#anyway these two are SO sibling coded. with all the drama that comes along with it

[loriane-elmuerto]

—WIP FRIDAY (whatever we ride)

got tagged by the lovelies @imogenkol and @d-esmond to share the latest and hottest i'm working on, thank you so much!!! 🥰🥰 warning: it's long

a little character study ft @shellibisshe's amazing oc Blythe <3

gonna tag (taglist to opt in/out for future content if you want!):

@viktorgf, @ghostfvcker, @roofgeese, @queennymeria, @florbelles, @jackiesarch, @risingsh0t, @countessrooster, @lucky-107, @unholymilf, @cryptcombat, @cptcassian, @thedeadthree, @carrionsflower, @frankwoods, @shadowglens, @sigmatiqvevo, @auricfog

There are several facts that can be treated as an undisputed and universal truth about the residents of the Lighthouse.

Firstly, Blythe Mercar has a soft spot for her friends. A couple of days prior, Jehan had very sweetly (read: dropping some key phrases such as "I'd be happy if you'd keep me company" and "we haven't had a chance to spend time together, just the two of us") asked the woman to accompany them to the Hossberg Wetlands in order to check on the surviving Grey Wardens. Blythe couldn't say no, there was something out there that made her fond of those dark and terrifying bogs.

Which is how she found herself sitting in the Lighthouse kitchen at the earliest hours of the morning, with dawn barely breaking out. Blythe, personally, would've preferred to wake up at least an hour or two later, but Jehan noted that their work may last through the entire day, and they did not want to get stuck in the bogs at nightfall.

The fireplace in front of her was casting a comforting, easy warmth, definitely not helping with the current dilemma of catching a few more winks or staying awake at all costs. Listening to the crackle of the wood, Blythe felt her mind slowly drifting. Maybe, if she breathes deep and closes her eyes for a minute, she'll—

"Mind if I join you, Rook?"

There goes that dream.

With her mind still trying to catch up to her, the mage slowly turned her head to the side, only to see Lucanis standing beside her, seemingly right after morning exercises, with a fresh cup of that hot chocolate drink in his hands. Which was now extended to her as a peace offering for disturbing her... Meditation. Allowing some of the frown to ease away from her forehead, Blythe took the cup and focused her attention to the fireplace once more. Lucanis took that as a sign of approval and sat down on the chair closest to her.

As the silence stretched on, the woman started to believe this would be their only interaction today, which was more than enough for her.

Unfortunately.

"Is there a problem between us?" Blythe had to physically restrain herself from rolling her eyes and groaning in response.

The second universal truth is that Lucanis Dellamorte has atrocious timing.

Seeing how the man was not planning to leave his spot any time soon, the mage decided to indulge his little interrogation.

"Is there?"

"You tell me. I've been on the receiving end of this... Attitude," Lucanis made a sweeping gesture with his free hand, "Ever since we met. We cannot be in the same room because you choose to leave every time I'm visiting someone else. And I've overheard what you've mentioned about me to the others, especially within my earshot." Blythe spared a glare in his direction and this did not escape the assassin's attention. "The walls can become thin when they want to be."

Rook could not deny these words. All of this had happened and more than once, from the moment they said their greetings, right until now.

But he was not the only wounded party here. Taking a sip of the hot chocolate, her eyes remaining fixed on the fire, she spat back, "And you did not hesitate, even once, to criticize me, in my face, around other people as well. Especially when we're out on the field. If I recall, your words were "impatient, impulsive, a danger to herself and others if left unchecked". Takes one to know one, doesn't it?"

Silence fell once more between them. Judging by the way Lucanis's head slowly lowered besides her, Blythe decided she won this duel. Was it a low blow? For a bystander, perhaps. To her, it was an equal swing, one of many they've been trading for months now. Seemingly, the intimate brush with death did little to change their opinions.

"I'm just trying to look out for you, you know."

Well that was unexpected.

The mage mentally patted herself on the back for not flinching in reaction to his confession.

"You're doing a shit job at it, then."

Lucanis was not quick to answer. He knew he had to choose his next words carefully. Otherwise, this relationship would not be one that can be salvaged any longer.

"I know. I've never been... Good with words, and I will be the first person to admit it. But I do not wish you ill, Blythe. Outside of the Lighthouse walls, I trust your abilities, and I always try to look out for you, just as I do for the others. Including Davrin, because I can see how important he is to you." The last sentence was a gamble on his part, and yet Lucanis dared to look at his companion, to see openly what her reaction will be.

In truth, Blythe did not have it in her to actually hate the man. Was he a nuisance and a daily annoyance? Unfortunately, for him, he was.

However, there was a truth to his words. Blythe had taken notice that Lucanis played no favorites, despite swirling rumors suggesting otherwise. More than once, she had found herself saved from a deadly enemy strike thanks to his keen eye and quick calls on the battlefield, not to mention his deadly abilities and swift daggers, always striking true. The woman would rather be caught dead than admit it out loud, but she has come to see Lucanis as an older sibling, who didn't hesitate to push her to her limits. Never out of sheer malice, always worried in his own, indecipherable way. The whetstones he bought her during one of his many trips to Treviso with Isadora was also in active use. The man always had an eye for quality.

Maker, why did she agree to this discussion at this hour?

After a few precious heartbeats, Rook met Lucanis's look with one of her own.

"Listen, I... Appreciate your efforts Lucanis, and I have noticed them, for whatever it's worth. But this discussion we're having right now? It happened because you decided to take a swing at me, and I will always swing lower. So if you want for us to not "have a problem", something needs to change with both of us, not just me."

Lucanis could physically feel a weight dropping from his chest. His relationship with Blythe has been a topic on his mind even before Aldonza demanded for the team to get their act together following the tragedy of Weisshaupt, yet he could not find the right words or the right time to approach her. And, if he was being honest with himself, he was afraid of the outcome.

"I agree. Here's to a better communication between us," Lucanis raised his cup, and Blythe met it with hers in the middle with a quiet clink.

Hearing the armoured footsteps approaching the dining room's doors, Blythe downed the remainder of her drink, set the cup on the table, and got up from her seat. Looking one last time at the assassin, she muttered a low "Thanks for this."

And she was off.

[bumpycap]

thinking about my old best friend

.

like every time I think about her I gotta think more on it, I'm pretty sure her and her two siblings all had crushes on me at some point

gonna describe these suspicions and stuff here, might be a long one(code words as usual)

.

I remember some drama happening, and after it I think me and Wallaby were sitting out in a field next to eachother. It was summer and over in a visible parking lot there were a group of pretty girls in like tank tops and stuff. Wallaby pointed them out blatently, she said "Those girls are hot, right?" I think she glanced between me and the girls as well?

Me being me, I... said something along the lines of "Yeah? I guess?? It's literally summer???"

I was later told by by ex best friend that Wallaby definitely initially had a crush on me. Wallaby was probably gauging on if I was into girls or not.

Ex best friend's explanation made a whole lot more sense, as when Wallaby left the state, she hugged me as if I would disappear at any moment, looked me in the eyes, and said "I will come back for you."

Wallaby was probably a fumble on my part now that I'm typing this out.

.

Ocelot(...Clouded Leopard? I don't know, couldn't find an animal that felt right.), he was brief because he was years older. He didn't know my age at the time of suspected crushing(although we were both minors at the time, dw). He hugged me a lot, excited tight hugs like how I think a puppy would. The event happened before he transitioned(it wouldn't have happened otherwise, as he would have been placed in the guys room.)

But the hint event was... I had a thing at the time when if I didn't want to respond, I just stood like a statue, not moving, not blinking. I did this enough times that Ex best friend and Ocelot got used to it, but was irritated. I froze for one of the last times, and he threatened to kiss me if I didn't move. I thought it was a joke, an empty threat, so I let him get closer, closer, closer. It wasn't a joke. Just before he would have ended up kissing me, I panicked and slapped him as hard as I could across the face. :)

It was honestly so funny at the time lol.

Anyways I feel quite bad for him and Wallaby, for reasons I won't say.

.

Okay onto the ex best friend, Bunny.

First bit of friendship was great, then we got to being best friends. Talked about most everything, being competitive with eachother, gushed about our hyperfixation at the time(Undertale, she had a hyperfixation and got over it, mine turned into special interest territory.)

We got more comfy with eachother, bad jokes, me always teasing her about being short and calling her Rabbit or Bunny. She bit and kicked me a lot during and after comfy stage. Her bites hurt, and she wore steel toed boots so ofc that hurt like hell as well.

Then I got to her like sharing the same bed with me no questions, sharing lunch with her, etc. (At the beginning of this, she was great, but then got progressively worse with hygiene and stuff.) Then she came out to me as bi, albeit I think nervously? Anyways.

She started clinging to me when scared, getting nervous and flustered when I tried changing in the same area as her, we held hands as we fell asleep once.

I called her Bunny a lot of the time, and she called me her Knight (In Shining Armor not always included).

Anyways middle of the friendship she started getting stinkier and political, at one point she convinced me COVID shots 'changed your DNA so that if you die they can't recognize the DNA'(I was gullible and trusted her.) I found out she basically only willingly took showers if she was like muddy or got something on her, which explained her smell.

.

Anyways, only pieced all this together recently after so long of not really communicating with them anymore.

All of them have small animal names because they were so short :>

Sorry for the long post, you don't have to read :D

I just wanted to post what I'm now seeing is how oblivious I am.

[lovelyirony]

that rhodeytony piece with the bots........... iconic. do you think we could have more of that sweet sweet mit era?? I just think they’re neat

Look. Rhodey hadn’t meant to build another robot. But Tony was at some business conference for the weekend, and Dum-E was just pitifully sad. If Tony had been there, he would’ve convinced Rhodey that Dum-E is a drama queen and acts like the end of the world is happening at any minor inconvenience. 

But why not give Dum-E a little sibling? This is how U comes to be, and he’s quite the gentleman, far more gentle than his big brother. 

Rhodey enjoys teaching him how to pick up socks and shoes, and how to put the coffee mugs on the counter gently, something that Dum-E is not good at yet, but they’re trying their best. (He has a stuffed coffee mug that they got from the pet store that he’s flung at every single surface so far.) 

-

Tony comes back from his business conference (which ugh) looking for cuddles, dinner, and maybe a movie date night if they can get Dum-E to stop trying to escape the apartment. 

What he isn’t expecting is for his boyfriend to be mediating a fight between two robots. 

Two. 

He stares at his boyfriend for a moment. 

“Rhodey, darling, is Dum-E having a...play-date?” 

Rhodey freezes. 

“Oh!” He says, grinning. “I, um...made him a sibling?” 

“And they’re...fighting?” 

“Well, for now. Dum-E’s mad because he didn’t get to put actual coffee mugs on the counter, and U is mad because Dum-E stole the couch blanket. I think U is really into decoration!” 

“Yeah, that explains everything,” Tony says faintly, sitting. “So...U? Like, the letter?” 

“Yeah, you like it?” 

“And you thought that it made a good name for what?” 

“Well, it was more of a placeholder, honestly. But then he liked it!” 

U looks over at Tony curiously. 

“U, this is Tony. Your other dad. We used part of his code to make you!” 

The arm bumps softly against Tony’s, which is an improvement from Dum-E, who tends to go full-force. (Although they’ve worked on it.) 

“So...” Tony says. “You think with U, we won’t need to look for a babysitter for date night?”

“No, we will. We definitely will. Dum-E hasn’t adjusted to a sibling yet.” 

“Poor baby,” Tony coos, patting Dum-E on the claw. “You thought you were going to be the only attention-seeker for a while, didn’t you?” 

He glowers, wheeling back and acting very high-and-mighty for a robot who just threw the equivalent of a tantrum. 

Rhodey looks at Tony, kissing him on the forehead as he leans over to lay on his legs. 

“How was the business conference, honey?” 

“Utter shit. I didn’t need to go, I was an ego boost for Obie to tote around.” 

“Told you that you shouldn’t have gone.” 

“If I said ‘no’ one more time, we would’ve had to have a phone call about my ‘five year plan’ and ‘legacy’ bullshit. You know that that gives me a migraine. Besides, he gave me a gift certificate to a fancy restaurant, so that means we get to have a good meal one of these weekends when you visit.” 

“Who said I would visit with you?” 

“Because Jarvis adores you and I think Ana wants to adopt you and force you to stay.” 

“You make a compelling argument,” Rhodey says, pretending to think about it. “I’ll...consider it.” 

Tony snorts. 

“And they say I’m the asshole here.” 

-

Two years later, Dum-E and U demand that they get a sibling. The dads are back home together (for now) and Jarvis has grown tired of reason. 

“They want a sibling, Sir.” 

“What, each other isn’t enough?” 

“They have requested many movie nights where there are siblings or groups of friends, and I think they want to, in a sense, replicate the scenarios.” 

“They’ve already done all of it? Wasn’t it them who got onto a plane for DC just because they wanted to see Pops?” 

“Yes, yes it was.” 

“You know, J, I still think that you helped them with that one.” 

“I most certainly did not.” 

(Jarvis totally did. He gets bored, you know? Besides, Colonel Rhodes hadn’t been home for three months, which should have counted for cruel and unusual punishment.) 

“Well, regardless of your guilt in certain situations, we’ll have a family discussion about maybe a new sibling.” 

Rhodey gets a text as he’s grocery shopping. 

hey, need to talk about family stuff. can you also pick up some more colby jack cheese? 

sure. what’s it about? 

your son has decided he wants a sibling. he convinced dum-e....

got it. 

Rhodey laughs to himself as he turns his cart around, going towards the dairy section. Of course U would decide something like that, it makes sense. 

- 

Tony is looking at Rhodey with a disappointed look on his face. 

“This is all your fault.” 

“How is this my fault?” 

“You dote on the boys too much.” 

“Oh, I do that? Who makes them Halloween costumes every year and hosts a party with all of the other appliances we’ve made over the years?” 

“Oh like you hate those, Mr. ‘Here’s-the-hand-made-Halloween-playlist’.” 

“True,” Rhodey says, setting down the bags. “Help me put away all of this stuff, half of it is yours anyway.” 

“We have a shared fridge, Honeybear.” 

“Tell that to your pomegranates taking up about two shelves!” 

“Only for now, and half of those are Pepper’s! They’re not all mine.” 

“Do you think she would want a say in the robot? After all, she does have to deal with U and Dum-E worshiping the ground she walks on.” 

“And she is the reason that Dum-E usually succeeds in his smoothie-making,” Tony admits. “Yeah, sure, invite her over.” 

- 

Whenever Pepper is asked what it’s like having to be a personal assistant to Tony Stark, she always wants to answer with something like “oh, it’s really fulfilling to help a company reach its goal and learn so much from my boss to apply to what comes next” or even “oh, it’s nice.” 

She got invited to dinner, and is now in a conversation about whether or not Dum-E and U, her boss’s children, should get a sibling. 

And the fact that her boss’s children are robots, have two dads, and think that Pepper is the best thing since life itself. 

“Why do they need a sibling?” Pepper asks, chewing on her pasta. 

“Because they’re bored, and we think that maybe we’ll stop getting calls from the fire stations around town that they’re trying to wreak havoc again,” Rhodey says. “They’ll want to teach the new sibling how life works around the house, and we can start on security measures.” 

“Can’t you just put a genetic lock on the door or something?” Pepper asks. 

“They’re surpassed it,” Tony says grumpily. 

“How?” 

“Don’t look at me!” Tony defends. “Look at Jim-dear, who is obsessed with true crime documentaries! They picked up how to gain evidence and use it for proof from him and Forensic Files!” 

Pepper puts her head in her hands. 

“Just once, I wish that we had a dinner to discuss a business proposal or something normal instead of whether or not your two boys need a sibling.” 

“Well, we are thinking about a daughter,” James admits. “And we wanted to talk to you about that.” 

“Why, because I’m the only female either of you know?!” 

“No,” Tony says quickly. “We know plenty of women!” 

“Name seven.” 

“Plead the fifth,” Rhodey jokes. “But you spend time here, and so we wanted to know what you’d want to see in a robot.” 

“How the hell should I know?” 

“You work for the best tech mogul in two hundred years,” Tony says. 

“Tones, you’re entirely too cocky.” 

“Oh shut up babe,” Tony says, no real heat to the sentiment. “Besides, I’ve treated you well, haven’t I?” 

“Other than embarrassing me in front of every single government official every time you interact, sure.” 

“You love it, they hate it, win-win,” Tony says, stirring around his mocktail. “But Pepper, seriously. What do you think about a third robot?” 

“Well, can’t get anymore chaotic,” Pepper sighs. “And I think having a girl around would be...nice. Not as chaotic.” 

“You saying girls don’t bring as much chaos?” 

“No,” Pepper says. “I’m just saying that we know when to bring it.” 

- 

Butterfingers is born, and she is the most perfect definition of a “daddy’s girl” any robot has ever been. She wheels around with grace, although she can’t stop bumping into things and dropping things, being worse than Dum-E. (Which he actually adores.) 

She follows Pepper along in awe, and can be seen usually in her office. 

Curiously enough, the only time she doesn’t live up to her name is in Pepper’s office, where she handles things with grace and Pepper gives her little tasks to do, like delivering cups of pens to employees or papers. 

Rhodey gets her (and the brothers) little souvenirs from his time away, and Tony has an absolute ball of a time making them all costumes and taking a million little pictures that are hung up everywhere in the building. 

But perhaps the crowning achievement are the Christmas photos. 

Usually, Stark Industries will take pictures of their employees, put a newsletter out, and wish everyone a happy holiday and all that. 

But then the employees have an entirely different idea. 

It comes from one of Pepper’s assistants after she’s made CEO, Julia. 

“Why not have the bots be the Christmas picture?” she muses, restacking some of the papers Miss Potts had to sign. “They’re always around the office, and they’re the unofficial mascots of the business. I think it’d be fun to see their Christmas hijinks!” 

Pepper smiles. 

“Julia, remind me to add a little extra to the Christmas bonus.” 

-

Rhodey finds the idea to be the best idea anyone has come up with in years. (Although it just gives him an excuse to take more pictures of the bots during the festivities.) 

Dum-E is only too happy to finally be allowed within two feet of tinsel. (Unfortunate incident in 1998.) U is very excited to show off his understanding of symmetry and how to pick out the perfect tree, and Butterfingers just wants Pepper to tie ribbons around her wheels so that she looks “extra-pretty.” 

Stark Industries’ holiday card involves Dum-E and U at either side of the tree, with U gently readjusting one of the many ornaments they’ve had the bots make over the years, and Dum-E is trying to pull off a ribbon from the top of the tree. Butterfingers is at the center, guarding any attempt to unwrap presents, and presenting her bow-filled-wheels. 

Pepper has the picture framed in her office. 

[yeonchi]

Kisekae Insights #24: GJ Club - how a spinon became a spinoff featuring Kyōya and Kasumi Shinomiya

(Art by 結城辰也)

The Kisekae Insights series has allowed me to bring the spotlight back on Waifu Network animes that I haven’t posted much about in the past due to lack of fanart or lack of interest. Like Hidamari Sketch in the last instalment, GJ Club will be no exception until I continue posting the usual content in my anime posts. Honestly, it was good while it lasted.

While Hidamari Sketch is a fairly popular and notable anime, GJ Club, sadly, isn’t. The anime was adapted from the light novel series written by Shin Araki and it only received one 12-episode season in 2013 and an OVA in 2014. Since it is a slice-of-life series, not much is known about the characters’ histories, which made it very easy to adapt into my personal project. All these factors coinciding with it being the 50th anniversary year of Doctor Who made GJ Club the perfect anime to adapt and expand on.

Background information

For some reason, the light novel has been a bit hard to find. In short, while you are able to read it online, the sources are unfortunately scarce.

From 2013 to 2015, NanoDesu Translations posted translations of the light novel. They published a PDF and EPUB of the first volume (which is available on archive.org) and translated up to Chapter 17 of the second volume. It was then abandoned for two years before Haraguro Scanlations picked it up. As of September 2018, they only finished up to Chapter 3 of the third volume (with the first chapter being translated by Shadowys on Baka-Tsuki) and there are no further updates after that, with the exception of a one-off chapter released in November 2020.

As of August 2021, however, all the original translations by NanoDesu seem to have been deleted from their site. All the translations are available on AsiaNovel, but there are no illustrations because the reader doesn’t seem to support images. If the images weren’t discarded in the code of the novels, then all they would need to do is add support for them and then they would appear.

There are 9 volumes and two special volumes for GJ Club along with 8 volumes and a special volume for its middle school spinoff. It’s honestly telling how popular the series was when the translators have all but abandoned it.

Shin Araki also wrote an additional spinoff to GJ Club, namely GE: Good Eater, and a sequel, namely KB Club. GE is set in a fantasy world with the characters being based off the characters of GJ Club, while KB Club turns everything meta by having both series be the creations of a high school light novel club, with the characters of GJ Club being based off the members of said club, right down to their names. Honestly, I’m not a big fan of that approach given how I’ve adapted GJ Club into my personal project. In the end, I guess we’ll never really know what happens in the novels, but at least we have this.

Watching the anime and listening to the character music was how I first realised that anime was sexist to males because of the female-centric focus in most animes. Kyōya only gets one character song in the series, and even then it’s a duet with Megumi. If that isn’t sexist to you, then I don’t know how I can convince you that a lot of animes are sexist.

In January 2015, I published two posts outlining my idea for an English dub of the series that also fits with GJ Club’s depiction in my personal project. The setting would be changed to London, England, specifically the areas of Chiswick, Ealing and Acton (where their school is located) and the characters would speak with British accents. The images in the original post are dead because I idiotically copied the images from the site instead of saving and reuploading them to the post, but since I’m grubbing for content anyway, I’m going to repost my character details as follows:

Kyōya: The protagonist of the series. When he started Year 10, he was kidnapped by the girls when he walked into an old school building, hoping to find the Culture Club. He moved to London from Manchester just before he started Year 7. His best friend outside the club is someone named Tesshin Yokomizo (横溝徹心) who is a local and not seen in the anime. In the GJ Club, he is nicknamed “Kyoro” and despite his spinelessness, he seems to have talent in dealing with the girls around him. His birthday is December 18. Due to a crisis involving his family during his childhood, he and his sister Kasumi were left in the care of a family guardian just before they moved to London, but she left when Kyōya started Year 10. It might have been that childhood incident that emotionally scarred him and left him spineless…

Mao: The Year 11 president of the GJ Club. Her family is rich and they live in a mansion in Ealing. She has a habit of biting and picking on Kyōya when she is bored or angry. She always reads books and watches shows without kissing scenes.

Shion: The only daughter in her family, Shion is an expert chess player with many brothers, all experts in some kind of activity. She speaks in a Birmingham (Brummie) accent because her mother and a few of her brothers were born in Birmingham. It is unknown if Shion was born in Birmingham herself.

Megumi: The calm and nice middle sister of the Amatsuka family. She likes knitting and she is always seen making tea and cakes in the club room. In the same year level as Kyōya.

Kirara: Born in Swansea, Wales, Kirara is the tallest and strongest member of the club. She speaks English in simple, monotone sentences. Welsh is her first language. Kirara can be seen eating meat, sometimes sharing it with Kyōya, but not with anyone else. She is afraid of spiders and has little tolerance to alcohol.

Tamaki: (voiced by Karen Gillan!) The newest member of the GJ Club when Kyōya becomes a Year 11 student. Like Kyōya, she is kidnapped and forced to join the club. Her nickname is “Tama”. Her family is from Glasgow and they run a Shinto shrine in Acton. She has several younger siblings.

Kasumi: Kyōya’s younger sister, who was born in Manchester. After a visit to the GJ Club, she becomes inspired to start a middle school division when she starts Year 7. She has a brother complex and she mistook Mao for being a primary school student when she met her. Her proficiency in Welsh is better than her brother’s, who can probably speak at a beginner level.

Geraldine: Shortened to “Jill”. She moved to Chiswick from Swansea to be with her sister, Kirara. She first met Kyōya at Ealing Broadway Station when she had difficulty buying a Tube ticket. She didn’t really understand how to use the ticket machine, so Kyōya went to help her. After this, Jill considered Kyōya her “samurai master”. Jill doesn’t speak English fluently, so she relies on her whiteboard to communicate with the others. She is as strong as her sister and she joins Kasumi’s GJ Club when she starts Year 7 in Chiswick.

Seira: The youngest sister of the Amatsuka family. Though she speaks in a typical London accent, she sometimes talks through her cat clip in Received Pronunciation (the Queen’s English/RP) using ventriloquism to state her true feelings to Kyōya, who she has a grudge against.

Mori: The maid of the Amatsuka family. She likes to ride a motorcycle.  A running gag is her twirling before Kyōya much to his pleasure and annoyance to the rest of the club members. Sometimes, her mother takes her place without the family even noticing due to their identical appearance.

Kyōya, Kasumi and Momoka: The Brother, the Child and the Yandere

Normally in previous instalments, I would have described each character separately, but because their backstories are heavily intertwined, I will introduce them all at once in this section. Most of the backstory takes place around the Battle of Koshi Castle in December 2013 and during the Manchester Campaign of 2005-2013, which I have already covered in #15.

When Hiroki Ichigo’s twelfth incarnation was killed at Koshi Castle, he managed to escape in his TARDIS, where he regenerated into his new prototype, namely a four-year-old Kyōya. The TARDIS crashes outside North Manchester General Hospital on 11 December 2005.

Earlier, Hiroki and Akari’s gametes (along with those of Hiroki’s brothers and their families) were taken by Reona Yukawa and placed in the Progenitor so that they could breed super-soldiers out of them. When Takumi Kamijō and Kyōko Sakura manage to escape from their cells (saving Nodoka Manabe and Azusa Nakano in the process), he changes the destination of the baby about to be released into the Progenitor’s time portal. That baby was Kasumi, one of the super-soldiers grown from Hiroki and Akari’s DNA. She ended up at the same hospital as well and was about to be taken home by a couple when Girl Power killed them, resulting in Kasumi being taken by Akari and Shaun.

What remained of Hiroki was contacted by the spirit of Walpurgisnacht. Making a deal with her, Hiroki regenerated into his thirteenth incarnation, the female Momoka Mizutani. No, Momoka is not an OC for GJ Club, but she is based on the character of Apple Lam Chung-yan from the TVB drama A Great Way to Care II, played by Tavia Yeung. Momoka takes Hiroki’s TARDIS and heads to Salford, where with the help of Walpurgisnacht, she establishes a cha chaan teng café in the middle of a trading estate and hires a group of red drone Daleks as her workers, hiding their identities by having them disguise themselves as humans.

Over the next eight years, Momoka gets close to the new Shinomiya family by influencing them through Kyōya’s dreams to come to her café. Eight years later, on 11 December 2013, the Fourth and Fifth Doctors come in with their companions. When the Shinomiya family come in, a confrontation with Ayaka Kikuchi and her army ensues before Momoka transmats the Shinomiya family to a Dalek spaceship, where she prepares to execute them using the Yashio’ori. However, the Yashio’ori is sabotaged by the enemy army so that the laser beam would not charge.

As Ayaka and her army attack the Dalek ship, Momoka uses the Dalek-enhanced machine guns to fend them off. While two Doctors confront the Master, Momoka is killed by Girl Power officers, resulting in Walpurgisnacht taking over her body as she regenerates, maintaining her current appearance. Read #15 to find out what happens after this.

Once the Battle of Koshi Castle and the Manchester Campaign conclude, the Fourth Doctor helps Kyōya and Kasumi move to Chiswick in 2008. Five years later, the events of the GJ Club anime take place. During his time in Chiswick, Kyōya gets a job at the post office there and later, studies a double degree in Japanese Studies and Politics at SOAS in the University of London while also learning Cantonese, Mandarin and Welsh in weekend and evening courses (apparently he also wanted to learn Taiwanese but they weren’t running any courses, but that’s alright, he can always learn it somewhere else, which he presumably did).

On a side note, I volunteered myself to be Kyōya’s English voice actor, so I’ve practiced my Mancunian accent by watching actors like Christopher Eccleston, Stephen Tompkinson, Karl Pilkington and maybe a bit of Peter Kay as well. The only problem was that I’m not even sure that my accent is even Manc because I can’t tell if I’m getting it wrong and sounding like someone from Liverpool, Yorkshire, Newcastle or even Scotland. Oh well, that’s what happens when you really get into things.

I don’t buy expansion packs, I make my own (budget allowing)

So as I said, GJ Club only got one season and an OVA to go with it. Do Kyōya and the GJ Club make further appearances in the series? You bet your ass they do.

After being absent for much of the Next Gen Series in 2014, Kyōya and Kasumi receive a letter from their aunt, Narutaki, asking to meet in Hong Kong after their mother, Akari, went missing following the Siege of Ōsaka, only to be followed by Mao and the rest of the GJ Club, who learnt where he was going and managed to get on the same flight as them.

Narutaki, who had taken her Girl Power friends and established a rogue faction separate from the main group, takes the GJ Club to Nijō Castle, where she explains the background behind the Manchester Campaign and the events of Series 8 and 9. Soon after, Girl Power’s commander, Daniel, sends his brother, Nathan, out to find Narutaki. Kyōya tries to contact Hiroki, but he is unable to get through to him. Luckily, the TARDIS arrives and the Doctor and Hiroki help Angela and the others repel the attacking Girl Power forces. Some more things happen and by the end of the story, we learn that Kyōya and Mao are dating.

That Christmas, Kyōya and Kasumi head up to Manchester, but the Doctor briefly takes them and their friends back to Hong Kong for a picnic with Hiroki and the rest of the Zhuge family.

A few years later in 2018, the GJ Club and Momoka get a cameo at the start and end of the Gokaiger TV movie special. By this point in time, Momoka’s café in Manchester has expanded to many other branches around the UK and in Hong Kong.

The next year in 2019, Kyōya, Kasumi, Mao and Megumi are featured in a four-part adventure in Soulbound Series 3, helping the cast solve the mystery of Parker’s past and Shinbu’s origins. Two years after in 2021, Kyōya and Kasumi move to Hong Kong (along with the GJ Club) and join the Superhero Project as the new ShinkenRed and ZyuohTiger. You’d think Kyōya would be against violence given his harmless tendencies, but I suppose his character has developed over the years despite having abandonment issues.

So this has been the involvement of GJ Club in my personal project. It’s a shame the series wasn’t more popular or it could have gotten a second season, a manga, more (and frequent) translations of the light novel or hell, even a licenced release. This series is just like Sea Princesses in how popular it was, but despite the number of episodes the anime got, at least Shin Araki hasn’t abandoned the series (by putting it in a spinoff no less) unlike Fabio Yabu, who hasn’t made anything new for Sea Princesses since 2010 after getting more animated episodes than GJ Club did. On the other hand though, neglected series with little material has been good development fodder for my personal project as it allowed me to bring awareness to the existence of those series while also developing backstories and afterstories for them.

[haledamage]

OC Questionnaire

I was tagged by @actualanxiousswampwitch and not so much tagged as challenged by @queen-scribbles​ :P 

I am tagging/challenging you both back if you have more OCs you want to talk about, plus anyone else who has an OC you want to talk about! really, I want to know about your muses, please share them with me <3

I decided to go with Lexi from Mind Blind because she’s currently my most vocal muse, as well as Ari because I realized I’ve never done one of these for her? not sure how that happened

Lexi Wiseman

GENERAL

name: Alexandria Jane Wiseman

alias(es): Lexi, Lex, Button, Cadet Wiseman

gender: cis female

age: 20

place of birth: Chicago, Illinois

spoken languages: English, sarcasm, probably some coding language? took Spanish and German in high school, but really only remembers how to count to ten and ask where the library is

sexual orientation: bi bi bi

occupation: student at Unity’s Aeon Academy

APPEARANCE

eye colour: hazel

hair colour: brown

height: 5′8���

scars: not any major ones? She scars really easy, so even little things like paper cuts leave a scar, but except for things like that and old scars from scraped knees and elbows as a kid, Lexi doesn’t really have any scars worth mentioning. (or as Lex would say, “my scars are all mental ;)”)

burns: not really many burn scars either. a small and perfectly circular one on the inside of her right ring finger (accidentally bumped into the lit end of a cigarette), a faded line on her right calf from grazing the exhaust pipe of a motorcycle, but that’s really it

overweight: No

underweight: No

FAVOURITE

colour: green, especially darker ones like hunter green or forest green

music genre: loves music, all kinds. most of the covers she does are older pop songs, the songs that have made it into the collective consciousness, but she will listen to or sing anything :)

movie genre: action. loves a superhero movie and not afraid to admit it.

tv show: don’t think she’s much of a tv person. more likely listens to podcasts or watches twitch streams/youtube shows. I feel like she’d be a big Buzzfeed Unsolved fan. occasionally enjoys a cooking competition show like Chopped or Iron Chef, something you can enjoy without having to commit to it. Watches them with Nick because his commentary is the best part.

pastime: music (plays guitar and piano/keyboard, and knows her way around a sampler/MIDI controller), video games (especially fps, co-op or team-based online games preferred)

food: anything Nick cooks, but especially cinnamon pumpkin cookies

drink: cherry coke, sweet iced tea, iced white mocha

book: she’s not a really big reader (not that she doesn’t enjoy it, she just has other ways she’d rather spend her time), but she’ll read just about anything on the occasion she has time to. adventure, romance, mystery, poetry, whatever. really enjoys sci-fi especially, and comic books!

HAVE THEY

passed university: she didn’t go to college per se, since Aeon isn’t technically a college so much as a very particular and multi-year job training course, but she took a few courses at the local community college. Computer programming, music theory, whatever struck her fancy. Probably found something weird that she’ll never need in real life just for the hell of it.

had sex: no

had sex in public: no

gotten pregnant: no

kissed a boy: yes

kissed a girl: yes

gotten tattoos: no, but she wants one. eventually. once she settles on a design

had a broken heart: sure, in lots of different ways. the situation with her mom could certainly be considered heart-breaking...

been in love: she would deny it if you asked her, but yes. Very yes.

stayed up for longer than 24 hours: sure, yeah, why not? sleep is overrated anyway

ARE THEY

a virgin: yes. look, when you live with your brother who is a mind-reader and you have literally no way to stop loudly projecting your thoughts, sex is a tricky and awkward situation. better to just avoid it until someone comes along that’s worth it.

a cuddler: yes, very much so. Maybe a little touch-starved, despite Nick and Sally’s efforts. Someone please give her a hug.

a kisser: sometimes

scared easily: startles easily, but doesn’t actually frighten easily

jealous easily: not really. envy, on the other hand...

trustworthy: yes, but she’ll be the first to tell you not to tell her any secrets. She can’t promise what people can hear from her thoughts

dominant: not really. Can be assertive, but prefers to kind of go with the flow

submissive: not really submissive either, though maybe leans more toward it than toward dominant

in love: with her brother’s best friend. Has been for years now, expects she will be for the foreseeable future. She accepts that she will spend her life pining from afar. It’s not like Gray could ever feel the same, right?

single: yep

RANDOM QUESTIONS

have they harmed themselves: nope

thought of suicide: I don’t think so

attempted suicide: no

Wanted to kill someone: no

rode a horse: nope

have / had a job: her situation makes it a little difficult to work normal jobs. I would imagine she makes money through patreon with her music, and she will eventually have a job at Unity as a MIV, once she finishes at Aeon

have any fears: loss of control (again), not being good enough, abandonment, rejection (specifically being rejected for things she can’t change; she’s fine if people don’t like her for her personality, some people just have bad taste)

FAMILY

sibling(s): older brother Nick, relationship status: besties against all odds

Parents: John and Hope Wiseman, relationship status: fucking complicated

children: none, she is baby

pets: none

---

Aurienne the Sparrow

GENERAL

name: Aurienne the Sparrow. She had a last name once, but she doesn’t remember it.

alias(es): Ari, Little Bird, The Sparrow Queen

gender: nonbinary female/demigirl

age: 23

place of birth: Andoran, she assumes. It’s the first place she remembers living, at the very least.

spoken languages: Common, Elvish, a little Celestial thanks to her sister

sexual orientation: bisexual

occupation: Queen of the Stolen Lands, somehow

APPEARANCE

eye colour: light gray

hair colour: black

height: 5′10”

scars: a thin but deep and ragged scar across her throat that she normally keeps covered by a scarf or choker or high collar; arrow puncture in her left shoulder; long line on her inner right thigh from a greatsword that almost cut her leg off entirely; a few other minor ones

burns: a few on her fingertips from accidents with her flaming crossbow

overweight: No

underweight: No

FAVOURITE

colour: gold

music genre: punk and all its subgenres :)

movie genre: she loves a musical, all musicals

tv show: dramas and monster of the week shows. wants a tv show that’ll make her cry

pastime: music (when she’s feeling confident enough to give it a try again, which is… a work in progress), reading, silly but harmless pranks. Loves to meditate a surprising amount, just sit in silent contemplation.

food: samosas, lemon macarons

drink: matcha latte with white chocolate syrup

book: has a deep and unending love of poetry

HAVE THEY

passed university: nope, didn’t go to school

had sex: yes

had sex in public: …...perhaps

gotten pregnant: nope

kissed a boy: yes

kissed a girl: yes

gotten tattoos: yes, seven sparrows down her spine. recently, the one on the back of her neck got a tiny little crown over its head :)

had a broken heart: yes

been in love: yes

stayed up for longer than 24 hours: yes, but rarely

ARE THEY

a virgin: nope

a cuddler: sort of? I think she wants to be, but is scared to let herself be vulnerable like that. Will happily cuddle with anyone who initiates, though

a kisser: not really, unless she’s in a mood

scared easily: yes, but hides it well

jealous easily: nope

trustworthy: very

dominant: not really. Prefers to let others take the reins (probably not the best trait for a queen, but as she is quick to tell people, being in charge was never her idea)

submissive: most of the time. Probably a big part of why she and Tristian took so long to get together...

in love: yes, with a literal angel

single: she’s not sure??? like, they haven’t really made anything official yet, but no one would ever look at the two of them together and not think they’re a couple. they should probably have a talk about that soon

RANDOM QUESTIONS

have they harmed themselves: no

thought of suicide: yes

attempted suicide: no

Wanted to kill someone: yes

rode a horse: yes

have / had a job: former mercenary/adventurer, former baroness, currently queen of the Stolen Lands? She’s still not entirely sure how that happened

have any fears: helplessness, losing those she loves, being silenced (again)

FAMILY

sibling(s): twin sister, Auriel the Dove

parents: both deceased (I should probably name them at some point…)

children: none. Maybe someday...

pets: an owlcat named Headchomper, a red panda named Ember, an orange tabby cat named Tiger, a giant black wolf named Baron who is technically her sister’s animal companion and also technically her nephew

[nostalgic-pancakes]

Room 73- Chapter 3/8

The ghost is spoken to, but we also see more character trauma. (at least Virgil and Logan are having an okay time)

Pairings: Implied Thomas/OC, implied sibling-y c!Terrence and c!Valerie, sibling-y Analogical, Creativitwins and Moceit, platonic DLAMPR (soon to have a T in it!), and Romantic husbands Remile! (Also married parents but they don’t have names yet)

Read on AO3!

Word count: 2217

Warnings: References to shifty parenting, unhealthy relationships with food, depression, and of course, the general angst that comes with being yanno... dead for about a century with implications of period-typical sexism and the fallout that death has on your loved ones. Stay safe!

Other notes: Hi! I know this is sooner than usual (and also a bit shorter than usual) but I really wanted to get this out early, because there's two other things I'm working on! A c!Thomas-centric number+1 with friends and side interactions, and a Cartoon Therapy oneshot collection (with only cartoon therapy characters! no sides!) that has found family, Dot and Larry VS the internet, and everyone punting mitchell in the face because he deserves it. You can vote for which one you'd like to see posted FIRST on here! 

Now, sorry for that wall of text- here’s the chapter!

——————————————————————————–

Thomas didn’t have anything even remotely resembling a clue as to how he just did that. He hasn’t been able to so much as move for decades, now. Almost a century!

(The only reason he still knows the time is because classrooms date the boards. Everett is 96, Val 95, Terrence 87. )

But somehow, somehow these highschool kids around Thomas’s (? do ghost years count?) age managed to hear him hiss, and now he can talk to them.

In the words of that one kid here in the fifties who was usually half seas over, “ fucking shit!”

The one with the glasses (Logan? Or was it Nico? Naw, Logan.) is still tapping on the funny small glowing box. A phone, or something. (It looks too small to be a telephone, and it has no wires, but the future is pretty crazy!) and the other one, Janus is looking at the space that he inhabits like it’s on fire. Whatever else is happening today is happening, but the corner that Thomas lives in is definitely not on fire, that’s for sure.

Janus begins to step forward a bit, towards Thomas (!!!), and attempts to touch him. His hand goes through, like most things do (bar the occasional stray acid droplet, but they don’t burn anymore) and he pulls it back slowly.

Logan clears his throat, looking up from his ‘phone’ and at Thomas.

“Hello.” he says cautiously, not daring to hope. But Thomas can’t get the words out anymore, it’s like the single work took too much out of him to say it back. So he tries hissing in the morse code that Daddy taught him and (and he taught Val, because she’s amazing, woman or not) hoping, hoping they’d figure it out.

.... .. (hi)

Janus looks confused, but Logan lights up immediately, tapping frantically on his ‘phone’, until it shows something with morse code translations written on it.

“Could you possibly repeat that?” asks Logan, and he’s beaming, and that face is now one of the nicest faces he’s seen since he died. So Thomas tries again. It saps a little energy out of him, but not enough to really be an issue. Not like talking.

“Hello there, uh… do you have a name?”

- .... --- -- .- ... (Thomas)

“Thomas. That’s a nice name. Is it alright if we ask what year you ar- were from?” That question was unexpected, but one Thomas was willing to answer.

.---- ----. ..--- --... (1927)

“Nineteen twenty-seven”. Huh. Wasn’t this part of town a boy’s military school at some point back then?” asks Logan, and Thomas hisses again to signify the yes. He was a student there, under Pop’s behest, while Val stayed home to get ready for being married, even though she was all of eight years old and barely old enough to start her midwife training with basic first aid.

He wonders if she ever got to join the Red Cross like she’d dreamed to do. He hopes so.

Logan’s still asking questions, but Thomas is getting tired again, and the extra clarity letting him reminisce about his family is not helping at all. He makes a series of somewhat weaker clicks, trying to convey he’s tired, and Janus seems to pick up on it, patting Logan on the shoulder and motioning at the door for them to leave, citing a ‘Virgil and Patton’ (brothers?) as a reason to go soon, anyways. Logan huffs a bit, though clearly as a jest, and they say their goodbyes, probaby, based on their hand movements, but by now, Thomas has faded enough to lose a bit of track.

…

“Hey, Val.”

'___'

“Yeah, this is a gravestone. Didn’t expect you to reply. Well, I was always the talkative one before,a dn I can do it again.”

'___'

“So uh, Hey! It’s me again, Terrence, coming with the daisies as usual. I can’t believe that it’s me doing this, ya doof. It was supposed to be you, Val.”

'___'

“Yeah, I guess I should go back soon. Everett’s cold isn’t getting better, nor worse. I wonder what you’d do.”

'___'

“Yes, love you too. I hope you, Barry and Linda are doing alright up there. We’ll… probably see you soon anyways.”

'___'

“Hey- tell Thomas we said hello, and that we still miss him. All the time. Eighty years should be long enough, but it really isn’t, is it?”

(Tommy isn’t here.) …

“Okay, so you’re saying that the ghost, a literal ass ghost--”

“Language!” chirped Patton. It was starting to become routine. “Sorry Pat but okay, so a ghost talked to you over morse code??!!” Exclaimed Virgil, his tone getting more and more excited by the syllable.

“Yes, I literally just said that Virgil.” huffs Logan, pressing his knuckles to his temple. He loves his twin, but times like this really test his (already dwindling) patience with shenanigans.

“Okay, so what did he tell you??” asks Virgil, looking almost starry-eyes with the sheer level of excitement. It’s been a while since Virgil was this excited about something.

Logan clears his throat and taps Janus’s shoulder, taking him away from something he was talking about with Patton, which was involving hushed voices of some sort. Janus extracts the notebook from one of the many, many button-up pockets in his cloak (Patton is good at economical design, whie Janus handles the drama), after scrambling around for a few seconds trying to locate first the book, then the page, handing it to him very quickly before jumping right back into his conversation with Patton. Logan is mildly perturbed by this action, but tries to ‘roll with it’, as Roman would say if he took the bus.

“His name is Thomas, or at least we’re relatively sure that he’s a he, and he died in nineteen-twenty-seven. He was a student here back when the plot of land that is now Haley-Dove lower and upper secondary was a boy’s military school. He began to exhaust himself around here, so we dropped the questions.” Virgil nods, perusing the notes, scribbly as they are that Logan’s made as if they were a short story written by an author he really respects, like Leigh Bardugo, possibly. It makes Logan oddly happy to think about it that way. Virgil’s eyes keep widening over the course of his reading, to levels that are almost comical. Janus and Patton’s conversation has gotten a bit louder, but not enough to hear, still. At the moment, he can’t really bring himself to care. In the end, the bus stops before Virgil can finish reading, so Logan gives him the navy-covered notebook to keep for now and return for dinner, with the instruction to add in his own commentary and ideas on a different page.

Patton and Janus leave the bus last out of everyone, looking rather perturbed and avoiding each other’s gaze, though they’re still clutching each other’s hands tightly. Logan will likely ask what happened on Monday. For now, Amma is at the bus stop, waving at them. She’s the only Indian woman on the stop, so, decently easy to see. Amma picks up Logan’s bag, even though he’s insisted for years that he’s “adjusted accordingly for years, and does not require any assistance!”. Amma usually just retaliates that he shouldn’t need to get used to something with a rather strange expression, but he’s digressing now.

(She started saying it after middle school, and everything that happened there.)

“Hi!” she exclaims, while taking Logan’s bag. Virgil just has his laptop bag and notebook, with his headphones around his neck. They both smile the same.

“Hey, Amma. How’re you doing?” Practiced. Synced. It works every time, as Amma’s grin gets even wider, causing Virgil to start stimming with his ring and Logan to start flapping his own hands.

“Sooo- how’s your day? I see Logan’s notebook with you, V!”

“It’s for a…” Virgil looks at Logan, quietly betraying the fact that he has no clue what to say. Logan indicates to the lizard along the cobblestone path, and his twin’s expression changes into dawning comprehension, as he quickly finishes his sentence.

“It’s for a report on Lizards, Amma, that I’m doing with Remus. You know, Roman’s brother?” she nods, and then smirks.

“Oh, you mean the boy you have a cruuuuuusssshhhh on?” she teases, and Virgil goes red immediately, batting her hand away from his hair, where she was ruffling it.

Wait- how did Virgil have a crush on Roman? They had been friends for all of two weeks, and did not display any crush-like symptoms such as reddening of face, gushing about the crush for hours or purposely trying to get into more situations with the crush, or even doing simple things like taking an obnoxiously long time on singular texts. To his relief, Virgil shakes his head.

“No, it’s not a crush. He’s a good friend, but no.” he says, a bit more seriously, but not dismissively. To Logan, because Logan can hear those things, he says “Not yet.” Logan does not bring it up yet, because it feels like Virgil might need some process time for that, and besides, they share a room. Logan can grill him later, when Virgil is willing to be teased lightly. Or well, he hopes he’s light enough.

…

Mom and Dad are fighting again.

It’s not like the walls are soundproof, no matter what they seem to think. The argument is pretty typical. Small issue begins with civil conversation, becomes slight aggression as two very different people are unable to see eye to eye, and then someone in the middle of a bout of particularly aggressive mood makes an attack on personality, and then it’s all ‘fuck off’’s and crying.

Yeah. it’s a thing. But Remus and Roman know what to do- it’s the fight law. Headphones on, loud playlist on, door shut and internet in full use to avoid the fact that their parents are incapable of shutting the fuck up. This is fine.

Actually no, that’s what Roman says, but Remus knows it isn’t. Roman’s just too scared of conflict by now to bring it up. And who’s fault might that be, huh? (okay, so maybe Remus is a bit resentful.)

Whatever. It’s not like they’ll stop if he and Roman tell them. They’ve tried before.

The problem is that they’re good people. And parents. They definitely try to be the best parents possible. But Remus (unlike Roman) has never had the illusion that his parents are gods, only to have that slowly broken down over time to see his parents as people. They’ve always been people to him- people who try their hardest, but also fall flat in other areas, areas that also happen to be important.

But he should probably make his way to the kitchen to make some fruit salad. Roman probably isn’t going to eat anything else tonight, with how he seems to be doing. Otherwise, those stomach acids are going to gargle and gurgle till they consume his stomach whole! (it doesn’t feel fun to imagine that, so he stops)

(he’s so angry that those idiots thought it was a fucking joke. It’s something he and Virgil agree on, for sure.)

And if Remus tears the granola packet wrapper a little too harshly? Well, it’s not like anyone’s going to hear it at this rate.

…

Patton and Janus aren’t talking to each other, which is probably the one thing he never expected from them.

But they aren’t, and it’s becoming more concerning by the hour. They’re still hanging out together, currently working on one of their sewing projects- embroidering a hoodie in protection sigils as a paid commission for the witch’s girl, and they seem okay in each other’s presence, but they aren’t talking to each other. Just making overly meaningful eye contact, and looking away as quickly as they met eyes.

Patton in particular seems to be pretty upset, as a marked difference from his usual demeanor. He’s pricking his fingers left and right, something that never usually happens, choosing to hand stitch rather than go ahead with the sewing machine that he got for christmas, which was being used by Janus for the moment. In fact, Emile was about to get him some bandaids when he overheard them speak to each other for the first time since they got back.

“Pat, you can’t keep it in forever. You can't. It’ll kill you.”

Patton isn’t replying.

“It almost killed me, Pat please, please just… say something.” Patton does say something after that, but Emile can’t hear it, and he doesn’t feel like it’s something he’s meant to hear anyway. Janus lightens up after that, and Patton starts talking again, monosyllabically and softly, but Janus seems so relieved, that that must be a good thing.

Emile goes, heart heavy, and decides to speak with Remy about the best ways to show that they’re there for Janus and Patton. They’ve only been living with him for a few months, but they feel like their kids, and Emile (and definitely Remy- he’s the ultimate parent-friend) wants the best for them, and for them to be happy. They didn’t deserve the lot they got.

Hopefully, he and Remy can prove that yes, some things are

[theres-a-goldensky]

BL Show Review Series - My Engineer and 2gether

I am new to BL series, having only discovered them thanks to being stuck at home in quarantine. However, I’ve now watched enough of them that I feel like I have a lot to say and nowhere to say it. So I decided to write some reviews, talk about some issues that I had, and mainly get all of these feelings out of me. 

Disclaimer that these are my own opinions, and I don’t know where the BL community as a whole stands on these shows. If I disliked a show you loved or visa versa, no disrespect is intended! 

First up, then, are My Engineer and 2gether

MASTERLIST OF BL SHOW REVIEWS

MY ENGINEER 

Rating: 4/10 (Revised score: 6/10)

Main Pairing

The premise of this show is silly, but I was willing to let that pass if it was cute enough. It wasn’t. Not for me, anyway. The main pairing was very lackluster, and their courtship started off weird, with freshman Duen inexplicably feeling obligated to care for the older Bohn. Duen accidentally punches Bohn, but that interaction spirals into Duen letting Bohn bully him into buying Bohn flowers every day for a month as recompense. 

You get it from Bohn’s perspective. He clearly is interested in Duen from the beginning, and this is his inept way of flirting. But Duen going along with it at first, when he dislikes Bohn, is baffling. I thought there must have been something I missed. Was it because Bohn was his senior? 

The parts I found most charming about their story involved them interacting with their younger siblings. In particular, Duen’s love of his little sister was genuinely heartwarming. There’s a date scene late in the series that is the highlight of their story for me.

There is a ridiculous, drawn out arc about which one of them is going to top, which I was super done with before it even started. It ends with the message that, hey, anyone can be a top or a bottom and it doesn’t matter, but man did the story take its time getting there. It left a bad taste in my mouth.

Side Pairings

There are three additional side pairings happening here, which was at least one too many. However, the relationship between King and Ram quickly became the best thing about the show for me. The two of them together are charming, particularly the patient way that King enjoys Ram’s oddities and works to find a way to communicate with him anyway. 

Ram, despite being a side character, is the most developed person in the show. We see a lot about his family life and his interests. He’s fiercely loyal to his friends but also very shy. Over the course of the show, you see him feel hurt and scared and angry and in love, and all without him saying much of anything at all. 

The next side pairing is Mek and Boss. They are best friends and Boss calls himself Mek’s wifey. Mek is in love with Boss, to the point where he has a shrine of him hidden away in his room. It’s very sweet, even though you’re left kind of wondering, uh...why? What has Boss done to earn Mek’s undying devotion? It’s unclear.

Bafflingly, the actor who plays Mek was not speaking Thai in this. All of his lines were dubbed over -- very, very poorly -- and you can see that the words he’s speaking don’t match the words he’s supposed to be saying. I have no idea why they cast this person, though he did well given the circumstances. He has a very soulful stare that worked to demonstrate his pining. Watching him decide to help Boss get a girlfriend just because he wanted him to be happy was tough. 

If I were to recommend this series, it would be to follow these two side stories. You may enjoy the Bohn/Duen romance, but I had a hard time getting attached to them or believing their chemistry.

The final pairing was between Frong and Dr. Thara. I have nothing to say about them, honestly. It could have been completely taken out and nothing would have been lost. The actors did what they could with the roles. Both were charming, both were very, very attractive, but that couldn’t save this side story for me.

The acting was just so-so, though special mention should probably go to the actors who portrayed Mek and Boss, since they spent the majority of their scenes acting with someone who was speaking an entirely different language. 

There was very little tension and almost no stakes in this series, except between King and Ram.  

(Update: 9/27/20

Time sometimes changes feelings on a series, and in the months since I wrote this review, I’ve come to look more favorably on this drama. My love for Ram and King has only grown, and I’ve come to tolerate Bohn and Duen’s story more than I had before. Some of the early parts are even cute, though the back half still bugs me.)

***

2GETHER THE SERIES Rating: 5/10

Main Pairing

Win and Bright, the actors who portray the main characters of Tine and Sarawat, are both just...startingly good looking. They’re tall and broad and handsome. Tine has the sweetest smile and Sarawat can sexy brood with the best of them. I think the natural charisma of both leads did a lot to paper over the cracks of a thin story where the characters made nonsensical choices just to drive forward the plot. 

This is a fake dating story, which should be my JAM, ok? Straight boy freshman Tine wants to curb the attentions of Green, a gay man who is pursuing him. He decides to ask Sarawat, the campus dreamboat, to pretend date him so that Green will back off. It all makes sense so far, in terms of how these convoluted romantic comedy set-ups go. Sarawat refuses, and Tine starts up a charm offensive to get him to agree. Still makes sense. But then, once Sarawat commits to this plan, scene after scene goes like this: 

Tine: Sarawat, here comes Green! Pretend to be my boyfriend! Sarawat: [pretends to be his boyfriend] Tine: Oh no, what are you doing? People are going to think we’re dating!

Like, bro, he is doing what you have explicitly asked him to do! Often just moments before! What is HAPPENING? I get that this is supposed to be Tine feeling confused about his burgeoning feelings for Sarawat, but then show that by Tine being nervous or embarrassed. Having him lash out at Sarawat made no sense and got more frustrating as the series went on.

And look, I’m just going to say it: Win and Bright seem like they didn’t want to touch each other. They have major bro chemistry, but zero romantic chemistry. It got to the point, in the last few episodes, where I thought there was a translation error and I was misunderstanding the status of their relationship. By the tail-end of the series, former playboy Tine still looks a cross between confused and horrified whenever Sarawat tries to touch him. We never once see Tine happily kiss Sarawat. I don’t understand the choices that were made by the actor, director, and writers here. 

Every problem that occurs between Tine and Sarawat could be solved with a few clarifying words, but instead they get dragged on for the sake of drama. 

Furthermore, I know that BLs are fond of the “I’m not gay, I just like you” trope, but for the first 11 episodes of this show, Sarawat is coded as gay. Not bi. Not straight-except-for-you. Gay. He has a literal harem of women surrounding him at all times, showering him with gifts and attention, and doesn’t once appear interested. When his mother asks him when he’s going to get a girlfriend, the look that both he and his brother give her clearly reads, “Are you fucking kidding?” 

And yet, in episode 12, we are supposed to believe that his first and only other great love was a woman. It’s the way the book was written, I get it, but it rang false for me. 

Side Pairings

There were two side pairings. All four of the actors involved are BL vets who performed their duties well. 

Man and Type are interesting, but their story gets pushed to the side until the end of the series. However, while Tine and Sarawat’s story was floundering in the latter episodes, I was more than happy to watch this develop. Mike, who plays Man, has become one of my favorite supporting actors in these shows. He’s workman-like, bringing natural charm to his performances and always getting the job done. Seeing Man try to win Type over was fun even while it barely toed the line between sweet and creepy.

Mil and Phukong though? I was not here for any of it. Mil was a jerk and Phukong was a doormat. The way they ended the series was insulting to Phukong. I’d say he deserved better, but his insistence on going after Mil even though Mil was a genuine asshole to both him and his brother did his character no favors. The show wanted Mil to be redeemed by the end, but no thanks, I’ll pass. Phukong may not have deserved better, but Drake and Frank definitely did. I hated it.

Like I said, the actors are so likable and gorgeous, and the fake dating trope is such a classic, that I really wanted to like this one. The first few episodes were sweet and had potential, but the awkwardness between them that I assumed would go away by the end never did. 

MASTERLIST OF BL SHOW REVIEWS

(Send me an ask if you have a show you’d like me to review - with the understanding that I will be completely honest - or if there’s anything you think I forgot or got wrong in this review.)

[alltingfinns]

Back on my bullshit (somewhat later than previously expected) and finishing the rewatch of A Scandal in Belgravia:

“Thinking about what?” “Your blog counter-“

Is he changing the topic or answering the question? Technically he’s still tasked with the phone although, again technically, it was retrieval of the phone not gaining access to it. Maybe he’s just thinking about John’s blog, it does tend to occupy his mind more than it does John’s at times.

“How can we not know?” John sees himself and Hudson as the ultimate Sherlock experts. Not Mycroft or Lestrade. Could be a meta nod to the narrator and the foreshadower roles they play.

Pretty lady he doesn’t know calls him by name and asks him out and he’s like sure, kidnap away! I know he has a danger boner, but damnit Watson, get some survival instincts!!

Wonder if there’s a point to make us think Mycroft other than “plot twist not dead”. Technically Irene could have been revealed a number of surprising ways without invoking Mycroft, and there’s a callback later to John just wanting to meet at a cafe.

“Sherlock doesn’t follow me everywhere.” Famous words.

“He does that all anyway.” So why do you think he’s heartbroken, John? Why do you think Irene means so much to him?

“I’ll come after you if you don’t.” The classic “if you hurt him” threat.

“Oh I believe you.”

He starts off so calm but by her second refusal to tell Sherlock he’s huffing and puffing. Irene gets way under his skin.

He’s so angry and jealous. I just... the way he explodes out “What do you usually say? You’ve texted him a lot!”

John just cares so much more about those texts than Sherlock ever does.

He just can’t fathom the possibility that Sherlock didn’t reply because he didn’t care.

Now we come to some infamous precise wording from John Watson:

“Are you jealous?”

“We’re not a couple.”

As you know, jealousy in difference from envy, involves an element of possession. Therefor it is usually associated with couples, which John and Sherlock aren’t at this point. At least not officially. But John is possessive of Sherlock, and is sensitive to someone like Irene taking him away.

“I am not actually gay”. John isn’t gay (in the strictly homosexual meaning rather than the more general queer meaning) as we saw earlier with him checking out the pretty lady.

Although thinking about it, that was just after he asked Hudson about Sherlock’s romantic history, so he may have been overcompensating. That’s probably what lowered his guard, the relief of getting to confirm his attraction to women post haste.

“But I am.” She mentions male lovers at different points, but she also uses her sexuality and understanding of others wants in a transactional way. So does she mean strictly-into-binary-women-lesbian or generally queer? It’s placed in opposition (and simultaneously not) to John’s statement, so probably the former.

“Look at us both.” John’s chuckle is a real “you got me there”.

John looks so vulnerable when he realizes what Sherlock just heard. But Irene knows that John isn’t ready to confront a Sherlock who knows how John feels, and uses that fear against him. Who knows what might have happened if John had just pushed through.

Sherlock’s eyes going back and forth indicates he’s deducing while walking. Depending on how much he heard there are two possibilities, 1) he’s trying to figure out how Irene is alive or 2) how John can be “not gay” for him. 1) is unlikely as he surely must have been tight enough on John’s heels to at least have caught the tail end of her explanation, but all options should be considered. With 2) some of you may wonder why he doesn’t need to deduce Irene being into him, because you forgot that she’s been flirting at him non stop.

Sherlock deduces some assholes messed with the wrong landlady.

Ok so how did Sherlock get back so much faster than John? Because you almost think he walked back, but even if he got a cab, why does John take so long? Maybe the fanfics are right and Sherlock is just magically better than John at summoning cabs.

Sherlock is impatient for John to take Hudson away so he can deal out justice without doing it infront of her or leaving her alone downstairs.

“Oh! That was right on my bins.” Classic!

Hudson is so important to Sherlock. Wonder if we’ll ever get their full story?

John smiling at Sherlock’s softness.

Sherlock probably realized there were more than pictures back when the Americans first showed up. Hence why he’s preoccupied with getting into it while John is preoccupied with Irene and what she means to Sherlock.

Oooh! The Netflix subtitles turned John’s “so she’s alive then” to “in other words she lied”. Technically both works, she lied about being dead which is kind of rude.

Also John please.

Drink in hand. “How are we feeling about that?” “Do you think you’ll be seeing her again?”

You know how people are John? I think this is a case of John is people. Irene shows up in one short story, bests Sherlock and leaves to live happily ever after with her husband. He notes that she’s remarkable as the only woman to defeat him and keeps her picture. (Which honestly is no different from how he asks John to remind him of Norbury, he wants to remember his mistakes.) Yet the mainstream view is that she is his greatest love, and people have written books where she returns to have a daughter with him.

Fucking straight culture.

Sherlock sending Irene a happy new year text like “there, John, you see? She. Is. Not. Special!!”

“You think she’s my girlfriend because I am X-raying her possessions?”

Fucking. Straight. Culture.

“They do, don’t they?” If you’re following Molly’s line of thought and thinking of people in love, I hate to break it to you Sherlock. You’ve been head over heels for one sharpshooting doctor for a while now.

Molly’s threatened by how Irene “loves to play games”. That is how John sees it; Irene seems like a perfect female counterpart to Sherlock. His jealousy of Irene is basically an expansion of his jealousy of Moriarty in the previous episode. Both John and Molly worry that they’re too boring for Sherlock.

Sherlock’s look while John details his ludicrously circumventional plan for getting the phone is priceless.

1058 = 2 * 23 * 23 if that means anything.

John’s look just before “Hamish!” is amazing.

Speaking of, his outburst is retroactively so much funnier after Sign of Three. Sherlock having to get ahold of his birth certificate to learn what the H is for, and John just gives it up when he thinks Irene and Sherlock are about to make babies.

Sherlock’s eyebrow. “I had to owe Mycroft a favor John. Do you understand the pain of that? John, I asked you directly so many times. You don’t even like her! Jooohn!”

The focus on John’s mug. Is she directing John’s attention at Sherlock by directing her attention to Sherlock? Is that the play she’s been building up for? (Note that if this was about Sherlock falling for her there would be no reason to involve John as much as she has at this point.)

Confirmed by how his deduction is followed by looking at John first. Since that cab ride he has lived for impressing John with his deductions.

Sherlock’s struggle with placing 007. He didn’t learn it for casework so it isn’t in his mind palace, but he learned about it because of John so it is still lingering at the edges of his memories. Also, been there. When you know there’s something but you can’t place it, probably a rare feeling for him.

Moriarty blowing away the letters with a fart noise. Another classic!

Totally forgot how much drama they put into Mycroft here. It’s more than a failed operation.

Sherlock: “WWII story”

Irene: “Have you had sex? Like, ever?”

She’s hungry, he isn’t. No means no, Irene, no means no.

Is it just me or is it kind of convenient that John isn’t there for the climax? Did Irene chase him away somehow?

Driver’s like “look man, our job is to get you to the airport. We don’t care whatever it is you’re rambling about.”

Wonder what the time lapse here is, seeing as the American intelligence officer (did I forget his name or did we never get it) is up and about.

Best way to let your younger sibling know they messed up, give them a ticket to a haunted house style airplane of dead people.

Well whaddya know? Scenes believed to be completely played for laughs were part of the main plot all along. How very interesting. It’s almost like there’s some thought behind the writing. Like things being played for laughs have something more going on.

This scene is where the parallels to The Private Life become glaring. Mycroft telling Sherlock off for halting an operation by getting compromised by a woman.

“Don’t be absurd.” Again, Sherlock deduced to impress John, so he doesn’t feel described by Mycroft here. Because Irene’s play was too subtle for the Holmes brothers to understand.

Mycroft “didn’t know”. He thought Sherlock would be safe from Irene because he knows Sherlock’s gay, but now he doubts. He doesn’t know that Irene acted through John.

Ahh, six months. That makes sense. Still, the guy should probably still have some breathing irregularity from that punctured lung.

Mycroft’s eyebrow raise at Irene’s demands. That high of a figure, huh?

Moriarty’s name is what turns Sherlock’s cogs. Mycroft helpfully supplies that Jim’s been trying to get his attention. Moriarty was dissuaded from killing him and John by a phone call from someone who had something he desperately wanted, and he was necessary for Irene to use what she had to get to Mycroft. She made the call.

People have mentioned this before but it bears repeating: why are you bringing up John? Also, why are you calling him Watson?

When he says “I know” does that mean he knows that she only made that the code as part of the role she played as being in love with him? He does say “got caught up in the game”.

Which I guess means he’s telling her “don’t method act, you silly”

“Okay, I’m meeting you at a cafe like you wanted.” “Wtf, Mycroft, that wasn’t even your underling I said it to!”

Ffs Mycroft! John was finally starting to realize Sherlock didn’t feel that way about her.

Que the piratelock AUs.

The things going on here. The last minute decision on what to say, opting for the comfortable lie. Sherlock very aware of that in ways John can’t known. “Please.” John somehow still preoccupied with her texts.

I’ve seen at least one fanfic mention that Sherlock probably felt he owed her for the pool rescue. Also he isn’t really inclined towards people dying whatever people seem to think.

The woman. She did beat him. He may have gotten the upper hand in the last inning*, but she did get him to play into her hands. Keeping the phone, means keeping a reminder of his own vulnerabilities.

Because ASiB is spread out over so much time, and someone has pointed out that Hudson wears a dress that is brand new in THoB, this scene takes place after the fireside. (I really should have checked for the dress in ASiB, get a proper timeline.) Maybe he’s laughing because he feels that she taught him to master his emotions.

Next up: My personal favorite of this series. Coming whenever it does. Time is a construct.

*) I’m not even sure what sports has innings. Is it baseball? It’s probably baseball.

[chloevara]

It’s Daniel Vara time!!! Aren’t you excited to read over 1300 words about Chloe’s dad, an NPC with little to no bearing on the plot?

Daniel was the baby of his family. With six older siblings (four sisters and two brothers) and a soft heart, he was the cute one.

Even though he had no aptitude or interest in school, Daniel was his father’s favorite. He got away with everything, much to the chagrin of his older siblings. It wasn’t that he was a badly behaved kid, but tiny Daniel just about always got his way.

His parents were deeply, obnoxiously in love. It would have been stifling if he had not been so used to it.

Daniel’s dad was the weird one in his family. He’s very keen on being a part of the community in England, even if it’s at the expense of his culture and extended family values. He loves his youngest son so, so much, and will willingly bicker with anyone who gives him a hard time, even in his old age.

Daniel got along much better with girls than boys as a child, and was teased by his schoolmates growing up for that. 

Daniel’s parents wanted their children to assimilate, so the children did not grow up learning Gujarati language. To the frustration of the kids, the parents used the language as a secret code so they could talk right in front of their children without being understood. Daniel can hold a staggered conversation in the language, but Chloe only learned a few phrases.

Daniel loved cooking with his mother, and soaked up all of the family recipes and seasoning blends. He and his siblings closer to his age would flood the kitchen, and created new family recipes. Food was the only real connection that the family was readily allowed of Indian culture (apparently there was some sort of incident with English hand pies that Daniel’s mother doesn’t like to talk about).

Daniel never settled firmly on a career (and made a muck out of the apprenticeship he did get), but has been working ever since he was thirteen in one way or another. While he’s a bus driver now, he’s done everything from telemarketing, line cooking, and retail. He liked cooking the best, but the jobs he got didn’t pay as well. He tried starting up a business with spice blends from home for a time before Chloe was born, but it failed.

Here is a fun list of all of Daniel’s siblings in birth order: Ajay, Sonia, Erica, Rachel, Ethan, Danielle. 

Out of his siblings, Daniel is closest with his sister Danielle. They were born less than eleven months apart, and have a running joke that they were supposed to be twins. Danielle was nicknamed Dani pretty quickly, and Daniel did not like being called “Dan,” so a full first name business stuck.

Apart from Dani, Daniel gets along best with the other siblings closest to his age- Ethan and Rachel. The older three are more distant, and were raised in a stricter environment. Those younger four are particularly food-motivated.

Sonia passed away about seven years ago from cancer.

When he was nineteen, his parents downsized (they were spending more time visiting their older children’s homes anyway), and he decided not to move with them to the smaller place. He, Dani, and their two best female friends moved into a rundown home that was cheap but with a great location. 

Calling Daniel’s first house a party house would be a misnomer, but there were always people over. Cousins, siblings, friends, occasionally favorite strangers…

Daniel wasn’t sure where exactly he met Hestia, but she was a fixture at his home starting when he was twenty. They would seize control of the television to watch television drama of varying quality, or create elaborate crafts, or have adventures in baking together. Hestia always seemed to know exactly how long the dough should be proven- even when it did not match a recipe or conventional expectations. But their friendship was great, and apparently Hestia was equally appreciative to have a friend that understood them so well but did not want anything more. He knew she was older, but never asked how much older (his best guess was maybe 8 years older than him? 10 years?)

Daniel was twenty-four years old when he came home one day for his sister to give him the weirdest judgmental look. He didn’t realize why until Hestia was sitting there with a baby. She told him that this was his baby- their baby. Daniel panicked because he had absolutely no idea how this could even be possible. When had they had anything that could possibly result in a baby!? Hestia reassured him and Dani that everything was fine, and proved to them that she was indeed a Greek goddess.

Dani forced him to come up with a name for the baby on a spot. Daniel panicked, but had always sort of liked the name Chloe, so he went with it. No middle name? No middle name! He hadn’t been planning on having to name a baby! He isn’t sure if Hestia was even planning on having a baby! Everyone is too afraid to ask this question (except Danielle, who would if she particularly felt like it).

Hestia hung out for a few days and put Daniel through baby boot camp (Dani and roommate Jessica watched like it was a television programme).before leaving.

Daniel reluctantly brought over his daughter to visit his parents one day, and was pretty sure that his dad was not planning on giving her back. Daniel’s father seemed confused and upset that Daniel had managed to get some Greek lady pregnant, but also excited about having another grandchild. Also he kept threatening to raise the baby himself because how could Daniel’s household manage a child with literally no experience? Were any of those ladies even responsible?? 

Daniel and Danielle still live with their two best friends, and Chloe calls them Auntie Jessica and Auntie Teja. Jessica moved away for a short time while Chloe was in her early teens, but returned with her partner (Aunt) Abbie after a few years. Teja never moved away, but her husband (Uncle) Seth has been a part of the household since Chloe was eleven. Teja and Seth’s kids, Vikram and Violet, are also part of the family. Daniel wouldn’t dream of calling them anything other than nephew and niece, so they’re Chloe’s cousins. The house family thing is weird, but not that weird. They’re all family.

Daniel’s considered the “Cool Uncle.” His nieces and nephews (as well as great-nieces and and great-nephews) grew up expecting a good time when staying over and more sugar than was encouraged at their own homes. At one point, there was a rumor going around with Rachel and Erica’s kids that ‘gay’ just meant ‘cool.’ It was a whole big thing.

13 year old Vik used to follow around Daniel like a duckling. He thinks it’s cute, and they cook together (Teja and Seth aren’t allowed in the kitchen). 

Daniel’s had a very bad string of relationships. Before Chloe moved to Icaria, he’s had guys try to get him to choose between them and Chloe, and that’s grounds for dumping. While it’s certainly not the life he envisioned, Daniel has a family (both by birth and friendship) that he adores. He misses his daughter so much, and tries to talk to her every day.

He’s a really emotional guy- less volatile in his feelings than Chloe, but he’s not good at hiding how he is feeling either. Dani likes to make fun of his exaggerated facial expressions.

Daniel may or may not be seeing someone good for once. While Chloe knows he’s dating, she doesn’t usually want the details unless it’s serious… and this one is starting to get there. It feels right and good.

Daniel will absolutely text Chloe’s friends if they want to. He doesn’t think it’s weird at all to have friends of different ages as long as he’s mindful that they’re Chloe’s friends first and not make things weird/creepy/too personal.

[blackbirdpaw]

Okay so when I first read The Power of Three/Omen of the Stars, it really bothered me that there were four cats in this prophecy, and four Clans, but all the prophecy cats came from the same Clan!! Idk why but this e n r a g e d younger me. Four cats. Four Clans. It made sense!! I decided that I wanted this rewrite to amend some of my issues with canon, such as the pacing, the characterisation, etc.

So I was thinking, what if I did a rewrite, where the prophecy cats were from four different Clans. Jayfeather would be a WindClan cat, born to Leafpool and Crowfeather. Nightcloud agrees to raise him as her own along with her son Breezepelt and keep it a secret. (But she is mad as hell, and makes sure her kits grow up to resent their father.)

Lionblaze grows up in ThunderClan, raised by Squirrelflight and Brambleclaw, biological kit of CrowLeaf.

Hollyleaf grows up a ShadowClan cat, the daughter of Tawnypelt and Rowanclaw, born in a later litter than Tigerheartstar and the lot. (Timelines are very messy! This au is set at later than in canon, and certain characters have had their ages changed for convenience)

Dovewing and Ivypool are RiverClan cats! They’re the kits of Rippletail and Shimmerpelt. (The recent Shimmerpelt, not the one in Crookedstar’s Promise. She just sort of popped up, a fully established Warrior, no info on her, in the recent books. She’s had a couple of lines and I decided I liked her. Weird choice but hey. I’m the writer, I have the power ;) )

I don’t want to make this too long, and I’m not sure how to organise my thoughts so I’ll just explain why I’ve placed them in the Clans they’re in.

Jayfeather is a very unique character. He’s bitter, he’s resentful, he’s an asshole, and rightfully so. He was a victim of ableism on a large scale, and his anger is justified. He’s the first negative protagonist we’ve had in Warriors, and while I may not personally like him, he’s going to he fun to write. Yet all this bitterness reminds me of someone…that’s right. Breezepelt. Breezepelt transcends asshole-ness into being, well, evil. He agrees with all the Dark Forest ideals, literally tries to murder Jayfeather and a pregnant Poppyfrost, just because Crowfeather fucked Leafpool. He fought with the Dark Forest and shows no remorse, or regret. Breezepelt shares an interesting relationship with both Lionblaze and Jayfeather, and considering how in a way, he parallels Jay, I thought the two of them being raised as brothers would be very interesting. However, because I’m not fucking ableist, our dear Jayman becomes a warrior. Kind of irrelevant but shhh.

Lionblaze being in ThunderClan has some potential, for sure. He’s very…dull in canon, in contrast with his siblings. He’s a cardboard cutout ThunderClan warrior, a walking stereotype. Keeping him in ThunderClan just makes logical sense. In one of his few moments of characterisation, he expresses the difficulty of being Brambleclaw’s son to Stormfur, which I think will be interesting to work with, especially since in this rewrite, Firestar has died and Bramblestar is leader. I don’t want to go too far into their actual character arcs and personalities and such in this post, but, Lionblaze deals with a lot of angst. His power actually has repercussions, and he’s terrified of loosing control and hurting someone. (*side-eyes that whole Heathertail drama*) He’s in a Clan that are supposed to be the noble heroes, his bloodline is full of highly respected warriors who are regarded as heroes, and he sees himself as kind of a monster. See the angst potential? (I promise it won’t turn out as a mary-sue, edgy angst.)

Hollyleaf being in ShadowClan was tough. Part of me wanted to out her in RiverClan with her girlfriend Willowshine, part of me wanted to put her in WindClan with Crowfeather (a popular au that I am so here for) but ShadowClan! Hollyleaf just has so much potential. The kiddo is very morally grey, she’s very ambitious, and has a very unhealthy obsession with the Warrior code. ShadowClan will absolutely harbour that. ShadowClan’s ideals are pretty questionable themselves, ambition is common (we need some healthy ambition in here!) and ShadowClan have strayed from the Code so many times, they need a leader who can really keep them on track. Spoilers but, come on. We were all expecting some good old Hollystar.

Dovewing got RiverClan because it was the leftovers. Not the best reasoning, but hey. I can work with this. RiverClan doesn’t have all that much of an effect on Dovewing’s character. She’s a medicine cat, and she just doesn’t feel like she belongs in RC. I absolutely love Dovewing, and I wish she’d been written differently. Guess I get to write her the way I wish she was written!

This really doesn’t explain much about the au, in fact there’s little I can say without giving away the whole plot, but I’ll probably do that anyway. The more interesting stuff will come under my next post about all of this - characterisation!

[wetsockonyourfoot]

Starboy Lance

Aghhhhh my head’s in so many different places rn, just take this! :S

You know that feeling when you're only really kinda good at one thing, and pretty mediocre or bad at everything else? That feeling of knowing there are others with multitude of talents, and skills, yet you were given the short end of the stick and barely given a talent at all? That's the feeling Keith had felt every day of his life. Back at his old middle school he just passed his classes really. Never an over achiever. Never an underachiever. He was never insanely popular, never apart of the nerdy kids, jocks, drama, art, music, or geek clubs. He was sorta... just... there. And that's how it seemed to be in high school too, he just floated along till his senior year. Keith remembers his senior year almost perfectly. Why? Because of one person. Lance. Lance was an incoming junior when Keith was beginning his senior year, though he shared the same classes as Lance. Beautiful, smart, and wonderful Lance who always found the perfect pastel outfit to wear each day of one week, before he completely switched and was wearing goth black the next week. That was Lance's talent, to be so perfectly absorbed in his own style, his own personal club that no one could seem to follow or get into. Keith fell in love the moment he laid his eyes on Lance, and then he fell out of love immediately when Lance opened his mouth to speak. Okay, that may be an exaggeration, but Lance's opening line of, "Dude I thought Mullet's were stuck in the 80s" was not exactly a charmer. Keith of course rolled his eyes and started to rethink the tan skinned beauty he now had a crush on, but Lance luckily saved the conversation. "Sorry, that was rude. And I can't exactly be one to talk now can I?" Lance asked gesturing towards his outfit of choice. Keith remembered it well. The first day of classes and Lance was simultaneously breaking every school dress code at once, well for girls anyway. Boys didn't have any dress codes except to wear pants essentially. Lance however was clad in probably the most pastel goth outfit Keith had ever seen. Purple galaxy tights with bright pink converse, a pair of blue shorts over his tights, and a yellow shirt with a classic little green alien plastered on the front that read 'Aliens?'. Bronze skin practically glowed in the sun as he adjusted the various clips and earrings in his ears, along with the bracelets and rings on his arms. It was a completely feminine look, yet here was a slightly lanky boy pulling it off perfectly. Keith thought that surely someone would harass him for wearing such an outfit, yet he knew that as long as Lance hung out with him, no one would dare to touch him. Keith Kogane didn't have many talents, he was an average student really. But god damn, he could punch, and he was know for it. Back during his freshmen year of high school, Keith had some rough encounters with the baseball jocks after they kicked out Takashi Shirogane from their team. Shiro, as Keith called him, was Keith's current boyfriend. Three year's his senior, he was a well rounded and absolutely perfect human being. Shiro however was involved in an accident when he was in 10th grade that cost him his arm, and he had been facing hardship against the baseball team every sense. He was allowed to play his 11th year with his new arm, but couldn't find the courage to actually get back onto the field. So his final year they officially kicked Shiro off the team, and Keith got a little more than pissed. It ended up with Keith getting two weeks suspension, and the head of the baseball team getting reconstructive surgery. Needless to say, no one picked fights with Keith. Lance hung around for a while longer, talking about how he just moved to the town with his mother after a rough divorce. Keith speaking about how he was an orphan that now lived with Shiro since he was technically a year behind in age and would be turning 19 that year. Keith had moved in during the summer and couldn't be happier to be out of the dingy foster home he was stuck in. They were nice people and all, but he was ready to get out and not have someone nagging him all the time. Lance, as it turned out, would be turning 18 that year, as he was a year ahead of his age. "Part of being born in the summer I suppose?" was all he commented about it. Conversation flowed through them casually, naturally as if they had been talking all their lives. He found out that most of his siblings were staying with his father back in Cuba, his mother and him having moved to the United States for a fresh start. They had been living there since last May, and Lance's English was so good that if he hadn't been told so Keith would have never guessed his first language was actually Spanish. All throughout the day Lance received looks, and sneers from peers though he seemed to ignore them all and instead focused on making a social group for him and Keith. It was hard to find the right people, or at least to find people that Lance considered good enough to keep. Though Lance also seemed to be a social media expert as he Chatted and Snapped, and Twittered his way through mobs of curious girls and boys alike. In the end, Keith would prefer to just have Lance to himself, but, that was a conversation for... well actually now seemed to be a good time to consider it, Keith thought. Lance seemed to be perfectly built for Keith, and sure as hell had a personality to match, but he already had Shiro. Why would he feel the need to have another boyfriend? Sure Keith had heard of poly amorous relationships before, but he never considered the thought too much. It never stuck out to him as something that needed to be thought about so seriously before. He didn't have a problem with it or anything, so long as the people involved knew about the other partners and were okay with it. However, Keith never considered him to be one to find himself in this position. Shiro had always provided him with everything he needed. Love, comfort, a source of relief after a hard day, hell he even helped Keith provide a house and food for them both. But Lance... Lance provided social interaction that he craved. The danger of being new, the intoxicating scent of something fresh that Keith wanted to stain and mark as his. Lance was a breathe of new air in Keith's slowly dulling life. Shiro provided him with stability, Lance with flexibility. Both were needed and in the right parts, but the hard part came as to when to get them together. Hell Keith was thinking to fast, he had to find out if Lance even liked him back first! Fantasizing could come later! And thus the day went on. Boring classes that Keith barely paid attention too, syllabus that he would have to sign later, and the sense of emotional exhaustion settling deep into his bones. Keith's day was far from over though, he had his shift down at a local bar still, hired as one of the bouncers since he knew the young faces of the town. So he trudged on. Dumping his bag in the back of the bar after a short walk to down town from school, still thinking about Lance all while he worked. The way the other's brown hair seemed to glow gold when caught right, lean muscles, bright blue eyes, and enthusiasm that made even a shy loner like Keith smile. Needless to say, Keith couldn't wait to get home and find out more about the teen. Heading back home around 1 AM, he was greeted to his usual sight of Shiro's attempt at cooking, failure from cooking, and resulting pizza box on the counter, along with the older passed out on the couch with the TV droning on. Shaking his head lovingly, Keith dropped his bags, grabbed some pizza and shoved it down quickly before nudging Shiro awake. Shiro half awake and half asleep will continue to be the best part of dating the taller male, he was like a child in this state, mumbling nonsense and stumbling around as Keith lead him to bed. The bedroom was a small thing, as their house was a simple one story affair, in a decently safe neighbor hood. Shiro's parents had helped put down the deposit, but Shiro and him kept on time with their own payments, giving it the sense of truly being theirs. Down the hall from the living room was their bedroom, where a giant bed took up almost all the space inside of it. Shiro insisted on getting the large mattress, as he rolled around a lot and was a fairly large man. Keith was thankful for it, as it meant fewer steps for the sleep drunken young adult to walk and get to bed. With Shiro tucked in soundly, Keith even gave him a kiss for good measure, he worked on getting ready for bed himself and found that only one thing was out of place. The neighbors light was still on, casting a fake yellow shadow across the spot where Keith was to rest his head. Grumbling annoyed by the lack of darkness in his spot, he tried to get the blinds to close further and failed horribly, somehow making them open wider instead of closing. Mentally cursing himself Keith tried to fix the matter before a figure appeared in the light of the opposite room. It was Lance. Keith felt his heart drop right then and there. Lance was almost completely exposed in his outfit. Only wearing a pair of panties, and a long sweater over his top half. That's not what made Keith's heart drop however. All across Lance's legs were scars and bandages. And all of them looked to be self inflicted.

[aki-chan2014]

Amaranthine: second generation headcanon list

And after what feels like forever, here is the Amaranthine second-gen list. I had a lot of ideas for this beyond what I covered in the story, and compiling the list gave me yet more, so as a result there's a bonus section of second genners here that have no role or mention in the story here as well.I might or might not write more fics around this AU that might or might not end up including them, but if you want to know more about a particular kid (or their 3E parent, for that matter!), feel free to drop me an ask or whatever :)

Anyway, I hope you find this list (starting under the cut, as always!)interesting, and here's the link to the original story:   https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11912649/1/Amaranthine

Note 1: Though I've given birth years for all of them, only Kaguya has a birthday listed, because she's the only one who I assigned a specific birthday to.

Note 2: There are some death dates listed for children here, but though there are quite a few in the bonus section that I imagine to have premature deaths, I’ve only made a point of listing the death dates for those who died as children/babies rather than just generally young. This is because for the ones whose premature deaths occur in adulthood, I haven’t decided a year/age they die at, just general circumstances.

Note 3: Something weird happened when I copy-pasted this from word to the post, so though I've tried to neaten it up the fonts and format may be weird.

Main

Rinka Hayami and Ryuunosuke Chiba

Kaguya Hayami, born 20th May, 2031. She is named Kaguya because of her mother’s fear that somehow, she’d turn out to not really belong to her, that she was a loan from the gods to make up for their cruelty in killing Chiba, and that one day she’d have to give her back. Though Kaguya is a warm natured person who gets along with others and expresses her emotions easily, she is as reserved and quiet as both her parents are/were. Though mother and daughter have always gotten on, the night Hayami revealed everything about the past to her marked a new, deeper closeness between them.  Kaguya’s closest childhood/school friends are Iruka and Ageha Akasaka (see below).

  Hinano Kurahashi

Masami Akasaka (former surname Tachibana), born 2023. Her bio parents were childhood friends of her father, and they made him and Hinano her legal guardians, which is how they came to adopt her when she was four and her parents died in an accident. Though she calls them ‘Papa Shinji’ and ‘Mama Hinano’ all her life, she considers them her parents as much as her bio ones, and loves them deeply. Masami is cheerful and happy-go-lucky, and has a wide variety of interests. She goes on to have a large family herself.

Suzume Akasaka, born 2027. Elder twin by fifteen minutes, she’s basically a brown-eyed version of Hinano, except more sparky and argumentative. In elementary and early middle school, she gets into a lot of fights-though usually with good intention-but she grows out of this before she can be labelled a delinquent, much to everyone’s relief.  She adores dogs most of all and thus ends up running a dog shelter.

Tsubame Akasaka, born 2027. Despite being the younger twin, she tends to be the bossier, take-charge one in a way more befitting an older sibling. She loves pranks, especially twin-switch ones, and would have probably gotten along well with Rio in another life, and later on life this translates to a general carefree attitude about life.

Iruka ‘Iru’ Akasaka, born 2030. He often despairs at being the only brother in a bunch of sisters, but on the other hand it means that he is well acquaintance with the quirks and foibles of females and is rarely fazed by anything (though he tends to be the straight man in most social interactions).  This makes him a bit of an oddity amongst his classmates and friends throughout his life, but also leaves them in awe of him. He tries on a variety of careers and eventually settles on training as a teacher and working for The Sanctuary (the school that Megu, Hinano and Hayami eventually make from the old 3E campus once Gakuho Asano dies) once it opens. He goes by his nickname because he finds his actual name a little dorky (“seriously, who wants to be named ‘dolphin’?”)

Ageha ‘Acchan’ Akasaka, born 2032. A precocious reader and quick to pick up mathematical concepts, she ends up skipping a year near the end of elementary school, and ends up in the same year as Kaguya for middle and high school. Physically speaking, she’s the one who resembles her father the most.

 Megu Kataoka

Misa Watanabe (former surname Takechi), born 2036. The elder twin by ten minutes, Misa is fierce and overprotective of her two little brothers, and has always been mature for her age. She is the one that remembers the most of her old parents, and though she has no wish to reconnect with that aspect of her life, she bears the scars in the form of having trouble in letting herself be helped. She develops a passion for the stars and pursues this to become one of the most influential astronomers of her generation.

Manabu Watanabe (former surname Takechi), born 2036. Though he’s technically the quieter twin, Manabu is no less protective or dedicated than his sister is. He eventually goes on to be a policeman and values the justice system highly, so when his mother dies and he receives her letter, the contents don’t sit easy with him. He does eventually reconcile it though, and goes on to work closely with The Sanctuary afterwards.

Yuuma Watanabe (former surname Takechi, no first name before adoption), born 2037. Sweet and imaginative, Yuuma can seem as gentlemanly and kind as his namesake, but a lot more dreamy and sometimes more innocent. He struggles in school most of his life, but works hard and makes it through, and becomes a relatively successful novelist-many of the squad, Isogai included, become fans of his works.

Bonus

 Squad members

Touka Yada

Eriko Sakakibara, born 2020. The unplanned, unwanted consequence of a mission when Yada was 20, Eriko was abandoned and eventually adopted, and knows nothing of her biological mother’s background. Her adoptive parents were not very loving or warm parents and as a result Eriko had a rough, rebellious adolescence which ended in a teenage pregnancy that resulted in her beloved daughter, Marika (who eventually ends up in the first 3E that Megu, Hinano and Hayami teach). This gave Eriko a purpose, and she pulled herself together worked extremely hard to be able to bring her up alone, giving her the love and nurturing that she herself never experienced and eventually becoming the co-owner of a successful cat cafe.

  Takuya Muramatsu

Natsuya Muramatsu, born 2027.Though his brash behaviour and relaxed attitude to dress code make him seem a lot like the stereotypical delinquent in a similar way to how his father appeared, in truth he is a lot more shrewd, sly and smart than that, which makes him the perfect candidate to take over Takuya’s role in the squad when the time comes. 

Shin’ya Muramatsu, born 2028. A quiet guy who goes with the flow and prefers to stay out of conflict, Shin’ya is more than happy to stay behind the scenes and be the cook while Natsuya takes the lead and does most of the squad-related things.

Tomohito Sugino and Yukiko Kanzaki

Nanako Sugino, born 2024, deceased 2027. Though she was unplanned and initially seen as an inconvenience by her parents, she was loved deeply and her death due to a sickness and medical negligence hit both her parents hard. Her memory is often used as a driving motivation behind the squad’s targeting of corrupt medical industries and hospitals (things that contributed to Nanako’s death). Nanako was basically a typical happy three year old who loved fairies and unicorns. She was also notably pretty.

Yuuma Isogai

Megumi Isogai, born 2027. She would have been named ‘Megu’, but her mother thought that was an incomplete name and argued for other alternatives-‘Megumi’ was the compromise in the end, but she is still definitely named for Megu Kataoka. Anyway, she never seems to fit in with her family despite being very much her father’s favourite (she even looks a lot like him, minus the ahoge), and after a childhood of railing against a sheltered upbringing, she runs away from home at the age of 17 and is never heard of again. It is unclear how much she knew of her family’s activities prior to this.

Mayuri Isogai, born 2030. Probably the most docile and compliant of the three Isogai daughters, she is basically the other extreme of having such a sheltered, insular childhood. She goes on to take on a job in one of Yada’s legitimate business ventures, reporting back relevant information to her family and the rest of the squad but otherwise keeping on the right side of the law.  She’s pleasant enough and fiercely loyal to her family, but doesn’t have much of a personality.

Tsumugi Isogai, born 2032. Though she tended to get a little restless from being so coddled, being a Tsumugi never actually minded it that much. She’s generally a chill person, though with a slightly cold streak-she tends to be hurtful in her words and rarely shows much compassion to others apart from her family (except for Megumi, who she always dismisses as ‘causing drama’ whenever she’s mentioned). She goes on to become one of the squad’s main assassins.

Saki Isogai, born 2033. Probably the most relaxed and ‘normal’ of the Isogai siblings, Saki decides on a law-abiding life, though she always stays close to her family-she takes the option of pretending she knows nothing. After all, her upbringing was such that such a thing is plausible. In taking this approach, she proves herself more strategic and calculating than most people around her would give her credit for, especially as she seems so straightforward. Saki is also the only sibling who has inherited the Isogai ahoge.

  Hiroto Maehara

(Note: All of these kids are the result of reckless flings/affairs/one-night stands that occur during, but not related to, various squad missions)

Yuka Yamada, born 2022. Abandoned by her young mother as a toddler, Yuka has a rough, abusive childhood in care and winds up gravitating towards crime as a teenager and running away. Various tricky life events occur before she eventually cleans up her act and gets work at a florists. During one of the rough years, she meets and helps Megumi Isogai, and though their friendship lasts only a few months and they never kept in contact, that time helped to contribute towards Yuka’s subsequent decision to straighten out.

Kimiya Satsuki, born 2025. The result of an affair, Kimiya has no idea that the person he calls ‘Dad’ is not actually his father. He is the second of four children (one older brother, one younger brother, one younger sister), and has a happy childhood in a coastal town, and grows up to run his family inn.

Kazunari Taira, born 2031, deceased 2040. Small for his age, Kazunari was hyperactive and funny and full of plans and ideas. The only child that Maehara actually had a  (distant but still fond) relationship with, Kazunari died in what was disguised as an accident, but was a murder made as a threat to the squad (his mother is oblivious to this truth, thankfully). After his death, Maehara vowed to be a lot more careful in the future so that he didn’t have any more children who could come to such harm.

Anna-Louisa ‘Ally’ Warren (nee Harding), born 2039. Raised in America, Anna had a slightly tough but generally loving childhood, and though she always wondered about her father (especially as her mother couldn’t give many answers beyond the vague), it was not until well into her adult life after a bitter divorce that she was motivated to go to Japan to try and track him down. She did not succeed, but ended up seduced by the culture and decided to make a fresh start there. She ended up working at one of Yada’s legitimate business ventures, and Yada instantly suspected who she could be, but decided to keep it secret from both of them.

   Other non-squad members

Taisei Yoshida

Seiko Yoshida, born 2026. A pretty, popular girl, Seiko always sensed that there’s a part of her father that comes from another sort of world (as she thinks of it), and is the only one of her siblings who is interested in it. As a result, she ends up often helping her father pass on cards from Isogai and things like that, and ends up working for Yuzuki Fuwa in her quest to become a private detective (which she achieves). Childhood friends with the Itou kids (see below), she dates and eventually marries Ichiro, the eldest.

Taichi Yoshida, born 2029. Loud, annoying but ultimately well meaning, he’s basically a typical annoying little brother towards Seiko, and a protective-but-teasing older brother to Ema. He becomes part of a boy band in his late teens until his mid-twenties (he’s quite the good singer), but then when they disband goes to work for his dad’s garage.

Ema Yoshida, born 2032. Otherwise super-girly and basically tiny and sweet and adorable, she surprises everyone by showing an aptitudes for mechanics, and seems to take a little too much pleasure from subverting expectations. She ends up going to the same university as Ageha, and though they end up in a lot of the same classes during their degrees and know each other well as a result, they don’t connect enough for them to realise any connections between their families.

  Sumire Hara

Ichiro Itou, born 2026. A brotherly, caring type who charms everyone he encounters, the handsome Ichiro is pretty much as popular as Seiko and in high school they’re basically the golden couple. He has an odd but deep interest in different types of tea.

Asahi Itou, born 2028. Eldest of the triplets, Asahi is a headstrong, fierce girl who knows what she wants and just aims for it, with little hesitation. A feminist, she’s radical enough in her views as a young girl to rail against the fact that her mother is a housewife, and does not understand why she would be happy with that or how she could choose that. She only gains that understanding as an adult, and thus for a lot of her life her relationship with her mother is tense.

Mahiru Itou, born 2028. Headstrong like Asahi, but more measured than fierce, Mahiru is generally considered the more sensible of the triplets. She eventually goes on to be a criminal lawyer, and has several close brushes with the squad, which causes her mother no end of anxiety, though Sumire never tells her precisely why she keeps begging Mahiru to find another job.

Yuuhi Itou, born 2028. The youngest of the triplets. He’s close friends with Taichi Yoshida, being the quieter, more anxious straight man to Taichi’s impulsive, reckless goofball, and he also joins the band that Taichi joins as a late teen (he plays the drums). When the band splits up, he goes into music production. He struggles with anxiety for a lot of his life, but manages it.

Kaoru Itou, born 2030. Very interested in fashion, Kaoru is flamboyant, imaginative and creative, and loves to make clothes and accessories for his nearest and dearest, and makes a successful career out of it. He moves to Australia as an adult, but visits Japan constantly.

Mirai Itou, born 2037. A surprise child, he’s very much coddled and adored by the rest of his family, and acts a little spoiled because of this. However he’s a hardworking, passionate person, and as someone who never really fits in with the strict educational system (though he does well), he is eventually motivated to also work for The Sanctuary.

  Kirara Hazama

Shiki Nakajima, born and deceased 2027. A stillborn son, his name is written to mean ‘poem’. Though his parents think of him pretty much every day and he is still thought of as part of the family (his name is still on the plaque listing the family’s names outside the Nakajima’s front door), he is not talked about.

Bunko Nakajima, born 2033. A sunny faced, sunny natured girl, nobody can believe that she and Hazama are related when they look at the two of them together. The only feature they appear to share is curly hair, and even that’s a stretch. However, Bunko is just as book obsessed as her mother (and her father, for that matter) and has a similar dark sense of humour and interest/knowledge in the occult and she can be creepy when she wants to be. She starts a book-critique blog called ‘Literary Child’ (which is what her name means) that becomes a hit in the book world.

  Taiga Okajima

Kiyomi Okajima, born 2031. Brash, down to earth, overly blunt and not easily fazed, Kiyomi is not someone you want to challenge. A lesbian, she finds it hilarious that her father’s reaction to her coming out in her teens is to be happy that he can pass down his own porn collection from his adolescence instead of having to find male porn to give to her. Though she does turn it down anyway.

  Karma Akabane

Saito Akabane, born 2028. Physically resembling his father, he is nothing like him personality wise, being a straight-laced, overly serious sort of person who goes onto become a doctor. It horrifies him when he learns of his father’s past and the sort of people his former classmates became, and his struggle to understand it causes a rift in their relationship for a while, but they reconcile when Saito has his own children.

Toshiko Akabane, born 2029. A bit more cheeky and relaxed, Toshiko does seem a lot more like her father, personality wise. Though she’s generally someone who believes in the law, for some reason she finds it easier to accept her father’s past. Witnessing horrible experiences classmates and friends go through, she is eventually motivated to open a women’s shelter, walking away from a shiny government job to achieve this. She allows the squad to refer people they rescue to her.

[sueboohscorner]

#Lucifer—Season 3—Episode 14—"My Brother’s Keeper”

This week on Lucifer, things get personal. Lucifer and Ella find themselves dealing with brotherly issues at work. Sometimes there is just no escaping the family drama.

Ella’s brother walks into a gangster’s posh office with a briefcase full of diamonds, only for his phone to come spilling out of his pocket when it rings, displaying “LAPD” on the screen. Ella is calling (pretty convenient that Ella is labeled “LAPD,” huh?). While the phone goes straight to voicemail on Ella’s end, her brother is confronted by the gangster with a gun to the face.

As Ella leaves the message for her brother, Lucifer walks into Cain's office at the police station, telling him to take off his shirt. It seems their plans to kill Cain once and for all have begun. Lucifer thinks that the key to killing Cain lies in the mark God has left upon him. While the tattoo fades, the mark below does not. Sadly, Lucifer’s research includes watching The Da Vinci code and not much else.

Ella knocks on Chloe and Maze’s apartment door, only to be confronted by a knife-wielding Trixie, who she has to talk her way past. Apparently, Trixie’s favorite games include role-playing with knives, thanks to Maze! Ella finds it adorable and plays along. Ella and Trixie are wearing the same shirt and decide they’re sisters. It turns out that Ella is actually looking for Maze. She wants to hire Maze to look for her brother. While Ella and Maze talk, Trixie attacks the punching bag. When Ella offers to pay, Maze is happy to help.

 Back at the penthouse, Lucifer asks Amenadiel for his help. Amenadiel refuses. Since Amenadiel thinks that Lucifer is his test, he feels that Lucifer needs to be protected from himself. According to Amenadiel, God cursed Cain for an excellent reason, and Amenadiel doesn’t believe that curse should be lifted. It appears that Lucifer and Cain will be working alone on this one.

Maze and Ella, who, by the way, believes that her brother is simply a diamond authenticator who is legit, walk into the gangster’s office and find a dead body on the ground. Upon further investigation, they find that the body is not that of Ella’s brother. It looks like Ella’s penchant for doing good deeds and believing the best about people, despite evidence to the contrary, may be coming back to bite her. Maze thinks Ella’s brother might, in fact, be the killer! Ella calls Det. Decker and Lucifer. While Ella believes that her brother is the killer, Ella defends him, telling Lucifer and Det. Decker that her brother always walked the straight and narrow. Ella finds, upon investigation of the crime scene, that there was another, left, not a right-handed shooter and Lucifer believes that all big brothers are bs-ers who shelter their younger siblings, assuming that Ella’s brother was the actual killer, hands-down. As per usual, Chloe is the only level-headed one in this investigation. Chloe asks Ella to step away from the investigation while she, Lucifer and Maze work.

Charlotte walks into Dr. Linda’s office. She wants help processing her trauma and has never been to therapy before, but since Lucifer recommended Dr. Linda, Charlotte Richards decided to try seeing her. Dr. Linda, who is, of course, processing her own trauma which centers directly around Charlotte Richards (or rather, Charlotte Richards’ body, which was possessed by Lilith at the time), stares daggers at Charlotte before telling her to leave. Charlotte, who remembers nothing of her encounter with Dr. Linda, leaves with a sigh and a defeated look, saying that she knew she was beyond help anyway (aww).

 While talking to Cain about big brothers. Lucifer tells Cain that ever since Amenadiel has found out that he’s God’s favorite, he’s been insufferable. Cain asks a very cogent and appropriate question: how does Lucifer know that Amenadiel is actually God’s favorite? Lucifer’s answer, like the answer most mortal little brothers would give, is a huge cop-out. Lucifer flippantly tells Cain that he knows Amenadiel is God’s favorite because of a long story involving a space vagina and since it [the fact that Amenadiel is God’s favorite] is written in a book. Lucifer decides, however, after having said all of this, that he still needs Amenadiel’s help and that he’ll have to do his best to convince Amenadiel to assist them. Clearly, Lucifer relies upon his big brother very much, despite any issues they might have.

 Det. Espinoza finds that the diamonds on the dead gangster were—surprise—stolen and that they are easily trackable since the diamonds are embedded with serial numbers. The victim, Fareed the gangster, seems to have deviated from his legitimate job as a diamond broker and appears to have been killed while doing business using stolen diamonds from the Beverly Hills store he works with. Lucifer, of course, thinks that the entire investigation is a waste of time and that this case is clearly only about Ella’s “no good” brother. Det. Decker points out that Lucifer, as per usual, is missing the point entirely and discarding legitimate information in favor of projecting his entire family drama onto an unrelated case.

 At the diamond store, Lucifer and Det. Decker investigates, playing an engaged couple. Chloe uses knowledge gained from watching the real housewives to play a stuck-up diamond snob. She shows the Beverly Hills store the stolen diamond, pretending Lucifer bought it for her and the owner pulls her aside and brings the two into the back room, where Det. Decker drops the act and questions the store owner and Lucifer insist that he is not actually cheap, but that he was simply playing a cheap guy as part of the investigation. The two ask the owner of the store why she stole her own diamonds. Lucifer immediately inserts his own issues regarding his fight with Amenadiel into the case. While the owner of the store did set up a false crime, stealing her own diamonds from her own store with the help of Fareed, she is surprised to find that Fareed the diamond smuggling diamond authenticator was dead.

 Maze and Ella question a clerk to see if Ella’s brother has stayed at his hotel. While they don’t find him, they do find that he checked in under an alias. Dr. Linda confronts Lucifer about why he sent Charlotte Richards to her. Lucifer assures Dr. Linda that Charlotte Richards is not Lilith, simply a woman who needs help.

 At the station, Det. Decker and Det. Espinoza consults with an insurance adjustor familiar with diamond smuggling, who says that if someone gets rid of the serial numbers on the diamonds, diamond theft is practically an untraceable crime. Det. Decker asks if an authenticator could do that job. Apparently, that’s a strong possibility. Ella and Maze walk through the cheap hotel building near tent city. Maze busts down the door to find Ella’s brother, ready to attack any intruders.

 Cain finds Amenadiel at Lucifer’s bar to ask him about how he might be able to die. Apparently, Amenadiel was the one who marked Cain. Cain threatens Amenadiel to coerce him into helping Cain kill himself. Back at the building, Ella’s brother describes the situation to Ella and Maze. Supposedly he was in the bathroom when the murder went down. Ella takes off her shoe and beats her brother with it for being stupid. Det. Decker calls Ella while she and Maze are with Jay and says that she thinks Jay is the shooter. Ella lies to Det. Decker, who knows she's dishonest, saying she hasn’t located her brother yet. The Detectives posit that Ella will head back to the crime scene, where they will confront Ella’s brother.

 Cain pretends to threaten to kill an innocent person to bribe Amenadiel into helping him, but instead, he fires his gun into the ceiling and tells everyone to leave while e kicks Amenadiel’s ass. Amenadiel and Cain go toe to toe, and Amenadiel shoots Cain. The two continue to fight. Cain is undoubtedly taking action on his plan to die!

 Meanwhile, Jay tells Ella that he saw the shooter’s shoes—that they were red wing tips, but Ella calls Jay out, telling him that he couldn’t have seen what he says he did because they bathroom door opens outward and Jay said he was in the bathroom. Of course, Detectives Decker and Espinoza show up and confront Ella and Jay, telling Ella that the insurance adjuster said that Jay was involved in getting rid of the serial number of the diamonds. Ella asks Jay if he was involved and, surprise he was. Jay pulls a gun on the detectives and Lucifer, saying that no matter what he says or does, the cops won’t believe that he didn’t kill Fareed. Ella continues to defend Jay, saying that he just got mixed up with some bad dudes and didn’t kill anyone. Ella begs Maze to stay. She says she’ll stay for a cost. Ella is so disappointed, telling Maze that she thought they connected and that Maze cared. Maze tells her that she does care and that’s why she’s not going to help.

 Det. Decker suspects, after looking at the crime scene, that Jay did see the killer, just not from the vantage point he said he did. It was the insurance adjustor, who Jay stupidly confronts with a gun he’s never held before. The killer tells Jay that after he gets Jay’s help removing the serial numbers from the diamonds, he’s going to kill him.

 Over at Lux, Cain and Amenadiel continue to fight. Cain calls Amenadiel out on plotting to kill Lucifer, drawing a parallel between the two of them, saying that Amenadiel is just like him. Amenadiel realizes that he is no higher and no mightier than Cain, though, it seems that rather than seeing that Cain isn’t such a bad guy, Amenadiel thinks that he is a failure.

 Ella confronts the insurance adjustor, who is holding a gun on Jay. Jay tries to bargain for Ella’s life when Maze shows up and kills the insurance adjuster with a flying knife, which Ella tells the detectives came out of nowhere. Det. Decker tells Ella that Maze isn’t in trouble. Charges aren’t being pressed against Jay since the Detective speaks on his behalf. Lucifer tells Chloe that if she had a brother, he would be very proud of her. While the case has been solved, the diamonds are still missing.

Dr. Linda shows up at Charlotte Richards’ office to apologize. Charlotte has figured out that she has hurt Dr. Linda during her lost time. Linda pricks Charlotte to see if she bleeds to make sure she’s not Lilith. Lucifer shows up at Jay’s apartment later that evening, where he is keeping the stolen diamonds. He tells Lucifer that he takes care of his family with the money from the stolen diamonds. Jay seems like an arrogant person—someone who, for some reason, Ella still has faith in. Lucifer threatens Jay with his demon eyes, which have come back, telling Jay that if he ever disappoints Ella again, Lucifer will come for him. Lucifer clearly looks at Ella like a little sister.

 Lucifer meets with Amenadiel at Luxe, telling Lucifer that working with Pearce/Cain will incur God’s wrath and that since he is his brother’s keeper, he is worried that Cain’s selfish goal has permeated the entirety of Pearce’s being and that such an alliance will not end well. Lucifer tells Amenadiel that he will be in his way if he continues to stand between Lucifer and Cain and their goal to kill Cain. Amenadiel tells Lucifer that he guesses he will be in his way. Its good to see Amenadiel stand up to Luci and for what he feels is right.

So, gentle readers, is Amenadiel right about Cain? Sound off in the comments! We want to know what you think.

[dawnover-dusk]

Starling { Seungcheol } (4)

genre: crime!au, mystery

word count: 1,807

summary: when monsters from 5 years past come back to play

warning: death, blood, if you can’t watch crime dramas do not read

< previous       next > 

“Okay, let’s regroup,” Seungcheol said, pacing in front of the large conference room. The detectives sitting around the round table had their tablets out along with paper copies of the case findings. The large board at the front of the room now had a map of where victims had been found, along with photographs of the crime scenes.

With a tiny raise of your hand, you asked from the back of the room, “Why am I here?” 

“We’ve found two bodies in the past 72 hours, three if you count Kwon’s hand in the river. Clearly this person is escalating, so we need as much insight as we can get. Besides,” Seungcheol paused with a toothy grin, “I think a lot clearer when you’re here.”

The other detectives in the room – your friends, you begrudgingly reminded yourself as you instantly thought of where their major arteries were located – all began to snicker while you hid your face with your hands to hide your flushing cheeks.

“Anyway,” Seungcheol moved on, “We found this young man at a cemetery, and now, another man was found at a park along the river. All personal belongings intact, but no cellphones. Deaths are crossing age lines and racial lines, so there has to be something about these two men that would cause this killer to fixate on them.” 

“The first victim was killed a month ago, the second, 2 weeks ago. Mechanism of death was an overdose of fentanyl administered intravenously via the neck. Both victims were stabbed post-mortem, no defensive wounds. The amount of blood at the discovery sites suggest that the murders took place at the sites,” you contributed. 

“Fentanyl is basically super heroin,” Seungcheol interjected. “I’ll get Seokmin from Narcotics to trace the source. Jeonghan did you get anything from the families?” 

“Apparently both these men were at the prime of their lives. One was accepted to grad school with a full-ride, and the other opened up a new business in the neighborhood. These local newspapers actually ran articles about it. The only other thing in common was that they both had younger sisters.”

Jun passed around a stack of his own notes to the rest of the detectives. “Okay, we know that Starling 2.0 has been living in Kwon’s shadow, and the only things being kept from his crimes are the starling motif and the fentanyl overdoses. Kwon used the starling because it’s a black bird with luminescent feathers, so beauty in darkness or death and all that. He used overdoses because the bodies would be kept intact and were meant to be displayed next to his art. This person, though, is probably using the starling due to its reputation. They probably feel unwanted and like they had to conform to other people’s standards, like Kwon’s. These deaths are not about art; there’s too much emotion and rage towards these men. They’re probably serving as surrogates for an older, successful male figure.”

“If they were killed at the discovery sites, then these men would have to be lured there somehow. The killer would have to appear nonthreatening, and if they’re using lethal injections before stabbing, they might not have the physical strength to incapacitate these men in any other way,” Joshua added. 

“The sister of the first victim told us something strange. She got texts the night that he went missing saying that he was going to pick her up, and that he was disappointed that she got so drunk. She claims that she was at home all night, and the parents confirmed,” Jeonghan said.

Jun gasped. “That could be the ruse – ‘Hi, I’m a friend of your sister’s, and we need a bit of help. Can you pick us up?’ – but the fact that the killer knows about the sibling relationship and took advantage of it…” The psychologist went silent as he lightly slapped his forehead with his hand.

“What is it?” Seungcheol prodded.

“A successful, older brother as a surrogate – the killer identifies with the younger sister. Starling 2.0 is female.”

“I swear, they all have family issues, the whole lot of them,” Seungcheol whined in your ear. You giggled when you felt him bury his face into your neck, his grip on your waist pressing you further into his body. After dismissing the group of detectives to wrap up any additional loose ends, you and Seungcheol were back in his corner office, leaning against the back of his door. 

“Well,” you began, a hand running comfortingly through his black locks, “if we start a family, at least we’ll have a lengthy ‘how-to’ guide on not raising serial killers ingrained in our brains.”

Seungcheol’s head shot up and his dark eyes searched yours. His long eyelashes and his wide grin framed by cherry lips wiped away the exhaustion and terror which were written into every line and wrinkle on his face, making him seem almost boyish in appearance. His hands traveled from their place on your waist to cup your cheeks. “A family?” he whispered, tentatively, reverently. 

Your intention of emphasizing the word “if” was forgotten when you felt his warm lips on yours, slightly chapped from the cold yet still delicate and utterly breathtaking. Eyelashes fluttered on your cheekbones and you grounded yourself by gripping on the sleeves of his jacket, afraid that the warmth spreading throughout your chest and your pounding heart would be too dizzying for you to remain standing. Being with Seungcheol had always felt like that: a safe place to land when you flew about chasing monsters and death every single day. His arms were a fortress which shielded you from the world, and in them, you felt innocent again, reminded that there were still good people when you were confronted with the worst things that humans could do.

At the back of your mind, you wondered how he could still make your heart ache like a teenager in high school with a crush, even after five years.

The sound of a throat clearing broke the connection that you two shared. Your gaze was unfocused and glassy as you were still slightly out of breath and flustered, but Seungcheol was craning over your shoulder to see a sheepish, bespectacled detective sitting at the desk.

You quickly sprang away from Seungcheol and crossed over to the other side of the room when you realized that you had company. Seungcheol sulkily pouted as you slipped out of his arms and he turned fully to face Wonwoo. “This better be important,” he deadpanned. 

The detective from the crime scene unit grinned, his entire face scrunching with mischievous merriment. “Hey, I’m not the one making out while I’m still on the clock.” 

“That’s not what the pretty detective from the ballistics lab told me last week,” you bit back. Seungcheol pumped his fist in the air in a mock gesture of victory while Wonwoo’s face fell in embarrassment. He cleared his throat again and held up two evidence bags, each with a painting of a starling on canvas.

“Anyway, back to the whole ‘scary-serial-killer-on-the-loose’ situation. I thought it was strange how these paintings are on canvas because they’ve always been on a wall somewhere, so I took the opportunity to play with these new toys that we use to detect art forgery. I ran these two paintings through UV and infrared analysis, and this is what was covered up by the paint.”

Wonwoo pulled up two images on Seungcheol’s computer. Each image depicted several lines of letters and geometric shapes, grouped together like words yet complete gibberish. Wonwoo looked at the pair of you excitedly before bursting out, “It’s a cryptogram! Finally, a killer who gave me something fun.” 

You ruffled Wonwoo’s head good-naturedly as he straightened his round, wire-framed glasses perched on his tall nose. “You might want to tone it down lest people get the wrong idea. But this is really good work, Wonwoo.”

Wonwoo mumbled about you sounding like the person from ballistics before Seungcheol ushered him up and towards the door. “Go forth and decode, you big nerd,” he teased.

Before Wonwoo exited the office, he turned to the pair of you with a serious expression on his face. “I was thinking that she – our killer – started painting on canvas because she wants us to find this code, but the more she leaves behind, the closer we are to catching her. Maybe this is just part of her game, but if she wants to be caught, then there has to be a bigger end goal that we’re missing.” He took a short pause and stared at Seungcheol. “Stay safe,” the younger detective breathed out, and left.

Seungcheol smiled feebly at the empty space which Wonwoo had occupied before he was pulled out of his memories by your phone’s ringing. You quickly finished the call and walked towards the door as well with Seungcheol on your heels. 

“That was Mingyu. I have to finalize the death certificates and the autopsy reports back at the morgue. You know, I’m really glad that he’s here to pick up after me while I’m off playing detective,” you joked, making eye contact with Seungcheol.

“First name basis?” Seungcheol questioned with an eyebrow raised.

“Hell, he’s not even a week into his fellowship and he’s holding his own on a hushed-up serial killer investigation. He’s got me on his team. But I’d never say it to his face, of course.”

“Of course,” Seungcheol echoed and chastely kissed you at the door. Your phone buzzed again in your pocket and you pulled away to check the new notification.

Your eyes widened as they roamed over the text on your screen. Your chest tightened and your heart beat quickened to hammer uncomfortably against your ribcage as your mind began to attach meaning to the words by drowning you with the memories of five years past. You could hear Seungcheol call you worriedly as the room around you began to lose focus, and you quickly crouched down with your back against the door to stave off the dizziness, dropping your phone in the process. 

You didn’t even know you were crying until you felt rough thumbs swiping at your cheeks. On your descent downwards, Seungcheol had retrieved your phone and looked at the message which had made you crack. He quietly muted and pocketed the device before crouching in front of your trembling form. His jaw clenched involuntarily but he tried to smile reassuringly at you, his arms wrapping around your figure until you were almost brought onto his lap. “I trust you,” he whispered until your breathing began to even out, “I trust you with my life.”

In Seungcheol’s pocket, your phone had lit up with another message.

GRIM REAPER, YOUR FINAL APPOINTMENT IS WITH SOMEONE YOU’RE TOO INVOLVED WITH 

BUT DON’T WORRY, I’LL DO YOUR JOB FOR YOU

[im-not-a-what]

What The Deuce

Title: What the Deuce

Summary:  Neal Gold and Lily Vincent don't start on the right foot when they meet at camp. But friendship blooms, and they discover some odd coincidences about each other's families. Before they know it, they've stumbled on a long-kept secret that will throw the Golds and the Vincents for a monumental loop and into an overdue reunion.

Rating: T

Genre: modern AU, family drama & shenangians, long-lost relatives

Chapter: (1) Unfortunate Circumstances

Characters/Pairings: Swanfire, Lily (Rumbelle & Maleficent appearing later)

Notes: Yes, the long discussed Mal/Rumple siblings AU. Fair warning, it starts off very Parent-Trap-ish (sprinkled with teen!Swanfire) but will hopefully evolve into a more original plotline.

AO3 link

Neal should’ve seen this coming—his being sequestered to the far corner of the computer lab with a girl whose gaze could cut glass, which she now directed at his skull. If he had simply stayed level-headed, he would’ve backed off and avoided this. But no, he couldn’t manage to be a sensible person. There was plenty of blame to lob at the glowering girl next to him, but he mostly, and silently, berated himself.

He shouldn’t have let Lily get to him. He should’ve noticed her animosity and sidestepped it on the first day of tech camp. The first lunch, specifically. But avoiding aggressive girls hadn’t been on his mind. He’d been busy looking for a table since his roommates, Michael and John Darling, had gone ahead without him. The prospect of eating in a college dining hall had weakened his knees. With haste, he’d navigated past college students to the part of the hall reserved for the middle-school and high-school kids attending the camp.

That’s when, by chance, his eyes found Emma: bright, grinning, playfully side-eying her friend over a remark.

Neal felt he was seeing a lighthouse. Sure, blame volatile hormones, but a bout of courage (or desperation for a seat) prompted him to rein in his nerves over talking to a pretty girl—a pair of pretty girls, he noticed once he widened his focus—and to approach the table with what he hoped looked like casual friendliness.

“Hey, is it all right if I sit here?”

The contrast in the girls’ reactions was the prelude to everything. The blonde girl eyed him with caution, but her wariness faded behind a smile and what he dared to think was a spark of interest. The black-haired girl with full, frowning eyebrows and nighttime eyes showed nothing but distrust. She looked annoyed and offended that a strange boy had interrupted their insular comradery.

“Sure, go ahead,” said the blonde.

The brunette glanced at her friend, distrust turning to distress. The blonde didn’t notice.

Neal hesitated. Maybe he was about to make unintentional waves. But hey, the brunette could’ve just been shy. He’d be nice, make a little small talk, and maybe she’d relax.

Emma introduced herself right off the bat. When her friend refused to make a peep, Neal shared his name, coupled with eye contact. The girl sat stiffly, as if she suspected he had a knife palmed under the table. Yup, the promise of things to come. He got along well with Emma with hardly any missteps, which in his fifteen-year-old mind was a miracle. Maybe Lily’s reticence was a cosmic counterbalance. That didn’t mean her reticence had to evolve to hostility like a resentment-fueled Pokémon.

Whenever he and the girls ran into each other, Emma let him join them while they walked or got snacks at one of the campus cafes before heading to their respective activities. They were in the same game design class, too. More mixed blessings. Neal had asked about their project, or what their other summer plans were. A few times, Lily had rolled her eyes or muttered that they didn’t have time to chat, or that he was interrupting their conversation. Flashes of embarrassment came and went with Emma—either she was only half-aware of her friend’s rudeness or was trying to deny it.

He hadn’t intended to insert himself into their team, if that was Lily’s problem. He was working with John and Michael on an adventure platformer set on a mysterious island, committed mainly to the artistic side of his group project. Emma and Lily were brainstorming a racing game, along the lines of Mario Cart meeting Grand Theft Auto. There wasn’t much he could do to undermine their work. Emma was the one asking more questions about his ideas. Neal happily answered them, too glad to have her attention to care if her racing game somehow lifted ideas from his island fantasy adventure.

Despite no overlap between their games, Lily was the one who started inexplicably walking by Neal’s computer at his team’s work station. Neal caught her observing his work on the graphics while John coded and Michael contributed ideas to mechanics. After the third time Lily sauntered by them, Neal warned the brothers. Michael flailed a little, more worried about losing credits for an unoriginal game than having his ideas stolen. John assured both his younger brother and Neal that no one was getting their hands on the game code.

If only it had been as simple as theft of intellectual property. If only Neal hadn’t misread Lily’s intentions. At the end of the first week, on the day each group had to present the first phase of game development, complete with a rudimentary demo or, at the very least, concept art and level layouts, Neal’s team volunteered to go first. The coding for their first level was fine, untouched. When Neal pulled up the files for his landscapes and character designs, he gaped at the sight of his lush jungle footpaths, waterfalls and caves recolored in neon rainbow hues. Instead of gleaming crocodiles and iridescent, carnivorous birds big enough to eat grown men, buck-toothed and googly-eyed unicorns haunted the environs. All things considered, the giggles and snickers peeling throughout the classroom were mild, hardly the stuff of mortifying nightmares, but Neal turned hot anyway. One giggling spectator was also sitting back with her arms folded, far too proud to be just amused. Emma, right next to Lily, wasn’t laughing or even smiling. She mostly frowned in helpless confusion. Her attention slid to Lily with half-realized suspicion.

Neal wasn’t the only one upset.

“What the hell did you do that for?!” John shrilly whispered once they’d escaped from class.

“It wasn’t me! You know I’d never do that!”

“I encrypted all our files! No one could’ve hacked into them—”

“So sure of yourselves.”

The boys all but jumped at Lily’s unwanted arrival. Neither John nor Michael recognized her, even if they could begin to guess what she’d done. Her smirk and cocked hips spoke volumes.

Seeing Michael and John so baffled by this girl, a stranger to them, someone they’d never done a thing to, incited Neal more than any personal insult would have. Teeth bared, and for once in his life hoping he could be as intimidating as his father to people who pissed him off, he rushed up Lily, stopping only a few inches short of collision. A quick blink in his field of vision reminded him that Emma was coming out the classroom door.

“If you have a problem with me, keep it between us! Those guys didn’t deserve that!”

“You can’t prove anything,” Lily answered, her voice light and coy. “But it looks like whoever did the art was the only one who screwed up. The game levels worked just fine.”

“It doesn’t matter! This is their game, too!”

“And you broke through my encryption!” John stepped up. His glare was surprisingly effective through the glasses. “That’s destruction of private property!”

Lily deigned to give John all of one glimpse. Her primary focus was reserved for Neal. “Again, you can’t prove anything.”

“I don’t need to!” Neal shouted. “I’ll tell the teacher exactly what you did! Want me to post it on Facebook? Twitter? So everyone knows what a—”

“Hey!” Emma shouted.

His heart could’ve dropped out of his chest and flopped on the floor. Neal didn’t doubt, much as he wanted to, that Emma’s reprimand was aimed at him.

She charged like a Valkyrie, ready to defend her friend’s honor regardless the suspicions he’d seen in her face earlier. “Lily didn’t do anything! She’s not that kind of person! And if you start spreading crap about her, I’ll make you sorry!”

For a moment, he did consider yielding. The last thing he wanted was to incur the wrath of a girl he had a crush on. He certainly didn’t want to throw mud at someone who didn’t deserve it. How could Emma be so confident of Lily’s innocence? Maybe he should trust her, wait this out—

Lily’s smirk grew. “I told you he was a punk-ass loser.”

The words fell like snow and stung like frostbite. They burned away Neal’s good sense. He glared at Lily, then shot a pained look at Emma. “I’m sorry, but it’s not worth this. I didn’t do anything to deserve this.”

Another scowl at Lily. “Kiss your credits goodbye.”

Another sad glance at Emma. “I’m sorry. I hope you find better friends.”

He marched to the classroom. By now, a gaggle of curious teens loitered in small clumps, their attention snagged by the shouting. Some kids continued to watch as Neal headed to the room to report his classmate.

Their nosiness was rewarded. Lily went off like a ticking bomb. She’d held still, watching, barely shaking, until Neal came within two feet of the door. Then she launched after him. A tiger would’ve envied her speed and bloodlust.

Lily matched Neal in height but had a lighter frame. Rather than knock him over, she jumped on his back and lock her arms around his head and neck. The new weight unbalanced him so that he lumbered forward. He had enough self-preservation instinct to turn as he reached the door and partly use Lily’s body to absorb the impact. The pain was evident by her grunt. She wasn’t deterred. She twisted herself against the momentum of Neal’s body so he again lost his balance. This time, nothing saved him from hitting the ground. They both cried out and groaned while rolling across the linoleum. Each scrambled to gain the upper hand.

Emma’s, “Oh my God!” drowned in a tsunami of excited shouts from spectators who were now pooling around the wrestling kids.

No matter how many times Neal managed to get on top of Lily and pin one of her arms, she found a vulnerable spot to knee or elbow. Even in the heat of battle, Neal minded where his hands went. That put him at a disadvantage. When he got a hold of both her wrists, Lily writhed and went as far as spitting in his face. She fought dirty, but it occurred to Neal later that she could’ve swung things fully in her favor as soon as the teacher showed up. She could’ve played the victim, as though she were the one being assault. Granted, several people could verify that she started the fight, but that would’ve carried only so much weight. In the instant that it happened, when she knocked her forehead into his spittle-covered mug and flung him on his back so she could pounce, Neal saw their teacher and burned with humiliation. By the time Lily heard the man shouting at them to stop, it was too late to cover the vicious snarl on her face with tears and pleas.

They’d been forced to a sit-down with the camp director in one of the cramped, too brightly lit administrative offices. The teacher had told them they’d be lucky not to get their butts sent home right then and there. The director, Ms. Shepherd, was a stern woman with a small, often pursued mouth. Her stare made even Lily squirm. She declared that the camp, rarely needing to discipline campers for physical assault, was willing to exercise a one-warning policy, since no one was severely hurt. Their parents would be notified of the incident and informed of the punishment awaiting them: bathroom duty in the dorms, Neal for the boys, Lily for the girls. And, in light of their shared class and Lily’s apparent sabotage of Neal’s work, Ms. Shepherd deemed it fitting to pair them off. They would start over with a new game project. Bathroom cleaning earned disgusted winces; at the second punitive measure, they gawked in outrage.

“If you want to win enough credits for a prize at the end of camp, you’d better figure out how to work together.” Shepherd dug her stare into each of them. “Surely a brother and sister can learn to be civil.”

“What?” Lily barked.

“We’re not brother and sister!” Neal was nauseous. How could anyone think he was related to this crazy chick?

The director sat back. She hadn’t been joking. “Huh. Well, forgive me. I thought I saw a resemblance.”

For the first time, even as anger boiled under their skins, Neal and Lily peeked at each other, searching yet skeptical. The look ended with them turning away like repelled magnets.

“Remember,” Shepherd said, “one more toe out of line and you’ll both be sent home.”

The threat sat in their thoughts as they sat together in the classroom the next day, but it motivated neither of them to work on their joint project. Neal doodled in his notebook, which gave the teacher the impression that something was getting accomplished.

“You two better have something by the end of class,” he warned as he walked by, particularly at Lily. Her hands were occupied staying warm under her arms, and her attention was rapt on the clock over the classroom door.

More unproductive minutes rolled by. Neal peered up and noticed everyone else crowded around their computers, invested in their work. A drop of self-loathing somehow changed into motivation— whether to avoid disappointing himself or to spite Lily remained to be seen. Neal resumed drawing, now with purpose. He couldn’t use the idea he’d discussed with his former teammates; they were now assisted by a boy named Rufio on the art. Emma had been reassigned join two sisters, Elsa and Anna, who at least seemed nice. Anna was the chattiest one, but in the brief intervals where she stopped talking, Emma and Elsa exchanged friendly words while working. Emma snuck a glimpse far across the room, met by Neal’s curious gaze. He ducked back into the notebook.

After scribbling some new ideas—monsters that John and Michael didn’t think would fit in their island, badass warrior women, dark wizards trying to open a portal to another dimension—Neal gave up inventing a story and turned his energy to sketches. He started with a model for a heroine dressed in a knight’s tunic and pants. She carried a sword. Not a fully armored knight—more like a wandering rogue who belonged nowhere but helped anyone she could in her travels. He set her up against a dragon that had Lily’s eyes.

“What are you doing?”

Neal snapped his head toward Lily. She’d gotten up and behind him to spy over his shoulder. He slapped the notebook shut.

“What do you care? You want to ruin another drawing of mine for no good reason?”

Lily pressed her lips together, the first hint of guilt. “It was just a prank.” Not nearly as much guilt as he’d hoped.

“No, it wasn’t. If you have a problem with me, just tell me what it is.”

Lily snorted. “As if that would do any good.”

Neal held his notebook in a protective pose, but he turned his swivel chair so he faced her. “We’re stuck together. You might as well. Do you just hate guys?”

“You’d like to think that.” Lily stomped back to her chair. Even as she plopped down, she let the chair spin around enough that they looked at each other. “I know you have designs on Emma.”

Neal would’ve laughed if the meaning of her words didn’t leave a queasy feeling in his stomach. “‘Designs?’ This isn’t Victorian times.”

“You know what I mean.” She crossed her legs, imbuing her attitude with false sophistication.

“If you mean I like Emma, sure. She seems like a cool person.”

Lily scoffed. “Right, that’s all it is. She’s ‘cool.’”

“What is your problem? It’d be one thing if Emma didn’t want me around. If that’s what’s going on, I won’t bother her anymore. But she hasn’t said or done anything to make me think so. You’re the one being a—”

“A bitch?” The word rolled off her tongue with adult ease.

While he’d been tempted to blurt out it earlier, Neal didn’t have the nerve or anger to say the word now. He was tired of being angry. “You’re the one who doesn’t like me. That’s what I’m getting at. What have I done? If I’ve offended you, I didn’t mean to.”

Lily fell back on nonverbal resistance, but her closed-off posture looked more awkward than defiant. Maybe she was getting embarrassed over her own behavior, or at least the reasons behind it. Neal tried to resume sketching (and brainstorming to how to grovel to Director Shepherd for another project partner). However, for all his understandable ire, he’d been bitten by the curiosity bug. He checked in with Lily and saw that she was simply stewing, and not necessarily over him. But several minutes later, she nearly debunked this notion.

“She doesn’t need a boy in her life,” she said, crisp and quiet.

Neal paused, despite being a few strokes away from deeming his dragon drawing complete. “Did she say that?” He didn’t expect an honest answer. That didn’t stop him from seeking one.

Lily shifted her shoulders, as though fighting against the impulse to give him what he wanted, or to tell him what she wanted him to believe. “I know her. She’s had guys let her down. She doesn’t need any more of that.”

“I’m not like that.” Neal kept his voice low, controlled. He would avoid another fight. “It may be hard to believe since we barely know each other. And yeah, I like Emma, but not just in that way. If I can only be her friend, that’s fine.”

She watched him askance. “I’ve never met a guy who didn’t have a problem being friend-zoned.”

“Maybe all the guys you know are jerks.” He shrugged. A little smile bled through.

“I don’t doubt that. That’s why it’s just Emma and me. We don’t need anyone else.”

A niggling question jumped into Neal’s mind, but he let a few moments of reflection pass before posing it. “Only you two? You must have other friends.”

Lily half-shrugged. She didn’t look at him.

More reflection brought an epiphany. Suddenly all the irrational hatred, even the sabotage, made some sense. And with it, Neal’s anger all but melted. All right, a smidgen sat like a dying ember in his chest, but most of him ached with sympathy. “All right,” he said gently. “I get it.”

Lily was as on fire as ever, even in silence. “Get what?”

Neal licked his lips as he picked his words. It was like crossing a minefield. “Emma is your best friend. Maybe the only real friend you feel you can depend on. You don’t want anything, or anyone, getting in the way of that.”

The words had her flinching, but she turned her chair in his sole direction. Neal braced his hands on his chair’s armrests in case he had to dodge an attack.

“Don’t act like you know me, or Emma. You’re just some guy who wants to get into my friend’s pants.”

“That’s not true!” He straight away regretted the lack of restraint when half a dozen heads, including the teacher’s, turned to them. To make the teacher think he and Lily were deliberating over their project, he rolled his chair closer to hers and bowed his head.

“First of all, I’m not trying to seduce your friend. I wouldn’t know how. And if you’re so sure she’s not interested in dating, you don’t have anything to worry about. Second, I’d have been happy to be your friend, too, if you’d let me.”

“Not interested,” Lily sniped.

“Fine. Third, I do understand. I don’t have a lot of friends back home, either. I’m not one of the popular kids, and I don’t care about being popular, or having tons of friends. But it was nice knowing there were some kids my age to hang out with. Emma seems like someone who’ll give you a chance to sit with her and have a conversation without it being super awkward. I’m sorry if I’m wrong, but it doesn’t seem I am.”

The change happened in seconds. Even as she scowled, her chin tightened and her eyes watered. Neal froze in panic. Oh, God, was she going to cry? Was she going to tell the teacher he was bullying her?

“How can you possibly know that?” She sniffed. Her eyes held their water. “You’ve know her for barely a week. You made that assumption just by looking at her. You can’t know her that quickly. It’s just a line.”

“Hey,” Neal whispered. He stopped his hand from reaching for hers. “I’m not trying to upset you. I don’t know how I know that about Emma. I saw her and I . . . I just trusted my gut.”

Hands clutched, Lily stared down. Her long lashes hid the tears, but now and then a flicker of light betrayed dew.

“What’s wrong? Seriously.”

“It’s nothing.” Some tears dripped. She rubbed her eye with her jacket sleeve.

Neal looked at the teacher. He hadn’t noticed Lily starting to cry. If he did, that would create new problems fast. Neal then remembered a gift from his dad on his last birthday, one he thought kind of ridiculous at the time, but hey, he’d take it. He rolled his chair over to his backpack, came back with it, opened the smaller pocket and pulled out a folded square of cloth.

“Here.” He held it out to Lily.

She had to wipe her eyes to see. Her confusion only deepened. “The hell is that?”

“A handkerchief.” Neal didn’t bother hiding his embarrassment. “My dad thinks they should come back in fashion. Personally, I think they’re silly, but I don’t have any tissues.”

As though half-certain it was poisoned, Lily plucked up the kerchief by only two fingers and shook it open. On the white cloth’s corner, the letters N.G. were stitched in gold-colored thread.

“Are . . . are those your initials?”

Neal winced. “Yeah.”

Lily snorted, almost laughing. “Is your dad for real?”

“Not really.”

“Sad thing is, I think my mom might carry one of these around, too.” That seemed reason enough to mop up her eyes with the kerchief. Once she was done, she returned it to Neal. A quiet minute went by. Her attention drifted to the notebook in his lap.

“So, are you going to tell me what you’ve been drawing? Is it for a game?”

Neal picked up the book, more inclined to share, but he waved it at her as he asked, “Can I be sure you’re not going to draw stupid eyes and big teeth on these?”

Lily rolled her eyes. “Not if it’s my game, too.”

With a budding smile, Neal opened the book. “It’s a vague idea. If you have any suggestions—”

“Wow.” She studied the scene of the warrior girl standing against a mighty, beautiful dragon and a horde of monsters scattered all over the page. “You can make that on a computer?”

“If I have enough time. You like it?”

“Yeah. As long as the dragon is truly badass, I’m on board.”

Neal lowered the book and gave her a thoughtful look. “I’m going to take a wild guess that you’ve got some coding experience.”

Half her mouth curled while she bit the other side. “You could say that.”

He nodded. “All right. We better get started.”

[sueboohscorner]

#StrangerThings S2, Ep. 7 & 8: "Chapter 7: The Lost Sister"/"Chapter 8: The Mind Flayer" Recap/Review

Chapter 7: The Lost Sister

As Eleven goes into the mind of her mama's to search for what had happened to her and turned up to find that there might be a sibling.

When Eleven goes out on her own and searching for what she calls sister, who happens to have been with her when she was with Papa. Eleven fines Eight (the person that was in the beginning of the first episode) in Chicago after searching in mama's mind and papers that her aunt has kept.  

There in Chicago, she finds Eight along with her gang, who happen to show a little bit of The Outsiders in a way. Soon after Eleven tells Eight who she is and what brought her to see her, the two connected well. But Eight has ideas for what her and her gang can do with Eleven's powers, one of them is being taking down the person that hurt their mama.

Soon Eleven travels with Eight and the gang to search for the man that ruined their mama. As they get there, they start touching the man and just when Eleven was about to kill him, she saw a photo of him with his daughters and stopped. Eight later pulls a gun and Eleven stops her from shooting him. But the kids, who happen to be in their bedrooms, had called 911 and soon the cops were on their way. Eleven gets a few words from Eight about never to stop her. Back at the hideout, Eight get into Eleven's head when she sees papa walking in the room and has Eleven apologizing. But soon as things were seemed to be okay, the Chicago PD was on there way to bust in. But with Eight and her mind tricks, they did get away but only Eleven decided not to stay with Eight and her gang and left them to go back to her friends.  "The Lost Sister" was a strong episode. I enjoyed the one stand along episode of Eleven's adventure to see her lost sister and come to find that Eight is not like her at all and quite different from what she has learned with Mike and friends. Browns gives a good performance once again and the writing was really good. Overall, I give this episode a 9/10.  

Chapter 8: The Mind Flayer

HOLY SHIPS!!! From beginning to the end I was either stand up or sitting on the edge of my chair during this episode. The episode picks off right where we left in episode six and the creatures has come up and taken apart the lab. Mike tells Joyce to put Will to sleep because he is the one communicating with the creatures and after Joyce asked Will a simple question that only needed to be answered in a split second, she put him to sleep. 

Owens and Hopper get to Joyce, Mike, Bob and Will and headed to the control room after there seems to be no way out. As they get into the control room, the power goes out and it looked like it was up to Bob to save the day. Bob goes to turn the power back on and has he does he also helps navigating the creatures away from the area.

With Hopper, Joyce, Mike and Will out, only Bob was the last to get out and with the help from Owen, it looked it her was in good shape but sorry to say, he got the Barb treatment in this one. As Bob was in the closet, he steps out and as soon as he walks out, he knocks the broom stick out and falls to the floor. One of the creatures hears it and chases Bob but as he escapes death, turns out that the creature jumped through the doors and attacked him. Hopper grabs a very upset Joyce and with Johnathan and Nancy driving in, they all left along with Lucas, Dustin, Max and Steve. They all head back to Joyce's house and trying to figure out what the hell these creatures are and only Mike and the gang come up with an idea of what these creatures are and figures that the creature is communicating from Will's mind and soon figures that Will is still there and communicates with Morse code. So they do an interrogation but only telling him stories from birthdays to drawing to even to music and first time Mike and Will met. Those scenes were very powerful, mostly from Joyce and Mike telling Will. They do get a message out that says "Close Gate." Which is probably about the gate that Eleven came through from the upside down. But all good plans must fail at some point and that comes from the phone in the house going off twice and soon Joyce puts Will out again and takes him back to the house. Everyone is on full alert as the creature was to come. There seemed to be one around the house until it screams and what looked like it jumped through the window but apparently it was dead. Soon the locks on the door started to unlock and as the door opens, everyone's faces were in shock to see that Eleven is back!! OMG! "The Mind Flayer" was probably one of the best intense episodes comparing to the others in this season. It had a blended of humor, intense drama, emotional drama and not to mention a great ending to the episode with Eleven walking in. I don't know about you guys but does anyone thing that Hopper might be Will's dad? I'm asking this because that's what my brother thinks. Also, I thought that Mike's eulogy of Bob was very nice and heartwarming as well. Anyway, the performances from Ryder, Wolfhand and Schanpp were amazing and so memorable. I did have to grab tissues. Overall, I give this episode a 9.5/10. You can catch Season 2 of Stranger Things available on Netflix now along with Season One.