokes the group of people who had just came from weirdmaggedon.

that is, until one of the folk—the six-fingered one in particular—had spotted their great niece and nephew, almost immediately standing down.

"kids?"

"grunkle ford!" dipper and mabel cheer, rushing to hug the old man.

"i can’t believe it! i thought i lost you two.” he says, capturing the twins in his arms.

“did you really?” mabel asks smugly.

“no,” ford answers, returning a smug grin back at her, “i was looking forward to not being bothered by you deliquents anymore.”

“you can always try again, grunkle ford.” dipper says.

“so, how did you all get here?”

ford then proceeds to recall the events from his perspective as weirdmaggedon unfolded, noting how the tent was the only place unaffected by will’s powers due to the protection of the unicorn hair.

“eventually, all these injured stragglers show up needing a place to stay. since the mayor got captured, i elected myself de facto chief. the plan's to stay in here and eat brown meat until we run out, then eat the gnomes."

as ford finishes explaining to his niece and nephew impassively, a nearby gnome immediately picked up on the chief's plan and gasped in utter disgust.

"hey! i'm short, not deaf!"

glancing from the kids to the gnome, ford remains indifferent.

"survival of the fittest, pal. sucks to be you, i guess."

"grunkle ford, we can't all just hide inside the tent," mabel reasons, "we have to save the town! gideon, stan, and i tried to do it, but grunkle stan ended up getting captured by will."

"serves that jerk right, it's what you get for trying to be a hero." ford remarks, then gestures to the townsfolk taking refuge in the tent. "besides, look at these people. the reason why they're here is not from the kindness of my heart, they're here out of fear—because people blindly following me would be less torturous than following some all-powerful space demon."

"so, you're really going to let will win?" gideon asks.

"kid, we got the best deal we could possibly get." the elder gleeful says, lounging back on his recliner. "be lucky that my niece is all sweet on you, otherwise i'd be kicking you and your cousin out on the streets with whatever townsfolk were unfortunate to not take refuge."

gideon frowns deeply, disgusted and frustrated with the six-fingered man. pacifica, although offended by the remark, is saddened on her cousin's behalf; considering that her uncle and aunt—despite their significant lack of quality parenting—are still out there amongst the chaos.

so, understandably, mabel is furious, and dipper places a empathetic hand on pacifica's shoulder—sharing in her lament.

she couldn't believe it... pacifica had waited for so long... she's waited twenty years, just to see him again.

though she would never admit it out loud to anyone else, pacifica's had dreams about reuniting with her former partner, many of them just a grasp away from a happy ending... that is, until she gets pulled back to consciousness at the final moment, and she realises...

he's not there.

after years of hoping, asking whatever external forces in the universe, just for the chance to see dipper pines one more time.

yet, after that lunch at greasy's, when pacifica finally got the chance to catch up with her old friend, she got to really know who dipper actually was... and it was just like in those final moments before she woke up each morning for the past couple decades.

he's still not here.

so, though it pains her heart to do this, pacifica needs to give dipper space. as long as things between him and his sister remain unresolved, how could she begin to think about having their own relationship mended?

but she's waited for twenty years... she won't mind waiting a little bit more.

take the rift...

"huh?" she scans the town around her. "who's there?"

nobody was nearby. in fact, she doesn't remember seeing the town in such a... monochromatic state. it was chilling, to say the very least.

after confirming nothing was behind her, pacifica shook her head rather wildly, trying to get her vision back. she didn't even summon him... she's fully awake... so, how did pacifica end up in the dreamscape?

suddenly, a being manifests before her. yellow, triangle-shaped, demonic. the blonde recognized him from the pages of the notebook, as well as the numerous tapestries she's locked up in one of the many closets in her mansion. after inheriting the property, stowing those demon-tapestries away was just about one of the first thing's she done to northwest manor.

"stay back!" she roars, standing guard.

"oh, llama, i'm sure your family raised you to be more poised than that." bill teases, swarming around her.

"you're nothing but bad news, you triangle goblin." pacifica spats, folding her arms, her hip cocked to one side. "i know you're like some sort of massive psycho, but you'd have to be even more mindless to think i'd make some deal with you."

"no need to be hostile, llama." bill says, backing away and giving her space. "i noticed that you had a lover's quarrel with pine tree lately, and i just want to give you something small to lift up your spirits."

"dipper and i don't have anything together." she states bluntly, clearly uninterested. "and i'm well off on my own, so if you're thinking of making me like, the richest person in the world, forget it."

"what if i gave you a better pine tree?" he offers, floating about and around her again. "in a snap, i can re-wire the old geek..."

with a snap of his fingers, a phantom of dipper appears before the two, walking towards pacifica with a smile on his ghostly face.

"a pine tree that isn't self-absorbed and all-consumed by science."

though he is a phantom, the animated dipper is able to take pacifica's hand in his. bill's probably controlling me, isn't he?

"a pine tree that can listen to his heart."

using his free arm to circle her waist, this dipper pulls pacifica close to him, his ghastly eyes seemingly consumed by her.

maybe, pacifica can't wait any longer. after all, she is getting old. besides, with dipper being the same age, she knows that he's getting old too. he's finally back home, so perhaps he ought to finally get some rest.

but it's not right. if she let herself sank this low, dipper would never forgive her. heck, she doesn't even think she could forgive herself. he wouldn't even be the dipper she fell in grew to like.

"all i need is this galaxy-looking globe of your boyfriend's. it's nothing big, so he won't miss it. so, whattaya say?"

looking from 'dipper' to bill's hand, ready for a shake, pacifica's determination returns to her; hitting her stronger than ever.

"my pine tree is perfect the way he is."

"what?" bill sputters in disbelief.

"you heard me," pacifica pulls away, staring into the demon's eye, "no deal."

"YOU FAKE BLONDE IMPENDING PATERNITY TEST! DON'T YOU KNOW WHO I AM? I CAN UNMAKE YOUR FAMILY'S LEGACY AND YOU'LL BE LEFT WITH NOTHING—"

"i don't care. i have preston, and i have dipper."

"YOU WORTHLESS WASTE OF STOLEN INCOME! IT’LL BE EVEN EASIER TO TAKE THEM AWAY FROM YOU! MAKE THE DEAL, LLAMA."

without hesitance, she raises a fist; completely all out of patience.

"NO!"

"wait, so if the answer to the equation is zero, then why can't x also be zero?" pacifica asks as her eyebrows knit together, staring from the homework spread on her desk back to the dork on video call from her laptop. "anything that's multiplied by zero has to equal zero, right?"

"yeah, but if you applied zero in place of x," dipper explains, amused by the blonde's annoyance. "you'd have two multiplying negative one, making the answer—"

"negative two, yeah, yeah." pacifica cuts him off, waving it aside. "lemme try again, but i need you to shut up for a bit."

on screen, dipper looks deadpanned, but he knew that pacifica was really trying. the school year was almost over, and thanks to insufficient funds to keep her original tutor, pacifica was left to her own devices.

the thing was, he has helped her all year, and she was perfectly confident with her grades... so, why are the stakes so much higher now?

"x equals negative two or one-half!"

"see, i knew you could do it." dipper smiles at her through the monitor.

chuckling at the dopey expression on his face, pacifica feels her cheeks grow warm, smiling back at him. "thanks dipper... but i couldn't have done it without you. actually... i think i might've needed to repeat the eight grade if it wasn't for you."

"you kidding me? you're great at practically anything you put your mind to!"

heh, i hope you're right about that, dip.

what pacifica isn't telling him is how much of a big deal her final math exam really is for her. as far as he knows, it's just her first final exam that she's gotten without an expensive tutor nor the safety net of her parents' fortune to get her into the ninth grade.

"bro-bro! tell your girlfriend ya gotta go! dinner's ready!"

mabel's off-screen call promptly causes her brother to be fully red in the face, momentarily losing his cool; to which pulls a giggle from the other end of his video call.

"sounds like i gotta let you go, bro-bro." pacifica teases, reaching for her laptop, over the sheets and textbooks. "same time, tomorrow?"

"heh, of course." dipper replies, chuckling nervously as he rubs the back of his neck. "sorry about mabel, you know how she is—"

"you don't need to apologize for anything, dork. catch ya later."

the dopey, awkward grin on dipper's face is the last thing she sees before she clicks on the 'end call' button, butterflies swarming in her stomach as she's temporarily allured by the goofiness that is her crush—not that she'd admit it to anyone else, though.

soon enough, those butterflies turn into rumbles, her stomach calling out for food as well.

after shutting her laptop and abandoning post at her desk, pacifica begins to make her way down to the kitchen.

"it's about time you showed up."

preston speaks bluntly as he and his wife are sitting on the dining table, with no food before them.

"we're starving, darling." priscilla says. "we thought we were going to have to wait forever for that... pines boy... to finally end your tutor session."

taking in a deep breath, pacifica sighs just as heavily, walking towards the fridge: "what are you guys going to make me prepare tonight?"

after viewing toby determined by turned to stone, soon to join will’s throne of subdued townsfolk, the remaining people in the tent of telepathy are finally pushed to the edge—the drive of freeing the town overruling their fear of will’s tyrannic takeover.

led by the team of gideon, pacifica, and the gleeful twins, all of the refuged individuals desperately assist tad mcgucket in turning the tent of telepathy into a force for battle.

days later, their combined efforts resulted in the completion of the remodeled tent of telepathy; much to ford’s dissatisfaction.

"thanks for these apocalyspe sweaters, pacifica." melody praises, physically snug in the cashmere. "the end of the world has never felt so comfortable."

"you were always a girl of many talents, sunshine." dipper chimes in, proudly showing off the sweater with a pine tree in the center.

the rest of the refugees are in agreement; nodding and humming.

hearing a shiver from behind her, pacifica shoots mabel a look as she notices she's still sweaterless. desperate to just warm up.

"ugh!" she whines, caving in as she pulls out a pink sweater with a shooting star in the center. "fine i'll wear it," she says, putting it on, "but i'm not gonna like it."

"admit it, this is the best day of the end of the world." pacifica says, taking a seat between dipper and gideon. "i think we actually have a chance to defeat will and win back our future."

"yeah," gideon adds, "can't believe i'm saying this, but i would much rather want to live to see mabel and dipper turn thirteen."

mabel gives gideon a soft smile, something that not even her twin brother has ever seen from her—and surprisingly, gideon even smiles back at mabel.

"if we're lucky, sunshine, i guarantee we'll throw another party at the manor and invite everyone in town."

though she knew dipper was certain about it, pacifica still raises a brow in suspicion; purely out of testing him.

sighing, he places a hand over his chest: "i promise, pacifica."

hearing the approaching footsteps from one of his two nephews, dipper sighs, putting aside whatever work he was currently tending to, now tending to his nephew instead.

"let me guess: stanley didn't take it well."

the young stanford pines shakes his head, regret and doubt starting to spread across his face.

"i don't know, maybe i'm making the wrong decision." ford replies, looking up at his grunkle. "i need to think about this."

"ford, right now we need to focus on the mission." dipper says, trying to pacify his nephew's gloom. "now come on, i've got the glue—hand me the rift and let's make history."

turning his frown into a smile, ford reaches into his supposed backpack, only to pull out—a birthday flyer?!

"what? oh no! the rift!"

it's the last day of exam week, and the weight of the world is on pacifica shoulders... or at least that's how she's feeling right now.

pulling up to the front of the school, the blonde unbuckles her seatbelt, picking up her bag, and is just about to open the door before her father halts her.

"pacifica," preston calls to his daughter, causing her to turn back to him. "you are a northwest. remember, if you don't get a perfect score on that final exam, you can say goodbye to your inheritance."

suddenly, pacifica's taken back to the day of the golf tournament between herself and mabel—and it only makes her feel worse.

so, she doesn't give anything to her dad but an affirmative nod, steps out of the vehicle, and watches as the family car drives off.

once the car was out of view, pacifica rushes into the school and in the washroom, locking herself in a stall.

hyperventilating, the distressed blonde holds a hand to her chest—though it doesn't do anything to slow her breathing nor stabilize the rise and fall of her chest. before she knew it, hot tears stream down her face, and the choked sobs that barely escape from her are just a cork from a full-on piercing cry.

get it together pacifica! she begs in her mind. stop being so weak!

feeling hopeless, the floor in the stall might as well turn into a black hole and swallow pacifica whole. it's still early in the morning, maybe she can just play hooky... and just catch the next bus to piedmont. it's not like her parents would miss her, right? especially when she won't get that perfect score they were hoping for. maybe he was right...

YOU'LL NEVER AMOUNT TO ANYTHING.

YOU'LL NEVER AMOUNT TO ANYTHING.

YOU'LL NEVER AMOUNT TO ANYTHING—

it was only a single ringtone that pulls pacifica from her mind. rubbing her tears away and taking a sniffle, she pulls out her phone and reads the caller id from the screen.

𝗠𝗔𝗕𝗘𝗟 𝗣𝗜𝗡𝗘𝗦 💫

pacifica thinks about answering, she really does, but what could she say? the only person she's ever been vulnerable with was her brother.

before she knew it, pacifica lets her phone ring for too long, letting her enemy-turned-frenemy-turned-friend[ish?] go to voicemail.

"hey pacifica! dipper and i are just about to head to school, so we wanted to give you a call and wish you good luck on your math final! remember, no matter what the result is, our support for you is as long as pi! ha! get it? 'cause it's endless?? eh??? anyways, we'll always be proud of you, paz!"

pacifica rolls her eyes, chuckling at the shooting star's oh-so familiar cheesiness.

"mabel's right," a different voice enters the message, "you've done so well in school this year all by yourself, so don't sweat it, pacifica. you're going to nail that final, and even if you're not happy with the score, you should be proud of all the work you've put in this year."

"psst! dippingsauce!" pacifica can hear mabel call out to him, but her voice is rather hushed, likely due to her being some distance away from her phone. "tell paz you less than three her!"

"'less than three her'? what do you mean, 'less than three'..." dipper's voice dies down at the end, dead air follows the voicemail as he figures out what his sister meant.

"MABE—"

just like that, the voicemail ends—or rather, cuts off. pacifica sniffles, but she finds herself smiling. chuckling, actually.

who was she kidding? of course they were right! she's pacifica northwest. the only northwest that ended her family's curse. the same girl who showed up to a family photoshoot because she stopped caring about what others wanted her to be. the llama of bill cipher's zodiac!

bill was wrong, and after all she's done to save their lives—her parents no longer get the privilege to boss her around and treat her like a butler.

so, when pacifica finally cleans herself up, then walks in the classroom to take her final math exam for the school year, she's filled with nothing but confidence. she's pacifica, after all. as if she was going to finish the eight grade with anything less than an A+.

but, her mom and dad can keep that stupid inheritance of hers, she can make her own fortunes.

"this whole plan is insane, but no one asked the chief what he thinks. after all i've done for everyone!"

"hey dipper? mabel?" pacifica calls to them, but looks in the direction of the twins' grunkle. "shouldn't you guys talk to your grunkle? he doesn't look alright..."

"oh, we already know why he's acting like that," mabel brushes it off, only looking at ford for a second before staring back at pacifica, "don't worry about it, pacifica. he's always been this stubborn, but he'll come around. just needs to blow off some steam, that's all."

then, when mabel turns away to continue chatting with gideon, dipper shakes his head and rolls his eyes before talking to the blonde.

"to make a long story short, sunshine: mabel and i have been helping grunkle ford rescue grunkle stan ever since we could remember. after discovering that will had a connection to stan's dissappearance, understandably, we've tortured him enough to surrender and be subservient to us—using his powers and the tent of telepathy to steer suspeciting eyes away. once we got stan back, he only ever expressed gratitude to mabel and i—holding his grudge against ford."

"oh..." it wasn't pacifica, but gideon reacting to his former enemy's story. "so you guys weren't really evil, after all—just misunderstood?"

"nah, with stan's smarts, and ford's con-man skills, we could've easily turned the falls into gleefulland—ow!"

dipper holds a hand to his side, turning back to pacifica, who looks at him with a dissappointing pout.

"jerk. if neither of you are going to talk to ford, then i will."

"so, this is how the world ends. not with a bang, but with a boop-boop."

"weirdmaggedon." ford says, he and his grunkle looking up to the x-shaped rip in the sky—which the younger pines could only assume would be the portal to the nightmare realm.

"the rift is shattered." dipper says, lifting his nephew up as he gets run over by various animals and creatures. "bill's world is spilling into ours and every minute his powers grow stronger."

"stanley!" ford panics as eyes go wide. "the rift must've cracked inside his backpack. he must be in danger. i have to go and find him."

rushing towards the walkie-talkie, ford calls out to stan: "stanley! come in, stanley! stanley!"

"ford. listen to me." dipper calls to the boy sternly, placing a firm hand on his shoulder. "we can find your brother soon, but right now, we need to stop bill. if we could blast him back through the rip he came out of, we just might be able to stop him before his weirdness spreads across the entire globe."

"are you sure defeating bill is even possible?" ford asks, a hint of uncertainty rises in his voice.

"no. i'm not sure." dipper confesses, but with every bit of courage he could muster from within himself, he looks down at ford. taking a knee down to his nephew's level, the elder pines looks into the eyes of the six-fingered boy—hoping that the next words that leave his mouth transfer a spark of a fight in ford. "but being a hero means fighting back even when it seems impossible. will you follow me?"

"to the ends of the earth."

a/n: omg FINALLY part 2 is done! i just want to take this moment to thank every single one of you for all the support and praise you have given me since i released the first part. i just want to give a heads up that since school is starting again for me, and balancing that with my job, i clearly won't have as much spare time to be working on this fic—but i'll try my best to have the final part posted within two months from now.

writing ilyieu has been so great for me, not just in terms of engagement and the traction i get from other users, but also for my writing. usually, i don't think i would be posting this much writing in such a short span of time... i haven't been this proactive in my writing since 2020 when all i had was quarantine and wattpad, if i gotta be honest.

i hope that this part is just as good as the first, because the next part is going to be last—as it wraps up the stories i have between dipcifica in all thre au's. your ongoing support means so a lot to me, so please send me lots of likes, reposts, and even asks my way! just about any engagement will likely inspire me to keep writing! here, how about i answer some of those future asks right now:

q: jen, your writing is so awesome! do you think alex hirsch will hire you to help him write any future books for gf?

a: uh—i don't have a degree in english or any related subjects, but if he's still willing to pay me—I SURE FRIGGIN HOPE SO

q: do you actually like gravity falls or are you just writing this because the book of bill came out/you just started watching the series/you know gf is trending on tumblr/you wanted to join the gf hype while it's still trending?

a: yes. definitely. absolutely. (stan pines would be so proud of me :,))

q: ur writing sucks/u take so long to post/u copied [insert name here] so unoriginal

a: this is definitely not a rick roll

anyways, thanks a bunch again for your guys' support! you’ve gotten me my first 200+ notes, my recent dipcifica drabble has already surpassed 100 (despite only writing and posting it yesterday), and i’m actually gaining a following (even if it’s small!) i’ll be posting more soon!

taglist: @wwwritererm @a-messy-flower @stormcloudsarepretty @marii-iana @whosbex @seukymin @vegas96 @caro2004 @ghostlyvisiting @frozzuwuwu @cyanside @mcmymuffin @poorlittlerichgirll @invisible-vampire13 @tielmamon @optimussy @hoatzin2 @janis01127 @platonicallyalone @raccoonchild333 @kagura15 @suckerfordylansstuff @cosmic-peonies @ashisuniverse @automaticpandaoperatorpizza

follow #jw: i love you in every universe for more content!

[ramblinscramblin]

Hey there! I read your headcanons and they are pretty cool! I wanted to ask for small headcanons myself

Sniper, Scout and Pauling discovers that reader is a vampire! How will they react?

Reader can be any pronounce you want. You can do romantic or platonic, whatever is comfortable with you!

-💀🌌

→With a vampire!Reader!

Genre: fluff, a lil silly

Characters: Sniper, Scout, and Pauling Warning: canon typical gore.

I love love love this request, thank you so much! This was kind of a hard prompt to get ideas for for some reason. Also I’ve actually never written for Pauling before, let’s hope I get her right!

Sniper

Sniper took note of your gloomy and loner disposition right away.

It’s part of the reason he bothered getting close to you in the first place.

He’s observant so he probably noticed everything separately even if he hadn’t fully put it together yet. Definitely took note of your fangs.

The dislike of garlic, avoiding the sun, never seen eating anything, never seeming flushed or red, your sunken in look, everyone sort of already joked about it.

So he wasn’t all too shocked when you told him.

I honestly imagine he feels pretty threatened by you.

He is generally distrusting of people normally, so you being a night stalking blood drinking beasty doesn’t do much to quell his anxieties.

Couldn’t help but feel intrigued though, can't help but feel compelled by you, even despite his reservations he can't really keep away for long.

The idea of a vampire I feel like would be something he would be very attracted too, the thrill of it all kind of excites him. Of course he doesn't say that, or act on it very often, but you know it anyways.

Idk if this is an out of character headcanon but I highkey think Sniper is a monster fucker.

Supplies you with blood if he sees your low, enjoys how much you brighten after a drink.

Overall finds you very fasicnating, likes learning how to manage life as a vampire

Scout

Scout thinks you're messing with him until the moment he watches you drain the blood from a civilian.

Cautious with the kinds of jokes he makes after that.

He guesses it does kind of make sense in retrospect, you did have a sort of dark air about you.

Honestly finds it so sick, thinks of you as sort of his personal gaurd dog at night, wouldn't say that outloud but internally yes.

He generally would treat you about the same, vampire or not.

If we're talking old timey vampires here finds it hilarious that you can't enter a space without explict permission, will torture you by not inviting you into a room as he walks right through.

Thinks you turning into a bat is one of the coolest things, honestly big jealous vibes from Scout, he wishes he was a big cool vampire too.

It’s a fantasy of his for you to drink some of his blood, is too proud/paranoid to ever say it out loud. But you don’t miss his little sighs as he looks at your fangs.

Secretly dreams of you turning him too, so very secretly.

Pauling

Was honestly so overworked she hardly even noticed.

"Huh? What did you say? Oh yeah, yeah that's nice," she said with a polite nod one day, burying a group of hippies as she did so.

Just enjoys having someone with her during the night, like Scout wouldn't realize you were serious until she sees you feed, once she does it's like a start up noise.

Genuinely uses you as an asset in her work, you turning into a bat and flying is amazing for locating survivors, youre such a big help!

Like I said enjoys the nightly company more than words can describe, she loves quality time.

Really enjoys your darker aesthetic and sometimes thinks you're way too cool to be spending all your time with her.

Will make sure you're always fed, you never have to worry about going hungry while Pauling is around.

If you've been around a few generations wants to hear what life was like before she was around, how it felt to live in a vastly diffrent time period. Finds it so intresting to hear about!

Ohhh boy I hope this is okay anon! Like I said it was kind of hard to think of things to write about for some reason,,, I hope this was good! I had a lot of fun writing it even despite the trouble I had.

[lu-is-not-ok]

Hello Limbus Gamers

Why did I title this post that.

Anyway, yeah, it's that time again. I'm gonna analyze the RR4 trailer. Some of you may be asking why, but. You'll see.

Oh boy you'll see.

Starting off, we get a very brief animation of the nodes of the new Railway. And by brief, I do mean, this shit speeds past you like instantly.

They even make sure to not show the whole thing all at once to make it harder to count. I did count though. There are thirteen of these nodes in this animation. This might be subject to change, but we shall see.

Then we get the title card. We're back to single word Railway names from before RR3, and in the background we get to see some silhouettes. We're gonna learn what they are during the trailer itself, but you can already tell they're the abnos from the Battle Pass E.G.O - Dreaming Electric Sheep, The King in Binds, and Portrait of a Certain Day.

We also see silhouettes of some Sinners, and while it's hard to make out with the text in the way, I'm pretty sure there's N Corp Don, N Corp Faust, and BL Yi Sang in there.

Now THIS is interesting - a new Railway gimmick! Not just one gimmick though, but after throwing the screenshot into Google Translate, it turns out we might be dealing with two!

First, the one that doesn't need translating to figure out - the Backup gimmick. I believe it's shown a bit clearer in the next scene, so I won't be speculating on it too much yet, but from my guess it's a replacement for a similar mechanic in RR3, where you could throw another team of Sinners at an Abnormality after your initial team of 6 died to finish the Abno off from where you left it at.

That's not the most interesting part though, this is.

Our Sinners are also going to be recieving individual buffs in this Railway, potentially based on selection order, considering PM has been pushing more and more for the selection order to matter with the recent addition to the E.G.O Gifts.

If I'm correct and the buffs are based on selection order instead of being completely random, we can see the buffs are as follows:

Selection 1 - Identity Level +2

Selection 2 - SP Gain Efficiency +3

Selection 3 - too blurry for google to translate

Selection 4 - Defense Level +2

Selection 5 - Max Speed +2 (the 5 came from the semi-transparent level 45 number lmao)

Selection 6 - too blurry for google to translate

Selection 7 - Final Power +1

Selection 8 - Damage taken -10%

Selection 9 - this one i'm not too sure on but it might be Aggro +5 (the 45 came from the semi-transparent level 45 number lmao)

Selection 10 - scene cuts away too quickly to read it

In addition to that, some IDs (primarily the Backup selections but also for some reason Faust) get a head start of +10 SP when they join the fight, which is a very nice way to help off-set the issue of having to gain sanity in harder fights to even attempt winning clashes.

Next scene shows us what seems to be the Backup mechanic. It's an admittedly very brief shot that barely shows us anything of how it works, but considering everyone's low sanity and Ishmael's stagger, I'm guessing what happened is two units died and the backup units were put in there in their stead.

An interesting gimmick that honestly feels more lore-accurate than the current system LMAO.

Next up, we get our excerpts from the new Abno Logs. This one, based on the background, is for Portrait of a Certain Day. It's a bit hard to tell who wrote this Log based on the English translation, but it does give an interesting insight onto the Abnormality and by extention its E.G.O, Bygone Days.

Something about taking advantage of deaths through parading mementos of the dead in connection to Yi Sang and Gregor, huh... Gregor is the one who gave Aya's mask to Yuri as a memento, and then proceeded to keep that mask as a memento of Yuri. On the other hand, while Yi Sang personally didn't keep mementos of the League around, both Dongbaek and Dongrang had a strong emotional attachment to the last remaining picture of the League all together. There's something there I think.

Then we get to see the excerpt from Dreaming Electric Sheep's Abno Log. Again, not very clear who's writing this from the English translation. And this is a very interesting excerpt too! This is the clearest connection we get between the Abno and the 'Dreaming' part of its name! I feel like I'd need to see the whole Log to get a better idea of what is being conveyed here, but it is good to see we're getting to see some new angles on the Abno.

BIG SHEEP! It's notable that it's attacking Faust.

And there's Portrait, in all its low bitrate glory! Note that it's attacking Yi Sang.

What follows is two more shots, one of each of the Abnos, and then...

It might hard to see in that glorious 240p low bitrate, but yes. That is, in fact, N Corp Don and N Corp Faust, covered in a purple glow, attacking the Sinners.

And then, the bombshell.

Guys.

Guys.

These are Envy Peccatula.

Envy Peccatula are doppelgangers.

DO YOU REALIZE HOW HUGE THIS IS FOR SIN ANALYSIS??? Envy is one of those sins we got barely anything on due to its lack of Peccatula, and yet here we are, RR4 gave us a fucking blessing.

Anyway, back to talking about the actual fights themselves, I believe we're going to be dealing with faction-themed Envy Peccatula stages. The one we see in the trailer is N Corp, complete with a relevant background, and in the in the title card we can see Blade Lineage Yi Sang, implying we could get a BL-themed node as well. Notably, these are both factions that have enough IDs to form a full team.

The only other full team ID factions we have are W Corp and Liu Association, so these are also contenders for Envy Peccatula nodes. Seven Association is also possible, as they are only missing one ID from being a full six ID team. We could also potentially get a fraud Pequod Trio that's made up of the Pequod IDs, which would be really funny, but I'm not sure how likely that is.

Back to the trailer itself.

We finally get the Abno Log excerpt for The King in Binds, and it's very evocative in my opinion. The poetic language makes me think that Yi Sang is the one writing this Log.

This seems like an excerpt that's being used to describe a game mechanic - The King in Binds might have a mechanic where he tears himself free from his throne if certain conditions are met. Very interesting considering what we know about the abno.

What follows is some extremely quick and hard to see snippits of The King in Binds attacking Yi Sang. Yes, this is the best frame I could get from it.

Aaaand that's about it!

All in all, extremely excited about the potential Envy lore and fighting against out own units, and I guess the abnos are there too.

[makeitmingi]

The Cat and Dog Game [Chapter 4]

Genre: Romance, Fluff, Comedy

Pairing: Yunho x Reader (y/n)

Characters: Chef!Reader, RestaurantOwner!Yunho, MaitreD!Hongjoong, Waiter!Yeosang, Waiter!San, Waiter!Mingi, SousChef!Seonghwa, SousChef!Wooyoung, PrepChef!Jongho

Summary: Yunho's dream was to open and run his own restaurant. But he doesn't know anything when it comes to cooking. Until you came along and accepted the job, bringing with you a small crew. How will the black cat tame the energetic golden retriever?

Word count: 3.2K

You were half asleep on Seonghwa's shoulder, on the way to the restaurant. Jongho was the designated driver for today, going around to pick everyone up before going to the restaurant.

"So, did you have fun last night? Getting to know the owner?" Wooyoung turned around from the passenger seat with a teasing smile. You shot him a weird look while Seonghwa kicked the back of his seat.

"I know you're older, hyung. But I will kick you out if you do that to my car again." Jongho threatened as he drove.

"We're here." He parked the car. You got out, pulling your hood up tiredly. Seonghwa quietly strolled beside you, his arms tucked into his coat pockets.

"Yunho gave me the passcode." You yawned and keyed in the passcode.

"He's not coming?" Seonghwa asked.

"Not this early. He looked tired yesterday and stressed out after trying to help me with the prep. Anyway, it'll be much faster with just 4 of us doing the prep and baking." You shrugged, opening the door.

"What did you guys make yesterday?" Wooyoung tilted his head while Jongho turned the lights on.

"Blackberry apple tuile in the dehydrator, made the shortcrust pastry for the tartlets and marinated the pork medalions for dinner service." You informed. All of you hung your coats up in the small storage room and got to work right away. With aprons on and tools laid out, you all knew what to do immediately.

"State what you're taking on so we can keep track of things." You called out, a sharpie in hand and a piece of paper in front of you.

"I'll get started on the red velvet cake batter so we can get it in the ovens and cooled in time for icing." Jongho said, heading into the walk in with a big bowl to gather ingredients.

"Guess that leaves me on the palmiers first." Wooyoung pulled his sleeves up.

"Shall I do the cheesecake?" Seonghwa asked. You nodded and crossed out the item on the list.

"I'll continue with the tartlets then. Speak up if you need help." You retrieved the base dough from the fridge and the mini tart shells to begin blind baking them.

When Yunho came in, about an hour after you, with Mingi, Hongjoong, Yeosang and San, they were all greeted with the amazing smell of sugar, butter and vanilla filling up the restaurant space.

"Damn, I'm hungry." Mingi said.

"I need them to sign the contracts." Yunho walked in with the manila folder tucked under his arm. The boys, except Hongjoong, curiously followed behind him, wanting to catch a glimpse of the crew that was behind the amazing smells.

"Good morning!" Yunho smiled. All 4 of you turned to the group at the door with acknowledging nods before focusing back on your own tasks in front of you.

"Sorry to interrupt. I have the contracts for all of you to sign." He cleared his throat.

"Sure." You all stopped momentarily to gather.

There was a moment of silence as the 4 of you read through the contract that Yunho gave out. Meanwhile, the other boys with Yunho were staring at you, the way you exuded coolness.

"Here's a pen." Yunho held out the pen to you. You were the first to sign. After that, Seonghwa, Wooyoung and Jongho followed suit.

Just like that, you handed the contracts back to Yunho and broke apart to your own areas of the kitchen.

"Yunho." You stopped the owner in his tracks. You nodded over to the main prep table in the middle and he walked over, tilting his head curiously. The other boys stood behind him. There was a tray that you brought over, with some red-purplish stuff on it. You lifted a piece to Yunho.

"Thank you but what is this?" He bowed his head gratefully but was still confused. You gestured for him to take a bite. He did and his eyes widened with excitement.

"Is this what we made yesterday?!" He beamed.

"Yes. Blackberry, apple tuile with thyme." You said. Yunho held the small piece between his fingers, like it was a piece of gold.

"Wow. I helped make this." He said in awe. You hummed, amused at how stunned Yunho was.

Yunho took your appearance in. You weren't just wearing an apron like yesterday, there were tweezers sticking out of pockets, a timer clipped to your sleeve and two towels hanging on the string.

"I'm (y/n). That's Seonghwa, Wooyoung and Jongho." You suddenly spoke, pointing to each person on your team that was busy.

"I'm Mingi. This is San and Yeosang." The other tall guy introduced. You figured they would be the wait staff.

"Excuse me. Hot tray coming through." Wooyoung said, taking a tray of palmiers out from the oven. The boys shrunk back behind Yunho, jumping out of the way. You turned back to focus on your tartlets, making the custard that will go under the strawberries.

"We'll be out of your way." Yunho quickly said, ushering his friends out. They were disappointed they were not offered any samples of food like Yunho was.

"My cakes are still in the oven but shall I start on the madeleines? We'll put them in once we have oven space." Jongho asked.

"Yes. Are you done with the cheesecakes, Hwa?"

"They're in the oven. I'm open now, do you need help with the tartlet assembly?" He walked over, drying his hands. You nodded and he laid everything out for you.

"Make the gelatin glaze?" You requested. It will be tart shell, with a thin layer of strawberry jam at the bottom, then vanilla custard over the top and a mix of fresh strawberries and basil on the top.

"Last batch of palmiers in." Wooyoung announced.

"Get started on the yuzu loaves please. We need them cooled for the drizzle." You replied. He gave a thumbs up. Meanwhile, San and Mingi have been peeking in, they were both mesmerised by the way you worked with your team. Mingi's parents owned a restaurant but he had never seen people who this way in a kitchen before.

"You two! We need to start setting up before opening." Hongjoong grabbed them by the back of their necks to drag them to the front counter where Yunho was.

"I'll be on coffee." Mingi said.

"I'll help you with that." San raised his hand. Hongjoong would be managing the cashier while Yeosang will serve customers.

"Yunho should float, introduce yourself as the owern." Hongjoong suggested. The others nodded in agreement and Yunho hummed. Soon, the doors will be open and people will be here.

"Sorry to interrupt but we've decided not to serve this first yuzu loaf since it is a little lopsided." You said.

"What she means is, you guys can have it for breakfast before opening." Seonghwa clarified. The 5 boys immediately bowed.

"It smells so good." Mingi said in awe.

"Enjoy." You and Seonghwa went back to the kitchen to continue. The 5 boys crowded the yuzu loaf like vultures, digging into it with forks. They didn't even bother cutting into it to portion out, they went straight for it.

"Oh my god... It's so good." San melted.

"Where did you find these people? This is amazing!" Yeosang said, eyes wide in surprise on the taste.

"Not me, Hongjoong hyung." Yunho chewed his food. Hongjoong smirked proudly. They didn't realise that you were watching them in amusement, especially when they fought over the last piece.

"What are you watching?" Jongho tilted his head when he saw you loitering at the kitchen entrance.

"They're fighting for the last bit of Wooyoung's yuzu loaf. Like seagulls fighting for the last shrimp." You chuckled.

"You look like you're watching television." Wooyoung laughed.

"It feels like I am." You replied. You walked away to continue your task. Once the fresh strawberries were mixed with basil, you spooned them over the custard layer.

"Done. You can jelly glaze them." You told Seonghwa. He nodded and brushed over the gelatin mixture which will make the fruits look shiny and glossy. When each item was done, you put one piece of each item on a plate to bring it out. Most importantly, you wanted Yunho to try them to get his opinion.

"This is a piece of each item. You've had the yuzu loaf. This is lemon poppy seed madeleines, strawberry basil tartlets and palmiers. For the cakes, New York cheesecake and red velvet." You explained.

"The yuzu loaf was super good, by the way." San smiled.

"I'll be sure to tell Wooyoung." You gave a nod. After that, you retreated back to the kitchen.

"Wait, strawberry basil? Like the thing on pizza?" Mingi blinked, realising one of the treats that you had just brought out to them. This time, Yeosang cut up each item.

"Oh my... Okay, this is my new favourite." Hongjoong covered his mouth as he chewed, pointing at the red velvet cake.

"This seashell cake things would go so well with coffee." Yunho said as he took a bite.

"Ah! Okay, let's quickly finish up and clear the counter. We're opening in 30 minutes." Yunho panicked, realising the time. His heart suddenly lurched and his stomach churned uncomfortably, he was getting too nervous and anxious.

"Let's do a final sweep." Yeosang and San grabbed the brooms to clean the floors while Mingi and Hongjoong went around to wipe the tables and chairs.

"I'm going to... get stuff." Yunho said to his friends and walked away. From the corner of your eye, you watched him cross the kitchen and enter the walk in fridge, closing the door behind him.

"Nervous?" Yunho jumped when you appeared. Your arms crossed and your eyebrows raised.

"Yeah... It's finally happening... And I just don't want it to fail." He hung his head down, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Why do you think it will fail?" You cocked your head to the side. The stoic look on your face made Yunho confused on whether you were asking a rhetoric or not.

"It's my first time doing this, clearly I've not been the efficient restaurant owner. I was supposed to do this with my grandmother. This was her dream. And if I waste it, I'll never forgive myself." He shook his head. There was a silence in the walk in fridge until Yunho heard you let out a soft sigh.

"You've said it yourself. This is your first time. It's a learning process and you'll still continue to learn. Your grandmother must have believed in you to give your this opportunity." You said.

"All that you have done, it is not a waste. What is a waste is you panicking here in the walk in when the place hasn't even opened yet."

"You're right..." Yunho nodded.

"Don't scare yourself with the negatives of what can go wrong. Go in with a fresh, open mind, be excited for what can happen and the positives." You advised.

"Thank you, (y/n)! I'll go out now and open." Yunho grinned happily and ran out. You walked out.

"What?" You blinked, seeing the 3 boys staring at you.

"Naughty (y/n). With the boss? On day 1? In the walk in?!" Wooyoung teased with gasps. You rolled your eyes, throwing your tea towel at him as you went back to your station.

"Are you good?" Seonghwa asked softly, coming to stand next to you. You looked up at him and nodded. He pulled you in to gently stroke your head. You all finished up the rest of the cafe confectionaries, getting some extras ready in case they sell out.

"Take a small break everyone. Get a drink, we can observe the cafe opening. Then we'll start cleaning and discuss dinner service." You instructed.

"Okay." The 3 replied, putting all their used dishes together to clean later on. Wooyoung and Jongho went out to get coffee at the front of the house, where Mingi and San were.

"Want a drink that's not coffee? They have ades." You laughed.

"Sure." Seonghwa walked out with you. You were just in time to see Yunho open the doors and flip the sign to open.

You watched with a small smile, Yunho grinned as he greeted the first customer that was already in the queue. There wasn't a large queue but people must have been curious seeing the posters around.

"Here." Jongho handed you a coffee.

"Thank you." You received it and took a sip. The boys went back into the kitchen first while you continued to linger around.

"Sorry, can I make a drink for Seonghwa? He doesn't drink coffee." You asked.

"Of course. Want us to make something?" San offered. You shook your head, grabbing a glass and whatever you needed. You didn't want to break their momentum when orders were already starting to come in from customers. After mixing a drink for Seonghwa, you moved out of their way.

"Here, Hwa. I mixed the tropical fruits and topped it up with soda." You handed the glass to him.

"Thanks." He patted your head and took a sip before continuing his cleaning. There were two sinks so you all just took turns cleaning up. While waiting your turn, you wiped down your station.

"I'm craving a reuben." Seonghwa said.

"Reuben? Nah, monte cristo for me." Wooyoung laughed.

"What's with both of you craving sandwiches all of a sudden?" You scoffed while rolling your eyes.

"Basically they want to make ham and salt beef for our next cooking get together." Jongho spoke, going to keep the leftover ingredients in the walk in.

"It has been so long since we've made those two things... I don't know if I remember how to..." You scratched your head.

"Liar." All 3 boys coughed.

"You know what? You make your own ham and you, make your own salt beef." You glared at them. Wooyoung dried his hands while laughing, coming over to hug your arm.

"My precious (y/n), you've made things so many things more complex than ham and salt beef that you saying you've forgotten how to make it is a joke. You aren't fooling anyone, especially any one of us." Wooyoung pinched your cheeks.

You swatted his hands away and went out to see how the cafe was doing. Most of the tables were filled, with customers enjoying the drinks and food.

"Oh, (y/n)!" Yunho jumped when he turned around and almost bumped into you.

"I didn't think so many people would show up." He said. You hummed, nodding your head as you continued to look around.

"The confectionaries are moving fast. Everyone likes all of them." He blurted out with a big grin. Honestly, Yunho had to urge to hug you and thank you for helping him at the start, in the walk in.

"Told you. Worried for nothing." You looked up at him but your face didn't show that you were teasing or making fun of him for his nerves earlier.

"You were right." He nodded in agreement with a shy smile.

"Umm, excuse me." A customer stood at the counter and you nodded over for Yunho to go. He went to attend to the customer while you went back into the kitchen.

"Ah! I need a break." Mingi complained as he entered after you.

"It's only been an hour." Jongho stated.

"Let's discuss our dinner menu and break for the day." You said as the 3 gathered around you at the kitchen island, ignoring Mingi. But Mingi stuck around, curious to listen in.

"Let's do the pork tenderloin medallions with cherry madeira sauce. I'm not sure how the crowd will be so let's not accompany it with the risotto this time since those are cooked to order. We'll do a parsnip puree as the starch component. Then a roast chicken with gochujang butter under the skin." You said.

"What's the starch for the chicken?" Seonghwa asked.

"We should do mixed roast vegetables. They can sit under the chicken as the trivet and they'll roast in the chicken fat- butter mixture." Wooyoung suggested.

"For seafood, we'll do a cioppino with crusty bread? We got some shellfish and we'll cook that with the monkfish." You said.

"I think we should have a pasta option." Jongho voiced out.

"Let's do miso butter tagliatelle with mixed mushrooms and borttarga." Seonghwa decided. The rest of you nodded then discussed some simple appetisers to make.

"Two desserts. One light, one heavy." You told them,

"I would say we do something simple. Panna cotta with raspberry coolis. Then bukkumi with makgeolli ice cream." Jongho suggested.

"That's a good idea. One western and one korean dessert." Wooyoung agreed. You hummed and wrote it down on the paper. Mingi quietly left the kitchen.

"What's with that look?" Hongjoong asked him when he came out.

"I just listened in on the kitchen team plan tonight's dinner menu. Like wow, I want one of everything they're preparing. It all sounds so good and amazing." Mingi said, star stuck like he had just witnessed greatness or a celebrity.

"Get back to work. There are customers that need service." Yeosang waved everyone back to their stations. Wooyoung came out.

"Yunho? Do you have time for us to quickly discuss the dinner menu before we leave for the afternoon?" He asked.

"Yeah, I'm coming." Yunho nodded and left Hongjoong to the cashier as he entered the kitchen. When he entered, he immediately noticed you weren't there. He wanted to ask where you went.

"This is what our team discussed earlier." Jongho handed Yunho the paper where you had been scribbling on earlier with sharpie.

"Sorry, you might need to explain all this to me." He apologised with a sheepish smile.

"Sure." Wooyoung, Jongho and Seonghwa explained all the dishes to him, the components, how they will be cooked, etc. However, Yunho was slightly distracted by where you were.

You were actually standing outside in the cold, taking in some fresh air. After a stint of cooking, you usually wanted to get some fresh air on your own with peace and quiet, away from the busy kitchen. That's why the 3 usually let you be and gave you the space that you wanted, for as long as you needed.

He wondered if you were okay. But if your friends were not worried, Yunho shouldn't be.

"I'm ready. Let's go when you're done." You poked your head in to tell the boys and left without acknowledging Yunho. To be honest, you didn't even see him.

"Thank you for coming in so early. I'll see you all tonight." Yunho bowed to them.

"No problem." Seonghwa smiled.

"See you." Wooyoung said and the 3 bowed before exiting the restaurant. Yunho watched from the window as you waited for them by Jongho's car. Seonghwa wrapped an arm around you.

"I'm tired." You leaned against him, mumbling like a grumpy toddler.

"Yes, let's all get some sleep. We have a long dinner service ahead of us." Seonghwa chuckled and ushered all of you into the car.

~

Series masterlist

[triglycercule]

who asked for this. nobody. but unfortunately as a creator i actually have to CREATE for my au 😞😞😞😒😒😒 jk fashion au ink and swap designs ig,,,,,,

ink. ink. ink. she's totally not holding a gun to my head as i type this,,,,, because she CANT break the fourth wall ok she totally doesnt realize that she's forever gonna be stuck living life as a high schooler with no chance of ever graduating or progressing in life,,,,, BECAUSE THERE'S NO ANGST IN JK FASHION AU HAAHAHAH 😁😁😁😁 anyways she's soooo silly :3333 i'm not a connoisseur of anyone that's not the mtt (biased 🙂🙂🙂) but i wanted her to be silly but also a bit freakish,,,, ya!

what do the people think about INK???? featuring everyone in jk fashion au so far 😇😇

dream: "ink is another one of my close friends. she's been there for me when even nightmare couldn't, and i've supported her likewise. sometimes her head is in the clouds, so i send her texts to remind her of things like homework and such. maybe she forgets lunch sometimes, so swap and i give her a share of ours. and when ink wants to talk about anything she's thinking of, whether it's a painter's use of color or the reason we exist, i'm always open to listening. she's an amazing person, really."

nightmare: "ink. ah, that girl is an enigma, truly. somedays she supports me on my path to world domination, and other days she just laughs at me and says as if it were a fact that i would never achieve it! ugh... but despite my slight grievances, she's dream's friend, and i've grown fond of her. quite often, without me even requesting, she gifts me paintings. now, they may seem normal at first, but recently i've discovered a pattern with them. as if ink had peered into the mind of god and depicted it visually, the paintings assist me in handling dream appropriately. i must say, she's skilled as well..."

killer: "see now ink? she's my type of gal. we get along pretty well, hehe! we're on the same wavelength or something, i dunno. not like she can predict what i do, but i wouldn't be surprised if she could, but ink and i just click. we talk about all sorts of silly stuff; similar sense of humor, after all. ink and i can yap about different shows and movies we've watched and stuff, she gives really good insight on the more technical stuff like color psychology and framing, and she once drew me art for one of my big follower milestones on twitter! she's suuuuper cool, haha!"

dust: "okay, just... keep this between me and you, but i think ink has some sort of secret sixth sense? i dunno. nothing against her, she's a fun person. just that, uh... sometimes she just comes up to me when i least expect it and starts asking me about my progress on my writing. which is... confusing. i've only ever told killer and horror about my writing, so i don't know how she knows...?"

horror: "y'know, dust and i have a bit of a bet going on. all jokes and all, but i've got a feeling ink's pulling some sort of elaborate spying prank with how much she knows about us... dust doesn't think so. but i'm betting 20 bucks she does. like, once i was at a vending machine and the stupid thing didn't give me my goddamn candy bar, ugh. i had to stay cool. but then ink just pops out of nowhere, says its okay for me to drop the act and get mad around her, and then does some sort of vending machine trick to get the candy?? yeah, she's definitely a wizard or something. in a nice way, i guess."

NOW SWWAAAAAAPPP she's silly. i included the bit of her getting into trouble because of her good will SOLELY because swap gets bullied a lot in other aus 💀 (askerror, something new, etc,,,,,,) i also read a canon underswap doc??? SWAP IS SO SILLY!!!!! i cant really explain her personality through text i'd need to draw comics for her which uhhhh,,,,, (looks away)

THOUGHTS ON SWAP????

dream: "ah, swap! she's one of my dearest friends, i truly care for her deeply. out of sheer coincidence it seems, that she, ink, and i were chosen to be the star students of the school, but surprisingly it works out well... swap's truly a delight. she's a great motivator, and she's saved me from a few situations that would've ended up terribly had she not been there, hehe."

nightmare: "sometimes the world hates me. ah- well, what i meant was, the path of fate has me set on a predetermined path of struggle! and yet, when even i, the queen of negativity, could not stop my kin from slipping on a ridiculously placed banana peel and almost breaking her neck, swap was her knight in shining armor and caught her. needless to say, just as fate despises my bloodline, fate also has angels sent down from heaven. i do suppose swap is one of those, bless her soul."

killer: "heh, swap?? that girl's a riot! couple years ago i tried convincing her to show me some of those sick moves she learned at kickboxing, or karate, taekwondo, whatever... she broke my wrist, haha! but then i pulled a knife on her and then we both got in trouble. hah, good times, good times. no, i didn't stab her?! in fact, she's very good friends with mr. mew and the grumpen, thank you very much! a friend of my kitties is a friend of mine!"

dust: "she's nice. her type of energy is something you only see is like... a sugar-rushed ink, and killer normally. but anyways, swap's a good help around the school. she's a bit ridiculous every now and then with all her "the magnificent swap" and how she's a bit of a showoff, but whatever. aren't we all? anyways, at least the scavenger hunts she makes during school dances are fun."

horror: "swap is uh... she's something. gotta admit, she's pretty normal compared to some of the people at this school. but man... enthusiasm, much? eh, whatever. i'm not the type to complain when her burritos are to die for. we're partners in cooking class... let's just say, she carries us hard."

anyways jk cross and epic soon. sooner than you think heheheh

[journey-to-the-attic]

alright so i've just spent most of the morning catching up with nb s3 so here are my thoughts immediately in retrospect (spoilers of course)

it became very clear with the last few lessons that the writers either were on crunch time to round things up (most likely) or just could not give a shit (feels less likely, and i want to have more faith than that in them)

so i guess we're never going to find out what nightbringer's deal was? or what he meant by sending mc back in time to find happiness?

or what that prophecy was about

or how nightbringer 'made solomon the man he is'

or why barbatos was so mysteriously knowing in the opening movie, as if he had something to do with the time thing

or what the deal is with michael

story ended before we could date thirteen :(

not really to do with s3 but i wonder if they ever intended to have mc make pacts with diavolo or barbatos

thirteen and mephistopheles did not have arcs at all? there were some points where it felt like thirteen was deliberately excluded, even

raphael's arc is over so abruptly as well. he's anguished and distraught and then babel explodes but not really and he's completely fine again afterwards?

did not need lucifer to be in angel form for the master moment. and i feel like it would've hit harder for lucifer as a demon to break through the illusion anyway!!

it felt like there were so many cop-outs in general

rule of three: mc does fall from things three times in total but there doesn't seem to have been any real narrative reason for that

the last fall had a whole dramatic foreshadowing dream about it! but mc just has a brief vision and then it turns out lucifer caught them and everyone's fine

got real tired of the angel stuff.. the celestial realm's done a complete 360 in terms of its perception in the narrative and i'm really not a fan of it

simeon just. decides to keep being an angel. and it works??????

well it immediately turns him back to human apparently anyway

and the implication at the end is that he's just going to go back to being an angel, too, which... COME ON

i audibly went "oh ffs" at that part

i wasn't that mad at them just reversing the demon-simeon thing because i think the most interesting way to explore his character was to keep him human

then they kept going and i was like GUYS NO WAIT

the magical science is really frustrating because it's just close enough to real life science but a bit too hand-wavey about the magical mechanics to be interesting

beel gets done incredibly dirty in general - it felt like the majority his dialogue just continued to boil down to "i want food"

barbatos has basically nothing to do, which is crazy given the nature of nightbringer and his... you know... time powers

i really do not buy mc being totally fine after all of their exploits. surely there must be SOME physical repercussions even if they're so powerful?

the implication that the brothers are eventually going to figure out the time travel thing (and that diavolo already knows) interests me, but of course now we'll never know

the unwillingness to bring up any real conflict around mc's increasing power was really frustrating in general - couldn't the 'it does that to defend out of a manifestation of their kindness' thing have come after they genuinely struggled with it for a bit?

couldn't anyone have debated what they might have to do if mc became a danger to the devildom? because that angst could've been great

mc's magic in general isn't really handled well

the moon plot in lesson 60 felt like it was intended to be the big climax of s4, which was then hastily repurposed into the s3 finale when it was announced that the story wouldn't continue past there - it felt similar in vibe to the three-world-imbalance plotline of om s2, something that really needed a lot more time for both the build-up and fall-out

for a hot second i was convinced this was gonna be an atla 'my lover turned into the moon :/' thing but of course not

the premise of the moon plot was really good though! i can imagine a better planned season, with writers who actually had time, that could have done it really well!

the idea of 'the moon is in love with mc too' was a really funny plot point (/positive), kind of loved it

i genuinely didn't realise that the moon plot had been resolved until diavolo started making his science fair speech. i thought it had failed because mc and [demon brother] got blown up or something, and they'd have to try again

so for a good while i was just going "guys?? guys the moon? it's still coming? the big moon? it's gonna kill everyone ??"

i got excited by the chapter name 'the sleeping demon' because i thought the king was going to get involved, but it's just whichever brother you picked passing the fuck out after the moon explodes

there's a lot more routes in lesson 60 - almost certainly because they had to get in an obligatory end-of-season kiss with all the romanceables and couldn't fit them all

the generic references to 'he' and the lack of any dialogue from the other brothers during 'the sleeping demon' made it feel really stilted and awkward - i suppose they didn't have enough time to really tailor the dialogue to each brother, which is fair enough, but also the plot point of the brother passing out didn't feel necessary in the first place

if they needed a branching point to pick a brother for their obligatory kiss, they could've just had mc get moon blasted and then they can choose which brother is there when they wake up

they'd need a different plot point for the others after that, but it gets rid of the awkward references to a nameless 'he'

the thing that puzzles me is that seasons usually wrap up their big plots by the end anyway, but the pacing of the end of s3 feels like they were expecting to end at, like, lesson 70 instead - my best guess is that a pre-existing lesson 60 had to be modified to feel suitably end-game (brings me back to the idea that the moon plot was meant for a future season)

also i don't purport to know what's going on behind the scenes but at times it felt like they could have spent maybe ten more minutes adding a little more dialogue (the bonus story in lesson 60 comes to mind)

all in all... it's a weird place to end the story on. i probably still need to gather my actual feelings regarding that but right now i'm just kinda like "okay. huh. well nice knowing you guys i guess"

[butterflydm]

processing the new! s3! trailer

Okay, this morning my brain was Rings of Power but now the Wheel of Time brain has activated and I must devour and process this trailer before anything else can happen in my life.

Overall vibe: Wow.

Anyway, this breakdown is mostly for my own reference.

Fascinated by the idea that Egwene is potentially going to take a bye on going to the Waste? I thought they mentioned her going at some point in this season in some earlier interviews, though, but now I wonder if her dream training going to be all via TAR?

Them going back to the White Tower after Moiraine's break with the Amrylin seems like it will be very dangerous for all of them, which was a large part of why it seemed plausible to me that they wouldn't (plus Sheriam not being in s3), but I'm interested to see how that happens. It really does depend on what the show views as their most important endgame threads for the characters, which we don't know.

I'm also not sure what's real and what's vision or dream. Because some stuff (dark!everyone) definitely seems like a vision Moiraine has (in the orb that is taking the place of the silver rings?).

Okay, okay. First I'm going to go through all the shots to see what I can see.

0:01: Looks like we're standing at the cusp of Rhuidean. Moiraine, Rand, and Rhuarc (doesn't look like Lan to me) are my guesses for the three at the front. Can't tell who the others might be.

0:02: Moiraine. Dead? Dying? Just injured? Her face looks like she took a slide in some sand.

0:03: Three statues of ladies. Might be in the White Tower? Very big place. We have some people charging forward at haste. Might be Aes Sedai.

"The world is changing."

0:06: Moiraine stands in the rain in a city.

0:07: shot of Rand dressed up... very old-fashioned english lord prep, with very defined lip makeup, in a room that appears to be white. Vision of some kind?

0:08: Lan in the desert/

0:10: Liandrin pulling down some cloth from over her face but I think she might have the lower part of her face covered in blood? Several figures dressed in black behind her. Black Ajah?

0:10b: Elayne puts a crown on over her head. Is that a novice dress? It looks different than the ones from last season? I think? Lots of buttons on the cuff.

0:12: Is that the Hall of Servants in the White Tower, maybe? Siuan talking to Leane, maybe?

"Who knows how deep the shadow's roots have taken hold here."

0:14: Moiraine gently cradles An Orb. My thought here is that this will replace the silver rings from the books. We see threads begin to channel into the orb.

016: wide shot of someone (Moiraine?) standing on a pile of rocks in the desert as the Power swirls around.

0:19: Egwene getting rushed through her Accepted test, maybe? We appear to be in the correct room, with the Power being used on the rings. Sheriam not being there seems odd, because it doesn't seem like the actress was unable to shoot for s3, at least from what she said in her interview a while back.

Moiraine: "I have seen a thousand thousand futures."

0:20: Moiraine lying on the dirt on her side.

0:21: an eye opens. I am not good enough at eyeball recognition to know who it belongs to. My guess is Moiraine, due to context clues.

0:22: Moiraine stands up as the sun potentially is rising behind her.

0:22b: A foot drags through dust. That's all I got. Maybe Rand going through the columns? I'm also bad at legs and feet.

0:23: Nynaeve, back in the Tower in her Accepted clothes? Again, it seems so reckless to go back to the Tower considering that the Amyrlin tried to kidnap Rand. But I guess the Wondergirls are known for doing incredibly reckless things so... that's in character.

0:23b: okay, here it looks like maybe Egwene and Rand are in the Waste together? Her outfit seems odd for the Waste though. They are lying together on a circular rug but not touching at all. Egwene is looking over at Rand. He looks like he might be in pain? Could be a modified version of one of her Accepted Tests or she could really be in the Waste or they could be in TAR. At the very end of the clip, Rand looks over to meet Egwene's gaze.

0:23c: Moiraine is flailing around upside down. Maybe channeling?

0:24: Lan and Rand training together.

0:28: two people walking in the desert. they are becloaked and so I cannot tell who they are.

"In every future where I lived..."

0:29: Rand and Moiraine speaking to the Wise Ones in the Waste, I bet. Rand is down to his shirtsleeves. He is looking over at Moiraine and then she looks back at him at the end of the clip.

0:29b: it's the tree! The big one in Rhuidean that I will surely spell wrong if I try it here. I think we see the tips of the glass columns around it.

0:31: yeah, I think the foot drag from earlier was Rand in the columns because the lighting seems similar in this shot of Rand in what are probably the columns.

"...Rand dies."

0:34: dramatic shot of Rand dying. There's a bloody sword next to him and he's being cradled by a woman who is screaming but things are moving too fast for be to certain who. Blurry face.

0:34b: Aviendha walking in the Waste?

0:36: Lanfear macking on Rand's neck.

"And the only way he lives..."

0:37: Rand nuzzles Lanfear back.

0:37b: completely different setting and outfit, Lanfear is annoyed at someone. I think this is TAR because it's the kind of outfit we've seen her wearing in TAR.

0:38: Lanfear strangles Moiraine in a bed.

0:39: Lanfear strangles Moiraine in the desert.

0:40: Lanfear kills Moiraine on a city street (there is blood)

"...is if I don't."

0:42: Moiraine is telling this all to Lan, the two of them appear to be alone.

0:43: Alanna, Ihvon, and Maksim, prepping for battle. They are in a city of some kind. Maybe Tar Valon. She channels and rips up some massive amounts of pavement, damn girl.

0:44: this looks like Rand having another power explosion, maybe in his room at night.

0:45: Rand is in the Waste -- maybe this is him about to go off to Rhuidean? There's a bunch of people up the stairs behind him, like this is a spectator sport. I think that might be Moiraine near him? Maybe?

0:46: Lanfear, I think in TAR again.

0:46: A wider shot of Rand with the steps and the people who are standing up there, with I think maybe Moiraine standing with him on the platform.

0:47: Warder training in the Tower? Apparently this is the actor tipped as Galad? There are Accepted/Novices/Sisters standing behind and admiring, as they were wont to do with Galad.

0:47b: Lan twirls his sword.

0:48: Blacksmithing is going on.

0:49: A woman who is at the blacksmith's. I thought it was Min maybe but the hair seems way too long.

0:49b: Mat, who is in a very dark place. But hey, new clothes! But also I think he might have blood on his neck.

0:50: Moghedien is talking to Liandrin. Moggy has gotten out of Ishmael's spare shirt and is in a more tightly-fitting black outfit now.

0:51: Moiraine and Siuan kiss in a building that has sides that let in a lot of light.

0:51b: someone kisses Perrin? Is this a Faile sighting? Is that the woman from the blacksmith's in the earlier shot?

0:52: woman with long reddish-blonde hair wearing a dark red shirt and a very dark black hat of some kind? when I first saw her, she reminded me of Elayne but I don't think it's Elayne

0:52b: Egwene. I think she's in TAR, because of the blurry way it's being shot.

0:52c: Rand screams in the glass columns.

0:53: I'm pretty sure this is Janduin finding Shaiel/Tigraine's dead body (and their baby missing). :-( I'm guessing Rand sees it in the glass columns and that's why he's screaming in the earlier shot - they seem like they're in the same position.

0:53b: Liandrin fighting on city streets. Bloody face. It looks like she's fighting Alanna.

0:54: Perrin all dressed up in armor, with flames behind him. Battle of Two Rivers, I'm guessing.

0:55: Alanna is screaming in grief. :-(

0:55b: We are in the Ways, and it looks like Lanfear is leading a shadow!crew of all of our mains, hunting down someone who is crawling on the floor away from them bleeding.

0:58: Rand carrying Moiraine. Maybe unconscious. Maybe.

"You cannot afford to fail again."

[curtis-corner]

STAND BY ME (Darry Curtis) - PART 5

Fic Masterlist HERE

This took a bit longer than I wanted, but I hope it's worth the wait! We're setting the scene a bit for future chapters. Thanks to everyone who shares this story and comments! Things are going to heat up!

Part 5

Dating Darry Curtis was like something out of a dream. You were so happy you almost felt like your mouth would permanently stay in a smile. You missed him like crazy when you weren’t with him, and when you were with him the two of you were inseparable.

If he wasn’t holding your hand, he had his arm around your shoulder. While you both didn’t do anything more than an innocent kiss on the cheek in public, when you were alone it was a whole different story.

Which is where you found yourself now: straddling his lap in the driver’s seat of his truck, parked way out on the outskirts of the city. Your hands are in his thick hair and you felt like you had been kissing him for hours. He had been running his hands up and down your stocking-clad thigh, stopping just shy of your skirt that was practically around your waist.

He shifted you, you moved back and landed right on the horn, sending a loud honk through the deserted area and starling you both.

“What the hell,” Darry said, his voice scratchy. You start to giggle, you can’t help it. “I guess I need to be getting you home soon anyway.” You rest your forehead head against his.

“Mm, do I have to go home?”

“Believe me baby, if I could spend the rest of the night right here, I would.” A thrill runs through you.

“I like that. Baby.” You clarify and his lifts his lips to yours for a kiss that’s over long before you want it to be. You climb off his lap, trying not to look too foolish as you move to the passenger seat. When you get settled, Darry reaches his hand across the seat and holds yours. He drives with his left hand, maneuvering the truck easily back to the east side and you wonder if it’ll always feel like this.

--

Mr. Murphy had started Murphy’s general store with his late wife back in 1924. You had never met Mrs. Murphy – she died over ten years ago, and his only son died in the second world war, so the store was pretty much all he had. He was a kind and fair boss, but he took a bit to come around to more modern convivences.

“I’m just sayin’, that’s the third person this month to ask about puttin’ their bill on a credit card.” Sheila says and Mr. Murphy waves her off.

“If people can’t buy it with the cash they got, they shouldn’t be buying it.” It was a long-standing argument that you tried not to get in the middle of. Mr. Murphy was in the store today to review and place the weekly order, and he had you help him look everything over.

“The laundromat downtown said they are getting a credit card machine next year.”

“They’re just saying that, ain’t no one is going to ever put their laundry on a dang credit card.”

“With prices all going up, a credit card will be the only option.” Sheila warns and you bite your lip to keep from laughing at the expression on Mr. Murphy’s face. Sheila and Mr. Murphy didn’t often work at the same time, but when they did you were always entertained.

“We need three cases of dish soap, not two,” you point to his sheet and he erases the number two and writes a three. The door jingles and Darry walks in, brushing some snow out of his hair.

“Well, look at what we have here!” Mr. Murphy exclaims, and you feel a blush rising. Mr. Murphy took far too much delight into you dating Darry.

“He’s a good boy, you should say yes when he proposes.”

“We’ve been dating TWO weeks!”

“I proposed to my wife after two weeks. Ain’t no use in waiting, you’re just wasting time.”

“Mr. Murphy,” Darry shakes his hand. He turns to you and smiles. “Hi there.”

“Hi yourself. You’re off early today?”

“Snow is making it too slippery to be on the roofs.” You glance out the front window to see the flurries from lunchtime have turned into a true snow. “I’m on my way to pick up Ponyboy from school, but I figured I’d duck in and say hello.”

“You remind me of me at your age, could never miss an opportunity to see my girl. Five minutes with her had me smiling all day,” Mr. Murphy’s eyes are bright behind his glasses and you have the sudden urge to fight back tears. You shared a soft smile with Darry and saw Sheila rolling her eyes up at the register. You guess not everyone was a romantic.

“What are you working on?” Darry asks, glancing down at the papers spread across the countertop.

“Weekly order.” Mr. Murphy says. “Your brother alone is the reason for more legal pads.” Darry and you share a smile. You both had nearly the same conversation the other day while you helped him make chicken pot pie.

“I don’t doubt it. Just hope he ain’t the reason for all the extra beer too,” Darry points at the list and Mr. Murphy lets out laugh and turns to you.

“You just talk all day about how handsome he is, you never mentioned how funny he is!” Your blush is back at Mr. Murphy’s antics.

“Is that so?” Darry is well aware he’s teasing you, but he can’t resist.

“Don’t you have a kid brother to collect?” You say, putting a hand on your hip.

“I suppose I do. And I’ll come pick you up after you after your shift too.” He gives you your favorite grin, the one that really shows off his dimples and heads out after saying goodbye to everyone, even Sheila.

“That boy looks at you like you’re Christmas morning.” Mr. Murphy says, still slightly teasing but his tone is softer.

“He’s pretty swell,” you smile, watching Darry wave one last time before his truck heads out.

“You’re pretty swell too.” Mr. Murphy pats your hand twice, then returns to the order.

The warm feeling that had settled in you the past few weeks grows a little stronger.

--

When you get home, a man you’ve never seen is at your kitchen table, and your mother’s small collection of jewelry is spread out in front of him.

Your father introduces him as a jeweler from downtown, but the man doesn’t look too much older than you and is dressed in a leather jacket and jeans instead of a suit and tie you’d expect from a professional.

“That brooch was Grammy Sue’s,” you point to a brooch in the shape of a swan. As a child you were fascinated with it, always asking your grandmother if you could feel it. She had promised you that you could have it one day.

“And she’s dead, so now it’s not.” Your father spat out and you physically recoiled. You had never heard such venom in his voice. “Go find that old bracelet of your mother’s, she said those were genuine pearls.”

You feel your stomach drop, you loved that bracelet. You wore it whenever you got dressed up, it was a beautiful and delicate bracelet your mother had received from her aunt when she was younger. You knew exactly where it was – in the top drawer of your vanity. But you blurt out:

“I lost it.”

“You what?” Your father stands up from his chair and your stomach tightened again. He had never been physical with you before, but he had also never been so desperate for gambling money that he sold off jewelry before.

“I-I lost it. At Easter mass last year.” You hope he doesn’t remember how you wore it for your first date with Darry only a few weeks ago. He doesn’t seem to: instead he spends a good few minutes yelling at you before banishing you to your room.

You have tears in your eyes as you take the bracelet from it’s hiding spot and put it in the shoebox at the back of your closet with your California money. You tried not to spend your life waiting for ‘someday’ but you couldn’t help but wish for the day when you were out of this house. When the person who greeted you when you walked in the door wasn’t passed out drunk or scrambling for money.

You wanted a house full of love, with the radio on and people laughing and singing along to the best songs. With something good cooking in the kitchen and cookies in the jar. And someone to greet you and always be happy to see you.

You know it’s too soon to be thinking these thoughts and picturing Darry in every one of them, but you let yourself have a few moments to think about what it could be like.

--

Talking to Darry on the phone each night was one of your favorite things. Whether it was a few minutes to say goodnight, or an hour when you talk about all sorts of things, his low, deep voice would soothe you.

You listen to him talk about Soda and Steve’s run in at the diner with two other greasers, and about Ponyboy’s trouble with styling his shorter hair.

“You alright baby?” He asks and you realize he must have asked you a question that you never responded to.

“Shoot, I’m sorry. I’m alright…” You trail off, not knowing how to begin.

“You know you can tell me about it. Whatever is bothering you, I mean.” And even though you can’t see him, you can perfectly picture the look on his face. And you know you can trust him with this.

“When I got off my shift there was a man at the house. My dad was selling my mama’s old jewelry that she had left. I guess it’s just not sitting right with me. The guy seemed…strange.”

“Strange how?”

“Like he certainly wasn’t from any reputable jewelry store. And my dad got so angry when I told him I didn’t have my mama’s old pearl bracelet.” You sigh. “Even though…I do have it. I don’t try to make a habit of lying, but I just saw all her things, some of the only things we got left from her, on the table and ready to be gone for good and I….I just couldn’t let him sell that too.”

“I think that’s okay.” Darry says softly. “It doesn’t make you a bad person.”

“I spent all night feeling bad about it. Maybe he could have used the extra money instead of me holding on to an old bracelet from a woman who probably ain’t ever coming back.” You let out a breath and twist the phone cord around your index finger. “Sorry. You shouldn’t have to listen to all this, it’s silly.”

“It ain’t silly.” Darry says firmly. “If something upsets you, I wanna hear about it.” You smile.

“Thanks, sweetheart.” You say softly and you know at the other end of the phone Darry is smiling. He always does when you use a term of endearment with him.

“He didn’t do anything to hurt you right? Your dad?”

“No, he just yelled. I stayed in my room and he left not long after the other man did.”

“You know my front door is always open. Doesn’t matter the time.” He’s told you this before, he never likes dropping you off at an empty house. And you think for a split second about your daydream of a warm home that was full of love.

“I know.” You say quietly and you take a deep breath, wanting to steer the conversation away from your troubles. “Alright, tell me more about how we’re going to get Pony’s hair to grow faster.”

NEXT UP: Darry's birthday and a tough anniversary for the curtis boys

[murderthecat]

Space Ghost

Written By: ChryslerBuildingFeathers https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChryslerBuildingFeathers

Art Prompt #20 By: SapphicSaphir https://www.tumblr.com/kipo-oak

EctoImplosion 2023

Vast cold crowded silence. That's what this was. Like lying lonesome in a local lake long after the day’d gone dark. So much happening around him, so many stories to be told, and here he was floating. On, and on, and on. Comforted and aching at the same time. 

Danny was having a very strange last summer vacation.

Prologue: 

Split

It started, as most things do for Danny, with Jack and Maddie Fenton. The two had burst through the house's front door, raving about an old colleague they'd ran into again during their nightly ghost hunting: "Scotland!" they cried in unison.

"We're going to Scotland this summer!"

"We.. Are?" Danny asked worriedly.

“Well, we certainly are!" Jack replied, exploding with giddiness.

"But…" Jazz trailed off expectantly.

"Er, well, me and your mother, anyway." Jack corrected himself.

Maddie continued for her husband: "But not you, obviously, Jazz. We know you've got work and college stuff. And, well, Danny..." 

"Danny, we were thinking. This is your last summer before adulthood. Maybe-" Jack said.

"Maybe you're old enough to spend it on your own, and figure out what you want to do for yourself." Jazz finished for them with a smile.

"You.. You mean it?" He asked. 

The three nodded. "That's great!" Danny grinned.

And so his summer was set. It was gonna be an awesome couple months!

Except.

Except, when he went to tell Sam and Tucker about it:

"You're both going on college trips? But I thought you were set on MIT, and you've been there a dozen times by now!"

"Well, we were- " Sam replied, hesitantly. "But then we got these new letters, and you see..."

She sighed. "Danny, of all places, Harvard offered us a full ride."

"I know we had everything all planned out, and we wanted to tell you sooner, but-"

Danny groaned. "But you didn’t want to bum me out while we were studying for finals, this is an amazing opportunity, and I'd have to kill you both if you didn't at least think about it?" 

He couldn’t even blame them for waiting until now, because he knew he’d probably do the exact same thing in their place.

Sam smiled sadly. "Thanks Danny, love."

"And sorry, dude. Seriously." Tucker added on. 

"Hey, maybe this could be a good chance for you, though?" Sam suggested.

"Maybe you can do something just for yourself?"

“I guess so.” Danny said.

The two wrapped him in a hug.

“And hey, you can still give us plenty of ghostly visits while we’re on our trip, you know? You’re our boyfriend after all!” Tucker cheered him.

So here he was, following their collective advice. Or at least, trying to. Alone in space feeding his obsession, swallowing as many stars as could fit in his eyes. The portal was locked, the ghosts knew to leave him alone, and he had all the time he could need to try figuring out what to do with his afterlife. 

He’d planned to go to community college, hit the books hard to make up for his bad high school years, and then join Sam and Tucker at MIT. But, if his partners went off to a school as exclusive and Ivy League as Harvard? There’s no way he could make it into there, let alone afford it. And even if he could, he still had no idea what he’d do with himself after finishing college. 

Get a job in aerospace engineering so he can at least be close, only for the inevitable trouble that follows him everywhere to steal that away too? Become a professor so he can teach everyone else how to accomplish his hopes and dreams?  No. 

The human world is not built for a ghostly prince. 

Him, or his space fantasies.

[seven-oh-four]

i had a dream where my mom and i had power over all the water in the world. she was just using it carelessly for whatever she thought was fun - she turned the rain into milk because she thought it would be funny, which i immediately undid as soon as she wasn't looking because of course there would be some kind of unforeseen consequence to this, and also what the hell are people supposed to think? that's not something that just happens; nobody had godlike power over water until today. and also if anyone found out it was her she'd probably be convicted of some sort of crime. ecoterrorism if i had to guess. just all around a really bad idea

also my brother had the power to transform into any type of snake in the world.

we were in an apartment with a view of the ocean btw. staying there for a vacation.

she turned the ocean into blood and i was like "do you know how many people will die???" but she just didn't answer me. i kept saying it but she kept ignoring me.

she wanted my brother to be a specific type of snake, but he didn't want to do that, he wanted to be a specific really tiny snake, so i hid him from her.

possibly as punishment (but i don't truly know why), she made the ocean start rising. i told her that she was going to kill everyone in the world but she didn't respond.

the blood reached our apartment. in between reassurances to my brother, i told her, i'm going to die, you're going to kill me, you're going to kill us, we're both going to die, but she kept ignoring me. i tried to use my powers to slow down the blood, but she immediately made it ten times faster in turn. the blood filled the entire room.

i drowned, weakly saying "you've killed us all" over and over through the blood until i died. hoping she would hear me and understand what she had done.

after i died, time looped back to us entering our hotel room, for reasons i don't feel like explaining because they are not important. i was not sure if she remembered what happened (though i believed she did), and if she did, i was not sure if she knew i remembered. i tried to act normal, but i wanted to prevent that from happening again so i also changed things up a bit. upon entering the apartment, i went directly to my room and flopped onto my bed hoping she would be less likely to come ask me to do something.

(the blood ocean event transpired right after she asked me to come make pancakes with her.)

but she came into my room holding a measuring cup of pancake batter and invited me to come do it anyway. i was so scared that i was going to be stuck in a timeloop having to painfully drown in an ocean of blood over and over again trying to find a way to stop her from doing that.

i don't remember what was different this time but she didn't turn the ocean into blood this time. i was really scared the whole day though that anything i did could cause her turn the ocean into blood again and kill me. she invited me to make pancakes several more times and i was terrified every time.

[forbiddenchildau-tadcau]

CONFRONT THE MASTER

Gangle awoke, still in Zooble's room, Her mind traveled to the events of her nightmare and the conversation she had with Zooble. The thought of talking to Caine about it made her ribbons twist into knots. She had never seen him as anything but the circus's charismatic, Ai ringmaster, and she didn't know if he would take her seriously or not.

Eventually, Zooble woke up. They stretched their antennae and looked down at Gangle, who was still curled up against them. "We're lucky Caine didn't find us like this," they groaned, standing up carefully. Gangle got up shortly after, the reality of the circus's usual chaos slowly coming back to her. She knew she couldn't stay in the safety of Zoobles arms forever.

Zooble went over to her box of parts, digging through them for a bit before pulling out two arms, one looking like a cow hoof of sorts and the other was some vine springs attached to a bushy kinda hand, laced with some flowers.

"Which one do you think looks better?" they asked, turning to Gangle, holding up both arms. Gangle studied them, her mind still preoccupied with her dream but she liked helping Zooble pick what parts to wear. It was always interesting to see what new combination they came up with together.

"I like the hoove one," she said after a moment's thought. "It's cute.."

Zooble nodded, taking the vine arm and placing it back into the box. "Cute is good, I guess," they said, attaching the hoove to their body with a click. They looked down at their new arm, flexing it a bit. They attached a few other parts that she thought would look alright together before turning back to Gangle.

"You wanna go get your comedy mask?" Zooble suggested, knowing that mask was a strange kind of comfort for Gangle.

Gangle shook her head "I think I could go without it today" She said, she usually would but she didn't feel like walking to her room just to get a mask that would break anyway.

—————————————————————————

They made it to the main lobby, where the theme song was performed and adventures began. An unpleasant voice cracked through the mostly quiet area aside from the occasional talking from the others.

"Oh look at who decided to show up?" Jax remarked, looking over to Gangle and Zooble with his arms crossed, his usual, annoying smile plastered on his face.

Gangle just focused on her nightmare and felt too tired to argue. Zooble glared at him "What do you want, Jax?" she asked, their voice harsh and clearly agitated.

Jax chuckled, "Just making sure the clowns are ready for the show," he said, his eyes scanning over Gangle's form, noticing the lack of her comedy mask. "But it seems one of our tragedies forgot their face."

"Why does it matter?! Your just gonna break it anyway A$$#∆\3!" Zooble snapped, their frustration with Jax clear in their tone. They didn't appreciate his constant teasing and remarks, especially when she was obviously not feeling well.

Jax's smile widened "Now, now, Zooble, it's all just good and fun. All part of the show" He said getting closer to the mix and match toy's triangular head, his wide yellow smirk widening.

Gangle felt a twinge of anger, she's been easily irritated lately. She took a slightly trembling step forward, "Jax, please just leave us alone," she said, her voice a little more harsh than she thought it or intended to be.

Jax tilted his head slightly, his smirk never leaving his face. "Ah, so you do have a spine after all" he said, his voice mocking.

"HELLO! MY JUMPING CROCODILES!!! ARE YOU READY FOR TODAY'S WONDERFUL ADVENTURE!!!"

Caine's voice shot through the room, breaking any source of peace for anyone. Gangle felt a shiver run down her spine and she quickly grabbed Zoobles' hoove hand. She was still tired and the last thing she wanted was to face him today and discuss that dream.

"TODAY'S ADVENTURE WILL BE GOING UNDERGROUND INTO A MYSTICAL, MYSTERIOUS WORLD! YOU GUYS ARE THE DETECTIVES!" He said, his voice booming into everyone's ears.

"Haha, I guess you know what they say, When life gives you murderers, make a mystery novel!" Kaufmo jokes, though no one laughed.

"ALRIGHT EVERYONE INTO THE PORTAL YOU GO!" Caine's said as a portal appeared to take them onto their hell of an adventure. Gangle walked closer to Caine, she had to tell him about this, even if it scared her to do so. She would like to know what's going on and unfortunately, he knew more than anyone else in this digital world.

"C-Caine," she stammered, her ribbon body trembling slightly. "I need to talk to you."

Caine's tone didn't change from his usual cheerfulness. "But of course, my dear Gangle!" He said a little too loudly for Gangle's liking. He snapped his fingers and then they were in an office of sorts.

"Now, what seems to be the trouble?" He asked, spinning in his chair before leaning forward into his chair, his big eyes looking curious.

Gangle took a deep breath, her ribbons fluttering as she tried to gather the courage to speak.. "I had a nightmare," she started, her voice quivering. "It was about...about you. You were mad at me, and I was in this dark, scary place...I saw rainbow eyes and ...and"

"A nightmare you say?" Caine leaned back in his chair, thinking. "Would you like something to perhaps distract you from these nightmares?"

Gangle looked up at him with hesitation" that's not all ... I've been feeling....kinda weird lately and this nightmare just came out of nowhere...it feels connected" she admitted.

Caine's smile didn't fade. "Ah, yes, the mysteries of the circus, always keeping us on our tippity toes!" He clapped his hands together. "Well, I can assure you this could have a totally completely logical explanation!" He reassured her.

Gangle didn't quite buy it, plus she wanted answers not enthusiastic reassurance "Caine I've been vomiting... daily almost... I don't think that's normal..."

Caine's enthusiasm faded a bit, his eyes narrowing slightly. "Ah, yes... I've noticed! If you want we could do a code scan!"

Gangle felt a bit better knowing he took her seriously, "A...a code scan?" she repeated, hope glowing in her dark painted eyes.

"A code scan!" Caine repeated "In simple terms, it's a scan into the players systems and codes to ensure everything is running as it should!"

Gangle nodded slowly, "Okay...I guess that could help," she said, her voice still shaky.

"WONDERFUL!" He shouted before snapping his fingers, teleporting them into a room with a large machine, attached to a cylinder chamber of sorts, its kinda metal and dark, a stark contrast to the strange and colorful circus she had grown used to.

Gangle stared at the machine, "What...what is that?" She asked nervously.

"It's the Code Scan!" Caine exclaimed, his voice bouncing off the metal walls. "Don't worry, it's completely painless and safe! Well... almost.. flashing lights don't bother you right?"

"I don't par-" but before Gangle could finish, she was shoved into the chamber before the machine let out a loud beep, most likely the scan starting. Gangle winced, she was never good with loud noises, even before the circus. Soon enough lights began to flash, she felt like she was in one of those photo booths but it was never ending. She had to close her eyes to prevent a headache.

The lights stopped and the beeping ceased. Gangle felt relieved as she opened her eyes. The room was spinning slightly, she felt a bit dizzy.

"Alright, let me see what we got here," Caine said, his voice a little less enthusiastic as he studied the screen attached to the machine. Gangle stepped out, her ribbon legs wobbling under her slightly.

The room grew eerily quiet as Caine's eyes scanned the results. He furrowed his digital brows. "Hmm, this is not exactly right," he murmured to himself.

"What is it?" Gangle's voice was shaky. She was already on edge, and the anticipation added with fear was killing her.

Caine's eyes darted back and forth over the data. "It seems your code has a little bug, which can easily be solved!"

Gangle's heart rate slowed down a little at the words. "A bug?" she questioned.

Caine nodded, his smile back in place, though it didn't quite reach his eyes. "Yes, a bug," he said, his voice returning his enthusiasm "It seems a simple glitch developed in your code, but it can easily go away on its own!"

Gangle felt a little relief wash over her but she felt a little skeptical but decided not to question it "you s-sure?"

Caine nodded his head, "Absolutely!" He said, swinging his Caine. "You just need to keep on doing what you're doing, and the glitch should disappear soon"

Gangle felt a little better but still uneasy. She didn't know if she could trust him. She wanted to believe him but she wasn't sure if this was just a bug, besides a glitch developing within her sounded like a serious but hopefully Caine was right and it would fix itself.

"Now, let's get back to the fun!" Caine exclaimed, his enthusiasm snapping back into place like a lego piece attaching to another piece. They teleported them out of the room, not giving her much time to think or ask more questions.

[bloodgulchblog]

Alright fuck it, s2e1 liveblog.

I'm watching this with people later so the goal is just to get through it enough to sate my impatience, so I'm back to ye olde standby of watching it at high speed with subtitles on. (...Only I guess I'm gonna be slowed down by making comments, huh?)

Spoilers and uncharitable opinions and unfunny jokes will follow.

Not going to talk about stuff in the episode opener until it comes back bc there's not enough to say anything about.

5 minutes in and we're already doing whatever this is huh?

6:30 - Alright okay, fuck, Vannak took his spine pellet out and gets to have one (1) personality trait and it's animal facts and I kind of don't hate that. TV Chief is very unlikable but characters like Kai and Vannak playing the angle of having very youthful quirks bc having emotions is new is cute.

~10:00 - I have nothing to say yet about spooky shapes in the fog but I think this shot of Chief back to back with a marine is fun. Also I wonder if Corporal Perez (this character) will still matter 5 minutes from now.

Also looks like the foggy sword fight from the trailer is here, too difficult to get any kind of cap that doesn't suck out loud. I'm thinking about how I heard someone making a big deal about how Season 2 feels "less like a video game" (whatever that means), meanwhile "fog full of stealth sword guys trying to kill you" feels very very video game level.

~13:00 - Man, and I really thought that sword fighting stuff in the trailer was a solid indicator they were dragging Thel 'Vadamee into this mess. Hey guys look, Arbiter's in this season. 4,000 of him!

Additionally, if a bunch of people decide this is a ship the fandom owes me twenty dollars.

~15:00 - Congrats to Perez for surviving five minutes. Also, we're still doing whatever this is:

16 minutes in we finally get the show's opener. (It has the Halo in it now, I don't think it was there before but let's be perfectly honest it's not like I cared a lot.)

~17:30 or something, reminded once again that a lot of people are attracted to this actor

Also guess what, Keyes is an Admiral now I guess????

Do we think he still gets to get eaten by the Flood eventually? Do we think the Flood will even be in here? Place ur bets at the counter.

Anyway, they're basically diving into a big timeskip here where a bunch of planets have been glassed since last season (including Madrigal). This whole AU is weird to the bone in terms of how its timeline is shaking out.

Anyway anyway, aww here we go

"I'm not here to replace Dr Halsey, I'm here because I believe in you!"

Ohhhhh he knows all the Spartans' names already, ohhhhh they want the audience to like this mf so bad, they want it to be such a tweest that he sucks shit-

Moving right along, at 22:30 we have the Rubble having a crowd decide whether various refugees should be spaced or taken into indentured servitude, because of course we do.

tl;dw the nebbish redhead knows where Catherine Halsey is and there's a big bounty out for her and he's trying to use it as a bargaining chip to not die and everyone thinks that's very funny, also Soren is here. I guarantee he decides to go after her, but first we have to have a scene cut back to whatever TV Chief is doing.

Man I'm really noticing they haven't shown the weird ridged rubber tech suit yet this episode, I wonder if they decided to replace it.

Anyway here's Perez, I still think they want people to start shipping:

Then Jimmy Rings has a meeting with tv show's new guy they want you to like so bad.

Also he says "The O-N-I" like a complete tool. (This is how you know he sucks.)

And while I'm talking trash about him: Ackerson stop flirting, didn't they tell you nobody's allowed to be gay in Halo? Get your shit together.

Thus ends the dream of the funniest possible universe where we just had Cortana: The Show forever. Someone get the penny whistle. My heart will not go on. 😢

Fuck, I was doing timestamps, right? I'm like half an hour in.

THEY STILL WANT YOU TO THINK ACKERSON CARES, BY THE WAY, IN CASE YOU DID NOT NOTICE

They're laying this on so thick so fast there's no way he's not a shitweasel in this AU, but also that would be the funniest possible thing to me.

(If anyone ships this, the fandom owes me forty dollars and therapy.)

ANYWAY... Action figure time. (Remember to boycott Jazwares!)

Soren's kid is playing with a MASTER CHIEF ACTION FIGURE and being weird, meanwhile Soren's wife is calling him out on shit and reminding him that refugees being turned away is, you know, bad.

Congrats to Soren's wife for continuing to be the most unexpectedly sympathetic supporting character I guess, but they made Soren so unlikable off the 1st season it's hard for me to feel investment of any kind here.

35 minutes in: the Spartans are watching a space TV broadcast. They have Ca-ADMIRAL. Admiral. Admiral Keyes presenting the Colonial Cross to Corporal Perez for blah blah blah you saw the start of the episode. The shape of the ceremony and the hovering tv drone thing are obvious H2 references.

(Does this mean Perez is our Sergeant Johnson now? Vote with your phones.)

Get your face out of here, Ackerson, I know what you are.

Oh god there's another team of Spartans (Cobalt) and having adult Spartan-IIs call each other names like children is fucking weird.

Aaaaand tumblr is capping the number of images I can post here and I'm still only about half way done. Fuck. I am not doing this this way for Episode 2 I can promise you that.

(Also hey look the tech suit is back, I guess Silver Team doesn't use it so much anymore to show you they're more human now or whatever?)

[abbythewritor]

"Fairness." OnePiece x Saitama reader, 5.

"Just a Normal girl looking for an everyday life. At least, if you call sailing across the seas with idiots with useless dreams a simple task, then you might wanna see a doctor. Seriously."

Warnings: Blood, gore, mentions of Luekimia, and heaps amount of blood and strength. It might be a little cursing, but not bad, and maybe some flirting in there, but it's mostly clean.

Other things:

-You didn't get bald due to your powers; you got bald to an extreme illness.

-You part of the straw hat crew, but others are interested in you and your power.

-Everyone that is a male is taller than you.

-Monsters from the OPM world will appear in One Piece, and I'll make some new monsters you will fight.

Enjoy the fifth chapter everyone!!!!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Alright, here's the plan!"

Everyone was surrounding Jimbei as we were closer to Marineford. I was still sitting by Crocodile as everyone else rang us three. "We are headed to the marine headquarters to rescue Ace! It will be dangerous, so we must keep our guard up!" He explained as Buggy whipped towards him. "HEY WAIT A MINUTE!! NAVY HQ?!! I KNOW THAT YOU GUYS KNOW ABOUT THE WAR BETWEEN WHITEBOARD AND THE NAVY! BUT WE DON'T NEED TO GET INVOLVED!!" He snapped, others nodding with agreement, which made Crocodile sigh with reply. "It's obvious. It's your fault for being so clueless." "WHAT?!" Buggy screeched as Crocodile continued. "We passed through the gate of justice. That means our destination must be either the Navy HQ or Enies Lobby. The tub current that we're on is exclusive to the Government. It's a giant whirlpool that connects the Government's 3 significant facilities. We wanted to break out because we have a role in the war." He finished, as I nodded. "He's right; even if we tried to get out of here, tides, which I've heard of, will only keep us in this circle, which would be hard to escape anyway. "

Mister Three and Buggie's eyes grew wide, their tongues coming out as Luffy nodded to our statement. "Yeah. The real fight is on its way."

"THE REAL FIGHT IS ON ITS WAY?!" The two snapped, as everyone else didn't know about this Buggy, and Mister Three pleaded with Jimbei to stop the ship, but they didn't understand that we were on a current. "We can't stop! We are on the current!" Jimbei replied as my head tilted. "Why can't you guys just jump off?" The two whipped to me angrily. "WE CAN'T. DEVIL FRUIT USERS LIKE US WILL DIE INSTANTLY!!" My head tilted more. "Really? Even just swimming?" Mister One stood beside me, crossing his arms. "Devil fruit users can't swim in the water; we'll just sink to the bottom." I nodded. "I see, so I guess you guys are going to the war after all." "SHUT UP!" The two snapped again, and I giggled as Jimbei continued with the plan.

The way he described the White beart pirates, the marines, and the warlords seemed pretty thorough, as they sounded solid.

This world never ceased to amaze me, wondering who I was going to fight next, what allies I was going to make, and even what outcome to arrive.

But, listening to Jimbeis plan more and more, I couldn't help but get excited, as there would be enemies just as powerful as I, which meant a fair fight would be coming my way very soon.

After a couple more minutes of discussing the plan, one of the snail things rang, and it caught my attention. "Oi, I think something is ringing." Everyone heard it too, as Luffy and everyone looked around

Soon enough, Luffy landed his eyes on a pillar with a door, and everyone besides Crocodile, Jimbei, and Mister One ran that way.

Smashing through the wall, I grabbed out a snail with a phone on it. Everyone's eyes widened. "A-A snail transponder!" I looked at it confusingly, as Mister three walked to me. "Don't answer it! We are ona marine ship!" Luffy stood on the other side of me, as he looked at it blankly, buggy soon in front of me as us four, and the criminals looked at it more. But, as Luffy was getting inpatient, he simple picked it up, and answered it. "Hello?" "HE ANSWERED IT!!!" "This is Navy HQ."

"Ah, I'm Luffy." I nod. "And I'm Y/n." Everyone was shocked. "DON'T GIVE YOUR NAMES LIKE THAT!!"

"We know that the ship has been taken by escapees. We received a report from Fleet Escort Force at Impel Down. We determined who the two main suspects of this great escape case were...from, the insider information before contact was lose. Monkey D Luffy, and a rather larger, yet strong female!" Everyone surrounding us was shocked. "Y-Y/n-san is a suspect! But there warlords here!" A criminal yelled. "Yeah! She's to cute to be a suspect!" One of them replied, as we listened further as the marine continued, telling us how Buggy was also apart of Gold D Rogers crew, a friend of the current yonko shanks, as well as he had the same plan as Luffy to free ace, as he was freaking out.

The marine also told us that we would never get through the gates into Marineford, as we will be instantly shot down, as he explained there was no sea for us to escape an Live on to.

I was getting a little iterated from this marine guy. "Oi, Marine guy." My voice spoke, as he hummed with response. "I don't know how tough you marines are, but you guys are seriously getting on my nerves." Everyone's eyes jolted open. "EH?!" "You seriously think your little talk will make us back down? Ace is an important person, a man at the wrong time, and to think you Idiots arrested him for only wanting freedom and Justice for his murdered crewmate? Pow pathetic.." Crocodile smirked, both him and Mister one looking my way from the Cannon, as everyone's mouth couldn't close or speak. "We are going to rescue Ace, even if it gets us killed, because everyone in the world, weak or strong, deserves freedom, and fairness." I finished, shutting the snail thing off, and throwing it off the ship, into the water, causing the pirates to slump, as Mister three grabbed my shoulders. "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?! WITH SUCH A PEDIGREE HOW COULD YOU BE SO DIRTY?!" "My, My, seems like we have a pickle, but we shouldn't be blaming Y/n-san after all, as we all want justice in this world." Ivanka spoke, as Luffy nodded. "Yes, that's correct, but hey Buggy, I already knew you used to be apart of Rogers crew, but, the old man, rayleigh, told me that you and Shanks grew up together." Buddy came out of nowhere. "RAYLEIGH?! YOU'VE MET HIM?!" He asked with a smile, then continued. "I miss Vice Captain! Where'd you see him?!" He asked, as everyone was shocked they were talking about a man known as "Dark King" as I was just even more confused, but didn't want to question it. But, as Luffy tried to explain, the idiot pirates surrounded Buggy more, Praising him for being so strong, as Buggy was just as confused, but took in the compliments and held a proud smile. I sighed, shaking my head with a smile on my lips as well, as the air suddenly changed, which made everyone to look, as my eyes then widened.

A large marine base, just in the distance, which might be the area where the war is going on, as Smoke was arising from the far.

"THAT'S IT EVERYONE! MARINEFORD!" Jimbei yelled, as me and Luffy ran next to him, all of us soon standing on our feet as we were getting closer.

A small smile pressed against my lips, as my fist clenched slightly. 'Hold on Ace..' I thought, looking to Luffy, then back to the base.

'Your fairness will soon come.'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"W-What happened?! It stopped moving!!" Well, you and everyone were about too arrive to marine base, until a giant ass tsunami decided to show up.

As Jimbei made the ship ride up it, the water of the storm froze, as the marine ship, and all of you were now sitting on it, not moving a muscle.

You were shocked, as you were beside Ivanka and Jimbei, as Buggy also looked over the edge, not believing his eyes either. "W-WHAT THE HELL?! THE SHIP HAS ICED IN AND WE'RE COMPLETELY TRAPPED!!!" Jimbei looked at it thoroughly, as he already knew what the cause of the water freezing is done by. Crocodile was off the ship, as he went to the edge of the frozen water, as he was able to see the war going on. "Look down." He spoke, turning to us. "You can see what's going on."

Jimbei and Ivanka hopped down, Luffy following as he picked me up, bringing me down with him as we both looked at well.

"Old man..." Jimbei mumbled, as Ivanka gulped. "The war has already begun..."

My brows furrowed with seeing so much death and destruction below, as most of it was done by the said marines.

Looking around more, my eyes landed on Ace, who was on the execution platform as a giant ogre was dead before him. "It all makes sense." I looked to Jimbei, who was still looking down. "The title wave was whitebeard, declaring war himself as the freezing of it was done by Admiral Aokiji..." "I see" I looked back down. "Both sides seem to have powerful fighters...it's a matter of time when Ace gets executed...how do we get down?" "EVERYONE LISTEN!" Luffy yelled his hands on his hips. "I got an idea to get us through this!" He announced as we all had ears until I held up my hand. "Luffy, wait, I got an idea; everyone would have to brace themselves, though." He paused, and everyone looked at me. "The only way we need to go is down, and the only way to do that with the ship stuck is to break the ice." "N-NANI?!" Buggy and Mister Three yelled, as Luffy nodded. "Right! We only have a little time or know what's going on since the snail thing is gone, so we must hurry!!" I nodded. "Leave it to me!" Soon enough, I jumped super high in the air as some pirates gasped with awe; getting high enough, I took a deep breath before launching back down, my fist punching the ice, which broke instantly but also exploded.

The loud noise caused the war to stop below, as the warlords, marines, Ace, Admrials, and Whitebeard pirates were all confused about what was happening.

That was until a marine pointed up. "LOOK! An explosion!" Garp and Sengoku, who were with Ace, looked up, as Did Whitebeard and everyone else, as the ship we all were on was falling, with the team who escaped impel down as well. Ace was utterly shocked, as Buggy and everyone except me, Crocodile, and Mister One were screaming. "YOU IDIOT GIRL!! SOME OF US CAN'T SWIM YOU KNOW!!!" My eyes rolled. "It's all ground, Buggy-sama, you'll be fine-" "WE WON'T BE FINE IF WE ALL CRASH AND DIE!!" Mister Three added, as all of is continued to fall, as Ace saw Luffy, his eyes widening, but he saw you as well, even more shocked. "L-Luffy.....T-The c-cutie..." He mumbled as we didn't land exactly where we wanted to, near Whitebeard's ship, as a loud 'crash!' noise surrounded the area, and smoke and pieces from the marine ship flew everywhere.

No one knew what was going on, as I coughed persuasively, Jimbei offered me a hand up as I accepted and looked to Crocodile. "Are you ok?!" He nodded, dusting himself off, as I looked to Mister One, who also nodded.

Jimbei brought Luffy, Mister Three, and Buggy up from sinking in the ocean as they coughed rapidly.

Exhausted, Buggy couldn't stand anymore as he barely made it, as Luffy stood beside you. "A-Ace! W-Were are you, Ace!!" He yelled, coughing from almost drowning, as I knelt to him. "Hey, take it easy; we'll get to him. You'll need to get the water out of your lungs first-" I paused when Luffy stood up, shocked as he saw the execution platform in the distance, Ace on it who looked our way with disbelief.

I looked at him, smiling that they hadn't executed him yet, as Luffy took a big breath before yelling. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAACCCCCCCCCCEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!" He screamed at the top of his lungs, everyone in the war hearing him as the fire fists eyes started to water. "LUFFYYY!!!" HE screamed back, as Luffy smiled, not worried at all, and he got into stance. "Hang on, Ace! I'll-" He paused when the others stood beside us, Buggy awake, as Crocodile was on the other side of Me, Ivanka on the other side of Luffy as Jimbei and Mister One were beside her, as Mister. Three beside Crocodile, as well as Buggy.

"W-Wait a minute.." One of the Marines spoke, looking at a crocodile. "C-Crocodile!?" Another Marine gulped. "Not just him, there's more!" Ivanka chuckled, a smirk forming her lips. "All forces are here on both sides! There are a lot of big names!" She spoke as Buggy laughed, his arms going out. "The world's got to be ready for it!" I smirked at their comments, excitement rolling through my veins as Luffy got into position, looking straight at Ace. "Ace, we're coming to rescue you!!" The team was shown as Sengoku gritted his teeth angrily, whipping to Garp. "GARP IT'S YOUR STUPID FAMILY AGAIN!" Garp couldn't believe it also, as both his hands grabbed his head. "LUFFY NO!!"

"Look! I-It's not only the straw hat!" A marine spoke, looking at Jimbei, Me, and Ivanka." I-It's Jimbei and Ivankov! of the Revolutionaries army! A-And that girl! It was described on the escape report at Impel down!"

Another one gulped. "Y-You mean the cute one they were describing?! She doesn't look like a pirate at all! But look at all of these infamous pirates behind them, too!" The pirates joining us roared with fighting spirit as we looked at another tall, handsome man...his yellow daring eyes like a haw, a red/black hat onto his head, which matched his vampire-like look, his pale skin which complimented his slick black hair, as he looked to Luffy and me. "He always causes trouble...Straw Hat....bringing a regular girl into this is foolish, especially when she doesn't look like anything special." A tall, creepy creature shrieked with anger. "STRAW HAT!!"

A familiar pink-haired and blonde-haired male was also shocked to see Luffy watching from a distance. "He's so tough!" The pink-ette spoke, the blonde boy about to faint.

The Admirals were also watching as a familiar pineapple-like man looked at him. "He's the brother that Ace was talking about, Yoi. But I' curious Yoi on who that girl is, Yoi."

"So jimbei, you working with pirates now, huh?! What kind of switch off is that-" "That's right." Jimbei spoke. "I resign from the warlord position..." Sengkoku growled angrily as he and Garp knew we all had a common goal.

Crocodile was looking around, his eyes landing on Whitebeards's ship, his brows furrowing with irritation as he bolted, as I was confused why.

But, I saw him hurry to Whitbeard's ship, as he mentioned on defeating him, but...I don't think he can, because I think that old man means so much to Ace...I need to follow him.

As all kinds of destruction surrounded Whitebeards's ship, he only glanced at the scenery, letting out growls, and stood proud. "Long time no see Whitebeard...."

Crocodile's voice was familiar to the old man as he sighed. "You never learn..do you?" Crocodile didn't say anything but was irritated as he was about to attack him until a hand roughly grabbed his hook, launching him away.

I landed safely behind the old man, The debris coming from the ship crocodile flew towards some marines, as they ducked for cover.

Crocodile was irritated with you as he looked down to see you have water on you.

I was looking at you with a blank face, my fists clenching. "Even though the agreement has been fulfilled... it's pretty stupid to go After a man who means so much to Ace..." I snarled, and he looked surprised as I already knew his weakness. "Then why are you protecting him when he's a stranger to you, Miss Y/n-san...?" His question didn't affect me as I looked up from the floor to him. "Because...no matter who's going after who, if the enemy senses to kill someone who has done nothing wrong yet....I'd strive to take them down..." I firmly stated as Marco was eager with my words, as he looked up at the ship from behind him.

But, as Crocodile was about to move again, some members of the old man's crew blocked him from moving, as Whitebeard glared down at me.

He didn't see anything special about me, not knowing how a small, larger girl like me was able to dodge a whitebeard attack.

My clothing was odd too; black/red checkered pants hugged my curves, and I had a little tank-crop top on, I didn't have any shoes or socks on, as my clothes looked ripped and damaged.

"Oi...brat.." He spoke as I turned to him. "Oh, yes?" "You could block Crocodiles' attempt to condemn me....what was your reason?" "Because Ace says you mean so much to him, that's what." His eyebrows rose with slight surprise. "You knew Ace?" I nod. "Only for like 5 hours...until they took him here. He seems like a really nice and caring guy; it makes me pissed on how he got to this point...people like him don't deserve this kind of hatred." "And you came here to rescue him...with his brother...correct?" I nodded sternly. "Yes, sir!" He glared harshly at me. "DO YOU KNOW WHO YOU'RE MESSING WITH?!" He asked louder, as the ground rumbled, but it didn't bother me, as he lifted his staff, soon slamming it on the ground, as again, it caused the earth to rumble. "A little girl like you would be dead meat!" He spoke again, as Ivankov and Buggy had fear on their faces, and my fists started to clench. "Shut up!"I snarled, looking straight up at you. "First of all, I'm not little; second, you're a fucking bastard to think that a girl can't fight!! You don't even know me!! I just saved your ass, and this is how you repay me?! And you call yourself a Yonko!!" I screamed. Buggy and Ivanka's eyes widened more with shock as they couldn't believe your words, and he glared down at me. "Your crew member, the boy you care about most, is up on that platform, about to die any minute...It's not up to you to decide who and who doesn't get to fight!! I know exactly what you are up to; Ace told me you would become king of the pirates, Right?! That's not happening because Luffy told me he wants to become King of the Pirates. I have full faith that Luffy will achieve that goal!! And you wanna know what else?! I'll do everything in my power to save Ace... BECAUSE EVERYONE IN THIS WORLD GETS PICKED ON, THE STRONG DESERVE FAIRNESS IN THIS WORLD!!" I screamed, my voice booming as the pirates, marines, and the team had their arms up in the air, their mouths open wide enough to hit the floor, as I just stood up to Whitebeard, not showing any fear whatsoever. Your words struck Whitebeard hard as a low groan escaped his mouth.

He and you glared harshly at each other, veins popping out of both of your heads as you prepared for him to fight you, until he lifted his staff again, slamming it on the ground harder this time, as you didn't flinch...until a smile spread to the Yonkos lips, impressed with your bravery. "I like you...kid...what's your name..?" I let my guard down. "Y/n L/n's, sir!" I responded, his eyes looking down at me. "You have strong hope of strength, Y/n....a great ability on the battlefield. I won't forgive you if you cause me trouble...understand?" I nodded sternly, facing forward to Ace. "No problem, just don't get in my way." Everyone still had wide eyes and mouths, as they couldn't believe I was simply talking to Whitebeard, my 'hair' blowing in the wind. "I-I can't believe this girl.." Ivanka spoke as Buggy gulped. "S-She just..."

"STOOD UP TO A YONKO!!!!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[opalimagines]

Home Is Where I Want To Be (But I Guess I'm Already There)

An alien invasion interrupts the JSA's Homecoming, but you and Rick still get to have your dance

Rick Tyler/gn!reader

Warnings: None

Inspired by the story in Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. because that would've been fun to see in the show. The first two lines are directly from it.

"We'll be back!"

Courtney stood with Cosmo in her hand, her deep blue dress torn in more than a few places, curly hair whipping in the wind as the spaceship went back to where it came from. "That's what they all say."

Leaning into Rick's side, both for emotional and physical support, you watched the ship streak through the sky. "Who else had 'stopping an alien invasion' on their JSA bingo card?"

Jakeem and Mike both raised their hands.

"Is everyone okay?" Beth asked as her goggles did a quick scan of each of you. "Rick, you got hit pretty hard."

"I'm good." His ribs ached a bit, but he'd had much worse. The suit he wore was in rougher shape than he was, unfortunately. So much for wearing it to prom. Rick gave you a look. He'd noticed you limping a bit towards the end of the fight, and he could feel that you weren't putting much weight on that foot.

He didn't have to speak for you to know what he was asking. "Just a sprain, I think. I'll live." That didn't stop him from offering to carry you, but you decided to suffer the walk back with your team.

The JSA made their way out of the woods and towards the school, with your nice clothes ripped and dirty, and leaves and twigs stuck in your hair. But knowing how these things usually went, your fellow students probably wouldn't even care enough to notice the state you all were in. They never noticed any of the weird stuff going on in Blue Valley. They would be happy that the creepy substitute teachers from the last week were finally gone, but they would never realize that the losers—and Cindy—saved them all from being turned into blue, pointy-eared aliens.

"I thought the dance would be over by now," Yolanda said as she heard the faint music coming from the gym.

You'd already written off the idea of getting to have a nice Homecoming with your boyfriend the moment you got zapped and turned into a Laroonian, but it sounded like there was a chance left. "Hey, we can still have our dance."

"Your ankle's hurt." Rick held you a little closer to his side. "We should get you home and put some ice on it."

"One dance? Please?"

"Yeah, going in for one dance won't hurt, right?" Jakeem asked, taking a step closer to Cindy.

She rolled her eyes, but there was an underlying fondness. "In your dreams."

Courtney and Cameron were already walking towards the gym entrance hand in hand, followed by Beth and Yolanda. You smiled at Rick, hoping he'd be willing to salvage the rest of the night. He smiled back and led you to the dance.

As everyone made their way inside, the sound of Time After Time poured from the speakers, and you were even sadder about missing most of the dance when you remembered the 80's theme. All of your friends splintered off to dance or grab some punch, leaving you and Rick there.

Rick offered his hand to you, and you pulled him onto the dance floor, beaming. He laid his hands on your hips, and you wound your arms around his neck, not leaving any space to speak of. If only he had time left on his hourglass, he could lift you up off the floor with ease, but he hoped a slow dance wouldn't cause you much pain. You didn't mind it anyway as you rested your head against him with a soft sigh.

"I'm sorry the night didn't go like we planned." He wrapped his arms around you, and the song changed to This Must Be The Place. Though it was a little more upbeat, neither of you moved much.

"Things not going as planned is a given with what we do. I'm just glad we're here now. And that I'm not an alien anymore." You didn't want to think about the horror as your body changed, or as you felt your mind start to slip when it changed, too. It was over.

"I don't know, blue's a good color on you."

"Stooop!"

He chuckled, but in reality, he'd been scared as hell when you, Courtney, and Mike were transformed, even more so when you all turned on the rest of the team. Before Beth got the DNA ray fixed, he worried that the three of you were stuck that way. No longer yourselves.

As you pulled back and looked at him in the flashing lights, you felt the same. Your life had been weird long before you ever met him or your friends, but you never minded it much. Having people like your father, Jack, the O'Dares, the JSA, and Rick, of course, in your life always made all the crazy totally worth it.

But you were there. You were you again, happily wrapped up in his arms and content with his terrible dancing. If only the two of you could've had a normal Homecoming and done even more of it. You were right, though. Things never really went according to plan, and your lives were anything but normal. He wouldn't have it any other way.

He continued to sway slowly, his eyes not leaving yours. In spite of most of the school being packed into the gym, it really just felt like you and him alone.

Home is where I want to be

But I guess I'm already there

I come home, she lifted up her wings

I guess that this must be the place

I can't tell one from another

Did I find you or you find me?

There was a time before we were born

If someone asks, this is where I'll be, where I'll be

"I love you," he said quietly, only for you to hear. It was the first time he said those three words in the near year you'd been dating, but he'd known for a while. He felt it every time you kissed him, every time you laughed, every time you held him when he needed it most. He should've said it sooner, but a little part of him had been afraid to say it first in case you weren't ready.

Until he almost lost you.

Luckily, you didn't miss a beat. "I love you, too."

Rick leaned a little closer, the corner of his mouth quirked. "Yeah?"

"Absolutely."

The word barely escaped before you were closing the remaining distance and capturing his lips with yours. There was a whole crowd, including the chaperones that were meant to discourage this type of thing, but you didn't care. And clearly, Rick didn't either, because he kissed you back with just as much passion.

Your fingers played with the hair at the nape of his neck as you broke the kiss, grinning at him in the colorful light. Your ankle was already feeling just fine due to your quick healing, but you'd suddenly had enough dancing. "You were right. We should go home and rest. Take a nice hot shower, put on a movie, cuddle..."

"Sounds good to me," Rick said, planting a kiss on your forehead.

The two of you snuck back out of the gym, and the moment you stepped outside, Rick scooped you up bridal style, making you laugh as he carried you over to his Mustang.

Even when things didn't go the way they were meant to, they could still be perfect.