#ate it in the dark. i also thought oh yeah i forgot about this comic so here

[ded-lime]

really going for the multilingual speedrun here huh

[vore-scientist]

In Which Sophia Makes Some New Friends

A tale of the Mystic Woods

(read the other stories/comics here, and all posts related to Mystic Woods can be found here)

THIS IS A DIRECT SEQUEL TO THIS STORY

Content warnings: No actual vore in this story, sorry! But discussion of both safe and fatal (I tried to make it humorous/light hearted, it makes sense). Also GT cuddles at the end ;) 

---

Sophia paced around Yonah’s desk. After the unfortunate encounter with the meddlesome prince, Yonah had wandered off to get a healing potion. That was fine, while she waited she admired all the little things on the desk, and the books in languages that she had only begun to learn to read, but that someday she would be fluent in.

“Yonah?” came a voice. “Hey Yonah, you there?”

It was a man’s voice, and it was near. Sophia froze and looked around. The mirror, the small mirror on Yonah’s desk! She ran to it, and saw in it the face of what could only be another wizard.

The man had a red and black mustache, kind green eyes, a big floppy wizard’s hat, and beautiful yellow and blue wizard’s robes, which were accented with silver and black. His hands were behind his back and he was looking around expectantly, until he saw Sophia, and he startled, but recovered fast.

“Sayyyyyyy! You’re not Yonah!” said the man, smiling with suspicion, “Who are you?”

“I’m, I’m Princess Sophia of the Kingdom of Orr!” she declared without thinking. Then a terrible thought struck her, what if this man in the mirror was an evil wizard. Those existed! A continent to the west had an entire Society of Wizards who were always up to some evil.

“A princess...” then the man grinned like an idiot, “WAIT A PRINCESS? No shit!”

His face turned away and he shouted at someone out of view, “SHOSH! HEY SHOSH! YONAH WENT AND KIDNAPPED A PRINCESS!”

“HE DID WHAT! YOU BETTER NOT BE FUCKING WITH ME MICA!”

“IM SERIOUS COME TO THE MIRROR!”

A moment later a woman, also wearing a wizard’s hat appeared next to Mica and gasped. “oh dear gods that’s a princess alright!” Except for her ruby red lipstick, she had no makeup on, but she had numerous facial piercings. She had wild brown hair and large oval spectacles that made her green-brown eyes appear buggy.

Sophia fidgeted with her gown, she wasn’t some spectacle to be gawked at by whoever these people were. She wished she wasn’t in a blood spattered nightgown. She wished that Yonah was here.

“And who,” said Sophia, as sweet as she could, “are you?”

“Oh how terribly rude of us!” said Mica, still smiling, “I’m Mica, Mica Cohen! And this is Shoshana Jaffe, we’re friends of Yonah and we were hoping to talk to him,”

Sophia was stunned “Yonah has friends!?”

Mica and Shoshana burst out laughing.

“Yes dear girl, he has friends,” said Shoshana, “you can’t stay sane in a prison without them.”

“I’ve been here for two months! How have I not heard of you?” Sophia was planning to chew Yonah out about this when he felt better. What else was he hiding. Probably a lot, wizards liked their secrets... But why would he hide friends from her! How many more friends did he have?

“You mean you’re serious. Yonah hasn’t mentioned us?” Shoshana looked genuinely hurt.

“No! until now I thought he was a sad lonely man!”

The wizards laughed again.

“Well he’s not sad” said Shoshana, “angry more like, but not anymore than your average firewitch.”

“Nor is he really a man, kinda, half a man,” said Mica, thoughtfully.

“Lonely, well now, we wish we could visit more often, he is kinda stuck in one place.”

/Yeah, you can thank my dad for that/ thought Sophia. But thought it was better not to mention Yonah’s semi-house arrest sentence was handed down by her father.

“But now you’re there! This is so wonderful!” said Shoshana with glee, before turning serious, “unless, you’re lying and you’re a giant slayer, disguised as a princess.”

“What?”

“Whose blood are you currently wearing?” she narrowed her eyes.

What an odd way to phrase that, “it’s, well it’s Yonah’s but”

Shoshana raised an eyebrow, something about her presence, even through a mirror grew dark and threatening. Mica remained bright, if scared.

“Um, well you see, there was an incident this morning, with a prince, and…”

She told them what happened. They were a good audience, gasping and cheering at all the right places, and they didn’t interrupt her. Until she got to the part where Yonah ate the prince. They both looked a little green.

“He, ate the prince?” Mica’s voice shook. He and Shoshana exchanged worried looks.

Uh oh. Guess Yonah’s friends didn’t know. Too late now.

“Y-yes, but he spit him out! He ran off after that.” They relaxed, a bit, but continued to look at her suspiciously.

“And then you called” Sophia ended lamely, “that’s it!”

“And the blood?” Shoshana hadn’t noticed that Sophia failed to explain it.

In reality Sophia just forgot.

“Yonah’s… insides got roughed up by the prince’s armor and I ended up in the line of fire when he coughed”

She looked up from her gown to see the two wizard staring past her. Shoshana grinned wickedly.

“Ah, Yonah, Sophia here has been telling us all about your adventure from not moments ago!”

/“SHE WHAT!”/ cried Yonah. Except, as the words made it to his lips a stabbing pain in his throat stopped him, closing his airways as he coughed himself catatonic. So instead he just sat down and stared at the mirror through a slightly teary haze.

“Yonah, this young woman says that you’re a man-eating giant now! Can you lend credence to this? Has our Yonah truly become the monster that the professors said he would? Yonah, eater of men, kidnapper of princesses!” the sarcasm heavy in Shoshana’s voice.

No. no no no no no. no NO. This was not happening. This day was so crappy to begin with.

“He’s not denying it, so it must be true!” Mica said, matter a factly.

This wasn’t at all how he expected this to go down. He had kept his instances of “man-eating” hidden from his friends, sure that they would never speak to him again if they found out that he’d ever eaten a human.

But… they weren’t mad.

Didn’t matter. Getting teased about it was almost worse. He rubbed the moisture from his eyes.

“It’s not like you go around hunting humans” said Mica before getting serious “and it’s not like you were keeping this hidden while in school. You weren’t, right? You didn’t eat anyone at school? Was tasting us not enough?”

For the first time, Mica and Shoshana looked genuinely worried. Maybe they HAD been wrong about Yonah.

“No, No. I-I didnt eat anyone.” said Yonah, his voice high and quiet, he looked scared, “typically, giants only eat those who break into their houses, to steal or to kill” he recited. They’d heard the line before.

And regardless, the school was never his home, Of course he wasn’t ever interested in eating his fellow students. Tasting them was another matter, plenty of them smelled incredible. His friends did and still do occasionally allow him a taste, just to tease him.

Up until Sophia he wouldn’t have even dared to eat them! It was too dangerous. A thief he could risk swallowing and spitting back up before they died. Standard procedure to shock and punish them. And a Slayer’s life was forfeit. When they failed and escaped they usually returned and one way or another someone would end up dead.

“What about professors? I feel like some of them deserve to be eaten” Mica continued, all previous concern now gone, he was back to antagonizing.

“N-no, I just said that-“ but apparently Mica wasn’t listening and Yonah’s interjections fell upon uncaring ears.

“Like Professor Thuorbir! What a prick.” said Mica.

“I think he was also a giant slayer!” said Shoshana, her voice containing energy that Mica’s didn’t even come close to, “you should totally eat him, he’s still an asshole. Fucker rejected my research proposal for a third time!”

Gods this was not happening. Yonah put his now burning face into his hands.

“I’m not gonna eat Mr.Thuorbir,” Yonah managed to say through is stupor. Though he silently agreed that the man certainly deserved it, regardless of giant slaying. His head was buzzing.

Mica looked at Shoshana incredulously

“Shosh, that was because your proposal was to research a spell that would have turned the entire Mystic Woods PINK, down to the littlest ant! None of the professors would have approved that” he said before turning to Sophia. “The one before that, she wanted to propose researching a spell that would give the caster dominion over all bees. All of them. Knowing full well that attempting godhood is ILLEGAL.”

Sophia giggled and tried to imagine her father’s kingdom becoming a uniform shade of pink. Oh dear. Maybe she should tell her father, in case Shoshana actually attempted it.

“Well, just because they don’t want an army of bees” said Shoshana, nose in the air, arms crossed. “And it wasn’t a proposal to actually do it, just to design a spell that could.”

“I hate you both, you know that,” said Yonah.

“We know you mean love!” said Shoshana.

“Anyways, it can’t have really happened,” said Shoshana. “Not the way you said it did at the very least.”

“What do you mean?” Asked Yonah.

Mica looked at her in shock, he had clearly believed the story. This wouldn’t be the first time Shoshana had gone along with a ridiculous farce just for the drama of it, but as far as he knew, Yonah hadn’t spoken to Shoshana that recently, not without him present. And Yonah’s pain was real, his embarrassment was real.

Shoshana sighed and rubbed at her glasses.

“You don’t believe-“ Sophia started to say

“Oh I believe he’s eaten people. Comes with the territory at this point. But you’re” she eyed Yonah, “You’re kind of, too small to swallow a person whole, right? You’d have to, oh I don’t know, rip into them with your teeth like they were a prime rib.”

/Ugh, what a great image, thanks Shosh/ thought Yonah.

“It’s not really worth trying to claim the prince survived for our benefit. If eating people was a dealbreaker we wouldn’t be friends with dragons or ogres or that Sphinx that guards the gates to the tunnels of-“

“Yonah did swallow the prince whole!” Sophia wasn’t about to let the wizards think she had lied, “And yes, he’s killed a few assholes that way but he let the prince live! And thieves too! He eats them all the time but always lets them go!” She was almost shouting now, “And! And Yonah swallows me all the time! And if you haven’t noticed, I’m in one piece.”

All eyes were on her and everyone was silent, no one moved or blinked, but Yonah’s face became scarlet. Sophia played with her dress in her hands, and looked up at Yonah.

“Um, was I not supposed to tell them that?” she squeaked out.

“Yonah HaEsh, how could you!?” Shoshana yelled, no longer playful, “eat a princess!? You could kill her! She’s not a knight or a giant slayer! What on earth were you thinking? So we need to rescue her from you?”

Yonah’s embarrassment had turned to anger as his hair started to smoke and the roots glowed orange. He was breathing sharp breaths, seething with anger, until one got caught sending him into a into another coughing fit and onto the floor. Sophia took the opportunity to rectify her mistake.

But there was no need. Shoshana has gone white.

“Oh dear, I think I overdid it!”

“You think? Now Yonah thinks we hate him! Next time don’t seem so serious,” Mica chided her. Shoshana muttered something about wasting her skills and addressed Sophia again.

“But seriously, how!” she said, “How does he physically manage to swallow a person whole? And you said he eats you all the time! How the fuck has he managed to avoid fucking up and killing you or the thieves!” color had returned to her face. No longer bothered by Yonah’s plight, even though she had caused it. Mica shot her a death glare.

“Oh like you weren’t thinking the same thing!”

Mica sighed. “I was but I have the manners not to voice it. We could have called back tomorrow. But it’s too late now.”

They both looked at Sophia expectantly.

“Oh um, well, the thieves he just spits up real quick but myself... Yonah, enchanted me, so that he can’t hurt me” Sophia explained everything as Yonah wheezed in the background, still on the floor, but no longer in danger of coughing up a lung.

Shoshana’s eyes sparkled with greed. Mica was deep in thought.

“Wait are you sure this was an enchantment, because it sounds like curse.” Mica finally said.

“Well,” said Sophia, “the difference is a matter of perspective isn’t it.”

Which was true. One could see gems falling from ones mouth when one talked as a blessing, until everyone in the kingdom wanted you as their piggy bank and your voice was hoarse from being made to talk non stop and the economy is ruined by your gem contributions. Then it’s a curse. Becoming a glass statue would be a curse, but that’s not how it worked.

“That must have been an expensive procedure,” said Mica.

“It was, but he got the money from my dad,” Sophia made the last few words harsh and final. She was still bitter that her dad had instructed and funded Yonah to traumatize her into running back home. Jokes on him, it hadn’t worked and Yonah was her friend now! Showed him!

“He managed to only cast half a curse! He could publish with a trick like that” she said thoughtfully, but with a touch of envy.

“There would be a problem with rational,” Mica pointed out, “he would have to invent a fake reason! He can’t say he did it so he could eat one specific person and not worry about them dying!”

Shoshana nodded and laughed.

“To answer your other question, I don't know how he does it, because you’re right, by all means he shouldn’t. But even he doesn’t know.” Sophia said, the wizards were disappointed. Sophia tried to brighten their mood by suggesting they investigate it. They considered this with great pleasure.

“I’m just unable to picture it,” She was talking to Sophia again. “I-“ she shuddered with wicked glee as she had a new thought. “ Yes, I’d like to see it for myself. I don’t suppose, since it was your idea to research this, that you would be willing to give us a demonstration?”

That surprised both Sophia and Mica, but Mica’s grin said that he liked that idea.

Now it was Sophia’s turn to go red. Sophia rubbed her back of her head. Let someone watch? Having just seen Yonah eat the prince, she wasn’t sure if she wanted Yonah’s friends to see it. Even if they had joked about him giving into his more monstrous heritage. Sophia had seen it. That side of him did exist. But it had been her idea. She regretted planting the idea in their stupid wizard brains.

“I’ll, consider it, but Yonah’s in no condition right now.”

“Oh of course not dear! Just call us or something, there’s not rush,” Shoshana winked, “especially if it’s a regular occurrence, plenty of opportunities to observe.”

Yes, Sophia was realizing that about the thieves as well. She wondered how regular they were too, and if she could get involved in thief catching. 

Shaking badly, Yonah got up from the floor, pulling himself up to his stool. His face was very red, and his eyes glistened, tears steaming up his face.

Sophia turned to him “They’re over it, I explained it, you can stop being such a big baby and extinguish yourself”

Yonah glared at her but his head stopped smoldering and his eyes were back to brown.

“I think,” he wheezed, “I think I need to lie down, let the healing drought actually take effect.”

“Yonah darling you do look awful, we’ll get out of your hair, but don’t think we are done talking about this! Next time I expect a demonstration!” said Shoshana “goodbye Princess Sophia it was an absolute pleasure meeting your highness!” and before Mica could say a word she waved a hand in front of the mirror, turning it back to a normally mirror.

“Thank you Mirror” Sophia said, placing a hand on the golden edge. It made a small hum of acknowledgement.

“Come on let’s get you to bed,” Sophia looked up at the disheveled and gaunt wizard who picked her up and held her close to his chest as he walked back to his room. The sun had been up for an only hour yet the day felt like it was already over. He needed a nap.

He released Sophia onto the night stand, took off his hat, did not take off his slightly blood stained night robe, and collapsed face forward on the bed, breathing heavily.

Sophia sighed and climbed down the nightstand and using the still loose bed sheets, climbed onto the bed and onto Yonah. He didn’t protest, or make any sign that he knew she was there, but he had to know.

“Hey, you did good today, and your friends still love you, and I’m still your friend. I don’t think you made friends with that prince but he seemed like a dick so who cares.”

A painful chuckle shook from beneath her as Yonah rolled onto his back, Sophia scrambling to keep up with the rotation. Sitting on his chest as he stared up at the ceiling with his eyes closed. he brought his hand up to pet Sophia gently. His hand was warm and rough, and Sophia leaned into it, tickling his palm.

She fell asleep like that, Yonah’s warm hand of a weighted blanket.

Yonah had one last panicked thought before sleep took him.

/Had Shosh said DEMONSTRATION?/

[Thanks for reading! please reblog!]

[nonsensical-rants]

Expectations for Persona 5 Royal

Well, its been a while. I've been busy with schoolwork and my birthday recently passing so I apologize for that but it has also given me the opportunity to think about a lot of things. Such as the re-release of Persona 5 that was announced not to long ago. Honestly it's one of the biggest titles that I am looking forward to in recent memory. Borderlands 3 is also up there but that is neither here or there. Either way, I wanted to talk about what I want personally for this re-release and the expectations I am placing on it. So, with that said. Lets get started I guess.

Before you ask, no. I have no problems with the design of Kasumi’s Phantom Thief outfit. It fits with the theme of what someone with her mindset and hobbies would see as "rebellion". If you wanna talk about risque, why wasn't anyone talking about the literal dominatrix and whip combo from Ann? It's fine. Nothing else to really say. Though I saw on Twitter that her code name should be Ace, to contrast with "Joker" which I thought was a fun idea.

As one of my favorite JRPG's that I have put three hundred plus hours in, I can say that I am pretty well versed in both the story and game play elements of Persona 5. Am I an expert? Of course not. I have no say in what is actually going to change but a man can hope and dream. So to get started, I am happy with what has been shown in the trailers thus far. Game play seems to be getting even more sleek and has the group attacks that I loved from P4G (Persona 4 Golden). In addition to this, there is the new character! To put it simply, I think shes great based on what we know. Though I am concerned about what elemental type she'll be using against demons. As I have not heard anything concrete about it thus far. My guess would be here Light or Dark? But that's already taken up by Akechi.

Last thing I've seen in terms of game play is that (presumably) all party members will be getting a third persona just like in P4G! This is amazing for me because I felt that some of the designs were lacking when compared to the originals (Captain Kidd looks better than Seiten Teisei in my opinion). Other than that, we are gonna be able to play during the winter months instead of having it end abruptly which is fantastic. I want some kind of confirmation on new events, Haru Okumura getting more development, and maybe even being able to rank up Akechi, and Morgana's Confidant's on our own time. Leaving Morgana's second form Persona until the LAST Dungeon was a huge mistake in my eyes. It made me never want to use the poor cat as the rest of the party was already past their Second Awakening's and beyond powerful in comparison. He was more so left as an out of combat heal-bot. Which no character should have to be designated too.

As for my reason for mentioning Akechi's confidant. It was just.... So obvious that he was the traitor. At least for me, maybe you were surprised. But I immediately noticed the infamous pancake line which got my gears turning. Even before then though it was just suspicious that you couldn't rank up his and ONLY his confidant (besides Morgana like I mentioned, but he was with you from the beginning and hes the mascot. No way would ATLUS make the mascot character be the traitor). I am expecting to see another P4G idea converted to this game, in which Akechi's social link can progress naturally. But it will stop at rank 5/6 until you learn more about him via story beats. And if you reach that point before the story gets there, you can maybe save him?

Lets move onto the story then. I want a proper build up to the confrontation between Ryuji and Morgana, or to just have it removed entirely. It ate up way too much time and it annoys me how much shit Ryuji gets from everyone when he's trying his damnedest. Like yeah a few jokes is fine (especially because hes comic relief I guess?) but having to hear from Palace One: "Oh Skull, you're pathetic" from Morgana over and over, and how the whole team beats him up for saving them, but getting exploded out of the Metaverse? How is that his fault; he was knocked unconscious after Shido's palace and they blame him for not telling them when he physically couldn't! That's not even mentioning how his trauma is kind of underplayed after the Kamoshida arc. But that can be said about all characters after their arc is over. Ryuji deserves better all around.

We need to see more of Shiho! And not just in Ann's confidant. She's officially part of the story and Ann's best friend. Kind of an important character who went through. Just an awful experience. Player's should be getting the occasional update after Kamoshida's palace that she is okay! She attempted suicide and it is rarely mentioned after that point in the game. On my first play though it was all over my mind even after Madarame's confession. Maybe make her a confidant, but with no romance? I feel like it would be in bad taste to try and romance her after what shes been through. She needs more friends and more exposure to help her get back into the society of P5. She wasn't even in the finale where everyone decides to put faith in the Phantom Thieves!

Then there's Akechi, which. Like I said earlier. I think it would be fine if they took another page from P4G but modified it slightly. Similar to Adachi we could hang out with Akechi on our own time, and if we rank up enough before Shido's palace we can try to convince him to rejoin the Phantom Thieves? Or maybe during the end of Shido's palace some "Power of Friendship" shenanigans happen and he's able to defeat his Shadow and continue moving forward. Changing him from Justice to... Something beyond it. I dunno but it would be an interesting concept to see a semi-deranged party member fighting with Loki.

Oh! I almost forgot. For DLC. PLEASE let us be able to choose what music we want to hear for combat. There are some songs that play for combat that I LOVE with all my heart but the outfits associated with them just don't mesh with the style I want to use. Like I wanna hear Mass Destruction while wearing the outfits from Catherine. Or listen to the Persona 1 theme with the Casual summer/winter outfits. And this last one might be a bit much but. Could the ending cards (shown below) match the outfit the characters are currently wearing? In terms of design and style, P5 exceeds in every way but it's always disappointing me that I couldn’t see my band of thieves posing in their Winter suits or P4A outfits.

There are a lot of expectations for this game in my eyes and I hope it can live up to even half of them. Akechi doesn't have to be entirely redeemable. But he shouldn't be batshit crazy. Everyone has problems and he might just need help to work through it. Thats one of the lessons I took away from Persona 3. And it could work well here. With all that said, this game will be an instant buy for me, and I look forward to dumping another 300+ hours and 4 play through's.

It's also a huge shame we still have boring robotic Makoto as a party member instead of actual Queen Hifumi Togo, fight me. Haru is best, followed by Hifumi. There's my controversial take. Have a nice day.

Art from:

 https://www.reddit.com/r/Persona5/comments/7dbm8f/all_out_attack_pt_hifumi/

[fruit-teeth]

The truth about my middle school years

You know what I haven’t thought about in awhile? What middle school and high school feel like. I’ve been in college for only a year and I already forgot what it feels like to have to ASK to use the bathroom and to need to have a hall pass, because in college if you have to use the bathroom you just get up and leave the room!!! What a concept!!!

So yeah, once again, I’m bored and I’m gonna talk about my life. Are you ready to learn about the bleakness of American pre teen/teenager’s life???? Of course you are

5th grade: Not quite sure if this counts as middle school in some places, but it does for the school I went to. I went to a conservative, private Christian school where classes were combined and my fifth grade class was merged with the sixth grade class. The sixth graders were the “cool kids”, and they hated all the fifth graders except me. Every morning before class started, the 6th graders would demand that I entertain them, and this led to me performing inappropriate pop songs and scenes from intense movies/shows by myself, and yes, this DID create my love for performing in shows.

I also had a cool writing teacher who adored everything I wrote and constantly praised the dumb comics I drew and the short stories I wrote, and that was when I decided I wanted to write all the time. All the while, I had a best friend who did everything with me and came to my house every Friday afternoon, where we would play with barbies and watch Power Puff Girls. It was a great year, but alas, it came to an end.

6th grade: shit got dark. My best friend dropped out of school so her mom could homeschool her, and even though the new 5th graders loved me, the people in my own grade thought I was annoying. I made friends with an angsty new girl who I’ll only called ‘Kira’ for this, and Kira was a rebel. Therefore, to impress Kira, i became a rebel as well, and my angst was born.

I had a new writing teacher who hated me, and i purposefully went out of my way to make her angry. Specially, she hated it when I drew in my class notebook (“This is WRITING class, not DRAWING class, Mara!!”), so I retailiated by drawing ridiculously busty women throughout my notebook. She didn’t say anything at first, but after a few weeks, she pulled me aside privately and told me that drawing those pictures wasn’t very ‘Christian’ of me. She then made me throw out my notebook and then gave me a new one.

7th grade: Things got better, and yet worse at the same time, if that’s possible. I was still friends with Kira, only something was different- I realized, not only that I wasn’t straight, but that I had a crush on her. This was bad because a) half the people at our school were homophobic, and b) she had a crush on the biggest douchebag in our class. They eventually ended up dating, although I have no idea why because he hated her and she knew he was a dick.

To make up for this, I swallowed the feelings I had for Kira and started ‘dating’ (there’s a reason this word is in quotes) a guy I’m only going to refer to as Jughead Joe. Jughead Joe was basically the epitome of those dark, brooding, misunderstood boys that appear in Anime, only he wasn’t cool. He was also extremely bigoted and a jerk, but I acted like I didn’t notice and hung on his arm anyway.

Stuff started to get weird as the year came to a close, and it all ended at a summer pool party. Jughead Joe and I played Xbox inside, and out of nowhere, he told me he wanted to have sex. When I said no, he said, “oh, come on. No one else wants you.” I didn’t know how to react so I poured my soda on his lap and ran outside, where I called my mom while hiding in a bush. I haven’t spoken to Jughead Joe since.

8th grade: THIS was when my world got flipped over. I switched schools, and I ended up at a dreary public middle school. The beginning of the year was just lonely, terrifying and confusing, but somehow I got out alive. Not unlike Hilary Duff in ‘Cadet Kelly’, there were tears and angst, but I eventually learned to adapt. However, I did not do a ribbon dance at the end of the year, although I wish I had...

At the same time, I had a DeviantART account where I posted my Invader Zim fan art and fanfiction. It was all fun and games until I pissed off the wrong edgelord, but that’s a story for another time.

The highlight of the year was when I finally found a group of friends who actually liked me, and we had a spa day for my birthday. Afterwards, we went to the mall and bought Build-a-Bears and ate overpriced mozzarella sticks. It was a beautiful day in my history, and I finally felt accepted and appreciated.

And then freshman year happened, which I’ll talk about in another post.

That’s all the tea I’m willing to spill for now, everybody! It’s depressing, it’s probably a little exaggerated, it’s probably wearing too much eyeshadow, but you know what??? It’s me. I shouldn’t deny the fact that I was the class clown, the rebel, the weird new girl, and Cadet Kelly all at different points in my life. And if I’m being honest, i don’t regret any of it. Except Jughead Joe.

[normalpeopleclose]

got sone questions for ya fella: 3, 4, 6, 8, 14, 15, 17, 19, 21, 25, 26, 33, 34, 49, 42, 44

OH SHIT I forgot about this, thanks Decon!3: Do you smoke? Shit no. Smoking is disgusting, the smell, the effects, it's gross.4: Do you drink? On occasion, yes. My current drinks of choice are hard ciders and vodka or tequila drinks.6: Age you get mistaken for Late 20s usually. I'm only 23, and that always seems to shock people.8: Want any tattoos? Eventually yeah. I've had an idea to get a Star Wars tattoo, half Rebels half Empire symbol, probably on my leg somewhere. No idea when to do it though.14: Biggest turn offs Ego. When people are so full of themselves that they can't be humble at all, I can't stand it. I get being positive about yourself, that's okay, but when it becomes a "I can do no wrong" attitude, I fuckin' hate that. Also, obviously smoking is a turn off, it's disgusting.15: Favorite movie Long term it's Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. From recent memory, I would say Logan. It was a dark twist on a normally comical and lighthearted comic world.17: Someone you miss This one is tough. I try my best to keep in contact with everyone I feel is close to me. I'm truly not sure who it would be, other than a few really good friends who I haven't seen in a while.19: A fact about your personality I am only half as serious as is needed about life. I joke around almost constantly, and I tend to have a more light-hearted personality. It keeps me relaxed. Of course, at the right moments I'll get more serious, but there's nothing wrong with taking the lighter side of things.21: What I love most about myself I am determined. If I start something, I will find a way to finish it to completion, no matter how difficult or stressful or shitty that something is. Could be simple, could be complex, I'll get it done. It might take me a while, but it's getting done.25: My idea of a perfect date Aw shit, listen up. It's an entire day-long affair, friends. Make a big breakfast, go for a walk or a hike, or do some urban exploration shit, go to lunch, go home, spend the rest of the day cuddling and watching movies and shit. It's simple, it's fun, there's a lot of room for choices to be made on both sides. There's also tons of room for improvisation. I'm not big on planning everything out, I like a bit of randomness to a date. 26: My biggest pet peeves Unspoken thoughts and feelings. If you've got beef with me, fucking say it. I worry constantly about what people close to me are thinking about me; I know it's bad and I shouldn't care, but I do anyway. I can't stand the passive aggressive "you know what I mean" sort of bullshit. If there's something you gotta say or do, fucking do it. 33: What words make me feel the best about myself That I'm kind, or passionate about the things I'm into, that I'm a good person. I just want to be those things, and it's nice when people say that.34: What I find attractive in women It sounds cliche and shit, but confidence man. People who are confident in who they are and what they want is fucking awesome, there's too many flaky people around. A woman who is confident and strong is fucking awesome. And if we're talking physical stuff, I'm a sucker for red heads and pixie cuts, combine that shit and I'm all for it. 49: Who I wish I could be (I assume you meant 40 ;) )Well shit. It used to be that I wished I could be anyone but me, I hated myself for a long time. I don't think at this point that it's a specific person. But I wish I could be someone who makes a difference in things. You always see it in big YouTubers or Twitch streamers, but they can go to huge events and see people that look up to them and it's just... cool. They can do charity shit and give back and it just seems like a wholesome thing. I kinda want that.42: The last thing I ate I had a homemade breakfast burrito with scrambled eggs and bacon for breakfast. Fuck yeah.44: A random fact about anything If you get car sick easily, it's cause of these little stones in your ears that control your balance. They send signals in tandem with your eyes to you brain about movement and balance. If your eyes are focused on a phone or book, they're sending that signal to the brain. Your ear stones are still sending balance info about you moving in a car though, so your brain freaks the fuck out and makes you dizzy and sickly. I read about this a couple days ago!Thanks again Decon, my friend!

[bartallenisbae]

I don’t own anything except the oc’s and also reminder this is based on comic

Warning hints of sex the night before

  Bart and Mandy have been married for 3 years. Mandy and Bart finished college before they got married and after they got married she got a job and so did Bart.Mandy became a special ed teacher for the disabled at a school called Elim.Bart became a gym teacher at a public school. Bart also became the Flash for a year(He did in the comics for like 10 minutes but I wanted him to be the flash in this so yeah) because barry retired and wally had retired for his twins to take care of for another year then after he would take another name(which is when his twins will be old enough to help him and be able to stay home alone).Bart and Mandy Allen bought a house after they got married. They were still happy being married not even having a thought of separating. The house was a big white country house with a swinging bench and green grass and they lived next to central city in the country.

     It was the beginning of summer, most kids just finished school which also included that Mandy and Bart don’t have to work for the summer. It was beautiful day, The sun was out and dew was all over the green grass on Mandy and Bart Allen yard. Bart and Mandy’s room was painted sapphire blue and their floor was dark brown wood and they had a 20 inch t.v(Bart doesn't save people for nothing*wink* *wink*) and they had a gold and royal blue bed and next to their bed was a nightstand .Bart Allen woke up and got out of his and his wife’s bed, he got his underwear*wink* *wink*and flash suit to go on a mission for a month and a half and yes Mandy knows. He kissed Mandy’s head left her a note on the nightstand saying that he will be back soon and that he loves her and left around 8:00 am. Mandy woke up around 8:30 with her hair being frizzy and all over the place(Imagine Anna from frozen waking up hair but blonde).She sat up and turned and put her feet on their cold wooden floor. She got up and put on one of Bart’s shirt’s.They had two bathrooms.One was in the hall’s which was the guest bathroom which was for the guest’s and the other one was Bart and Mandy’s bathroom(The bedroom has a door on the right,that’s the bathroom)The guest bathroom was painted white, it had a bath/shower that was white and had a sink with a towel hanger that had a red towel. Bart and Mandy’s bathroom was painted red and it had a big shower and next to it was a closet full of towels,*whisper* and a few pads and it had a sink. The dining room was paintedgreen and whitish yellow and it had a black couch and a tv  .Mandy took a shower and got dressed. She wore a nice long yellow sundress with a pair of yellow flipflops and put her hair in a nice French braid. Mandy had a black BMW. Mandy went to her car and drove to iris(1) (iris one is the one who married Barry) and Barry’s house for a summer lunch she was invited.Barry and iris’s house was a medium sized house in the suburbs, it was painted white with green grass.It was 10:00 am. As soon as she entered the house she was tackled by a red and black haired streak. It was Jai and iris(2)(she was named after the first iris).She stepped back from the force of those two. Jai was wearing a orange t-shirt with short jeans and orange gym shoes and his black hair was still spiky.Iris(2)  was wearing a yellow t-shirt and a red skirt with cute small light up yellow shoes that light up to red and she had cute pigtails.They were both still hugging her talking a million miles an hour when wally came to see if the twins were choking Mandy on accident again.Wally was wearing a white v-neck shirt with short jeans with black shoes and his hair still red. Wally was able to get the twins to let go of Mandy after like 3 minutes,and said  “Oh gosh Mandy I’m sorry,you know how much these two love you”. Mandy laughed and said “You don’t need to apologizing, My mom was a home daycare for a living, and I’m a special ED teacher, so I pretty much live with kids”. Jai took Mandy’s hands and started walking her to the backyard. The backyard is a normal sized backyard with a slide,swing, and a small playhouse with a kids table next to it. Jai began to pull Mandy towards the swing’s and excitedly said “Come on Mandy, lets go play on the swing”, but Iris(2) grabbed Mandy’s hand and began to pull her to the playhouse and said “No,Mandy is going to play with me”.Before anything could get outa hand Mandy said “Hold on a minute, I’m sorry but I am going to hang out with the Adult’s today but I promise the next time I babysit you guy’s we can play all day if you want,ok” The twins smiled and said at the same time “OK” and ran off to play on the playground but jai stopped for a second and turned and kissed Mandy's hand and sped off. Mandy turned to go to the Dinner room which was next to the kitchen.The dinner room was a normal sized dinner room that was painted green and had a family table with 6 chairs and next to the table was a kids table with 2 chairs. Barry,Iris(I ),Wally,and Linda were all sitting in dinner room.Barry was wearing a blue shirt and short pants,Iris(1) was was wearing pink shirt and a long skirt,and linda was wearing a purple shirt and a long black skirt and Meloni was in a blue shirt and short jeans. Mandy smiled and sat beside iris(1) and Linda. Wally started the conversation by saying “so Barry when will the pizza get here” Barry laughed a little and said “well, we ordered 8 pizza’s so it’s going to be a while.  About two hours later the pizza finally came as everyone was eating. The twins were eating at the kids table and the adults at the adult table. The twins were putting two pizzas together to make a pizza sandwich, Mandy turned and saw the pizza sandwich and laughed. Meloni saw this and a thought went to her mind, Meloni asked “ so Mandy, are you and Bart thinking about having kids anytime soon”. Everyone froze except the twins who were still eating. Mandy looked shocked and after a few seconds wipe everyone looked at her wanting to hear what she had to say. “ I...I mean in the future maybe but not for a while. I mean Bart is now the flash so now wouldn't be a good time especially since Owen mercer(Bart's bro)and inertia both still both believe they are in love with me, and president thawne(Bart's grandpa)trying to turn everyone against heroes so he can kill Bart, so yeah that makes it not a good time to start a family” Mandy said with anxiety and nervousness. After a few hours there Mandy went home she changed into her pajamas which was a lacy black thin strapped tank top and short light pink Shorts with black hearts on them and her blonde hair was in a ponytail. She couldn't stop thinking about what meloni had asked. Mandy was in Bart and her’s bathroom brushing her teeth when she looked back in the mirror and “  No, everything is going to be fine, I'm pretty sure Bart wore protection last night.

         A month had past and there was something different about Mandy. She didn't notice but others have. She was having headaches a lot more and she kept getting nauseous and once and awhile she vomited and she was eating a bit more then usual . She said it was most likely nothing and didn't think anything of it. Mandy woke up at around 7:30 and ran to the Bathroom and vomited in the toilet for like 5 minutes. “ what is up with me, this is the fourth time this week I've had puked in the morning”. Mandy went to the kitchen to go have breakfast. The kitchen was a average Size and had black cabinets and grey painted walls, with a black table that had 6 black chairs. After she ate she looked at the calendar to check off another of no Bart *sigh* She missed him so badly. But she noticed something, wait that can't be I should have had my time of the month. Wait headaches,nausea,morning sickness,eating a lot, and no time of the month. This isn't good, ok wait it could be a false alarm,yeah that's it I'll just take the test and it will be negative and I will laugh about this later yeah. Mandy left and went to the pharmacy and got two tests and when she was paying for them the cashier gave her a smile and said good luck. When Mandy left the pharmacy she felt like she was being watched, it was probably nothing. After Mandy took the tests she had to wait for 20 minutes because each were 10 minutes. It was the longest 20 minutes of her life. When the timer she had set went off she almost felt like she couldn't breathe. She slowly walked towards the tests that were a napkin on the kitchen table and saw that both were…. positive. She...she was pregnant, oh gosh Bart must have forgot protection the night before he left, they were both lost in the moment they just completely forgot. Oh gosh how is she going to tell Bart and what if the baby

    A few weeks had past and Bart was coming back tonight. She had been super nervous the whole time. She had moments that she almost spilled the beans a few time but thankfully still no one except her knows but she still kinda feels like someone is watching her. It was 7: 00 at night so bart would be home any time and everything is set up. I was in a little bit big for me country shirt and short shorts with a lazy french braid. She turned around to get something when she was hugged from behind. “ Bart, oh I've missed you”  Mandy said with excitement as she turned and hugged Bart. Bart smiled and hugged back and said “ I missed you too babe, anything exciting happen”. Mandy smiled to herself in her mind but actually just shrugged and said in a boring tone “ nope, it was pretty boring”. Bart just smiled and said “ hey what can I say it was probably boring because I wasn't here” mandy smirked and hit his arm playfully. “ come on I order Pizza”.  Mandy dragged Bart to the kitchen, Bart of course chowed down but as he was eating he slowed down to watch Mandy as she was closing down almost as much as him, Mandy noticed him staring so she slowed down and acted normal, Bart looked weirded out and asked “ babe are you ok” she smiled and said “yeah” She noticed he was still in his suit, perfect. “ hey babe why don't you go change, there is a present in our room that I got you” she said with a smile. Bart looked suspiciously at Mandy and went to their room with Mandy following him And found a shoebox on their bed. He lifted the opening to find… a small baby onesie that was red and had a flash symbol on it with a cardboard sign on it saying “ congrats Flash you're soon going to be daddy flash” Bart stood there for a minute. Mandy hugged him from behind and and said “ I know this is a bad time to have a baby but… surprise” Bart turned to look at her, and he smiled grabbed Mandy and twirled her in the air. Mandy giggled and said “ Bart stop,you might hurt the baby”. Bart set her down with the biggest smile she had ever seen and went to his knees to her stomach which had a little bump “ how many far are you” Mandy giggled “ About 7 weeks” she said. Bart laughed still looking at the mother of his child stomach “ you are kinda big for 7 weeks aren't you” Mandy started to cry do to mood swings and she fell to her knees crying “ How could you say that Bart, I'm at a normal weight for 7 weeks, if you don't want a fat wife I'll leave” she started to walk away “ babe I'm sorry I didn't mean that I was Kidding, you look great for 7 weeks” Bart screamed trying to stop his hormonal wife. Mandy stopped and sniffed from the crying “ Really” Bart smiled “ Of course babe, your glowing”. Mandy smiled and hugged him “ Don't ever call me fat again,now how are we going to tell our families”.

           It has been a few weeks and they have told Mandy's family and of course they were excited but now Mandy and Bart have to tell his family. Everyone was there. Barry,Iris(1),Wally,Linda,Jay Garrick,Joan Garrick, Max mercury,meloni,jai and iris(2). Everyone was outside in Mandy and Bart's backyard. Their background with green grass, they had a grill and a deck with a table and lots of chairs with a umbrella under it. After dinner,The twins were running around playing tag,the adults were sitting under the umbrella. Mandy was wearing a red sundress so no one could see the bump,it was hardly noticeable but just in case. “ So how are the twins doing in school ” Mandy asked while eating chocolate cake practically devouring it since she was craving chocolate more than ever. “ well iris(2) is doing good but when I was signing jai up he asked me to add that your his future wife” linda said with a laugh,Mandy laughed at jai’s crush on her and said “I can't believe he is in 1st grade, it feels like yesterday when he first saw me and took all your flowers from the garden and give them to me” Linda laughed “ yeah I kinda find it scary that he still has a crush on you” Bart went behind Mandy and whispered to her that it was ready and she smiled and nodded and Bart screamed “ Hey max come here” Max looked confused but walked up with everyone watching to see what was happening“ hey Bart something up” Bart smiled and said “ yeah max I need you to wear this” Bart gave him a hat but not showing what was on the front like a parent hiding a present from their child. Max looked a little curious, he took it from Bart like he was trading something with Bart and he was trading back at the same. Max turned the hat and had the most shocked look Mandy had ever seen. The hat was white and on the front was stitched “Future Grandpa, well technically” max then smiled and put it on and gave Bart the biggest hug he could give, and Bart couldn't breathe. He let go of Bart and sped to Mandy and hugged her lightly not wanting to hurt the baby. Max let go and turned to everyone showing them the hat. The girls screamed and hugged Mandy just like if they were teenage girls seeing a rockstar and the boys smiled and patted Bart on the back but jai and iris(2) had no idea what was going on. Mandy went to both of them and bent down to their height while Bart was still being pat on the back. “ what's wrong you two” the twins looked at Mandy with a confused face “ I don't understand why is everyone freaking out” jai said with a confused voice “ well me and Bart are going to have a baby” Mandy said with excitement but jai just looked at Bart with a furious face and sped to Bart and jumped on his back and Bart screamed a little do to not knowing why a child was on his back and Jai started screaming while trying to “hurt” Bart  “ you got my future wife pregnant, I may not know how to have a baby but all I know is that I don't want step kids”. Most of the adults started laughing their heads off, Wally then trying to get Jai off Bart's back. Meloni went behind Mandy and said in a sarcastic “ So not having kids for a while right” Mandy just smiled and laughed.

          5 months pregnant and Mandy was a bit noticeable. Bart and her were setting up for a gender reveal party.mandy was wearing a blue and pink long dress with the top having frizzles on it. Bart was wearing a shirt that was blue and pink and on the blue side it said “dad that teaches maybe son how to defend” and the pink side said “dad that punches maybe daughters future boyfriends” and wore long jeans. They were finding out the gender by the cake that was on the counter in the kitchen. The kitchen had a lot of decorations. There were pink and blue plates, lots of pink and blue balloons,and on the table was pink and blue Hershey kisses,and there was a sign that said “gamer or designer”. Bart turned to see Mandy looking at the cake that was pink and blue and it said “we are here for the sex” and yes obviously Bart made that line up. Bart went and hugged Mandy from behind with his hands on Mandy's 5 month stomach bump.” I can't believe you convinced me to have the l cake to say that” she said turning her head with a smirk looking into his green eyes and him looking into her’s. “ hey what can I say I'm convinced” Bart smiling and giving her a wink. A few hours later everyone was there. Their friends and family. Everyone was eating dinner which was pizza since Mandy has been in love with pizza a lot more.Jenni(Bart's actual cousin)was talking and laughing with Bart, Mandy was talking to max laughing at something he said as well, pretty much everyone was having a good time well except Jai,he just stared at Bart still mad that he is going to have a step son or daughter when he marries Mandy as that usually on his mind. “Jenni I'm 24 I'm not that old” Bart said laughing at jenni teasing him for being older than her by a bit(I don't really know if he is I'm just guessing) Bart then saw that everyone had finished eating so he got up and said “ well Mandy should we find out what the sex is” he said with a happy yet nervous smile. Mandy took a breath and smiled and nodded. Everyone got their phones out and started videotaping the happy couple and their future bundle of joy. They both got up to the counter and picked up the knife and both looked at each other and smiled as they cut the right side cake to find…...blue they are going to have a boy. Mandy gasped and Bart was in shock, Mandy turned and hugged Bart and then went back to get a piece they both got a piece when max noticed something “ Bart cut me that piece please” he said with curiosity. Bart looked a little weirded out but did what max said. Mandy also went to watch. Oh gosh it was also pink everyone froze.”Bart…are we having twins” Mandy said breaking the silence with a straight face “yep” Bart said. The girls in the room started screaming and the boys went to pat Bart's back. Oh this was going to be fun.

     Mandy was six months and with Bart sitting together with their hands on her big stomach that looked almost 7 months thanks to the newest upcoming Allen twins in the family. To be honest they didn't even guess twins before, they should have since Bart's dad and aunt dawn were twins.  They were looking at the newest nursery. It was were the guest room used to be. It was painted blue on the left side and pink on the right and on the left side was a blue baby crib and on the left was a pink baby crib,on the wall on top of the cribs was a sign that said with irony “expect the unexpected” and there was a wooden rocking chair. “What about Caitlin and Cisco”( haha if you watch the flash you would get it) “ nope” Mandy said with confidence that those were not going to be their children's names. “Uhh maybe tinkerbell and Peter” Mandy suggested since that was her favorite childhood characters growing up “ nope” Bart loved Mandy but that their children were not going to be named on a disney movie. “It will come when they are born hopefully” Mandy said with a smile  “ Yeah your right ”Just as Bart said that they. They both felt two things kick their hands. “ Bart oh my gosh they just kicked” Mandy said with excitement Bart looked amazed and bent down to his wife stomach and kissed it and said “ you two live in a crazy family,you two are related to Barry Allen and eobard thawne which causes a lot of conflict but I promise that I will do my best to keep you two safe”

    Bart finally had everything handled. He would only be the flash if it was an emergency that affected the planet until their children were ready to run alongside him well if they had powers which they most likely do. Wally was going to be another super speedster filling in for Bart's small savings like bank robberies. Wally was going to be blink yes Bart told him that name sucked but Wally didn't care and said “ it makes sense I'm faster then you can blink”.  His amazing wife was 8 months pregnant and everything was going great. Bart got a text from Mandy saying that she wanted applesauce and bananas yes she mixed them together but Bart didn't question since Mandy almost threw him through the wall last time he did. He got that text after work so he got them after work and went home. “Mandy babe I got your apple sauces and bananas” he shouted as he entered the door. But when he entered, no one answered. He went inside all the way in the house to find it trashed. The pictures were shattered and on the ground,the chairs in the kitchen were all mostly broken beside the other two chairs that weren't. The nursery was crooked and had all the future babies picture frames were broken as well. He looked all around the house but He couldn't find Mandy but He did find Mandy's phone broken and a note in the nursery on the floor saying “ I'm back, hope you enjoyed your time with Mandy because you're never going to see her again because she's Mine, signed the newest reverse flash”. He is going to pay. He got his flash suit on and speed to batman for help since he is the best detective.

Mandy was wearing a red t-shirt that said feeding for three and long jeans and she had her blonde hair in a ponytail.Mandy was cleaning the nursery a bit more when she felt like she was being watched again, ok that's it I'm telling bart she told herself in her mind. She saw a red streak outside her window that she new wasn't Bart somehow. Mandy went to call Bart but before she get to contacts inertia or now known as reverse flash took her phone and crushed it.He was wearing the reverse flash suit but took the mask face off so Mandy could see him. Mandy turned to run but he picked her up bridal style with anger in his eye. “Let go,I told you I don't love you” he growled and sped to somewhere else. He took her to his new lair. It had a huge computer and a few cages and it was cave.He put her in one of the cages and smiled a crazy smile “you look beautiful,even though those are Bart's children I will help you raise them as if they are my own.” She couldn't believe him,he kidnapped her AGAIN and expected her just to smile and act as his perfect wife “ your sick Thad(that's his name), these are Bart's and my children and Bart and me are going to raise them”. Thad growled and had his arm in the air but realized what he was doing and put his arm down and took a deep breath and began to walk back and forth. After a minute he stopped and turned to Mandy “ look I don't want to hurt you because I love you but if you keep being a bad girl then you will have to get a punishment so if I were you I would be a good girl ok” wow she didn't the think he would become anymore more yandere but she was wrong. About an hour later Mandy was becoming scared. Where was Bart, he should have been here by now. Thad was on his computer and after a few minutes on it he turned and walked to Mandy. He smiled and entered the cage with Mandy in it and went to touch Mandy's huge stomach but she turned away from him. He growled and grabbed Mandy's wrist and turned her to face him and forcefully kissed her and while he was kissing her he put his hand on her stomach even with her trying to push him away. There was alert sign on his computer,he let go of the kids and vibrated through the cage to see what was up. Just when he did another red streak came and crashed into thad and punched him. It was the flash or as Mandy knew him as Bart. Thad growled and the fight began. Flash ran outside so reverse flash was distracted. While they were both distracted max got Mandy out of the cage. “Are you ok Mandy” blink said while making sure she was ok “yeah he thankfully didn't want to hurt me or the A twins”(they are calling them the A twins which stands for Allen twins) max nodded and picked me up and brought me to me and Bart's house. Max went to go see him if Bart needed help. Bart and Thad were racing while punching each other.  Bart and Thad were in Paris then Spain then back to Thad’s lair again. “Mandy is mine,and I will get your twins, I think they will be great sidekicks” Thad said mocking Bart while trying to get him to stop focusing on running so Bart would slow down, Bart punched Thad and that caused Thad to hit his head and Bart grabbed thad's neck and brought him to meta jail(sorry I'm not good at fight scenes)  “Mandy will never be yours and you will never touch Mandy and my children and don't even try to touch or see my Family ever again ”. Bart said with anger max came just in time to see this “well I guess I'm too late” max said . Mandy was walking back and forth with worry in her eyes for her husband. Bart came back with bruises and cuts and his suit having tares in it and him limping a bit. “Bart oh gosh sit down I'll go get the kit” Mandy said while going to get the kit. Bart took his shirt off for Mandy to get all the cuts and went to sit down on their couch. Mandy came back to help Bart, she was putting a bandage over Bart's arm which had a big cut and was bleeding a bit “Are you and the A twins ok” Bart said making sure they were ok “yes we are all ok, what happened to max” Bart sighed with relief knowing his family was ok “he went back home to see if his daughter was ok” Mandy nodded as she finished healing bart as much as she could. Bart got up and hugged Mandy while trying not to squeeze the twins while hugging his pregnant wife.

  Mandy was 9 months and could be heading to the hospital any time Mandy was wearing  . Bart and Mandy were at Wally and Linda's house. Jai and iris(2) were playing outside while the adults were inside just talking.  “.So are they going to age faster like Bart did” Linda asked with worry since she knows the scare of raising speedster’s  “actually batman and Barry found a way for them to age like normal children, it's a miracle I was so worried about that but they actually found a way,all I had to do was take a pill and boom they age normally” Mandy said with happiness over her children aging normally. Linda smiled as she looked down to see her daughter iris(2) hugging her legs. Jai was stealing his mom's wedding ring while his sister was distracting their mom. Jai then went to Mandy and went on one knee“ Mandy I don't care that I'll have to have step twins will you marry me”  Mandy laughed while Bart looked jealously at Jai “ Jai I'm sorry but I'm happily married and Linda I think your son stole your ring again” Mandy said with a nervous smile and laugh over the awkwardness. Linda swatted jai over the head “ Jai this is the fourth time you have stolen my ring and proposed” Linda gave him a overused angry mom face at him. Bart laughed at Wally “hey Wally he doesn't stop on the girls he is interested in” Wally smacked Bart over his head, Bart then smiled and went to his pregnant wife and put his arm around her and her relaxing her head on his chest. “Who wants chocolate cake’s” Linda said since they did finish dinner and dessert sounded good “oh I would love some” Mandy said with excitement but… Mandy screamed and fell to her knees in pain holding her stomach and a puddle of water under her“Mandy what's wrong did your water break, oh gosh I'm not ready” Bart screamed going to his wife's level of height. “Obviously Bart if you didn't see the puddle and it doesn't matter if you're ready because apparently the twins don't care and they are ready and I swear if you don't bring me to the hospital I will make sure you don't eat candy ever again ”. Linda picked up iris(2) and Wally picked up Jai so Bart would have a clearer way to get Mandy to the hospital and so Jai wouldn't try to follow them. Bart picked Mandy up bridal style and brought her to the hospital.

           It's been 10 hours and  Everyone knew she in labor but they just had to wait because they are pretty sure that Mandy only wants her husband and the doctors and nurses. Poor Bart was being screamed at by Mandy while getting his hand crushed “Bart you will not be sleeping on the bed for,I can't believe you did this to me” Mandy screamed in pain while going through childbirth “ok Mrs.Allen we need you push one more time alright” The doctor said with his hands ready for the baby to come,You could hear the first baby crying already since his head was out first. Mandy pushed and screamed just wanting this to be over so she could hold her two children, The first one was out. “ It”s a boy,  now let’s get the second one out ” The doctor said while handing a nurse nearby the baby boy. 2 minutes later. “AHHHHHHHHHH” Mandy screamed and pushed one last time “It’s a girl,congratulation Mr and Mrs Allen on your beautiful twins” The doctor said while nurse was cleaning the girl and the boy. The babies were both clean and screaming making Mandy’s heart break from wanting them to stop and cuddle them just as much as bart did. “Do you want to hold them both since well you gave birth to them ”  The nurse asked Mandy looking at the newest Allen twins and was unable to speak so she nodded, the nurse smiled and nodded and gave them to her. The two stopped crying as they finally were in their mother’s arms as they drifted off to sleep,Mandy couldn't believe that these two amazing babies were made by her and bart,while she was holding and staring at the little road runner’s to be she finally picked the perfect names for them “Bart I’ve got the perfect names what about Leonard Max Allen and Lydia Meloni Allen”.They both have met leonard snart and they couldn’t say he wasn’t a genius because he has gotten through a lot and was a good man deep down in his heart and He has actually saved Mandy a few times but he blaming it on the fact saying she was good looking but really they knew it was because he didn’t really want people to do as much as he led on and Lydia was Mandy’s great grandmother,Mandy was originally going to be named Lydia but they chose mandy as soon as they saw her,Her great grandma always said what she believed and didn’t care what other’s thought and she was very strong willed,one time she had a murderer in her house that ordered her to make him lunch so obviously she did with no fear in her eye’s while she was making the man lunch she had a big knife hidden next to her where only she could see and get. Bart nodded and had the biggest smile “I love them and the names are perfect” Bart said just staring at the newest additions.“would you like to hold them” Mandy said while handing them to him. Bart held both of them and just smiled and stared. “You did Amazing babe” Bart said looking at his sweaty tired out wife.

[demonsonthemoon]

We Shall Rule - Chapter 4

Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Marvel Comics Pairing: Platonic Bucky Barnes/Clint Barton, Steve Rogers/Sam Wilson, Steve Rogers/Peggy Carter, Jessica Drew/Natasha Romanoff Word Count: 4374 Summary: I finally give you the resolution of that cliffhanger, as well as a bit of fluff to make the angst go down smoother. And people say I don't love my readers.

Also available on AO3.

They had settled down on the couch with a glass of water and the DVD version of Mulan as a last resort to try and alleviate the panic. Steve still wasn't there half an hour later and Bucky felt like nothing could truly settle his anxiety, not even nostalgia in high doses. Sam looked calmer, but maybe that was just because he was better at pretending.

Both of them jumped when they heard the front door open, and turned to see Steve walk in.

The young man froze when he caught their gaze.

“Oh shit.” He quickly pulled out his phone. He cursed again. “I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm late. And I forgot to turn my phone back on. I didn't think. I'm sorry.”

Sam stood up from the couch and walked to him, putting a hand on the blond's shoulder. He winced slightly, and Bucky guessed that Steve smelled of alcohol.

“It's fine. You're home now. Though...” Steve was leaning into Sam's touch. “Dude, are you drunk?”

Steve opened his mouth, then closed it again. He played with his lower lip for a moment, looking down. “I'm... tipsy?”

Sam shaked his head. Bucky was still on the couch, and people were singing on the TV screen. Still, even from there he could feel the tension in the room rising.

“We were worried. But it doesn't matter now. We'll... I'll talk to you about it later. I hope you had a good night.” He came back to the living room to pick up his empty glass of water, dropped it in the sink and went to the front door. All the while, Steve dumbly stared at him, following his movements without any of his own.

“Thanks for the evening, Bucky. We should do it again sometime. Steve, I'll call you tomorrow. I'll head home now.”

Before anyone had had time to reply, he left and slammed the door.

Steve crossed Bucky's eyes.

“I'm sorry.”

Bucky wasn't sure what Steve was seeing in his gaze but apparently it was enough to make him feel genuinely bad, even through a thick layer of alcohol. He was looking down, arms close to his body, seeming tiny and soft.

“I didn't mean to, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.”

He was shaking his head more and more madly. Bucky turned off the television and walked up to him, putting both hands on his friend's arms. Steve sagged, letting Bucky hold him up, and even went as far as to bury his face in Bucky's shoulder.

“I'm sorry,” he said once more, voiced muffled.

Something was wrong, Bucky could feel it. He should be angry. Sam's reaction was the logical one, here. Steve had wronged them. He knew they would both probably wait for him. But he had ignored that and gotten drunk, and it was his own fault. Bucky should be angry with him. But he couldn't manage that. He couldn't manage to be glad that Steve was back either. He felt blank, like Sam's carefully crafted expression had been. He felt blank, and tired.

Steve tugged on his shirt a little, hands pulled into fists.

It annoyed Bucky. He couldn't exactly say why, but it annoyed him. He pushed his friend away.

“You need to get to bed. We'll talk about things tomorrow. Not when you're drunk.”

“I mean it, Bucky, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to.”

Didn't mean to what? Was he only apologizing for getting drunk and not answering his phone? Bucky didn't care about the answer. He just wanted his friend to shut up. He wanted silence. He wanted to go to sleep and not have to think about anything.

He steered Steve towards his bedroom, not replying, and watched for a few seconds as the blond started undressing himself. Then he went back to the kitchen and filled a water bottle from the tap.

“Drink this,” he ordered, holding the bottle up to Steve. “Then go to bed.”

Steve nodded and took the water bottle. Bucky walked out without looking back.

He went to his bedroom and sat down heavily on his bed.

He eventually fell asleep.

He awoke sharply, suddenly, breathing fast. He couldn't remember having a nightmare, though he guessed that was what had happened.

Bucky took a while to gather his wits before he even thought about getting up. He stayed in bed, lying on his back, and stared at the ceiling, the room already lit by sunshine.

He heard noises in the kitchen. So Steve was already awake. That was good. He couldn't have that bad of a hangover if he had woken up before Bucky.

He stood up. Didn't bother putting on more decent clothes than what he had slept in and immediately stepped into the next room.

“Hey,” Steve said sheepishly, holding a pan with two fried eggs on it. “I was just about to wake you up.” Two plates were already on the table, a slice of toasted bread and some bacon on each of them. He added an egg to each plate. “I made breakfast,” he pointed out needlessly, gesturing to the table with the pan still in his hands.

Bucky nodded, and sat down in front of one plate. Steve stared at him, worrying his bottom lip.

Bucky wasn't ready to make things simple for the other man. He had been scared. And it had been Steve's fault. The blond knew that. He would have to admit it first if he wanted Bucky's forgiveness.

Steve just stood there, not saying anything, until Bucky started eating his breakfast. Then he sat down across from him. He picked up his fork and fiddled with it for a while.

“I'm sorry about last night,” Steve said.

Bucky looked up, chewing on a mouthful of bread. Steve held his gaze for barely a second before looking away. He had dark circles under his eyes, clashing against his pale skin.

Bucky swallowed his food. “What happened?”

Steve started piling up his bacon and egg on top of his toast. “I... I went out with Peggy. After the gallery opening. We didn't stay there for long, actually. Just enough to see the art, listen to a speech. Drink some champagne. I hadn't eaten a lot. The alcohol raised to my head pretty quickly. She... She asked if I wanted to get out. I tolder her yes.” He cut a piece of his toast and ate it, while Bucky only watched without saying a word. “We went to a bar. I forgot to turn my phone back on. We had to put it on silent for the speeches. We drank some more. We danced.”

He fell silent, still cutting his toast into small  pieces. His egg yolk broke, covering his plate in orange liquid.

“Is that it?” Bucky asked. He could feel there was something else. He wouldn't have apologised so adamantly last night if it was only because he had gotten drunk. He wouldn't be looking so defensive now.

Steve finally shaked his head. He took another bite of his breakfast.

“We ended up kissing. In the bar. I mean, she kissed me. But I kissed her back. And then we kept on doing it.”

Steve was the one not looking up at Bucky now. He wasn't sure what to think of his friend's behavior. In itself, it wasn't anything particularly bad, but Steve obviously felt guilty about the kissing. Then there was his relationship to Sam, or more importantly the maybe relationship between the two men. The fact that Sam had been there when he had come home probably hadn't helped Steve's guilt.

“Okay,” Bucky said, waiting for Steve to look up before he continued. “You kissed her. That's fine.”

“Is it?”

Bucky pointed at his friend with his fork. “Is that a question? Because if it is, it's your problem to figure out. It's not a bad thing per se. But...”

“Sam.”

Bucky nodded. “Sam. I mean, there wasn't exactly anything between you and him, so it's not as if you cheated on him or whatever... Are you actually interested in dating that Peggy girl?”

Steve looked away, scratching at his neck. “I don't know.”

“Are you still interested in Sam?”

“Yeah... Yeah, I am.”

Bucky shrugged. “Then figure it out. But whatever you choose to do, apologize to Sam first. You were a mess last night, and we'd both been worried.”

“I'm sorry.”

Bucky shaked his head. “To Sam. I'll keep on being on being mad at you until you've set things right with him.”

They finished their breakfast in silence after that, and Bucky started doing the dishes when Steve left to call Sam. The repetitive motion was comforting, allowing him to sort through his thoughts. He felt frustrated by Steve's behaviour, but not exactly angry. He could still feel a trace of last night's complete state of blankness lingering over him, and the fact he was still exhausted despite it being 11AM already didn't help. He put a pot of coffee on.

That act alone immediately made him think of Clint, and the easy association made him laugh at himself. Still only wearing his boxers and a ratty t-shirt, he went back to his room to get his phone from his bedside table.

My roommate is being an idiot and forcing me to help him fix his romantic life.

He typed the text, then stared at his screen for a moment. It felt like an oversimplification of the problem. Because the issue of Steve's feeling was part of it, sure, but the breach of trust was as important, if not more. But how was he supposed to explain that in a text? Then there was the fact that he hadn't talked to Clint in a while. Was this maybe too direct? At the same time, he couldn't help but think this would be exactly the kind of behaviour that Clint would prefer. Not be too bothered by conventions, just going with the flow. After wondering for a whole minute whether to add a “Hey. How are you?” at the start of the message, Bucky hit send without changing anything. He wasn't gonna overthink this. He wasn't gonna ruin this with overthinking. Not happening.

He could hear Steve's voice from his bedroom. He didn't seem to be shouting nor crying, which was good, Bucky guessed. It couldn't be going too horribly.

He sighed, thinking about what he was gonna do with his day. Steve had deadlines coming up, so he probably wouldn't have the time to drag Bucky anywhere. There was a list of books he wanted to read and films he wanted to watch waiting for him in his room, but the idea of focusing on anything for too long a time felt unbearable.

People, he realised. He wanted company. He wanted something to fill the silence that wasn't his own thoughts. He wanted out of the scared loneliness. He frowned.

Sam probably needed some time to himself after the disaster that last night had been. So Bucky texted Natasha.

Hey. I'm bored and I want to get out of the apartment. Want to do anything?

He attached a picture of a puppy before sending the text.

Me and Jess were gonna do some shopping later. You could come. You'll be impeding on Quality Girl Time but we might forgive you if you buy us a frappucino.

Bucky smiled at the reply, which he had received a minute after sending his own text. He immediately wrote back too.

Gender roles are for square and I'll even treat you to extra whipped cream.

Natasha's response came in a matter of seconds:

C U @ 2

It was already getting on twelve. Bucky brought his phone back to his bedroom and looked for some clothes. Staring at his wardrobe, he wondered why he was even trying, and settled for a pair of low riding jeans ripped at the knees and a black v-neck with a faded design he had once found in a thrift store.

He put his prosthetic back on before dressing up, wincing as it settled into place. He moved his shoulder a little to see that everything was working fine, and finally put on his clothes. Opening his windows to let some air in, he deemed it too warm to wear a jacket without making it seem weird. On the other hand, his shiny metal prosthetic was on the conspicuous side as well.

He texted Natasha again.

Do you mind the arm? It's gonna get stares.

Natasha didn't reply immediately, so Bucky took a few minutes to make his bed and clean the kitchen table. He was considering vacuuming the living room for the second time in five days when his friend replied.

You know I'm fine with it and Jess says ok too. We're used to getting stared at :P

He smiled, kind of relieved.

He would have to take the bus and the metro to get to Nat's favorite commercial neighbourhood, but all in all it shouldn't take him much more than half an hour. Which meant he still had more than an hour to kill.

He walked to Steve's room and knocked on the door. There was no answer. Bucky stepped inside anyway and saw his best friend hunched over his drawing tablet, headphones on his head. He still hadn't noticed Bucky's presence, so he tapped on Steve's shoulder to get his attention. Steve jumped, dropping his tablet pen, and took off his headphones. Bucky could hear the music pouring out of them from where he was standing.

Which meant that Steve probably hadn't been able to figure out all of his problems with Sam. Not exactly surprising, though Bucky had allowed himself to hope.

“Hey. I'm gonna hang out with Nat and Jessica this afternoon. Gonna do some shopping or whatever.”

Steve's face went through a series of expressions, from surprise to disappointment, to the encouraging smile he had been wearing nearly constantly since Bucky's return. It kind of made the other man's skin crawl, even though he knew Steve meant well.

“Ok. Cool. Have fun.”

“We might walk past that fancy art supplies shop you like. Do you want anything?”

Steve thought about it, fiddling with his headphone cable while music screached out at low volume. “Actually I need to pick up some new markers, but I don't have the color names so I'll just stop by myself at some point. Thanks for asking though.”

Bucky nodded. He wasn't sure whether to just walk out now or not. Steve was looking distracted, not like he needed to go back to work immediately.

Bucky cleared his throat. “How did the conversation with Sam go?”

Steve's expression immediately darkened. “It went. He was pretty mad.”

“Did you talk about you and Peggy or...”

Steve looked away. Definitely or then.

“I didn't. I mean, I told him we had gone to a bar, that I was already a bit drunk, that I got distracted. But I didn't tell him we kissed. How would I even bring that up anyway? I don't... I didn't cheat on him. Me and Peggy... It had nothing to do with him.”

Bucky could see that Steve himself didn't believe that.

“Sure. You're still worked up about it, though.”

Steve shrugged, bending down to pick up his tablet pen.

“He was pretty mad. Because I did wrong by you.” He looked up at that and Bucky did his best to hold his gaze and not look away. He didn't want to be someone that Steve had to care for, someone he had to shape his life around. But at the same time he knew had he had been in a pretty bad shape when he wasn't sure where Steve was. “And I guess I'm pretty mad at myself for that too. And I did it for a girl. Because I was too busy snogging like a high-schooler.”

“Well, you never did get much snogging in high-school, except with me,” Bucky said, a poor attempt to diffuse the tension.

Steve threw is barely retrieved pen at him. “You're a jerk.”

“You're a punk.”

Steve tentatively grinned. He started fiddling with his headphones once more. “I just keep thinking... Sam is just a maybe.” Bucky raised an eyebrow. “But if last night is any indication, Peggy is a definite yes-”

“Do you really like her?”

Steve blushed and mumbled something inaudible.

“What was that?”

“I used to have a crush on her pre-T. But I think... I think she had a girlfriend at the time. And we were still together.”

Bucky arched an eyebrow at the last part of his sentence.

“What? I never even flirted with her. I just had a crush, I didn't cheat on you.”

“But this isn't new, then.”

“What, me and Peggy?”

“You getting a crush on several people at once.”

Steve shrugged. “I guess. I mean... That's not... weird. Right? I mean, loads of people have more than one crush.”

“Sure. Crushes in a broad sense. Hypothetical stuff. Not serious ones.”

“Sure, they do. Why would people cheat on each other otherwise?”

“Why would they choose to be in a commited exclusive relationship?”

Steve looked down at his hands and stayed silent for a moment. Bucky was glad to feel that all of his anger and frustration towards his friend had disappeared. Steve was just confused. That, and if Bucky really wanted to make others believe that he didn't need to be cared for, he had to stop freaking out when others weren't there to take care of him.

Steve sighed. “Gimme back my pen and get out of here before you give me more existential crises. I've got work to do.”

“You would make a cripple pick up a pen that you threw at him?”

Steve raised an unimpressed eyebrow, and Bucky bent down to give him back his pen, a smile on his face.

Bucky busied himself aimlessly for 50 more minutes before finally picking up a scarf to wrap around his neck, putting on some sneakers and leaving the apartment. He was about to get on the bus when he felt his phone vibrate in his pant pocket. He found a spot to sit next to a woman who clutched her purse more closely when she saw him approach. Pulling his cellphone out of his jeans, he was happily surprised to see it was a message from Clint. He had almost forgotten that he had texted the man.

Clint didn't seem to have been offended by Bucky's lack of proper greeting.

my best friend's love life is stealing both my pizza and my dog's affection :((((

He was thinking of what he could reply when he received another text.

Why is your best friend being an idiot tho?

That was easy to reply to. Ah.

He's a natural at it. Also he went out and forgot to turn on his phone, got drunk, kissed a girl, and came home to me and his crush both panicking because we didn't know where he was. Now he's having existential crises.

Let Clint find a way to react to that. Bucky put his phone back in his pocket and let his mind wander for a while. He decidedly did not look at the woman next to him, paying attention to the other people in the bus instead. Steve often told him he was good at inventing stories. Had even promised he would illustrate Bucky's first book if the man finally got his head out of his ass and sat down to write it. And sure, it sounded nice. Bucky liked telling stories. Looking at the people on the bus, he liked picking out interesting details about them, like the fact that a girl on her phone standing a few feet away had mismatched earrings, and assigning them a deep backstory. (The girl's earrings were actually enchanted and she used different combinations of them to cast different spells.) He didn't think the actual act of writing would suit him that much though. It seemed like it would just be an awful lot of time alone with his own thoughts.

Not that he wasn't already spending too much time alone with his thoughts. He looked back at how little had happened to him since he had been back from the hospital. At how many parties he had refused to go to. How many times he had declined his friends' invitations for a drink. How he hadn't been to a concert in years. He thought of all the movies he had watched, all the books he had read. All the music he had listened to without ever feeling the raw connection he had tried to describe to Clint days ago.

Bucky thought about cold and dark, and it felt scary. He thought about sweat, about too much warmth, noises he couldn't predict, blinding light and deep, deep darkness. It felt even scarier.

He stepped off two stops later then took the metro.

At the exit, he immediately spotted Nat and Jessica, leaning side by side on the railing of the staircase leading to the station. Natasha wasn't really hard to miss with her bright red hair, and Jessica was wearing a yellow crop top contrasting nicely with her brown skin. They were definitely all gonna get stared at.

The two women greeted him enthusiastically as he took the last few steps. Natasha even went as far as to give him a hug, which he returned a little stiffly. “Hey girls. Thanks for letting me crash your Quality Time.”

Jessica shrugged, smirking underneath her dark sunglasses. “Nat told me you were buying Frapucinnos, so you're off the hook until then.”

Bucky laughed as they all started walking. Their favorite neighbourhood to go shopping in was outside of the city center. There was a mall on one side, but if you walked a bit in the other direction you could find some nice smaller boutiques. Their prices could be a bit high sometimes, though already better than in some of the pseudo-hipster hubs downtown.

The girls talked about a bit of everything as they walked from shop to shop, always commenting on the clothes the other was looking at, and dragging Bucky into the conversation every time they disagreed on an item. Although Jessica's tastes for bright colors was sometimes a bit too much for Bucky, he had to admit she had a better eye for coordinating things than Natasha did.

Throughout the afternoon, he received a few more texts from Clint, starting with:

Existential crises plural? I mean, been there done that but still

He had explained the situation a bit more, and Clint had asked whether any of the people involved would consider a polyamorous relationship. He had then added as a disclaimer that he was probably the worst person to get romantic advice from, though, and also could we change the subject please before he started ranting about how alloromantic people always made things more dramatic than they had to be.

And so Bucky had changed the subject of conversation, instead asking Clint what kind of dog he had.

He was sitting on a table outside a Starbucks coffeeshop – Steve would have complained about them supporting big corporations, but the cute privately owned place didn't make frappucinos – when he received three pictures of a sand-colored dog. One of them was of the dog eating pizza.

He's a mutt and half-blind and a pizza thief but I love him

Bucky couldn't help but smile, and he sent back a series of heart eyes emoji. When he looked up, Jessica was looking at him above her sunglasses, drinking her caramel frappucino through its straw.

“What's so interesting on your phone that it would distract you from our stellar company?”

Bucky resisted the temptation to put his phone away, since it would only arouse more suspicion. And it wasn't as if he actually had anything to hide.

“Just chatting with a friend.”

“A friend we don't know?” Natasha asked, sipping at her own drink in a way that was eerily similar to her girlfriend's. Having both girls' attention focused on him was kind of terrifying, now that Bucky thought about it.

He didn't even think of being hurt by Nat's question. She kind of had a point.

“Remember when I came with you to Jess' party weeks ago? I met a guy there.” He shrugged. “We met up once for coffee, and he just sent me pictures of his dog.”

The two girls exchanged a look that made something drop in Bucky's stomach.

“Is he cute?” Jessica had, a smirk on her face.

Here it goes, Bucky thought as he rolled his eyes. He took a sip of his own coffee. “Are you really gonna ask me that?”

She shrugged. “Well, you met him at a queer party. So there's a pretty high chance he might be into you. Which leads me to asking whether you're into him.”

Bucky shaked his head. “He's not into me.”

Jess leaned back a little. “How do you know?”

“Not my story to tell.” He really hoped that the girls would drop it after that, and to his relief they did.

They went back to the subway station after their drinks, the girls with a bag each and Bucky with a new pair of jeans, a pair of boots and a sweater they had found in a thrift shop. Bucky sent Clint another text, wondering not for the first time why he had been so scared to talk to the guy again.

Worst thing than having to fix someone else's love life is your friends prying into yours.

Clint replied almost immediately.

Good luck prying into the void ahah

Bucky decided to interpret the laughter as genuine and not ironic, and put his phone away with a smile. Nat saw him do it and raised an eyebrow, to which Bucky replied with a glare. She didn't comment.

[libraryofrewrita]

Chapter 12: The Guardian of Flower Road

The next morning, after waking up and getting dressed, Katie hopped downstairs with Whisper and Jibanyan by her side as she wondered how the day would go.

I want to head to Blossom Heights first and get the Rank C upgrade, get the requirements for the next Rank, then head to Settle In Bookstore to see if that comic came in. Then we’ll go find more stuff to do. It’s definitely going to be a productive day today.

Katie grabbed a Custard Bread for her breakfast and ate it as her mother said to her,

“Morning, Katie. Your dad said he wanted to give you something before he went to work. He’s right outside.”

Katie nodded as she went to see what her dad wanted and she was surprised when she opened the door.

“Whoa!”

She walked over to her dad and the bicycle next to him.

This is the Sakura bicycle I’ve been saving for!

“What’s this for?”

“Think of this as a thank you for returning those papers to us yesterday. This is the one you’ve been wanting, right?”

“Yeah, it is!”

She sat on the bicycle to see if it was the right size for her.

“Okay, it’s the right size. I remember when I got my first bike. I rode it around town until it was dark. Man, my dad was annoyed at me for doing that.”

“I’ll ride it to Flower Road to get the hang of it.”

“That’s a good distance for a bike ride. Just go through Blossom Heights instead of Downtown. It’s too busy right about now.”

“Alright, I’ll see you later, dad.”

Katie took off on her new bike, leaving Whisper and Jibanyan behind.

“Whisper, she forgot us.”

“Relax, I’ll get us to her. Hold on to me.”

Jibanyan got onto Whisper’s back and Whisper flew after Katie. Thankfully, Katie had stopped a few feet ahead when she realized that Whisper and Jibanyan weren’t with her. When they caught up with her, she gave them a sheepish smile.

“Sorry about that, guys.”

“Nyeh, it’s okay. It would’ve been awkward to put me in the basket in front of your dad, anyway.”

“Oh, did you want to ride in the basket, Jibanyan?”

“I did at first, but I like being carried by Whisper.”

Whisper blushed a faint pink as he plopped Jibanyan into the basket, making him annoyed.

“Hey!”

“Oh, quiet, you lazy nekomata.”

Katie just rolled her eyes as she continued pedaling, making sure that Whisper was with her this time.

“Hey, guys!”

Nate cycled up to Katie and they pedaled side-by-side.

“Nice day today, uh?”

“Oh, you got a bike too?”

“Yep! Dad got me the Breeze bike I’ve been saving up for as a thank you for yesterday. Heading to Blossom Heights?”

“Yeah, only for the Watch upgrade. I was also going to Settle In Bookstore on Flower Road.”

“Okay, first to Blossom Heights, then to Flower Road, and we’ll see how the day goes.”

*****

They parked their bikes at Timer’s and More and went inside.

“Hi! We’re here for the Rank C upgrade.”

They placed their Watches on the counter and Mr. Goodsight went to his work table and started fiddling with them a little before handing them back to Nate and Katie.

“Here’s your new Rank C Yo-kai Watches and here’s a list of Yo-kai to battle for Rank B.”

Whisper took the paper out of Mr. Goodsight’s hands and the group looked it over.

“Let’s see here…Tengloom at Construction Site, Flumpy at Shopping Street Narrows, and Mad Mountain at Abandoned Tunnel? These are a bit random, aren’t they?”

“Okay, Shopping Street Narrows we can do, kinda iffy about the Abandoned Tunnel, but the Construstion Site? Why would we ever go over there?”

Mr. Goodsight shrugged.

“Don’t ask me. I’m just a shopkeeper. Besides, I’m sure your Yo-kai friends will keep you safe from any real danger.”

They thanked Mr. Goodsight for his help, left Timer’s and More, and continued onward to Flower Road.

*****

When they got to Flower Road, they got off their bikes and walked with them down to Settle In Bookstore. They bumped into Eddie as he was walking out of Settle In Bookstore with a bag of books in his hand. He waved at them and said,

“Hi, guys.”

“Hey, Eddie. Whatcha got there?”

“Stuff for a new project I’m working on. Oh, I got a new video game the other day and I wanted to know if you two would be interested in playing it with me?”

“Sorry, Eddie. We’re kinda busy today. Maybe tomorrow?”

Eddie seemed to think it over and said,

“Sounds good. I’ll use the time to read these books I got. I’ll see you tommorow then.”

Eddie went on his way, Nate and Katie locked their bikes to the bike rack just outside of Settle In Bookstore, and went inside. The kids walked over to the comics and Jibanyan and Whisper were hanging around the magazines. Jibanyan picked one up and as he leafed through it, he asked,

“Whisper, this might sound like a weird question, but do you think that we could stuff their bikes into the bottomless bag?”

Whisper shrugged as he watched the two kids look over the comics.

“I don’t see why not. We’ll try it when the four of us are alone.”

Whisper floated over to the bookshelves and found a couple of books that were known to help Yo-kai. He waved Nate and Katie over just so that they knew where they were if they ever considered getting them for their Yo-kai companions. Jibanyan had finished his magazine and walked over to the group as Nate and Katie were about to head over to the counter to pay for the new comic.

“Look, if I told you once, I told you a hundred times! I’m not selling my store, no one else is selling their store, and we’re not leaving Flower Road!”

The cashier was arguing with a man in a business suit. Nate and Katie started to wonder what that was about as the businessman left grumbling to himself. The cashier sighed and mumbled to himself,

“Finally. I thought that jerk would never leave.”

He glanced up at Nate and Katie when they walked up to the counter and laid the comics on the counter.

“Oh, did you two just see that? I’m so sorry for that. Five bucks for both comics.”

Nate laid five bucks on the counter and asked,

“Hey, Sam? What was that about?”

“Oh, that jerk was trying to convince me to sell the store again. They want to build a mall or something here. Stupid jerk doesn’t realize that there’s a reason no one on Flower Road is selling their stores to them. We’re not making the guardian of Flower Road homeless for the sake of some kiosks that sell snacks that anyone can buy at any Everymart or grocery store.”

The group was now curious. They hadn’t heard of a guardian protecting Flower Road before.

“You know, your science teacher was just here discussing the stituation we’re going through right now. He knows more about the guardian than I do.”

“Well, thank you for the information, Sam. We’ll see you later.”

They took their comics, got their bikes and Whisper poked them.

“According to my Yo-kai Pad, he Shooping Street Narrows are just a few feet away. We can go fight Flumpy and get it over with.”

“Okay.”

The group walked over to the alley known as the Shopping Street Narrows and walked in. They saw a Yo-kai that looked like Buhu, but was green and yellow with a bit of orange.

“This Yo-kai can make you feel very unfashionable and awkward. Let’s just ask for a battle.”

*****

“My defeat was so awkward! Don’t look at me!”

The entire battle felt awkward. We just wanted to get it done and over with.

Flumpy disappeared and they picked up what they could find.

“I’m hungry. Can we pick up some food?”

“Yeah, there’s plenty of places to eat here, so it’s just a matter of picking what we want.”

They walked out of the Shopping Street Narrows and walked by a few places and Whisper pointed towards Sun Pavillion.

“What does that place serve?”

“Chinese food, if I’m remembering right.”

Whisper flew up to look at the menu in the window and glanced at it.

“Oh, they have Liver and Chives!”

“Wait here, Whisper.”

Nate walked into Sun Pavillion for a few minutes and walked out with some Chinese food in a bag.

“There’s Yo-kai that like Chinese food, right?”

Whisper nodded and said,

“Yeah, there is. It’s not my favorite food, but I do enjoy eating it.”

Nate handed Whisper a Liver and Chives and Whisper had to wipe away the drool coming from his mouth before taking it out of Nate’s hand.

“Whisper…your drool is green?”

Whisper had stuffed the Liver and Chives into his mouth and had to chew and swallow it before he answered,

“Don’t question it, Nate. But thanks for getting this for me.”

Nate smiled and patted Whisper’s head as he put the rest of the Chinese food into the bottomless bag.

“Might as well pick up some other food while we’re here.”

Before they went to the other shops, they saw their science teacher, Mr. Barton.

“Hi, Mr. Barton!”

He turned to see the two kids and smiled.

“Oh, hello, Nate and Katie. How has your summer been?”

“It’s been going great, Mr. Barton. We actually wanted to ask you something.”

“If it’s a science question, you have to wait until school is in session or look up the answer yourself.”

“It’s not that, Mr. Barton. We heard that you know something about the guardian of Flower Road.”

“Ah, yes. Ever since talk of demolishing Flower Road started up, people have been saying that the guardian has placed a curse on Shopper’s Row due to some strange incidents. In fact, your classmate Lucas Yenamo reported seeing a fire recently in the area. Last I saw him, he was near Everymart. He can probably tell you more about it than I can.”

Mr. Barton left them to attend to some business elsewhere and the kids started walking to Everymart. They saw Lucas fiddling with his necklace and he stopped when he saw Nate and Katie. To their surprise, he looked relieved when he saw them.

“Hey, guys.”

He looked off to the side, almost like he was staring at Whisper and Jibanyan.

“Lucas?”

Lucas snapped back to Nate and Katie and said,

“Sorry, I was dazing off again. What did you two need?”

“We heard you saw a fire?”

“Yeah…I saw a fire start near Nocturne Hospital. I went to get an adult before it got any worse. I didn’t tell anyone this, but it looked like the fire started by itself. I didn’t think anyone would believe me if I said that, but it feels like I can trust you two for some reason.”

“Thanks for the tip, Lucas. Be careful on your way home, okay?”

Lucas smiled as he walked off and waved goodbye to the group, humming the same strange tune and fiddling with his necklace.

“Whisper, did you nyotice Lucas was staring at us?”

“It certainly looked like it, didn’t it? Well, let’s get to Nocturne Hospital and see what’s up.”

*****

After buying a few food items and making sure they still had some money left, they went down to Nocturne Hospital. It was an abandoned hospital that was the subject of many urban legends and it certainly showed. There was a small burned area that told them that this was where the fire started and a yellow and purple Watch Lock door with an A.

“Thank goodness for the Watch Lock, I’m getting a creepy vibe from this place.”

“Yeah, it is pretty creepy, Whisper. Don’t worry, we’re not actually going in.”

Whisper sighed with relief as Jibanyan held his hand.

“Guys, can we go nyow? I’m starting to get creeped out by this place.”

Before the group could leave, they saw a Yo-kai suddenly appear into the area, their back turned to the group.

“Oh, I’ll show them. They’re going to regret messing around my territory.”

“Is that the guardian of Flower Road?”

The Yo-kai turned to the group and snapped,

“I can hear you, you know! But, yes. I am Kyubi, guardian of Flower Road.”

“Why did you curse Shopper’s Row?!”

He rolled his eyes and muttered to himself,

“I really envy my brother. He doesn’t have to deal with this.”

He held his hands behind his back and said,

“Tell you what. I’ll explain everything if you’ll meet me at the Construction Site tonight.”

“What?! Why?!”

“Reasons. I’ll be seeing you there if you want the explaination.”

He bowed and disappeared into a puff.

“Wow…totally not suspicious at all.”

The sarcasm dripped from Nate’s words as the group had to think over what had happened.

“Would it be worth it to risk our lives in a dangerous construction site just to see why Kyubi is acting like this?”

“Well…Tengloom is there…and we kinda need the upgrade.”

“Okay, we’ll go for Tengloom, but I’m still not sure about Kyubi.”

“Well, let’s go kill some time until nightfall, then.”

Previous Chapter: https://libraryofrewrita.tumblr.com/post/162221276499/chapter-11-what-dad-forgot Next Chapter: https://libraryofrewrita.tumblr.com/post/163577845314/chapter-13-preparing-for-the-confrontation

[btsinwonderland]

Love Me Better - Ch. 15

A Monsta X Story...

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The day she dreaded had finally arrived. She walked into Minhyuk's room to see him finish up packing. He had a small pile of folded clothes beside the suitcase and put them inside it before he zipped it up.

"Don't forget your toothbrush," Vy said half heartedly.

He smiled and went to her for a tight embrace. She felt her eyes burn a little but tried to contain herself.

"I promise I'll be back as quick as possible," he said into her hair. "The time will go by quickly, we'll just have to keep ourselves busy."

His melodious voice broke into her emotions and tears fell from her eyes. She started laughing nervously. "I'm sorry I'm acting like a clingy teenager right now..."

He let go of their embrace just enough to cup her face in both his hands. His eyes twinkled in a sea of black and brown darkness.

"Vy...I love you. I know it's been a short time, but that doesn't change how I feel."

Her senses lit on fire at his words, she was worried for a second that she misheard. She looked up at him with shiny eyes and an anxious expression. She started to say something when Minhyuk pressed his lips onto hers so fiercely she forgot where she was anymore.

Her head whirled at the feeling of his lips, the soft warmth mixed with the aggressive action was dizzying. Her hands reached up to his neck and she held him there, his hair brushed her fingertips with soft tendrils.

He held her tightly against him and pulled away so he could look at her again. He pushed aside her hair and hugged her once more breathing in her scent.

"I'm sorry..." he whispered so low she did not hear it.

The next day she woke up at the crack of dawn to meet her slave driver in the basement. It had been two weeks since they started and she had her days of despising him but learning to fight was enjoyable.

He waited by the mats as usual in shorts and a t shirt that seemed slightly too small for him. His biceps bulged in the light and he stared at her with an evil look. She had gotten used to his demented style of teaching at this point.

Every day it was a new approach, every single time they trained he would be waiting for her in a different way. She was supposed to grab him with intent and try to pin him down. However, it usually ended up with her on the floor or in some sort of locked position.

This time he gave her a stare down and flexed his muscles like gorilla. He breathed heavily through his nostrils and even stomped his foot once. The veins in his neck looked strained and though she thought it was comical there was something very dangerous about it all.

She took a breath and ran towards him. Yelling, she tried to use the new tactic he taught her by hooking her leg around his neck but he easily grabbed her ankle and pushed her backwards.

She landed with a thud and jumped back up. This warm up lasted about ten minutes until Wonho got sick of it and then grabbed her by the leg and pushed her down onto her stomach. His body weight pinned her down helplessly and she tapped out.

"Ahh haven't you been learning anything I taught you?" He said.

He helped her up and began the ruthless regiment. They only stopped for water breaks and food and went until sundown. Her muscles ached each night and she began to grow weary.

When she laid in bed all she could think of was Minhyuk. In the blink of an eye a week had passed since he left and the only thing that kept her going was to see his proud expression when he returned. She wanted to do better to show him she was more than just the girl who ran away from home.

After another week she felt her spirits begin to rise. The early mornings no longer hurt and her body was getting used to the long hours of activity. She even began to stay after their training sessions and continue her work outs.

On the beginning of the third week Minhyuk had been gone, she went downstairs as was routine. Wonho was not there. He was nowhere to be found. She smiled at the challenge. Wonho no longer kept track of her hours training and she believed he would underestimate her. She would use it to her advantage.

She casually walked around breathing low and evenly. "Looks like he's finally late, can't wait to harp on that bastard..." she said.

She walked up to a punching bag and started wrapping her fingers with tape. The tape made a ripping sound as she removed it from the roll. Her ears were hyper aware and she heard the lowest shuffling sound and immediately ran forward when she felt the brush of a hand on her back.

Wonho ran behind her and got her in a headlock and was about to push her up against the wall. However, she lifted her legs and ran up the wall, flipping over him and knocked him down to the ground. She wrapped her legs around his neck and pinned his arms down.

"Hah! Yes!" She was elated.

He stayed still and she tightened her legs roughly. He laughed when the breath was knocked out of him and tapped out. When she let him go he gave her a different look. One she had not seen before. It was a surprised expression but with a hint of possible respect. Dare she go as far to think that?

"Looks like you're not a lost cause, maybe I can teach you a thing or two..." Wonho said.

It was the highest she had felt in a while. Her heart raced with excitement and she felt absolutely on top of the world.

They continued for a few more hours when he picked up a towel and threw it at her. "Let's go."

"Are we done already?"

Wonho smirked and started walking away, "I see dedication, so we can take a proper break. Do you like barbecued meat?"

They drove to a restaurant in downtown, it was on the belt line and looked quite dingy. The exterior walls were a faded yellow and the neon sign flashed loudly.

"It looks like a shit hole but they have the best barbecue here I swear," Wonho said.

She thought he was going to open the door for her and smiled. However he saw someone he recognized inside and walked in without a thought. The door almost slammed in her face and she rolled her eyes.

"What do I expect..." she muttered under her breath.

The grill was fired up in front of them and a stout older man brought them plates and plates of meat. She looked at it and immediately her stomach growled and her mouth watered.

She had never had food like this before and Wonho took all the meats and laid them out in a specific order on the grill. They ordered side items and he told her which ones would go well with which meats. He cooked everything and set it on her plate.

The food was heavenly in her mouth, she dipped the meat in several sauces and ate it with rice and potatoes. What a sight it was to realize how much her appetite had grown since before the training. She could eat heaps more food and that was just what she did.

She noticed Wonho left several times during the meal to go talk to the old man. Vy felt like it was more than just small talk after the third time he got up. When he came back she asked him about it.

"You didn't just bring us here for food did you," she said.

Wonho smirked and gave a slight nod. "Surprised you caught on, you looked a little busy shovelling all that food in."

He paused when some more customers came in. The owner led them to a table far away from theirs.

"We're actually on an assignment. Shownu told me to bring you in as soon as I thought you would be okay to use."

Vy's eyes widened, "you mean we're partners?"

Wonho looked her dead in the eyes, "we're not partners. You're just a tag-a-long intern who will not fuck anything up. Understand? The only reason you're here is because Shownu said I wouldn't get any assignments if I didn't do this one with you."

At this point none of Wonho's words affected her much when he spoke that way. Though for just a tiny bit it stung. She just nodded at him silently and thanked him for the food.

"The owner of this restaurant is one of my guys, he observes for me. The last thing he observed was a shady looking sidewalk hustler from our side doing a deal with a cleaned up guy who looked like he was on the other side."

Vy was trying to stay with his statement but she was confused, "okay so someone sold drugs to someone else but what do you mean by our side and the other side?"

"Oh I forgot nobody told you these things...here we go..." he took a deep breath and a chug of water. "The seven of us are The Clan. We are a sub group of a large organization under the Park family. They own us pretty much and we're loyal to them. There's a lot of sub groups under the Park family and those groups are like brother and sister groups to us. Now there's another big player in the city who the Park's have a truce with, they're equally as powerful so to war with them is just a bad idea. They are called the Hanamuri family, they also have sub groups like we do, but we say they're on the other side because we don't associate with them as per the truce. The Hanamuri stick to theirs and we stick to ours."

He stuck an ice cube in his mouth and began to chew while she let the information sink in. So far his explanation cleared her mind a little but she felt there were still many questions.

"So are you saying that a drug pusher from the Park side, our side, sold stuff to a Hanamuri subordinate?" She said.

He nodded. "It's not the most shocking thing to happen but it's fishy enough we should look into it. I have a file of our assignment in the car you can take a look at it when we're done here.” He then got up and went over to the bar and ordered a drink which she thought was odd. It was then she noticed that the owner slipped Wonho a small piece of paper along the bottom of the drink. She scarfed down the rest of her food and they left.

She looked through the file and saw that they were checking out a small discrepancy in drug weigh-ins compared to the accumulated amount of income. Wonho drove and glanced at her confused expression.

“Yeah this is probably the most basic task we could be doing, it’s most likely nothing. Either the idiot messed up the numbers or took a few hits for himself. When we’re done with this we’re going to talk to Shownu and you’re going to tell him you want to work with someone else. Deal? You can go work with your boyfriend...”

Vy blushed at his words and looked away. The last thing she wanted was a relationship conversation with Wonho.

“So where are we going now?” She said.

"The owner gave me the address of our guy that did the deal, he might have some answers.”

They pulled into a tiny alley behind a row of small houses. The houses had paint peeling off the sides and looked like they were holding it together by a thread. They approached a grove of trees and found their way into the backyard. Wonho turned to her and put a finger to his lips, she nodded.

The lawn was a complete jungle and the grass went up to her knees. They fished through it as quietly as possible and noticed that a window was open. They hid below it and heard a voice from inside.

“Yeah I’m selling as fast as I can, can you tell him to get off my ass! It’s not easy, I gotta sell double just to make it look normal. There’s only so much I can skim off before they’ll notice!”

Wonho looked at Vy and signalled her to go around the front while he would go through the back door. Her first mission seemed fairly simple though her heart was pounding loudly and she was already sweating. She tiptoed away and mistakenly did not notice a twig in the grass, it snapped loudly and the talking immediately stopped. She ran to the front to see a man pop through the front door and begin to run.

“Fuck! Run after him!” Wonho yelled from behind her.

She started pursuing the man down the street. He carried a satchel with him and was sprinting like his life depended on it. Her body was in full focus and she just let her legs follow him as fast as she could. They came to a bridge that went into downtown and the man ran across it and threw his satchel into the river below. She looked to the side but decided to keep pursuing him instead. People began to stare at them but she paid them no mind.

They ran several blocks and she felt her stamina wane slightly but it looked as though he was slowing down more than her. She smiled when she was within a few feet of him. He zigzagged across the road and for one second he looked back and she was almost upon him.

It was then a car came to a screeching halt and crashed right into him, she felt the wind from the impact right in front of her face and looked at the ground in terror. The man she pursued  was in a pile on the asphalt in a large pool of blood and bone fragments. A scream erupted from around her and she felt someone grab her and take her away. It was Wonho he walked her away from the scene and put his coat around her to cover the blood on her shirt. They walked into a fast food restaurant and he told her to clean up before going outside again.

She looked at herself in the mirror and could only stand there and stare. There were flecks of blood on her face and no amount of water seemed to remove it. It felt as though her whole face was itchy and covered in the man’s blood. She panted and the room felt nauseating. The image of his bloody demise flashed before her eyes repeatedly and she only wished that was something that she could have prepared for. All the weights, running, and training suddenly fell away and she was back to the scared and fucked up place she was before. She fell to her knees and cried as Wonho knocked on the door for her to hurry up.

[jbhenwiler]

David and the Crystal Gems in... David’s Room

This episode takes place between Day 3 and the Epilogue of the original Redemption from a Dark World story.

David and the Crystal Gems in… David’s Room

Amethyst: So are we going to keep David on the couch forever, or what?

Pearl: (Folding Steven’s laundry)  Huh… I completely forgot about that.  How long have we been having him sleep on it?  He is an adult, perhaps we should find him his own place to live in.

David walks in.

David: Hey Pearl, Amethyst.  What’s up?

Pearl: Were were talking about arranging proper living quarters for you.

David: Of course!  I was wondering when I’d be getting my own place, but Beach City is still a little unfamiliar to me.  I was worried I wouldn't be able to find a good apartment or house.

Pearl: Well, we’re kinda in the same boat.  We’ve never been house shopping before.  Greg should be able to help us, though.

Almost by magic, Greg, walked into the house.

Greg: Hey, Pearl, I need some help with my van.

Pearl: Oh, Greg, your timing is perfect.  We need your help as well.

Greg: What kind of help?  You know I’m not good with your Gem stuff.

Pearl: Nothing of the sort.  We need you to assist David in finding a house.

Greg: A house… As in you want me to help David find a place to live?

Pearl: Exactly.

Greg: Well, I suppose there is the classifieds; let me go get a newspaper from the Big Donut.

Greg leaves for his van.  About 15 minutes later, he returns.

Greg: Here.  (hands David the newspaper)  Have you ever read the classified ads before, David?

David: I had a lesson on it in high school.  My 12th grade year had a required course on independent living.

Greg: Perfect.  This here’s the Beach City Gazette.  Try finding a place you can easily afford.

David leafs through the paper and finds an apartment on the other side of town.

David: Let’s try this one.

Greg: OK then, let’s go take a look at it.

Greg and David hop in the van and drive to a small apartment unit.  They get out and look around.  The property is clearly not in good condition.  

Greg: Sheesh, this place looks really run down.

David: This was the only place I could find in the paper that I could afford.

Greg: Actually, this won’t work anyway.  (Points to a sign on the window)  Look, the place’s already rented.

David: (Sighs) We’ll have to keep looking then.

They get back into the van and drive back to the beach house, and David enters alone.  Steven is now home from helping Gems in Little Homeworld.  No one else is present.

Steven: So I heard you’re moving out.  Any luck in finding a good place to live?

David: I found one place, but it’s in bad shape and it’s already rented.

Steven: Bummer.  Beach City is a pretty good place to live, so a lot of places are full.  Hmmm… (Thinks to himself)  Wait, there’s one place in this area that always has openings.

David: And that would be…

Steven: Little Homeworld!  It’ll be awesome!

David: Steven, I’m not a Gem!

Steven: That’s fine, we can make it work.  Just spend one night there and see if you like it!

David: I really don’t know about this but… I trust you, Steven.  Let’s do it tonight.

Steven: It’s a deal!

Steven drives David to Little Homeworld…

Steven: Hey guys!  We’ve got a new resident!

Calcite: Ooh, what kind of Gem is she?

Steven: (His face kinda wilts as he realizes what he’s doing) He’s… Not a Gem at all.  David?  Come out of the car.  (David nervously steps out of Steven’s vehicle)

Calcite: A human!?  Steven, are you sure this is the right place for him?  I mean, they have a whole city to themselves!

Steven: Don’t be like that, Calcite!  He has nowhere else to go, and Little Homeworld welcomes everyone!

Moss Agate: Yeah!  This’ll be so much fun!  Our own little human to play with!  (David immediately has very uncomfortable flashbacks of his world’s Rose Quartz, causing him to grimace with discomfort)

Steven: (Sees David’s face, and whispers to him) Just one night, OK?  (David nods)

Cherry Quartz: So… Where we putting him?

Steven: Well, who wants David to live with them?

The Gems look amongst themselves, until Larimar raises her hand.

Steven: Little Larimar!  You sure you can handle him?

Larimar: Of course!  I will take good care of the human.

Steven: (To David) Go with her.

David: Steven, this really isn’t sounding right.

Steven: Just give her a chance.  She might seem odd, but she really likes humans.

David nervously follows Larimar through the streets of Little Homeworld to a squat hut painted the same blue as Larimar’s gemstone.

Larimar: Here is my wonderful little home.  I hope you like it, brown-haired pale human.

David: (Taken aback by Larimar’s “name” for him) Please call me David.

Larimar: Of course, you humans go by personalized names instead of your type.  I am still learning how to interact with your species.  Forgive me.

David: (Now feeling a little sorry for her) No need to apologize.  This is new for me too.

Larimar: But you already live with Gems.

David: True, but Pearl, Garnet, Steven, and the others are more experienced with humans.  Anyway, let’s go inside.

Larimar: Agreed.

The inside of Larimar’s home is filled with ice sculptures and not much else.

David: Umm… Where do I sleep?

Larimar: Where do you what…?  Oh, right.  That thing humans do when they rest at night.  You can sleep… Over there.  (Points to the floor in the corner of the house’s single room)

David: The floor?  Well, I guess I should have expected that.

Larimar: What do you mean?

David: Well, normally humans sleep on soft structures called “beds,” but since this place is designed for Gems, I guess there wouldn’t be one here.

Larimar: You are correct, this is a home for Gems.

David: (Sighs)

Larimar: (Looks at David, and also sighs)

David: (Looks questioningly at Larimar)

Larimar: (Sees David’s look) To live with humans, I must understand humans.

David: That’s good thinking, but you don’t need to imitate everything I’m doing.  Anyway… I’m going to go get something to eat.

Larimar: I have plenty of snow cones in storage!

David: That’s a nice thought, but us humans can’t survive on just ice.  (Takes a warp whistle out of his pocket) And I can go practically anywhere on the planet for food.

Larimar: A whistle… For warp pads!  I haven’t seen one of those in ages.  The Crystal Gems must really trust you.

David: (Smugly grinning) Indeed they do.

15 minutes later, in Mexico…

David: ¿Me gustaría un burrito?

Taco Stand Owner: Sí.  Cinco pesos por favor.

David: (Hands over 5 pesos he just had converted in a Mexican bank)

Taco Stand Owner: Gracias.  (Goes to his kitchen to prepare the food)

Minutes later...

David: (Eating the burrito)  Sorry Mira Aquí, these burritos are mucho mejores.

Ten minutes later…

David arrives by warp pad back in Little Homeworld, still holding part of the burrito.  A gathering of Gems had assembled around the warp, waiting for him to return.  David is caught off guard by all the Gems surrounding him.

David: Uhhh…. Can I help you guys?

Moss Agate:  Where’d you go?

Calcite: What’s that thing in your hand?

Cherry Quartz: How did you use the warp pad?

David: (Decides to take things in stride) I went to Mexico, this is a burrito, a classic Mexican food product, and thanks to the power of warp whistles, I can use pretty much any warp pad.

Everyone: Wow!

Moss Agate: So, we have so many questions we’d like to ask.  Here’s mine: what’s it like being a human?

David: (Bewildered)  That’s a REALLY difficult question to answer.  (Sits down on the edge of the warp)  It’s nice.  I’ve always felt at home with myself.  Steven told me the Crystal Gems, especially Rose Quartz, wanted to protect us because unlike most Gems at the time, we had the power to change.  Change our roles, our jobs, our outlook on life.  Even our bodies are constantly evolving.  So I guess being human feels kinda… Comfortable.

Everyone is enthralled.

Bixbite: So that’s why Rose turned into Steven!  She wanted to be more comfortable!

David: Uhh, I’m sure her reasoning was MUCH more complex than that…

Bixbite: What’s eating feel like?

David: Well, I’m told Gems can shape-shift the necessary organs for eating, so all of you can definitely experience that for yourselves.  Don’t ask me the specifics though.  Amethyst would be much better explaining how to make yourself a stomach and stuff.

Before David can react, Bixbite swipes the leftover burrito out of David’s hands.

David: Hey!

Bixbite takes a huge bite out of the burrito.  She immediately goes star-eyed.

Bixbite: Oh my stars, this.  Is.  AMAZING!!  (She quickly scarfs down the rest of the burrito)

David: (Both angry his food got stolen and concerned that Bixbite won’t be able to properly digest it)  Oh CRUD…  (Gets up, whips out his phone and dials Steven)

Steven: Hey, David, what’s up?  How are the Gems treating you?

David: (Voice comically high-pitched from nervousness)  Hi, little bro Steven!  Hey, I kinda made a short trip to Mexico for dinner and Bixbite here decided to eat some of my food from there?  I don’t think she knows how to make a digestive system, so is it a bad thing she ate something??  

Steven: (Thinking in his head: Uh-oh, he’s gone falsetto.  That’s never a good sign)  Uhh… I’ll bring Amethyst over.  Be right there, OK?

David: (*Still falsetto*) OK, see you soon!

Moss Agate: Woah, I didn’t know humans could raise their voices like that!

David: (Very nervous) Yeah, that’s kinda a thing we do, you know, when we--

Bixbite siezes over with sickness.  Seconds later, Steven and Amethyst warp in.

Amethyst: Hang on, Bixbite!  I got you!  (Rushes over)  Here’s what you gotta do…  (Whispers instructions on forming a digestive system to Bixbite)

Bixbite creates a digestive system within herself and her sickness subsides.

Steven: Whew, that was a close one.  David, why did you feed Bixbite?

David: I didn’t!  She swiped the food out of my hands!

Bixbite: Yes, I did.  I’m sorry, David.

Steven: That explains it.  Did you really go all the way to Mexico for food?

David: Yep.

Amethyst: Wow, that’s some dedication.  Just remember to use that warp whistle responsibly.  No joy rides across the globe, okay?

David: I know the rules.  And I won’t go offworld without you guys either.

Steven: Good.  Anyway, the Sun’s beginning to set, so I gotta go get dinner myself.  Oh, and Gems?  (Everyone listens in)  Next class in Little Homeschool is going to be how to make digestive systems for human foods.  I don’t want anything like this happening again.

All Gems: Got it!

Steven: Alright.  I’m out.  See you guys!

All Gems: Bye!  (Exit Steven and Amethyst)

Bixbite: I want to eat more.  Can you take me to Mexico, David?

David: Uhh… I don’t know about that… For one thing, they speak a different language there.

All Gems: They do!?

David: Yeah, depending on what part of Earth you’re in, humans speak all sorts of different languages.

Cherry Quartz: What languages do you know, David?

David: Well… My first, “native” language is English, but I also know Spanish and a little German.

Moss Agate: That’s so cool!  Speak a different language!  I want to hear what it sounds like!

David: Uhhh… ¡Hola!  ¡Me llamo David!

Calcite: Ooh!  What was that?

David: I said “Hi!  My name’s David,” in Spanish.

Everyone is amazed.  Just then, Larimar enters the crowd.

Larimar: Ah, David!  You’re back from your food-gathering mission!  And I see you’re interacting with your new friends!

Moss Agate: This human is amazing!  No wonder Rose Quartz wanted us to save them; they’re all so cool!

David: (Blushes) Wow, uhh, thanks?  I mean, I’m not that special.

Calcite: By the way, where’s your sword?  Don’t you always carry it around?

David: I… Don’t have it today.  And probably for good reason.  I don’t want to scare any of you guys.

Calcite: Aww, man!  But I wanted to spar with you!  (Pulls a small flail out of her Gem, causing David to become a little frightened)

Just then, Bismuth comes to the front of the crowd.

Bismuth: Absolutely not!  For one thing, we don’t fight humans, even for fun, and for another, David’s sword isn’t like any other sword.  It’s capable of slicing straight through a Gem, even shattering one.

Everyone: WHAT!?

Bixbite: David can shatter us!?

Bismuth: That’s not what I meant, people!  What I meant is that you shouldn’t take sparring with David lightly.  He’s really good with that sword of his.

David: And in any case, I would never shatter a Gem.  Only reason the sword is made that way is because…  Well…

Moss Agate: Well?  Why do you have a shattering sword?

Bismuth: David isn’t from around here.  In fact, he’s not even native to this dimension.

Everyone is shocked.

Bixbite: But he’s human!  He has to be from Earth!

David: I AM from Earth… Just not this one…  The one I come from… Well…

Bismuth: David’s version of Earth was taken over by the Diamonds.  He lived a terrible life there, and nearly died on several occasions.

Now everyone looks sorry for David.

Calcite: You poor thing!

David: My sword is made that way because in the world I come from, every fight was a fight to the death.  Thankfully, I never had to fight, so I never shattered anyone.  In any case, I never fight Gems.  If I have to, I’m very careful.  And there’s only two reasons why I’d attack you.  First, if you pose a direct threat to my life, and second, if you REALLY make me angry.

Moss Agate: I see.

Bismuth: Anyway, David, what are you doing here this late?  Don’t you have to go back to Steven’s place?

David: Well, I’m trying to move out on my own, but there’s no places I can afford in Beach City, and Steven thought it would be a good idea for me to try living here.

Bismuth: (Very confused face)  That’s a really dumb idea.  I don’t know what Steven was thinking.

Calcite: That’s OK, we love having him here!

David: Uhh, anyway, I’m going to go warp somewhere and buy a sleeping bag for Larimar’s place.  See you guys!  (Walks onto the warp pad and warps to a mall in California, which is the only warp pad he knows that’s close to a mall)

David walked through the Californian mall and eventually found a camping supply store.  He browsed the aisles until he found a comfortable-looking bag and he took it to the register.

Camping Store Employee: Going on a trip?  I know some really beautiful camping spots north of here.

David: It’s actually for a sleepover at a friend’s place.  We’re having a party for the beginning of the Summer Olympics.  But I’ll keep that suggestion in mind.

Camping Store Employee: That’s cool.  That’ll be $57.

David pays with his debit card and leaves the mall for the warp pad.  Soon he’s back in Little Homeworld.  This time, the Gems aren’t surrounding the warp, and he goes straight back to Larimar’s house.  Inside he notices it’s really cold due to all the ice inside.  Since he’s wearing summer clothes, he begins to shiver.  Larimar notices this and comes over to him.

Larimar: Why are you shaking like that?  There’s nothing to be afraid of here.

David: I’m not scared.  It’s just that it’s kinda chilly in here and I have a lot of thin clothing on.  I’ll be fine if I go into this sleeping bag I just bought.  (Begins to unfurl the bag from its storage pack)

Larimar: Humans start shaking like they’re scared if it’s cold…. Interesting.

David: (Still fumbling with the sleeping bag) It’s so our bodies can generate friction to stay warm.

Larimar: Fascinating.  But it would be inhospitable for me to have this room so cold that your body needs to activate a defense mechanism.  I will turn on the heating systems.

David: No need to do that, it’ll melt all your beautiful sculptures and I don’t want that to happen!

Larimar: But I don’t want my human companion to be uncomfortable in his own home.

David: It’s OK, Larimar, I’ll be fine.

Larimar: Very well.

David lays his sleeping bag on the floor in the corner, and unzips it.  He slips into the sleeping bag and zips himself in.

Larimar: What a curious contraption.  Is that what you will be slumbering inside?

David: Yep.  And please don’t bother me when I’m sleeping, we humans don’t like that.  Also, could you turn out the lights?  We usually sleep better in the dark.

Larimar: Of course.  (Flips the light switch)  Good night, David.

David: Good night, Larimar.  (Closes his eyes, and ten minutes later, he falls asleep)

David awakens and notices it’s still dark outside.  He also notices a weight on his body.  He looks down his sleeping bag and notices Larimar is on his stomach, looking straight at him.

Larimar: Your body is so warm…

David: Ahh!!  Larimar, get off of me!!

Larimar: Okay.  (Stands up)  You have a wonderful scream, by the way.

David is extremely weirded out.

David: I’m…  Going to go use the bathroom.

Larimar: Use the what?

David: (His face sinks when he realizes what that means) Larimar, this house DOES have a bathroom, right?

Larimar: What’s a bathroom?

David: Arrgh!!  (Runs out of the house)

David looks desperately for a public bathroom and finds none.  He curses to himself and runs behind a house where a large bush lies.  The camera cuts to the front of the house.

Cherry Quartz: (From behind the home) Are you okay?  Why are you leaking fluid into this bush?

David: AHHHHH!!  (Quickly zips up his cargo shorts and runs back into the square.

Bismuth is strolling through the square when David rushes straight into her.  Being as sturdy as Bismuth is, she doesn’t even flinch at being collided with by a human running at top speed.

Bismuth: Hey, watch where you’re goi-  Oh, it’s you, David.  Why are you up so early in the morning?  (Now notices that David is blushing profusely and has a somewhat panicked look in his eyes)  What happened?

David: You don’t wanna know.

Larimar walks into the square, with a confused face.

Larimar: Was this my fault?  Did I not do a good job of taking care of the human?

David’s heart breaks.

David: Larimar… No, that’s not what’s going on at all…  You did a wonderful job.  Don’t blame yourself for this.

Enter Cherry Quartz.

Cherry Quartz: Dude, something’s really wrong with David.  He was totally spewing fluid all over a bush behind my house!

David’s face turns bright cherry red.

Bismuth: ...I see what’s going on here.  You two, Larimar, Cherry, over here.

The two Gems walk over to Bismuth.

Bismuth: First off, what David was doing was completely natural.  Second, this may have been my fault.  When I designed Little Homeworld, I didn’t have human visitors in mind.  ‘Cause of that, I didn’t include facilities that a human would need to function, like kitchens and bathrooms.  I definitely was NOT anticipating Steven making a human a permanent resident.  David doesn’t deserve to be forced to live in a place that’s not built for him.  BUT, there’s a better way.  I have an idea that’ll fix this up perfectly.

Cherry Quartz: And that is…

Bismuth: I’m going to build David his own home.  There’s one problem though; Little Homeworld just isn’t a place where a human can thrive.  He needs to be closer to other humans.  Unfortunately, I can’t just put up a random house within Beach City limits.  The permits alone would take forever.  But there’s one place in just the perfect location.  I’ll just need Pearl, Garnet, and Amethyst’s approval first.

David: You don’t mean?

Bismuth: There’s enough room off to the side of Steven’s beach house for another addition.  I’ll just build a separate bedroom there.  David gets his own living quarters, made the human way, and everyone’s happy.

David: Really?  Are you sure it’s okay for me to live with the OG Gems permanently?

Bismuth: You’re just as much a Crystal Gem as any of us, kid.  Pearl, Garnet, Amethyst, and Steven each have their own magical little room, so it’s high time you got your own.  Design-wise… How about a small beach hut?  It’ll blend in with the existing house and have its own little flair.  I’ll connect it with the porch on the first level.  I’ll even build furniture for it.

David’s eyes are sparkling with joy.

David: It’ll be perfect… Thank you Bismuth!

Bismuth: Don’t thank me yet, the job hasn’t even started!  Let’s wait until morning, then we’ll warp over to Steven’s place and talk up the plan with ‘em.  In the meantime, I’ll draw up blueprints.  See ya at dawn.  (Exit Bismuth)

Moss Agate and Calcite had arrived a bit before and had been listening to Bismuth’s speech.

Moss Agate: So… You’re leaving us?

David: I guess so.  You Gems have a wonderful place here, but like Bismuth said, it’s not really a place where humans can thrive.  It just wasn’t built that way.

Calcite: Well, I kinda saw this coming anyway.  Humans are fun to be around, but to have to live with one isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.  You’ll still visit us though, right?

David: Of course.  Maybe I’ll even show up at Little Homeschool to help teach you guys how humans work.

Moss Agate: That’ll be awesome!  I mean, Amethyst, Steven, and Pearl do a good job with the school, but to have a real, live human to educate us on themselves would be amazing!

David: Uh, don’t completely count Steven out of the human party.  He may have a Gem, but he’s just like us too!

Moss Agate: Uhh, right.  Sorry about that.

David: Anyway, I guess I’ll go wait for dawn to meet up with Bismuth.  Larimar?  Would you be able to let me back into your home for just a couple more hours?

Larimar: Of course, David.  My doors will always be open to you.

David and Larimar walk back to the Larimar household.

David: You know, Larimar, one of those snow cones would sound really good about now.

Larimar: Really?  I’ll be happy to make you one.

Inside the house…

David: Wow, these are REALLY good!  Have you thought about selling them?  You could make some money off of them!

Larimar: I will take your words into consideration.

Two hours later…

David: Bye, Larimar!  Thanks for everything!

Larimar: Thank you as well, David!  You have given me valuable insights into the human lifestyle!  Oh, what about your slumbering pouch?

David: Keep it.  In case another human needs a place to stay at your place.

Larimar: Very well.  Go catch up with Bismuth.  She doesn’t like to be kept waiting!

David ran up to the warp pad and found Bismuth there, holding a roll of paper with the plans for David’s room on it.

Bismuth: It’s 7:30.  Steven should be up by now.  You ready?

David: I’m just really hoping they’re okay with me living with them.

Bismuth: I’m pretty well-trusted among the OG Gems, David.  They’ll listen to what I have to say.  Let’s go.

David and Bismuth stepped onto the warp pad and teleported to the ground-floor warp inside the Crystal Temple entrance.  Pearl noticed them warp in and walked over.

Pearl: What happened?

Bismuth: Steven’s plan to have David live with us backfired.  Little Homeworld really isn’t a place for humans to live.  I have a plan though.  Take a look at these.  (Unfurls the blueprints)  It’s a hut we can add to the side of the house here.  It’ll have electricity, air conditioning, and heating, though we will probably have to have David use the main bathroom here, since it would be too difficult to work pipes over to it.

Pearl: (Somewhat skeptical) You want David to live with us?

Bismuth: David’s kinda like Steven, Pearl.  Too attached to Gemkind to live solely among humans, and too human to live only with Gems.  David’s a Crystal Gem, and we need to treat him like one.

Garnet: (Appearing seemingly out of thin air) She’s right, Pearl.  We can’t just kick David out of our house. If David is fine with having a room at the Temple, which I already know he is, then let’s add him to the family.

Amethyst also appears.

Amethyst: Yeah, guys!  He’s got no other family than us!  Rose herself took care of this kid, even if it wasn’t OUR Rose.  That’s gotta count for something!

Pearl: Well, fine.  But let’s let Steven know what’s going on.

Steven: (Had been eavesdropping from the stairs) Way ahead of you, Pearl!  I shouldn’t have forced David to live in Little Homeworld in any case. What EXACTLY happened to trigger this anyway?

David: No bathrooms.

Steven: Really?  I could have sworn there was a porta-potty somewhere in there.  Never mind.  That was REALLY misguided of me to put you there, and I’m sorry.

David: No offense taken.  But I would like to help you and the others teach the Little Homeworlders how to deal with humans, just so this doesn’t happen again.

Pearl: That sounds like a great idea!  Having a full-blooded human on the teaching staff will really help our lessons in human-Gem relations have an extra punch!

Bismuth: So it’s a deal, then?  Should I start work on the addition?

Pearl: Go right ahead, Bismuth.  Get Greg and other Gems to help you too so it gets finished faster.  In the meantime, until the hut’s completion, I hope you don’t mind sleeping on the couch at all, David?

David: Not at all.  I honestly miss that thing.  Having to sleep on the floor in an ice-cold Gem house was NOT my cup of tea.

Pearl: Very well.  Anyway, let’s get you and Steven some breakfast.

Skip half a month, and David’s room is completed.  It is a single room with a full-size wooden bed, two nightstands on each side of it, a small flat-panel television Greg bought for David standing on a long table next to the door, and a dresser with a full-size mirror off to the side of said dresser.  David walks into the new bedroom, holding a small picture frame in his hand.  WIth a reverent smile on his face, he sets it down on the left-side nightstand, and sits down on the bed.  The camera zooms in on the frame.  Inside is the picture of his mother he had brought with him from his world.

[tessatechaitea]

Dark Nights: Metal #5

How many teeth do people from the Dark Multiverse have?

This is so true. I wake up screaming every morning.

I don't actually wake up screaming. It takes a few moments for me to recall who I am and what my life has become before I begin. After some superhero battles meant to extend the story by making it exciting, Bat-Joker reveals a new secret. "Endings are the loudest of all!" It's so Scott Snyder to begin the comic book by saying something that seems to make sense because he gave two examples to back up his ridiculous statement ("Beginnings are loud because the Big Bang and babies! Never mind that the Big Bang wasn't loud at all because nobody was there to hear it. That's philosophy!") only to reveal that the opposite of the statement is really true! What a twist! I feel so smart having read that! He truly knows how to manipulate narratives and fangenders! The issue ends with all of the Justice League members losing their Nth metal to the Dark Knights. All hope seems lost! Except Batman and Superman have decided to take a plunge into the Forge of Worlds' magma pit because why not? And Wonder Woman takes the narrative spine of the story (you know, the thing about noise and loudness and screams and shit) and turns it on its head! She doesn't scream at all; she yells her war cry! OH MY GOD! I just busted my comic book nut. Scott Snyder is so fucking good at this! I think I have a long enough history writing these things that I don't have to point out sarcasm, right? Dark Nights: Metal #5: As comic book events go, this is a big one. You can tell it's a big one because the editors get off the Snyder's metaphorical dick and allow him to pull from whatever continuity and canon he wants, and to manipulate it to whatever ends he desires. Bring in Sandman from Vertigo? Sure, why not?! Use Plastic Man in a serious manner? Oh yeah! Big events practically call for that to happen! Age Batman thirty years in an alternate dimension and then have him back to normal by the end somehow? Pretty much standard big event fare, that. Create a timeline based completely on Batman being the center of everything and also the reason everything goes wrong due to his hubris that, being the center of everything, he can stop all the bad stuff himself? Well, come on! This is DC Comics, after all! This is the kind of shit comic book fans shove up their vaginas as fast as they can possibly lube themselves up. It's 98% marketing and 2% Scott Snyder's semen. But a lot of fangenders really seem to love that stuff. The marketing, not the semen. I mean, I'm sure some like the semen. It's James Tynion IV approved! What I'm saying is, I guess it's stupid fun. And there's almost always room for stupid fun. Unless the current president is Donald Trump and practically everybody in congress has been bought by the NRA. Then maybe we should put aside the stupid fun and do something about this shit. Not me, of course! I'm too old and Gen-Xy! The newer generations need to fix this shit. We Gen-Xers stated right out of the gate that we weren't ever getting involved. We're Walter in Get Out. We might not be much help but we know what the fuck is going on and we'll be really funny explaining it.