#back to my irregularly scheduled programming !

[dustbar]

Can I now get a hhhhhhhh-YYYAAAAAAAAAA? Can I plz get a hhhhhhhhhh-YAAAAAA?

*shaking from the loughter*

its as if nothing happened at all !!

[cottageivyplays]

working on their mischief skill !

[heliosthegriffin]

Shadow Knight Chapter 23

AN: Sorry for the Hiatus, real-life stuff happens. Anyway, back to our irregularly scheduled program.

A03 Link

A red-headed man walked down the Museum hall.

He moved at his own pace, slow, steady, and soothing in its consistency. 

Every few steps he’d stop to look at an exhibit for a moment, nod to himself, then continue on, smiling at the sight, as his heels clicked against the floor. 

Behind him, his shadow rolled out from behind his feet, expanding far, far down the hall and beyond, overtaking the floor behind him far beyond eye-shot. 

An unfathomably number of things moved in the darkness, creeping out from the spilling darkness behind the man, moving to the exhibits and dragging them wholesale into the endless darkness. 

From a distance, they almost looked like normal people, but the clothes they wore looked like they belonged in the exhibits they were looting, as some wore armor from Mistral’s Warring Cities Era, while others looked like they had been taken off the tundra of Solitus a thousand years ago, others were dressed like turn of the century Vale. It was a disorientating sight to see, they almost looked like people dressed up for a historical event, if not for the grotesque changes to their bodies. 

A bone mask with red tribal-esque lines was attached over their face, so deeply attached to the face, it melded into the bones of the skull itself, rendering it impossible to remove. How much of the face it covered varied from creature to creature, with it ranging from just covering the eyes and nose, to totally overtaking the skull in one bony growth, to anything in between, with random growths of the mask like tusks or horns also appearing every so often. Though, one thing that they all shared regarding those masks, was at least one set of burning red eyes, and underneath the mask and across the body, was tar-like skin that was littered with bone growths under their clothes.

Other than the common features, they ranged greatly in size from hardly changed child-like figures wearing impossible elegant and expensive clothes to literal giants covered in armor like growths across their body wearing rags of former clothing, and everything in between.

They were falling upwards and out of the darkness, dozens at a time, being birthed from that shadow as that man walked slowly forward, inspecting and enjoying the exhibits that were laid out for him. Once out they stood there dumbly, looking back at their former home, before shambling away, their dull, red eyes focusing on something through the walls. Occasionally, walking into the walls, and the stronger ones, right through the thinner, weaker ones, leaving gaping, crumbling holes in the old, venerable building.

The man stopped purposely at a crossroads, He smirked, holding his chin with one arm supported by the other. “Now, now, now, here I was, enjoying myself, harmlessly, all by my lonesome. What cause for action is that? Don’t you know how hard it is to get a Museum all to yourself?”

From the opposing three hallways, a maiden appeared with flaming eyes and outfits of excessive amounts of singular color, along with the respective smells of fresh flowers, ozone, and icy air. They faced him, eyes unreadable under the fire, blocking his way. The Yellow one with golden fire, twitched looking at him, as if ready to spring into action, but stopping herself. Crimson and White, looked at Yellow, in what he could only assume to be surprise.

Roman’s eyes shifted, as he took in that little detail. He turned to Yellow, with his eyes darting between them all. He opened his mouth, to say his aggravating piece-, only to dodge backward, as a scythe and curved sword rose up from his shadow right where his head had been, followed by two girls with glowing eyes, he frowned noticing one had Silver-eyes, as he stomped his foot on the ground, making the shadows thicken.

“That was rude! Don’t I have a right to a jury, before you execute me?” Roman smirked at them.

The one that carried the Silver-eyes through his shadow, Black, looked at him coyly. “For the crime of overwhelming mass murder, you've been preemptively judged guilty.” He noticed this one carrying the scent of sweet decay, of dead leaves and loamy soil on the breeze. 

He took another step back, looking at the quintet of girls before him. “Well, well, the whole gang's here, isn't it? Lucky me, right?”

The SIlver-eyes blinked out of existence, reappearing right in front of him, swinging that scythe at his neck. Underneath the silvery-light radiating off of her, burning him, she looked murderous. “You monster, how could you do this, to all these people, and-”

Her form was imperfect, she had lunged at him, leaving her hanging in the air as she swung. If it was anyone slower, it would have been a fine, effective even, attack. Against, Roman though?

He slid under the slash, sighing, he hardly needed to aim, as he delivered a cross-straight into her solar-plexus, while she practically tackled her body into his knuckles. The air left her lungs, and she was sent flying down the hall with a cry of pain. He waved his hand, silvery smoke pouring off his right hand, her light bypassing the protective darkness around his hand, light burns covered his hands. 

Roman could practically hear whatever little restraint in Yellow snap and fall to pieces, the other girls cried out for her to stop, and she flew straight at him, fists blazing.

----

The search to find some weapons didn’t take long. This was a Museum dedicated to Vale’s history, afterall. It wasn’t all that long ago, relatively speaking, that Vale was nothing but a series of dozen warring micro-kingdoms. It wasn’t uncommon for a homeowner doing some landwork to find an old arrowhead, broken swords, or even an intact weapon and donate it to the museum (or keep it as a personal relic).

“Mine!” Velvet watched as Nora grabbed a warhammer and held it like a teddy-bear. She turned to her with a toothy grin. “I’ve always wanted one of these growing up,” She turned to Ren. “But, someone insisted I didn’t need one!”

The lithe man shrugged. “I’m not stopping you now, am I?”

“I’m not giving it back after we leave.”

“If we survive, I’d say you earned it.”

She held it over her hand. “Yes!” The ginger girl gave Velvet a look, holding out the warhammer. “Want to give her a swing?”

Velvet looked at the brutal looking head of the hammer and the cruel looking spike coming off it, she shook her head. “I’ll pass,” 

“More for me, then!” Nora shrugged, then started swinging her hammer in the air with a mad laugh. Velvet looked towards Ren who sighed softly. “I’ll make sure she doesn’t exhaust herself.”

“Right,” She looked at Ren, at his hands, then back at him. “Don’t you need to find something for  yourself.”

He followed her look. “I can handle myself,”

For a moment, she thought they glowed, but shook her head, it must have been a trick of the light. “I’ll trust your judgment, then.”

She looked around the room, seeing the other scant survivors helping themselves to the bounties of Vale’s history, noticing that they were gravitating to spear-like weapons, one with a long reach and sharp end, not that she’d blame them. If she had to pick a weapon, and most likely would, she would take one of those as well.

Strangely, though, as almost if following the same line of thought, only to verge backwards at the finish line, she saw Jaune holding a short-sword. He held the odd blade in his hands, it looked like someone had taken a spearhead and attached it to a sword handle, so it wasn’t very long, around a foot and a half long, with a narrow leaf-shaped blade that merged effortlessly into a dark wooden handle. The blade itself was both decidedly plain, but also charming, with a dull gray body marked with small scratches and nicks across its body, but it also held a presence of undeniable lethality, as if its damage only added proof to its unsaid claims that it was a tried and true weapon of war. 

“That doesn’t look like it comes from Vale.” Velvet stated idly.

“It’s listed as an anonymous donation, it might have been made yesterday for all I know.” Jaune told her. “It’s more than that, though.” He said quietly.

“What do you mean?”

His fingers rubbed against the wooden grip. “I can’t explain it, not very well, but it feels very ancient.” He turned to her with a smile. “It’s mine now, though.”

Velvet couldn’t help but return the smile. “I’m glad you found something you like,” Her eyes caught something next to his leg. “A shield?”

She thought he looked a bit nervous for a second. “Yeah,” His eyes darted around. “You find anything you want to use.”

“N-no, not yet.”

“Don’t feel pressured, but remember this, the best person to protect you, is yourself.” Velvet looked away. “I will protect you, just like I would for anyone else here, but if you can protect yourself, it puts us just that bit closer to victory.”

“I know,” She felt her heartbeat raise a bit, while her stomach sank.

She felt a warm, heavy hand on her shoulder. “You’re stronger than you think you are,” She looked up into blue eyes. “Also, don’t stand around Nora when she gets going, you’ll go flying.” 

“Pfft,” Velvet felt herself relax, a laugh escaping from her. She felt his hand leave her shoulder, immediately missing the warmth, watching him walk pass, she couldn’t help but compare his figure with another, for a second the way they moved looked identical to the local legend she obsessed over.

----

Roman leaned under a fiery punch, as a mask slowly grew over his face in the mockery of a fox with burning eyes. Leaning back far enough to almost be horizontal with the ground, Roman swung two fingers up across the floor. A pillar of shadows erupts under the Yellow Maiden throwing her up into the ceiling.

The other Star-Chosen rushed forward, he threw his hands forward as a tidal wave of darkness and bodies flew forward, as his power collided with them, his minions inside trying to drag them into the abyss inside.

Bursts of light and elemental power detonated inside of it, as the other three Star-Chosen flew up, shooting rays of power at him, he dodge back, and flung his shadowy power in front of him. 

A growing heat above him gave him just enough of an early warning to evade critical damage, as the one he tossed up came roaring back down in a burst of fire. She hit the floor like a meteor, a shockwave hitting him with a wave of air, as she looked about ready to charge him down.

But, to his surprise, she snarled and threw a wave of fire his way, retreating back to the rest of their group.

They eye’d him up, and Roman mentally felt how many servants he had lost in his tidal wave, less than 10%, which wasn’t bad, he had many, many more stored away in his Shadow Den. But, it wasn't like he could instantly bring them forth.

Down the hallway, he saw something flying forward at him, and sidestepped a bolt of silver energy, burning through his shadows like they were just normal shadows, leaving a trial of wispy silver smoke. He frowned, as the Silver-Eyes flew towards them, only slightly injured.

He needed time, if he wanted to break-even here, he still hadn’t obtained his prize, the source of the power-built up here. So, with a wave of his hand, he unleashed his remaining servants on hand, as they rushed the Star-Chosen, as he got to work summoning his meaner minions.

----

Jaune looked behind himself, having just finished checking up on the other survivors, he thought he saw something watching him. Was his mind slipping? Normally, he felt that someone would justify it as their imagination, but since it had kept him alive this far, he went to go look.

The room they were currently in, had a large diorama in the center of it, depicting some old battle, pelt wearing warriors native Valeans fighting a group of armored men from one of Mistrals City Empires around a stone circle. According to the diorama, the natives won that somehow through some sort of soul ritual. He thought he saw the shadow of one of the models move. 

He got closer, nothing there, other than a sense of unease. His eyes then caught movement again, it was a small, feminine shadow moving behind the stones. He leapt over the stone, and was confronted with nothing but silent rocks, and the faint smell of honey and cream. 

“Doing some parkour for a warm-up?” Jaune rose up from behind the stone circle, seeing Ren standing outside the diorama. 

“No, just going insane.” He noticed something on Ren’s wrists. “Find something useful?” He had never seen his old friend wear bracers before.

Ren held them up to the air, even from several yards away there was an unnatural feeling coming off of them, similar to the short-sword he found earlier. “Yes.” His friend looked at the aforementioned sword. “You know how to use that?”

Jaune shrugged. “Stick ‘em with the pointy-end, cut ‘em with the cutty side.”

“Ah, a true master then.” Ren nodded.

“You flatter me,” He said with a bow, then raising up, he took in their small group of survivors scattered across the room. For a moment, it didn’t feel like their lives were in danger, it felt like it did earlier today, just another day at the Museum. 

“Ren,” 

“Yes?”

“I’m never entering a museum again,”

“I never thought we’d get you this far in,” He shrugged.

“And, now, I have every reason never to return.”

“Such a loss,’ He smirked, then it slowly fell as they both looked at the others who were slowly gathering back together. “What is the next step?”

Jaune’s hand strayed to his new sword, gripping the handle tightly. “I’ve checked the map earlier, and there’s a way out not too far away from here,”

“So, we’re going to make a break for it?”

“Not quite,” Jaune’s vision hopped from person to person. “I was going to go scouting, see if the way is safe or not,”

“That’s a terrible idea, our strength is in numbers, we lose you, and we’re that much weaker for it.”

“Yes, but, it’d only be one person, versus all of us, being eliminated if there's way more monsters than we can handle.”

“And, if you don’t come back, what’s to stop us from seeking you out?”

“I’d say-”

“We’d look for you anyway,” Ren looked at Nora and Velvet, “The rest of these people here might not care, but we do. And, tell me this, what if we go the other way, if we do decide to go another direction, and then all die, anyway. Because, you weren’t there? There are no good options, Jaune, just least worse ones.`

Jaune sharply inhaled, his knuckles going white from strain. “You’re right,” He exhaled. “I just,”

The building shook, dust falling from the ceiling, as the lights flickered for a moment, some of the men and women screamed, but it went unheard as a roar suffocated any other sound as it over took the building.

Ren swore, as he turned to Jaune. “We’re running out of time.”

“I know, what way do you think it came from?”

“I couldn’t tell you, but-”

“We need to leave,” Jaune started walking towards the center of the room. “We’ll just take the shortest path to the exit, and deal with the consequences as they come.”

Ren followed behind. “If that’s what gets us out of here alive, so be it.”

----

White thrust her hand forward sending a wave of icicles forward, impaling and destroying the minions of the Grimm General, though, no matter how many she was destroying, they always came back in heavier numbers. 

She flew upwards, lifting her arms up to summon a rotating sphere made of razor-sharp ice, a trick she had picked up after an unfortunate encounter not too long ago. It gave a small reprieve as she took in the situation. 

Yellow, was of course, rampaging across the enemies, but, she would give her credit in holding back this long, and also, for not leveling the building. Still, she wasn’t breaking the lines as much as hoped she would, instead she was just hanging around the back keeping the horde from spilling down the hall.

Black was struggling, her normal stratedgy of striking from the shadows wasn’t working, The General had done something that prevented her from entering the shadows, which in any other situation would have brought a smile to White’s face, but right now, she would give any amount of Lien to Black if she could just take the monster down. Instead she was limited to using magic she had far less affinity towards, like lightning and wind, which just left her in a similar situation to herself. 

Crimson, of course, was the only one actually putting pressure on the General, flying above the crowd, summoning metal to herside from across the building, to create a whirling barrier of metal, that she fired at the horde and the General, forcing him back every so often, but, it seemed even beyond her to do any actual damage, which left, unfortunately, Red.

Red was currently flying through the air, trying to cut her way toward the General, but was being harangue by Grimm jumping at her, and trying to pull her down into the horde, which would be problematic, as while she had the highest anti-grim power, she had the lowest in raw magical power. Thankfully, she didn’t, it just slowed her down, as these Grimm were nothing but peons.

Still, White wasn’t sure how she could get to the General and strike him down; the other girls could handle the peons, if only they’d made an opening for her.

There was a sound of air shattering, as the General slid back, holding a steaming piece of iron that had been shot at him, arms one with the shadows around him. Metal was coated in dark powers, then shot back with even greater force, as Crimson had to evade it, the piece of dark-coated metal exploding against the ceiling shaking the hallway, while leaving a new, crude skylight there. 

The General smiled at them, a sense of foreboding in the expression, then stomped a foot to the ground. White’s eye widened as his shadow spread down the hallway again, widening and splitting the hallway in two, and she internally braced for another wave of Grimm, but to her surprise, all the Grimm they were fighting fell in. But, the shadow remained, pulsating and rippling.

“It's been a pleasure, ladies, but I must go!” He bowed, he had the audacity to bow! “But, I found what I”m looking for, and I must be off!” A inky black skeletal hand, the size of a limo, shot out of the darkness, punching through the ceiling. “I’ll leave my friend here to entertain you all, don’t fear, he’s grand company!” 

Another hand rushed out, punching through the ceiling as well, as the rest of the arms followed, as behind it, its summoner disappeared with a swish of his arm, shadow enveloped him and he vanished from sight.

The hallway broke open, as head emerged, a pitch-black skeletal giant, looking at them with burning flames in its eye sockets. Rubble rained down upon them, as the entire building fought to stay together, it roared at them, air hitting them like a hammer of wind.

----

Jaune stared at the shaking ceiling, what in the world was going on? Then he looked at the gathered people before him, he tried his best to look strong, and not let his voice betray his doubts as he called out to them. “Everyone here?” There was a quick call out of names. “Things don’t look too good right now, do they? We’re all by ourselves, with the way out looking farther away by the moment, surrounded by monsters, and have nothing but the clothes on our backs, the weapons in our hands, and each other.” He thrusted his sword up through the air. “So what?! We didn’t even have these an hour ago, and we held our own! With just our drive to live, with just the person you stand next to, with everyone here, we have survived!

“Now, we’re going to thrive, we are going leave this place, and not let a single of those pathetic things stop us, we got better things to do today, we got dinner at home, we got loved ones outside, pets, and whatever else you can think of, but we have them, we have our obligations to get out of here and destroy whatever gets in our way! You all have trusted me this far, right? Then, I need you to trust me just a bit longer, then we’re out of here. If you can’t trust in me, then trust in yourself, the person next to you, or just trust Nora!”

“Yeah! Trust in me!” Nora lifted her warhammer over head.

“Have faith in something, yourself, your god, or your weapon, just put it to work, don't fall behind, and struggle on! You will survive this!” Jaune pointed his sword to the door. “Now, are you going to stay here and die, or will you follow me and live?”

““LIVE!””

“Then let's get out of here!” Jaune screamed, marching towards the door.

Just as it was thrown open, a small horde of lanky monsters ran towards them. Not slowing or rushing to meet them, Jaune banged his sword against his shield, inviting them towards, to which they obliged, rushing at him in a stream of long limbs, red eyes, and uncanny movement. 

The first to meet him head on was welcome with a shield bash to the head, knocking it backwards so hard that it’s skull split open, the second was greeted by him side-stepping it’s claws and beheading it, the third had it greeted by a heel to the chest then cut from head to hip, the fourth punch with shield knocked to the ground then beheaded, the fifth, the six, and so on, were dealt with till none remained. Leaving Jaune’s standing over their fading bodies, he turned to his people. “See? Look how easily they can be beaten?T they are nothing! What I’ve done to them, any of you could as well!” His eyes seemed to glow for a moment, his voice loud as a trumpet, as everyone stepped back before him. “The only thing stopping you is yourself!

There was a tremble among the survivors, among Ren, Nora, and Velvet, as a certain weight was lifted off their hearts. As they lifted their hands and weapons to the ceiling, they cheered. They stomped, as they moved forward, following after Jaune, they lost all uncertainty, as they walked beside him, and left the room.

Leaving it empty, aside from a small shadow with mismatched eyes watching from the stone circle.

-----

In the depths of the Museum, a single lanky Grimm stood in the depths of the storage, standing alone, staring towards the center of it, where a tangible thick amount of magical energy was in the air. The shadows next to it rippled and trembled as Roman rose from the depths as the minion sank below, though not without, giving it a soft pat on the head as it sank. “Good job,” It didn’t respond.

Roman walked forward, going past a series of crates and boxes, until he was face to face with a long, slim, and somewhat innocuous box, he touched it gently, putting his hand to the top, shadows rushed over it, pulling the screws and nails out of the boxes top, then casually pushing off the top.

What lay in the center, on a bed of packing peanuts, was a simple cane, Roman looked at it softly. “Oh, old friend, it’s been too long,” He picked it up, holding it to his face. “We’re back together, and now, I”m complete.”

The cane thrummed with an orange glow, as fire appeared in the depths of Roman’s mask. With a swift stab down, the building jolted. Not the walls, not ceiling, not just the floor, all of it, the ancient Museum that covered the entirety of a city block suddenly moved. 

Downwards. 

The building started to sink, as shadows stretched from the sides and corners of the building, till the whole circumference of the building had a visible black outline. The building began to fall into darkness.

Roman smiled, then waved his cane in a figure eight. “This oughta do as a declaration of war,’ Then disappeared.

[seriowan]

WAIT I JUST CHECJED OUT YOUR AO3 AND YOU WROTE THE DEVIL YOU KNOW?? OHMYGOD THIS IS LIKE SEEING A MOOT IRL WHAT THE FUCK. I LOVE YOUR WRITING NO MATTER THE FANDOM APPARENTLY KAHDJSBSN

also—complete tonal 180—for the dad!clones requests, maybe Tech + those dads with insane reflexes that catch their kids as they’re falling? inspired by him grabbing Omega to get on the Marauder this last episode XD

IT'S ME. HI. LOL NOOO I GET SO NERVOUS WHEN PEOPLE POINT THAT OUT BECAUSE IT'S BEEN MONTHS SINCE I HIT MY WRITER'S BLOCK WITH TDYK AND I GET ANXIOUS EVERY TIME I THINK ABOUT IT 😂😭 (but thank you for the kind words!! I PROMISE I'LL GET BACK TO IT SOON BTW I JUST NEED TIME CAUSE THAT FIC IS A MENTAL SLAUGHTERHOUSE)

now back to our irregularly scheduled program 😂 this is such a fun little ask i have just the idea for it!! — more dad!tech below the cut! (tech was a very popular request so all you baby lovers definitely want his kids and i felt that in my heart and soul ♡)

"dad! daddy, look! dad, look at me!"

tech glanced up from his datapad, watching with pinched brows as his little one sprinted up the large boulders. their search for a specific mineral had turned into a rather fun trip of exploration — at least for his tagalong.

he curiously watched as his adventurer sprinted and jumped from rock to rock. they climbed up the tall stones and slid back down, rolling and spreading dirt and twigs all over their clothes before sliding to an abrupt stop by tech's side.

putting the datapad on his belt, tech crouched and brushed the mess off of his little one's clothes, sighing. "i would prefer it if you remained by my side instead of running about like a feral tooka, my star."

"i can't stop," his little one huffed. "i have too much energy. i want to be like uncle hunter and uncle crosshair — like how they run and jump and run-"

"i understand," tech hummed, swiping twigs out of his child's hair. "but you need to be more cautious with where you step. i do not want to see you get hurt, adi'ka."

"i never get hurt, daddy," his little one murmured with an eye roll. "i'm instoppable."

"invincible."

"exactly," they cheesed, perching up to kiss his cheek before turning back to continue running up and down the boulders. tech sighed, wanting nothing more than to keep his child safe all without destroying their joy.

he continued walking through the rocky woods, occasionally glancing back at his little one as they shrieked and laughed with excitement.

but, as if honing into his fatherly sixth sense, tech felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise. he turned around, looking up just as his small star ran up a large boulder without noticing its abrupt edge. when they reached the top, their eyes widened at the sudden drop and with a yelp, they slipped.

tech was there in the blink of an eye, catching his little one just before they could hurt themselves. he hooked his hands under their armpit and spun, gently settling them back down on their feet. their eyes were wide, chest rising and falling quickly at the realization that they could've gotten very injured.

without saying a word, tech simply arched his brow and his little one exhaled a heavy breath, leaning against his side.

"no more climbing?" he questioned them softly.

they nodded, taking his hand and squeezing it.

"no more climbing," they murmured, nervously looking back at the boulder that they fell from. "that was scary, daddy."

"i know, adi'ka," tech sighed, brushing their hair out of their eyes. "are you alright?" when they shook their head no, tech frowned. "you are safe now, my star. rest assured that i will try my best to always be there to catch you when you fall."

his little one looked at him with hopeful eyes, lips slowly curling into a smile.

"okay, daddy..." after a pause, they spared a longing look back at the rocks. "...but can i run? running is not climbing."

tech grimaced, then begrudgingly nodded.

"alright but-"

before he could get another word out, his little star cheered aloud and broke into a sprint, weaving all around the trees. tech just sighed and shook his head, smiling softly to himself.

"dad! dad, look!"

"i'm looking, adi'ka. i'm looking..."

lskjdhfalksdjfglsdjfgldsflhdfgaldfhg my ovaries will never know peace again after this

[freedomfireflies]

We’ve already seen 404 Harry being gentle with Tink, only in serious situation though…so what if she’s working on this hard project and she’s been perfecting the code and it’s taken her awhile to finally get it right after it crashing and needing to tweak it a bit or the client keeps adding on more. Then when she’s near done, something happens maybe it’s bad weather, maybe it’s an overheated server, maybe the power cuts, maybe IT was restarting the system that day at that hour and she just forgot about the company wide memo. Either way she had just finished, didn’t even get a chance to save it, before in a flash the screen is blank and then showing the restarting sign. This could either be after hours so most everyone’s gone home or maybe during lunch hour, but she just doesn’t know how else to react apart for letting the tears she didn’t feel forming in her eyes drip down her face. The longer she sits there in her chair and watches her company issued computer startup, the more her face grows warm, the more tears slip past her. Then when the screen opens up and she signs in, she sees the time and her heartbeat quickens considering the project is due in two hours, but a small part of her is hopeful until she opens up the code and sees her work from yesterday, the one that lacks all the new needed tweaks and the one that took eight hours to correct, not her finished code. She doesn’t realize she’s not breathing properly until she’s turned in her chair and sees Harry crouched on the floor with one hand on her knee and the other on her cheek. He’s saying something to her as he wipes away her tears but she can’t quite make it out, her heartbeat to quick. Harry looks worried and now that she’s more focus on him, she can hear his voice, “what’s wrong baby? Why’re you crying?” She goes to answer his questions, but he interrupts her still with a worried look on his face, “tell me all about it and I’ll help you solve it, but first match my breathing. Baby you’re breathing irregularly. Good, breathe in…and breathe out” when she’s all calm and can feel her normal heart rate she back to crying, but this time she’s moving forward and hugging Harry while speaking into his neck to explain to him what happened. Harry rubs her back and listens with intent, once she finishes he pulls back, one hand still on her knee and tells her not to stress and the two of them together can get it done. He’s quick to remind her that most of the changes are still probably fresh in her head, next thing she knows he’s pulling up his chair, connecting his keyboard to one of her monitors and asking her details to get started. He offers her a breather, to relax for ten minutes, but she denies and then they’re at it. They work along side each other, focused on getting it done, only talking code that is until both of them are back to their regularly scheduled program of bickering. The banter has them both biting back a smile and sometimes a scowl, this they don’t hide. Neither of them willing to admit, that time crunch aside and the poor portions of the others personality aside, they enjoy being near each other. Maybe they even like the poor portions a little, but scratch that thought right away and make a taunt at the other to fix their internal balance. At the end, Tink is pushing all other feelings aside, turning to Harry and thanking him wholeheartedly and he, he’s having trouble holding back a smile and has a small urge to hug her, but he pushes both those feelings aside. Instead he nods in acknowledgment before he takes a crack to tease her on his way to grab his stuff and leave. She’s huffing still by her desk packing her things, her reply is just as snappy. Just like that, everything is back to normal and neither of them know if their relieved or…

Omg, I apologize for that last ask I sent in. It was too long, I just got carried away. It was only supposed to be a small idea and I just wanted to ask what you think would happen in that situation. I didn’t mean for it to get that long🫶

OMG STOP IT RIGHT NOW!!! This was so cute, PLEASE DON'T APOLOGIZE I LOVE IT SO MUCH!!!! You can send anything you want, no matter how long!!!

This is literally one of the sweetest things I've ever read, tell me why I actually started tearing up from just the thought of him crouched down near her 😭💞💞💞

LISTEN LISTEN LISTEN....I love this so much, I do, and I so wish this would be the case but I already know our man's would not be this nice alsjfsf

I adore the premise, though!! And I can absolutely see her getting overwhelmed without even realizing it!!!

But the only difference I would make is that I think he wouldn't be that quiet and calming with her, at least not right away!! I think he'd come over, study her with a frown, try to figure out why she's being weird alsjff

And then he'd crouch down, maybe nudge her leg with his elbow to grab her attention, and murmur, "Hey, what's going on? What happened?" And she'd explain, angrily gesturing toward the screen, and cursing because she's been working for hours, and those fucking IT guys didn't even warn her of the restart.

And Harry would just smirk because she's kind of funny when she's this angry, and then he'd just nod and say, "Okay, easy, Princess. Relax, all right, I'll fix it." And maybe she'd snort and tell him that he has no idea how to fix her work but he'd just ignore her, pull up to his own computer, and get going You're so right, they'd be bantering through the whole thing, working late into the night, and griping but they would get it done!! And he'd walk her down to her car (claiming it's just a coincidence since he's walking down, too)

And they would never speak of it again HAHAHAH

BUT IN ANOTHER UNIVERSE....I LOVE THIS, YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW MUCH I LOVE THIS!! Honestly, this is giving more Mine Harry or even One for the Money Harry!!! BUT I ADORE YOU SO MUCH FOR THINKING OF IT AND SENDING IT TO ME, I AM GOING TO BE THINKING ABOUT THIS FOREVER AND EVER AND EVER 😭💞💞💞

[forbidden-me]

Back to my irregularly scheduled programing of talking about books

~ Ghost, by Kat Blackthorne spoilers (ish?) ~

I fucking can't with this man. The CACKLING that came out of me when I saw his names side by side (page 259.) This motherfucker *just took the J out of his original name for his modern one. THIS BITCH JUST SAID "EH GOOD ENOUGH" AND THREW THAT J AWAY*

I may or may not have been laughing a little too hard

[lone-starlight]

OOC Post: Sorry for the inactivity. I've been busy with some life stuff. Nothing serious just some stuff I've been meaning to do and needing to do that. I just haven't done. Getting my shit together, ya know?

I'm gonna try to stay relatively active in between things, but it won't be nearly as active as before.

Just thought I'd let you all know! Okay, back to your irregularly scheduled program!

[shinynewboots]

Hi friends!! I will be MIA (lol I have in fact already been somewhat MIA so apologies) until Mid August. I will be doing some pretty intense studying for my last exam of school (HELL YEAH). I paid too much for the exam and I have never been more ready to be done with a test in my life. Hoping to be back to my irregularly regular scheduled programming around 8/11-12 so I promise to be very annoying to everyone once I get done with the test lol

XOXO,

Emi💚

[excalibur-red]

It's me, hi. I'm the problem.

I can't even remember how we got onto the topic but my friends made me log in to tumblr again. It's strangely comforting that it's changed but all the people have stayed the same. I thought people would have changed their usernames five times over and completely changed blogs. But y'all are still here.

Anyway I have a real person job and live in Tasmania and have no idea what's happening around me so this isn't a priority in my life anymore but

Welcome back to your irregularly scheduled programming.

[lacewise]

I was explaining Evangelical Christian poisoning to one of my friends (she doesn’t have a lot of exposure to it because she’s Jewish) and I said, “You’d be surprised how many people think getting martyred is more powerful and more important than good works. It’s the Christianity.”

And I think that’s the full explanation of why one conflict has to be so much worse than every other (because they care about it), why they would throw over their own politics, ethics, and morals to coalition with Truly The Worst People Ever Devised, why there has to be a clearcut Ultimate Bad Guy (they view The Ultimate Bad Guys as a collective) and Ultimate Good Guys (they always view the Ultimate Good Guys as individuals), etc.

Even if they’re wrong, they’re lying, etc, they think they will be vindicated and deified as martyrs after their death. They don’t have to do real research. They don’t have to say true things. They don’t have to check they’re the ones being tricked or supporting violence, they can’t be held to the standard of fact-checking, ever. For any reason. Because they’ll be canonized. Because they’ll be martyrs.

It just… is the Christianity.

There are a lot of very bad things impacting a lot of people right now. There are a lot of violent and powerful people using civilians as pawns, sacrifices, or human shields in desperate power grabs. This is happening all over, to many groups of people. Please check your information sources, your media literacy, your critical thinking skills. Please be gentle with yourselves and don’t overwhelm your mind with violent scenes and imagery. Please rest.

Consider donating to aid organizations, like Standing Together.

Follow people who don’t hide the nuance of situations, and keep at least vaguely aware of concurrent events. And: cannot stress this enough, Take. Breaks.

Not resting and letting your mind process makes everyone much more vulnerable to being tricked. Propaganda works the same as marketing fraud which works the same as other types of scams. The more emotional, the more exhausted, the more desperate for change: the easier it is to spread lies. And once those lies spread, it is extremely difficult to trace them back to their origins.

That’s all I have to say. I should be back to my irregularly scheduled lace programming this weekend (provided my paints cooperate).

[boot2004]

Sorry for not posting my usual kill a cop stuff I am having a slow mental breakdown I think

I am trying to get into therapy

Your irregularly scheduled programming might come back soon

[tsuki-sennin]

Here comes the boy! Cure Wing~! Funny how Murase-san went from the sharks to the birds, huh? First (main) Male Cure~! And he's a vibrant orange, too~!

I have no idea what to expect, but... Well, he's really bustin' down them gender roles, I can tell ya that much.

Spoilers, I guess...

-Borb

-Borb and baby

-Caught her!

-He vanish!

-"You there, bird! Did you catch this infant?"

-Man, I've held off on talking about Cure Wing's design... and I'm gonna do that longer, haha~!

-Birdie can't fly. He's very penguin-like.

-I see Elle-chan's just vibing at the dinner table.

-Sora speaks bird!

-All Skylandians do!

-"WHAT THE FUCK, BIRDS!?"

-Model Peacock~!

-Butler Pigeon~!

-Instant dinner is a ways off, Mashi-ron.

-...Mmm, Instant Dinner...

-Not even a Spicy Fish.

-School's done! Now to put my girlfriend in cryosleep~!

-He was spotted!

-MY MANS JUMPED OUT THE WINDOW

-RUN BOY

-Bird-boy!

-Borb.

-Tsubasa~!

-Puni Baado~!

-Man, somebody should really install guard rails in Skyland.

-I seee... Storm Portals.

-Sorashido's a dumping ground, huh?

-A reflex~!

-"...you scare me :("

-WAN

-She's so mean to this bird, holy fuck

-Is Sora racist?

-Hey, I guess that's another thing like old American comics~!

-I'm kidding, I'm kidding, please, I don't actually think this is the case.

(Addendum, 3/27/2023 2:51PM: Hi, this is Tsuki from the future. I don't usually do this, but I want to inform you that I made a massive error here. I was, just a little bit before the time of this edit, made aware of the actual context of this scene being that Sora's distrust of Tsubasa stems from him randomly appearing in Elle's room while Kabaton was going around trying to kidnap her, and thus it's entirely reasonable that she assumed he was an accomplice.

I obviously intended it as a stupid joke, but it was one that completely missed the point of the scene and, looking back now, just reads as very baseless and mean. I have no idea how I misinterpreted the scene this badly, considering she interacted with the other sentient birds of Skyland just fine in the first episode, but I did. I wasn't paying full attention to the episode, this is all my fault. And I do apologize for it.

We now return to your (irregularly) scheduled programming.)

-Plaaaane

-Chemtrails.

-SHE GONE

-"Observe."

-She stand!

-They catch!

-Tsubasa's quite a chill lad, isn't he?

-"Aerodynamics."

-Quite an immense science for a youngling.

-Don't laugh at the borb boy.

-The lad wants to soar.

-Ahhh, I see... the Puni Bird Tribe can't fly.

-Poor lad's just flailing.

-"Tsubasaaaaa!"

-Holy fuck, your dad is a Chad.

-It's a good thing fall damage doesn't apply to Pretty Cure characters, huh?

-Borb Boy and Hero Girl have become besties!

-Drones. My God.

-Kabaton Orders Drone Strike in Sorashido City, Millions Dead

-"This is a disrespect of science"

-Defend the Baby

-It's Hero Time~!

-Okay, there she goes!

-There calls Ageha, at the exact time.

-"Dude, holy shit, there's so much violence happening here!"

-You know what you must do, lad.

-Fly, my son!

-Oh

-Okay, no transformation today. ...well, not into a Cure, at least.

-Nodaka, hello~! I've been doing my best to keep myself healthy.

-Uhhhhh

-Cure Wing's hat and vest are super cute and the way his hair feathers is really neat, there I commented on his drip.

-They're holding this lad in the back.

[acetrainermags]

Sorry for sort of forgetting about this blog, my PokeSpe re-read got put on hiatus because my friend got me into Demon Slayer and I spent the last 5 months reading that. So. Back to your irregularly scheduled programming soon, maybe.

[brilliumsphere]

Tender forehead smooches to all my mutuals I love my mutuals ok back to your irregularly scheduled programming.

[samirant]

Chapters: 39/?
Fandom: Game of Thrones (TV), A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Jaime Lannister/Brienne of Tarth
Characters: Jaime Lannister, Brienne of Tarth, Cersei Lannister, Margaery Tyrell, Tyrion Lannister, Sansa Stark, Robb Stark, Dacey Mormont
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Fraternity, Fraternities & Sororities, Navel-Gazing, pretentious author self-challenge, 1000 Words or Less, Fluff and Crack, mind the dates, this fic does not believe in a coherent timeline, Tywin Lannister’s A+ Parenting, unironically and horrifyingly so, Greek life can be shady, Heed Chapter Warnings, Drama snuck in
Series: Part 1 of Fast Times At Westeros University
Summary: Fraternities, Sororities and Relationship Chicken

[bb-bambam]

Reminiscing

"Jaebeommie!" Jinyoung's voice floats through the apartment and into the kitchen where Jaebeom is feeding the cats their afternoon snack. "Come look at these!"

"Coming!" Jaebeom calls, sealing the container of cat food and patting Odd on the head before standing up to put the food away. When he walks into the bedroom moments later, he finds Jinyoung sitting on their bed with an album open in his lap. "What's up?" he asks, settling next to Jinyoung.

"You never told me you kept an album like this," Jinyoung says, his tone awed. He turns the pages slowly, brushing his hand over the pictures of all the memories they've shared, all the years they've spent side by side. "When did you start putting all this together?"

Jaebeom leans closer so he can see the pictures more clearly, one arm making its way around Jinyoung's waist. "Years ago," he says. "Some time around Fly era."

Jinyoung turns to look at him. "Any particular reason why?" he asks. "That's kind of a random time to start, no?"

"Not really," Jaebeom says, a small smile tugging on his lips as he remembers what drove him to start compiling pictures for the album. "That was when I was sure I'd never want to be with anyone else."

"So long ago?" Jinyoung asks, sounding a little breathless, and his eyes are shining when Jaebeom meets his gaze. "When we had only been together for what, two years?"

"Two years and four months," Jaebeom murmurs. "That was enough for me to be positive, beyond any doubt. So I started collecting photos of the two of us to make an album." He feels his face heating up a little as he continues, "I wanted to show it to our kids someday, when we told them the story of how their parents fell in love."

Jinyoung lets out a little gasp at that. "You've really wanted kids with me since then, hyung? All this time?"

Jaebeom pulls Jinyoung a bit closer to him and kisses his temple gently. "Jinyoungie, I've wanted everything with you since then." He sighs, resting his head on top of Jinyoung's. "There was a time when I thought I'd have to give it all up, you know."

"Give what up?" Jinyoung asks, leaning into Jaebeom, his head on Jaebeom's chest and the album balanced on his knees.

"A long-term relationship, kids, a family," Jaebeom says. "When I was younger, I used to have a vague picture in my mind of having a teenage romance that would lead to me getting married with kids by twenty-five."

"Ambitious," Jinyoung says, clearly trying not to laugh. "You had high hopes as a kid."

Jaebeom does laugh, pressing another kiss on the top of Jinyoung's head. "I guess I did. But I figured it was the end of those kinds of dreams after we tied for first place back then."

"I hope you aren't too disappointed with what you got instead," Jinyoung teases, kissing Jaebeom's jaw softly.

"I'm beyond satisfied," Jaebeom says sincerely, squeezing Jinyoung lightly.

Jinyoung beams up at him, his eyes twinkling. "I guess fifteen-year-old you never anticipated that you would eventually ask out the boy you tied with at your audition."

"Not even a little," Jaebeom says, shaking his head. "Even seventeen-year-old me would probably be stunned that nineteen-year-old me finally figured out how to act around you and started treating you right."

"You never treated me badly," Jinyoung says immediately. "You were a little mean sometimes, maybe, but I was definitely annoying too."

Jaebeom hides his smile in Jinyoung's hair. "Teenage me absolutely doesn't deserve this level of defense," he says. "But I appreciate it." His eyes fall on the album, still lying open on Jinyoung's lap. The picture on the page is one from right after their debut, the early days of their relationship. It's a selfie depicting a grey-haired Jaebeom and a Spock-haired Jinyoung smiling, their fingers loosely intertwined and their awkward body language giving away how nervous but happy they were. "I'm just glad I built up the courage to finally ask you out."

"It was interesting timing," Jinyoung says with a little laugh, "asking right before our debut. I wondered if maybe I should say no just because of that, actually. But I'm glad I didn't."

"Me too," Jaebeom says, kissing Jinyoung's cheek this time. "And it's a good thing, because it turns out I was wrong about having to give all those other things up, in the end." Jinyoung looks at him with a question in his eyes, and Jaebeom continues, "I dated someone I met when I was fifteen who turned out to be the love of my life, so that was my teenage romance. I'm already pretty much married to him now, so maybe the technicality is cheating a little, but there's my marriage. And I ended up raising five kids plus five little fur babies with him, so I got the family part too. All by the time I was twenty-five."

Jinyoung smiles fondly, taking Jaebeom's hand to kiss his knuckles. "Then I'm glad I was able to give you what you dreamed of, even if it isn't exactly what you imagined."

"No," Jaebeom says, feeling warm all over, because he can't imagine his life any other way. "It's even better. It's perfect."