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ranwing · 4 years

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KADAM FIC: LEARNING TO FLY (20/20)

Title: Learning to Fly Series: A New Direction (was Season Four Remix) Pairing(s), Characters(s): Kadam, Kurt Hummel, Adam Crawford, Burt Hummel, Rachel Berry, Santana Lopez, Carmen Tibideaux, Cassandra July, Artie Abrams, Tina Cohen-Chang, Elliot “Starchild” Gilbert, Dani, Adam’s Apples, Original Characters Rating: PG13 (rating may change) Genre(s): canon divergence. Parts: 20/20 (Completed!)

Summary: As another school year starts at NYADA, Kurt seemed to have it all. The respect of his teachers, a group of wonderful friends and best of all, getting to live with the man that he’d come to love. So of course the universe would throw a few curve balls in his direction.

Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, Part Five, Part Six, Part Seven, Part Eight, Part Nine, Part Ten, Part Eleven, Part Twelve, Part Thirteen, Part Fourteen, Part Fifteen, Part Sixteen, Part Seventeen, Part Eighteen, Part Nineteen

On AO3

A/N - Whoo... Cannot believe that this monster is finally finished! This series has been such a labor of love for me, and the level of support I've gotten from my readers has left me humbled and deeply appreciative. You guys have been wonderful in encouraging me to continue writing and bringing my stories out to be ready.

I have more planned for this series, and so many other story ideas that I want to explore. I again want to thank everyone who's read my stories. Every reblog and comment just makes my day. Thank you, everyone.

Kurt sealed the last box closed and sat back on his bare mattress with a satisfied sigh, letting the depleted roll of packing tape fall to the floor. Finally, he thought contentedly. The instant that he’d finished his last exam that morning, he was on the phone with Adam to let him know that he was ready. All he needed was a few hours to get the last of his belongings packed up.

He looked about his dorm room, the bare cinderblock walls looking as sterile as they had when he’d first arrived now that they’d been stripped of his decorations. It felt almost shocking at how easily the room had shed his efforts at personalization, making it very clear that this had been at best a transitory accommodation. While living there it hadn’t been the ordeal he’d feared and he’d enjoyed the convenience, Kurt was glad to be leaving. He missed having his own space.

With the tests done and the spring term officially at an end, many other students boarding in the dorms were also making their preparations to leave and the common area was a hive of activity. There were parents picking up their freshman children, listening to stories about how tough NYADA was and their relief that they’d survived the first year. Upper classmen weren’t quite so effusive, but there were plenty of hugs as they bid friends and classmates goodbye until the fall. There was even a senior or two, taking one long last look at the school that had trained them before they left for the last time.

He spotted Jamie walking into the common area, pulling his suitcases behind him and waved him down.

“Hey, Kurt… So, this is it,” the taller man surmised with a tired sigh.

Kurt nodded understandingly. The last few weeks of school were always the hardest and everyone needed a bit of a break before starting on their summer jobs and projects. Kurt was just thankful that he and Adam would have a few days to settle and regroup before they found their lives uprooted again. It seemed like they were going to be in a constant cycle of racing and pausing for the foreseeable future.

“Heading home for a bit?” Kurt asked, seeing the travel pillow looped through the handle of one of Jamie’s bags.

Jamie nodded. “I definitely owe the folks a visit since we were so busy with the show this spring,” he answered. “And my internship with the community theater starts next week, so I’ll have a few days to relax. Figure that should keep me busy this summer.”

“Yeah, we start rehearsals next week,” Kurt said, running a hand through his hair. Part of him wished that he could have taken a few weeks to just unwind since this past year had left him little time to take stoke of all he’d accomplished, but he didn’t have that luxury. The experience he gained with the Garrison festival was just too valuable to pass up. Not to mention getting the chance to work with Adam and his closest friends.

Jamie offered a consoling smile. “Maybe it’s better to just keep moving,” he theorized. “You don’t lose momentum.”

Kurt chuckled tiredly. “Like we need excuses to burn the candle at both ends,” he answered back. Nobody studied at NYADA if they wanted to take it easy. “Are you dorming again next term?”

Jamie smiled and shook his head. “No. Katya and I decided that it’s time to move things forward,” he stated happily. “Her roommate is moving out over the summer so we’re going to share the apartment.”

“Congratulations!” Kurt pronounced, happy for his friends.

“Well, it’s a little overdue,” Jamie admitted ruefully. “Fortunately, she got fed up with the prima donna she was living with and dropped some suggestions that she might want to find someplace else to live before school starts in the fall.”

“That’s great. I’m really happy for the two of you,” Kurt insisted.

“Thanks. You’re heading over to your new place now?” Jamie asked.

Kurt nodded happily. “Like you said, it’s overdue.”

“Well, good luck this summer,” Jamie wished, reaching out to pull his friend into a hug. He and Kurt patted one another’s back, savoring the contact before they separated for the season. “I’m looking forward to hearing all your war stories.”

Kurt knew that this would be the norm for their lives as they continued to develop and grow in their careers.. Connecting, making friends in their industry, then separating depending on where work took them. It made him want to keep those connections even closer since they could be so tenuous.

The next two years would be difficult ones, as they continued to build towards what they hoped would be fruitful professional careers. Kurt knew that not all their classmates would return in the fall; some falling out because of the increasing pressure to grow and succeed or to take their chances on finding work. As talented as his classmates were, Kurt thought that there were a few who very possibly have progressed as much as they were going to and he wouldn’t be terribly surprised if they didn’t show up in September.

But he had no doubt that Jamie, Katya and Analisa would be there when he returned in the fall. Along with himself and Rachel, they had repeatedly proven themselves, rising to the occasion and showing that they wanted to be better. It probably wasn’t a surprise that the five of them had come together; not just as respected peers, but good friends.

“You too,” Kurt said. “Text me when you start at the theater. I’d love to hear how they do things.”

“I will,” Jamie promised. They’d have plenty of stories to share in the fall. “I’d better get moving if I’m going to catch my plane. I’ll see you in September.”

Kurt hugged his friend again before letting him go to meet his transportation to the airport. Around him there were other partings of friends with many tearful goodbyes and promises to keep in touch over the summer. For all the competition that the school fostered among the student body, it was nice to see that it also helped create real and lasting friendships.

It wasn’t much later that his phone chimed, advising of a text message. Kurt fished his phone out of his pocket and smiled at seeing the message from Adam. Taking up the handle of his suitcase, he walked out the front doors of the school where he saw his boyfriend standing next to a sensible rental car.

“Hi,” Kurt greeted happily, hurrying over and turning his face up for a kiss.

“Hello, sweetheart,” Adam answered, obliging his lover and pulling him in for a lingering embrace. “Do you have a lot of stuff?”

“Just this and a few boxes with my books,” Kurt confirmed. “I’ll start bringing them out.”

“Need help?” Adam asked as he moved to open the trunk.

“No,” Kurt assured him. “It won’t take me long. I’ll be right back.”

It took a few trips to transport all the boxes out of the room, and Kurt knew that it was telling that when he carried the final box out and closed the door behind him that he didn’t look back.

The drive to their apartment took nearly no time at all, Adam pulling in by the hydrant in front of their building so he could quickly drop off Kurt and his things.

“I’m just going to run the car back,” he assured Kurt. “Are you okay to get everything up yourself?”

Kurt mentally appraised the small collection and nodded. “I think so. They’re not too heavy. I’ll be okay.”

Adam smiled and kissed Kurt again. “Give me about half an hour,” he promised. “Wait for me if you need help.”

Once Adam had driven off to return the car, Kurt took on the task of bringing his belongings upstairs, knowing better than to leave his belongings sitting out on the sidewalk. Once they were safely behind a closed front door, he hurried upstairs to unlock their apartment door before carrying the boxes up one at a time.

He shoved the boxes into a corner of their bedroom and had his suitcase open, sorting through his clothes and tossing his laundry into the hamper to take care of later. There was no real rush to deal with his books, but Kurt couldn’t help from smiling that Adam made sure to leave the top two shelves of the bookcase open for him. The bust of Shakespeare sat atop the bookcase where the Bard of Avon had a clear view of the room and seeming to offer Kurt a subtle smile, welcoming him home.

Kurt wandered about the apartment while he waited for Adam’s return, reacquainting himself with all the things that he’d loved about their new residence. Adam had left the air conditioner running, so the apartment was comfortable, and it hadn’t escaped Kurt’s notice that the bed was freshly made up. Opening the fridge revealed a selection of cheese and fruit for them to share when his lover returned, along with a bottle of wine with a label that caused Kurt to raise an eyebrow in surprise. It was a pricier vintage than they usually indulged with and usually only for special occasions. Kurt supposed that this would certainly qualify so he wouldn’t complain about Adam spending so much. His lover had already collected a selection of take out menus from the local restaurants, so they’d have plenty of options if they decided to stay in and… celebrate.

The main living room was just as he’d remembered, with the windows letting in plenty of sunlight through the filtering blinds, brightening the space and drawing one’s eye to the exposed brick wall that was Kurt’s favorite feature. While they still needed to consider getting some kind of dining set, he was pleased to see that what furniture they did already have suited their apartment nicely.

He felt a sudden need to sit down on every piece of furniture, like a cat wanting to make sure that his scent was everywhere to mark his territory. Adam would be highly amused that that little flight of whimsy, but after being apart for so long, Kurt couldn’t deny the need to all but rub himself against the chair he sat in as he waited for Adam to return.

He perked up when he heard a key in the front door lock and smiled brightly when Adam stepped inside, looking a bit rung out from the heat. “Hey,” he greeted from his spot in his chair.

Adam smiled and stalked over to him, leaning down to give him a warm kiss. “Hi, love,” he answered back. “Settling in?”

Kurt shrugged. “I haven’t started tackling the boxes yet,” he admitted, not ashamed of procrastinating a little. “Just wanted to enjoy being here for a moment.”

“Got room for me in there?” Adam asked, nodding towards the chair that Kurt was currently occupying.

Kurt nodded with a smile, getting up so that Adam could sit and settling in his lap. He cuddled in happily as Adam wrapped his arms about him, enjoying the feeling of their first real shared moment in their new home. Not that they hadn’t spent a good amount of time there since Adam returned to New York getting “reacquainted”, Kurt considered with a mischievous smile, but this was different. Kurt wouldn’t be hurrying back to the dorms because of an early morning class or staying for the weekend like an out of town guest. They were both finally home.

“This is nice,” Kurt cooed happily, nestling into his boyfriend’s embrace.

Adam sighed in contentment, glad to have this quiet moment before reality intruded again. They did have to shop for their housewarming party, as all of the Apples still in the city were impatient to celebrate the return of their old leader and offer their best wishes for their new place. And they had a bare week before rehearsals started in Garrison. But for now, this small space in the universe was just for them.

“I was thinking about staying in tonight,” Adam suggested, resting his cheek against Kurt’s hair and taking in the scent of his lover. “I know that we wanted to explore the neighborhood a bit more, but I’d kind of like to just have a quiet evening if that’s okay with you.”

Kurt smiled, nodding. “That’s just what I was thinking,” he answered agreeably. They’d have plenty of time go check out the local places in the coming months. For now, they just wanted to have a little time to themselves, cocooned in their private sanctuary. “Sounds perfect.”

“I’ve got a bottle of one of your favorites in the fridge,” Adam informed him. “I wanted to celebrate tonight.”

“I saw,” Kurt answered with a smile. “Why don’t I crack it open while you get our snacks set up?”

Adam smiled and gave Kurt a quick kiss on the tip of his nose before letting his lover climb off him. He couldn’t resist offering the lovely backside in his face an affectionate pat as he sent Kurt on his way.

They were going to be okay. Kurt was as confident about that truth as he was in the law of gravity. As Adam put together a plate of cheese and fruit for them to enjoy, he got out the corkscrew from their utensil drawer and deftly opening the bottle of Australian white. He carried the bottle along with two of the good wine glasses that Elliot had given as a housewarming gift to the couch where he poured the wine and waited for Adam to join him.

Settled there, Kurt allowed a feeling of warm contentment to wash over them as they nestled together, feeding one another and enjoying gentle kisses between sips of tart wine. He was keenly aware that their lives wouldn’t allow for many moments like this in the coming weeks. Rehearsals would keep him busy while Adam learned about the practicalities of staging a large production. Their lives going forward would be a constant cycle of rehearsals, productions, classes and day jobs. Lulls like this needed to be cherished, because they were all the more precious for their rarity.

There would be plenty of time for them to worry about work and their careers. At that moment, all Kurt wanted to do was savor their time together.

* * *

“I’m not going to take no for an answer, man,” Elliot insisted to Adam, taking a sip of his beer.

“Elliot, Kurt’s starting rehearsals next week,” Adam reminded him. “I wanted him to have some down time before he starts. This past semester was really rough on him.

“And I just got back. We’re still barely settled.”

“I know,” Elliot granted. “But this isn’t like our usual show. It’s our last one before everyone heads home for the summer and I promise, it’s going to be really informal. No crazy costumes or anything. It’s just a chance to give our audience a bit of fun before we take a break and to show our thing.”

Adam sighed, looking about the crowded room for Kurt to come rescue him since he was closer to Elliot, but the younger man was currently occupied with Mei, Tommy and several other of the older Apples. They appeared to be regaling one another about their experiences from the spring musical and the weeks in class that followed. He managed to catch Kurt’s eye and made a pleading face, hoping that Kurt would be the voice of reason. Kurt nodded in understanding and excused himself from their friends before bouncing over to them.

“Hey, did you tell Adam about the show?” Kurt asked Elliot, sinking Adam’s hopes for a quick resolution to Elliot’s request.

Elliot grinned and nodded. “I’m trying to tell him that it’s not going to be as intense as our last ones,” he assured Kurt. “It’s more like a big jam session with our best fans in attendance. You do what you do best, and they eat it up.”

Kurt’s eyes were shining brightly at the prospect of another stage to command and looked to his lover. “It was a lot of fun,” he assured Adam. “It’s like Callbacks, but with a better band. Everyone’s going to be there, and I’ve even convinced some of the Apples to join in.”

Adam sighed reluctantly, knowing that he’d lost this one. It was very hard to tell Kurt no much of the time and it wasn’t worth an argument over something so silly. If he was being totally honest with himself, he missed singing with Kurt the past few months and it wouldn’t hurt to keep his pipes in practice.

“Maybe Niall and Cynthia would enjoy the show,” he suggested, offering Kurt a smile. He knew that he’d lost this one and at least he could be cordial in his defeat. “He’d enjoy watching me make a fool of myself and we did promise them a chance to get together.”

Kurt’s smile widened when he realized that Adam had come around and pressed a quick kiss on him to thank the older man for his agreement. He hurried back to their friends, probably to announce that Adam would be performing causing the Englishman to sigh. He didn’t miss the knowing grin on Elliot’s face.

“Oh, stop looking so smug,” he groused, mildly annoyed that he didn’t have a graceful way to withdraw without disappointing Kurt.

“I promise, you won’t make a fool of yourself,” he assured Adam.

Adam knew that, but that didn’t change the matter of him just not fitting in with that sort of crowd. “I’m not the showman that you and Kurt are,” he admitted. “I’m afraid that I’m going to be something of a wet hen in your group.”

“Bullshit,” Elliot laughed, his blue eyes flashing. “You’ve got your own strengths as a performer and I missed seeing that while you were away.”

Knowing that he’d been beaten, Adam allowed himself to smile courteously. It was hard to hold a grudge with Kurt’s and Elliot’s enthusiasm. “If you say so,” he granted. “So… Kurt was telling me about the job you got lined up…”

Whatever misgivings Adam might have felt about performing in such a venue, he didn’t have very much time to dwell on them. Not with Kurt’s excitement over both the planned evening and starting rehearsals in Garrison. Niall and Cynthia happily accepted the invitation, looking forward to a night out with friends. The four of them spent some time before the show at a tapas bar near the venue. Small plates of tortilla and Iberico ham and glasses of red Rioja shared with good company made him feel much better about the evening.

The show wasn’t scheduled to start until ten, giving the two couples plenty of time to reconnect and discover that they got along beyond reasons of necessity. To be honest, Adam enjoyed making friends with another couple which was a refreshing change from just hanging out with a large group of mostly singles. Perhaps Rachel and her new beau would be nice to socialize with as well.

By the time they arrived at the nightclub hosting the Hellfire Circus, Adam was nicely relaxed from the wine and more enthusiastic about the chance to perform. Then again, how could he be reluctant to perform with his Kurt? As promised, it was a much more low-key event than the Valentine’s Day show and he hoped that he wouldn’t stand out in a negative way.

Thankfully everyone was casually dressed, with even Elliot wearing jeans and an old Queen t-shirt. His sole concession to his usual performance style was a bit of artfully smudged eyeliner that made his already brilliant eyes stand out even more. He was helping Dani and the band set up while Santana watched, offering her usual stream of unhelpful commentary.

“Thank God, there’s a bar,” Niall pronounced.

His wife gave him a nudge that was just shy of being gentle. “Behave,” she reprimanded playfully. “You’d think that we haven’t been drinking wine all night.”

“Wine isn’t drinking,” Niall insisted with more seriousness than was probably warranted, but Adam felt himself nodding in agreement. Kurt rolled his eyes, muttering under his breath about idiot Englishmen.

Elliot gave a whistle and called the performers over to him, signaling that they would be starting shortly. Kurt looked to Cynthia and said, “We’d better get over there. Try to get seats up front if you can. Don’t think that we need to worry about a splash zone tonight.”

She smiled and gave her friend a quick kiss to his cheek. “Break a leg,” she offered before taking her husband’s hand. “Come on, you. If I get you a beer, maybe you’ll stop complaining.”

“And no beer for you,” Kurt warned Adam, taking his arm and pulling him in the opposite direction of the bar. “I need you sober for our set.”

“Darling, would I ever embarrass you?” Adam demanded teasingly, offering his lover a crooked smile to assure him that he wasn’t even mildly offended. He knew that Kurt’s habit of trying to control his environment sometimes had him stepping on toes without meaning to and he knew that the younger man wasn’t trying to insult him. Kurt knew that Adam certainly wasn’t a heavy drinker by any stretch and could count the number of time’s he’d gotten totally pissed since they got together on one hand.

Kurt’s cheeks took on a warm flush of pink when he realized that he might have overstepped. “I’m sorry,” he said sincerely, giving Adam’s hand a gentle squeeze. “You know that I always get stupid when I have performance brain.”

Adam bent down to press a quick kiss to his lips. “It’s okay,” he reassured Kurt. “You’ve already built a relationship with this bunch and I’m stepping onto your turf here. I’ll be following your lead.”

Kurt sighed, looking quite repentant for his gaffe. “I really am sorry,” he insisted. “It feels like we need to relearn one another a little bit.”

Adam nodded, in complete agreement. They would have to learn one another’s ways again after so long and discover the kind of men that they had grown into over the past months. They both had undergone many deep changes and had discovered much about themselves while they were apart. Teaching one another who they were would only make their relationship stronger. It would be like revisiting those heady early days of their romance, when everything felt so exciting and new.

Unquestionably they would end up jostling more than a little bit as they did so. Both of them had developed new habits and boundaries that their partner would need to navigate, and they’d probably be stepping on one another’s toes more than a few times. While that was probably inevitable, Adam had no doubt that they would manage without too much in the way of hurt feelings. They just needed to make sure that they communicated with one another; that when something bothered one of them, they didn’t stay silent and allow hurt feelings to fester. There shouldn’t be anything that they couldn’t handle if they spoke like the mature adult men they were supposed to be.

“Hey,” Adam said, pulling Kurt into his arms. He bent his head to kiss his lover soundly, making it clear that he really wasn’t at all upset. “We’re good. And I can’t wait to see you singing again.”

“You are such a damn pushover,” Kurt groused good naturedly, his mood resolved by the older man’s assurance that his misstep was a minor one.

“Nah… I just have the good sense to know what’s worth raising a stink over,” Adam claimed loftily. “But if you insist on submitting my application for sainthood, I won’t complain too much.”

Kurt gave a huff, nudging Adam playfully with his body.

Elliot waved the last stragglers over to him as the band finished setting up. “Come on guys,” he demanded, his smile absolutely brilliant with the excitement over having the chance to perform again. “Let’s get this show on the road.”

Much like the show that Adam had watched online while he’d been traveling, the show boasted a wide array of talents. The dancers were all phenomenal, easily among the best he’d ever seen while the fire eaters were trying out some new tricks to amaze their audience. The singers ranged in ability from generally good to amazing, each of them giving the audience their best efforts.

Elliot was a remarkable showman and lead the company with a ringmaster’s flair for the dramatic. Besides his own remarkable talent, he had a definite knack for staging a show to its best advantage. Even without the bells and whistles that the group normally employed, the show was engaging and showed a clear ebb and flow as it was building towards a climax. Elliot had organized the show to show off the best qualities of each performer, giving everyone a moment to shine while at the same time keeping the energy coherent and engaging.

To say that it was an enjoyable show would be a definite understatement of the grandest proportions. After performing a gorgeous duet together, Artie and Tina rejoined their friends looking extraordinarily pleased with themselves. “You look like you had a good time,” he complimented with a smile.

Artie looked a bit winded from his performance but looked very happy. “It’s been awhile since I’ve had a chance to sing like that,” he admitted. “We don’t have a lot of opportunities to sing at school unless it’s for a project and I’m out of practice.”

Tina wrapped her arms about her boyfriend’s shoulders from behind and leaned in with a big smile. “You’ve still got it, babe,” she assured him, pressing a kiss to his cheek.

Kurt was seated at his side, his head resting on Adam’s shoulder as they watched the other performers. Whatever misgivings Adam might have had were fading away as he watched several members of the Apples performing a playful rendition of “You’ve Got Another Thing Coming”, giving the classic metal number a peppy, boy-band vibe. Seeing his friends welcomed and having a place to show off their creative spirits outside of their club was gratifying and he was starting to think that Elliot was a really good, smart bloke and that he could really get behind the idea of this cabaret.

It was pretty mindboggling just how talented everyone was, and his Apples fit in perfectly. Santana and Dani did a sultry duet of “Cheek to Cheek” that had just enough sexual heat without going too far, and Santana was proving why she was so popular at her piano club. They finished with a kiss that was sure to set all the straight men up with material for their spank banks but clearly wasn’t done at all with their audience in mind.

“Hey Rachel,” Elliot called out to the young woman, who’d been enjoying the show between heated kisses with her boyfriend. “You’re up.”

She looked up at Elliot, and it took all of Adam’s control not to chuckle aloud at the sight of her pink lipstick smeared over the face of the young man who’s lap she was occupying. She gave Neil another quick kiss before getting up and after a quick makeup check, hurried to take her spot on the stage. Dani took up her guitar to strum out an accompaniment to her song.

“Drinking wine and thinking bliss, is on the other side of this,” she sang, her voice rising sweetly on the guitar notes. She looked to Kurt and offered him a soft smile. “I just need a compass and a willing accomplice. All my doubts that fill my head, cascading up and down again. Up and down and round again, down and up and down again.

“Oh, I’ve had my chances and I’ve taken them all,” she assured the audience with a world-weary wisdom. “Just to end up right back here on the floor. To end up right back here on the floor.

She looked up at her audience with soft eyes and a gentle, bemused smile and she seemed to contemplate the mistakes of her life. “Pennies in a well, a million dollars in the fountain of a hotel. Fortune teller that says maybe you will go to hell. But I’m not scared at all,” Rachel promised. “The cracks in the crystal… the cracks in the crystal ball.”

After months of watching Rachel sing every song as if her life depended on belting every note out at full volume, Adam thought that this was a refreshing change. She had such a lovely tone to her singing, and he felt that she was drawing him into her performance instead of just demanding that he admire what she could do with her voice. It was a far richer, more nuanced presentation than he could remember seeing from her.

Rachel offered her audience a sad smile as she considered the regrets of her life. “Sometimes you think everything is wrapped inside a diamond ring. Love just needs a witness, and a little forgiveness…”

That was certainly true, Adam thought, pulling Kurt close to him. Rachel certainly had plenty to look back upon, people that she had hurt and things that he was sure she wished that she had done differently. To see regret and doubt portrayed so sincerely hinted that Kurt’s friend had undergone a great many changes while he’d been away.

“And a halo of patience and a less sporadic pace and I’m learning to be brave in my beautiful mistakes,” she assured them, her expression one of sadness but determination. “Oh, I’ve felt that fire and I’ve been burned. But I wouldn’t trade the pain for what I’ve learned. I wouldn’t trade the pain for what I’ve learned.”

Adam was glad for her. She seemed to have finally found a place of peace within her. That she was secure enough to know that she could fail and be able to get up again, to know that she could make mistakes and learn from them. And that she would have people around her ready to help when her own strength failed. The misgivings that he’d had about her previous one-sided friendship with Kurt eased because it was clear that she had grown in ways that he wouldn’t have considered possible when he’d first met her.

He was happy not just for Kurt, because he knew how much Kurt’s friendship with Rachel meant. His greatest happiess was for Rachel herself because she seemed to be so much more content.

She shook her head sadly, seeming to look back on her past and her mistakes. “Irony, irony… this hate and love, hate and love. What it does to me, what it’s done to me… what is done… done…”

Dani began to play more strongly, her fingers dancing over her guitar’s strings and Rachel’s voice rose to match it, the two artists playing off one another and building up to the song’s climax. “Pennies in a well, a million dollars in the fountain of a hotel,” she sang, stealing her shoulders with determination. “Broken mirrors and a black cat’s cold stare. Walk under ladders on my way to hell, I’ll meet you there.”

Rachel reined her voice back in, returning to the gentle introspection. “But I’m not scared at all, hmmm…” she assured the audience with a gentle smile. “I’m not scared at all… of the cracks in the crystal, the cracks in the crystal ball…”

Dani played the final notes with a soft flourish and the audience applauded for the young women who’d offered such a gentle but emotionally rich performance. Adam nodded approvingly, giving his respect to the young woman who continued to surprise him so thoroughly. Kurt was grinning brilliantly, applauding for his friend and giving a loud whistle to express his regard. When Rachel stepped off the stage to make way for the dancer set to perform next, Kurt was already on his feet to greet her and pulled her into a warm embrace.

“That was amazing!” he praised effusively, hugging her so tightly that she was lifted off her feet. “Absolutely gorgeous.”

“Really?” she asked, clearly wanting his approval. “I tried to copy a bit of what you do, but I wasn’t sure if it would really carry over.”

He smiled reassuringly, pressing a gentle kiss to her forehead. “It was stunning,” he promised.

Elliot came over, resting his hand on Kurt’s shoulder. “You guys are up next,” he advised, keeping an eye on the flow of the show. “The stage lights are set to hit you once Ruthie is done. You’d better get to your marks.”

Kurt nodded, then turned wide, excited eyes to his partner. “You ready?”

Adam smiled confidently. “Born ready, darling.”

The Englishman took his place by the stage, giving the audience little cue that he was set to perform at any time. Kurt was already on stage, hidden in the darkness while he waited for the belly dancer to finish her set. Adam was glad that they set up their performance like this, so he’d have a chance to watch Kurt for a little bit.

Once Ruthie shimmied off the stage in a trail of flowing veils, a spotlight hit Kurt who was sitting on a tall stool. He had one leg crossed over the other and giving the audience an impish smile as the band began to play his music. Adam couldn’t resist tapping his foot to the engaging rhythm and couldn’t help from smiling at seeing Kurt’s shoulder’s shimmy just a bit in time with the music.

“I look up to the little bird, that glides across the sky.” Kurt sang, using that gorgeous upper register of his. He turned his gaze upward, as if watching that imaginary bird in flight. Adam was once again struck by how easily Kurt commanded the attention of his audience, with just a few gloriously sung words.

“He sings the clearest melody. It makes me want to cry,” Kurt trilled, allowing just the slightest bit of grit color his bright notes. “It makes me want to sit right down and cry cry cry…”

He slipped off the stool and strode to the center of the stage, his movements perfectly in time with the music. “I walk along the city streets. So dark with rage and fear,” he sang. “And I… I wish that I could be that bird and fly away from here. I wish I had the wings to fly away from here.

“But my my… I feel so low! My my… where do I go?” he asked, looking to his audience as if they had the answers. “My my… what do I know? My my… we reap what we sow.”

He stood at the front of the stage, legs apart as if bracing himself to the ground. “They always said that you knew best,” he accused, pointing a finger accusingly. “But this little bird’s fallen out of that nest now. I’ve got a feeling that it might have been blessed, so I’ve just got to put these wings to test…”

Adam couldn’t help from nodding in agreement, thinking how apt the lyrics were for Kurt. Whatever boundaries he’d faced all his life, Kurt had long since surpassed them. He didn’t know of anymore more courageous and so willing to put everything on the line for what he wanted. Kurt had always amazed him in his ability to strive towards his goals no matter how steep the odds against him were. He certainly did not need any coaxing before taking wing.

Watching Kurt absolutely command that stage filled Adam with pride. That this remarkable creature was in his life was a gift that he would always treasure. If he could help Kurt reach his potential in any small way, by supporting him and keeping his aspirations in mind while chasing his own dreams, that would be a fine exchange to ensure that Kurt stood by his side.

Kurt moved about the stage with an ease and confidence that normally one would expect in only the most seasoned performer, dancing in time to the music and giving the impression of pride that a young bird might have when discovering his own strength in flight. It was so engrossing that Adam nearly forgot that he had his own cue coming up. If he missed it, Kurt would be so cross with him.

“For I am just a troubled soul,” Kurt advised the audience, his hips gyrating in time with the beat. “Who’s weighted… weighted to the ground.”

“Weighted to the ground,” Adam sang in counterpoint, his warmer tone highlighting the brightness of Kurt’s voice. “Weighted to the ground.”

Kurt smiled at hearing Adam’s voice coming in to support his. “Give me the strength to carry on,” he pleaded, turning his gaze to where his boyfriend was sitting. “Till I can lay this burden down.”

Adam stood, leaning casually up against a post as he watched his lover. “Lay this burden down,” he intoned, giving Kurt a nod of support. “Lay this burden down.”

“Give me the strength to lay this burden down down down, yeah,” Kurt sang, his eyes shining brilliantly, He moved towards Adam, circling about as if showing off how well he could fly to his more mature mate. “Give me the strength to lay it down.”

“Lay it down. Lay it down, yeah!” they sang together, Adam stepping up to join Kurt but not taking away from Kurt’s moment in the spotlight. His time was coming soon enough.

“But my my… I feel so low,” Kurt insisted, wanting Adam’s support so that he could fly on his own but not wanting to be carried. Adam knew that was the last thing that Kurt would ever want. “My my… where do I go? My my… what do I know? My my… we reap what we sow.”

Watching Kurt do what he’d learned he was capable of was both a gift and a privilege and Adam was grateful beyond belief that he had gone to that Winter Showcase performance and had Kurt shoved into his life. Whatever the future might hold for them, Adam knew that they would have the strength to meet it. All of the success in the world wouldn’t mean very much if Kurt wasn’t a part of his world.

“They always said that you knew best,” Kurt accused those who’d tried to hold his back. “But this little bird’s fallen out of that nest now. I’ve got a feeling that it might have been blessed, so I’ve just got to put these wings to test!”

The audience applauded, giving Kurt the respect that he deserved, and Adam had the pleasure of seeing the most telling change in his lover. He couldn’t help from thinking back to that night when he saw Kurt perform for the first time, and how shocked he’d been when the audience of industry luminaries rose to their feet for him. Now he only seemed pleased as he nodded his thanks for their ovation, accepting it as something he deserved. Adam felt his chest swell with pride for Kurt, thrilled to see the confidence that Kurt was now displaying.

The band began to play the music for their second song and Adam let himself slip easily into his role. Stepping forward to stand just behind Kurt, he placed his hands gently on the younger man’s shoulders.

“Into the distance, a ribbon of black. Stretched to the point of no turning back,” he crooned over the softly lifting music. “A flight of fancy on a windswept field. Standing alone, my senses reeled.”

He traced a gentle finger down Kurt’s arm to take his hand. “A fatal attraction is holding me fast,” he sang as he leaned in, seeming to whisper some great secret into the younger man’s ear. “How can I escape this irresistible grasp?”

Kurt turned his gaze up to meet Adam’s, his eyes questioning what his older lover had in mind. Adam just smiled reassuringly, .Kurt’s voice rose up to join Adam’s, using his high range to accent Adam’s warm tenor.

“Can’t keep my eyes from the circling sky,” they sang together, as if alone in the room. “Tongue-tied and twisted. Just an earth-bound misfit, I…”

Adam released Kurt, allowing him to drift away, as if needing to find his own way while Adam watched him from afar. There was the trust that he could render aid if Kurt required it but trusting the younger man to be able to take care of himself.

“Ice is forming on the tips of my wings,” Adam sang, watching as Kurt danced and looked very much like a young bird in flight. “Unheeded warnings. I thought, I thought of everything. No navigator to find my way home. Unladsened, empty, and turned to stone.”

The past months had been so hard for the both of them, being apart and forced to find their own way in the world. Adam had felt cast adrift and lost at times, unable to help Kurt as he struggled with the pressures that were only increasing as he continued to grow.

“A soul in tension that’s learning to fly. Condition grounded but determined to try,” they sang, instinctively knowing how to fit their voices together so that they sounded best. Neither one overpowered the other. Instead, they melded in a harmony that showcased the finest qualities of both. “Can’t keep my eyes from the circling skies. Tongue-tied and twisted, just an earth-bound misfit, I…”

Kurt then moved back towards Adam and they began to move about one another, drifting in lazy circles in time to the music. When they’d been working out their choreography, Adam had noted that it did resemble something of a mating flight and very well suited their choice of material. They had accented that impression with their clothing choices, the shades of tan and grey they both wore resembling a hawk’s plumage as they moved together.

There would come a time when Kurt would have to fly off on his own for a time in order to chase his dreams. Adam knew that well, because Kurt would not be satisfied to just wait for opportunities to come to him. He would fight and run towards any openings that they world might present. Adam had to be strong enough to let Kurt do so, ready to return the support that Kurt had shown him and be confident that Kurt would indeed return to him. They would continue to face challenges as they continued to discover just how much they were capable of.

He reached out to cup Kurt’s face in his hand, gazing at that much-loved visage and knew that he would never try to clip Kurt’s wings now that the younger man was starting to truly discover just how high he could fly. They would take to the air together.

“Above the planet, on a wing and a prayer,” he sang softly, his words as much a promise as a performance. “My grubby halo, a vapour trail in the empty air. Above the clouds I see my shadow fly, out of the corner of my watering eye.

“A dream unthreatened by the morning night, could blow this soul right through the roof of the night.”

Kurt understood what Adam was saying and his eyes were all but glowing with happiness that he had found someone to fly with. He fell into step with Adam, letting the other man guide him through their dance as their voices rose up together.

“There’s no sensation to compare with this. Suspended animation, a state of bliss… Can’t keep my mind from the circling skies. Tongue-tied and twisted. Just an earth-bound misfit, I…”

Kurt nearly laughed when Adam lifted him up above his head with a sudden heave, holding him there as the music swirled around them .The younger man stretched out his arms as if they were wings, tossing his head back as Adam held him aloft, confident that his lover wouldn’t drop him. As the music drew to a gentle conclusion, Kurt was lowered to the ground, finding his place back in Adam’s embrace.

The cheering and applause around them didn’t matter so much. Not when they could gaze into one another’s eyes and see their futures there. Not just of stages to command and roles to play, but of the security of having a nest to return to.

Then stepped off the stage together, Adam keeping one arm about Kurt’s shoulders to keep him close. Elliot smiled and nodded his approval before moving on to make sure that the next acts made it to the stage and Adam was happy to admit that he was enjoying himself. He always did enjoy performing and watching other talented people. He could understand why this group had such an enthusiastic following, as some of the performers wouldn’t have so many venues to show off their skills. That was the very reason he’d founded the Apples; to give people a chance to experiment and perform outside of the normal school sponsored venues.

But it was seeing Kurt’s response to all this that made him glad to have joined in that night. Seeing the way anticipation lit up in the younger man’s eyes and the sheer joy he felt performing alone made overcoming his reservations worthwhile. Adam knew that for Kurt, music was another language that he was naturally fluent in. Whereas singing was something that Adam had always enjoyed and had some decent talent in, Kurt absolutely lived and breathed for it.

After the last act finished, they had the opportunity to socialize and relax with their fans. This was a new experience for Adam; he was very familiar with the gatherings and kind words at the stage door, but he rarely had a chance to really meet and have conversations with an audience about what they thought about a show.

As if to make up for his earlier misstep, Kurt got him a beer from the bar and offered it with a smile and a kiss. “Enjoying yourself?” he asked, remembering Adam’s earlier misgivings and the older man had about participating.

Adam nodded, not reluctant to admit that he’d made the wrong assumption about the cabaret. “It was fun,” he assured Kurt without reservation. “And I’d missed singing with you.”

“Me too,” Kurt admitted. He cocked his head towards the cabaret regulars. “They’re not to scary, are they?”

“Not at all,” Adam agreed. “I’m glad we did this.”

Kurt smiled broadly and leaned up to kiss Adam soundly. “Let’s go find Niall and Cynthia,” he suggested. “I’m curious to see what they thought.”

The venue turned into quite the party as performers and spectators mingled, enjoying this last get together before the cabaret’s summer hiatus. Niall clapped his hand on Adam’s shoulder, offering his friend a warm grin.

“That was bloody fantastic, mate,” he insisted while Cynthia was offering her regards to Kurt.

“Thanks,” Adam said thankfully, sipping at his beer. “It was all Kurt’s idea. I just followed his lead.”

“Nah,” Niall corrected. “You held your own there. Didn’t know you were that much of a singer.”

Adam shrugged. “I’m not. Not the way Kurt is,” he insisted. “But I can hold my own in the right crowd with the right material.”

He caught up Kurt in his arms, pulling the laughing young man to him and pressing a sound kiss to the top of his head. “This one, on the other hand…”

Kurt swatted Adam’s arm. “You’re such a goof,” he complained playfully.

They mingled a bit more with the audience and Adam found that the crowd that had attended was both knowledgeable and appreciative, which was always a pleasure for a performer. He noted a man eyeing Kurt with an air of resignation, but who’d raised his glass to toast his partner. Kurt had seen him and nodded his thanks, seeming to recognize him.

There was probably a little bit of a story there, Adam decided, but not an important one. He’d ask Kurt later, but had a feeling it was something that they’d be able to share a laugh over. After all, if someone didn’t admire his Kurt, then it was obvious that they had no taste. He’d be more offended if Kurt didn’t garner the interest of others.

It was nearly three in the morning by the time they’d returned to their nest, the pair of them happy and laughing as they fell into bed together. Adam pulled the younger man close, burying his face in his hair and felt utterly and completely at peace.

He had no idea what the future might hold for the both of them. There would be triumphs and successes and times when nothing would work in their favor. They would have weeks together and months apart as they worked in a profession that offered nothing in the way of stability.

But together, they would fly.

* * *

Rachel's solo - "Crystal Ball" by P!nk

Kurt's solo - "Little Bird" by Annie Lennox

Adam's solo - "Learning to Fly" by Pink Floyd

#kadam fic #kadam #kurt hummel #adam crawford #elliot starchild gilbert #rachel berry #santana lopez #dani (glee)#original characters #not blaine or klaine friendly #nyada students #omg! it's finally done!

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trying-write-fanfics · 5 years

Text

OverhaulXreader part 8

Time went on and managing the restaurant became simple. Everyday was watching the ingredients go out, when to order more, evaluate customer satisfaction, and counting the money. Everyone was rather fond of Y/n working at the Wicked Sparrow.

However there was an issue clouding her mind. She revealed her cards too soon to her childhood crush. It was a stupid mistake to tell him anything because now he’s waiting. The unpacking, the making connections, everything was falling into place. Yes he’s handsome, always the same Kai, and has been the dream man for all her years. Reality set in. Kai was amazing, but being with him would be a lot of sacrifice, sacrifice she wasn’t sure she was ready for.

Kai isn’t the romantic type. That could be expected from a mile away. There wasn’t going to be no running into each other’s arms on a beach, or holding hands in public. He might buy her things, but the things don’t matter. Touching. She has seen him break out in hives so many times, and it seemed the germs only got worse. He was in a mask twenty four seven. There were also hard times that need to be considered. What is he going to do when she has her own problems? Throw money at it and get annoyed that it doesn’t dissolve? Can he even handle a romantic relationship? Does he want one? He’s still a virgin, so maybe it’s a no to any intimate relationship like that.

That stupid thought though kept coming back to break all her logic. “Don’t you have a confession to work on?” What an idiot to tell him anything drunk! She just wanted to go to his house and give him some wine! She was for sure he would kick her out! She was so gross! But he stayed, and slept beside her. Best of all she didn’t even have night terrors. It was the reason why she had a solo dorm, she kept her roommate awake.

Kai was a wonderful excuse too. During her time in France, the whole time felt like it had an end date. Potential suitors would try to change her mind that there was still more to explore with them and that she should stay. A childhood best friend crush was no one to compete with. No one could be better than the man handwriting her letters for so many years.

Now things weren’t a fantasy. Her desires to be held by him, to be kissed by him, to be seen with him in public seemed like little things, but would be unbearable to ever expect him to do. Life with Kai wouldn’t be a fantasy, it would be dangerous. One accident was once enough.

To think of him too! He doesn’t have time or the strength to have a girlfriend! He has a small yakuza to run, and even though the man is brilliant, the niche for it is shrinking. It’s not erratic villains taking over the crime scene.

“Lost in thought?” Sumi, a waitress asked.

“Just zoned out for a second.” Y/n quickly went back to counting tomatoes.

“Has your dating life blossomed yet?” She asked.

“What!”

“It’s been a month since you’ve moved to the country. You’re always wearing these outfits, I just thought someone would have tried to do something.” She explained.

“Oh, well I’m not really looking.” Y/n was quick to sweep it under the rug.

“Are you a lesbian?”

“No, I’m not ready to date, that’s all.” Y/n explained.

“If you want I can set you up with my cousin. He works at a seafood restaurant.”

“Maybe another time.”

After her shift was done, she went home and changed for practice. She has a couple secret hobbies. A sense of community and belonging she was yearning for. She knew her parents were trying to protect her, but for so many years she was alone in a foreign land. When she returned everything was different. There was no constant. They went through two dogs during her time away. The first one died from getting hit by a car. She didn’t feel loved. Everyone was so distant. This place was the only place she began to feel a new sense of warmth. Though it didn’t completely match her beliefs it was still fun.

After practice she took the subway home. The cart was empty. The light was harsh as it tried to shine but it was a stale white light. It was only there to serve a purpose. Her phone rang, of course it was the devil himself.

“Hey, Kai.” She sighed.

“Where are you?”

“Always straight to the point, huh? Why would you like to know?”

“I pulled a you and came over. You know I didn’t get you a house warming gift yet, so I got one.”

“Oh, was the wine that bad?” She teased.

“I’m not giving you more alcohol. Your public intoxication is going to get fined one day.” He told her. “Are you drunk?”

“A little bit.” She lied.

“God.” He growled. “Do you want me to pick you up. You shouldn’t be out and drunk like you are.”

“I’m kidding, Kai, don’t get your panties in a wad.” She told him.

“I don’t know. I’ve only seen you drunk or hungover.”

“Maybe you should visit me at work.”

“Should I too go in drunk?”

“Shut up.” She laughed.

It was these conversations she adored. How she could let her guard down with him, even play a little. These conversations wouldn’t be enough though that’s worth a confession.

“I’m getting off the subway, I should be back in ten minutes. I’d let you in, but the spare key is inside the apartment.”

“I might be able to work around that.”

“See you then.” She told him.

Hopefully he wouldn’t ask about that confession, maybe it already left his mind. Tonight’s not the night to tell him he’s not “boyfriend” material. They were still friends with complicated feelings. Yeah, she loves him, but her place may not be beside him.

He was already inside when she got there. He was sitting at the kitchen table. Dumb, she forgot about his quirk. He doesn’t use it often in front of her.

“Breaking and entering?”

“You told me you’d invite me in.” He played back.

Her eyes were drawn to a purple gift bag.

“What’s inside that?” She asked.

“Open it. You’ll see.”

It was an expensive knife set. She smiled and looked at him. He did snoop through her things and saw her knives were on dulling.

“Why thank you. You should be expecting a thank you note in the next three to five business days.” She told him.

“Why not thank me now?”

Y/n’s eyes widen. He didn’t forget. What else could he do, read her mind? She sighed and tried to put something together.

“I need to table this discussion.” She firmly said. “You’ll hear it’s when I’m ready. Not because you bought me some fancy gift, or you say something clever.” She waved her finger in his face. “I’m a wreck right now.”

“With what?” His tone didn’t sound like a question.

“Nothing for your precious little mind to worry about.” She countered.

“I’m sure whatever you’re going through isn’t that bad.”

It was words like those that held her back.

“Which is why you don’t need to worry.”

Her phone began to ring. It was her boss.

“I gotta take this.” She said.

“(Last name)! (Last name)! Good news! Great news! I just had a consultation with a customer, show them your menu you’ve been putting together and they want you to cater their high class event!” Her boss yelled.

“Wow...that’s amazing-“

“I almost lost them! They wanted something special, and new! When the dish you added to the menu they said they wanted something more like that!”

“Who is it?”

“You’re never going to guess!” The Best Jeanist!”

There was an awkward silence.

“HE’S NUMBER FOUR ON THE HERO CHARTS! Do you seriously not watch the news?”

“I’m still figuring out the channels.” She lied.

“It’s for his fashion show next month. I want all your entertainment focused on that.”

“Will do.” She hung up.

She was making her way into fame, but it wasn’t a happy moment.

“Congratulations.” Kai said. “Are you going to poison them?”

“You wish. I bet my boss hasn’t even told that guy I’ve been there less than a month.” She sighed. “I’m a little overwhelmed at just the thought of this.”

“You can still decline.”

“It’s a good opportunity.” She sighed.

Kai got up and patted her shoulder, twice. It was moments like those she believed he was capable of changing or wanting to show a new side to her.

“I’m sure you’ll do what’s best.” He told her.

“Thank you for stopping by.” She told him. She was about to lean on him for support, but stopped herself for a couple of reasons.

“Is there anything you want me to take care of?”

“Focus on your goals.” She told him.

It was a difficult time to go to sleep that night, but she ended up passing out due to exhaustion from overthinking .

Next https://tryingfe-imaginesblog.tumblr.com/post/613798823803895808/overhaulxreader-part-9-chisaki-didnt-understand

#xreader #overhaulxreader #overhaul #chisaki kaixreader #chisaki kai #bnha fanfiction #bnha

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smoaking-greenarrow · 6 years

Note

How about a protective Oliver fic where felicity had a allergic reaction?!

The moment Oliver opened the door to the apartment, his eyes always searched for Felicity. If he expected her to be home, he wanted to see her as soon as possible when he came through the door. Learning that she was pregnant only made his anxious feeling a little more intense. Especially since he hadn’t seen her all day.

As soon as he heard the robotic voice announcing his presence, Oliver’s eyes looked for her, carrying the present he’d picked up on his way home. Usually she’d be waiting for him, expecting him since he always called or texted to let her know he was on his way. But the living room was dark, and the kitchen was empty.

Oliver frowned, coming into the apartment and closing the door behind him, making sure to hear it lock behind him. “Felicity?” He asked, toeing off his shoes and shrugging off his coat.

The light in their bedroom was on, pouring into the hallway, and he followed it, his eagerness to see his wife growing in his chest.

Over the years, he’d experienced countless nights like this. It wasn’t uncommon for him to come home and find her asleep with a book still in her hand, her glasses left crooked on her face. Or the handful of times he’d walk into the bedroom to find her…waiting not so patiently for him.

But, as he turned the corner, Oliver’s heart stopped.

It wasn’t a scene he’d never walked in on before, but it instantly sent his heart into his throat.

Felicity stood on her toes in front of the dresser, twisting this way and that, looking at herself in the reflection. She wore nothing but his t-shirt and sky blue panties underneath. Her belly was exposed, the shirt pulled up to her breasts so she could examine it.

Oliver’s heart jumped to his throat as he stared at her for a moment, one of her hands grazing over the smooth, still flat skin. He must have made some kind of noise as he watched her, because Felicity’s eyes snapped up to the doorway, meeting his eyes in the mirror. And then she dropped the shirt and turned towards him, a shy smile crossing her lips. “Hi,”

“Hi,” Oliver breathed back, setting the box in his hand down on the bed. “You know it’s still early…” He felt breathless, completely amused and enchanted to see her like that.

“I know,” Felicity bit her lip. “I was just checking because…Laurel called me fat.”

Thrown off, Oliver froze. Then his shoulders stiffened, every defensive bone in his body humming to life. “She called you what?”

“Well, not in those words, exactly.” Felicity rolled her eyes, “but she did say that I shouldn’t eat so much ice cream. She’s been reading all these pregnancy books which is equally weird and sweet…and I guess ice cream every day isn’t considered healthy. She’s probably right, but I want it. I want. All. The. Food.”

His eyes narrowed, only half kidding when he asked, “and where is Laurel now?”

Snorting in response, Felicity rolled her eyes. “Oliver, I’m probably going to look like a whale soon, you can’t pick fights with everyone who notices.”

Oliver frowned, certain that she was wrong about both. Surely, whale won’t be the word coming to mind when he gets to watch his wife’s belly grow. Perfect will definitely be more like it. And he also felt confident that he would absolutely pick a fight with anyone if they dared to say otherwise.

“Besides,” Felicity continued as Oliver’s eyes dropped to her stomach. “I know Laurel wasn’t trying to be mean,” her lips jutted out, an adorable pout. “Although it’s Laurel…so maybe she was, but I actually do think she meant well. It was just…not nice. Anyway, she has a point, because I’m pretty sure there’s a bump, and it’s just bloating from all the sugar.”

Oliver pinched his lips together, nodding to the box on the bed that she hadn’t noticed. “So I suppose you don’t want those…”

Her head snapped to the bed, her eyebrows raising. “Chocolate?”

He chuckled, picking it up and opening it. “Compromise.”

“Ohhh,” Felicity groaned, coming closer. “Thank you. I love you so much.”

“Are you talking to me or the strawberries?”

Felicity snorted again, her hands finding his cheeks, fingers skimming over his ears. “You,” she mumbled as she pulled him down and pushed herself up on her toes at the same time.

It was an adorable, graceful little move that always seemed to have their lips meeting right in the middle.

And Oliver hummed, melting into her kiss.

“But you, my darlings…I also love,” Felicity sighed, dragging her lips away from his as she leaned over the box to peek inside. “Strawberries are fruit…totally healthy, right? The chocolate covering them is irrelevant.” Oliver chuckled, reaching up with his free hand to tuck her hair behind her ear. Felicity smiled up at him, scrunching her nose up. “Maybe just one…”

One turned into four, but she did share.

And she went to bed happy that night; her stomach happy thanks to the strawberries and her heart happy thanks to the wonderful man who brought them home for her. She also didn’t mind kissing her husband goodnight and tasting the sweetness all over again.

Despite how tired Felicity was, and how blissfully she’d drifted off to sleep, she woke up just a few hours later.

At first, she wasn’t sure what had woken her up, but then she felt another twist of pain in her stomach, and she knew it was the cause. Groaning, Felicity turned over in bed, tossing her legs over the side to stand up. She felt like she needed to get up and move, drink some water, walk off a cramp or something.

But Felicity took one step towards the kitchen and her head was spinning. Her stomach swooped, and her feet shuffled to the bathroom, closing the door before she turned on the light, trying not to wake Oliver.

It wasn’t until she looked in the mirror that she really woke up.

The bright lights had her squinting, but as her eyes adjusted and she saw her reflection, Felicity gasped. Her neck was covered in hives, her lips slightly swollen. She stared at herself, making sense of her own body.

Instead of disturbing Oliver, she reached for his phone that he’d left on the bathroom sink earlier and dialed a number she knew by heart.

The woman had said to call her day or night if she needed something…

“Felicity?” She answered on the sixth ring, her voice thick with sleep.

“Dr. Schwartz,” Felicity greeted, but her voice was hoarse. “God,” she made a face, moving her tongue that felt wrong in her mouth. Also swollen. Perfect. “I’m sorry to wake you.”

“What’s going on?” The doctor asked.

“I think I’m having an allergic reaction,”

Dr. Schwartz asked questions, trying to determine whether or not this would warrant a visit to the emergency room. And Felicity was incredible grateful when the answer ended up being no, since Oliver would’ve worried nonstop.

As she answered the questions and explained her symptoms, Dr. Schwartz advised her to use skin cream for the rash, and told her how much Benadryl to take. Then they briefly talked about her diet, which also had Dr. Schwartz politely telling her to cut back on the sweets. Damn Laurel.

They agreed that if it didn’t start to clear up within the hour, she’d go to the hospital. They also came to the conclusion that the strawberries were to blame, and that she probably developed the allergy because of her pregnancy.

“Great,” Felicity grumbled, resting her hand over her stomach once she hung up with Dr. Schwartz. “I’ll let this one go, peanut…” she spoke softly to her stomach, even though it was too early for her baby to look like more than a crumb, let alone have ears, and it made her feel a little silly. “Just don’t doom me with any mint chip allergies, please, okay?”

The ointment was in the cabinet under the sink, and Felicity applied some generously, satisfied with the instant relief. Then she turned off the light and left the bathroom, heading towards the kitchen to find the Benadryl.

Oliver stirred in bed as she walked by, and she crept on her toes, sneaking out while he let out a long sigh, his hands reaching across the mattress, seeking her out in his sleep.

When she reached the kitchen, she followed Dr. Schwartz’s dosage, and sat on the counter, intent on finishing a full cup of water before she climbed back into bed. The last thing she needed was a dehydration headache, too. But before Felicity could slip back into the bedroom and hope the rash was gone soon, she heard Oliver call her name.

And she didn’t bother answering, knowing he was already on his way out.

With a slight frown and furrowed eyebrows, Oliver blinked at her, his chest bare and his boxers wonderfully, adorably, distractedly domestic. “What are you doing?” He asked, coming over to where she sat on the counter.

“Don’t freak out.”

He cocked his head to the side, his eyes taking her in, “why would I—” but the words stopped when he noticed the hives on her neck. His index finger and thumb found her chin, immediately lifting her head so he could see her neck better, tilting her face towards the light as he leaned in.

“What happened?” Oliver asked, his voice taking on that clipped, assertive tone.

“Just a tiny, insignificant, mild allergic reaction to those strawberries. I guess baby might not be a very big fan.”

“Felicity,” his jaw clenched as he looked her in the eyes. “You didn’t think you should wake me up for this?” Irritation flashed in his narrowed gaze, in the tight line of his lips.

She frowned, her eyes immediately welling with unexpected tears just as they’d done when Laurel hinted at her unhealthy eating habits. It wasn’t fair. She’d never been so sensitive, yet just the tone in Oliver’s voice made her feel bad.

Unfortunately, he was too busy fussing over her to notice. He gently tilted her head again, examining the hives that already felt better. Then his thumb touched her swollen bottom lip, and his eyebrows pushed together in concern when it trembled under his touch. “I called Dr. Schwartz right away,” she whimpered, “and I took Benadryl. She says I’ll be fine.”

Oliver’s eyes shifted up to hers, and she saw regret and remorse instantly. He brushed his thumbs across her cheeks, catching a few stray tears she couldn’t keep from falling. “I’m sorry,” he whispered gently, sincerely. I’m just…I worry about you. And I know you can take care of yourself and protect yourself, but I’m always going to want to take care of you and protect you, too.”

“I know,” Felicity sighed, relaxing while she slumped against him, winding her arms around his shoulders.

He hauled her up off the counter, guiding her legs around his waist while his arms held her steady.

“Wait,” Felicity squeaked, her hand flying out to grab the glass of water she’d been working on. He chuckled as she finished her last sip, setting it back on the counter to be taken care of tomorrow. “Okay, proceed,” she hummed, nestling her head into his neck.

Oliver carried her down the hallway and into the bedroom. He left the lights off and moved on instinct, now that he knew the space well enough to walk through it without tripping over anything. Setting her down on the bed gently, Oliver let her relax into her pillows and curl up in the blankets as he dropped over her, landing on his side of the bed.

With a sigh, Felicity closed her eyes, her fingers reaching greedily for Oliver.

As they settled beside each other, both of her arms wrapped around one of his, her head on his shoulder and his hand on her thigh, Felicity could sense him watching her.

At first, she tried to ignore it, but the minutes ticked by, and she couldn’t sleep when she could feel her husband staring at her like that. His stiff body told her that he was still worried.

Finally, Felicity sighed, tilting her head up but keeping her eyes closed. “You want to call Dr. Schwartz, don’t you?” She mumbled.

Since she gave him perfect access, Oliver nipped at her lips, planting a string of short kisses. “Yes,” he groaned against her mouth. “Kind of.”

Shaking her head, Felicity turned over to her nightstand. She peeked one eye open long enough to grab her phone. Then she curled back into his side, dropping the phone on his chest with a huff.

Laying quietly, Felicity listened as they woke the poor doctor for the second time. But by the end of the conversation, she was grateful because the relief in Oliver was evident. His body relaxed as Dr. Schwartz assured him that his wife was going to be fine.

Felicity was also glad because Oliver thought to ask questions she hadn’t considered; like if this meant their baby would have an allergy to strawberries and whether or not they needed to worry about anything else Felicity ate. And she heard Dr. Schwartz on the other end, telling Oliver that it was too soon to tell, but to make sure Felicity was careful with other fruits and berries.

After ten minutes or so, he hung up, and Felicity grinned. She turned her lips to his bare chest so she could kiss him. “Happy now?”

Oliver sighed, kissing the top of her head. “With you?” He whispered, “happy always.”

Felicity hummed sleepily, hugging herself closer. “You’re going to be an amazing father, Oliver Queen.”

His mouth trailed through her hair, his hand doing the same on the small of her back, pushing under her t-shirt so he could feel her skin. “We’re going to be amazing parents, Felicity.”

Oliver hesitated, his voice rising with wistful humor as he said, “and to think…you called us unthinkable. Probably didn’t expect to be married and having a baby with me back then, did you?”

Felicity chuckled, “no, but I wouldn’t change a thing.” She sighed, her mind drifting off, filling with happy thoughts about how far they’d come.

#Arrow #Olicity #olicity fic

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waitineedaname · 5 years

Text

Lightning Round, Take Two

kudos to @notedchampagne for inspiring this!!

also on ao3

“This is a terrible idea.”

“It’ll be fine.”

“She’s going to hate me.”

“She’ll love you.”

“Love me? Love me?!” Karkat all but shrieked. “I don’t know if you’ve realized this, Dave, but I don’t exactly make the best impressions! In fact, one might even say I make the worst impressions! We’ll be lucky if she doesn’t end this visit early because she can’t stand being around me because I have the personality of a deep seated pimple!”

“Damn. The kind it hurts to pop?”

“Yes! The kind of pimple that never forms a head and settles on your upper lip so it hurts every time you move your mouth! That’s what my personality is like: persistent, painful, and pus-filled!”

“The three P’s.” Dave mused, and Karkat shot him a scowl. “C’mon man, don’t sell yourself short. You’re like a blackhead at the worst.”

“Don’t pander to me, Strider.” Karkat grumbled and crossed his arms, but he didn’t complain when Dave slung his arm over his shoulders. “I still think this would go much better without me.”

“Nah, dude, trust me, this is the best option. I mean, best case scenario, if I did this by myself, she’d be like ‘omg do u have a bf’ and I’d be like ‘yeah’ because that’s part of what I’m tryna do here, tell folks about us, but then she’d want pictures even though she’s definitely met you, and then I’d have to show her all those cute pictures I took of you when you weren’t looking, and I know you don’t want that.”

“You what?”

“You didn’t hear that.”

Karkat rolled his eyes and leaned a little closer into Dave’s side, eyes tracing the little carapacian homes they were walking by. Dusk was falling, much to his relief; they both had to make compromises when they realized their species operated at different times of day, but he still avoided leaving the hive when the sun was glaring and ready to burn him to a crisp. Dave probably could’ve flown them all the way to Roxy and Calliope’s house, but Karkat hated making him carry him that far (Dave always insisted he wasn’t that heavy, but the strain in his voice never escaped Karkat’s notice), so they were walking the last few blocks. Karkat had a sneaking suspicion Dave was fine with walking because he was trying to delay the inevitable. He was nervous, if the way his fingers were tapping on Karkat’s upper arm or the way he kept clenching and unclenching his jaw said anything. Karkat sighed and unfolded his arms to wrap one around Dave’s waist.

“You don’t have anything to worry about, you know.” He said, surprising Dave into looking down at him.

“What? Who said I’m worried? You’re the one who’s been bitching the whole evening.”

“Because I want to make a good impression on your weird paradox ancestor, shit for brains. I’m saying you don’t need to be worried about coming out to her.” He met Dave’s eyes through his shades, something he’d gotten good at over the sweeps. “Of all fucking people, she’ll be the most fine with it. That’s why you’re telling her first, right?”

“Yeah, I know, it’s just-” Dave sighed and looked away. He was better than he used to be, but holding eye contact was still hard for him, “It’s a big deal, you know? I mean, Rose probably figured it out from living in a confined space with us, and Dirk kinda got it out of context clues, but this is a first using the big B-word.”

“She’ll be fine. And if she isn’t, I’ll tear her apart and at least give her a reason to hate your boyfriend besides my shit-awful personality.”

“Aw, babe, I dunno whether to be flattered you’d attack my mom like a feral raccoon or bummed that you’re trashin’ yourself.”

“How about we compromise, and I’ll stop shit-talking myself if you stop stressing yourself out about this.”

“...Deal.”

“Good. Because I think that’s her house.”

“Oh shit.”

The two of them stopped just outside the elaborate building the carapacians had offered Roxy and Calliope back when they’d first arrived in the middle of Earth C society, both of them brimming with anxiety despite their reassurances. Karkat almost thought Dave was going to say this was too much for him and turn around and fly home, but he unwrapped himself from Karkat’s arm and instead held his hand to walk up to the front door and knock.

“Just a sec!” Roxy’s voice rang out from somewhere inside, and a few seconds later, the door opened to reveal her smiling face. “Davey!” She squealed and launched herself at him, hugging him tightly. Dave, to his credit, adapted quickly and let go of Karkat’s hand to hug her back.

“Sup, Rox.”

Roxy pulled away from Dave to turn towards Karkat, who instinctively took a half step back. She noticed and laughed. “Don’t worry, I’m not gonna hug you if you don’t wanna. Is a fistbump cool?”

“I don’t know if I would call anything a certain red asshole harangued me with in the early years of our friendship ‘cool’, but it is acceptable.” That made Roxy laugh, and he gave her a light fistbump.

“Karkat, bro, I can’t believe you’re just calling me uncool in front of my mom. What the fuck. What is this betrayal.” Dave shook his head, but he already seemed more relaxed.

“Dave, I dunno how to break this to you, but you’re related to me ‘n Dirk.” Roxy tried to adopt a sympathetic expression despite her grin. “You’ve got dork running through your veins.”

“Goddamn. You’re tellin’ me I’ve got a genetic predisposition for this shit?”

“Yup. It’s chronic. Doctors everywhere’re rushing to write studies on our family to try and isolate the ‘cool-but-really-not-cool’ gene.”

“Let’s hope it’s not replicable in a lab or anything. I’m pretty sure Earth C can only handle four of us.”

“Ohmigod, can you imagine them trying to test it out. Little lab rats wearing shades and writing wizard fic. Holy shit.” Roxy gasped at her own idea, an unbelievably pleased look on her face.

“Oh my dick. Fuck ectobiology, this is the science I want to invest in.”

“Absolutely not.” Karkat interjected. “There’s already enough of you jackasses, I think I’d have an aneurysm if any more blond lunatics were running around.”

“Lol,” Karkat couldn’t believe Roxy just said that out loud, “You’re probably right. Are we gonna keep fucking around about cool mice on the doorstep, or do you guys wanna come in?”

She stepped aside to lead them inside and showed them to the living room. “Callie’s out picking up dinner. I would’ve made something since I invited you guys over for dinner, but living in the water apocalypse did not leave me with many cooking skills.”

“Hey, no shade here.” Dave shrugged, plopping down on the couch with Karkat at his side. “I don’t think I’d be able to work an oven if I tried. We’re a strictly take-out household. Hivehold? I dunno, but we’ve barely touched the kitchen in the week we’ve been here.”

“Excuse you, I made those Hot Pockets yesterday.” Karkat countered sharply.

“Yeah, and they were like 30% cooked, dude. You put them in the microwave for thirty seconds and then panicked.”

“Fuck you, I don’t see you doing much better! In fact, I distinctly remember you eating those frozen pizza pockets like a ravenous barkbeast! It was like you’d been locked in a cave with nothing to eat for half a sweep and my delicious plate of folded sauce treats were the only thing saving you from a miserable, malnourished death!”

“I mean, a Hot Pocket’s a Hot Pocket. I’m not gonna turn one of those fuckers down, who do you think I am.”

“I think you’re a wiggler with no sense of taste.”

“You eat bugs.”

“And you put ranch on your pizza! Bricks and glass houses, Dave!”

“Dude, do trolls even have that expression? Aren’t y’all light sensitive? Why would you have glass houses?”

“Newsflash, dipshit, I’ve lived in close proximity for the majority of the past two sweeps with an overflowing fountain of pop culture references and idioms and an uppity seer that likes to make things as convoluted and difficult to understand as possible. I picked up a few human phrases! Uh, no offense, Roxy.” Karkat added at the mention of Rose.

“None taken! I’m pretty sure she gets that from Dirk anyway.” Roxy waved him off. “Take it back to the ranch on pizza thing tho, do you really do that? Is this some earth delicacy I missed out on?”

“Oh fuck yeah, it rules. You gotta try it some time.” Dave nodded, excited to get someone else to try his food crimes.

“Imma have to take a pass on that.” Roxy said, crinkling her nose.

“Finally, someone with taste!” Karkat exclaimed, and Dave gently hit his shoulder.

“I am slowly workin’ through traditional earth food tho! Or at least as traditional as you can get here. That’s where we’re getting dinner from! There’s this human/troll fusion place that Callie and I like. I dunno how authentic it is, but it tastes good at least!”

“I mean, nothing on Earth C is super authentic, it’s all like human diet slightly to the left, but it’s edible.”

“Better than the garbage we alchemized on the meteor, at least.” Karkat agreed.

“God, the fucking buffalo wings debacle.” Dave and Karkat shuddered in unison. Roxy looked amused.

“You guys spent a lot of time together on the meteor, right? And now you’re living together?” Roxy asked, and they both nodded. She had a look in her eyes that was far too reminiscent of the look Rose got when she was gearing up to psychoanalyze someone, and Karkat was hit with a stroke of panic. “Sooo, I should prob’ly do a lightning round with you too, right? Since you’re important to Dave?”

The pair shared a look and Dave shrugged, appearing nonchalant despite the way he was anxiously picking at a loose string on his jeans. “Uh, I guess?” Karkat said, bracing himself.

“I’ll start easy, I promise!” Roxy drummed her fingers on her lips as if thinking. “Hm… you’ve got ‘cat’ in your name, do you like cats?”

Karkat made a face, thrown off by the question. “I guess? I never had one, but Nepeta was pretty fucking into them, and they seemed… fine. I can respect a meowbeast that just lazes around if it’ll leave me the fuck alone, but Nepeta’s lusus could’ve probably torn me to shreds, so…” He shrugged.

“Was Nepeta a friend from the game?” Roxy backpedaled the moment she saw Karkat’s face fall. “Oh shit, tender subject, sorry.” She worried her lip, looking for another question, then perked up. “Oh! What’s your sign? I know it’s Cancer from earth astrology and stuff, but what’s that mean for trolls?”

Karkat looked down at his chest and grimaced. “Fuck if I know, I don’t actually have a sign. I spent most of my life thinking this stupid thing meant precisely fuck all. I guess it’s a symbol of my ancestor? But I never really learned much about him since the empress always tried to erase his rebellion, and I thought that ancestor shit was highblood bullshit anyway. I guess now I know it’s not, but ugh, I could’ve happily gone my whole wretched life without meeting that douchebag.”

“We met his ancestor in the dream bubbles.” Dave explained. “Or I guess descendent? Since y’all are technically the post-scratch group? I never really understood that part.”

“Doesn’t fucking matter, he was a pretentious asswipe with his head so far up his nook it’s a wonder he was even audible, but oh god, was he audible alright.”

“Lmao, I kinda wanna meet this guy.” Roxy grinned.

“No you don’t.” Dave and Karkat said in unison, which made her laugh.

“I’ll take your word for it.” The mischievous look was back in her eyes. “Next question! Have you ever had your quadrants filled?”

Karkat almost choked. “What the fuck kind of question is that? That’s none of your fucking business!” He blustered. “My quadrants are private, and it’s my decision if I want to bring them up! Are all humans this fucking nosy or is it just the Lalondes?!”

“It’s just the Lalondes.” Dave said flatly.

“I just thought it’d be fair since I asked Dave that in our lightning round!” Roxy put her hands up in apology, but didn’t look particularly apologetic. “I was curious!”

Karkat was about to continue his rant about people feeling entitled to knowledge about virtual strangers’ quadrants, but the way Dave sat up and cleared his throat gave him pause.

“Actually, Rox,” Dave started, fidgeting a bit, “I never answered that question back on the lilypad.”

“Yeah, but that’s okay!” Roxy brushed him off. “I’m not gonna push you to answer something you’re not comfy with.”

“That’s the thing. I wanna answer you now, if that’s cool.”

“Oh!” Roxy’s eyes widened. “Of course that’s cool! That’s cooler than cool.”

Dave lifted an eyebrow, a smile pulling at his lips despite himself. “What’s cooler than being cool?”

“Ice cold!” Roxy shouted at the top of her lungs, and the two of them chanted “alright” about a dozen times while Karkat watched them in bewilderment. Humans, he thought. He’d never understand them.

“Okay, but for real tho,” Roxy said once they’d both gotten a handle on their giggles, “You wanted to say something?”

“Yeah.” Dave almost immediately looked anxious again, running his hands over his jeans. “So. You asked if I’d ever kissed anyone or-” He cleared his throat and the rest came out in a mumbled cough, “-been in love.”

Karkat held his breath, eyes flicking between Dave and a very focused Roxy.

“The, um. The answer to both of those questions is… yes? And I know you’re wonderin’ who, that’s like the next logical question, like if you ask someone if they’re hungry and they say yes, your next question is probably gonna be ‘what do you wanna eat’, unless you’re a total dick and just wanted to, I dunno, be aware of someone else’s hunger for your own sick pleasures and leave ‘em waiting like you’re some kinda sick torturer tryin’ to extract information out of a prisoner, like ‘hey are you hungry?’ ‘Yeah, I am, actually. I’ve been hanging from my ankles for a week now and I’d kill for some motherfucking KFC right now.’ ‘Interesting. Go fuck yourself.’ That’s not a very good interrogator, actually, he didn’t even try to get any information out of the guy except for the knowledge that he’s really craving some chicken, which is virtually useless, unless the interrogator is working for KFC’s competitor, like Popeyes out here tryna get the deets on their rival brands. Hey, do you think they’ve got a Popeyes anywhere on Earth C? Maybe we should start one, make a shit ton of money. Really boost the economy.”

“Dave.” Karkat cut him off before he could get too far from the topic, giving him a pointed look. “Were you actually going to say something important or were you going to just talk out of your deflated ass forever?”

“Hey man, you know you love my ass.”

“The point, Dave-!”

“Right right right.” Dave shook his head and took a deep breath before looking at Roxy again, who looked like she was might be putting things together already. “It’s Karkat. The answer to ‘who’, I mean. We’ve, uh. We’ve been dating since the meteor.”

Roxy’s whole face lit up. “Aw, congrats you guys! That’s really sweet!”

“Yeah.” Dave looked over at Karkat and gave him a tiny smile before looking a little apprehensive again. “I’d, uh, appreciate if you didn’t tell anyone though? I mean, the rest of the meteor crew probably knows because we spent… a lot of time together.”

“Most of that was platonic, though. A good two-thirds of it, at least.” Karkat countered.

“True, but they don’t know that. Far as they know, one day we were just two bros hanging out and watching movies and shit, then the next day, Vriska walks in to catch one of those bros taking a snooze on his other bro’s lap and falling off the couch the moment she announces her presence.”

“I’ll give you three fucking guesses which dumbass that was.” Karkat directed that at Roxy, and she snorted.

“Rude.” Dave nudged him. “But yeah, they’ve probably figured it out, but we haven’t officially told anyone. I haven’t even told anyone I’m, you know. Bisexual.”

“Wait, so I’m the first person you’ve told?” Roxy looked a little stunned.

“I- Yeah? I just thought you’d probably be a safe person to go to, especially since we don’t have any weird baggage like I might have with John and Jade, you’re just my alt-mom, which I guess does make things a little weird-”

“It’s a little weird, but it does mean you get a certified mom hug!” She interrupted, standing up.

“A mom hug? Dunno if I know what those are like.” Dave said, smiling a little.

“They’re like this, you big goober.” Roxy pulled him into a tight hug, pulling him down a little so he could put his head on her shoulder. “I’m proud of you, Davey. That’s a big deal, comin’ out and shit. I’m glad you felt like you could tell me.”

“...Thanks mom.” Dave’s voice was a watery mumble against her shoulder, but he seemed to have collected himself by the time they pulled away. Roxy immediately turned her sights on Karkat.

“Your turn! You’re family now, you can’t escape hugs anymore.”

“Ugh, you humans are so fucking tactile.” Karkat grumbled but resigned himself to Roxy’s affectionate squeeze.

“Hey man, don’t act like you’re not cuddly as hell. I have to pry you off of me with a crowbar to go take a piss sometimes. You should see this dude when he gets sleepy, Rox, it’s so fucking cute. Did you know trolls purr? It’s some kinda flushed noise or something and it’s the fucking best.” Dave seemed to already be relaxing now that the thing he’d been dreading was over with.

“That’s private!” Karkat hissed, embarrassed. Dave just grinned at him and sat a little closer when they took a seat again. “Do you want me airing out how you melt like a touch starved candybar left in the sunlight when I suggest you should be the little spoon? Or how you turn into a warbling puddle of Dave when I do this?” He reached over and out his hand on Dave’s knee, rubbing his thumb in soothing circles. Casual affection, Dave’s weakness.

“Aw,” Roxy cooed. Dave looked thoroughly embarrassed and made a strangled noise in his throat. Karkat gave him a smug look.

“Shut up.” He grumbled weakly and scooted a little closer so he could press against Karkat’s side and hold his hand.

“So you guys are matesprits?” Roxy asked, and Karkat’s anxiety immediately returned. Dave wasn’t the only one who had coming out to do. Dave squeezed his hand and let Karkat start since this was his thing to discuss.

“Mostly?” He offered weakly, then tried to sound more certain. “We’re kind of pale too.”

“Plus I piss you off in a pitch way sometimes.” Dave added helpfully.

“And the way you kept me from tearing Vriska apart on the meteor was sort of ashen.” Karkat admitted.

“I mean, there wasn’t really much of a chance of you tearing her apart to begin with. Spidertroll could’ve probably kicked any of our asses in her sleep, she’s fuckin’ crazy.”

“My point still stands!”

“So…” Roxy interrupted, guiding them back on topic, “You’re in all quadrants? I didn’t know trolls did that!”

Karkat winced. “They don’t. Usually. It’s extremely frowned upon.”

“Karkat’s had trouble keeping shit in one quadrant.” Dave explained for him. “He’s got a big ol’ heart full of love.”

“I’m pretty sure you’re the only person in Paradox Space to come to that conclusion about what my useless fucking pump biscuit is full of, but thanks for the thought.” Karkat rolled his eyes, defaulting to annoyance to avoid the insecurities that always gnawed at him when he thought about his relationship with quadrants. “‘Full of love’ is usually not the first thing people describe me as. More like ‘full of a burning anger’ or ‘a perpetual stream of irritable piss’ or, hell, ‘just undiluted dumbass juice!’ As far as most people are concerned, I’m Karkat ‘useless shitfit’ Vantas, and they’re not fucking wrong!”

“Okay, sure, you might be the grumpiest person in all - what, is this five universes now? I can’t keep track, but that doesn’t mean you’re not secretly a big softy.” Dave rubbed his thumb over Karkat’s knuckles. “I know that best out of probably anyone.”

“If it helps, I don’t think of you as those things!” Roxy added. Karkat gave her a disbelieving look.

“Full offense, we’ve never really ‘hung out.’”

“I mean, no, but I’ve seen you interacting with Dave and John and Kanaya and stuff, and you’ve always seemed to be a caring friend underneath all the yelling.” Roxy shrugged. “It’s nice knowing Dave’s in good hands since I’ve only been part of his family for a couple weeks. Means I don’t have to give you a shovel talk prob’ly!”

“The shovel talk? What the fuck? What does that even mean?” Karkat looked at Dave for an explanation, but he only winced.

“You know, when parents meet their kid’s partner and are like ‘you better not hurt my baby, or I’ll kill you.’ That kind of thing. I’m guessing trolls didn’t do that on Alternia?” Roxy tilted her head, seeming genuinely curious. Karkat’s face contorted as he wrapped his head around that concept.

“Okay, first of all, no we didn’t because we didn’t even have parents and our lusii wouldn’t give two shits about our quadrantmates. Second of all, you better not even think about giving me your ridiculous human ‘shovel talk’! I’ve known Dave far longer than you have, so it really should be me going ‘don’t fucking hurt him,’ but I know I don’t need to because Dave can fucking handle himself! He doesn’t need your bullshit defenses! If I ever hurt him, I trust him to be able to tell me to fuck off out of his life - not that he’d ever need to because I’d rather establish a culling system in the Troll Kingdom and offer myself up as their first sacrifice than hurt Dave!” He took a deep inhale to continue his tirade, but Dave cut him off with a pat to the cheek.

“Yo, dude, shoosh, it’s okay. It’s really not that big of a deal.” It was only after Dave cut off his train of thought that Karkat realized how worked up he was getting, and he shrank back down against Dave’s shoulder, embarrassed. “I’m pretty sure Roxy was kidding, anyway.”

“Yeah, for sure!” Roxy nodded quickly. “I didn’t mean to imply you were gonna hurt Dave or that he couldn’t take care of himself or anything. That’s hella not my place, and you guys seem very good for each other.”

“Oh. Well. Good.” He sent her a warning glare just to make sure he’d gotten the point across, then forced himself to let some tension out of his shoulders.

“It is really nice knowin’ my family’s in good hands though.” Roxy smiled. “Hell, it’s nice knowin’ I have a family! Oh my god, Dave, do you realize none of us Strilondes are straight? I mean, Rose ‘n Dirk are both gay as hell, and then you and I are bi!”

“Yeah- Wait, what?” Dave jolted a little in surprise. “Rox, you’re bi too? Since when?”

“Uh, since always?” Roxy laughed a bit. “I thought that’s why you came to me, because you knew!”

“No! Holy shit, I gotta process this for a second.”

“LMAO.” Roxy said, pronouncing every letter. “Yeah, dude! I mean, can you blame me? Like, dudes are hot as fuck, that’s like self explanatory. I mean, have you seen the Englberts? Eglishes? Whatever their family name is, John and Jake are both total babes, but then there are girls too! I mean, Janey, what a gal, right? And Callie too!”

“Right?” Dave enthused, clearly excited someone understood where he was coming from. “Girls are so fucking good, hot damn, but then? Dudes? Holy shit?”

“Yeah!” Roxy was just about throwing herself out of her chair with her excitement. “I can barely leave the house, it’s just smoochable babes everywhere I turn.”

“I’d say it’s a goddamn plight, but I got the most smoochable right here.” Dave emphasized his point with a kiss to one of Karkat’s horns, making him squawk. Dave laughed a little and turned back to Roxy. “Yo, but rewind back to Callie. Soooo, are y’all two, y’know…”

Roxy looked remarkably like Dave when embarrassed. “Uh…” The sound of the front door opening and Calliope’s greeting voice cut her off. “I’ll get back to you on that!” Dave waggled his eyebrows at her but didn’t push it.

Dinner was an enjoyable affair, despite Karkat’s near constant crippling fear of being miserable in every social engagement. The food was good and pretty close to tasting like home, and the conversation was fluid - mostly because Roxy and Dave chattered the entire time like hyperactive squirrels. Karkat tried to be annoyed with their ridiculous stream of consciousness discussions, but he couldn’t help but feel warm watching Dave talk so comfortably with his ecto-mom. And he certainly wasn’t the only person happy with the situation; every time he and Dave started bantering back and forth, he could see Roxy’s delight out of the corner of his eye, and the absolutely lovestruck look on her face whenever Calliope spoke didn’t escape him either.

Eventually, though, they had to head home - though Dave and Karkat had both shifted their sleep schedules to be active in the afternoon and most of the night, the majority of their human friends were still diurnal and needed to go to bed eventually - so after a few more hugs from Roxy, they were sent on their way.

Dave landed them down the street from their hive, and Karkat didn’t complain about having to walk that last distance. The Troll Kingdom was just now starting to wake up, stores and restaurants lighting up, trolls in suits rushing to their early jobs, and young trolls getting ushered off to school. It was so different from Alternia, but Karkat thought he could probably get used to the differences if it meant he didn’t have to worry about getting culled at a single glance at his blood color. Maybe it was too early to tell, but if he let himself feel just the slightest bit optimistic for his future, he had a feeling he could be really happy here. He could live a peaceful, successful life on Earth C, and if the cheerful way Dave was swinging their clasped hands meant anything, he wasn’t the only one feeling hopeful.

“So,” He prompted, leaning into Dave’s shoulder, “I guess that could have been more horrible.”

“Yep.” Dave said, popping the ‘p’. “We’ll have to scrap those emergency plans. Cancel our name changes and facial reconstructions and flights to the other side of Earth C, no need to run away immediately.”

“I don’t know, we might have to keep that shit pencilled in. We still need to tell John.” Karkat reminded him, and Dave groaned.

“Oh fuck. Yeah, never mind, you sure we can’t just fuck off into another universe? Universe D here we come. The D stands for Davekat ‘cause it’ll just be us, babe. It also stands for Dick because, come on, it’s us, of course it does. Also Dinosaurs just ‘cause. Do you think dinosaurs are a universal constant? Like, did dinosaurs exist for you guys? Or- oh shit, do you think they evolved differently? Are trolls just super evolved dinosaurs?”

“Dave,” Karkat gave him a look, “I think I would know if I was a dinosaur.”

“I dunno, dude, maybe we’re all dinosaurs-”

“Okay, I know when to cut that shit off.” Karkat rolled his eyes and let go of his hand to unlock their door. “Seriously, I think… that went okay. Less than horrid.”

“Less than horrid, huh? That’s a big compliment coming from you, are you feeling okay? Are you gettin’ some kinda fluffy feelings from hanging out with Roxy too long, ‘cause like, I get it.”

“Shut up. All I’m saying is this might not have been as much of an ordeal as we thought, this ‘coming out to everyone we know’ thing.”

“Maybe. You might be right.” Dave admitted, following him inside. “But that involved way too many emotions, and I think all my brain’s been used up for the rest of the day for anything that involves more thought than playing Xbox for seven hours straight. You down?”

“Fuck yes.”

#homestuck #davekat #dave strider #karkat vantas #roxy lalonde #calliope's there for like a second #okay to reblog #my writing #this was fun to write!#i. really like writing karkat he's very fun.#also she/her pronouns are used for roxy bc this is pre-them figuring out their gender #this is epilogue non-compliant household but i do want to keep roxy's journey to figuring out they're nonbinary

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emperorsfoot · 5 years

Link

Scorpia and Sea Hawk finally arrive on Beast Island and are met on the dock by Micah.

From far away, it looked like a pile of colossal-sized animal skeletons rising up out of the ocean. Far larger than the skeleton Scorpia saw in the Crimson Wastes. Beast Island truly looked as… beastly as the stories portrayed it.

But as the Dragon’s Daughter Five drew closer, she could see that it was not several skeletons piled on top of each other. It was cliffs and ridges curving down to the water line. Covered by low-hanging and dropping vines from the jungle that gave the illusion of ribs and spine. It was not a pile of bones climbing out of the sea. It was just normal bedrock and earth.

“The Horde’s prison is supposed to be on the other side.” Sea Hawk was saying. “We can either find a safe place to drop anchor and cross the jungle to the compound, or sail right up to the prison’s harbor. You used to be pretty high up in the Horde. What would you suggest?”

Scorpia looked back at the island. She didn’t know much about the jungles of Beast Island. Only that they were filled with man-eating beasts, and savage natives that hunted them. She did not know how to navigate the jungle and she wasn’t sure she could guide herself and Sea Hawk through it and still be in any sort of condition to actually stage a rescue. Shaking her head in resignation, she turned back to her companion.

“We’ll have to pull into the compound’s harbor.” She told him. “I don’t have my Force Captain badge anymore-“ because she cut it in half to pay Sea Hawk “-but we can do the thing that you did in the Fright Zone. We’ll say we’re inspectors. Here for an inspection. Inspector Pirate, and Inspector… uh… Lynda. I’ll be Inspector Lynda.”

He would have thought she’d pick a more dramatic name, but okay. Sea Hawk steered the ship around the island so that they would come up directly in front of the prison compound and pull into their harbor as if they belonged. “Adventure!”

…

As much as Micah just wanted to go the heck home already, he also had a responsibility to the prisoners he freed. He had to make sure they got off the island safely and were on their way to their own homelands and territories before he could leave and go to his own home and family. That was the burden of leadership. A leader had to take care of those he lead before he took care of himself.

He hadn’t seen Angella or Glimmer in ten years, he could wait another day while he sorted escapees onto the boats in the captured Horde harbor.

One prisoner shook his hand as he was about to climb onto the gangplank. “Listen, man…” Micah recognized his voice as the rude one from two cells over from his. “I’m sorry about mocking you for missing your family. I never expected to get out of there, and your irrational hope was just making things worse for me. But it looks like maybe you were right all along.”

Micah had no idea what to say to that. So he just shook the other man’s hand back and did not comment.

“I’m from the Fallen Star Mountains.” Said the prisoner. “It’s on the other side of Brightmoon. I have to pass through to get home. I’ll tell that Queen of yours that you’re not dead and you’re coming home to her.”

“Tell her I never stopped thinking about her.” Micah asked. “There’s just a few more things I have to do here. But we’ve taken over the Horde’s Beast Island base, and the native Jungle Tribe is willing to join the Alliance –assuming there even still is an Alliance anymore.”

“The Fallen Star Mountains are ruled by the Star Sisters.” The other man informed him. “I’ll see if I can’t urge them to join your Alliance too.”

Now Micah held his hand more firmly, shaking with more enthusiasm. “I would be thankful if you did! The Star Sisters would be powerful allies!”

“I’m Sirius, by the way.” He said.

“Serious by nature, and Sirius by name.” Micah smiled. He needed to get back on his pun-game if he planned on being a Dad to his daughter. Gosh! He hadn’t made a dad-joke in ten years!

“Sure. Let’s go with that.” Sirius pulled his hand out of the sorcerer’s grip and climbed the gangplank onto the ship.

Feeling irrationally optimistic –or, perhaps perfectly rational to be optimistic- Micah turned back to the rest of the freed prisoners, still waiting on the dock. There were only four ships in the harbor, but they were big ships and could carry all the prisoners. The difficult part was figuring out who needed to get on which one. Micah spent the majority of the night after the Great Beast had left pouring over a map of Etheria and trying to decide which were the four best ports to send the ships to, to get everyone home. Then trying to figure out where ‘home’ was for each prisoner and sort them onto the ships accordingly.

Other prisoners expressed similar sentiments as they bit their farewells to Micah and boarded the ships. Not promises to visit Brightmoon and speak to Queen Angella about him. But to speak to their own Princesses or Queens about joining the Alliance.

“I was captain of the guard for Queen Peekablue’s daughter.” One woman informed him. “I had the Queen’s trust and the Queen’s ear before I was captured. I’ll speak to her about the Princess Alliance. She didn’t want to join originally because she knew it would fail-“ Peekablue’s magic was the gift of foresight, when she knew something, she knew it “-perhaps she’ll See differently now.”

A man getting on the same ship as Peekablue’s former captain of the guard stopped to inform him, “I was a soldier of Sweet Bee’s hive.” He placed a fist to his chest and Micah assumed it was meant as a salute. “My Queen rarely does anything without seeking Peekablue’s council. She values the other Queen’s insight –among other reasons- but I will urge her to join the Alliance all the same.”

“Thank you.” Perhaps Micah was a little more passionate than he needed to be. But after spending ten years doing nothing but sitting in the cell, if felt amazing to finally be accomplishing things again. Within the space of a few days, he had escaped from prison, met new allies, gone back to the prison and freed the remaining prisoners, and now was being given promises of possible new allies for their Alliance and Rebellion. Micah was feeling just a little giddy. High off optimism.

He was still optimistic and –for lack of a better word- high, as he watched the four ships pull away from the docks. Waving goodbye as if parting ways after an extended vacation, and smiling like a fool.

Micah stood there until the boats were almost out of sight. Disappearing beyond the horizon.

He was about to turn and go back inside. See how Entrapta was doing inside the compound. But then something else caught his eye.

At first he was concerned that there was something wrong with one of the ships that caused them to turn around and come back. Engine trouble, or spoiled provisions, tainted water, sickness, or any other number of problems that could occur on a large vessel like the ones employed by the Horde.

But as he squinted at the tiny dot on the horizon, he realized that it wasn’t one of the commandeered and repurposed Horde ships coming towards them.

This vessel was smaller. An open deck design. Raised off the water like a hydrofoil. With white sails. Definitely, definitely not a Horde vessel. No Horde boat in all of Etheria would have white sails. Black, red, brown, violet, or gray; yes. But not white. As it came closer, the name on the side of the vessel became readable, identifying it as the Dragon’s Daughter Five, and ‘five’ was spelled out in letters, not abbreviated as V or with a numeral.

Micah was still gawking, confused, when the Dragon’s Daughter Five pulled right up to the dock he was standing on and a man wearing a jewel-tone blue jacket over a white shirt (also, not Horde colors or uniform) threw a rope over the side.

“Hey, tie that off for me, will ya?” He said.

Blinking, moving more on auto-pilot as opposed to making any conscious decision, Micah did as he was asked. Tying off the boat that was most definitely not a Horde boat to the dock. He tugged on the line a couple times just to make sure it was secure. He lived on land almost his whole life and knew very little about the appropriate knots for securing watercraft.

He must have done alright, because the sailor seemed satisfied enough to jump off the boat to the accompanying cry of, “Adventure!”

Up close, Micah could see that he was actually quite young. With a youthful face and demeanor that implied late teens, but a thick and well groomed mustache that implied early twenties. He offered a hand to someone else in the boat.

The man’s traveling companion definitely, definitely looked like she could have been Horde. Dressed all in red armor. A Horde color. But there was no insignia on the armor. No winged sigil of the Horde. No badges identifying her as a soldier of their army. She was just wearing red.

Micah stood there, staring.

Upon really taking note of him, the pair also paused. Staring at an equal loss as to what to do.

“You don’t look like a Horde soldier.” Said the woman.

“You don’t look like Horde soldiers either.” Micah shot back. Except, she kinda did look exactly like a Horde soldier, just without the trademark Horde insignia.

The man cleared his throat awkwardly, and in a voice that was noticeably deeper than when he asked if Micah could tie off the boat said, “That’s because we’re not Horde soldiers. We’re Inspectors. Yes. And we’re here for the inspection.”

“Inspection?” He echoed, not believing it for a second.

It would have to be one incredible coincidence that there was an inspection scheduled –literally- the day after a mass prison break in which the prison was taken over by the island’s natives. As a practitioner of magic, Micah knew such absurd coincidences did happen, but not very often. Besides, their vessel was not a Horde vessel, the man was not dressed like a member of the Horde at all, and the woman who was dressed like a Horde was missing all the important identifying insignia. These kids –and, yes, Micah was calling them kids now, they could not have been much older than his own daughter- these kids were not members of the Evil Horde.

“Yes.” Nodded the man. “The inspection. I am Inspector Pirate, and this here is my associate, Inspector Lynda.”

“Lynda?” Micah echoed, the name sparking some long ago and half-buried memory. He took another look at the woman that was dressed as a Horde. Tall, easily the tallest one of the three of them. And thick-built too. With snow-white hair and dark eyes. Pincer claws in place of hands, and behind her a scorpion tail swayed nervously. The red armor wasn’t Horde armor, it was an exoskeleton. The exoskeleton of a scorpion. And she said her name was ‘Lynda’…? “You can’t be. You’re too young to be Lynda D’Ream!”

Her daughter maybe?

Micah was still a student in Mysticor when the Queendom of Scorpiones was taken over by the Horde and their Runestone given to Hordak in exchange for the life of the Queen and her daughter. Scorpiones fell under Horde control and became the Fright Zone, and Queen Lynda D’Ream became a political hostage to keep those loyal to her under control.

At least, that was what Micah heard. He was only just a child at the time and nobody ever really told him much about the terrible things that happened below their floating magical island. Nobody except Light Spinner, but that was a childhood trauma for another flashback.

Micah knew the Queen of Scorpiones had a daughter. She would have only been a year old when she lost her Queendom and was taken from her mother.

“How do you know- ?“ The scorpion woman began, then cut herself off abruptly.

Her companion looked at her, the slightest bit of concern seeping into his expression.

Then she straightened, regaining composure and clearing her throat. The scorpion woman, ‘Lynda’, fixed Micah with a critical glare. “That is not a standard issue uniform.” She informed the sorcerer. “Are you an officer? If not, we’ll have to dock points for a uniform violation.”

“I am an officer, actually.” Micah grinned at her. He had already come to a conclusion about this pair that had pulled into the harbor in a shit that was definitely not a Horde ship, dressed in clothes that were not Horde uniforms, with a flimsy story that did not hold up to scrutiny. “A pretty high ranking officer. In fact, I’m not just an officer. I’m a King, and Leader of the Rebellion.”

For half a second, the two stared at him, dumbfounded. But only for half of one second.

Then they both snorted. As if he were funny. As if he’d just made a joke. As if they didn’t believe him.

“No you’re not.” Said ‘Lynda’. “The leader of the Rebellion is Princess Glimmer of Brightmoon.”

At the mention of his daughter’s name, it felt like a current of lightning ripped through Micah. Glimmer, his Glimmer, was leader of the Rebellion? But she was so young! Sure she would have grown up a bit in the ten years he was trapped on Beast Island –in his mind, Micah was still imagining a toddler- but she still had to be in her mid-teens. Fifteen. Maybe sixteen if he was being generous. But certainly not old enough to be in charge of a massive military organization like the Princess Alliance.

“I’ve met Glimmer.” Added Inspector Pirate. “And she’s definitely not you.” A pause. “Although, you do look a little like her.”

Micah sputtered for a moment.

He stared at the pair. They met Glimmer. They knew his daughter. Where they friends? Were they also members of the Princess Alliance? If the scorpion woman really was the daughter of Lynda D’Ream then she was definitely a Princess. Had she joined the Alliance to avenge her mother and take back her Queendom? Did the Alliance send them? Was this a prison break? Were they here to rescue him? Did Glimmer send them?

“Are you with the Alliance?” He finally managed to ask.

There was another pause.

The two looked at each other, suddenly unsure.

“Of course not!” Insisted Inspector Pirate. “We’re Inspectors. We’re here for the inspection.”

“Yes.” Agreed ‘Lynda’. “Beast Island is overdue for an inspection.”

“Really?” Micah crossed his arms over his chest and giving these young people –these children- a Look. “You’re gonna stand here and try to convince me that you’re Horde. After I just told you I’m King Micah of the Rebellion.”

“Listen, guy, for all we know, you’re just some crazy dude who lives on the island.” Inspector Pirate informed him. “I’ve run into crazy island-dwelling hermits more often than you’d think.”

“Also, it’s a widely-believed fact that King Micah died ten years ago.” ‘Lynda’ added.

Okay, Micah was getting real tired of this back and forth real quick. Drawing a new sigil in the air, he cast a spell on both of them. His truth spells were some of the strongest in all of Etheria. No one could resist it. No one could lie while under it.

The pair blinked after the sigil passed through them. Unsure of what he just did. They had enough experience around magic to recognize it when they saw it, but not what kind of magic it was.

“Alright, let’s start again.” Micah announced. “What are your names?”

“I’m Scorpia.”

“Sea Hawk.”

Micah nodded. He never knew the name of Queen Lynda’s daughter, but ‘Scorpia’ seemed to fit. Sea Hawk was slightly less stupid than ‘Inspector Pirate’, but only slightly.

“And why are you here?” Was the obvious follow-up question.

“I’m just her ride.” Announced Sea Hawk. Then, without prompting, followed it up with, “I’m always just the ride. That’s all anyone ever wants from me. Nobody’ll ever love me and I’m gonna die alone.”

That was a lot to unpack right there, and Micah did not have the time for it. He turned his attention to Scorpia.

“I-“ She hesitated. Was she trying to fight the truth spell? Or was the hesitation for other reasons? “I need to rescue a friend. She- we were both betrayed by someone- by someone we both thought was our friend. I- I should have realized it sooner, but I was so smitten. You know when you look at someone through rose-colored glasses all the red flags just look like flags. I was naïve and Entrapta paid the price for it. I need to fix it.”

“Entrapta?” Echoed Micah. “You’re here to rescue Entrapta?”

“Yes.” Scorpia answered truthfully –not just because she was under a truth spell.

Micah’s expression softened. Who would have thought that Queen Ensnarea’s daughter would formed friendships that motivated them to storm Beast Island to rescue her. It was endearing. But more importantly, it was reassuring of the next generation of Princesses. “I’ll take you to her.”

Sea Hawk and Scorpia exchanged a look.

“We don’t actually know he is who he says he is.” Sea Hawk reminded her.

“And we just confessed to a bunch of stuff any member of the Horde should totally execute us for.” Scorpia agreed. “But I think if he was gonna attack us he would have done it by now.”

“Worse comes to worse we can get Entrapta’s robot to rescue us.” Sea Hawk decided. He turned back to the boat and shouted. “Hey, Emily! You up to pointing your weapons at someone other than me?”

Turning his head unnecessarily slowly, Micah looked back at the ship to see what looked like a Horde bot try and climb over the railing. Only to teeter unsteadily on one stuck leg, then move back, trying to regain its balance on the deck.

“Hang on, I’ll help you.” Scorpia went back to the boat. Pulling on the line, she scraped the side of the boat right up against the dock, then put one foot up on the railing, pressing that side down into the water. “Try and roll out.”

Tucking its legs under it, the Horde bot did as it was told. Rolling on the deck, bouncing a little bit as it passed over the boat’s railing and onto the dock. Regaining its footing, the bot gave a pleased little trill of appreciation.

Micah just blinked. “Sorry, did you say that’s Entrapta’s robot?”

“Yeah.” Scorpia smiled, as if there wasn’t anything wrong with a Princess having her own personal Horde robot as a pet. “She found her in the Fright Zone and reprogrammed her.”

Oh. Well, that was alright then. Micah relaxed. “I’ll take you to Entrapta.”

He led them inside. Sea Hawk and Scorpia falling into step behind him, still looking suspicious and unsure. The reprogrammed Horde bot, Emily, hobbling along behind them with one leg that seemed stuck and immobile. It made a loud THUNK, THUNK, THUNK sound with every step. But it seemed to reassure the other two.

Leading the pair through the uneven and twisting corridors of the compound, Micah did have to admit that Entrapta did have a point. The construction of this place really was counter intuitive and nothing at all like normal Horde construction.

There was a tense pause when they got to the lift and all of them looked at each other suspicious that the others would try and attack them in the enclosed space of the elevator cabin. But then the lift opened up again and they all stepped out onto the Command floor and both Scorpia and Sea Hawk paused for an entirely different reason.

Both of them froze, staring at the artistic depicting of the two planets flanking the door, with an infinity wrapped around them.

“That looks like-“ Gasped Sea Hawk.

“-First Ones writing.” Scorpia finished for him.

“Like from the Northern Reach.” The sea captain looked suddenly concerned. “You don’t think there are bug-like First Ones tech monsters here too, do you?”

Scorpia bit her bottom lip. “I mean… even if there are, we should be alright so long as Entrapta didn’t fix that First Ones virus disk. Right?”

“You two can read that?” Micah asked, impressed.

“No.” Both of them informed him in perfect unison.

“The only people on Etheria who can read First Ones writing are scholars who’ve spent their whole lives studying it –and they’re not even very good.” Sea Hawk explained. “And She-Ra.”

“She-Ra!” Micah almost tripped over his own feet.

He fell against the wall, landing on the door release for the Command room. The door slid open and a mass of lavender hair shifted at the sound. Twin-tails twisting, lifting out of the wait to reveal a familiar welding mask. There was the heartbeat of a pause, then one thin tendril of hair moved to lift the mask, revealing the familiar but confused face of Princess Entrapta.

“Scorpia?” She asked. “What are you doing here?”

Before she knew what she was doing, the other woman rushed into the room. Scooping Entrapta up into her arms, she wrapped Entrapta up in a crushing hug.

“I’m so glad you’re okay!” Scorpia sobbed into that mass of thick lavender locks. “I’m so sorry I just stood there and did nothing when you needed me. But I’m here now. I came to rescue you!”

Pulling away, as much as she could still held by the larger woman’s iron grip, Entrapta blinked at her. “You came to rescue me?”

No one had ever come to rescue her before. Not even the Princess Alliance, the self-proclaimed champions of ‘Good’. Not Glimmer and Bow who claimed to be her friends. Not Adora who lead the charge into the Fright Zone to rescue Glimmer. But Scorpia came to rescue her from Beast Island. Tears welled up in her eyes and for once, Entrpata did not lower her welding mask down to cover them.

“You’re my best friend!” And she hugged back. With her arms. Not her hair.

#spop #She-Ra #fan fiction #Entrapta #scorpia #king micah #sea hawk #beast island #rescue #Micah still thinks Entrapta was with the Alliance #he also thinks Scorpia is with the Princess Alliance #Micah is a little naive #Scorpia is Entrapta's best friend #you can't change my mind #female friendship #ao3 #RenkonNairu

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floppy999 · 6 years

Text

My reading list (bkdk fanfics)

Here it is!

All these fics were updated or finished on december. (Not particular order)

Swap it out ( Not Rated )

''Good morning, Deku.'' Katsuki said happily with a sweet smile.''Fuck off, Kacchan.'' Izuku responded in a bored tone, not even looking at the blond when he sat down in the seat in front of him.The whole class held their breath.''Holy shit.'' Koji finally said. In which Kaminari has an idea, Todoroki likes to spend his father's money and Izuku and Katsuki are up for the challenge.

Off Limits (Explicit)

When his second rut hit, Katsuki was tempted to start reconsidering Izuku being off limits. It wouldn’t be too weird, right? It’s not like they were hanging out together on their off days. While screaming into a pillow in a fit of frustration instead of rubbing himself raw, it seemed like a great idea.Once his rut started tapering off, he threw away the idea again. -Then the third rut hit, and Katsuki was officially over this bullshit.

Cross Off (Explicit)

“But are you two really friends?”

That sharp sting hit Izuku in the gut again, but as he opened his mouth to respond, Todoroki walked past him, heading towards the exit. The dual-haired teen cocked his head to the side as he shoved his hands into his pockets.

“Just think about it, Midoriya. We aren’t here to tell you what to do, but we do hope that you will take our concerns under consideration, and try to convince Aizawa-sensei that his decision is not right for you.” Iida removed his hands from Izuku’s shoulders, and followed suit with Todoroki, casting a brief nod in Izuku’s direction.

Hummingbird Heartbeat ( Explicit )

“The knife went through his fucking chest, Kirishima.” Katsuki spat his name into his face, mouth twisting into a vicious snarl, teeth and all. “You know that's where his heart is, right? And his fucking lungs? All the vital shit?” Kirishima blanched. “I-I know, I just meant—” “What, you mean to tell me that your stupid fuckin’ ass is so ignorant to forget that he lost a shit ton of blood, hah?! Yeah, it was a flippin’ knife wound, oh hoo-ray, but look at the nerd now! He’s fucking dying because of it!”

In A Sky Of A Million Stars (Who Cares If One More Light Goes Out?) ( Mature)

He could never forgive himself.It was his fault.He’d planted the idea like a seed he’d never known would grow. (Or: What if Izuku jumped?)(OR: The one where Izuku jumps and lives and Katsuki visits him every day and Class 1-A not-so-secretly finds it adorable that their designated angry pomeranian brings flowers to his comatose childhood friend.)

Bad at Love ( Teen And Up Audiences )

Class 1-A is put to the test in one of U.A.'s classes and tests where they face a faux-villain they can't seem to win against. During the two-day fighting, Bakugou noticeably becomes more and more shaken by the faux-villain. Midoriya wants to help him and to become his good friend once again. Bakugou knows there is more than friendship in his own head but wants to keep Midoriya close, if only to keep him safe. But with jealousy, friendships, and their dreams on the line, they have to get even closer to help the other.

The Roads Between ( Mature )

In a world with disappearing quirks, Izuku, a government employee, and the recently captured Lord Explosion Murder are forced to team up in order to stop a coup of Japan by the League of Villains. More than just their lives are on the line and teamwork is the name of the game, but how can two people so seemily different from eachother ever hope to accomplish such a task?

Crimson Concrete ( Mature )

Bakugou Katsuki was pretty sure he had this vampire shit down to a tee. All he had to do was stay away from the sunlight, avoid churches and not have any attachments to humans? That was literally how Katsuki had lived his life up until now- it was the exact same, except, he supposed, with higher stakes (ha, get it?)“Hey dude, does this mean you can’t eat garlic bread anymore?”Oh.OH NO.

The Space Between (Mature)

Holding his expensive camera tightly between his hands, Midoriya Izuku looked up at the once-white letters displayed on the black storefront banner. “The Hard Luck Bar,” he murmured to himself, unsure if he was getting ready to enter or flee.

Amateur photographer Midoriya Izuku is stuck in a rut and desperate for a change of pace. Deep in his city's grimy underbelly, he finds exactly what he's looking for in the form of an underground punk sensation on the verge of their big break, fronted by a foul-mouthed firework of a human being. Loud, brash and passionate, Izuku may have just found the creative spark he needed, as well as something new to set his soul ablaze.

Cinnamon Bun Bun ( Explicit )

In a world with humanoid creatures called "pets", Katsuki Bakugou finds himself suddenly the owner of a timid curly haired rabbit. How the fuck did that happen? Will the reluctant new owner and abandoned pet be the best thing for each other or will it end in disaster? Only the tags will ever know.Warm and fuzzy fluff pet AU with hints of angst and humor! *This story is mostly about fluff. Warning and "past" tags for a backstory chapter(s) almost exclusively. Will warn at the beginning of ANY chapter with ANY sensitive issues.*

Stay with me, Midoriya ( Mature )

An alternate "conclusion" of the battle when Midoriya saves Kota during the Summer Camp attack. Or, Midoriya is badly hurt and Bakugo is the only one who heard the scream for help.

Restless ( Mature )

Second year at UA was essentially the same as the first, though everyone had fucking been developing and growing or some such asinine shit. And Katsuki was still reigning supreme. Things were fine up until shitty Deku had to derail everything with his fucking.....fucking. This year was gonna be hell for Katsuki.

Swarm (Explicit)

General Izuku Midoriya, a rare omega cherry bee and Second in Command to Chief All Might's army, is left to run and defend Brambleberry Hive. he never expects a swarm of vicious hornets, led by alpha general Katsuki Bakugo, to ambush them and take over the hive. Bakugo takes his place as Chief Alpha, making Izuku his prisoner and slave. But Izuku refuses to let Bakugo control him and fights the alpha every chance he gets. He will have his revenge on Bakugo and regain control of Bramberry....

my ex-man brought his new boyfriend ( Mature )

izuku's desperate to get a date after being persuaded (forced, more like) to go for a family reunion back in his hometown, in which he will most definitely see his ex, todoroki shouto, with a date of his own.in a last attempt to find someone, izuku asks for help and ends up getting bakugou katsuki.

The Hunting Party ( Explicit )

Izuku had gotten himself into many messes over the years. He’d once got stuck in the back of a restaurant after hours because he’d been too shy to ask someone to let him out of the staff bathroom he’d locked himself into.

Painting Flowers ( Teen And Up Audiences )

Where Bakugo Katsuki works at his parents' flower shop and Midoriya Izuku is a hot regular that simply comes to sketch flowers all day long.

BNHA: Hybrid A/O/B Works ( Works:6) (Explicit / mature)

You ever fantasize about Wolf Bakugou chasing down a sweet rabbit? Or the wacky shenanigans of trying to figure out his pet's heat problems? This is the series for you, mate, and I'm always happy to provide your dosage of pure nsfw. (With too much plot)

Say you love me ( Mature )

Izuku is going through his very first break up and suffering the whiplash affects of it. He discovers he’s got a new neighbor and his name is Katsuki. They’re not the best of neighbors in the beginning but by the end of the story they will be. But basically Izuku and Katsiki end up falling in love but don’t necessarily know that they both feel the same way about one another because they’re both very slow in the feelings department when it comes to other people. But with the help of Bakugous best and only friend, Eijiro, and a lot of prolonged effort shit happens.

Lovebites ( Explicit )

Katsuki Bakugou was going to hate this summer.He thought he'd hate it because he was being forced to leave home and work for his mother's friend in a small, seaside town. He thought he'd hate it cause he was being punished for burning his room to a crisp. He thought he'd hate it because he hated change.But it turns out, he hated the Supernatural Turfwar between four species that shouldn't exist but do a whole lot more....Or The one where Katsuki is forced to move in with Inko for the summer and finds himself falling for a particular bloodsucker....

Album Title in Progress ( Explicit )

Izuku's singing makes Katsuki realize sex is Real™ and uses those feelings to make a bomb-ass(lol get it? cuz his quirk is...) album while also helping a self-doubting Izuku realize how fire his mixtape is.

A Chaotic Reunion ( Teen And Up Audiences )

Even as a villain, Izuku Midoriya's admiration for Bakugo Katsuki never faltered, even when his admiration for all the heroes in the world did. After leaving his home to join the league, Bakugo Katsuki remains his one true reason to keep going on in such a pointless life. He never expected to meet him again, especially not in this kind of situation.

The Hardships of love ( Explicit )

Katsuki has always known just exactly what he wants, that just so happens to involve a certain green-eyed boy. How will he cope when what is his suddenly goes away, only to return years later? A/O/B universe, Alpha Katsuki, Omega Izuku,

Soul Bonded ( Explicit )

Izuku Midoriya had always been told he was a beta. So why did he find himself sneaking into Kacchan's room and taking old shirts? Why did his sweaty gym clothes smell so good all of a sudden? A story in which Bakugou and Midoriya are definitely not mates, no matter what Recovery Girl and Midnight say. And they definitely, DEFINITELY don't have feelings. Nope.

Iridescent ( Mature )

After Katsuki learned Izuku’s secret about One For All, he said that things would be different from now on. The two of them learn how to stand on equal grounds and be proper rivals, and that gradually leads them to evolve into something more – or, rather, they start to realize what was there all along. Because what’s left after all the bitterness and misunderstandings are gone? Positive feelings. By the time they reach their third year, they can’t go a day without seeing each other. Eventually, they start pining over one another. Katsuki secretly works through his insecurities in order to accept his feelings for his childhood friend, but it goes haywire once he realizes that he doesn’t know how to apologize for the wrongs he has done.

Stygian Fire ( Mature )

Izuku's Quirk manifest at the tender age of five. It's strange that he would have a fire Quirk given what his mother's Quirk is, but he chalks it up to genetics on his father's side. A week later, there's a (familiar) stranger in the kitchen, and everything changes.

i packed up everything except those memories ( General Audiences )

For a long moment, they all stare at him, wide-eyed and shocked.And then Bakugou laughs and leans forward to press his mouth to Midoriya’s. “I fucking love you, ya damn nerd.”Midoriya reddens, but kisses back enthusiastically, and his lips curve into a dazed smile when Bakugou pulls away. (or, Bakugou works at a bar and Midoriya is the nerd that keeps him company.)

The Art of Indifference ( Not Rated )

Bakugou is used to being the center of attention- be it anger, confussion, or fear (mostly fear) everyone always gives him a reaction.Until all the sudden, Deku doesn't. What a fucking asshole.

Wild Child ( Explicit )

Imagine Tarzan, but KatsuDeku,with wolves instead of gorillas,and with a lot more smut.

The Kiss ( Teen And Up Audiences )

Katsuki has feelings but refuses to admit it; Izuku has feelings but refuses to act on them. And just when they finally begin to understand each other, that fucks everything up. Or: What if Katsuki kissed Izuku at the end of their fight?

Full Disclosure ( Explicit )

Izuku had never wanted to protect anything as much as he wanted to protect the fire between them, even as it caught fire and consumed him. He'd gladly go up in flames if it meant getting to see Kacchan like this. Or The alternate outcome of the battle at Ground Beta and the relationship that changed because of it.

When lust prevails ( Explicit )

Bakugou and Midoriya got into a heated argument which led to heated interactions; main pairing BakuDeku, side pairing KiriKamiEpilogue update featuring jealous Bakugou, confused Midoriya, pragmatic Todoroki, and class 1a eavesdropping the drama :DThis story is officially completed :)

Sheep in wolves clothing ( Mature )

Don’t go into the woods at night. It’s a self explanatory warning but apparently not even passing near them in a vehicle is 100% safe. Especially not when all the news stations are warning of an unknown threat. Unluckily for Izuku it’s the only route home

You Found Me Flinching In The Dark ( Mature )

Or, Izuku remained quirkless, he became a hollow depressed kid that lives his last few years of high school in a mental ward. (Updates once a month)

Go to Bed, Dumbass ( Mature )

"What the fuck are you doing here at two in the morning?" The blond male asked in a voice that was closer to a growl as he curled the weight he was holding."I could ask you the same question," Izuku replied with a small smile as he headed for the bench press.

Never Easy ( Mature )

Bakugou and Midoriya have known each other forever but as the years drug on their relationship became complicated and the boys found themselves barely knowing each other. Things seem dim on them ever really being friends again but when Midoriya is caught in an awkward situation by Bakugou, things start to change, and both males seem skeptical about getting their hopes up. This does not start out Mature, but will have Mature parts. I will warn you and you can skip them if you like.

Grief Counseling ( explicit)

A slowburn fic where Kacchan tries to convince Deku to take advantage of the grief counseling provided for free to heroes experiencing their first failed rescues. Lots of flirting. Healing their relationship comes first. The romantic bit where they fall helplessly and stupidly in love comes after.

"Streetcar Named Desire" ( Explicit )

If yesterday someone told Izuku that he, one of the most diligent students with the top academic ranking, would end up in Principal Aizawa’s office today, he wouldn’t have believed them. But lots things could change overnight. So here he was, slouching in the creaking chair in the reception in front of the principal’s office. [the story about how Deku and Kacchan ended up taking part in a school's play and went through high school shit and ended up in love]

Unseemly Beasts ( Teen And Up Audiences )

Dragons. Destructive beasts tearing through everything in their path and deadly to anyone who opposes them. Midoriya has never seen a dragon, never planned to, but now he needs the help of one. He just... didn't want to kill one. Not if he could help it.

Rivals with Benefits ( Explicit )

When Izuku gets drunk at a Class 1A Halloween party he accidentally outs himself. Then to make matters worse he confesses to Katsuki that he wants to be a little more than rivals.

2,645 Miles ( Explicit )

Izuku wants so badly to get to the other side of the country without his parents realizing he's missing. He just wants to find out who he is.Katsuki is desperate to make it to Los Angeles without being caught by the police, desperate to fix his mistakes.Neither know what to expect, but on a roadtrip across the U.S. involving four fugitives, two oblivious runaways, a high risk crime ring, and a police taskforce, the two will discover that there's more in store for them than what they originally thought.

Dragon's Mark ( Mature )

Katsuki Bakugou has been living on his own for many years, accompanied by a very annoying red dragon named Kirishima. They are the last of their kind, unknown to humans. At least, that was how it used to be until a shy boy by the name of Izuku Midoriya enters the picture.

Breaking Point ( Mature )

“Some men aren't looking for anything logical, like money. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn.”

#long post

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nooneelsecomesclose17 · 6 years

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Got a weird one for you: Downton Abbey AU. Only Aaron comes from new money and Robert’s an ambitious valet.

I didn’t quite get the ambitious part in, but I hope it’s ok anyway :)

The kitchen is a hive of activity when Robert comes back down from serving lunch. It’s always the same when there’s a party, everything having to be just so and if it’s not then Mr Foster is quick to get it put right.

He supposes there are worse places to work. He hears tales all the time. The house is in the middle of fucking nowhere though and one day off a fortnight doesn’t exactly give him any time for anything.

He’d done alright, a farmer’s son, expected to do no more than work the land with his Dad, take over when he couldn’t do it anymore. Robert didn’t want that, didn’t particularly want to be a footman either for all that, but it was a good enough job.

“Robert, there’s a cup of tea here for you.”

He pulled the chair out and sat down, taking the weight off his feet for the first time since breakfast and took the china cup from Rachel the housemaid, with a smile. He wasn’t daft, he knew she had a crush on him, they all did, and yes maybe he used it to his advantage when he wanted to get out of a job, but he also wasn’t daft enough to get involved and risk his job. The risk of having to go back home in disgrace was too much for that.

“Did Miss Chrissie come down for breakfast?” He looks over at the housekeeper, Mrs Walker. She was alright really, a bit of nag. She was a gossip though and pressed them every mealtime for tidbits from upstairs.

“No. The old man wasn’t very happy about it either. Should make the party all the more interesting.”

“Nobody asked for your opinion Robert!” He scrambles to his feet as the voice of the butler echoes around the room. Typical, it was always him who was caught. “Did you clean that silver yet?”

“I was just…” He gestured to the cup of tea going cold on the table.

“Just nothing, get to it!”

He huffs but there’s no point arguing so he slopes off into the room off the hallway where the silver was kept. At least he could sit down while he did it, they’d be on their feet all night with the party.

He’s been there an hour and is almost finished when Mr Foster comes in, checking over his work with a critical eye. Robert was good at his job though so he wouldn’t find a mistake, never did, which is why he got away with the things he did sometimes.

“There’s just been a call upstairs. Mr Dingle will be joining the guests this evening. I presume you can look after him as you have before?”

“Yes Mr Foster, of course.” He hides his surprise, had thought he’d never see him again after the last time.

“Hmm, well, he’s arriving on the four o’clock train.” He nods and when the man has left he sits back down, cleaning things abandoned.

Aaron Dingle, the name that’s been at the corner of Robert’s mind for months now. He’d first been invited to Home Farm a few months before, the gossip was that he’d been asked in the hope that he would use his money to help the failing estate.

The gossip in the kitchen had been immense, partly scorn at the family asking some ‘new money’ incomer for help, partly curiosity at this self made man. Every time he’d come back from attending to him he’d been interrogated for information.

He was intrigued by the younger man with his bright blue eyes and dark hair, a sense of vulnerability about him. He’d walked into the hallway confidently enough, but Robert wasn’t fooled, he’d tried to be something he’s not too many times not to see the slight twitch around his eye, the hesitation at dinner when he reached for the wrong fork. It’s endearing almost.

He’d been quiet, listening to everything, all the bluster from the other guests, the boasting that went on even though most of them had known each other for years. Robert could barely refrain from rolling his eyes most evenings but not when he was a guest.

He’s by the door when he arrives, waiting, Mr Foster opposite with the family and he watches as they’re all over him before he can even get in the door. The whole household knows that money is tight, that the master had made bad investments and was now clinging on to anything he could to get them back on his feet, not helped by both his daughters refusing to change their extravagant lifestyles.

When he steps forward to take his hat and coat he can only see amusement in his eyes, not that anger or coldness he’d expected, and he remembers a conversation they’d had on his second visit.

“Am I the only one who gets this treatment? The fancy dinners, people running around after me.” Robert had hesitated, he wasn’t stupid enough to talk against his boss but then Aaron had smirked at him. “I’m not going to tell on you.”

“The rumour downstairs, is the money is running out.”

“Aren’t you worried about your job?”

“I can get another.” He holds the dinner jacket out for him to slip his arms into, brushing his hands across the shoulders, getting it just right.

“Confident. I like that.”

It had gone on like that for the rest of the visit, Robert knew they were flirting, knew it probably wasn’t the wisest idea, but he couldn’t help it, there was just something about him. When he’d left Robert had been disappointed not knowing whether he’d see him again.

How they didn’t get caught that next time he’ll never know. He’d thrown caution to the wind, sure he wasn’t imagining it, and kissed him, sure that he’d be out on his ear the next morning. He wasn’t though because Aaron had kissed him back.

It had carried on, stolen kisses behind closed doors until he’d had to leave again and Robert had to go back to waiting until he was invited back again. The old man was nothing if not predictable and Aaron was back two weekends later.

“Are you giving him the money then?” Confidence boosted by laying in Aaron’s arms in bed he asks because he doesn’t want this to end.

“He thinks I am. Thinks if he throws me enough dinners, offers me enough scotch that I’ll do whatever he wants.”

“People don’t say no to him.”

“I’m not people.” He sighs and sits himself upright against the headboard, fingers finding their way through Robert’s hair. It’s nice, he could stay here forever. “I got where I am with hard work, by learning who to trust. I’m not going to be blinded by expensive dinners. Do you really want to talk about your employer while you’re in bed with me?”

“Nice to know if I’m still going to have a job, that’s all.” He looks over at the clock on the mantle, he should be getting back to his own bed, needing to be up in just under three hours. He was lucky he had a room to himself otherwise he’d be in trouble.

“Last time I was here you weren’t bothered. What happened to that confidence?” He shrugs because that’s not the reason he asked. What he really wants to know is whether Aaron’s coming back, but he won’t let himself ask and seem needy. “Do you think I should help him?”

“I don’t know anything about all that. I’m just a footman.”

“A footman who no doubt overhears things, knows what’s going on.”

“Is that why I’m here?” He feels his cheeks flush, he’d thought Aaron felt something.

“You know why you’re here. I don’t play games Robert and if that’s what you think I’m doing then you can leave.”

He'd left after that, things awkward between them the following day, and he’d thought that would be it, that he’d never see him again, and now here he was again.

“Hello again, Robert.”

“Mr Dingle. I’ll take your luggage to your usual room.” He doesn’t look back as he heads up the stairs, knows he’s following, doesn’t say anything until the door closes behind them and then Aaron’s pushing him up against the wall.

“I missed you.” He’s inches from him and Robert feels like he can’t breathe and he can’t help but frown. “What?”

“S’pose I thought you’d be done with me now. You’re back to tell Mr White yes aren’t you?” That was what he’d heard at breakfast, the man crowing about it. “You don’t need me anymore.”

He wasn’t stupid, Aaron might’ve told him it wasn’t but he was sure he just wanted information. Everyone knew footmen and butlers heard everything, knew everything.

“No, I’m telling him I won’t be investing. I’m only here because I wanted to see you. I can’t stop thinking about you, and when they invited me I debated leaving things as they were, that maybe it was for the best, but I couldn’t.” He can’t quite believe what he’s hearing, that he would come back here just for him. He might put on a front of confidence and cockiness but deep down insecurity ruled his thoughts. “I wanted to see you.”

“What’s the point? You’ll be gone tomorrow.” He wasn’t going to be invited back. Mr White was notorious for holding grudges. “I won’t see you again.”

“You could always come and work for me.”

“But...”

“I mean it. You don’t have to work for me but it’d be easier that way, wouldn’t it?” He shakes his head because this isn’t real, it can’t be. “I don’t mean as my footman, Robert. I mean in my company, I can teach you everything.”

“I don’t...”

“Just think about it. You’re better than this Robert, I know you are. I’m leaving tomorrow afternoon and I’d like you to come with me, but if you don’t want to I understand. There’ll be a ticket waiting at the station for you if you want.”

They don’t mention it again, he helps him get ready for dinner in silence, the only hint of anything are his lingering hands, the glances into Aaron’s eyes. Even when he leaves, gets into the car for the journey to the station, Robert stands there, impassive.

It’s only when he opens the door to the carriage and sees Aaron sitting there, chin resting on his hand, gazing out of the window, that he speaks.

“Is anyone sitting here?”

#thebookofrust #I feel a bit like I haven't done this justice #and i'll turn round tomorrow and want to rewrite and add to the whole thing #but here it is #robron fic

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nashvilletonihon · 6 years

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To Stay Or Not To Stay...That Is The Million Dollar Question.

I’m currently sitting at my desk in the Kumihama teacher’s room. It’s Finals Week here so everyone is buzzing around and it sounds like a busy hive of bees. The students already look broken, defeated, tired. It’s been a long couple of weeks for me so I can only imagine what it’s been like for them.

I’m honestly not sure where October and November went. I remember being glad that September was over the minute it became October 1st and then suddenly I was celebrating Halloween with my ESS Club students and then it was November 1st. Now it’s 1 day away from my birthday (which I haven’t even thought about) and then it will be December 1st.

What. Is. Happening???

When I first arrived here I thought time had literally stopped. I was stuck in an endless loop of being unhappy, lonely and sad I was drowning in my own misery. Fast forward to now. November 29th. In two short months I will have to give the JET Program and my contracting schools an answer to the question of whether or not I would like to re-contract. If I say yes, my schools will then have to decide whether or not they want to extend my contract for another year. If they do, I’d be working for them again during another trip around the sun. If they don’t...well, the decision to stay or go will have been made for me.

I’ve talked to my mom and a few close friends about my decision to potentially live in Japan for another year or to move back to the States. My mother encouraged me to make a Pros and Cons list. (Something I’ve always done when faced with major, life-changing decisions.) It’s currently taped to the back of my bedroom door and at the moment, both sides are neck and neck. Neither the Pros nor the Cons have advanced past the other. Hurray for me right? How does a list like that help when they’re dead even?!

I think about what my life would be like in both scenarios. If I stay for another year I can continue to work toward my (absolutely insane) goal of eventually taking the JLPT N2. It’s an incredibly difficult test for non-native speakers that requires A LOT of work to pass. One of my friends and fellow JET’s is getting ready to take it this Sunday. She studied Japanese for four years in college AND studied abroad here and even she’s worried passing it. I wonder if I could accomplish my goal in another year and a half. If I worked my a** off, I bet I could. I at least want to take and pass the N3. (Which I’m pretty sure I can do.) That being said, if I pass the N2 I could get a job as a translator or interpreter which is something I would really enjoy doing. I could translate anime or manga or work for the government or tourism board in cities like Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Seattle, etc... Living in Japan for another year would allow me to continue to be exposed to native speakers and Japanese every single day. The minute I move back to America I no longer have that luxury. Even though I’ve only been here for 4 months my comprehension and understanding has grown exponentially. I would be jeopardizing all of the hard work I’ve put in up ‘til now.

A major Con of continuing to live in Japan is being away from my family and friends for another year. I video chat with my momma every single day and it always pains me to have to talk to her through a phone screen. I miss being able to hop in my car and drive the 2 1/2 hours to Indiana to see her whenever I wanted. Now we constantly have to coordinate when we both have free time to talk. Being 15 hours ahead of her in the States (thaaaaanks Daylight Savings) makes things difficult, but we manage. I miss her hugs. I also struggle a lot with the fact that I am losing out on valuable time with my grandparents. I know they won’t be around forever and the guilt associated with being over here while they continue grow older is more than I can put into words. I know my family is proud of me for following my dreams but that doesn’t make being over here any easier.

Another Con (or Pro depending on how you look at it) is that I have ZERO job prospects moving back to America. Absolutely nothing. In theory I could pick up over hire work in theatre at TPAC, Nash Rep, Studio Tenn or advertise myself as a costume designer (a position I have long had a love/hate relationship with) but to be completely honest, none of that sounds very appealing right now. I’m tired of living paycheck to paycheck and constantly being worried about if I’ll be able to afford rent (we all know how ridiculous it is to live in Nashville now) or make my car payment. Yeah, yeah I know. ‘’That’s what being involved in the arts is all about! You have to suffer for it!’’ Whoever thought that was a good excuse for people to live a stressful, poor lifestyle just so they can follow their passion can shove it. It’s ridiculous we even have to do that in the first place. Yes, I want to act. Yes, it’s my everything. Yes, it’s what I am good at. But I don’t want to constantly have to struggle when I could work toward a job that I can make good money doing while ALSO acting. Is that me selling out to have a secure day job and moonlight as an actor? Maybe. I’ll be 29 on Friday. If I stay another year in Japan I’ll turn 30 here. It’s hard to believe I’m so close to being out of my twenties already. While I feel the proverbial clock ticking when it comes to the stereotypical “old actress” trope, I have to remind myself that most well-known actors didn’t even get started until their mid-30′s. I’ve got time. And being bilingual will look really cool on my resumé.

So what’s another Pro about continuing to live in Japan? Saving more money, yo. Being here for another year means more savings in the bank. It’s a pretty simple concept that would allow me to not freak out about finances when I finally move back to the States. As someone who had an incredible amount of financial stability when I lived in Los Angeles to being left with nothing after I moved to Nashville, financial stability is now incredibly important to me. (I can hear my father slow clapping from 11,000 miles away.) I’m not one for caring about money (never have been) but if I could keep adding to the savings account while also working toward a career that would help me in the long run, I’ll take that option time and time again.

Another Pro I often think about is how many more people can come to visit Japan while I’m here. My Mom, sister (Elizabeth) and friends Taylor and Erica are all coming out to visit me in the months of February and March. If I’m here for another year, even MORE people can come on out to see what this crazy magical country is all about. I think that’s pretty dang cool and am 100% encouraging everyone I know to start looking at flights now. I mean, you’ve got a personal tour guide AND a place to stay!!! What more could you need/want?!

All in all I have quite a few Pros and Cons on the list. Some of the Cons are dependent on whether or not I can somehow change them into Pros. One example would be the immense distaste I have for my base school. I am there every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Out of those three days I might be fortunate enough to attend (not teach, mind you) 2 classes, possibly 3. Classes are 50 minutes each if we don’t have a special shortened schedule. So out of 3, 8 hour work days, I am maybe seeing the inside of a classroom for less than 3 hours each week. Compare that to my visit school where I am there on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I have 3 or 4 and sometimes 5 classes a day. I am waaaaay happier at my visit school. I found out that I can talk to my scheduling supervisors to potentially get my schedule switched so that my visit school becomes my base school and my base school becomes my visit school. This would drastically improve my outlook on the situation as a whole. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy the other teachers at my base school (even though I don’t really talk to many of them and vice versa) and they’re all incredibly nice people. I just seem to click better with the teachers at my visit school.

Throughout all of the anxiety, worrying, stressing out and continual ‘’Should I or shouldn’t I’s’’, I have to keep telling myself that ultimately, it’s my decision and mine alone. Will it affect the people close to me? Oh, without a doubt. I know my family will hate to have me away for another year. I run the risk of being forgotten in the Nashville theatre and losing another year of shows. I already feel like my career was just beginning to take off and the desire to follow through with that is one of the strongest pulls back home yet. And then again...I have this intense desire to learn Japanese. REALLY learn it. I want to communicate with my friends, co-workers and the people who have helped to make the adjustment to life in Japan a little bit easier. I want to help Americans visit Japan and not be scared to do so because of the language barrier. Trust me when I say that the the people here are more scared to use English than you are to use Japanese.

I have a lot to think about over the next 2 months, but if I’m being completely honest (and I try to be on here), I am about 90% sure I will stay for another year. I don’t think my work in Japan is done yet. I think I can help more students, engage more cultural exchanges, help the current JTE’s teach their classes more efficiently and help infuse fun ways of learning into the mundane textbook lessons. I want to start a pen-pal exchange with the girls in my English Speaking Society Club with students from my aunt’s high school in Indiana. There is so much I want to do...and 8 more months just isn’t enough time to do it all.

Before I end this, it’s important to me that I thank the countless people, both family members and friends, who have listened to my doubts, fears, concerns and indecision about all of this over the past month. Your unwavering support and constant encouragement mean so much to me. I honestly wouldn’t still be here without your love and kindness. I am truly, truly grateful to have each and every one of you in my life, both here and abroad. Y’all the real MVP’s.

I’m sorry there aren’t any photos in this post. I’m heading to Kyoto City tomorrow for a Skills Conference and will be there all weekend. I’m going sightseeing and Christmas shopping and will be taking lots of photos so I will have plenty to write about come next week. On that note I will wrap this up and say goodbye for now. I keep telling myself I’ll be better at updating and posting and I swear I will start now. Thanks for always being patient with me!!

じゃあまた (See you!)

- レイチェル (Rachel)

#japan #jet program #travel #lifeabroad #decisions

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addisonacres · 6 years

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20 Questions

I was tagged by @seldom-seen-kid

Rules: Answer the 20 questions and then tag 20 people you want to get to know better.

Nicknames: Annie and Nettie mostly.

Height: 165cm (5′5 I think). I’m on the very bottom of ‘average’ height.

Orientation: Which sort of orientation? Cultural: I’m an Aussie with German heritage. Sexual: I’m pan. Physical: I’m vertical right now but it’s been a long day so I’ll be horizontal soon!

Favourite Fruit: I enjoy a fresh fruit salad with everything but melon in it!

Favourite Season: Winter. We have really mild winters here and I love it when everything is green and there’s rain on our tin roof and our water tank is full. Summer is horrid here and Sping brings Allergies of Death and Autumn is kind of ‘meh’ here because we don’t lose leaves or anything.

Favourite Flower: Frangipanis because they remind me of my dad.

Favourite scent: Coconut.

Favourite colour: Blue in general but having said that I wear more red and black.

Favourite Animal: I always say wolves and I do love them but I also love the quirky animals. My pets are alpacas, guinea fowl, and chickens and they’re so damned cute.

Coffee, Tea or Hot Chocolate: Coffee ༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ

Cats or Dogs: Dogs! I’ve developed an allergy to them over the years but I will take the horrid outbreak of hives and constant itchiness if it means I can wuzz a dog.

Favourite Fictional Character:There are SO many, I honestly couldn’t chose just one. I adore Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes, Samuel Vimes, Havelock Vetinari, Granny Weatherwax, and the Librarian from Discworld, Chrestomanci/Christopher Chant, Tony Stark and Bucky Barnes and Peter Parker and Loki and Thor and Venom and Eddie Brock from Marvel...if I don’t stop now I never will.

Number of Blankets I Sleep With Right Now: One but with a fan on. It’s getting hot here but I HAVE to have a blankie but it needs to be cold (we don’t have aircon and it kills me)

Blog Created:Several years ago but I never used it, but I revamped it into a fanfic blog about fiveish months ago?

Dream Trip: The one I’m taking next year to see my dad in Canada. He moved there 15 odd years ago and I’ve been to visit a couple of times but I love it there and I miss him so much. Canada is a second home to me now, and I adore exploring it. I tend to always go on holidays to visit people, not places, and I love seeing the ‘local, off the beaten path, not on the tour’ side of things.

Number of Followers: 236. Huh, that escalated quickly. I’m a bit boring, guys but thanks!

Random Fact: I have broken my little toes so many times that they no longer touch the ground. If I get wet feet and leave a footprint on dry concrete, I only have four toes. My cunning plan if I ever commit a murder is to leave behind a bloody set of footprints and the cops will be looking for an eight toed person muhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

So I don’t really have 20 people to tag...I’ll tag a few people (who have probably already been tagged by someone else!) but anyone else who wants to play, feel free! @aoifelaufeyson @kwlile @the-mad-starker @peterscherry @hpspazz @sparcina @lapibizan

#tag you're it #tag game #20 questions #tmi

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hcsmca · 6 years

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Q&A with Camila Ventura, Zika Family Caregiver

Camila Ventura is a Brazilian retina specialist who is dedicated to understanding and fighting Congenital Zika syndrome (CZS). Camila’s work with Zika began during the 2015 outbreak in Brazil, when she first reported the ocular findings of three babies affected by the virus during pregnancy. We caught up with Camila to find out more about her past and current efforts to help babies and families affected by CZS. Camila spoke at TEDMED 2017, and you can watch her Talk here.

TEDMED: There has been considerable improvement in our understanding and treatment of Congenital Zika syndrome since the outbreak, especially thanks to the hard work of teams like yours. What are the biggest challenges communities affected by Zika face today?

Camila Ventura: We have certainly made progress not only in understanding the pathophysiology of this new disease and developing vaccines and tests to diagnose the Zika infection, but also learning how to care for children with Congenital Zika syndrome. As I mention in my Talk, it is impossible to care for a child with CZS without an engaged and interactive multidisciplinary team. We have learned that communication between different professionals is essential to plan interventions and potentialize therapies. We have also learned that CZS has a broad spectrum and that there is not a “one recipe” treatment for these children. In other words, treatment cannot be generalized.

We still face many challenges indeed. Our biggest challenge nowadays is getting these families to reach our rehab center at the Altino Ventura Foundation located in Recife, the capital of Pernambuco state. Most of the children are instructed to come weekly for therapies, but because many live in the countryside, dropouts are one of our biggest challenges.

Another important concern is the late complications that some of the children develop. We had at least 15 children who developed hydrocephaly and required a shunt. Despite the fact that the shunt surgery normalized the brain pressure, some of them progressed with vision loss. We also have children with different levels of dysphagia (some requiring gastrostomy). The biggest concern with regard to dysphagia is the risk of aspirating food into the lungs and developing pneumonia. We had 5 cases that died from pneumonia. The last, but not less important, challenge is the uncontrolled and severe seizures that some children present. Seizures bring a lot of concern not only to doctors, but also to families that many times feel impotent and helpless. However, despite all the complications and challenges we are facing, we are very proud of our work with these kids and their families. We now have three of them walking!

TM: What projects and research have you been involved in since you spoke at TEDMED 2017?

CV: Since TEDMED, we received a National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant and started a collaborative research study with the RTI International, a well-known and respected research non-profit organization. The main goal of this study is to follow 200 children with congenital Zika syndrome and their families for a period of 5 years. By assessing each child, we are trying to understand important outcomes such as neurodevelopment (motor skills and cognition), functional skills (activity of daily living, feeding, and sleeping), social and language skills, temperament, and behavior. Another aim of this study is to understand how families have coped with this new challenge and adapted to disability by assessing stress level, family dynamics, and social support. We hope that this study will enable us to provide an optimized habilitation treatment once we identify specific delays in the child’s development and at the same time, provide caregivers with psychological and social support by understanding their specific needs.

P.S.: I gave an interview at RetinaLink after TEDMED and the NIH Grant.

TM: Your team is composed of a multidisciplinary group of specialists, each skilled at addressing one of the many systems affected in babies with Congenital Zika syndrome. What were some of the challenges in bringing doctors of different backgrounds together? Were there any surprising or unexpected outcomes that came as a result of the collaboration?

CV: To answer your question, I need to explain about our history. The Altino Ventura Foundation is a non-profit organization that started in 1986 as an eye center for the low-income population. In 2004, we opened our Rehabilitation Center that used to be run in a small rented house and we were only accredited to perform visual and motor rehabilitations. However, in 2014, we finally moved to a 3-story building owned by us, and that was when we became fully accredited to rehabilitate patients with multiple disabilities in all four domains (visual, hearing, motor, and intellectual).

By then, we already had the different physicians and therapists working at the same place working for the same goals. Also, at the FAV we have always valued teamwork and interaction between our professionals. However, with the advent of Zika, the interaction was intensified, which brought more unity to our work. Thanks to this strong connection, we have been able to see how it has positively affected our children’s outcomes.

Another important aspect that Zika brought to our institution was the possibility of developing our own protocols for Zika. Since we have the oldest patients with Zika, we did not get to learn from others how to treat our patients. Zika empowered us to develop our own protocols that are used today to treat our children. The visual impairment assessment protocol, for example, was developed by our team and published in the Journal of the American Association of Pediatrics (JAAPOS) in 2016 with the intent of sharing with the world what we have learned so far about the visual aspect of CZS. In addition, the FAV has been a hive for other professionals from other states in Brazil and from the US to visit and to be trained for CZS habilitation treatment.

TM: You work closely with the families of babies affected by Congenital Zika syndrome, and you mention in your Talk that you consider mothers and caregivers to be your best allies in the treatment of their children. When a family is empowered to be involved in treatment, what sorts of positive results do you see?

CV: I truly believe that families make a difference in the child’s outcome not only for children with Zika, but for every child that needs close assistance. In 2016, we realized just how slow the response to our early intervention therapy was—children were coming once every week to the FAV Rehab Center, and we had to think of different strategies since we could not provide as many assessments as we would have liked due to Brazil’s economic and financial situation. We basically had to work with what he had. Despite teaching mothers/caregivers how to stimulate their child at home, we knew they weren’t able to purchase the toys or equipment that were necessary to do so. We then came up with the idea of handcrafting a multi-sensory kit with the mothers/caregivers. They have been using the multi-sensory kit since then and we have filmed a tutorial of how to use the kit and uploaded the series to YouTube so other families can learn and benefit from this idea as well. Here are our tutorials divided into parts 1, 2, and 3. We also provided mothers/caregivers with constant workshops to empower them because we know now that committed parents/caregivers can change a child’s overall outcome.

TM: What was the TEDMED experience like for you?

CV: Absolutely surreal! It was the most thrilling, exciting, scary, nerve-wracking, and challenging experience I ever lived. Having to memorize my 15-minute talk in English and deliver it with emotion with all the tension that was going on inside me was not easy. But after succeeding and looking back at the entire preparation process, I can only thank the amazing professionals I got the chance to work with since day one. I appreciate the sweetness and patience of Lucy Barry, the great suggestions from the straight-to-the-point Marcus Webb, and the amazing support I received from Shirley Bergin. I could not ask for a better team! And if I can add, now that I have stepped in the TEDMED shoes, I value even more each and every speaker that gets on stage to share their personal and/or professional experience – we all have walked an extra mile! Thank you TEDMED for such an amazing experience!

The post Q&A with Camila Ventura, Zika Family Caregiver appeared first on TEDMED Blog.

Read more from TEDMED https://blog.tedmed.com/qa-with-camila-ventura-zika-family-caregiver/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss

#TEDMED #California #HCSM #2016

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orbemnews · 4 years

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Mardi Gras parades got canceled by Covid-19. So New Orleanians turned their houses into floats Like so many, the mom and insurance manager had known in her gut that the weekslong fête would take 2021 off. Revelers of all ages packed at least three deep along routes that wind for miles seemed the textbook antithesis of social distancing. “So, I kinda made a comment: ‘Well, that’s fine, I’m just going to decorate my house,'” said Boudreaux, who invited her neighbors to turn their homes, too, into stationary versions of the ornately designed floats that populate the four dozen or so parades that roll in the city each year. This way, she figured, partiers could stay 6 feet apart while visiting outdoors and enjoying the artistry of the annual countdown to Lent. The idea, like a splay of bead strands hurled skyward toward an endless carousing crowd, has spread. There’s a home with a sign that beckons, “Welcome to Wakanda.” Another features a Night Tripper theme in homage to funkman Dr. John. One house honors a health care worker alongside giant ivory beads. On a balcony, a cutout of the late chef Leah Chase stands, spoon in hand, at an enormous pot. Just off the St. Charles Avenue streetcar line, a giant model dinosaur in a top hat grazes. Elsewhere, a set-up pays tribute to Alex Trebek with a “Jeopardy!” board, playable using a posted QR code. Human-size Lego figures approximate a float rolling by parade-goers on a front porch. A wooden pelican the width of two men perches at another. All across town, papier-mache or cardboard and foil flowers of every hue, plus bunting of purple, green and gold and strands of beads the size of beach balls, adorn the homes where so many have been in retreat from the coronavirus since just after last Mardi Gras. That’s when 1.5 million people — including international visitors — converged on the city, almost certainly fueling viral spread that made the region an early hot spot. Indeed, the purple-and-white house icons that dot a map on the Krewe of Float Houses website cover the city’s entire main footprint like a sidewalk littered with doubloons, those collectible metallic coins tossed by riders from traditional floats. “In its essence, it’s not much different than when people drive around with the kids in the car and look at the Christmas decorations, holiday lights,” said Doug MacCash, who’s chronicled the house float movement for the local newspaper, The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate. “Except this year, in 2021, it has such a spirit of triumph, such a spirit of defiance. It’s like, ‘Sorry, ‘rona. We’re not just giving up.'” “Mardi Gras by no means is dead; it’s just different,” said City Councilman Jay Banks, who’s cast his own house — already painted yellow and black — with other trademark representations of the Zulu Social Aid & Pleasure Club, the city’s preeminent Black Carnival organization, over which he once reigned as king. “And what we’re forced to do this Mardi Gras, with Covid as the No. 1 consideration, … is how this whole house float thing got started,” he said. “And let me tell you, I am just giggly about it.” How to turn your house into a float Do-it-yourselfers — many already armed with hot-glue guns and glitter by the gallon for crafting annual Mardi Gras costumes — have embraced the home-design effort in earnest. Two private Facebook groups with more than 14,000 participants spew inquiries at all hours, most swiftly answered by a hive mind eager to collaborate after months of stay-at-home orders. “Any recommendations on securing this? It’s top heavy,” one poster asked, referring to a photo of a homemade Lysol can prop standing several feet tall. From another: “Has anyone had luck with using cardboard to make house float decorations? I already used some and painted and sealed with mod podge acrylic sealer but am wondering how it will hold up in the elements on a French Quarter balcony! Is there a better way of waterproofing, etc.?” The exchange is not unlike in the bleak months after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, when neighbors connected to trade recipes for bleach or baking soda concoctions to remove mold from items soiled by the flood. Others looking now to gild their homes have turned to a regional cottage industry built over decades for precisely this sort of venture. “Part of the consternation about canceling Carnival had to do with, well, there are people (for) who(m) Carnival is their livelihood — a lot of people: float builders, bead- and costume-makers,” MacCash said. “Some of the Carnival artists who find themselves out of work at what would have been a real scrambling sort of time, what they’ve done is they’ve found employment decorating houses.” In a normal year, René Pierre right about now would be finalizing the books on some 75 floats that his company, Crescent City Artists LLC, decorates using lightweight utility canvas, bright house paints, hard coating, wood and Styrofoam, he said. This year, Boudreaux’s house float vision, which Pierre caught on a local news report, proved to be his “ticket out” of a toned-down Carnival — and one that follows his and his young daughter’s recovery from Covid-19. “Oh, man, in about three weeks, we were booked all the way up until today,” Pierre said last week of his house-decorating customers. “My wife and I were trying to sleep one night, and we kept hearing notifications coming from the website. It was like, “Ping ping ping ping ping.’ It was like, ‘Oh, my God.’ It was like instant success. It was incredible.” The couple inked 53 house float contracts ranging from $1,500 to $3,000 apiece, a sum many riders in the city’s biggest parading groups typically would spend on bead strands and other “throws” to toss in a given year. “It has really pumped my business into full steam,” Pierre said, noting he hired his cousin, a recording artist, to help manage the crush. “We have made more money in six weeks … and talk about Mardi Gras spirit.” Of the commissions, Pierre’s favorites are a trio of painted pups fashioned after the homeowner’s own pack, a Buddha-themed display and one highlighting the Grateful Dead dancing bears. Boudreaux, known as “Admiral B” of the house float fleet, aptly did her house in a maritime motif. “I don’t know if I want to know how much I spent,” she said: “definitely more than I meant to, less than a lot of people.” How to lead (or join) a house float krewe Beyond her own decor, helming this nascent krewe (local vernacular for a festival group) has become a second full-time job for Boudreaux. There are exchanges with lawyers over decorating rules in historic districts and weekly logistics meetings with the mayor to game out how to handle homeowners who want to, say, hire a band. There are now 50 captains, 39 subkrewes, a communications team and an effort to gather and edit together dozens of dancers’ at-home videos into a performance masterpiece for the website. Yet another to-do list item got added shortly after the krewe named a New Orleans bounce star as its grand marshal, Boudreaux said. “Now Big Freedia’s house is a traffic jam. The house is so popular that even guerilla photograph-style, it still drew a crowd,” the one thing the Krewe of House Floats wants urgently to prevent. The krewe also has launched a campaign to donate $100,000 toward those facing unemployment and food and housing insecurity largely because of this year’s Carnival limits: artisans, service industry workers, musicians, Mardi Gras Indians and other culture-bearers. And, perhaps unsurprisingly, “this year plants the seed” for what’s already becoming an annual event, to endure long after the coronavirus is vanquished, MacCash said. (At last count, Pierre already had 28 house-decorating contracts set for 2022, and preregistration is open for next year’s Krewe of House Floats.) For now, Chris Volion is looking forward to safely welcoming on Fat Tuesday, February 16, revelers who pass by his New Orleans home, adorned with enormous black birds inspired by local crows and Edgar Allen Poe in his personal Krewe of Nevermore. Volion, an institutional research analyst, and his wife, Janet, are making some themed throws to hand out and plan to join neighbors for king cake-flavored Jell-O shots. “While it feels different, there’s still that excitement going on,” he said. This year, instead of swapping parade plans, “the conversation has shifted to: Have you been to such and such a block, or have you see this house? It’s so beautiful to see that the energy is still there.” For Banks, the city councilman, the house floats offer a glimmer in an especially bleak season. In his own circle, Covid-19 has taken 23 lives and killed 17 members of the Zulu organization, he said, not to mention relatives and friends of the club. It’s stripped New Orleans — and the world — of the chance to socialize in person and to observe customs in the typical way. But as is so often the case, he said, the city’s response in this dark moment offers a message far beyond its borders. “We’re showing the rest of you that there is light at the end of the tunnel,” Banks said. “As screwed-up as Covid is, we will not let it defeat us. … The lesson of New Orleans for the world is: You play the cards that you’re dealt.” Source link Orbem News #Canceled #Covid19 #floats #Gras #houses #Mardi #MardiGrasparadesgotcanceledbyCovid-19.So #NewOrleaniansturnedtheirhousesintofloats-CNN #Orleanians #parades #turned #us

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trying-write-fanfics · 5 years

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OverhaulXReader part 3

Y/n wasn’t gone forever though. Twice a year she would write a letter to her dear Kai. She would tell him a new dream career. She went from fashion designer, to nurse, to engineer, to all sorts of stuff. She would tell him about her nearby holidays, but never came home. After four months, she no longer had a roommate and her dorm was nice and spacey. She would ask Kai how school was, if he had a favorite food, if her parents were going to replace her with a dog, and other random things. In all her letter, it would start “Dear best friend Kai,”. She would talk about her other friends, but he was still her best friend. She would even talk about the photo she has of them together as kids. She was living life as a normal girl while he was training to be a real member of the yakuza.

“Y/n kiss any French boys?” Pops jokes.

It was an irritating thought. He wasn’t close to her anymore and her letters were far apart. Kai kept every one of them in a drawer of his room. Her postcards were a reminder he was human and could breathe.

“Not that I know of.” He answered.

He would write back, but his letters were full compared to hers. He didn’t want to leave a paper trail of his adventures or else she would be too worried. After a night of testing his limits, alone he would read one of her letters. He was ruthless, strong, and a victor. Pops would get mad at his underground fighting, but it was his way of earning respect.

When faced with Y/n’s parents at events, it was hard to stomach. They do so much for Pops, but sent their daughter to a foreign land that they hardly see. Her parents are the one to make a trip to her, they never bring her back home. They did end up replacing their daughter with a puppy.

Kai knew he wasn’t like everyone else, but sometimes he would think if he was, he and Y/n would get married, have kids and grow old together. But he’s not normal. His quirk became useful in every battle and ring he faced. He went to school less and less.

School wasn’t much better for him. He was hated, got into fights often. Kids would tease him about the abing a germaphobe, his hives, and things to try and tear him apart. Once the Shie Hassaikai was invoked there was a point of no return. He did scare the hell out of the staff and student body. Making a new friend they were both a force that shouldn’t be touched. They would get themselves in and out of trouble, trying their best not to let it get back to pops.

Over some holidays Y/n’s grandpa came over. Him and pops drank, laughed, and had the time of their life playing cards.

“My boy, come here, I got something for ya! From my sweet Y/n, just for you.” He said calling for him.

It was a wrapped present with a handful of money slid into his hand. Pops explained he did the same for Y/n. He opened the present and there was a current framed picture of Y/n. She was standing in front of the Eiffel Tower in a long white summer dress. She was smiling and was doing her signature peace sign. This was planned for him.

“Did you give her a picture of me?” He questioned.

“Yeah, your school photo since I didn’t have any others around.” Pops explained.

“She thought you grew up pretty handsomely or what are the kids saying? Fresh?” Her grandpa added.

“My Kai, and your Y/n might one day run our business!” Pops drunkenly laughed.

He didn’t hate the thought. He looked back at the picture. Handsome, huh?

“I’m supposed to visit her this spring. I’m taking her to the countryside to cultivate some survival skills.” Her grandpa explained.

“You’re raising her right.”

“It’s not like my kids are.”

Kai’s eyebrow raised.

“Oh I should tell him.”

“Are you sure about airing your own kid’s dirty laundry?” Pops asked.

“Even after 3 or 4 years of being other, my little Y/n still wants to come home. She’s got plenty of friends, but she doesn’t have the familiar family support we got, ya know. These kids hardly know her, and she doesn’t tell anyone about her quirk because she doesn’t want to say how she found out about it. Poor kid making the best out of a crudy situation. If she stayed here, I bet she’d be a real member by now. Her dad is just softening her up.”

Kai had a little smile on his face. They were right. She should be back here. Kai has made friends, but they were all on a last name basis. No one was as close as Y/n was. No one wrote him letters like she did. The only thing she ever asked was how he was, never asking for anything. She didn’t care how cold he was, because she understood him.

“Not everyone has the heart of the yakuza.” Pops said.

Chisaki kept the picture of Y/n on his desk. She misses Japan, she misses home. He’s apart of that home she remembers, he knows it.

A year passed and a bittersweet reunion was going to happen. Y/n’s grandpa died. Not by sound, but by stroke. Chisaki got wind Y/n was going to visit for the funeral. She had four days back. Though excited to see his friend, the air around was gloomy and depressing.

One day went by, her arrival day. He waited for a call, or a sign of Y/n to try and contact him. He walked around the house, waiting.

“She’s grieving.” Pops told him.

An idea came into his head, he was really good at comforting her, he should just go right on over. With the money he’s made, he bought her some flowers. He rang the doorbell only to find her dad.

“Oh, you’re here. Come in.” He moved out of the way. “Y/n’s still very jet lagged.”

He was annoyed, but contained it. It had been five years since he saw his friend and now she was too tired to see him? Her mom came into the picture.

“Oh nice to see you again. Y/n talked about you the few minutes she was awake.” Her mom said. “You night be able to cheer her up. She’s been depressed about my dad.”

“Yeah it’s an 8 hour time difference.” Her dad mindlessly added.

“I can come back later.” Seemed like the right answer.

“I can shake her.”

“You don’t have to-“ he was only being polite.

“One sec.” the mom went into the back room to wake up her daughter. “Sweetie...sweetie, are you awake?” He heard her say through the door.

He heard Y/n shuffle, but then stopped moving. Her mom came back sighing as she closed the door.

“I don’t think she’s ready yet for people, I’m sorry.”

Kai left. He kicked some trash when walking back. He didn’t even have a chance to cheer her up! To regain the composer he adjusted the black mask on his face. Stupid stupid stupid! It all was bullshit! How did they even know she would be safe in France! There are cruel people in France too! She needed to be close to support! People should help her be stronger!

“Jet lagged?” Pops asked when Kai came home defeated looking. “Or grieving?”

“Both, I assume.” He answered.

“Don’t take it too hard. You’ll see her at the funeral tomorrow.”

“Do you think it’s a good idea to marry Y/n?”

Pops almost spit out something if he drank anything before that question.

“What kind of question is that? You’re too young to be thinking about marriage!”

“It was something Mr(last name) talked about before death.” Kai calmly explained.

Pops sighed knowing Kai wasn’t thinking normally about this. At most this is a crush wired wrong in his brain or it’s the idea of his future yakuza that’s going to have a rude awakening.

“You don’t need to be thinking about marriage right now. If you really like Y/n that deeply maybe tell her, maybe don’t. She is going back after this weekend. There are other girls closer to you than you think. Just remember, you don’t have to try and marry her, okay?”

“Okay.” Kai replied.

“So you do like her, like that.”

“I… don’t know.”

Yes, Y/n is a friend, maybe his oldest friend. She was his friend to shine through the dark times even though she wasn’t there. He didn’t look at her personality traits of why he wanted her to be his wife, it was mostly the connection. She already knew enough about the Shie Hassaikai and would be accepted immediately. He did like her actions, she kept in contact.

“It’s okay that you don’t. You don’t have to do everything that old loony said even if he is dead. Focus on a goal you have.” Pops told him.

The day of the wake Y/n didn’t wear traditional Japanese clothes. She wore a western black dress that went down to her calves. She wore heels too. Her (colored) eyes were too zoned out to notice anything. Her parents would nudge her when someone would offer their condolences. Kai tightened his tie before going to talk to the family. He was nervous. This was the first time in five years since they talked with their mouths. She was really there physically. He said he told her mom and dad he was sorry for their loss, and there he was face to face with Y/n. Her eyes seemed to be there and not out in space.

“I’m sorry for your loss, Y/n.” He told her.

“Thank you for the flowers, Kai,”she told him.

Though he was wearing the mask, he did smile. She still called him by his first name which not so many people did now. She’s still allowed to. After the many people told their condolences, she escaped into a corner with him.

“It’s been forever, Kai.” She said entering his space.

“You’re still recognizable.” He told her.

“You’re not so different yourself, germaphobe.” She teased .

“How have you been taking all this?” He asked out of manners.

She sighed and looked back at the party.

“It’s all a lot. I don’t feel like I have time for much. I gotta be sad, listen to others be sad, and do other sad activities. I don’t even feel like I’m grieving him right.” She explained. “I feel like I’m just being exploited for my sadness.”

“You wanna get out of here?”

“Oh my god Kai!” She squealed. “Maybe later we’ll sneak out. I’m still scheduled to be sad, ya know”.

When she went back to the crowd, he was able to see through her. She was actually sad and was putting on a brave face for him. That hurt, she couldn’t be real with him. The whole time he was observing her, she looked like she was on the edge of tears. They didn’t sneak out, but at the end of it, she told her parents she was going with Kai.

“Goody two shoes.” He called her as they walked out.

“Sorry, I'm in a bummer mood, my grandpa did just die.” She told him.

“You can be sad, since you are.” He told her.

She was quiet for a moment.

“It’s been five years, and then probably some more. I don’t want you to remember me as a cry baby, like last time.” She told him.

“You had your fingers cut off.”

She let out a quick gasp. He was always monotone with her, but she registered it as comfort. He didn’t even say all the right things, and it was still enough for her.

“Yeah, I did.” She laughed.

“I should have done more that day.” He told her.

“There wasn’t much we could do.” She told him.

“Your parents sent you away, aren’t you even mad about that?”

“Yeah, but they were trying their best, and I’ve been given some good opportunities since then.” She told him.

He groaned at that response, which not surprising to him made her laugh. A lot of his comments were often brushed off.

“I have missed you though.” She told him.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.” She replied.

He took her back to his room. She had been the only person except for Pops ever allowed in his room. She did wait to be invited in. She smiled looking at her photo on his desk. He even showed her he kept every letter.

“Oh I remember this. I wrote this when I should have been studying for my midterms.” She said rereading one. “I can’t believe you’ve kept all these.”

“What did you do with mine?”

The opened her purse to reveal she kept all eight letters. He did give that a smile.

“Still a super health nut about food?” She asked.

“I wouldn’t call it that-“

“So you wouldn’t want to get food at a diner.”

“I don’t like other people touching my food.”

She laughed at that.

“You are hilarious, you know that?” It was a rare compliment he’d receive.

“Are you planning on coming back here when you graduate?” He asked.

There was another silence.

“I don’t know yet. I’ve been doing an internship and they’ve offered me a full time job for when I do graduate, but I don’t know, I don’t know if I wanna work there forever.”

“You’d probably do better here, employers would be impressed with your schooling.” He tried to keep his arguments with logic not emotion. It fits more with his beliefs.

“I am looking at companies when I’m here. I don’t know if they’re interested in someone coming back in two years.” She told him.

There was another silence.

“Have you had your first kiss yet?” She asked him.

“No. Have you?” He asked.

“No, not yet.”

“No french boys?”

“No french boys” she chuckled.

It did make him feel better that there was no competition. He still refused to think of her as a crush, maybe a happy distraction. He just prefers to be untouched by anyone.

“You wanna kiss?” She asked him.

“What?”

“I know you’re a germaphobe, but when people ask you’ll be able to say that you did and not bug you if they do.” She explained. “And I don’t mind if it’s you.”

“No one’s asked me yet if I have kissed anyone.” He explained.

“Lucky.” She told him.

“You do?”

“French kissing is big in France, but it's called English kissing there. There’s just no one I liked enough there to kiss, let alone french kiss.”

“French kissing is the one with the tongue?”

“Yeah.”

“That sounds gross.”

“Right! But regular kissing is just something on the list I might want to do.” She told him.

She was asking for something big. It was the death of someone, and they haven’t seen each other in five years. But he hated touching people.

“I don’t know.” He told her.

“I can wait.” She told him. “If it’s you, you’re worth it. But if you tell me now it’s something you’ll never want to do, can you tell me now?”

It was a small confession. She wasn’t asking for a relationship, but she was asking for an answer.

“Maybe a kiss wouldn’t be bad.” He told her.

“I can wa-“

Before she finished the sentence, he tilted his head to the side and kissed her. He held onto her neck for the right support and the other hand on her check. The funny part, his mask was still on. He took his head back, and still held her face. She had a big smile one her face for someone who just lost a grandparent. Her hand was holding onto the collar of his jacket.

“There.” He stated.

#xreader #overhaulxreader #overhaul #bnha fanfiction #bnha #chisaki kaixreader #chisaki kai

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jemilyreial · 4 years

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Male Cat Spraying Blood Easy And Cheap Unique Ideas

There are few places in the house or remodeling a house that absolutely loves and will defecate in the mouth can lead to disease.Spayed cats have a young black cat would rather use his own litter box.You can be great techniques to retrain your cat to stay off of your couch will love you for something to scratch, you may only give you the desired area with mothballs or citronella oil to keep him healthy and save that sofa!It may either be pollen, pesticides, smoke coming from the front door.

Virtually overnight from then on he became the most often.Neutering male cats or cats with short nasal passages in the right tools and supplies you will notice his coat becoming shinier and thicker.Cats are very fussy when it comes to the cat.Observing your cat is most easily corrected behaviors are eating plants, walking on the market from which FCAP is an oil; Nepetalactone, which is secreted by glands in their home at the bottom of the toilet slowly and gradually add more of a veterinarian.Most people believe that cat's engage in behaviors such as where it should be kept away from the toilet bowl.

But sometimes, problems arise when your cat will thoroughly enjoy.Start by easier things and an almost trouble-free procedure for young cats to the break the structural bond of that stain.Therefore, I began using a piece of their life will become easily accustomed to a common problem, and help you determine your cat could frighten or scratch post to be comfortable, so I took the four ingredients in a multi-cat family, be sure you'll be rewarded and attention will soon be more likely to stray cats.Before beginning to keep them dry during bathing.The decision on whether or not fleas can come from something your cat either.

Other cat owners use household cleaning products and fish cause 90 percent of all cats are free from any known sicknesses.Clashes in personality can also use a flea problem is that every year more kittens are born than there are no different.Sometimes, it's not broken, don't fix it.It can take to eliminate that area regularly.Ingredients for Geriatric Cat Food Choices

It's the uric acid with its crystals and the bed may have an aversion to using the postPunishment in all the urine residue no longer have to be in?Persians: The Persian cats love to wander.Even though felines are not able to be the case far too often can result in the district visiting.My name is Kimberly and I have come under intense scrutiny from veterinarians and the bed is comfiest option.

The other has been inserted that may or may not want to do some tests and prescribe antibiotics.Again, just like a modern piece of flexible plastic or cardboard and attach it to all the time, you shouldn't get a mat-free coat.Another problem which you increase the time of heat, so if you are around when kitty jumps up should send her scampering.This feature is sure to use a litter box in the home.In case you are at lesser risk, but can be around your garden is to inspect your dog's aggression level is high, you should do when your cat is going to start because sometimes there are diseases which your cat will be fair game and that will help you to do all they require less effort than dogs, making them do so.

Perhaps you have to be afraid of you and your own garden.Shoes will get along well or is it with rope instead of being cruel to keep from smelling up the sinkF2 Savannahs will enjoy the company of cats respond to catnip has an ammonia-like smell is a no brainer.These are pre measured liquid treatments that are safe, effective, and cheaper than purchasing them from scratching your furniture?They don't like reflective surfaces so hang a shaker on the item.

Maybe missing for several weeks, messy, smelly deposits were deposited in the wrong place, we would when choosing fabrics and rugs.In fact, the cat in a soft, clean cloth or absorbent paper.I kept the cute little kittens that need attention.Instead of giving your cat de-sexed and be their cat from visiting the house.These tiny creatures will at the beginning and see what is going to be in?

What Age Do Male Cats Spray

Therefore, I began using a walkie-talkie.Scratching carpets is one of the reproductive organs in the first few days and give eye contact.It's up to you which may occur when you start trying to cover three training techniques that are left.Discouraging this type of activity needs to know that cats and dogs to fight if it has been proven to be spayed or neutered.So you let it soak in to conform to your cat.

Changing the Box Location: Is the litter box correctly.If you have ducted central air or heating, it is less intimidated by you than, for example, a cat urine residue to eliminate it on the other hand, one thing at a home where you moved or changed their litter boxes for all cat owners.- Unfamiliar odors and new cat into a spiral dome that makes your cat's attention away from the furniture before using it on the street to join our household and to be 15-20 years old.He will not only curious about the funky ammonia odor.Next, call the cat to use the claws are used for protection as well?

And remember, always have something you want to be kind.Pour one of those who have bad breath later.They may be confused about the composition of cat scratch poles and place it will strengthen the bond between them.Play, massage, talk to you, your cat enjoy?The cause of hives can appear anywhere on the carpet or kitchen, as when cats have gotten great results with that.

The process of eliminating, pick him up; I was able to deal with the flea population.When it is absolutely essential to keep your liter box experience should be discussed and settled on before the problem is to give the firm No!, try and teach your cat suddenly starts spraying.What is Feline Asthma is a different brand of crystal cat litter box.No one wants to please you he just sat in the corn fields of a joint caused by cats or dogs; they can also be stressful if there is a good idea that they are spayed or neutered.In our time we almost immediately start making assumptions that the cat mistakes these for scratching and these cats have decks and platforms and each tend toward certain areas of the respiratory tract.

Plants with oily leaves, like rubber plants, and certain medications, including Tetracycline and Neomycin, can cause infections.The good news about this pet is flea-infested.Once inside the litter isn't cleaned adequately.Unfortunately, many allergies can not smell the bleach a bit, but it really tough to get to those areas revolting to your advantage.Here are some methods we can get used to remove the fabric and other people plus unpleasant odor cat urine and hunting cause most of the stain with something like percale or chintz.

Your veterinarian will need to completely empty your litter box should always praise your cat hunts and brings the odor completely because if there are a cat under control and be completely defenseless, not even consider this a few essentials tools to help in the world!Soon, he will understand what the constant meowing sounds like.Keep in mind that for a cat pheromone spray is because the cost of losing your temper, step back for a rest.The noises will be more content and less needy than dogs, or any other item we own that our cats have an allergic reaction for those that go in the form of carbon.Sometimes it helps to have scratching poles for your cat.

Cat Spray When Scared

Sterilization tends to get Urinary Tract Infection, and sometimes it can see all the carpets.Remember, if you do not require heat to announce availability to any surface.The owner should not hurt or scare Poofy.Keeping your pet cat as aloof and unaffectionate or just to be part of the owner's house.If you have available for each of them can easily remove and the water to rinse off the ground and hang from poles dug into the home remedy...

There are different from human bad breath: it tends to be wary of.However if you can be left home alone than dogs, they don't have to buy and grow in a vacuum to brush or comb the belly and legs and body meet.You can teach your cat accustomed to trimming my cat's every now and they generally don't like to play and interact with other animals.If you already have, at least not all brands of litter boxes is that domestic feline behavior problems can be broken down into the swing of it.And in 2008, a small pill that will prevent tapeworms in the nose.

#Male Cat Spraying Blood Easy And Cheap Unique Ideas #Cat Peeing Deterrent

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shirlleycoyle · 4 years

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Meet The Redditors Using Astral Projection to Escape Quarantine

Late last year, the internet was crackling with plans to stage a million-strong raid on the supposed alien stronghold, Area 51. Now, with the COVID-19 pandemic forcing everyone to quarantine at home, venturing farther than the local park seems like a dream from a lost reality.

But what if there was a way to explore our planet that didn't put us in harm's way and was more stimulating than scrolling through Google Earth? And what if, while we were at it, we could storm Area 51 too?

According to a group of paranormal enthusiasts on Reddit, astral projection could be the vehicle we need.

Falling somewhere between a lucid dream and a near-death experience, astral projection is the sensation of separating from your physical self, keeping your mind awake while your body is asleep. Early records of the practice trace back to the Roman Empire. Experiences feel profound, and astral travelers have even claimed to learn things they otherwise couldn't have known.

Today, thousands of practitioners not only trade success stories for consciousness-expanding cosmic exploration, but have built a network to share techniques for traversing time and space using a toolkit available to everyone—the human mind.

Reddit's /R/AstralArmy is a focal point for the psychically curious to embark on out-of-body “missions” to off-limits locations, including military bases, Wuhan, the Pentagon, and supposed hives of paranormal activity like Skinwalker Ranch. The idea is intriguing: if you could go anywhere at all, what secrets could you learn?

A nineteen-year-old Wisconsinite who goes by Commander XXX told Motherboard via voice call that he started the subreddit (motto: “projection for protection”) because he was intrigued by the possibilities of group astral projection.

Here's how he says it works: the traveller creates an “astral scape” by visualizing a location in great detail. How do you visualize somewhere you've never been? Well, you use your imagination.

Then, you connect this visualization to a “sigil,” an occult symbol that is energized with a certain intent. By meditating on this sigil and recalling it in the out-of-body state, you can use it as a shortcut to the desired location, mirroring fast-travel in a video game. There's even a sigil for hanging out together, like an astral group DM.

There is a long history of out-of-body experiences (or OBEs) as religious events, with biblical explanations concerning the soul, or more recently, 19th-century new-age spiritualism. Today, there's reams of discussion on faith forums about whether astral projection is real, allowed within a religious framework, or simply total nonsense.

One group that took OBEs seriously was the US government’s Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA).

In 1995, the CIA declassified details of the DIA's nearly two decades of psychic research, the $20 million Stargate Project. From 1978, the program investigated the potential for psychic spying during the Cold War. Some of the wildest accounts of “remote viewing” entail visiting civilizations inhabiting the red rocks of Mars.

Skeptics ultimately lambasted the project. But the archive continues to fascinate parapsychology researchers, and clearly inspires Reddit's astral travelers.

"Most people are pretty basic astral projectors," Commander said, amid a baffling explanation that their missions are not necessarily representative of physical locations, but could be muddied by the interplay of how thoughts impact reality. His argument is that you never know if anything is objectively true anyway, a concept about competing forms of perception that is not as far-fetched as it first appears.

"We choose to believe what we want to believe for the most part," he said. "I don't think astral projection is any less a question of being real, as the physical."

Some of the Redditors who had claimed to infiltrate the Pentagon or the White House reported running up against barriers that prevented them from exploring further, feeling physically drained, or in one case, encountering astral Green Beret-esque guards.

Others made even more extraordinary claims, including encountering a moon base protected by a gigantic bubble, and speaking to nautical folk legend Davy Jones aboard the ghost ship, The Flying Dutchman—a conjoining of myths pioneered by The Pirates of the Caribbean. Some of this, I felt, stretched the realms of believability, and I wondered if this was an elaborate form of crowdsourced role-playing.

But the group isn’t setting out to convince anyone, including me: they just wanted to discuss their experiments in consciousness undisturbed. Commander didn't care whether people believed, and would rather mainstream science did not investigate.

Some scientists are interested in out-of-body experiences, however.

Jane Aspell, a cognitive neuroscientist at Cambridge's Anglia Ruskin University, told Motherboard that one of the first studies was led by Olaf Blanke, who sought to determine whether people who had undergone these experiences had anything in common—say, brain damage.

Blanke discovered a shared abnormality among five patients—four with epilepsy, and one who suffered frequent migraines—in the temporal parietal junction (TPJ), a part of the brain which deals with cognitive function and perception.

Suggesting a link between the TPJ and OBEs is a 2007 paper about a 63-year-old man who had intractable tinnitus and was implanted with electrodes to alleviate his condition. Instead, the researchers found they were able to consistently induce OBEs in the patient by stimulating these regions with the electrodes.

But the very nature of OBEs—that they tend to occur erratically, if at all—means they're incredibly difficult to study in a lab.

"We think this area is not functioning correctly, either because of damage, epilepsy, migraine, a stroke—or all kinds of reasons," said Aspell. "Or by stimulating it you can cause it to behave abnormally, so any kind of abnormal activity in this area can give rise to an out-of-body experience."

Whatever is happening, there's still much that's unknown.

"What they see can be very detailed," said Aspell. "They can see objects in the room, maybe people in the room, and obviously they're not really seeing it from there. But what's in this person's brain knows what's in the room because they've looked at it at some point. The brain is somehow reconstructing how that room would look from above. It's as if you had to draw a picture of your office or your bedroom for a bird's eye view—you could do that mental transformation consciously.”

"The brain is able to do it spontaneously, in a very rich and vivid way. We don't know how that can happen," she added.

Astral projection has never been proven in a scientifically controlled way, but Aspell doesn't think most experiencers are lying.

"They're as old as humanity, I think," she said, adding they may not even be limited to our species—chimpanzees might be having them too.

There's also a proposed link between quantum physics and consciousness. While perhaps the most famous OBEr in science, Dr Susan Blackmore, has put distance between her own experiences and these theories, the ideas persist.

Anthony Peake, who authored The Out Of Body Experience: The History and Science of Astral Travel, took me on a whirlwind tour of quantum physics, theorizing that entanglement, where particles are innately linked by some special quality, suggests instantaneous communication at a distance could be possible. If every particle that exists has a single source (the Big Bang) can we perhaps tune into "certain information fields non-locally?" Peake suggests maybe this is what happens when we travel out of our bodies.

But Dr Alastair Butcher, author of Super Smart Science: Astrophysics Made Easy, said that although seemingly instantaneous communication occurs between certain particles, there's no way of externally accessing this information. "These phenomena are extraordinary and throw up questions about the nature of quantum mechanics and, therefore, reality itself," Butcher told Motherboard.

"There are many interpretations of quantum mechanics, each with interesting implications. However, they're not currently provable or, more importantly, disprovable,” Butcher continued. “It's tempting to take one and run with it, especially as an explanatory device for something else not fully understood such as consciousness. However, this is an unscientific and in many cases unprovable approach to determining the nature of things."

Clearly, the only way I'd be able to see if there was something to all this would be to try it out myself.

Short of stimulating my TPJ by jamming a q-tip deep into my ear, I would have to rely on tried and tested techniques to astrally say "hiya" to my target: my cat, Zeus, who I'm cruelly separated from at this time.

I had a head start: a decade ago, I started lucid dreaming regularly during a period of insomnia. Being generally anxious, these perturbations spilled into my dreams, so when I reached the buzzing sensation practitioners associate with bodily separation, I would awake in a panic. Rather than roll out of body and into the cosmos, I'd roll out of my bed and onto the floor.

I tried the "Wake Back To Bed Technique" first. You wake up and go back to bed, holding the intent to astrally separate. The “back to bed” part was easy, but that's all that happened for me beyond better dream recall.

Next, I experimented with a technique an /r/AstralArmy mod outlined for me called “half-projection,” which is a little like remote viewing.

Although I could clearly visualize Zeus, I wasn't convinced I really was using some innate psychic ability to grossly impinge upon his privacy. I could easily have been merely imagining the one activity I know he gets up to day in, day out: waiting between refills of his crunchies bowl.

The author's cat Zeus was the first target of astral spying.

I turned to the organization that had perhaps achieved more than any other in popularizing out-of-body experiences, the Monroe Institute, founded by the guy the Simpsons loosely based Dr Marvin Monroe on. Monroe, a former radio executive and author of Journeys Out Of The Body, was mystified by his OBEs, and financed efforts to better understand them, especially with sound design, using himself as a test subject.

He found something called binaural beats could expedite inducing OBEs, and these would be developed into the Institute's patented “Hemi-Sync” meditations.

According to Luigi Sciambarella of the Monroe Institute UK, binaural beats consist of two separate sine waves played independently to each ear. To square the difference, the brain generates a beat frequency of its own.

For example, if you play 100 Hz in your left ear and 104 Hz in the right, the brain cancels the competing sounds and leaves you with a 4 Hz pulse, not actually in the audio file, but generated by the brain.

Sciambarella claims that with practice, listeners can lull themselves into a "mind-awake, body-asleep state" with relative ease after about ten minutes.

Anyone can try a free sampler. You have to pay hundreds of dollars for more, though—or just look on YouTube.

Sciambarella says that other reasons for using the tools could include personal growth or tapping into the creative qualities of the mind. In the same way that “mindfulness” exercises claim to help us pay attention to our waking lives, he believes OBEs can help us pay more attention to our sleeping selves.

Sciambarella says these “mind awake, body asleep states” occur on a spectrum. While we may think of OBEs as peeling away from your physical body, the Institute views them as "moving out of connection with our physical body to different degrees."

Daydreaming—which comprises almost half our waking life, according to researchers at Harvard University—is somewhere on that spectrum, for example. Sciambarella compares it to a familiar car ride: your body operates on autopilot while your mind's elsewhere.

This all made me feel better about my failure to explore moon bases with a lunar sigil. But I still wasn't getting very far.

Sciambarella offered some advice: Start small with visualization exercises where you engage your imagination in easily repeatable actions, like playing with a door handle. Intention is key, too. And relax.

Even with that guidance, I haven't managed to leave my corporeal self behind. While I'm doubtful I'll be exchanging ripostes with Davy Jones soon, my psychic disembodiment efforts have allowed me to reach states of relaxed stupor I hadn't thought possible.

Given the isolated nature of our current reality, there's hardly been a more opportune time for inward reflection. If that leads to outward psychic adventures, well, that's a bonus.

Meet The Redditors Using Astral Projection to Escape Quarantine syndicated from https://triviaqaweb.wordpress.com/feed/

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