#anyways i found out from a friend who apparently 'heard through the grapevine'

[halfdeadwallfly]

just found out the guy i've been talking to is a creep. again.

[smoshyourheadin]

spencer agnew visiting reader at work (they can work retail or anything)

good things

pairing: spencer agnew x f! reader

a/n: loverboy spencer you will always be famous

the morning rush had finally subsided at the small corner coffee shop where you worked, and the scent of freshly brewed coffee and baked pastries filled the air. you were behind the counter, wiping down the espresso machine, when the door chimed softly. you glanced up and saw your boyfriend spencer step in, looking slightly out of place but wearing a warm, albeit shy, smile.

"spence! hey!" you called out, genuinely surprised but happy to see him.

"hey," he replied, giving a little wave as he made his way to the counter. "thought I'd come by and check out your coffee shop. i’ve heard good things through the grapevine. apparently there’s this one barrista who is really bad at super smash bros, so i had to come check for myself" he said, clearly trying to pick fun at your “professional” level gaming skills

"well, you've heard correctly about the coffee," you teased, gesturing to the blackboard menu. "anything catch your eye?"

he scanned the options, eventually settling on a caramel macchiato and a blueberry muffin. "I'll take these, please," he said, handing you his card.

you put your hand out to stop him. “hey, it’s on the house. we have a deal called ‘cute nerds get free coffee’ but, you didn’t hear that from me.” you say, smiling at him fondly. "but yeah, um,” you drum your fingers on the counter.” “caramel whatever you wanted, coming right up," you said, quickly preparing his order.

"spence, can you stay for a bit? i was about to take my break anyway," you asked once you handed him his drink and muffin.

"yeah, sure! I'd love to hang out," he said, visibly relaxing a little.

you both found a quiet corner by the window, where the sunlight streamed in, casting a warm glow over the table. spencer took a sip of his drink and smiled. "this is really good."

"i’d hope it would be, almost as if it’s my job to make good coffee, hey?” you retort. “so, how's your day been?" you asked, leaning back in your chair, curious about his world which is oh so different to yours.

"it’s been pretty busy. we were filming a new episode for smosh mouth this morning. lots of laughs," he said. "amanda was really good this episode, i’ll have to introduce you to her some time soon, you’ll like her."

you nodded, imagining the lively atmosphere of a shoot with him, knowing what he’s like at home. "sounds good! anything else new today? ooh! how’s alex?”

spencer chuckled, his shyness melting away as he tells you about his best friend alex, who you’ve come to love. he tells you about how in a ‘who memed it’ shoot, he had to explain a joke to shayne, who was bewildered by how he drew luke with a leftover tray in his throat.

as you listened, you couldn't help but appreciate how genuine and kind he was. it was just a moment of clarity as the sun cast over his face, his hair looking auburn in the light as you watched his eyes as he spoke, the moment seemingly making him look even more beautiful.

"so, what about you? how’s work been here?" he asked, turning the conversation back to you.

"it's been good. busy, but y’know i love it here," you said. "plus, i sometimes get total babes who come in and talk to me about their day, it’s crazy."

spencer giggled, and blushed slightly at the compliment, looking down at his coffee. "it must be nice!”

you both continued chatting, the conversation flowing easily as the minutes slipped by. it was a simple yet perfect break from the usual routine, filled with smiles.

eventually, your break time came to an end. "ugh, i should get back to work," you said reluctantly, standing up and rubbing your eyes, not wanting to think about the hours ahead.

"yeah, I should head out too. i need to go and feed jimi” he said in reference to your cat as he stood up. “but it was really lovely seeing you," spencer kissed your forehead as you walked him to the door.

"come by anytime," you said with a smile. "its always nice to have good company."

"i’ll definitely take you up on that," he replied, giving you one last shy smile before heading to the door.

as he left, you couldn't help but feel a little lighter, knowing that a simple visit from him could make you feel fuzzy any time.

[sholangagaga]

Glamstar Family AU: Chapter 4

Woo, chapter 4! I got this done right before I was planning on taking a break, so it worked out super awesome!

As always, enjoy the chapter everyone!

-- Chapter 4: Living in HRMN.1

As promised, a technician had come to the Pizzaplex to fix the service tube. Well, fixing was a bold claim. They had actually brought along an entirely new tube, and was currently setting it up in the corner next to the old one. Meanwhile, Jin was giving the poor technician a tongue-lashing, still upset about the entire ordeal. She didn’t even seem to care that the kids were still around.

“Who authorized this new synthetic? Without even bothering to let me know!” She gestured towards the synthetic, which was still lying within the tube. The technician walked past her, aligning the new tube and bolting it to the wall. He seemed unfazed by her grilling, shrugged.

“It was a request from the guys at the very top. Apparently this thing has been in development for a while.” He attached the power cables to the tube, and its systems whirred to life. Wiping his hands with his shirt, he walked around the thing and once again passed Jin. “They managed to salvage some parts from those old FunTime bots from Circus Baby’s place and thought it’d be real neat to make a whole new robot–”

“They prefer the term synthetic.” Gregory interrupted.

“Yeah, that, whatever. Anyways, this thing was in development for a long time. It never got a chance to see the stage though, since that place. . .well, ya know.” The technician seemed to be conscious of the children nearby, and decided not to elaborate. He closed his toolbox, continuing. “Of course, this one isn’t gonna see the spotlight right away. We have to change up its aesthetic to match this place. I was scheduled to come here in a few weeks, but since someone decided to pry open the service tube, I managed to show up earlier. I’m just gonna do the modifications now. The higher ups will understand. As long as something makes them money while costing as little as possible, then it’s a plus.”

“I thought we weren’t even affiliated with the sister locations anymore. How did we end up getting this synthetic?” Jin had seemingly calmed down enough to stop yelling at the guy, but she still wasn’t back to her normal demeanor.

“No clue. I’m just the guy in charge of getting it showtime ready. I heard through the grapevine that they found it in some storage facility, and it was still in working order. So why not?”

Gregory didn’t really understand what was going on. Talking about sister locations and other synthetics. He didn’t really care about any of that, he was more so interested in the new synthetic. What would they be like? Would they want to be his friend? It was a nice train of thought. Gregory would’ve stayed lost in that daydream, until he felt eyes on him. He looked around, but no one was looking at him. The adults were still talking with Bonnie listening, Jaime was on her BonFon playing one of the synced minigames. So where was that feeling coming from? He turned again, looking at the synthetic that was laying in its tube.

And the synthetic was looking back at him with a wide smile on its face.

Startled, Gregory blinked a few times and immediately looked at it again. And. . .it was exactly as it was before. Eyes shut, as if peacefully sleeping. He had imagined it then? He rubbed his eyes, trying to see if the synthetic would look at him again. Nothing.

“What’re you doing?” Jaime, having noticed his odd movements, raised her eyebrow in confusion.

“I uh. . .I thought that the synthetic was looking at me.”

His words caused the adults to stop talking, and they also turned to the service tube.

“Tch, just a kid and his overactive imagination.” The technician grumbled, gently lifting the synthetic to transfer it to the larger cylinder in the center of the room. “If you’re all done here, I have work to do. Go back up top.”

“But I really saw it!”

Jin put her hand on Gregory’s head, nodding a bit. “I believe you, Greggy. Let’s go back up to the main building, okay?”

It was a proud feeling, getting validated by an adult. Usually kids aren’t taken seriously, but Jin didn’t call him a liar or say he was imagining things. He appreciated that. At least for the time being, there was nothing more for them down in Parts and Service. So, following the technician’s request, they headed back up.

The return to the Bonnie Bowl was awkwardly silent, but the mood lightened once the sound of music and people began to be heard. It was getting close to closing time, so staff workers were going around and making sure guests were accounted for before leading them towards the entrance.

“Looks like that’s our cue to leave.” Jin, having recovered from her previous frustration, put her hands on her hips and gave a half shrug. She probably wanted nothing more than to go home and relax after what happened, and Gregory definitely couldn’t blame her. After all of that walking and technical talk, he was probably going to sleep like a log.

“Gregory,” He looked up when Jaime had called his name, “I’m going to be coming here on a field trip in a few days. If it’s okay, would you like to hang out then? I don’t really want to wander around alone.”

“Oh, sure! It’ll be fun, I get so bored during the day!”

“Great! See you then, okay?”

The four said their goodbyes split up, with Jin and Jaime returning home and Gregory staying behind with Bonnie.

“Well? Did you have fun?” The rabbit said, watching the Staff bots going back and forth, bussing tables and mopping the floors.

“It was pretty interesting! I made a new friend, and I have another new friend on the way!”

“New? Ah, you mean that synthetic in Parts and Service. There’s no telling what their personality chip will be like, especially considering they’re an older model. But hey, who knows?” Bonnie seemed more willing to talk about the synthetic now, but didn’t know much about them either. It made sense, the technician had said that that particular synthetic never managed to see any showtime. They had probably never been activated before. Which made what happened before all the more strange.

Eyes open, staring directly at him. Smiling in that wide and unsettling way.

“Hey Bonnie, did you notice anything weird before?”

“You mean when you said the synthetic was staring at you? I wasn’t looking, no. It might’ve just been a glitch, since Jin had forced open its container. Those things happen from time to time.”

“Is there any way it was awake the whole time? Or maybe it woke up while we were talking?”

Bonnie shook his head. “That’d be pretty hard to believe. While it’s certainly possible a synthetic could be stored in a tube while still conscious, that exact thing had happened once before that I recall, someone would have noticed it after all this time. It also would have tried to communicate with us once the tube was opened, or while you were trying to look through its glass.” He put his hand on his chin while he spoke. “It couldn’t have forced itself awake either. Even us newer models need to be properly shut down and restarted. I can’t imagine an older model being so advanced that it could bypass its own programming. And again, if it had woken up, it would’ve tried to communicate with us.”

“Maybe it was trying to, but it couldn’t speak or something.” Gregory countered, trying to put some rational behind it all. However, Bonnie had an answer for that too.

“Even if that were the case, why would it pretend to sleep after the fact? If it wanted to be noticed, it would have kept its eyes open for all of us to see.” He shrugged. “I don’t doubt that you saw what you saw. But it’s far more reasonable to assume that you had just seen a glitch.”

Yeah, that all made sense. The more Bonnie explained it, the more Gregory was convinced that he had just witnessed a glitch. He was relieved at least that no one else was calling him crazy or saying he had an overactive imagination.

“It’ll be closing time soon.” Bonnie said after a beat of silence, “I’m going to wrap things up here. Head back to the Green room, alright? You've had a long day, you should get some sleep.”

Green room. Sleep. It all sounded like a great idea. And thanks to the power of suggestion, Gregory found himself yawning. Bidding Bonnie goodbye, he left the ice cream parlor and headed out to the main escalators to get down to the first floor. There were still some guests hanging around, either lingering at the gift shops or parents trying to pry away their crying children who wanted to “stay just a little bit longer”.

Gregory was riding the final escalator down when he felt it again. That feeling of eyes on him. He whipped around, looking for anyone or anything that could be causing the sensation, only to be met with nothing. It left him feeling a bit uneasy. He stepped off the escalator and continued forward, unable to shake that feeling of being watched. The feeling of dread seemed to rise and swirl around him, and before he knew it, he was running towards the Green rooms. Trying to get away. But it seemed like no matter how fast or far he ran, the feeling never went away. Panicked now, Gregory turned the corner and ran into something solid. He stumbled, losing his footing, but before he could hit the ground he was gently grabbed.

“Gregory? Gregory, you mustn’t run. You could get hurt.” It was Freddy who had come to his rescue. Or, more like it was Freddy who Gregory had barreled into. Worry was etched into the synthetic’s face, and he seemed to be awaiting something. The boy recognized it as affirmation, to which he quickly nodded.

“Thank you, I’m okay.”

The words soothed the bear, but only partly. He tilted his head, looking behind Gregory.

“Whatever were you running from? Is someone bothering you?”

“No, I’m fine! Just a little paranoid, I thought someone was watching me.” Out loud, that sounded kind of silly. Of course someone would have been watching Gregory. There were cameras everywhere, and staff were still sprinkled all around the complex. Plus, the strange feeling he was experiencing had disappeared as quickly as it had started. As if voicing his thoughts, Freddy spoke up.

“Gregory, I am afraid you will have to get used to that. People will always be watching over you. You are still just a child.” Freddy seemed to have the wrong idea, but the boy wasn’t about to correct him. This was better than needlessly worrying the synthetic further. Further exhausted from his light sprint across the Pizzaplex, Gregory yawned again. This seemed to cause a metaphorical lightbulb to ding in Freddy’s head, and he lifted the boy in one swift motion, setting him upon his back. “I see now, you were simply tired. Let us get you to bed, Superstar. Tomorrow is another day.”

Freddy carried Gregory into his green room, gently setting him down on the couch littered with pillows and plushies. Giving in to the lull of sleep, Gregory was out cold the minute his head hit one of the brightly colored pillows. While dozing off, he could vaguely notice the feeling of a blanket being pulled over his curled up frame.

“Goodnight, Gregory.” was all he heard before drifting off to sleep completely.

–

1 day before the field trip.

That technician from before had been in and out of Parts and Service a lot the past few days. While he was at first fairly indifferent towards Gregory, he had come to tolerate the boy and had even started hanging out with him on his breaks.

Today they sat at the Pit Stop within Roxy’s Raceway, chowing down on burgers and tall cups of slushies. The technician, who’s name Gregory eventually learned was Wilson, was excitedly talking about the progress of the synthetic that he had been working on.

“She’s real close to ready, Greg. We’re gonna spend the rest of the day testing her chips and servos, and if everything goes well, we could have her on the showroom floor by tomorrow!” Wilson popped a fry into his mouth, exuding all of the confidence of a beauty pageant parent. “They’re thinking of having her be both a daycare attendant and a greeter type of deal. For now, until they can figure out where to permanently stick her. Faz wasn’t expecting her to be ready so soon, so they’re scrambling to find ways to market her.”

It only took a couple days before Gregory learned the new synthetic was female-coded. To balance out the cast, Wilson had explained. Despite being an older model, her functionality chip was extremely advanced. Wilson mentioned that she was capable of many things that the current synthetics aren’t even programmed to do. There were a lot of technical terms that Gregory couldn’t hope to understand, but the one that caught his attention was something called the Parental Voice Sync & Replay function. This function allowed for the synthetic to catalogue and mimic the voices of parents that it encounters, and then use said voices to call or calm children.

“And that was on such an old model?”

“Hell yeah! The bots from Circus Baby’s were pretty top of the line, even by today's standards! They were sort of the stepping stone to the bots we see now, in a way. Pretty cool, huh? HRMN.1 is gonna really shake things up around here. I’ll bet my bonus on it.”

“Harmony?” Gregory repeated, taking a sip from his nearly empty slushie cup.

“Yeah! It’s not spelled in the conventional way, though. It’s an acronym. Her name is spelled H-R-M-N-1. It stands for Harmonious Realistic Mecha-synthethic No. 1.” Wilson shrugged. “Apparently that name was written on her initial service tube, and the suits liked it so much they decided to keep it.”

“What’s it mean?” The boy refused to repeat all of those words, lest he get tongue-tied. Or worse, bite his tongue off.

The technician polished off the rest of his food, wiping his hands with a napkin. “Remember how I said that she was built with pieces from the old bots? Well she also had some pieces from the bots from the old Fazbear Pizzeria. Apparently her initial selling point was that she was to be some sort of link, a way of bridging the gap between the two locations. But since both locations don’t exist anymore, there’s no point in using that in her marketing.”

At that, an alarm went off. Wilson pulled out his phone and, after silencing the alarm, stood with his tray of trash. “Duty calls, Greg. Next time I see you, it’s going to be during HRMN.1’s ribbon cutting!” He excitedly ran off, dumping his tray at a nearby trash bin. Wilson was a pretty decent guy, Gregory decided.

“Did that fuckin’ weirdo leave yet?” came a familiar voice, to which Gregory immediately turned around.

“Roxy! Yeah, Wilson just left.”

“Good. That guy gives me the creeps.” The wolf sat across from the boy, taking off her shades and sticking them into her jacket pocket. A race had just finished, so she was taking a breather before the next one kicked up. “Did you bring my shake?”

At her question, Gregory pushed forward a drink serving tray that had a cup still in one of its holders.

“One Chocolate Bonnie Blend, with whipped cream, sprinkles, and chocolate drizzle.”

Roxanne’s eyes lit up, and she gleefully took the drink from the tray. She popped a stray into it and took a long sip, before happily leaning back.

“All of my troubles? Erased. I feel like a new woman.”

“Roxy, why don’t you just order your shakes directly? Bonnie won’t tease you or anything. In fact, he added an extra scoop of ice cream when I told him it was for you.”

“You WHAT?!” She barked, her face flushed and her ears flat. “I can’t believe you ratted me o– Wait, he did that?” Her demeanor changed to sheepish, which was ironic considering she was a wolf. She ran her claw around the lid of her drink, as if lost in thought. “Stupid kid. What do you know?”

Not much, apparently. Gregory thought dryly, answering her rhetorical question to himself. He could never understand Roxanne sometimes. Her moods switched at the drop of a hat, and she’d never elaborate. Speaking of, her expression popped back to neutral as she perked up to continue speaking.

“Your friend’s field trip is tomorrow right? We got the briefing for it the other day.” Gregory nodded, recalling when Freddy had gone down to Parts and Service to receive the aforementioned data. “We’re gonna be pretty busy tomorrow because of it, so make sure you don’t do anything to embarrass us. Just. . .lay low or something.” Roxy huffed.

While he found it strange that Roxy hadn’t mentioned the possible unveiling of HRMN.1, it was also possible that maybe they hadn’t told the other synthetics yet because nothing was truly set in stone.

〘Attention racers! The next circuit will begin shortly〙

“That’s my cue.” Roxanne popped the cap off of her drink and chugged it completely, before tossing the cup in the trash. Boy, was she lucky synthetics don’t get brain freezes. “I’m off, brat.”

“Hey, are there any slots left for the race?” Gregory stood, tossing his own garbage away. He was feeling bored, and knew that once Roxy left, he’d be all alone again.

She seemed surprised at his question, but paused and mentally checked the roster in order to answer. “Yeah, there’s a couple. Why? Looking to lose?”

“I’m looking to win, of course.”

There was a dangerous glint in Roxanne’s eyes. Grinning, she pulled out her shades and put them on before putting her hands on her hips.

“You are so on, kid.”

[Previous] | [Next]

[punkpoemprose]

I Hate You (And I Hate That I Don’t Really Hate You)- A Kristanna Oneshot

Universe: Modern AU Length: 3432 Rating: M (Mature, because there’s some sexy bits)

Notes: Happy Unbirthday @thesvenqueen! Sorry it took me a while to post yours. I’ve been rewriting and deleting and rewriting it all day. Enemies to lovers man, it’s just got to be perfect, you know? Hope you like it!

Her distaste for Kristoff Bjorgman had started early, when she was just five years old. He was the boy next door, with messy blonde hair and spirited brown eyes who was always playing outside, earning freckles on his nose from the sun. She’d despised him more than anything because he could do all the things she couldn’t.

She’d ask her parents, “Mama, Papa! Can I go ride my bike down the street?”

And in return they’d given her hundreds of reasons why it wasn’t an option. She was too small, it was too dangerous, what if she fell and hurt herself and they didn’t see? What if one of the other kids was mean to her?

No, they always said, better for her to take her little bike with its training wheels up and down the same short stretch of hallway in the house where they could keep an eye on her, or up and down the driveway for a few short minutes when her father could tear himself away from work long enough to watch her. And in the meantime, Kristoff would ride by the front bay windows, like he was taunting her.

He was three years older, he was a boy, and he wasn’t their son. Those were always her parent’s reasons when she saw him doing something she wasn’t allowed to do, and after a while she started hating him for those same reasons. He was older than her so he was able to do things that she wanted to do without having to have training wheels of any sort. He was a boy so he was allowed to get messy and do the things she and her sister could not in their nicely pressed little dresses. He was the neighbor’s son and that meant that all his rules were different than hers.

It was unfair, how he’d wave to her through the window with a smile on his face, telling her to join him like she had a choice, and walking away disappointed when she didn’t come out. She wanted to play in mud puddles and pretend to sword fight with sticks. She wanted to catch bugs and ride her bike down the road. She wanted to leave the house. She wanted to play like the other kids did.

She didn’t hate him so much on the days where Elsa felt well enough to play, the days where they’d play with their dolls in the front window and wave to the other children as they walked by. Those days his smiles and waves seemed a little kinder, almost like he meant he wanted to meet her.

She did meet him when they went to school. He was in Elsa’s grade, not that Elsa went to school very often. Anna hadn’t understood then, just a little thing herself. She didn’t know that being nervous could keep someone from living a life, for her being nervous was something that she just got over. Being angry though, being so angry she couldn’t think of anything else, was something she could understand.

She understood it when she would see him through the classroom window, playing on the playground with the other kids, and heading inside when it was her turn to go out with her class. They were polite enough to her, her classmates, but they didn’t pick her for kickball. They treated her like a china doll, not to be played with, but to be looked at in her little pretty dresses and perfectly shined Maryjane’s. She’d longed for clothes like Kristoff wore, jeans worn at the knee, t-shirts from the discount store with dinosaurs on them that were meant for playing in, that were meant to get dirty.

She’d see him get on the school bus at the end of the day when her parents would send a car to get her. Other kids would be talking to him and they’d laugh. She always felt like he was laughing at her.

When Anna had turned twelve, she’d been allowed a little garden in the backyard to grow flowers and strawberries. It was ladylike enough work to please the housekeeper and governess their parents had hired for her and Elsa when Anna had turned six. Gerda was a kind woman, but a strict one, with very specific thoughts about what Anna should do with her life. Those thoughts included a preparation and boarding school, but her mother hadn’t wanted to separate her daughters.

She’d go out to weed and neaten and harvest every evening in the summer months, and when school rolled around, she’d tended to it after finishing her homework. It was the dirtiest work she’d ever been allowed and she’d been so proud of it. Everything was meticulously neat, the opposite of the way she liked to keep her room, and she’d done such a good job of it that the house staff and even her parents had noticed and gave her a few quick words of admiration. It had meant everything to her.

One day when she returned home from school and finished her homework, she’d had her heart crushed to see the whole thing destroyed. Apparently, the neighbor boy had gotten a dog and he’d gotten out without them noticing and had dug up all her hard work. She’d cried over crushed plants, holding broken little flowers in her hands and blaming him, blaming Kristoff for what had happened. Afterall, she thought, if he’d just been better at training his dog, if he’d just kept track of him, she’d still have her garden. It had been her only comfort as Elsa had been locked in her room most days and her parents had been increasingly preoccupied with doctors, trying to figure out what had happened to her that she’d just stopped speaking.

He’d come over to apologize, but she’d made someone else answer the door. She hadn’t thought that she could accept his apology without telling him that she hated him and never wanted to see him again, and she knew that if she had been that rude, her parents really would have had her sent off to a boarding school to learn manners befitting a young lady.

So she kept on hating him, but she’d been quiet about it. The grounds staff had seeded over her destroyed safe place, grass growing where her flowers had to “beautify” the place that she’d once loved, and it was all his fault.

Her parents died in a car crash when she was fifteen. It had been bad weather, they’d slid off the road and hit a tree. She hated Kristoff for it.

Not because he caused the rain or because he told them to go out driving because he hadn’t. He had had nothing to do with the death of her parents, but he’d come to the funeral with his parents. He’d come through the receiving line where Elsa had stood shaking at her side, Anna’s broken sister and legal guardian at the tender age of eighteen and fresh out of a mental health counseling program that had only succeeded in making her functional, not the sister that Anna remembered from their childhood years.

He’d shaken their hands solemnly, eighteen himself and barely a man even in a legal sense. She still saw that little boy of eight in his face, in his eyes when he’d touched her. She’d hated how he still had his parents. How he still had someone who loved him while she and Elsa were all alone in the world.

He went off to college that fall, and Anna hated him for being able to leave while she was stuck in a too-dark too-quiet house with Elsa trying to manage the family business and go to school online and spend more and more time away from her and in her psychologist’s office.

She hated him for leaving. They hadn’t been friends. She’d hated him since she knew how to hate someone, but there was a comfort in seeing him through the window, a comfort in seeing him walk through the halls in school, and it was gone.

She was twenty-one when she saw him again.

Of course he’d come home, she’d seen him summers and on holidays walking into his parent’s house and down the street like he’d never left, but she’d tried her best to not pay him any attention. She hated him, and it should have been easy, but she’d really needed to put the effort in after he left to pretend that she didn’t care whenever he came home.

More accurately, she was twenty-one when she saw him in any context other than him visiting home. She’d been a senior in college, just finishing up her degree, and out at a bar with friends celebrating. She’d seen him, two beers in, and all the hate and pain and fear from an entire childhood spent hating him welled back up in her, but his hair was tousled just right and he was watching hockey on his phone and she was willing to pretend for a moment that it wasn’t him. Because of course she knew that he lived in the town she’d gone to college in. It had been an accident. She’d picked the school then heard through the grapevine that he lived near it and she’d just had the good fortune to not run into him in nearly four years.

But that was a lie and she knew it. Because she’d gotten into every school she’d applied to and she’d accepted the offer after she heard he lived there, and she’d looked for him in every shop, in the movie theater, at the gas station ever since. She’d told herself that it was because she hated him and she wanted to tell him as much, but that wasn’t why she crossed the bar and sat next to him, daring him to look at her, to see her, with her thoughts as she finished beer number three.

She hadn’t been drunk when she’d kissed him in the back corner of the bar. Not really anyway, at least she was sober enough to blame it on the beer. She kissed him with her mouth open, with something slow and soulful playing over the speakers as he swayed with her to the rhythm. She didn’t know the song, but he’d been humming it and she’d asked him to dance.

Waking up in his bed had been an accident. At least she told herself as much when the morning light found them both fully clothed in his bed with a dog, the dog that had destroyed her garden, at her feet. She’d slipped out while he was pretending to sleep, and she hated him for it. She hated him for not holding her tight and telling her not to go.

She’d patted the dog, Sven, on the head on her way out though.

The second and third times she’d wound up there, staying the night in his arms and waking up fully clothed, were mistakes too. Because she hated him, and she wouldn’t seek out a man she hated at the bars, she wouldn’t ask him where he worked so she could accidentally pass by wearing her Wonderbra under a tight shirt, so it had to be an accident.

It was an accident now too, with his mouth on hers, totally sober, pulling him toward his bedroom.  It had to be an accident, because she couldn’t put want and hate in the same room in her head and stay sane unless it was a mistake. She knew, she’d known for over a week, that she didn’t hate him anymore, but she was having a hard time letting go of it.

As she tried to pull him towards his bedroom, her motion was halted by his large hands scooping her off the floor. It felt all to natural for her to wrap her legs around his waist and let him carry her to his bed. Her fingers fisted into his hair as she resumed kissing him.

A groan in appreciation came from the back of his throat and his hands squeezed her bottom as he knocked the door open and then closed behind them.

She cursed when he dropped her to his mattress and immediately descended to kiss down her neck. Her fingers were already fumbling against his belt, tugging his shirt out of the waistband. She hoped that he’d unbutton it himself, because if not she thought she might just tear it off him.

He’d grown so much since they were young. His jaw had taken the set of a man and his beard scratched against her skin as he mouthed across her skin to the place where her dress’s top gave the slightest peek into her cleavage.

When his hand went for the zipper on the back of her dress, she leaned up into his kiss, giving him access and encouraging his mouth to dip down as far as her could under the fabric to kiss the tops of her breasts.

They’d been on a date. An honest date, because he’d said “we have to stop meeting this way” at a bar, and she’d understood it as “I need to stop bringing you home drunk because I want to do things to you I can only do sober.”

The dress was thrown to the floor quickly, along with his shirt and her bra and then her panties.

It wasn’t long before he was asking her, begging her, to let him go down on her.

She writhed under his attentions, his tongue first, and then his tongue and his lips, and then his tongue and his lips and his fingers curled in her just right. His beard had certainly helped the matter, and she wished she had been able to get a better look at him when he was between her legs, treating her so reverently, pulling the pleasure from her in waves. It had been over before it started. In fact it had been over twice within minutes. She thought that maybe he’d want to try for a third, but she’d pulled him up for air, feeling shaky legged and overstimulated.

His fingers in her had been so much better than her own, her own experimentations had been nothing compared to his abilities. She almost wanted to ask if he was experienced, but somehow she knew that the answer would be no, that this, all of this, had been just for her.

He’d licked her from his fingers, he’d kissed her open mouthed, letting her taste herself on his lips. It was as debauched as it was gentle.

In the aftermath he’d covered her with his bedspread, turned the lights out, and curled around her tightly. He hadn’t asked her to reciprocate, he hadn’t said anything. He’d just kissed her and held her for what felt like forever and no time at all until the mood shifted from heated to simply warm.

He’d kissed the crown of her head, and then down to her neck and shoulder, he’d pulled her in close, and then when he seemed content himself, he spoke.

“You hated me. I could always see it in your eyes. You hated me so much.”

It wasn’t accusatory. It was spoken like a fact, and she nodded to confirm it.

His fingers carded through her hair gently and she cuddled into his side. She couldn’t change the past, but she realized that she was starting to remember a hundred little things she’d made herself forget.

Kristoff at age eight slipping a paper airplane through her mail slot, and the pair of them playing, Anna tossing the paper plane out the window and him catching it, walking it back to her mail slot and repeating the process over and over until it started to rain. Kristoff at age fifteen leaving a potted peace lily for her as an apology for her garden, a lily she’d mourned the death of her freshman year of college when it had lived out the last of its longevity on her windowsill. Kristoff at eighteen holding her hand a little longer than necessary at her parent’s funeral, bringing her a glass of water and a slice of lemon cake at the wake, inviting her to his grad party. She thought about Christmas cards from his family every year, and how she’d watch him from the window, hand delivering them through her mail slot. She thought about the way he always looked for her in the windows and how his smiles and waves really had never been teasing or mean, but honest and hopeful.

“I had to make myself hate you,” she whispered into the stillness of the dark room, “Because it hurt too much to know that we could never be friends.”

His lips found her bare shoulder and pressed down gently, like it was natural, like they did this every night before they fell asleep.

“Because of your parents?” he asked quietly, pulling her back into him in a gesture she read as protective. She wondered how long he’d known she was unhappy, how hard he’d tried to do what he could. She wondered what might have changed if she’d just gone to his graduation party years before, whether finally being free to see him would have made her happy. She couldn’t quite imagine a whirlwind summer romance. She’d been too young for romance, but she could imagine him in that crap truck of his bringing her for ice cream or down to the lakeshore or them not going anywhere at all, watching crap movies in his living room. She could imagine a summer where she’d made him her friend, and then months of letters and texts and emails. She could imagine a few years of friendship, him coming to her graduation, him helping her pick colleges, him realizing that he was falling in love with her, and her picking her college because he’d be there to love her.

She nodded. “It wasn’t really their fault I don’t think… or at least I don’t think they meant to keep me indoors so much. It was just Elsa was sick, and then she had the mental health problems, and they had the business and her to think about all the time… it was just easier for them to keep me safe if I were inside and proper and… I think they would have been different if the situation was.”

His beard scratched against her skin, reminding her of the way his mouth had felt elsewhere. She only felt a little bad thinking about how he’d made her see stars now that they were having a serious conversation.  

“I can understand why you must have disliked me so much. Even though I was adopted I always had family, I didn’t have much for friends, but I had a few and I had Sven… and I can see how you probably wanted that.”

“I did… I do… A lot’s changed since we were kids, but not that. Elsa’s family now. She did her best for me those three years, she’s gotten better now. We talk a lot.”

He hummed, like he already knew. She wondered if he’d been checking in on them. His parents had always been good neighbors to them, especially after her parents passing, so she imagined that his mother had been able to update him on how they were doing.

“And I have some friends now, at school… and… I just I guess I’m realizing that it’s not too late.”

“Too late for what?”

She took a deep breath, taking in the way it felt easy to breathe for the first time in a very long time. She hadn’t realized how much baggage she’d been carrying around until she’d seen him that first night in the bar.

“I don’t think it’s too late for us to be friends.”

He chuckled and pressed his lips to her neck again, his body warm and solid against her back.

“I don’t mean to be crass Anna… but I think we might be a little more than friends already.”

“Lucky thing,” she said, blushing as she pressed her rear into him a little closer, feeling the press of his cock against her, “Because I think I want to get a little friendlier with you… it’s only fair after all.”

A growl of appreciation had her letting out an easy and warm laugh.

She felt light and warm, and for the first time since she could remember, she felt like everything was alright.

[save-the-spiral]

Wiztober Day Nineteen: Transformation

Welcome to Day Nineteen of wiztober2020. Content warning for arguing, implied bullying, death mentions.

(link to prompt list)

Castian moved her fingers nervously, the slight rasp of her scales against one another a soft, soothing sound. She balled her hands into loose fists, thumbs slowly feeling the sides of her index fingers, her claws carefully out of the way.

She had been very, very excited at first. One of her best friends had a mysterious, long lost sister, so how could she not be ecstatic for her friend, as well as for the opportunity to watch something so dramatic.

But it hadn’t been fun, not really.

Castian had known of Mari Jade, but had never met the girl. Castian knew almost every student at Ravenwood, so to have not met Mari meant that she was a recluse to the highest degree. All the information Castian had about Mari was through the grapevine of school gossip that Castian played no small part in facilitating, and even that was sparse and, apparently, wrong.

Mari was supposedly intelligent, though not as skilled in practicals, and had a habit of barely even passing classes that relied purely on casting magic. She was a quiet doormat, easily pushed around by the more bullheaded or mean of the life school. She was also a teacher’s pet, on very friendly terms with Professor Wu, sometimes slipping up and calling her Moolinda in class, to her own embarrassment.

It was a pitiful amount of information, and Castian quickly learned that most of it was completely wrong.

The Mari that wreaked havoc through the ice school, barging in and demanding to see Emrys Pyre and not taking ‘no’ for an answer was not the meek theurgist that Ravenwood Academy knew her as. The ambient magic around her was sharp, thorny, and enraged, a dark green aura around her instead of the usual vibrant lime of average life wizards.

When she had found Emrys with the help of a very mischievous Genevieve (usually going by Eve, or Evie), a vital, if not very young member to their friend group, Mari had tackled the stoic and typically rude boy in a hug, and began violently sobbing into his shoulder.

And Emrys, instead of pushing her away or looking uncomfortable at the display of emotions, had simply soothed her, arms reaching around her thin shoulders and mouth moving fast. Castian, Eve, and Jen couldn’t understand the language, but it was fast and in a soft undertone, a constant stream of bouncing syllables as Emrys let this random girl cry all over him. Jen, the only one of them who knew any Earth languages, guessed that he had likely been speaking Vietnamese, though how a half Korean, half Japanese boy who was raised in Mooshu knew the language, none of them could know. Well, they could just ask, but doing so would likely anger Emrys, who was a deeply private person. Private enough to hide a whole sister from his best friends.

Emrys never faltered in his kind, if not protective hold on Mari. He guided her to the ice wizard dorms, and into Jen and Castian’s room instead of his own. There, he had sat down with her on the floor, not even noticing his three friends trailing along.

Finally, when Mari had calmed enough, anger flooding back in over any fear or sadness, the line of her jaw tight enough that Castian worried it might just snap like a rubber band, though she didn’t know much about human wizard physiology. Mari stared at Emrys with a deep anger, not at him, but simply too ingrained in her state of being so she could not stop sounding as if she were going to strike the next person who drew near.

“We need to go to Dragonspyre, and rescue my-” Mari stopped, seething, nostrils flaring. “And rescue someone. The old death professor, Malistaire, kidnapped her. He’s going to kill her, after using her to help destroy the Spiral.”

“Woah.” Eve whispered from the doorway, standing alongside Castian and Jen. She was just thirteen, due to turn fourteen in a month’s time, though she refused to act her age. Considering she was a prodigy, she usually got away with it.

Emrys shook his head, leaning back a bit, putting his weigh on his hand. “Right now? You wanna go storm an entire world right now?”

Mari’s face twisted with her anger. “If you’re not going to help me-!”

“No- no! I’ll help, Mari. Whatever you need.” Emrys’ voice was vulnerable, raw in a tone that usually meant a bad flashback, though not this time. “Just- we can’t run off with no plan, no preparation. I can’t-” His voice cracked. “I really can’t do this without at least a day to prepare, Mari. After that, we’ll do whatever we need to save this person and even save the Spiral if we must.”

Mari huffed out a breath. “A day? She could be dead! The Spiral could be gone, wiped out!”

“It will be anyway if you run off right now, Mari. Look at yourself. You’re running on fumes already- when is the last time you ate, or slept, or even drank some god damned water?” Emrys demanded harshly.

“I-” Mari’s voice cracked. “I don’t...” She seemed to almost sway from where she was sitting.

“A day, Mari.” Emrys murmured. “Just one day and then we can go save another world together, okay?”

“‘Kay.” Mari slurred tiredly.

“Cas, Jen, please take care of Mari while I get the supplies we’ll need? Genevieve, come with me.” Emrys kissed Mari’s forehead as she leaned against the side of Jen’s bed, and then he left, Eve excitedly following him.

Castian and Jen exchanged one look, and that was all they needed. Castian grabbed some of their many mugs, filling two with tap water, and then preparing to make hot cocoa. It would be a long night, and hot cocoa solved most problems, even if it wouldn’t solve this one.

Jen lifted the now sleeping Mari onto their own bed, covering her with a quilt. They hadn’t expected this, but they adapted easily, and this would turn out okay. It had to.

After Mari woke from her impromptu nap, she drank water, she ate, she even drank a bit of cocoa. She was silent, though sometimes if she stared off into space she would let out a dry, hoarse sob. This person who was kidnapped was very, very important to her.

Castian knew the best thing would be to distract her, fill her mind with other thoughts so she could rest, and then she could think as much as she wanted about whoever she wanted then. But not tonight.

It started with a haircut. Jen had suggested it, considering Mari’s hair was a mess, cut quickly and uneven. Mari told them that her braid had gotten caught on a fence, and she had no time. Jen began suggesting hairstyles, pulling out one of their magazines. Mari saw a picture of a beautiful girl in a leather jacket and ripped jeans, with half of her head shaved, staring moodily at the camera.

“That one.” Was all she said.

Jen had gone all out, and they turned it into a spa night, complete with nail (and claw) painting, and a bit of hair dye. Jen had even shaved a little complex design on the side of Mari’s head, vines curling and dyed green, a bit of magic involved to keep it in.

Mari finally smiled when looking in the mirror, though the bags under her eyes spoke of far deeper turmoil that a bit of pampering could not fix in a million years. Castian and Jen knew this, but still. It was fun, and Mari deserved fun before she went on a mission to likely kill a man.

They began picking out clothes, and that was when the real fun began. Mari was introduced to Jen’s rather broad taste in music, though she quickly honed in on the punk side, eyes wide and mouth almost twisting into a smile when she heard loud, almost chaotic sounds, and knew it was called music. After that, Mari spoke more. As usual with Castian, it turned to gossip.

And it was amazing. Castian hadn’t known how deep the life school really went with its sometimes harsh interpersonal relationships, but Mari was in it, and not at all phased by sharing these supposed life wizard only secrets. It was a whole new side to almost every life wizard, and Castian couldn’t get enough, almost overwhelming Mari with questions, both of them drawing out their anecdotes, dramatic pauses and all.

Mari was changing, and she’d need to be more and more prepared to change, because Castian knew that people who went on quests never came back quite the same. It reminded Castian of her cousins who were in the process of shedding their skins, draconian scales dulling, almost dead looking.

Then on the other side they were shining and radiant.

Maybe it reminded Castian of herself, a bit. Though she had never felt the loss and fear Mari had, not since she was very, very young.

Castian would always be willing to help out a friend in need though.

[thebookwyrmsnook]

Fate: A Winx Saga

I’m not quite sure what I was expecting for this one. It’s a fine enough story with the Winx name slapped onto it. It’s somehow exactly what you expect, when you finally look past what you originally thought it would be.

More below~

If you grew up watching the fairy fable like I did, you know that Winx was a product of its time. Like many early 2000s shows aimed towards girls, it was all glitz/glamour, boy crazes, magic and overall girl power. It was by no means groundbreaking, but it stole a special place in my childhood’s heart.

So, when I heard through the grapevine that they were going to do a live action show, I was interested to see what they might do! Sure, it would no doubt lose some of it’s glittery charm, but the show had plenty of good characters and themes to latch onto, right?

Well, not quite. When the trailer dropped, the smile I had from the cool logo slid completely off of my face. What I saw was exactly what every other reboot/live action remake seems to do. It was darker, edgier, a very “not your parent’s show” type of thing. Immediately, I knew that Winx had somehow gotten the Archie/Riverdale treatment. 

So how was the actual show? In truth, not bad. Once you looked past the fact that they shamelessly slapped familiar names (both in it’s title and a few of it characters), the story is fine. It’s a fish-out-of-water-protagonist-who-finds-out-they’re-the-powerful-chosen-one story. It’s Harry Potter, it’s Star Wars, it’s Eragon and all those stories we have seen before. I honestly think that that is the show’s biggest strength, and it’s detrimental flaw.

We’ve seen this all before. We have the fish out of water chosen one, we have the snooty popular girl, we have the hot guy that the two previously named girls fight over, we have the cool hipster type that uses music as a personality, we have the sweet and innocent one who finally stands up for herself, and we have the “everyone has secrets” theme. This show is just a million common tropes for young adult media smushed together, but this one is fairy themed~

So what’s the storyline? Well, like the cartoon, Bloom is a fairy who was placed on earth and discovered by someone (in the cartoon it was Stella, establishing their friendship quickly) but in the live show, I don’t think they said who found her. She goes to Alfea to learn magic, and the adventure begins.

Alfea is a magic school set in the “Other World” which are now countries, instead of planets like they were in the cartoon. Also in the cartoon, fairies’ magic attacks were based on specific attributes (fire, sun, nature, technology, music etc);  however, all of the girls seemed to be able to do basic other spells/hexes. In Fate, however, it seemed like there were the three elements (water, fire and earth) with a few exceptions (one electricity fairy, a few mind (mind readers basically), Stella, and whatever the headmistress was). And that’s all they could do. Disappointingly, the show about magic, didn’t properly explain or explore the rules of magic.

But Alfea also houses the Specialists, a group of non-magical fighters who team with the fairies to fight the monsters and evils of the world. In the cartoon, that was a separate school for boys only, and where the main love interests for the main girls lived. In the live action show, however, the Specialists are open to both genders. Which makes sense, since the show writers had to condense their stories down (including cutting the witches out) into 8 hour long episodes. So if they weren’t world building, what were they doing?

They were delving into the social ecosystem of our main characters. All five of our leading ladies got their own arc, no matter how rushed that made everything feel. Aisha went from Bloom’s protector to a roadblock in her way. Terra (Flora’s little sister?) was the sweet girl who finally stood up for herself. Which I can appreciate, since it’s nice and an easy story to have going on in the background. Plus Terra easily had some of the best dialogue in the show. Musa (now a Mind fairy) had it the worst. She kept pushing people away, and we find out pretty quick that she’s an Empath that doesn’t know how to to tune out her magic, except when she’s listening to music. Which makes sense, and I was ready for that to be her entire thing, especially since that worked really well. But then, in the last episode they threw something else in completely, and ruined it all for me, personally. Stella’s had really good potential. Her mother, the apparent ultimate Queen, had high expectations, and taught Stella in a results-driven way; giving way to anxiety and lack of proper control for Stella. Which is a great story, but this show isn’t really her story, it’s Bloom’s. So, it got pushed to the side.

Bloom’s was the best timed, given that hers took the entirety of the episodes. Like Bloom in the original show, she was trying to solve where she came from, who she is, and just what her powers were. In Fate, Bloom is just a powerful fire fairy, which kind of killed a lot of the original Bloom’s story (given that there’s a reason she’s that powerful in the cartoon). Not to mention that the teachers kept trying to drill “magic comes from your emotions and positive feelings are better” into both our and Bloom’s mind. Which is immediately squashed by the fact that Bloom’s earth parents were kind of... abusive? Anyways, she wants to know where she comes from, but everyone is keeping it a secret. By the end, when she kind of figures it out, I was elated right there with her... that is until it was thrown in our face that the story she was just told was a lie (we know that, but she doesn’t).

That had to be the second biggest flaw to this show. The writers seemed to be hellbent on trying to pull the rug out from under the audience as many times as they could. We learn to trust nobody, not the headmistress, not the teachers, not her friends (except to change their minds every five minutes but we’ll get to that), there was no one we could trust. Meaning, that we never truly figure out the truth about anything, making the resolution feel hollow and unearned. They leave it open to say “I’m happy where I am but I’m going to keep looking for the truth” when we were hardly two steps away from where we had started.

The story could have progressed if her friends didn’t flip and flop so much. While the audience and Bloom are getting yanked around with promises of answers, her friends only see parts of the truth (cause Bloom keeps forgetting to invite her friends to the party) and so they are constantly flip flopping on whose “side” they are on. I honestly got emotional whiplash for that. I’m all about the “good intentions but misguided friends” trope, but that was not a good execution of that.

Overall, Fate is a fine story. It’s cliched and everything you have seen before in a young adult show/movie. It doesn’t world build fully, and it honestly feels like scenes are missing. It honestly left me feeling a little let down. But, some of the dialogue is snappy (namely from Terra), and some of the characters are great (namely Terra). But the original cartoon, despite it’s cheesy-ness, is the clear winner in my mind. 

[g0dtier]

leftist tumblr/twitter really needs to chill with the outrage directed at other leftists and check facts and shit. like take leftist youtubers for example

hbomberguy got a callout posted about him that contained like 3 images of an incomplete chat log which accused him of being a rape apologist and over the years the story just turned into “hbomb is a rapist”

and like the whole story is convoluted as shit because i just went on like an hour long deep dive trying to find all the deleted pics and logs and posts and i did! and what i found was so underwhelming and weird but what it comes down to is this

this person accused a friend of hbomb without proof and conflicting messages of something heinous, 5 years after the fact apparently happened, was met with understanding but questions about clarification or proof which they could have easily given which they said so themselves but actively decided not to, said they “didnt want to blow this wide open” and then posted their callout to every single leftist and gaming subreddit they could find, raged about hbomb not linking to their callout in his apology, and then deleted their tumblr, the callout they wanted people to read so desperately and all the screenshots with it and now the facts (which were barely there) have become so convoluted that a bunch of people think hbomb is actually a rapist or smth

if u are into drama and wanna know other shit heres like, what i put together from all the shit i found

like it starts with skype chat logs in the middle of a conversation, u know a convo has been held about this before but the logs arent there for some reason, K didnt decide to post the first conversation about these accusations for some reason and this is kinda important cause later on K does something else weird with the chat logs

K accused Hbomb’s friend PL of being a rapist and sending them rapey messages 5 years before these call logs

K continued to work with Hbomb knowing PL and Hbomb were friends for 5 years before deciding to accuse out of the blue

without proof because their computer died, even though skype chat logs can easily be recovered even on a new computer and they said they had proof and logs they got from other people about PL’s behavior yet refused to show them to anyone or post them in the callout

chat logs start off with Hbomb asking about the situation but that they dont have to talk if K doesnt want to and K immediately going into a rant about how they rely on Hbomb to not become homeless and how their former rapist now has kids 

this is like a really weird thing to start off a convo with. if ur friend is like “hey if you want to, you can talk to me about this rape accusation” and u immediately reply with “lol yea anyway the person who abused me as a child has kids now and no one will believe me when i talk about him and also if you dont believe me and i get shit for this accusation i WILL be homeless” thats like. some heavy emotional manipulation to start off a convo with. anyway the accusation is this

K accuses PL of threatening to rape them 5 years ago, K and PL were wanting to meet up but PL made rapey comments and K, according to the callout post, didnt show for the meeting

Hbomb says he has some trouble with this because he absolutely wants to believe and support K and asks what he can do for them, but also mentions how theyve talked about PL for years and that there never was anything like this mentioned and that this accusation is sort of coming out of the blue. he also mentions, which is kinda important, that K told him after the original meetup was cancelled that they were afraid PL actually cancelled the meetup because he lost interest in K. Which doesnt correlate at all with what K claims and seems like something they should clear up right

anyway hbomb is like completely chill and supportive during this entire conversation and mentions how he feels like garbage over not being able to believe K out of the blue, which is 100% fucking reasonable considering the situation where K actually apparently felt sad about the meetup not continuing, everything being fine for 5 years, and then accusing PL out of the blue without any proof while also prefacing it with a “if u dont believe me i will be homeless”. like thats 100% just a fucking reasonable reaction lmfao. 

so u imagine there’s gonna be some clearup about everything being fine for 5 years and what hbomb said about K confiding in him all those years ago that they thought PL cancelled the meeting because they didnt like them, right?

wrong because the next logs are the only chat logs of that conversation where a bunch of K’s reply is completely cut off. Like K decided posting these logs was important but deliberately decided to cut out a bunch of their own reply after being asked in the most non-confrontational way fucking ever for some 100% reasonable clarification on their accusations. like they have multiple screenshots which show the chat continuing exactly from the last screenshot by including the last thing said on the former screenshot but they did decide that the last screenshot should start halfway through their last message to hbomb

K then decides to not go after PL at all but make a huge ass callout about hbomb instead for not believing them. like the callout isnt even “hey PL made rapey comments at me” the callout is “hbomb didnt believe me when i told him this”

after this a couple things happened

K spread the callout everywhere they could because they wanted everyone to know about this and they recieved tons of support

they posted some out of context screenshots of hbomb replying to unknown messages and his replies may or may not be about this incident, no one knows because theyre completely vague without earlier context which again wasnt included

they also posted stuff about his mods defending him when all the mod (singular) in question says is to take up comments about this with hbomb himself bc discussing public callouts and dragging people has been prohibited since way before this thing happened and it makes people uncomfortable to discuss new and vague situations like this in the public server instead of in PMs which is like. logical

then they claim that (again no proof) they heard through the grapevine from someone else that hbomb had been dragging K in voice chat and calling them a crazy bitch or something like that which makes zero fucking sense because boasting in a public voice chat on a server where people are already trying to drag you about how someone who made a callout post is a crazy bitch, with your own voice, which can easily be recorded and is way harder to accuse of being faked is actually a 0 brain cell move and while i dont know hbomb personally i dont think anyone would actually be that fucking stupid

Hbomb wrote an apology and K accused him of copying it from an ask they got about what an apology should be like which is like really fucking weird because nothing in the apology even remotely resembles what they asked for so its like aight

after hbomb was thoroughly dragged through the mud because K spread the callout everywhere they could and got mad at hbomb for not including a link to their callout in his original apology and then, right after the fucking apology and they got all the traction they really tried to get they just...deleted their tumblr and all the archives and screenshots lmfao

[heartslogos]

newfragile yellows [810]

“Listen I've only got the two brain cells. One of them is focused on being gay and the other is focused on trying to do basic math because one brain cell can’t do both. The rest have fucked off somewhere to do other things, presumably not those two things,” Sera says, punctuating her words with hand gestures. “So you can’t expect me to hear you say something like that and instantly pick up your meaning. Understanding the Adaars and the Lavellans and the Chargers and the rest of the crazy Inquisition Circus is like having to learn several new languages that just happen to cross each other multiple times. You wanna explain to me from the very beginning?”

Malika repeats, slower this time, “Ellana Lavellan is going to be maid of honor at Herah Adaar’s wedding. I’m pretty sure that’s not code? You know what a maid of honor is and you know what a wedding is.”

“That part I get. Do the next one.”

“Josephine’s best man is the Iron Bull.”

“And that’s where you lost me. Josephine. Montilyet. Is getting married. And the person she chooses to be her right hand is the Iron Bull. Adaar and Lavellan I kind of get. Because it was either that or Adaar chooses Max to be her best man and Max’s been kind of busy flying around the world so he doesn’t have the time or energy to spare to help plan a wedding. Mahanon Lavellan won’t be found a hundred miles from any kind of wedding planning event. Kaaras would just cry and say yes to everything without putting in real input.”

“There’s also the fact that I’m pretty sure they dated.”

“What? Who dated?”

“Herah and Ellana.”

“They what.” Sera gapes. “When? When did this happen? Where the fuck was I?”

“Oh, no, it was before the Inquisition,” Malika shakes her head, “They’re pretty chill about it. I guess they parted on good terms? I don’t know. They only talk about it when they want to tease the Iron Bull or Kaaras. Anyway, Ellana and Herah are pretty close all things considered. And Bull is Josephine’s best friend.”

“He’s what.”

“He’s her best friend,” Malika repeats, giving Sera a concerned look. “They have like, an almost weekly lunch date? You know if Bull’s texting someone it’s probably Josephine. Those two are pretty ride or die. I’ve heard of Josephine burying stuff for him — like. Uh. Paperwork wise. not actually burying stuff? I can’t imagine Josephine getting dirty.”

“Oh my god. How did I miss this?”

“It’s not like you and Josephine talk a lot,” Malika points out, “And Bull isn’t the kind of person to just announce his relationships with people.”

“And yet he’ll announce literally anything else. I can’t believe this. Wait — is the Iron Bull even good to plan a wedding?”

“He’s the Iron Bull,” Malika stresses, “Of course he’s good to plan a wedding. Figuring out elaborate seating arrangements to minimize contact between unfriendly guests? The balancing act of formality versus want? Budgets? Color coordination in order to best highlight and balance out the setting? Themes? Bargaining prices? Setting time tables? Finding out information regarding best deals and finding any lies?”

“Way to make a wedding sound political and suck the romance out of it. When did this get announced?”

“I’m not sure, I just found out about it today because I walked in on the four of them in Josephine’s office while they were talking about splitting up wedding planning duties. They’re thinking of asking if they can borrow Cullen’s dog to be the flower pup or ring bearer. Josephine’s got a niece who can be whichever one the dog isn’t.”

“She’s only got one niece?”

“She’s only got one niece she wants in the wedding, the rest she doesn’t trust,” Malika says. “Either too young or too old or too unpredictable in between that.  De Fer is going to be the pianist, apparently.”

“And when the fuck did that happen?”

“Well. De Fer is friends with Josephine and Bull,” Malika says. “How come you’re one of our intelligence officers and you don’t know any of this about any of us?”

“Uh, because I’m focused on getting the info on all of our enemies and not on us? Because, you know, that’s my job? Also I figured the good goss would get to me eventually through the gay grapevine? Except, apparently, I was fuckin’ wrong because I’m only getting this info now.”

“If it makes you feel any better they’re going to do an announcement later this week, they just wanted to start getting some of the details in motion and stuff. The wedding isn’t for like, another year or two?”

“That’s a long engagement.”

“I mean, we are running a huge military operation that’s constantly on the brink of intercepting world war and complete and utter collapse of society as we know it. Putting a wedding date for a year or two down the line seems a little optimistic in my opinion.” Malika shrugs. “Ellana and Bull run a lot of long-term ops, you know? Max’s stuff is general shorter but he’s running at least twelve different projects at once at any given second, so he’s busy in a different way. We’re all busy people. Squeezing in a wedding in two or three years? Oof. I hope they get some kind of insurance in case they need to cancel. Cos. You know. We might be in the middle of a world war.”

“You’re too reasonable for a college student,” Sera says. “Did you know that? Has anyone told you that? You’re like…crazy down to earth. No, that isn’t a dwarf joke.”

“Uncle Edric always says I’ve got my head in the clouds,” Malika replies. “Anyway, this isn’t what I wanted to talk about. I didn’t bring this up so we could talk about how out of touch you are. I bought it up because of the bouquet toss.”

“Yeah? What about it?”

“If Ellana or Bull catches it do you think they’ll get married?”

[365daysofsasuhina]

[ 365 Days of SasuHina || Day One: Suitably Warm ] [ Uchiha Sasuke, Hyūga Hinata ] [ SasuHina ] [ Verse: A Light Amongst Shadows ] [ AO3 Link ]

Sasuke doesn’t know where she got the hobby from. All that he does know, is that since becoming acquainted with the Hyūga woman a second time...she’s been an avid knitter.

Despite their glaring similarities when young - both children of so-called ‘royal’ clans of Konoha, both wielders of mighty dōjutsu, and both the apparent second choices by their fathers - neither Sasuke nor Hinata ever reached out to one another. Something that, in the current day, they can’t help but lament...yet never be able to change.

Sasuke hadn’t been in the Academy long before losing his family, and closing himself off to...well, everyone. Especially girls, given their obnoxious behavior toward him. It was no wonder, then, that he never noticed Hinata to be one of the few - if only - who didn’t dog him so.

Hinata, facing troubles at home with her father’s disappointment and a new baby sister he seemed to prefer, hadn’t had a ‘need’ to know one like Sasuke. Instead, she had latched onto the one person who could inspire her to push on despite her difficulties. Naruto’s blustering confidence and unwavering determination had caught her attention...while Sasuke’s reclusion admittedly went unnoticed.

It was only after the war, with their previous visions changed...that they could begin to see one another. Sasuke had his few scraps of family, and no remaining goals. Hinata’s affection had been rejected, and she found she no longer had a need to follow in Naruto’s footsteps. Her path was now her own.

And as Naruto and Sakura - each previously tied to them both - converged...it led to their own second meeting. This time without distractions. And, in fact, a few things already tying them together...namely the Hyūga working with the few remaining Uchiha.

Either way...they couldn’t avoid one another now.

In addition to being rather directed toward him, Hinata was also one of the few who - upon his return - didn’t immediately treat him as the others did. With suspicion, distrust, and wariness that he was only a step away from going off the deep end again. So even before Naruto and Sakura, before the alliance...it was she who often made the effort to extend a hand to him when others shied away.

He suspected he could blame a certain sister-in-law of his for that. It was later he learned that Hinata was the first entrusted with Itachi’s secret: a best friend of his ‘widow’ that she trusted to reveal her heart to. So before Sasuke even returned, Hinata knew of his clan’s struggles.

His struggles.

It was the middle of Winter when his traveling was cut short, called home by a worrying letter from Sakura. Something was being schemed, and he should be there for it should something go wrong. That something had been the dangerous - yet successful - revival of his brother. Which, subsequently, led to Sasuke’s change of plans, and permanent return to Konoha.

And all the challenges that brought.

Itachi’s second chance at life was slow to start, with a new body that needed time to adjust. Sasuke spent most of his time home helping, but...what with his new plans to stay, he was...encouraged to repair the bonds he’d cut with his departure.

He’d begrudgingly acquiesced.

And the first to reach out...had been Hinata.

.oOo.

“Sasuke-kun!”

The words bring a mixture of emotions. The first is a knee-jerk irritation. Sakura still calls him that...and the rosette is yet a sore subject. Second is a confusion, because...that wasn’t Sakura’s voice. Too soft, too high.

Turning to behold his pursuer with a single dark eye, brows furrow. It’s that Hyūga girl...Hinata? His brother’s wife (well...they aren’t married yet, but it’s just a matter of time) is good friends with her, right? She’s jogging toward him, clutching a paper-wrapped package to her front. “...Hyūga.”

Not looking at all put-off by the gruff greeting, she slows to a stop a few paces from him, a bit breathy and rosy-cheeked in the cold. “I...I’m glad I caught you! I heard you’ve been back in the village, and...that you have plans to stay…?

He’s not really sure why it’s her business, but...then again, they have connections through someone else. Odds are she’ll find out either way. At least she’s asking him directly, rather than waiting to hear through the grapevine. “Still considering it, but...given that my brother plans to remain here with his family, I’ll likely stay.” That’s all he has left to care about: family. His team feels fractured, and he never really made any other friends. Where his blood goes, so shall he follow. Even if it means Konoha.

But that’s a subject for another time.

Feeling he’s owed a question in return, he asks, “Why?”

“...oh! Well…” A hand absentmindedly strokes a thumb along the exterior of her package. “I...I know you don’t really have a...a solid place here yet. What with the compound still being so empty after Pein’s assault. There’s the new manor, but...well, supplies are still thin after everything was lost, and I know you haven’t had much time to resupply…”

He almost starts tuning her out given her rambling - can she just get to the point? But Sasuke snaps back to attention when she thrusts the package out from her chest toward his own.

“So I...I made you this! It’s rather cold lately, so...I just wanted you to have something to keep warm!”

A blink...and then he reaches his reconstructed arm out to grasp it. It’s...soft, whatever it is, paper sinking under his fingers. Without a word, he tears the wrapping aside to reveal soft cloth. Unraveling it, Sasuke finds she’s given him...a scarf?

“I’ve...I’ve been practicing, so...I’ve been handing them out to everyone as I make them. And...I thought you could use one, too!”

Crumpling the paper and tucking it into a pocket, he still doesn’t reply. A thumb brushes over it, feeling how plush and soft it is. And the stitchwork is good...as far as he knows.

And at each tail end, he finds a little Uchiha crest worked into the pattern against the dark blue fabric.

Another blink.

Looking a little unnerved at his silence, Hinata falls back to an old finger-twiddling habit. “I...I hope you like it.”

Sasuke lifts his gaze, apparently just remembering he owes her an answer. “...it’s nice,” he offers honestly...and a little bluntly. “Thank you.” It’s then he goes ahead and wraps it around his neck, finding it rather suitably warm.

...when was the last time someone just...gave him something? For no reason at all than just the act itself? A hand tugs at one end, eyeing the symbol one last time.

Hinata, in the meantime, beams as he dons it. “If I find the time, I’ll have to make you something else to go with i! Some mittens, maybe...or a hat…”

“You don’t have to.”

“I know. I want to. I…” A brief hesitation. “...I want you to feel welcome here, Sasuke-kun. I know...it can’t be easy being here after all that’s...all that’s happened. Just know that...we’re glad you’re here. And hopefully, things will only continue to improve.”

Silence falls as he considers that, looking back to the scarf to avoid her eyes. “...we’ll figure something out. I want this place to be safe for my family again. For everyone again.” Granted, his initial plan was...brash. And altogether flawed. But his temper and black-and-white view of things often meant acting without much thinking in the past. This time...he’ll do it right.

“...well, we’ll help you however we can,” Hinata replies softly after he goes quiet. “Please know that...you can always look to us for help. M-myself included. We’re friends after all, right?”

Friends…? She barely knows him. And yet...she’s been, by far, the most welcoming person since his return. Beyond family, at least. He’s not sure if they’re friends yet, but...she’s at least in the lead in some imaginary running he holds his agemates to.

“...I’ll bear that in mind.”

Hinata smiles, and then offers a quick bow. “Anyway...I’ll let you go on your way. I just...wanted to get that to you before it got too late. I hope you enjoy your evening, Sasuke-kun.”

“Thanks. You too, Hyūga.” He offers a nod in return, watching her walk past him and disappear into the crowds. After an owlish blink, he gives his new garment a glance before continuing on toward home.

     Ooh boy, here we go! The first of many posts in what will hopefully be a solid 365 days of SasuHina drabbles! I'm so excited, and I actually wrote something before midnight for once, haha!      Anyway, this is set in my usual canon-divergent verse, A Light Amongst Shadows. It'll probably be the one that's most-often used due to being my default for both these characters in regards to roleplay. You can, if you'd like, find out more about it on my roleplay Tumblr, kusunokihime!      Things are definitely more of a slow-burn for these two in ALAS. They are, after all, relative strangers in canon. So expect plenty of little bonding moments like this as we go along!      As always, thank you so much for reading, and I'll see you all tomorrow!

[octoberdecemberwrites-blog]

It wasn’t Alec Lightwood’s fault—

Or at least that’s what he’d tried to tell his parents, anyway.

The party getting out of hand was maybe Isabelle’s fault—

Maybe even Clary’s—

But it definitely wasn’t his and he didn’t understand why he was the only one being made to pay the price.

The whole thing had started off innocent enough. One of the higher-ups at The Institute wanted to have a simple, Hawaiian themed going away party. Of course, being a popular, upcoming party planner in the Manhattan area, Alec’s name came up as a potential thrower of said party. And of course, because Alec was always looking for the next big party to throw, he’d readily accepted the offer.

The gig was one of the most expensive affairs that Alec had been trusted with to date, clocking in at around $50,000. Everything had been beautifully decorated, too, with a luau being recreated out of a large conference room, including free flowing cosmopolitans and professional dancers in shimmying, grass skirts—

And a goddamn fire pit.

God damn that goddamn fire pit.

It’d seemed like such an innovative idea at the time, bringing that classic, crackling flavor all the way from Hawaii to NYC, keeping that special magic alive that so often comes with relaxing on a beach after a long day of vacationing and sightseeing...

Alec remembered hearing the screams before he saw the flames.

One of the girls in grass skirts desperately hopped over the bar, as she poured mixed drinks right down the front of her outfit, hoping it’d quickly put out the fire. The other hired dancers soon followed her lead, nearly tearing the bar apart as they splashed around in alcohol and beer...

Which only caused the flames to increase.

And in turn, caused the screams to get even louder.

Eventually, the dancers were saved by fire extinguishers, and thankfully no one was severely injured...

Even though Alec’s party planning reputation had completely gone down in flames.

But at the time, Alec didn’t understand how it even happened in the first place. He could so easily recall making at least three rounds around the fire pit, each time asking one of his assistants to make a note to all of the event’s attendees about not standing so close to the fire. It was gorgeous, but it was fire, so while Alec could try his best to contain it, there were no guarantees that it wouldn’t shoot off sparks every now and then.

After the fiasco, Alec had heard through the grapevine that one of the very guests at the event had been encouraging the dancers to position themselves around the fire, since it would make for better photographs and all—

But the only leads Alec had to go on was that the guest was stunning and also a woman.

Apparently, no one had been able to catch their name.

Although, being able to properly place blame on the perpetrator didn’t matter too much to Alec right now. He was too busy focusing on his current plight—

Being forced to work a 9 to 5.

His parents had decided to temporarily cut off his access to their bank account, hoping to sway his interest in party planning and get him on the path to pursuing a “real job in the real world.” Maryse had repeatedly mentioned Izzy’s name as a comparison, wondering why Alec couldn’t get involved with computers or little, digital gadgets like his sister loved to do—

But Alec Lightwood knew that he wasn’t a goddamn nerd.

He was The Pretty Boy Party Planner of NYC, and as soon as his reputation recovered—

And as soon as his dad eventually cracked and gave Alec back his Black Card—

He’d be back to his former, glorious self, planning luxurious parties, getting sloppily day-drunk on margaritas and helping Maia figure out what size Louboutin she wore in US shoe sizes.

Until then, however, he’d resigned himself to his position as Sales Manager at Toys! Toys! Toys!, a store dedicated to brand name play-sets and pricey additions to Barbie’s dream-house. Alec snagged the job due to Jace’s stellar recommendation with the Hiring Department, which included the words “my brother is kind of a gay disaster but he has a good heart...I think.”

I think.

Alec scoffed at the words, even now, as he sorted through a box of detached doll heads.

Of course, he had a good heart.

It wasn’t Alec’s fault that no one had given him the opportunity to prove it to them yet. It was like every guy in Manhattan only wanted sex, sex sex—

As soon as Alec brought up the word relationship they’d pretty much disappear on the spot like a fucking magician.

“Excuse me...um...it’s Alec, right?” The voice came from somewhere behind Alec—

But he already knew who it was.

Magnus Fucking Bane.

The most gorgeous man that Alec had ever seen in his life. Magnus had only been coming into the shop for a few weeks or so, and he seemed particularly interested in any new shipment related to doll parts, dollhouses, doll clothes...

Alec began to wonder if Magnus had a child, some super cute, super spoiled, adorable little brat of a child, who had the privilege of having Magnus as their father...

But Alec hadn’t found the courage to ask Magnus about it yet—

Really, he hadn’t found the courage to ask Magnus about anything, not even to find out if Magnus liked guys or not.

“Hi. Hey. Yeah.” Alec moved away from the objectively creepy box of heads, and turned to face Magnus, directly. “It’s Alec. And it’s...Magnus...right?”

“You remembered.” Magnus offered Alec a bright, warm smile—

And Alec felt like he was going to pass out on the spot. “What brings you in today, Magnus?”

“Oh, just wondering if you got anything new in stock...maybe...something like a doll car? Barbie jeep? Is that what it’s called?”

Alec let out a light laugh, before folding his arms across his chest. “How is it possible that you own basically every Barbie-ish thing known to man and you still don’t know what a Barbie jeep is?”

“Sorry. I’m still kind of...new at this.” Magnus blushed a deep red—

And now Alec felt like a total asshole. “No, I’m the one who should be sorry, Magnus. I’d just assumed that you’ve been buying stuff for your daughter—”

Magnus hastily shook his head. “I don’t have a daughter.”

Oh my God.

Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God.

He has a son?

He’s been buying doll stuff for his son this whole time?

HE’S SO FUCKING PROGRESSIVE.

YASSSS KING.  FUCK GENDER NORMS.

YOU ARE SUCH A GOOD DADDY.

PLEASE BE MY DADDY, TOO—

“Alec? Are you alright? You just kind of...stopped talking.” Magnus gave Alec a sheepish grin—

And Alec suddenly felt incredibly weak in the knees. Using all of the remaining energy in his body, Alec managed to formulate a response. “We have some new cars in the back. Ooh, there’s a new model that can fit your Barbie and all three of her ethnically diverse friends—”

“My...uh...Barbie...will probably just be riding solo.” Magnus smiled at Alec once again. “But please, lead the way.”

Alec quietly nodded, before nervously heading down a nearby aisle, trying his best not to trip over his own, two feet and fall flat on his face.

************************************************************

“Maiaaaaaaa.” Alec whined, as he plopped down on Maia’s living room couch. “I need helpppppp.”

“Do you actually need help? Or are you just being dramatic?” Maia took a seat beside Alec, her attention still focused on her phone.

“I’m not being dramatic. I am literally dying.” Alec whined again, before nudging Maia in her shoulder. “Magnus is so freakin’ hot. It’s ruining my life.”

“Is this the weirdo who comes in to buy all that Barbie stuff like once a week?”

“He’s not a weirdo! He’s just being a good dad...he’s just a really good daddy—”

“Alec, you know you’re no longer allowed to use that word in my apartment.” Maia finally looked up from her phone. “Not since you used that word to describe Luke. The man who is like my actual father.”

“Oh, boo-hoo, Maia! You’ve got a hot dad!” Alec openly rolled his eyes. “But now that I have your attention...please tell me how to make a boy like me, please, please, please—”

“Just be yourself, and I’m sure he’ll be into it.” Maia grinned, and casually shrugged her shoulders. “Seriously. You’re the most entertaining person I’ve ever met.”

“Maia, I’ve been myself my entire life and I am still single.” Alec groaned under his breath. “Can’t I just be someone else? Someone who Magnus will want to marry immediately?”

“Alec—Oh wait.” Maia’s phone began to chime in her palm, and she swiftly swiped a finger across her screen. “Oh, it’s Simon. He’s just sending me pics from backstage. He’s opening for Maroon 5 tonight.”

“Are you two still a thing? I thought he was dating my sister.”

“He is.”

“...And he’s also...dating you?”

“Yep.” Maia beamed, before setting her phone back in her lap. “It’s 2018, Alec Lightwood. Poly people exist.”

“I know poly people exist, Maia, I just don’t know what you see in Simon Lewis.” Alec scoffed and slightly shifted in his seat. “I think you’re settling. I gave you Jace’s number, didn’t I?”

“Alec, Jace is dating Clary.”

“Oh my God. What?” Alec, exasperated, threw his hands up in the air. “Everybody’s fucking everybody! Except me! Everybody is fucking and no one is fucking me!”

“Stop complaining. You’re white. And hot. And rich. Just get back on Grindr. Duh.” Maia reached for the TV remote, which had been resting on the table in front of the couch.

“I can’t go back to Grindr. I saw Magnus slightly bend over to pick something up from the bottom shelf once and I swear to Christ I saw washboard abs. How am I supposed to go out with a mere mortal after I’ve seen the abs of God?”

“Well, then, Alec Lightwood, you are freakin’ doomed.” Maia broke out into a chuckle, as she lazily flipped through TV channels. “Hey, what usually comes on around this time—”

“STOP.” Alec yanked the remote out of Maia’s hands, before eagerly pointing towards the TV screen. “Magnus! Look! Magnus! Look, look, look!”

There was now a very cheesy ad playing for Magnus’ Tarot Card Reading Services, complete with very cheap editing and awful font flashing his business’ number on the screen below. Magnus was featured prominently in the ad, too, in all of his lens-less glasses and dad jeans glory.

“Oh.” Maia turned her attention to the screen, a sly smile spreading across her face. “He is cute, huh? He looks really...wholesome. Wait, he runs a tarot card place? Aren’t those places mostly scams? And wait, what the hell? Is that Luke? Why the hell would Luke go to a tarot card place—”

“Who cares?! Don’t you see what this means?” Alec’s voice was filled with excitement. “If Magnus’ day job is running some corny tarot card reading place, and my day job is running some corny, corporate toy store...Maia, it means we’re in each other’s league. Magnus Bane is 1000% attainable. If I ask him out, he has to say yes!”

“Uh, no? I don’t think it means he has to say yes, Alec—”

“That’s it! The next time I see him, I’m going for it!” Alec emphatically clasped his hands together. “Tell Simon he’s not invited to our wedding, by the way.”

“Screw you, Lightwood!” Maia playfully threw a pillow at Alec’s head—

Before they began to laugh in nearly perfect unison.

********************************************************************

Alec wasn’t going to be able to do it—

Ask Magnus out.

Not today.

Oh God. Why did Magnus have to look like that today?

Magnus had come into the toy store wearing a perfectly fitted suit and Italian loafers, like he was fresh off some high-fashion runway.

It was the best that Magnus had ever looked, and Alec was having a hard enough time breathing. There was no way in hell that he’d be able to spare any oxygen to ask Magnus out on a date.

Not without dying.

But if Magnus ended up turning him down, maybe dying really wasn’t so bad.

“Alec...there you are.” Magnus was already smiling up at him. “I was worried you wouldn’t be in today. I...um...I really like...having your assistance.”

Alec anxiously giggled—

Fucking giggled—

Before letting out a shaky breath. “What did you...need assistance with...today, Magnus?”

“It’s kind of a weird question...” Magnus took a few seconds to continue on with his thoughts. “But...would you happen to have any...tiny fridges? Like...something that could fit inside a dollhouse?”

“Oh yeah, we have plenty of plastic accessories—”

“Oh. No. Not plastic. It needs to...um...it needs to actually work. Like. Something that could actually keep food...chilled.” Magnus glanced away from Alec—

And Alec’s own confusion soon showed on his face. “So, you’re looking for a...tiny fridge...that actually...works?”

“Right.”

“But...dolls don’t need to...eat...” Alec was still obviously puzzled. “I don’t quite understand. Is your son trying to put real food in Barbie’s fridge or something?”

“I don’t have a son.”

“Oh...” Alec subtly nodded in understanding. “So...you’ve just been buying all these toys for...for yourself...Are you a...uh...collector?”

“No.” A strange expression came onto Magnus’ face, as he roughly pursed his lips. “It’s just...I...I wish I could explain it to you, Alec, but it’s so—”

“For God’s sake, Magnus! Just tell the boy that you screwed up one of your spells!”

“Did you just...Did you just hear something?” Alec’s eyes went wide, as he looked around the room for the source of the previous phrase. “Um—”

“Magnus! Please! This exchange will go much smoother if you just admit the truth! He’s obviously smitten with you, don’t blow it by making him think you’re a complete loon!”

“Is that...was that...Did that come from your...pocket?” Alec quietly pointed towards the side of Magnus’ pants. “Is there...is there someone on speaker on your phone or something—”

Ragnor, who was currently about five inches tall, now forcefully poked his head through the lining of Magnus’ pocket—

And Alec struggled to suppress a primal scream.

“What the hell? What the hell? What the hell?” Alec whispered his curses, while also repeatedly forming the Sign of The Cross over his chest. “What the hell, Magnus? What the hell is that?”

“Careful, boy! I’m a person, just like you.” Ragnor’s voice was low with warning. “A very powerful person, actually, until my friend here, Magnus, convinced me to volunteer for one of his spells. I should’ve known better, the man hasn’t practiced his magic in centuries! But I still let him use me as a veritable guinea pig. Go on, Magnus, tell the boy what you were trying to accomplish with your magic.”

“I...was trying to change his outfit...” Magnus mumbled through the admission.

“I’m not sure the boy heard you, Magnus.”

“I was trying to change his outfit!” Magnus uttered a bit louder this time, before letting out a deep sigh. “I...Alec, it’s all just so stupid—”

“Your feelings aren’t stupid, Magnus.” Ragnor turned his body, until he was able to face Alec’s own. “My boy, ever since my friend has laid his eyes on you, he’s been positively enchanted by you. But he thought you wouldn’t be interested, what with your sense of impeccable style and flawless hair—”

“You think my hair is flawless?” Alec quietly directed the question to Magnus.

“I think everything about you is flawless.” Magnus’ response was earnest—

And Alec’s face lit up with a wide grin.

“As I was saying!” Ragnor grunted from his place in Magnus’ pocket. “My dear friend assumed that his own lack of fashion sense would make him unpalatable to your tastes, and so, he crafted a simple spell for dressing himself better. However, since he wanted to get it just right, he asked for my assistance, a stand-in, if you will. And...well...here we are.”

Ragnor motioned a hand across his tiny frame. “And here we’ll be, for at least another month and a half. Which is why I truly need that miniature fridge, my boy. Taking such small bites out of rather large foods is such a tiring task.”

“I don’t...I don’t think we have any...uh...small fridges...” Alec began to respond to Ragnor, still having to suppress his urge to scream. “But...I know a nerd! I know a nerd who probably owes me one for ruining my reputation. She’d, maybe, love to help you two figure this thing out?”

“Ah, yes. A nerd. She sounds lovely!” Ragnor smiled up at Alec. “If I trusted Magnus’ magic, I’d just have him shrink a regular fridge down to size, but I wouldn’t want it exploding or becoming sentient.”

“How many times do I have to apologize...” Magnus groaned, before shaking his pocket—

Which caused Ragnor to retreat back into its lining.

“You’re taking all this pretty well, Alec.” Magnus hesitantly made eye contact by looking above him. “Are you...Are you feeling okay?”

“I think someone put LSD in my water bottle.” Alec nodded along with his words. “I didn’t plan on getting super fucking high at work today, but that’s life, right? You win some, you lose some—”

“You’re not high, Alec.” Magnus slightly smirked. “What you saw is very real. I...well...I’m a...warlock.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I’m a warlock. I have magical powers.”

“I don’t understand.”

“You know, warlocks? Witches? Pointy hats? Borderline offensive Halloween costumes?”

“I don’t understand.”

Magnus finally let out a breath through gritted teeth. “Harry Potter.”

“Ohhhhh.” Alec smiled back at Magnus. “Cool, cool, cool. So, do you wanna’ like, go out on a date? Or nah?”

“You’re asking me out on a date? Right after...that?”

“Listen, I’ll be honest with you, Magnus. I’m still 98% sure that I’m high as balls right now. And usually, when I’m sober, I’m a very confident person, but you make me nervous as fuck and I could never ask you out if I wasn’t under the influence...so...yeah...” Alec smiled at Magnus again. “I’m asking you out right now. Do you wanna’ go out with me? Or maybe we can just go make out in the stock room?”

“I actually have a client to attend to this afternoon...” Magnus’ response trailed off, before he took a step closer to Alec. “But we can always reschedule making out for another time? And we can schedule that date for tomorrow night, if you’d like?”

“I’d like that very much.” Alec grabbed onto Magnus’ palms, soon giving them a gentle squeeze—

And Magnus, in turn, nonchalantly interlaced their fingers. “What time do you get off work? I can pick you up, maybe take you to this Italian place down the street—”

“Magnus, please! Just get the boy’s number and return us to the loft! Traveling in your pocket is most uncomfortable!”

“Little pocket dude is right. If you have a client, you should probably head back.” Alec sighed, as he let go of Magnus’ hands. “Can I just text you?”

“Of course. My number is N-O-H-A-R-R-Y.”

“Magnus Bane, what did Harry Potter ever do to you?” Alec laughed, while slightly adjusting his nametag. “Ugh. I should probably get back to work, too. I’ll text you, okay?”

“Okay.” Magnus didn’t move an inch, as he continued to stare over at Alec—

And Alec returned the concentrated gaze. “What? What is it?”

“Nothing. You’re just...so...you.” Magnus openly smiled—

And Alec quickly returned the expression. “You’re just so, you, too. Now, go on, get.”

Before Magnus was even a few feet out of the store’s front door, Alec was already hunched over his phone and shooting off a string of instant messages to Maia:

PrinceOfParties: I think someone spiked my water bottle with LSD

PrinceOfParties: can you google if that’s possible

PrinceofParties: I was talking to a little man in Magnus’ pocket

BlackWonderWoman: Alec what the fuck are you talking about? If you’re high you should just go home early

BlackWonderWoman: And is “little man” code for Magnus’ dick? Did you see Magnus’ dick today?

PrinceofParties: no he had a pocket man!!! he was really little and kinda’ mean

PrinceofParties: OH AND I asked Magnus out!!! He’s taking me out tomorrow!!!

BlackWonderWoman: FUCK YES I TOLD YOU TO JUST BE YOURSELF

PrinceofParties: can you come pick me up? I don’t think I should drive

PrinceofParties: I wanna’ start getting ready for my date

BlackWonderWoman: But isn't your date tomorrow night??? Alec it’s like 1PM

PrinceofParties: please? : (

BlackWonderWoman: Alright! Fine! I’ll be right there.

THE END! ALSO ENJOY THIS BANNER I MADE FOR LITERALLY NO REASON L O L

[pjoplusmore]

Child of Hera

Pairing: None

Warnings: None, to my knowledge

A/N: First chapter of my little fic idea here. May continue to post here based on response.

A special thank-you goes out to @perseusjackson-sonoftheseagod for reading through the first few rough drafts.

Disclaimer: I own none of the content in this fic minus a few OC’s. Everything else belongs to its own respective culture, and Rick Riordan

My name is Scarlet Corvus, and welcome to Camp Half-Blood! Yay! Note the sarcasm. Though, that might just be my bitterness shining through. I’ve got good reasons for it too. Been in the foster care system since I could remember. Been in Camp Half-Blood a little longer than that. That makes for 18 years of missing parents. Most everyone here, including the ‘batch’ I came with is missing at least one parent. You’ve got my two friends Aron, living alone with his dad, son of Aphrodite, and Eliza, living with her two moms, daughter of Ares. How did Ares knock up a couple of lesbians? Not something I actually wanna know. Bi? Probably. Anyways, I found them when a Satyr dragged me out of bed at 2 in the freaking morning to run for my life as some weird dogs wrecked everything they could. We ran and ran, stole a car, and drove, slept, ate, and drove some more, until we got here. And I haven’t left since.

“Scarlet!” Eliza tends to get into more trouble than most.

“What’s up?” She’s running up the hill to me, panting, and out of breath. I brace myself for the less than stellar idea.

“Let’s break into the Big House.” Whoop. There it is.

“Are you insane? Chiron will have your head!” I’m just about to drive my book through her skull when Aron runs up behind her.

“We’re doing it whether you come with us or not. The Oracle is here, talking to the 7, and we wanna go see if we get some kind of prophecy!” His grin is almost irresistible. Almost.

“Why do you want a quest? You leave for home every summer. You spend time outside, why risk your lives?” I can see the wheels turning. My friends aren’t dumb, not by a long shot, but they’re not the brightest kids on the block either.

“Fame.”

“Fortune.”

Their responses are simultaneous. It’s all I can do not to groan in pain.

“Fine. I’ll come along. Just to make sure the two of you don’t get hurt.” They both jump up and down. I swear, it’s like looking after 6-year-olds. Aren’t they 17 now? “But first…” I let them register it, and they suddenly freeze. “I’m gonna go talk to Percy.” They look a little scared. Fine by me. Maybe they’ll listen to me next time. And anyways, I am more than a little curious about why Rachel, of all people would visit camp. It's moments like this that I’m really glad I did my best to help Percy and Annabeth when they needed it. The 7 formed a very exclusive club after the war against Gaea. They interact with other campers, from both camps, but their best kept secrets don’t leave their cabins. I’ve managed to get both Percy and Annabeth to talk to me, even if it's not quite to the same extent. Still, it’s not a long walk before I’m at cabin 3’s door. I knock gently.

“Percy?” There’s a small groan, some shuffling, a thud, and the door creaks open. Of course he’s not wearing a damn shirt. I’m not trying to peek in, but… was that my little Annie?

“Scarlet? What’s up?” It seems almost like… if he’s in nothing but the sheets, and that was Annabeth… Okay. I’m not judging. Apparently, though, I am one to space out as Percy snaps his fingers in my face. “Helloooo? Earth to Scarlet? Scarlet, come in Scarlet?” I jerk back up to face him.

“What?”

“There you are.” He chuckles, and the one grey streak of hair falls over one of his eyes. “What’s up?”

“Oh! Oh! Well, I’ve heard that Rachel is in town… and here to talk to you.” His eyes turn hard for a second.

“If she is, and it's from Olympus…” There’s a hard edge to his voice. Sometimes, I wonder why he hasn’t overthrown them at this point. I know I would. Been here eleven years, and I still can’t be claimed? I can’t even guess at which parent is mine!

“So she hasn’t talked to you?” I ask.

“No, she hasn’t. Is she here?” This time, I gulp.

“Yeah. Grapevines move fast. There’s already three plots to find where she is, two to break in, and one that has a remote chance of succeeding.” I laugh, hopefully not nervously. Even if I’m on good terms, breaking into the Big House is kinda taboo, and even with Percy’s tendency to break the rules more than enforce them, if Annabeth is in the room behind him…. Well… best not get caught. His laughter breaks the tension I hadn’t realised that I’d been holding in.

“Right. I’ll let Wise Girl know. Maybe she’ll do something, maybe she won’t. See ya.” I don’t even have time to say goodbye as the door slams in my face. I wait a bit in shock, but vacate the premises, as groans and moans begin to sound from the other side of the door. Perfect. Now I get to dodge both Annabeth and Chiron, keep two children safe and out of trouble, speak with the Oracle, and be in bed before morning cabin checks. Easy. I hope. Finding my way back to the kids was easy. They hadn’t moved an inch.

“Percy didn’t know she was here. Beware Annabeth and Chiron tonight.” Aron looks slightly deterred, but Eliza just looks ready for a fight.

“Fine. Just a bit more planning! Come on Aron!” Before asking for any second opinion, she dashes off.

“Wait! Eliza! This doesn’t sound good! Slow down!” Eliza, of course, is long gone when Aron takes off after her. All I can do is sigh. Prep time. They’ve pulled stunts like this before. Too often. I have a patented kit, they do it so much.

“Scarlet!” I turn at my name. Nobody talks much to the nobody from cabin 11. Yet, Jason, child of Zeus, comes running. Friends in high places, I suppose.

“Jason! You okay?” Few people worry me as much as he does. Well, him and Percy. Chaos incarnate the two of them.

“Me? Yeah, I’m fine. But I need your help anyways.” Now he’s got my attention.

“What’s up?”

“How do I ask Piper out?” It takes me a moment to process.

“What?”

He sighs and grabs me by the shoulder, pulling me behind the nearest tree. “I need to ask her out soon. She’s a daughter of Aphrodite, and half the camp falls in love whenever she walks by, so I need to make a move now. But I don’t know how.”

“Okay. Give me about a day to process, and I’ll have a solution for you, okay?” I feel bad for brushing him off, but I’ve got to prep for tonight. He nods solemnly, and almost trudges off like a hurt puppy. It’s almost impossible to walk away. Almost. The walk back to the cabin is quiet and unsettling. Tension courses through me, as I do my usual and run through all the ways tonights little expedition can go wrong. Before I get through the 25th scenarion, pretty early in the process, I’m at the cabin, opening the door. It’s a large cabin, with sleeping bags and air mattresses everywhere. I shuffle over to my little corner that I’ve cleared of other campers.I sift through the bagts piled under my cot. Theres duffle bags of writing, drawings, poetry and all my other attempts to figure out who my godly parent is. I dive through the plethora of baghs until I reach what I’m looking for. Its a small black backpack, with the zippers locked shut. Slinging the damn thing on my shoulders, I slip out of the cabin. I scramble around, looking for my favourite cliff in the woods. As usual, it’s empty, the one tree overlooking the rest of camp. Nobody but me knows about this place. Well, maybe the 7. Nobody know where they go most of the time.

“Scarlet.” I jump out of my shoes and almost off the cliff. I whip around, dagger in my hand before I register it.

“Jesus Piper, you scared me!” I put the dagger away, and sit on the edge, letting my legs hand. I take the bag and open it up.

“Whatcha got there?”

“Emergency maternity kit.” I answer. It seems to intruigue her, so she sits next to me. I search through the bag. Bandages, salve, ambrosia, nectar, spare weapons, flares, flashlight, flask of liquor, rope, grappling hook, it’s got everything.

“What kind of kids are you herding?” I almost laugh as piper asks.

“The demigod kind.” I can hear her sigh, and turn to her. “What’s up?” It’s as though I threw a switch in her mind. Suddenly she’s a blushing mess, uttering nothing but a mixture of ums, and uhs, and any other space-filling words word you can imagine.

“Well, you see, uh, it’s uh, you know, um, maybe this can wait.” She stands up, and I grab her wrist.

“Piper McLean. You’d think you’d be a better actor knowing who your father is. What is it you need advice with?” She takes a deep breath.

“WellyouseetheproblemisthatIlikeJasonandIalsolikePercyandnicoiscutetooandhowdoyoudistinguishlovefromfriendship?” It takes me the span of about a minute to understand what it took her 3 seconds to say.

“Well…” I think for another minute, trying to come up with a solution. “Let’s see, if your feelings for the three of them are the same, talk to them individually. Start with Nico, end with Jason. You’ll find things will work out well.” Am I going to tell her that, aside from the obvious Percy and Annabeth dating, that Nico is gay, and that I’m purposefully stacking the odds in Jason’s favour? No. Am I doing just that? Hell yes. All the same, she seems grateful.

“Thanks Scar. I’ll see you soon.” This time as she left, I let her go. No sense in letting her see the rest of my equipment check. I rummage through the bag again. Lock picks, check, crowbar, check, ski masks, check. It’s not the first time they’ve broken in somewhere, and it won’t be the last. Seems like I’ve got everything. I head back down to the cabin to get some rest. It’s going to be a very, very long night.

By the time I wake up, I’ve gone and missed dinner. And the campfire song. I’m slipping out of my little cot and out the door. Most people are at the campfire. If we’re gonna break in, its now. The dark night sky makes it difficult, but not impossible to find my way to our little rendezvous spot. The little tree behind the Big House is a risky place to meet considering our upcoming adventure.

“You two ready?” Of course they beat me here. They’re usually more excited for our outings than I am. Aron nods his head shakily, and Eliza looks ready to jump the gun.

“You bet.” She whipers. I slip my bag from my shoulders, and pull out the rope and the hook. I toss them at Eliza.

“Get knotting.” A snort escapes her before I galre her into silence. I pull out a flashlight and toss it to Aron. “Lookout.” He nods and marches off. I pull out a flashlight for myself, and start searching for some indication of the right room. A though occurs to me. “She’ll probably know we’re coming.”

“Let her know. We’ll get in all the same.” Eliza’s cocky as ever. I grunt, and keep looking. There’s movement in a window, and I shut off my flashlight. This time, it’s Eliza who tosses me something. “Night vision. Less likely to see you.” I don’t even want to know where she got them

“Thanks.” I slip them over my eyes and go back to searching. I guess whoever was in the window didn’t see the beam from my flashlight. Either way, there’s an open window. Easy way in, and then we search. Plan: Formulated. I nudge Eliza. “Open window, left corner.” She nods, and I hand her the goggles. I run off searching for the beam of light that tells me where Aron is. I nearly die of a subsequent heart attack as he appears out of thin air. “I swear your ability to change your appearance is more freaky every day. Come on, we’ve found a way in. I’m off running back to Eliza. She’s just winding up with the hook.

“You two ready?” She hisses. I shake my head.

“Let’s do it.” Aron answers. I don’t even need to be told to know that I’m going up the rope first. Without further ado, she trowsh the hook. It clanks loudly and harmlessly against the side of the Big House. We all flinch and dive to the floor. We wait for a minute. Two. Three. This is the longest Eliza has held still in a long time. Eventually, we all stand up.

“Get it in the window this time.” I grit out between my teeth. I almost lose a hand in reply. Never forget that Eliza is a daughter of the god of war. Mental note made. She goes for the same window, eyes invisible behind the night vision goggles. This time, she throws and it goes in. Now its a race against time. Eliza pulls the rope taut, and then lets it drop to the side of the big house. I run up it, hand over hand, I’m at the second story window in seconds. I take a glance around, nobody seems to be coming. I motion with my hand through the window, and both Aron and Eliza scramble up the rope after me. I pull the rope into my bag as they keep watch. Once we’re all set, we move on, gently opening doors where we can, and picking locks where we can’t. Room by room, we search, until we find the room we want. If she knew we were coming, she didn’t care. The door is unlocked as we all slip in, silently trailing one after the other. She’s sleeping silently in her bed as the three of us huddle under the window. We exchange a few glances.

“Who goes?” Aron seems to say.

“Take a guess.” Eliza seems to answer.

“Me.” I say. There’s no surprise at this point. I never set the plans in motion, but I’m the firs one into the fray, and the last one to request treatment. It’s who I am. I tiptoe silently to the side of Rachel’s bed. I reach out a hand, and shake her shoulder. She seems to sit up, but its the spirit of the Oracle that controls her.

The power of Gods once Returned

To command the Youth who once yearned

Forbidden daughter to choose

To the old or new, the Gods must Lose

The oracle slowly seems to vacate the body of Rachel, and three things happen simultaneously. Rachel wakes up and almost screams. But whatever noise she makes is drowned out by the Camp alarm going off, deafening everybody in the Big House, and waking everybody not here. And the third thing to happen is Aron’s sneeze.

I have seconds at best to get us out of here. The window. I toss Eliza the crowbar. “Window!” She seems to understand, and smashes the glass. “Jump!” I dont have time to see if she follows me out of the window, as the door to Rachel’s room slams open, and Annabeth stands there, dagger at the ready. I fall for less than a second, before slamming into the ground. Two accompanying thuds tell me that both Aron and Eliza made it out alive. The three of us take off running into the nearest forest available. Well, at least Eliza and me. Aron has done his thing and rendered himself invisible. I toss a bottle of water to Eliza, and we pour them out on the ground behind us, as a sort of bribe for the nymphs. We both run for as long as we can. The alarms are distant at this point, and we both lean against the nearest tree.

“Step 2.” Eliza stands back up, and begins to strip. I reach into the bag, and toss her a change of clothes. I change as well, and draw out the spare weapons. I pick the telescopic trident, and Eliza, as usual uses a spear. We both face off, and begin to spar. Its about this time that I hear Annabeth running up the hill.

“Scarlet!” She sounds angrier than I expected her to be.

“Halt!” I call out to Eliza, and she stands relaxed, spear as a crutch. “Annie. What’s up?” Seeing her grimmace at the nickname is worth the rant I’m about to weather.

“You know damn well what’s up!” She tries to make the last two words sound menacing. But honestly? Annabeth is much more terrifying if she’s not visibly shaking with rage.

“I have no idea. I mean, I’m not exactly sprinting towards the sirens, but… you know, not exactly anxious to die.” Annabeth looks as red as a tomato.

“If I find out you had something to do with this…” She leaves the threat hanging in the air as she charges off further into the forest. I turn back to Eliza.

“I’m done for the night. I’m exhausted.” I pack everything back up, and Eliza gives me a wink as we both begin to walk back to the cabins. Whatever set off the alarm, if it was us, they wont find a trace. If it was something else, they’ve caught it already. I get back to cabin 11, and almost slam into my cot. It’s been a really long night. I close my eyes and wait for sleep to take me into its welcoming arms.

Masterlist

Tags: @thehalfdoctor @mrs-jjamespotter @hik5 @perseusjackson-sonoftheseagod @wearepjocrazy

[vmheadquarters]

What Goes Around... (Part 17)

This is PART 17 of a story that is being told in segments by twenty-six different authors, campfire-style. Each author will take over the story with no prior planning and then pass it on after putting their own spin on it! Expect the unexpected! :)  You can check our vmhq campfire tale tag for all of the previous installments or read the story as it develops on AO3. — Part 17 is written by @jeanie205.

[Part 16]

As soon as Dick rips off his mask, Veronica gasps as she takes in the identity of the man who not only shot Ruby Jetson but may well be one of the big bosses in this whole dirty business.

“Hey, I know you,” Dick says, staring at the gunman, his pretty face screwed up in concentration.  “Um…”

“Ah, Casablancas.  Clever as ever, I see,” the man snarls nastily, wincing as Logan pulls him roughly to his feet and twists his arms behind his back.

“We all know this asshole,” Logan says with barely-suppressed rage.  “He’s the creep that started the chain of events that ended up getting Carrie killed.”

Dick’s brow furrows as he searches for the right name, until finally his eyes light up with success.  “Hey, that’s…”

“Mr. Rooks,” Veronica says, the loathing clear on her face and in her tone as she steps forward into the man’s personal space.  “Given up on seducing high-school girls, have we?  Moved into the big leagues now?  Mad scientists? Apocalyptic bio-weapons?”

“Veronica Mars.”  Rooks fairly spits out her name.  “Don’t you have anything better to do than to screw up my life?  You and that bitch, Carrie Bishop.” He sneers. “I cheered when I heard she bought the farm.”

A high-pitched shriek suddenly shatters the air.

Ruby Jetson has heard that last bit and cannot allow it to pass unanswered.  Blood dripping down her arm from the gunshot wound, broken ankle wrapped untidily in Logan’s shirt, blonde wig askew, Ruby half-hitches, half-crawls along the ground with a speed that belies her injuries.  With a savage cry, she launches herself at Rooks, seeking to avenge the desecration of her idol’s name.

Unfortunately, from her position mere inches above the ground Ruby can only reach Rooks’s feet.  Boosted by righteous anger and adrenaline, however, and with near-miraculous precision, she uses one of her two remaining working appendages to sweep those feet out from under him.

Rooks goes down in a heap, the momentum carrying Logan with him, as Veronica leaps back just in time to avoid the fray.  Ruby herself lies panting, face down on the ground, only inches from the men’s tangled bodies.

“Logan!”

Veronica’s worried cry rouses Dick to action.

“Dude,” he says, crouching down and beginning to slap ineffectually at Logan’s face.

“Dick!  Knock it off!” Logan sputters, sitting up and swatting his friend’s hands away.  “I’m okay, Veronica,” he adds reassuringly, “but it looks like Rooks is out cold.”

“Oh, great.  Just when we might have been able to find out what the hell is going on.  I know Rooks lost his teaching license, but how did he get mixed up with the Van Vliets and Frankenstein’s monster?”

“It’s The Hulk, babe,” Logan reminds her. “Nothing to do with Dr. Frankenstein.”

Veronica gapes at him, incredulous.  “We’ve been dropped in the middle of this pile of pink poo and this is what you choose to twit me about?  My erroneous pop culture reference?”

Logan shrugs.  “I know how much you like to get things right.  And anyway, what makes you think Rooks was going to tell us anything?”

Veronica smirks.  “I was looking forward to figuring out ways to make him talk.”

Logan laughs.  “Of course you were.”

Dick shifts impatiently.  “Hey, I know you and Ronnie could spend all day flirting, that is when you’re not too busy doing other, hotter, things…”

“Dick!”

“…but right now, maybe you could spend just a little time figuring out what the hell we’re gonna do next!  We’ve got one guy out cold, and, uh, whatsername over there crawling around on the ground, and that big pink thing could come back any time.  And who knows how many other guys with guns are gonna start jumping out from behind some bush or something…”

Veronica hears the edge of hysteria in Dick’s voice and prays for a distraction.

“Dick!  I get the picture!” Logan says, and is about to say more when they all detect a sudden faint whine coming from the direction of the service road.

Three heads turn, and at first they see nothing but a cloud of dust in the distance.  A cloud which seems to be getting bigger and bigger until finally…

“No, no, no!” Dick cries, his hands clapping the top of his head in horror.  “Not the Merc!”

And indeed, Dick’s SUV roars into view, bumping towards them through the tall grass and around the long-dead grapevines.  Soon they’re able to see the look of mingled terror and relief on Mac’s face as she pulls to a stop beside them.

“Mackie!  What are you doing? You’ll ruin the transmission,” Dick moans.

“Oh, piffle,” Mac says, sliding out of the car.  “What do you think four-wheel drive is for?  Besides, I was beginning to think you were all dead.  What’s more important, Dick, the car or your friends?”

Dick’s gasp of protest draws a chuckle from Logan.

“You were just complaining we had no options, Dick, and now here’s Mac with the car giving us our best option.  So put a sock in it.”

Mac takes in the scene, finally noticing the man lying supine and unmoving on the ground.

“What’s he doing here?” she asks, her eyes widening in surprise.

Veronica chuckles.  “You know, I tried to convince myself that when Rooks left Neptune High he’d evaporate into thin air like he deserved, but I always knew that would be too much to hope for.  Instead, he seems to have got himself mixed up with this bunch of bio-terrorists, or whatever the hell they are.”

“You don’t know his connection?”  Mac squints at Veronica in surprise.

“Ruby knocked him out cold before we could question him.”

“Ruby did?”

“Long story, Mac.” Veronica smiles wryly.

Logan bends to check on Rooks then and winces involuntarily.

“Logan?” Veronica observes the tiny movement, and for the first time notes the deplorable condition of his naked back. Not only has his pale skin become ruddy from overlong exposure to the sun, but the sunburn is now overlaid with dozens of small cuts and scrapes from the fall.

“You need to get your shirt back,” she insists, glaring at Ruby, apparently forgetting that it was she who engineered Ruby’s injury in the first place.

But it makes no difference anyway.  Ruby hasn’t said a word since her assault on Rooks, but now she’s clutching at Logan’s shirt like it was the Shroud of Turin.  Veronica understands that the only way she’s getting that shirt away from Ruby is by pulling it from her cold, dead hands.  And while she’s tempted…

She sighs, turning to Dick in frustration.  “I can’t believe you don’t have an extra shirt in your car.  You, who might end up anywhere for the night.  I can’t believe you don’t have a damn suitcase full of shirts in that car!”

Dick nods and shrugs.  “Did.  Been a busy month.  Used ‘em all up.  Sorry, Ronnie.”

Veronica’s mind spins as she contemplates the various potential locations of Dick’s soiled shirts

“Wait!” Dick’s says suddenly and his eyes light up.  “I forgot about the emergency stash!”

Soon he’s pulled a flat box from beneath the back seat and is rifling through it, tossing items onto the ground as he goes.  Condom packs and bottle openers are flying, and Veronica thinks that the heavy rubber thing might actually be an inflatable mattress.  She shudders, not really wanting to know.

“Aha!”

Dick pulls from the very bottom of the box a piece of cloth that essentially looks like someone vomited up a paint store.  But when he unfolds it, it turns out to be the most garish shirt Veronica has ever seen.  There are fruits, and flowers, and…pink donkeys?…splashed all over it.  Just looking at it makes her dizzy.

“Where the hell did you get that?”  Mac asks, eyeing the shirt with distaste.

Dick thinks for a moment before his eyes begin to sparkle in remembrance.  “Yeah, well, there was this one night in Tijuana…”

“Never mind!” three voices command in perfect unison, while Mac slaps him upside the head.

“Hey!” Dick protests indignantly.  “You wanted a shirt, I found you a shirt.”

“Not a shirt I’m wearing,” Logan announces firmly.  “I mean, pink donkeys…”

“Oh, yes, you are,” Veronica rounds on him. “Better pink donkeys than a pink ass, which is what you’ll be if your skin gets any redder.”

Logan sighs and shrugs into the shirt.  Having learned which battles to pick.

They put Ruby into the car first, laying her across the third-row seat.  Dick does have a first-aid kit, so Veronica sticks a bandage - none too gently - over the point where the bullet grazed Ruby’s arm.

Rooks is propped up in the middle of the second seat, between Logan and Veronica.  Dick has declared that he’s taking back the wheel of his own damn car, so he and Mac are sitting in the front.

Veronica sighs with relief as the car begins to move across the field.  They are finally on their way back to civilization.

And then three things happen more or less at once.

Mac gasps.  “Oh, shit, I forgot!  What with Mr. Rooks and everything…”

“What, Mac, what?”  By now, Veronica is a touch impatient.  She’s had a tough couple of days.

“Your dad called back, Veronica.  There’s been some kind of terrorism threat in San Diego, so Leo can’t get here.  Keith’s still going to come, but he’ll be alone.”

Veronica nods.  Bad news, she thinks, but it could be worse.

And that’s when it does get worse.

Because there on the horizon, appearing as if out of nowhere, and standing squarely between them and the safety of civilization, stands the Pink Hulk.

Dick slams on the brakes.  “Now, what?”  he asks, his voice cracking.

Maybe it’s the jostling from the abrupt stop the does it, because it’s at that exact moment that Rooks moans, his head lolls against the seat, and his eyes flutter half-open as he looks straight at Veronica.

“Is he awake?” Logan asks, pulling the man’s arms behind him securely, thinking he’d give anything for a rope.

“Barely,” she shrugs, as Rooks moans again.

But then his mouth begins to move, and it looks to Veronica like he’s trying to say something.

“What?” she says impatiently.  As she bends towards him, Veronica feels like she may have reached the edge of her very last nerve. “The pink guy is out there, Rooks, and I don’t have time for this crap.  So what’s so important?”

Rooks only manages to say a few words before he faints again.

Veronica wishes she hadn’t heard them.

Want to find out what happens next? Check back next Saturday for the next installment written by… @heavenli24. Tag, you’re it! Make sure to submit your segment to  vmheadquarters@yahoo.com by Wednesday, August 23rd.

[post-bronze-medals]

PJO AU

Hi! I posted awhile ago that I have a Percy Jackson AU for Yuri on Ice! in my head and I thought I would finally get around to typing it all out. Super thanks to @forovnix​ for not telling me to piss off when I sent her most of this drunk off my face and for encouraging me. Jus, you’re the best, ily a lot. Also I heard through the grapevine that her and @actualyuuri​ are writing one together, which was the whole inspiration for this universe I have thought up, so I am crediting them too ;) . It is very long - so I will put it under the cut!

Let us begin with...

THE CHARACTERS

Yuuri

CHILD OF: Hecate

PANTHEON: Greek

POWERS: Magic - specialism in spiritual and shielding; Mist control; Astral Projection into the lives of other Demigods and godly beings; Dance is his primary spell casting method.

BACKSTORY: After Hiroko had Mari, she found her womb was too damaged to bear another child. Wanting another child, they tried everything from medicine to, eventually, prayer. The only one who answered was Hecate, who was a distant relative of Toshiya from many generations ago. And with a little divine interference, Yuuri was made from three parents.

Yuuri’s eyes go gold when he uses his powers, a throwback to Kronos that Hecate thinks is kind of adorable. Zeus banned visiting their godly children back after WWII, but he can only really control what happens in the US, as it is the current seat of Olympian (and Roman) power. As such, Hecate has visited Yuuri four times a year since he was a baby, and drops in on him occasionally for a few hours at other times too.

Viktor

CHILD OF: Persephone

PANTHEON: Greek

POWERS: Control of flowers and plant life - especially creating and killing them; Strengthen harvests in the early stages (springtime); Talented at poison creation; Spreads poison through his flowers (airborne) and generally though touch.

BACKSTORY: Victor’s mother had zero need or desire for a husband, partner or indeed, physical sex. She, being somewhat dramatic, prayed to Persephone in a ritual handed down from mother to daughter for generations but generally regarded as a bit. Persephone, bored and wanting to create some life in the world, agreed to help her conceive a child with her as the other mother. She however, recalling how much Hades’ indiscretions had hurt her, told him about her plans beforehand, and Hades’ was absolutely fine with it. He knew he had no room to talk about extra-marital children and he loved his wife a great deal. Something that came of her would surely be only a good force in the world.  

Victor has his human mother’s silver hair, and his godly mother’s eyes that cycled through colour according to the weather, the state of the plants around him and his mood. He settled on a teal he liked as his day to day eye colour, and controls himself to keep it that way. Persephone and Hades, taking advantage of the same loophole as Hecate regarding non-interference, bring him down to the underworld every so often. Hades is actually a very doting uncle and is immensely fond of Victor’s loving and giving nature. He teaches him about poisons and summons spirits Victor wants to talk to for a chat whenever he asks. Persephone loves him a lot as well, but in a more distant fashion. It was her that taught him French, and they like to sit together in the pomegranate orchard underground and read.

Yuri

CHILD OF: Apollo

PANTHEON: Greek

POWERS: Graceful; Slight Precognition; Archery.

BACKSTORY: Yuri’s mum had a relationship with Apollo for two weeks, in which she could have sworn she was careful with condoms, but apparently not. Yuri was conceived and he left long before she found out or could tell him about it. The loss of the relationship didn’t really hit her hard, it was only really a fling to them both. She decided to have Yuri anyway, and once she recovered from the birth, she went straight back to work to earn money to support them all, leaving Yuri with his grandfather.

Yuri inherited his fathers colouring but his mother’s face. He also had Apollo’s artistic talents but enjoys dance the most, so generally ignored poetry and music - until he discovered hard rock at age 11. He is also a little precognitive, his instincts have got him away from more than one fight and also led him to the rink where Yakov took him on.  His mother doesn't care about his father’s absence but he kind of does, and really really hates the guy, whoever he is. Apollo never bothered to think of a loophole to the decree of non-interference and so never even tried to meet Yuri - he fairly quickly forgot about him and his mother when his newest conquest came around.

Otabek

CHILD OF: Thanatos

PANTHEON: Greek

POWERS: Sense when someone is about to die and if it is their ‘time’; Gravitas; BACKSTORY: Otabek’s parents were cultists when they were younger, cultists in service of Thanatos. Although they settled down a bit when they were older, dropping most of their worship, Thanatos never forgot about them. He doesn't often get cults in his name! So when they were trying for a kid and it turned out his father was infertile, Thanatos helped out without even being requested.

Otabek’s parents love him a lot, as an unexpected and much appreciated surprise. After his birth they figured that it must have been some kind of divine interference and began to pray to Thanatos again. The god sometimes comes to chill out with Otabek and teach him how to use his senses. Unfortunately, his heritage makes him seem creepy af to non demigods. Yuri is his first true friend.

Christophe

CHILD OF: Cupid

PANTHEON: Roman

POWERS: See the truth of love - as threads binding people; Cause lust (orgies); Wings

BACKGROUND: Chris' dads are a very gay, very happy couple who are somewhat overdramatic (being theatre actors) but love with all their hearts. While performing in Paris they prayed they could have a child through their love and nine months later, Chris was dropped on their doorstep in Switzerland. Whether he is the child of all three parents, or of one of them and Cupid, or if he is adopted is unknown.

Chris is seriously loved by them, even though they definitely know something is up because he has large bird-like rose pink wings that show up every so often when he is excited and cannot control himself. His dad isn’t around often, it isn't his nature, but he leaves gifts for him whenever he is in Switzerland, so Christophe doesn't really mind. He has his parents either way!

Seunggil

CHILD OF: Athena

PANTHEON: Greek

POWERS: Tactics/Strategy; Unshakeable calm

BACKSTORY: Seunggil has a single biologist father who had a one night stand with Athena when in the US for a conference. When he returned to S Korea, a son showed up on his doorstep and after confirming he was his son he rolled with it.

Seunggil was brought up as a scientist, to question everything, which only helps his sense of strategy. He is a calm person but if you rile him up utterly he completely loses it and is terrifying.He also is very interested in coding and technology. He never meets Athena and doesn’t care about it - his father barely knew the woman anyway. 

Phichit

CHILD OF: Venus

PANTHEON: Roman

POWERS: Charmspeaking; See love bonds

BACKGROUND: Phichit’s mothers are devotees to beautiful things, but most especially to dance. Venus saw them dancing and blessed them with a threesome in bed in exchange for them spending an evening dancing for her. Phichit was the result, as they found out several months later.

Phichit, like his mothers, loves beautiful things but prefers selfies and photography as his outlet, he is determined to capture the manmade and natural world in all its diverse beauty! Being able to charm people into doing what he wants means that he can be a little manipulative but he has a very strong moral code generally and would never hurt a friend.

Leo

CHILD OF: Morpheus

PANTHEON: Roman

POWERS: Send people to sleep; Influence dreams

BACKSTORY: Leo's dad has a very long and healthy relationship with Morpheus through his dream scape, where the bright colours of his artistic mind drew the sleepy god. They decided, after much deliberation, that they wanted a son as a sign of their love and to dote upon in the real world. Leo was conceived in a surrogate’s womb, but is of the two men’s DNA. Leo gets visited as regularly as possible by his godly dad in his dreams, as he is unable to leave the underworld to meet in person. He has never doubted that he is loved. He lives in Mexico with his dad but trains in the US / for the US when he gets his bracelet (more on that later)...

Guanghong

CHILD OF: Vesta

PANTHEON: Roman

POWERS: Fire, Constancy

BACKSTORY: Guanghong parents were unable to conceive and both being pure of heart, were blessed by Vesta so that they could have just one child. He doesn't see her often, but feels close to his godly mother when near a fire or a hearth. He is the emotional centre of his friend group and his sweet nature is pretty much never-ending, also he is asexual.

Mickey 

CHILD OF: Dionysus

PANTHEON: Greek

POWERS:  Grape Control; Invoke Narcissism and other disorders involving delusion; Makes a party crazy fun when he feels like it (rarely).

BACKSTORY: Mickey and Sara’s mother is a single black mother from a big Italian family. Dionysus didn't want to test his father in Italy, although he probably would have been fine, and decided to leave the Crispinos alone ‘for their own safely’. They pair were raised by their grandmother and long extended family primarily as their mother works. Mickey is protective of Sara for multiple reasons that are Not a sister complex here.

Sara 

CHILD OF: Dionysus

PANTHEON: Greek

POWERS: Cause Maenad like madness with a touch; Make wine at will

BACKSTORY: Mickey and Sara’s mother is a single black mother from a big Italian family. Dionysus didn't want to test his father in Italy, although he probably would have been fine, and decided to leave the Crispinos alone ‘for their own safely’. They pair were raised by their grandmother and long extended family primarily as their mother works. Sara is very gay.

Mila 

CHILD OF: Venus

PANTHEON: Roman

POWERS: Create infatuations; Exceptional Beauty

BACKSTORY: Mila has a single father, who is a premier ballerino and remarried when Mila was seven. Mila was a typical Venus ‘one night of passion’ baby, who was dropped off with her father after her birth and then promptly ignored by her mother. She really likes her stepmum actually, who is a ballerina as well. Mila is very beautiful personally and also a dab hand at makeovers.

Phew - that is a lot! Dont worry, anything important will come up in the fic (if I ever write it...)

Now, onto the actual Plot...

THE PLOT

ARC 1: Yuuri begins to astral project as a child, while he is still learning to control his powers. Through his astral projection he meets the other demigod kids (the geographically closest first, then he ranges progressively further afield). He makes friends with them all and gets something of a crush on Victor, his skating idol (and pretty lovely guy when he gets to know him in person!) Monsters, able to smell their scent, are coming for them even though they aren't in America and everyone is pretty afraid. Yuuri, having the biggest heart,  decides to try to change that fact of demigod life at just age 11 and he is very very stubborn about it, asking all the gods of the underworld and all the friendly or neutral monsters he sees about it. He hurts himself a lot trying it, but after a year or so he managed to create a bracelet that holds in the demigod 'scent', making his friend safer. The bracelets have to be personalised to the specific powers of each child so the first one goes to Phichit (his first friend). Then he makes them all one as he meets each character in person, either posting them out or giving them at the novice and junior skating competitions he attends. The hardest to create was Victor’s, who as the first child of Persephone is very powerful. Yuuri ends up accidentally putting a piece of his Self into the bracelet as that is the strongest power he has. It is very dangerous but even after his upset mum Hecate told him what he had done, he could;t regret it. The life of his friend was the most important thing!

ARC 2: Aboveworld gods don't care for their kids by and large (see character notes above.). They often forget them as they are not under American jurisdiction and therefore won't fight battles for them. Only The underworld gods and those mentioned above really care. Even as they become friends at competitions and through Yuuri’s projections, the strain of the bracelets wears on yuuri and maybe eventually one bracelet snaps or becomes overwhelmed. No one blames Yuuri but Yuuri, they just didn't realise how tough it was to power the close shielding of their scent. They have to team up to defeat the monsters that come for them. There is a Big Battle Scene and despite their desperate prayer to the above world parents, none can help. The underworld ones do their best but it is the solstice - their absence would be noticed. The arc ends with them all being pseudo adopted by underworld gods.

ARC 3: They all decide fuck the above gods, they won't be beholden to them anymore. The decide to circumvent their monopoly on items such as nectar and ambrosia, in the process setting up in the Underworld and creating their own godly market/culture/empire for those who dont want to use Olympus. In the process, they make friends with or at least win respect from some monsters. who admire their chutzpah, and also their stylish fashion.

ARC 4: Camp Half-Blood need hep with something as of yet undefined ( a prophecy?). Nico knows Victor through the Hades/Persephone connection and also because of their underground empire. Hades favours Victor as an heir despite not being his son because of his love for Persephone and also his strong underworld connection through Yuuri, his boyfriend, who is also an immensely powerful son of the underground. Victor, having survived past his teens, is also very responsible and wise so is a generally good choice. The whole crew agree to visit the camp at Nico's request and to meet their siblings. Drama ensues...

Yes, There are elements not mentioned here (how do Victuuri get together? What about other pairings? What happens at Camp Half-Blood?) but hey, have to leave something for the actual fic. Hope this is interesting to you guys, I spent several weeks daydreaming this. Tell me your head canons if you want, what do you think about my godly parent decisions? I would love to chat about it. <3 <3 <3

[cyanoscarlet]

Progress Notes 1/?: Some Ground Rules

26 days, 1 Neuro-Psych rotation and ¾ Derma rotation later, I finally found time to wind down and write about stuff. (Red status happened, and I’ve never been this glad to catch a break.)

Some things I’d learned in here so far:

You never question the “noodle theory”, ever. It is said that eating noodles during a hospital shift will make everything become really hectic. (In Filipino colloquial, we are fond of using the word “toxic,” and for very good reason.) On our last 24-hour shift under Neuro-Psych, the group decided to order two whole bilao of spaghetti and palabok, among other dishes. On top of the usual rounds and errands, one patient expired, another had to be revived, and we had to receive three ER referrals for neurological assessment - all before the food arrived. We ate dinner pretty late that night, and things actually haven’t quieted down yet that time. Even now I haven’t dared eaten anything with noodles, which is really a shame, given how much I love pasta dishes.

(Conversely, the flip version of this superstition states that eating ice cream will make the hospital shift a “benign” one - not much work, not much happenings, like a slow-growing tumor that knows its limits. This isn’t always true.)

You are the second-lowest form of animal in the hospital hierarchy. (Yes, that exists, and it sucks). Apparently it seems that the residents (especially the first-years) are considered even lower. Technically and strictly speaking, they are higher than us in rank (and we do genuinely respect our seniors!), but when it comes to rounds and conferences, the consultants tend to pick on the residents as badly as they do the clerks, sometimes even worse. I don’t know how it is in other institutions and services, but it seems to be that way in my first rotation, at least. It is still true that us clerks are the ultimate gofers in the hospital, though. Personally, I don’t really mind, since I like talking to patients and learning from charts and not sleeping and walking a lot.

You learn to accept everything (and I mean everything) because there is nothing you can do anyway. True for getting scolded at every turn, for accepting the blame for things you are not even responsible for, for picking up the slack and covering for the others’ shortcomings, among other things. Some of these have happened to me, others I have merely observed and heard from the IV grapevine. I’ve never said as much thank-yous and sorrys in my entire life as I do now. Not that I’ve never used them generously ever since, but system and custom seem to dictate that I bow my head even lower than necessary just because. Or, I might be the only one bad at standing my ground.

Friendships will be broken - and not just in the “you will know who your true friends are” sense. There will be misunderstandings, there will be arguments, there will be full-blown wars, even among the closest of relationships. This we have been warned of - clerkship does things to everyone, no exceptions. It hasn’t happened to me personally yet, and for my own sanity, I hope it never does.

What sleep? (Needs no explanation. Also, what self-care?)

You do not lose weight in clerkship. Or, generally, the humongous amount of food and coffee we inhale is evened out by the seemingly-endless amount of work we do, but ultimately it depends on the individual, I guess.

Life is finite. A universal truth, made even more true and more heartbreaking as I see how it slips away from our grasp. Some go quiet in the night, some go through extreme suffering before they flatline. I have reflected on it so many times, but I have yet to fully understand the mystery of it all. Yet with this I have gained much more appreciation for health, for life, for what we do.

You will learn to appreciate the simplest, tiniest things in life. Every wink of sleep, every drop of coffee, every crooked smile, every small gesture, every laugh, every tear, every heartbeat. It’s proof that we grow, that we live. And that in itself is a beautiful thing.

In just barely a month alone, I have gone through extreme highs and lows, smiled a lot, cried even more, ate way more junk food than usual, slept way less than I should. My seven-day week has become a three-day cycle of “pre-duty-from.” From living by my plans in college, to surviving by the week in med school, I now subsist by the day or by the shift in clerkship. I nod my head during conferences, but not everything I understand (yet). I over-present some of my cases, bullshit my way through others. I have met many doctors, some great, some terrible, some in-between, and I realize how much I still do not know, even after three years of medical school (and four years of premed before that). It both excites and scares me terribly to know how much room there still is to grow. Maybe I’ll find out tomorrow. Maybe next time, maybe never. But like always, we’ll see.

One month (almost) down, eleven to go!

[gradventures]

What happens at SfN stays at SfN

Neuroscience’s Event of the Year, the Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting, is a giant conference (I think there were close to 30,000 attendees this year) which circulates its location between San Diego, DC, and Chicago. In a surprisingly perfect-for-me aligning of stars, its location in the past two years happened to be as close as possible to my location at each time (that is, last year, when I was in undergrad in North Carolina, SfN was in DC, and this year it was held in San Diego). Next year, if I go, I won’t be so lucky because it’ll be held in Chicago and I will still be in LA. 

My program gives every first year class financial support to attend SfN just to check it out, so my cohort piled into two cars and drove the 2 and a half hours down to San Diego early on a Saturday morning. All 10 of us shared an AirBnB for 4 nights. The program director, upon hearing about this plan, skeptically said “I hope you don’t all hate each other after this,” but I’m happy to report it actually went pretty well. 

Anyway, as I mentioned earlier, I had been to SfN last year, but my experience this year was wildly different for a number of reasons:

Last year, I was presenting my first-ever poster, so I was nervous and jittery about preparing for my presentation and potential questions. 

When I wasn’t worrying about my poster or actually presenting it, I was using the conference as a way to network my way into grad school -- setting up coffee meetings with PIs and current students at programs I was applying to. So that was another source of pressure.

I also went alone to the conference -- rather than having a group of pals crammed into a house, I was holed up in a hotel room. So between the stress and isolation of last year, I didn’t make much of an effort to explore any other aspects of SfN.

This year, I wasn’t presenting anything, didn’t need to worry about applying to grad schools anymore, and had other people to hang out with, so it was a completely different experience. Not to mention, San Diego is a heck of a lot nicer than DC in November. 

First, let’s talk about the science side of SfN, then we’ll get to the social parts. 

SfN is freakin’ wild. It’s an overwhelming mass of human beings -- as an avid comic con attendee, that’s the closest analog I’ve found. Except that SfN is even bigger than most conventions I’ve been to, with the notable exception of San Diego Comic-Con, the largest and most well-known con, which happens to be held in the same convention center as SfN was this year. 

I spent a solid chunk of my time this year going to talks and lectures on various aspects of neuroscience that are outside of my personal research areas but that I think are super interesting, like evolution of social behaviors, language networks, processing of facial expressions, and psychedelic drugs. There’s something for everyone! I think that’s one of the most exciting parts of such a huge conference -- while more specialized conferences might provide better resources and networking opportunities within your specific field, a conference like this lets you explore wildly different areas and hear talks from people who are the experts in those fields.

Then there are the vendor booths: a maze of scientific equipment, software, and publishing companies all hawking free gifts in efforts to lure you in to hear their pitches. It’s like trick-or-treating, featuring a high dose of sensory overload. I made off with a pretty good haul this year -- free t-shirts, reusable bags, postcards, pens, pins, stickers, a puzzle, etc. -- but unfortunately for me, I didn’t claim any of the ‘best’ items I heard about through the grapevine (fanny packs, plushy brains, and hoodies) because they all ‘sold out’ too fast. Gotta plan my trick-or-treating better next time! 

At least I got a photo with a giant plushy neuron.

Now for the social side: you may or may not be surprised to learn that when 30,000 neuroscientists descend on San Diego, there’s quite a bit of after-hours fun. I think I both drank more alcohol and ate more tacos in the span of those five days than I had in the past five months. 

One professor at UCLA is also the co-founder of a scientific equipment company that makes custom two-photon imaging rigs, called Neurolabware. As such, he’s freakin’ loaded and, apparently, hosts a giant dance party every year at SfN. This year, the Neurolabware party rented out an entire nightclub on a Monday night, and Things. Got. Lit. 

Here’s the cohort, minus a few members who headed over to the party earlier, looking badass in our AirBnB before departing. And here’s the club.

The last time I went clubbing was during my semester abroad in undergrad, and if you’d told me then that my next nightclub experience would be with a bunch of scientists at a neuroscience equipment-sponsored event -- and that I would actually enjoy it -- I would’ve laughed. It was an absolutely surreal, but incredibly fun, night.

It also resulted in the sad fact that my first ever hangover occurred at a neuroscience conference, which is unfortunate but I think also very on-brand for me. Luckily, I had nothing pressing scheduled for the following day, other than attending some lectures in dark rooms and meeting up with an old friend for, yes, more tacos. 

All in all, stressless SfN was a fantastic experience, and one I probably won’t ever get to truly have again because I’ll likely only get funding to go again if I’m presenting something. But even if I’m giving another poster, I’ll make sure not to skip the social stuff again, because neuroscientists party with the best of ‘em. 

[2traveldads-blog]

It’s rare that we ask anybody else to share anything via our website, but we’ve made some new friends in the online travel community that we think are pretty awesome.  Jackie and Daryl are two adventurous ladies that we stumbled across on Instagram and we really wanted to share them and their unique perspectives with everyone.  They’ve been sharing via their Instagram and are adding content to their new blog Lesbians Who Travel.  We asked them about their top destinations for LGBT travel and they gave some great ideas.

We’ve been to a few of these beautiful locations which are perfect for outdoor experiences but still need to visit some.  We’ll let them be our guides any day.  And since you’re going to love what they’re sharing (trust me, you will), you’ll want to give them a follow too.  I can’t wait to see where they go next and what destinations for LGBT travel they share with us!

An introduction to our LGBT travel friends

Jackie is a Miami native, and Daryl, is a native of Philadelphia. They’re newlyweds and are perpetually nomadic (lucky gals). They’ve been traveling the world together for their careers ever since they met on OKCupid while living in New York City in 2012.  From there, it’s been mountains, beaches, sunshine and mud baths.  Amazing women!

And a note from Jackie and Daryl about why they share their travels:

Travel enables us to learn more about ourselves as we navigate the world around us. By sharing our experiences as a same-sex couple, we aspire to inspire others in the LGBTQ+ community to grow by exploring their world.

This is precisely why we invited them to share via our own blog:  we want to inspire others to step out and visit someplace new, knowing that we won’t be well received everywhere we go, but we also aren’t going to help change that for anybody else if we stay home.  Lesbians Who Travel is totally on our wavelength.  And now for their travel ideas from their own experiences…

Five of the Top Destinations for LGBT travel (and everyone else too!)

Something we love about Lesbians Who Travel is that they share everything from tropical beaches to rural America.  They totally get it that there is more to finding great outdoors experiences than booking a ticket to Cancun and calling it good… even though Cancun and Playa del Carmen are amazing. Not knocking them because we love visiting Mexico, but just pointing out that there is so much more to explore than your standard getaways.

The other reason we love these two ladies and how they share their travels is because they don’t preface everything with “as a gay couple” or “for LGBT travelers…” but present their view as though it’s just like anybody else’s in the world.  Like us, they’re all about just being a part of where they are and wanting to explore and feel welcome like anybody.  Anyways, and now their favorite activities in their top destinations for LGBT travel (and everyone else too)…

Santa Fe, New Mexico – Hot Air Balloon Ride

I surprised Daryl with a hot air balloon ride for her 30th birthday. Johnny of Santa Fe Balloons picked us up around 5:15 am with his co-pilot, Jeannie. Once we reached a designated deserted area, he and Jeannie began to inflate the balloon. Before we knew it, they asked us to hop in the basket and we started to float up, up, and away! It was a feeling we had never experienced before, full of weightlessness and silence. We floated high above the mountains, and saw wildlife running about in the desert.

Johnny and Jeanie were so knowledgeable, and they taught us all about balloons and the history of the hot air balloon. Daryl and I chatted with the duo, and smiled from ear to ear the entire ride. Once we touched down, our pilots provided us with champagne, cheese, and snacks, as is customary after balloon rides, and Daryl and I were presented with a certificate. Johnny and Jeannie have varying sizes of balloons to accommodate different size groups. We think this is a must-do activity when visiting Santa Fe.

Tip:  our friends Caz and Craig over at yTravel Blog also loved Santa Fe and have some great ideas for activities and enjoying the area.

courtesy of Lesbians Who Travel

courtesy of Lesbians Who Travel

 Vieques, Puerto Rico – Bio Bay Tour

We went on Abe’s bio-luminescent bay kayak tour late in the evening. As we waited in the parking lot for our tour guides, a handsome herd of white wild horses meandered by. Once everyone arrived, we boarded a bus to the bay. It was almost pitch black out, but the moonlight provided all the light we needed. Daryl and I donned our life vests and got in a double kayak.

We paddled in a pack of 10 boats, following our guide down the bay into pitch darkness. We remember hearing every sound of nature as we quietly found our way into the bay. We felt like we were traveling back in time with a nomadic pack of comrades. Once we reached our spot, our paddle movements began to light up the water around us. Our guide described to us that bio-luminescence is phytoplankton that emit a flash of light when the water is agitated, so as our hands and paddles glided through the water, it looked like we were in a fairy tale. It was simply magical.

Tip:  the crew at GoNomad have even more ideas for a visit to Vieques, and know what?  They ALSO recommended Abe’s for a getting out on the water.  Must be good. 🙂

courtesy of Lesbians Who Travel

courtesy of Lesbians Who Travel

Hawley, Pennsylvania – Spa Resort in the Pocono Mountains

We spent our honeymoon at a getaway in the great outdoors of the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania. The Lodge at Woodloch is an all-inclusive spa resort, and Woodloch’s family friendly resort located down the road actually beat out Disney as the country’s best family friendly resort!

We stayed at the Lodge for a more relaxing, romantic, luxury spa experience. The amenities, rooms, food, service, and experiences at this resort were out of this world. The spa and massages were amazing, and we were also provided with countless activities; biking, kayaking, stand up paddle boarding (SUP), archery, fly fishing, wine tastings, garden and beehive tours, art classes, hiking and more. To top it all off, we roasted s’mores by the campfire and star gazed through a telescope. A stay at The Lodge at Woodloch can be a splurge, but well worth it to have such an incredibly luxurious experience in a perfectly gorgeous location!

Tip:  we don’t talk a lot about winter destinations for LGBT travel, but Hawley seems to be a nice snowy escape too.  We started researching it once Jackie and Daryl recommended it and it looks awesome.

courtesy of Lesbians Who Travel

courtesy of Lesbians Who Travel

Cinque Terre, Italy – Hiking

Cinque Terre translates to “five towns” in Italian. Guest what: there is a hiking trail that allows people to hike through those five colorful, picturesque seaside towns! While we were visiting, one of the trails between two of the towns was shut down due to a landslide. That was no issue for us as we took a ferry with stunning storybook views of the colorful towns, and continued on with our hike at the next town. We took a rest at a mountaintop restaurant a few hours into the hike where we had some drinks while enjoying the views from the beautiful outdoor seating area covered in hanging grapevines.

Note:  we have also done the hike through all five towns of the Cinque Terre and can 100% confirm that it’s the most incredible, unforgettable place.  It was the Italy we’d always heard about but hadn’t seen until we were actually there in the hills off the coast.  Totally amazeballs.

courtesy of Lesbians Who Travel

courtesy of Lesbians Who Travel

St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands – Snorkeling

St. John is where the party is at for snorkeling! It is easy to rent snorkel gear from St. John Beach Bum before heading to the beaches. We swam and snorkeled alongside giant schools of tarpon, sea turtles, sting rays, a nurse shark, an eel, thousands of colorful fish, and more! Most of the time we were around other snorkelers, but we did have some moments of solitude in the beauty of the deep blue sea.

We loved snorkeling through the underwater snorkel trail on Trunk Bay Beach. Francis Bay Beach was great for snorkeling next to sea turtles and stingrays. Waterlemon Cay is the best snorkeling on the island, but we saw a nurse shark there that got us a little anxious, though was apparently not a concern.  Incredible.

Note:  the areas Jackie and Daryl recommend partially fall within Virgin Islands National Park, so be sure to set aside some time to pop into the Visitors Center for your National Parks Passport stamps.

courtesy of Lesbians Who Travel

courtesy of Lesbians Who Travel

Do you see why we asked Lesbians Who Travel about their top destinations for LGBT travel?  They visit such a range of places and cover territory we’ve never stepped foot in.  Hopefully they’ll have more to share with us soon, as we know that they aren’t going to stop traveling and will only have more and more beautiful experiences to share with the LGBT travel community.

Five perfect destinations for LGBT travel (and everyone else too!) It's rare that we ask anybody else to share anything via our website, but we've made some new friends in the online travel community that we think are pretty awesome.