#been waiting to pop this one up for a bit yippee

[aquacomet]

Birthday slug spotted! 🎉🎂

August 7th marks the anniversary of the first doodles which started up my little sea slug au so here's a little animated doodle for the occasion! He's eagerly awaiting for fun and eating tasty party snacks.

[lunarmoves]

through pixel eyes (chapter one)

pairing: DCA sun/moon/eclipse x reader

mentions: kinitopet/virtual au, gender neutral reader, general creepiness

a/n: ignoring that it's 3am where i am... ch1's finally here! yippee!! ending is rushed but im tired so excuse it LOL pls check out the masterlist for more info on the fic (tags & summary). hope u guys enjoy! :D

word count: 5.3k+

masterlist

ao3 link

Click. Click. Taptap tap tap. Click. 

You chew aimlessly at the bottom of your lip as your mouse roves over to the latest email in your inbox, opening it with another decisive click. Perking up slightly, your eyes skim through its contents, mindful of the zip file attached to it at the top. 

Valued employee, the email reads, thank you again for your decision to assist Fazbear Entertainment in the latest beta testing stages for our developing proprietary technology. Attached is the file you are required to download to begin testing. As always, be mindful of the documentation you have signed previously; a failure to comply will result in immediate termination. Located at the bottom of this email is the submission form you will need to populate each time you conduct a run. If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to reply to this email. Have a Faz-errific day! 

You hum and scroll back to the top of the email again so you can look at the attached file. FazPals1.1_DCA.zip, it says. You click the download button, then lean back in your chair as you wait. 

For being such a large company, FazCo has a rather small beta testing team. You suppose it makes sense, though; their technology is so unparalleled that you are sure they’d want to keep information as closed off as possible. Hence why you’d been forced to sign all matters of forms—contracts, an N.D.A., and waivers, of all things—before they’d signed you on. You’re sure they are even more restrictive with their information after the pizzaplex burned down all those years ago. You’re lucky you’d managed to slither your way into their ranks to make the beta team, though you figure it helps that your resume is stacked with experience. 

You are certainly curious as to what they’ve been doing while they parade assurances that the pizzaplex will return “better than ever.” You have a vague idea from your past emails with management as you were being incorporated into the beta testing team—some kind of interactive game of sorts, you think—but they’ve been rather hush-hush about it. Your answer resides in the zip file that’s just finished downloading to your computer. You navigate to your file explorer and begin the extraction process for the files. Luckily, it doesn’t take too long. You scratch idly behind your ear, shifting your headphones a little to rest more comfortably atop your head. 

Okay. File open. Where is the— There! You double click on the FazPals_DCA.exe file to run it and begin installation. A brief glance at the time shows it is a little after six in the evening. You have quite a bit of time before you’ll need to head to bed. You’ll see how far into the program you get before you hit a checkpoint or something. 

You watch as a tiny pink and white bear on the installation window flips a pizza over and over while the progress bar steadily inches its way to full completion. It is oddly hypnotizing. And when the program finally finishes installing, the window closes. An icon of a cool crescent moon tucked into the burning yellow of a sun appears on your desktop and is labeled as FazPals. Nice. Thank you, fast WiFi. Without much preamble, you double click on the icon. 

A small window pops up in the middle of your screen. You glance through the text quickly. 

Welcome to version 1.1 of FazPals, your very own virtual desktop friend based on the hit characters from Fazbear Entertainment's Mega Pizzaplex! They are able to walk, talk, joke, tell stories, give fun facts, adapt, and play games! FazPals are like no other with their innovative adaptive technology! You'll learn from them as they learn from you!

Click the button below if you are ready to meet your new FazPal!

Not what you’d been expecting, but it sounds pretty cool. It reminds you of the Tamagotchis from all those years ago—only with the A.I. of Fazbear-branded technology. Well! No time like the present! You click the ‘Proceed’ button and the window closes. 

In the center of your screen, a small music box appears. It’s an unassuming little thing, wrapped in yellow with a red ribbon crossing over it to tie into a neat bow at the top. A crank awaits your click, so you do just that, watching as it rotates around and around until— Pop! The box opens and something jumps out of it with a flourish and a jingle of bells that echoes through your headset. 

The box disappears and you’re left to stare curiously at the little figure swaying animatedly on your desktop. He seems to look around a bit, then a small dialogue box flashes over his head. But before you can read its contents, the box disappears in a static puff. You cock your head slightly. A glitch, maybe? You file that away for later and instead observe the tiny, taut grin of the program. Your FazPal, or whatever. 

You recognize him from the pizzaplex commercials you’d seen on the television years ago—the Daycare Attendant. A fellow—fellows?—modeled after celestial bodies. You’re looking at the sun, currently, though his design is a bit different from what you remember seeing.

Before you can get a good look at him, however, another dialogue box pops up over his head with text accompanying a voice that chirps into your headset. You are momentarily surprised at the sound; you hadn’t expected FazCo to incorporate their voice module into the program too. 

“Hellooo, New Friend!” Sun exclaims in a slightly pixelated manner—hardly noticeable, really—as he waves a small hand. “My name is Sun, your very own F-FazPal!” There’s a slight glitch on the word that makes his voice deepen slightly, but it passes easily enough. “What’s your name?” 

Following his question, a window labeled ‘Name?’ pops up to his side with a textbox for you to input your answer. Figuring he isn’t going to proceed with his script until you type your answer, you take the moment to properly analyze his design. 

Detached sunrays of white and gold hover around his head, framing bright eyes and an equally as bright smile on a face split into a crescent. He’s rather lithe, with a red sash tied around his waist that’s adorned with small, golden bells. Another bell is tied around his spindly neck with a red ribbon, and those same ribbons are tied around his wrists. His torso is bare and colored in different shades of yellow. Puffy red pants cover his legs—triangularly shaped with sharp lines and edges. They are decorated in a design that reminds you of the circuitry of a motherboard—dissecting lines connected by small circles that start from his waist and make their way down the length of his pants in a trickle. Pointy shoes with little suns on their sides finish the look. 

He is all angles and unforgiving points, with a digitized sort of look to him that fits the whole ‘FazPal’ aesthetic, in your opinion. It’s certainly interesting. You like the futuristic feel to it. 

Pulling yourself back to the present, you type in your name. Sun has his arms crossed behind his back as he waits, swaying gently side to side. You hit enter and the window disappears. 

“Lovely name!” Sun chirps, his rays spinning around his head eagerly that you eye in interest. They look like floating pieces of fractured, stained glass, dainty yet deadly. “I’m sure we are going to be the bestest best friends!” You snort at the declaration. 

“To start our little quest of friendship,” Sun continues on, his head moving towards the dialogue box that pops up near him like he’s looking at it, eyes narrow. It’s honestly difficult to tell with that blank gaze of his. He returns his gaze to the front, where his eyes upturn into little crescents. “Why don’t we get to know each other? Sound good?” 

Another window appears with two simple buttons sitting next to each other under it: A ‘Yes’ and a ‘No’. You click the ‘Yes’ and Sun gives an excited little clap of his hands. It’s cute, in a way. “Wonderful! Okay! To start, what iiisss your favorite color?” The open window closes, then reopens to a textbox again with the new question displayed at the top. You hum and tap your chin thoughtfully, then let your fingers fly across your keyboard as you type the color in. 

You pause, however, before you hit enter and decide to tack on a ‘hbu?’ to your response. If only to satisfy your curiosity and really test the limits of FazCo’s ingenious A.I. Hey, you’re a beta tester—it speaks for itself! 

Sun grins even wider, if possible. “That’s a good one! As for me…” He makes a thinking gesture, eyes narrowing like he’s contemplating it deeply, then brightens up. No, literally. A lightbulb appears over his head for a quick moment. “I like all the colors, it’s so hard to choose just one! Normally, I just say ‘rainbow’!” He makes a little semicircle gesture with his hands around his head. Little pixelated sparkles wink into and out of existence near his fingers before he clasps his hands behind him once more. You’ve got to hand it to FazCo—they certainly know how to add some flair to their characters. “Next question! If you could have any superpower ever, what would it be?”  

You chew at your lip again as you lean back in your chair and ponder his question. Why is it when people ask you these kinds of questions you always blank on the answers? Sun is ever so patient as he waits, moving in that idle animation next to the open window. 

Ah well, it’s not like you’re answering an interview question or anything. You wing it. ‘probably invisibility, or something. hbu?’ And enter. 

“Ooh! Invisibility!” Sun nods like he’s giving his approval. “Good in the right hands! I would want the power to read minds, I think! All the better for making fantastic friends!” 

You make a small sound at that. Well, you suppose that’s one way to make friends, albeit not a very… stable foundation to base a friendship off of. Sun proceeds with his next question. “This one’s a bit of a tough one! What’s your favorite word?” 

‘Tough’ is an understatement. You’re stumped. You rake through your mind for a word and draw up nothing but blanks. You’re certain you have one, but you just cannot think of it at the moment. Shrugging, you type ‘idk. i can't think of one rn, sorry. do u have one?’ 

His head cocks to the side, grin curling at the edges. “That’s more than one word, New Friend!” Sun replies amusedly, then laughs—a loud, tinkering thing that cuts off a bit strangely at its end. “Kidding! I’ll let you off easy for that one!” He is quite good at adapting to your responses, you note lightly. Very intriguing. You wonder how that’s coded. “My favorite word is supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!” You blink in surprise. The dialogue box is barely able to hold the word inside of it. You didn’t quite expect him to say that, of all words, though you guess it makes sense for him. Sun doesn’t elaborate, just transitions merrily through the next part of his script. “Now, for this question, I need you to be as detailed as possible, okay? It is”—he pauses for a second—“essential.” 

You nod, but it’s not like he can see you, so you end up looking like a fool. Sun stares straight ahead and it… it feels a bit like he’s looking directly at you. You shift uneasily in your seat and watch his eyes go dark along with his white rays and wide smile. Abyss-like. Something drops in the pit of your stomach at the abrupt switch. His smile widens. It cracks like he’s on the edge of something hysterical. And when he speaks, it’s in a low, garbled voice that grates at your ears. 

“Where.” He grits out. “Are—” 

He doesn’t get the chance to finish. A glitch encompasses his body that makes his rays twitch erratically and his limbs to jitter about like he’s being electrocuted. You jerk back out of surprise and consider exiting the hell out of the program. But then he’s back to normal like nothing had ever happened. White eyes stare up at you with an equally as white smile. 

“Oh!” Sun exclaims cheerfully, swaying about gently. You’re taken aback and, quite frankly, confused out of your goddamn mind. “Silly me, look at the time! I’m afraid our friendship will have to wait! There’s someone else who’d like to meet you!” 

“What.” You utter the word mindlessly, eyes flicking down to the time on your computer. 6:59 P.M. Time sure did fly by through all of… that. You’re not entirely sure what to think of it. 

“Talk to you soon, New Friend!” Sun waves a hand in farewell, then spins himself around in a little animated tornado. You can only stare, oddly transfixed and still utterly flummoxed, as he spins around, and around, and around until the clock changes to 7:00 P.M. and he slows to an elegant stop. 

Only, it’s not Sun you’re looking at anymore. 

The rays are gone, replaced with a nightcap covering his head that’s adorned with twinkling stars and a little bell at the end. All the yellows have shifted to greys, blues, and blacks, though he still retains the golden bells, red ribbons, and red sash. His pants are a midnight blue with the same circuitry design, and his shoes now have little moons etched into them instead of suns. 

This must be the moon, you conclude once you’re done observing him. The other half to the Daycare Attendant you remember seeing via advertisement—the one who’d been in charge of naptime. 

You watch as Moon seems to look around. You’re not sure what he’s looking at, but you can only wait. Gentle ruby eyes move from your desktop icons to the open window that Sun had been standing next to. His smile turns jagged like the outline of a mountain. And then—

And then he slinks away, disappearing straight off of your monitor without a second look. You’re left staring at the open window, the cursor still blinking in the textbox and awaiting your input. What… just happened? You blink at where he’d disappeared off screen and wait a few moments. But he doesn’t come back. 

What the hell?

Five minutes turns into ten, which turns into fifteen and then twenty, but he truly does not return. You’re stupefied. 

Maybe you should restart the program? You nibble at your lower lip and right click on the FazPals icon so you can end it and then boot it back up again. Your mouse turns into that loading circle of death, and you swear you’re not holding your breath in anticipation or anything, but it sure does feel like it. 

Loading… loading… loading…

…

Nothing. Zip, zilch, nada. Moon does not appear. You groan and scratch at your ear again, shifting your headphones. Day one of testing and you’ve already run into a problem. Great. Well, it wasn’t like you’d expected everything to be smooth sailing. Still annoying, though. Just in case, you try restarting your computer. 

It doesn’t yield any results either, and you end up just watching some videos as you wait to see if the bug will magically fix itself. Spoiler alert, it doesn’t and you eventually give up as the clock ticks closer to midnight.

But well—you think as you slowly pull up the submission form FazCo had sent you for your job to fill out—you suppose this is why the program’s still in the testing phase. It obviously has some kinks that need to be ironed out. Hopefully it’ll get fixed up in the next patch update. Until then, you’ll just have to deal with it. 

A benefit of working from home? You get to set your own schedule. A blessing, at times. 

That unfortunately means you have to stick to it while ensuring you’re properly taking care of yourself, and going outside to get fresh air, and also getting all the necessary work done on time, and also— 

Well, you get the point. 

You wake up groggy the next day and stumble your way out of your room, just barely managing to step over the little Roomba aimlessly bumbling down the small hallway. At one point it was another product you were testing, but then it was given the green flag for mass production and admission to stores. The company let you keep the one they sent you. It was a little finicky, but it worked just fine. You named it Chicken Nugget a while ago—Dr. Nugget for short, because a Roomba with a PhD was just too amusing to pass up. You’re still musing over what area its PhD is in.

There is much to be done. Dishes from last night need to be washed, food needs to be prepared to last you a few days, timesheets need to be filled out before you forget your hours. It’s easy to multitask on household chores while you do your job. You're on the beta testing team for quite a few companies, so you’re kept busy evaluating their programs and products while you julienne onions and clean plates. You earn enough to live comfortably, and it’s all you can ever ask for, really. 

Eventually, after a long day of being a responsible human being and submitting numerous evaluation forms for various applications, you plop down in front of your computer with your headphones and turn it on. Evening has just started to creep in, turning the sky into a picturesque gradient of burnt mandarin and dusty magenta. Your desk is right by a window, so it’s nice to draw the curtains back and let fresh air circulate around the room from it.

Alright, computer on. You type in your password to log in and wait as it finishes booting up. First thing on your list—check your email. There’s nothing of importance, not that you’d expected anything, really. Oh hey, you’ve got a discount code for your next purchase at your favorite pizza store. Sweet. You save it for later. 

All you have to do is test FazCo’s program and then you can relax for the rest of the night. You preemptively open up their submission form and minimize the window, then double click on the FazPals icon. Hopefully you won’t run into any problems. Code is weird like that—working perfectly fine at one moment and doing fuck all the next. And it’s always a pain filling those surveys out when there’s an abundance of bugs and glitches to point out. It’s simple, but oh so tedious. You guess that’s what you’re getting paid for, though. 

Blinking back to attention, you squint at your empty desktop then double click on the FazPals icon again. Ah, there you go. Loading symbol. 

Instead of the little music box like you’d been expecting, Sun comes into view by cartwheeling in from the side of your monitor. It’s silly and you smile slightly as he jumps up to his feet and splays his arms and a leg out wide like he’s about to fall into another cartwheel. 

“New Friend!” he exclaims loudly alongside the text in his dialogue box, rays spinning rapidly about his head in delight. You wince slightly and lower your volume a bit. No need to kill your eardrums. “You’re back! It has been twenty-two hours, nine minutes, and thirty-seven seconds since we last interacted!” 

Your brow raises at his precision, but what else did you expect from a computer program? Sun relaxes into his normal stance and leans forward eagerly. “So! What do you wanna do?” A small, labeled window pops up next to him for you to type in. One of his rays twitches slightly. “For a list of activities I can perform, type ‘/help’!” 

You’ve already forgotten what he can do other than walk around and talk your ear off, so you do just that and the window disappears. You didn’t even have to hit enter. 

Sun beams. “For your present and future reference, I can tell jokes, give fun facts, play games, and storytell! Pick your poison, New Friend!” 

You ponder for a bit, then type ‘can u tell me a fun fact?’ in the new window before it pops out of sight, again before you can press enter. Huh. You make a note of it mentally. The back and forth with the windows is going to take some getting used to. 

“I sure can!” Sun does a little wiggle and stands at full attention with his arms crossed behind his back. “Did you know that neutron stars spin six hundred times per second? Pretty cool!” He seems very cheery today. You’ll have to keep an eye out for any more of that strange glitching from yesterday. “Want another one?” 

Eh, you don’t see why not. You shrug and click the ‘Yes’ button when it appears. Sun gives a little salute. “The most water ever discovered surrounds a black hole about twelve billion lightyears away! It has the equivalent of one hundred and forty trillion times the volume of Earth’s oceans!” You’re starting to see a theme here with his fun facts and it honestly checks out. Sun’s rays spin a little to the right as he tilts his head slightly. “That was two facts in one, technically. Just for you! Don’t tell anyone!!” And then he winks, accompanied by a little star spinning out from his eye. It’s a small detail, but it still makes you smile. Consider you charmed. 

“Alrighty! I have an idea of what we can do next!” Sun says as he skips away to the edge of your monitor. You watch him curiously as he sticks a hand beyond your desktop—somewhere offscreen?—and starts pulling over a large open window from it. Like he’s unraveling a spool of paper. He drags the window over to the center of your screen, then wipes his face with his arm and takes an exaggerated breath. “Phew! That’s heavier than it looks! Luckily, I’ve got these to help me!” He flexes his stick-like arms dramatically, posing this way and that like he’s a pro wrestler. 

You notice, as he poses, that another small window pops up—indistinct and unlabeled this time with a simple textbox for you to type in. But he… didn’t really ask you a question or anything of the sorts for you to respond to? You eye it for a moment, then decide to type a little ‘hi’ in it to see if it’s a bug or something. After waiting a few seconds to see if the window will close again without you hitting enter, nothing really happens. Oh, is it fixed now? You hit enter and the text disappears, but the window stays. You guess it is. Code, man. So finicky. 

Sun stops flexing to shoot you a bright beam with a spin of his rays. “Hello!” 

Okay, maybe it’s not a bug if he can still process your texts. Shrugging it off easily, you turn your attention to the window Sun had pulled over from who-knows-where. It looks like your computer’s Paint app. How did he open that? ‘what’s that for?’ you type into the textbox.  

“This is for us to play some games, silly!” Sun brandishes his hands towards the Paint window like he’s presenting a masterpiece. “How does Tic-Tac-Toe sound?” 

Well, not like you have any other ideas for what to do. ‘sure, let’s play.’ 

“Faz-tastic!” Sun claps his hands, then reaches into his pocket and pulls out a comically large wooden pencil from its depths. Seriously, it’s nearly the length of his arm. It’s like something right out of a cartoon and you grin at the silliness. He steps closer to the Paint window and draws four perfectly straight and intersecting lines—each of them the same length and splitting into the same sized boxes and everything. He then draws a perfect circle in one of the corner boxes and steps back. “Your turn!” 

You crack your knuckles and roll your shoulders. Okay. Time to lock in and kick this program’s ass. 

Except you don’t. 

You lose horribly. Seven times in a row, in fact. 

‘r u cheating? ur cheating, aren’t u,’ you type into the open textbox, which had remained in place all throughout your games. Unusual, but you’re not too bothered by it. After you lost the first few rounds, you started complaining to him using it. You figured you might as well. It’s almost like having a conversation with him and you’re pretty impressed by his verbal versatility. 

“Cheating?!” Sun squawks, offended. He splays a hand across his chest as he somehow manages to twirl his giant pencil in his hand like a baton. “A rulebreaker, I am not! I think someone is getting a little grumpy!” He gives you a pointed grin. 

You should have expected you’d lose to fucking A.I. software. You run your tongue over your bottom lip, where you’d been incessantly troubling it with your teeth throughout the rather merciless Tic-Tac-Toe beating you’d just received. You’re considering mentioning in the submission form that the program is too difficult to beat at games, but maybe you’re just that bad at them. Your ego’s definitely going through it.

‘i’m not grumpy,’ you grumble. Sun shakes his little digital head in good mirth, seeing right through you, of course. You switch topics. ‘let’s play something else. got any other games?’ 

“I sure do, Friend!” He uses his pencil eraser to clear the Paint canvas and starts drawing what looks like a game of Hangman. He gives you a sly smile. “Think you’re up for a real challenge?” Cheeky! 

After some rounds of Hangman and Pictionary (which, to your pleasant surprise, you’re not too bad at, but maybe Sun’s taking pity on you), Sun eventually closes the Paint window and makes a show of stretching languidly. “My time’s almost up, I’m afraid!” Sure enough, a quick glance at the time shows it’s nearing seven o’clock. Time flies when you’re having fun. “Make sure to stretch your back and arms out, Friend! Hydration is also important!” 

‘yes boss, u got it, boss,’ you reply before stretching out your arms. You have a water bottle on your desk that you take a quick drink out of, the liquid inside of the insulated material still cool and refreshing. You shiver a little and eye your window still letting the night air into the room. You should close that soon. And maybe turn on the lights so you’re not sitting in the dark illuminated only by your bright screen. 

Naturally, you do neither. Too much work right now.

Sun wiggles a little, then clasps his arms behind his back. “This was fun! I will talk to you tomorrow, Friend!” His grin widens, curling at the edges. “Don’t keep me waiting too long!”

And before you can really process the tone of that, he pulls out a red curtain from somewhere behind him. Shaking it out slightly, he pulls it up in front of him to block your view of his little figure entirely. You raise an eyebrow as the curtain wiggles and protrudes out like he’s changing into new clothes, before eventually it falls down and reveals Moon. His nightcap is pulled down to partially cover his glowing ruby eyes.

You lean forward in your chair, attention instantly grabbed. Will he work properly this time? You consider him for a moment as he simply stands there—sullen and, dare you say, annoyed. His eyes are narrowed and his mouth is pulled into a scowl. He shifts like he wants to move or leave, but something keeps him rooted into the same spot Sun was just in. His hands are tucked into the pockets of his pants (he has pockets??) and he slouches like a puppet cut from its strings.  

He’s not saying anything. Only glares off at a point somewhere on your screen. You bite the inside of your cheek and decide to take one for the (nonexistent) team. 

‘hi moon,’ you type into the textbox that’d remained even after Sun left. Pressing enter, you watch curiously as something tense seems to line Moon’s small shoulders and he moves his glare to the open window instead. 

His head twitches. “Hi,” he replies slowly in a raspy voice. It’s not what you’d expected, low and murmured like he’s speaking to someone in a dark and quiet corner. His gaze darts to the dialogue box that pops up next to his head and seems to narrow even farther. 

Oookay. He doesn’t say anything else. Is he still bugged or is he just programmed to be much quieter than Sun? You’re not sure if that makes sense for this type of program, though. You try to nudge the conversation again, thinking back to the list of commands Sun gave you earlier. ‘can u tell me a joke?’ 

Moon seems to look at you and it’s just as creepy as it had been when Sun did it. His scowl deepens. “No.”

You’re taken aback. No? Oh. Well. Maybe you should try something else? ‘can u tell me a fun fact?’ At least you know this command works for certain.

“No.” 

It’s like pulling teeth over here. 

You’re determined, however. This is your entire job. ‘what about a story?’

“No.” Moon bares knife-like teeth at you in aggravation and you’re tempted to do the same thing back. He doesn’t want to do anything! Something is definitely… off. You make a note of it to include in the submission form later. At least he hasn’t left your screen. You’ll take the win where you can. 

You’re stumped on what to do. The only thing you can think of is to keep inputting commands until something gives. Maybe things will sort themselves out? You try asking for a fun fact or joke again, but Moon still just scowls and answers in that same clipped manner. His fidgeting seems to increase. 

You’re getting close to calling it quits. ‘why don’t we play a game or something? tic-tac-toe?’

“P-Persistent little thing,” Moon growls into your headset and it’s such a reprieve from the constant rejections that you’re not even offended. You perk up slightly only to deflate at his following words. “Didn’t anyone teach you that ‘no’ means no?” 

‘no,’ you type as a response—partly in annoyance and partly just to be snarky. Moon twitches again, and then in the blink of an eye—he glitches. 

Similar to Sun, it spreads down his body in a wave and makes him jitter until he snaps back into place like a rubber band. He flexes his hands and takes a step to the side—tentative and exploratory. The window with the textbox pops out of existence and Moon gives you one final, narrowed glare before he just… leaves offscreen. Again. What the fuck?

You scrub a hand down your face and groan. You don’t expect him to return, but just in case you wait around a little and kill some time by filling out the submission form. Name, program version, strengths, encountered issues, and so on. You submit the form when you finish and roll your shoulders. Yeah, he doesn’t come back. At least there was some progress compared to yesterday. 

You end the day with a final squint at the FazPals icon and a shrug of your shoulders. Things could be worse, you suppose as you power off your computer and stare at your reflection through the dark screen of your monitor. Hopefully tomorrow brings more improvement. 

part two

[imustbenuts]

nuts reading trigun 4 - i sniffed out the spirit of leiji matsumoto and his galaxy express 999

so this is. a bit of a doozy and a little detour i took...

first off, i thought it was really interesting that chapter 4 is titled Bang!Bang! in EN but ポポ popo in jp. popo is basically pop pop, but also if pitched down, would sound more like 'poooh poooh'. very similar to what sound a steam locomotive makes,

but not quite. the 'correct' one would be ボbo, not ポ po.

like the sound effect here:

sfx: BOOOOOOOOOOOOOH

there's no good way to translate this, to be clear. nightow seems to really like pulling off these weird little japanese wordplay here and there. theres one instance with the escorts trying to sleep with vash, but thats a lot of effort to explain a pun and its not very interesting so. uh. sorry. (these posts take very long to write bc im poopoo)

so. its CH 4: PoPo. 4 =Death? this feels deliberate.

the next chapter is CH 5: 強襲 / Assault. EN title is very accurate here so yippee. but wait.

that. dark contrast and a presence of a vaguely steam locomotive. the framing of the train itself being this romantic machine that was built to send people on their journeys to parts unknown. the presence of 4 = Death.

theres something about the following panel. and i know exactly what it is despite having never read or watched it bc of just how influential this particular work is.

so i went sniffing.

Galaxy Express 999.

and. uhm. i found a thread and a rabbit hole that links back to TriStamp again.

Galaxy Express 999 first ran as a manga in 1977- 1981. Made by the late Leiji Matsumoto (25th Jan 1938 - 2023) who passed away last year.

the gist of this story. we follow a boy named Tetsuro in the super far off future, who wants to obtain a mechanical body so he never again feels the inconvenience of a flesh one. and to also fulfill his promise to his mother who was hunted down in front of him and turned into a trophy by mechanized hunters. he meets a mysterious blonde woman named Maetel who gives him a pass to ride on the Galaxy Express 999, promising him one at the end of the journey, but there seems to be a catch.

the same themes of a train in the darkness, its window the main lightsource, but in GE999 theres the added planets and stars. GE999 is full of promotional material and artwork like this, its iconic

the story is very philosophical and full of questions about death, living, and the worth of a human life. theres a constant theming of the train bringing its passengers to a place unknown, and how its a departure from the base in which they start the further they go. like a wanderer. (something something blank ticket wink wink.)

but anyway. Chapter 2: The Red Wind Of Mars is the interesting one.

i strongly recommend reading this chapter at least, but ill summarize the interesting bits.

the cast arrives on Mars, a Red Planet thats constantly being buffeted by a Sandstorm. its said that the planet is pretty much in a state of poverty and is barren due to people turning themselves into machine bodies and having no need to care for the environment and nurture it.

also an american saloon on this red desert planet wowee--

testurou later gets jumped by a couple who basically wants to steal his pass to the GE999, but once they realize the boy has not been mechanized at all, the couple lets tetsurou kill them. they are then left in the desert to be eventually covered up by the red sand. and then, the final page has this fucking thing:

"They say that the sound of Mars' red wind comes from the wailing of people resting under its sand. This vermilion wind will continue to lament for the fate of those who couldn't make their dreams come true... That's why they say this planet will stay red forever..."

....studio orange. listen.

STUDIO ORANGE. PLEASE

ON WHAT LEVEL ARE YOU GUYS EVEN COOKING. stop sending me on these rabbit hole runs i swear to god ill never finish trigunbookclub at this rate GGGGGGGGGAAAAAH

anyway the sandsteamer arc in the original trigun seems to be a homage to Galaxy Express 999 in a way, and Studio Orange understood the assignment.

[collectiveclams]

Trying my best to figure out what these guys look like in my head before I go look at the fandom’s generalized designs for the characters.

A friend of my twin got us into the show and a week later we’re at season 8!

I definitely need to tweak Cole’s design a lot- I want him to have a more strongman build & revamp his entire face design. But at the very least I’m happy with getting his hair the way I want!

Kinda hard to see, but Zane’s got little screws for earrings! I honestly didn’t account for how much older the faceplate would make him look, I intended him to look way more boyish.

Rambling about my current HCs of the Ninja’s appearances below:

I’ve been having a bit of an trouble deciding what various flavor of Chinese & Japanese these dudes should be based on. Considering the show is based on a 2010s vague idea of “Asia” and carries traits of both Japanese & Chinese influence, I’m just going to use both. I don’t know what sorta general consensus the fandom has of their appearances bc I have barely interacted with the fandom, so if this violently contrasts with that then yippee I have original thoughts, I guess.

-Kai is Japanese. Kai, being vain and caring more about training than Jay for example, has a more aesthetic build that’s definitely form more than function. Like a natty powerlifter who’s not competing. I’m not sure what height he should be, but if he’s taller his muscle definition would appear smaller so I’ll have to keep that in mind.

- Nya has initially a more functional build- far less muscle definition than her brother. Not outwardly buff and doesn’t have pronounced muscles, but can fairly easily haul a 100lb hunk of metal from a scrap pile to her workbench. But after becoming the water ninja, her new training gives her more pronounced muscle definition. Initially shorter than Kai but grows taller as the show goes on.

- Cole is southern Chinese. He’s got a strongman heavy set build. I envision him as fairly short so his muscles can be a little more pronounced. If you stripped his muscle definition from his ninja training away, I still want him to look like one of assholes who haven’t worked out a day in their lives but still somehow looks jacked.

- Zane is what pops up when you look up “Chinese teen male stock photo” because he needs to look like The Most Generic person ever. No muscle definition at all on this dude. He’s a nindroid & so there’s no need to include muscle decision to show that he’s strong. He’s either average height or slightly on the shorter side bc gravity is a bitch and the taller make a humanoid robot, the more balance becomes a bitch to deal with. So average height or short Zane it is.

- Jay is Uyghur so I can get this dude his reddish-brown hair. Minor muscle definition. His isn’t for aesthetics like Kai, he’d rather do ninja training than do the types of sets & pushing to failure needed to achieve more pronounced muscle definition for aesthetic lifting. Jay needs to be shorter than Nya. He’s definitely taller than Cole but I need him to be just an inch shorter than Nya because that’s funny to me personally.

- Lloyd is Japanese. Solely because Oni come from Japan & I got spoilered that Gargamon is an Oni later. Lloyd is a stringy ass kid at first & has no muscle definition at all. During his Green Ninja training before the Travelers Tea, he’d be trained for efficiency & not for aesthetics with the deadline of him fighting his father possibly being around any corner. After Travelers Tea he likely kept his training to function over aesthetics and would share similar muscular definition to Jay & Nya. And he’s tall. His dad is tall as shit with 4 arms. I want this kid to go through the Worst gangly teen era anyones ever seen and only barely fit his form once he finishes growing.

Additional thoughts:

And as a big comic nerd who owns around 800+ comics (might be more around 1000 now?), hoo boy I have so many thoughts on Lloyd and Jay liking Starfarer. I cannot wait to make a fic that’s just Lloyd and Jay ganging up against Kai over some incredibly wrong take of the comic he absentmindedly said and trapping him in a 3 hour long conversation about frequent mischaracterization and mishandling of the characters in Starfarer & how what Kai said was wrong. I just need a fic of Jay and Lloyd talking to each other about their favorite runs of Starfarer and complaining about a tie-in/crossover comic that’s written particularly bad, or complaining how an author completely misunderstood Fitz Donnegan or complaining over an author change & etc. I just need to make a fic of these boys talking about average comic book fan things.

[garbagequeer]

Can you help me im so confused how archie (and everyone listening to him) had those memories for his poem i thought everyone but betty and jughead forgot 😭

bobbyjean asked: Wait a second were those the good memories. the serial killer gene and jason’s corpse. and archie playing football in leopold and loeb juvenile detention center……

well imo you can work with different theories so like

they dont remember these things as things they lived themselves but they remember them as things tabitha showed them the first time they saw the riverdale memories (so like if they'd watched themselves go through these things in tv but not as if they happened irl for them)

goodbye riverdale is back to jughead's narration and jughead is unreliable he's just making shit up (this also goes with the theory that what jughead showed betty was not real but was a fabrication he made up for her as her dying wish was to relive those days with everyone as they were + the fake reality had plot holes because to be fair jughead was like 86 when he died he cant keep track of who remembers the serial killer genes and who doesn't he's busy)

narrator jughead seems to be in control of this episode more than he was before (we see him corporeally and there's 2 jugheads in the end) so the characters' lives have been rewritten to fit the narrative jughead wanted to tell so they remember because he does too and the story belongs to him and not to them (to me jughead is always afraid of abandonment and change so he keeps his stories ones where his friends don't leave or grow + he has been shown to find it hard to come up with anything other than stories about his friends in riverdale in s5 and as bunker/god jughead). for me this also fits with the idea of the characters and angel tabitha trying to break free and narrator/god jughead(s) not allowing it -> town won

they loved these memories they love cults and killing and corpses and gay juvie. the bad memories were like archie not getting his high school diploma or something

from a doylist pov (boring) this meant nothing about the story and was just an homage to their most iconic moments in the show for the audience and the crew. you could twist this a bit to be meta and make something up about the characters behaving as characters and talking willingly to an audience because they exist only in our eyes if you wanted

which are all fun ideas to consider and theyre not mutually exclusive (like it could be jughead taking over the narrative but it could be in a world he makes up just for betty so all the other characters are in the real sweet hereafter but betty went to purgatory pop's because she does remember it all and this prevented her from being able to leave it behind. also archie for sure would remember some of gay juvie he loved the gay parts of gay juvie he told me. and fangs probably had god times at the cult i mean he dated human kevin maybe a love for cults is what they had in common)

to me it stood out as a moment where i was like oh jughead is lying to us for sure. awesome. one last jughead lying to us and trapping us in the cycle forever for the road yippee

[vital-spirit]

OFFSCREEN POST

The Older Brother: Part One

The moment the school bell chimed the day’s end, students made a mad dash out of the schoolhouse, eager to go home. Kids waiting for their parents lined up outside the entrance, taking refuge under the shade of the colorful canvas awning. And those who didn’t have someone waiting for them stayed back in the schoolhouse.

Unless they were Tyson.

“C’mon, Lillipup!” Tyson burst through the open doorway, looking left and right down the dirt road before looking back towards Bingo and his brother. “If we hurry, we can—”

“Nope.” A gloved hand suddenly scruffed the Scraggy by the loose skin, cutting him off mid-sentence. “Not gettin’ away from me this time,” Scrafty chuckled. 

Bingo skidded to a halt, haunches raised and fangs bared, a deep growl emanating from her throat as she spread out her paws into a fighting stance. 

Scrafty let out an amused huff, sticking his free hand into his pocket. “Relax, my guy. Ty’s my brother.”

AH. Bingo blinked before hesitantly relaxing her body into a sit where she very quickly began to shuffle her paws, feeling warm beneath her coat as she looked down at the ground. “I‘m sorry for growlin’, I hadn’t realized,” she responded softly.

“S’all good, kid,” he nodded, letting go of Tyson (who hit the ground with an “oof!”). “You got good defensive instincts. Best thing to have ‘round these parts.” Waving down Ryan to his side, he tilted his head down the road. “Y’all ready to go?”

The Lillipup just sat there confused, glancing over toward the Scraggy brothers with a raised brow.

Ryan blinked up at his brother. “Is Lillipup comin’ with?”

Scrafty looked from Ryan to her. “She can if she wants. I can drop ya off at Lucario’s on the way back.” With a shrug, he added, “If it’s cool wit’ you.”

“You know Mister Lucario?” Bingo asked with a tilt of her head.

He blinked. “You literally saw me havin’ a smoke on the balcony wit’ him a few nights ago.”

“Oh.” She blinked, “I forgot.”

“You forgor…” Ryan said pensively. 

Tyson skittered over to Bingo with a pleading look. “But can ya come with? Pleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasep—”

“Uh–,” The Lillipup briefly hesitated for a moment before answering, “...Sure?”

“Yippee!!” the brothers said in unison, throwing their arms in the air.

“A’ight then,” Scrafty nodded, beckoning Bingo to follow, “We’ll head by Lucario’s first to drop you off and then we head home.”

She nodded, standing up and quietly following after the trio of brothers.

The streets of Little Town were quite lively in the afternoon, especially so soon after school had ended. Markets were abuzz with activity, eager to catch some business from the sudden influx of Pokemon about. The group had taken the long way around, traveling down a worn-down road lined with buildings that seemed notably older and more run down than most of the other buildings around town. Unlike the central plaza, the layout of this part of town seemed more disorganized, as if it had been built sporadically. 

Glancing around as they walked, Bingo took note of the fact that this portion of town was noticeably different from the rest.

“Old Little Town,” Scrafty said suddenly, as if reading her thoughts. “This here’s the first bits of what would become Little Town later on.” Gesturing to the farmland off in the distance, he continued, “Used to be a real nothin’ town. Just a bit a’ farmin’ n’ trade. Then someone built a schoolhouse for them farm kids, n’ then the rest came wit’ it.”

“Oooh.” She nodded in response, “I see.”

Ryan wrapped an arm around Bingo’s shoulders and pulled her close as he pointed a finger at one of the run down buildings. With boarded-up windows and a scarlet tarp for part of the roof, it looked worse for wear. But the eye-catching murals on the outer wall added a pop of color and personality to the otherwise drab building.  “That right there’s Scrafty’s house!”

“Ryan… what did we say ‘bout screamin’ my address to the entire gotdamn town?” Scrafty deadpanned. 

Bingo glanced over at the house curiously for just a moment before looking down the road, acting as if she hadn’t seen it due to Scrafty’s reaction.

“Well, ya did work real hard for it!” Tyson reasoned. “Y’oughta be proud of it!”

“Yeah, yeah,” Scrafty glanced aside and shrugged. “Guess so.”

The yellow Scraggy turned to Bingo and boasted, “Scrafty made them pictures himself! He’s a real artist!”

She glanced back towards the building to admire the art for a moment, “It is very good.”

The older Pokemon bashfully rubbed the back of his neck. “Well Graf helped…”

The Lillipup’s ear twitched in confusion, “Graf?”

Ryan leaned over and whispered, “Das his art buddy Grafaiai.”

“Ooh,” Bingo whispered back.

“So!” Scrafty clasped his gloved hands together, putting an end to the conversation. “How was school?”

“I killed three people in Hangman today!” Ryan shouted.

“That’s nice Ryan.”

Tyson scoffed, “That’s not how the game works.” Pointing his thumb to his chest, he proudly states, “I passed my vocab quiz!”

Scrafty nodded with a grin, “Siiiiick.”

“Barely,” Ryan mumbled.

“What ‘bout you, Pup?” The older Pokemon gestured to her. 

“Ah–” She shrugged, looking down at the ground, “I learned how to write some of the vowels today...”

Scrafty looked up in thought for a moment, then said, “That’s like… 37 n’ a half percent of your name. Once you get the L’s n’ P’s, yer home free.”

Bingo quietly nodded, “...Suppose I will be.”

“You’ll get there,” Scrafty reassured her. He scanned their surroundings to gather his bearings for a moment. “By the way, how’s travelin’ wit’ Lucario been? I know he can be a lil’ bit… hm… But he been treatin’ you a’ight?”

Tyson and Ryan immediately stared at Bingo, eagerly awaiting her response.

She glanced away from the brothers as they stared at her, shuffling her paws as she responded, “It’s been fine, Mister Lucario’s been treatin’ me okay ‘n everything.” Bingo shrugged before adding, “He’s been teachin’ me how to fight ‘n stuff.”

He hummed in acknowledgement, “Yeah, fightin’s one them skills you’ve gotta have if yer out travelin’ ‘round Nowhere.” Eyeing his brothers, he asked Bingo, “Think he mentioned somethin’ ‘bout you not really rememberin’ a whole lot from before he found ya. Anything that you do remember, though?”

“Oh!” The Lillipup answered in surprise, “Uh, yeah, I only remember that my name’s Bingo, ‘m 14, and that I–” Bingo froze, staring at Scrafty in silence for a moment, as if thinking, before looking off to the side and continuing, “...I… was somewhere I shouldn’t have been. Nothin’ else.”

It wasn’t a lie. Just a bended truth. Lucario’s told Bingo plenty about how she shouldn’t mention being human to anyone else. So she wasn’t going to.

Scrafty stared at her for a moment. He seemed to be thinking something, but it wasn’t quite clear what. After a while he finally asked, “Nothin’ else?”

“Nothin’ else.” She reiterated before adding, “I wasn’t even able to remember how to use moves until Mister Lucario found me ‘bout a month or so ago. He had to teach me how to use ‘em from the beginnin’.”

“Damn, tha’s crazy.” Tyson commented. “Whaddaya mean by ‘somewhere where ya shouldn’t be?’”

The Lillipup nonchalantly glanced over at the Scraggy, “I was in the middle of Nowhere. As in the middle of the desert itself. I was alone for a few days before Mister Lucario came across me passed out ‘cause I got caught out in the sun.”

Suddenly, Scrafty stopped in the middle of the street, his attention caught by one of the street vendors’ sales. “Oh shit, buy four, get one free? That’s one hell of a steal!” He turned to his brothers and jabbed a thumb towards the vendor. “Y’all go grab some of those toys. Coolest ones you can find.”

He didn’t even get a response back. The two Scraggies immediately darted towards the toymaker’s cart, pushing and shoving one another to get there first.

“Tch… buy four, get one free. Who the hell does he take us for?” Scrafty shook his head. Turning back to Bingo, he raised an eyebrow as he looked down at her. “So what I’m hearing is Lucario found you half-dead in the middle of Nowhere with that buzzard looming over ya?”

Scene End.

[dxwnfxll]

can I rq anything with Mikell, theres barely anything for him sob

like,, maybe dating hc? idk

Yippee! I luv writing about my fav cowboy!!

(As always Amar replaces Bright/shaw)

Mikell x Reader (a bit of everything)

Meeting you

-you and Mikell met during his teen years, he was always busy trying to raise his siblings. He never had time for school which eventually led him to drop out.

-He went to the store one day, TJ in the baby carrier and Jack holding onto the cart like kids do. He had a list and was constantly telling Jack to 'put shit back' as they couldn't get it.

-then he saw you shopping with your own family, he paused a second seeing you then quickly looked away like the awkward teen he was when you looked back

-this happened for a lil while to, after all you all lived in a small town so y'all were bound to bump into each other again

-Mikell being the reckless teen he was started just leaving Jack at home with TJ while he hung around the store all day waiting to see if you'd pop up

-and eventually you did, he was smoking as you spotted him. Walking over with your hands in your pockets (just go with it pls) "hey, i've seen you around here but um never at school"

-Mikell nodded trying to be cool "oh yeah, i'm homeschooled." He said taking another drag from his cigarette before blowing it away from you

-you smiled "names Y/n, yours?"

-he looked at you "Mikell"

Confession

-a couple years later, Mikell is now 19 and so are you. You've both been friends for awhile, whenever Mikell needed a shoulder you were always there

-Mikell eventually decided to take all this to the next level, He's had a crush on you since about a year ago. He just never did anything because of how his life is, he didn't really want to drag you into it

-but he was a selfish man.

-and so he appeared on your doorstep knocking and waiting for you, this was probably the most he's ever been nervous.

-he wasn't even this nervous when Claire had been born and of course having the responsibility thrown onto him since he was the eldest.

-when you opened the door looking up at him, he couldn't even think of any words. You were in your PJs and so was he, hell he had decided to confess to you in the middle of the damn night

-his confession didn't have any words, he leaned into you and kissed you immediately.

-you of course kissed back, which led to one of his arms wrapped around your back and him kicking the door closed ;)

Dating

-after that night you two started seeing each other, you'd come over to the Amar ranch often and even sometimes help with his siblings

-you knew about his family problems and you of course wanted to help your partner in any way you could

-he'd try to not over stress you though, so he'd just ask you to do simple things like 'hey babe can you go to the store for me' or 'honey can you help Jack with his homework?'

-he loves to sit on the couch with you, beer in one hand and his arm around your shoulder as you both watch something. Sometimes his siblings may watch something with y'all..it almost looked like a lil family

-and that's something Mikell definitely craved, a normal family where he could come home from work and not have to worry about what illegal trouble Jack got into or worry about his siblings becoming anomalies.

-he loves when you stay over, he likes having you in his arms when he sleeps. Sadly he cannot stay over at your place but every once in a blue moon due to just how his siblings are.

-He's a 'bastard' but he really is the glue that holds his family together.

Proposal

-you both are 21 now finally, you've been dating for a couple years. You've both seen a lot of shit together and Mikell has finally decided you two should become..more.

-with his new job and everything he was able to afford a pretty good ring for you, and he took you out to a pretty nice place way out of his comfort zone

-he was pretty awkward during the date and uh sweaty

-he wasn't the type to hide anything or shit like that so he just grabbed your hand, put the ring in it and bluntly asked "marry me"

-and of course you said yes <33

Marriage

-He went all out with the wedding, again thanks to his salary he was able to do so. Sadly no one on his side came to his wedding which he was pretty..upset about

-but he still went on with the wedding, the chairs in his side were all mainly empty except for a couple which were filled by his friends

-the wedding was actually really nice, he had it at the ranch him and his friends setting everything up

-he was a liiiil nervous but when he saw you all his worries flooded away

-you two said 'I do' and kissed rehehhe

Having a kid

-of course the next thing that happened in y'alls life was having a kid

-whether you carried the kid or some sort of surrogacy/adoption was put in place is up to you

-if you were pregnant he tried his best to be super attentive and caring towards you, sadly his job usually kept him away for days and even weeks at a time

-but he did try his best to be there, he really did. He'd come back with lil surprises for you (which he totally didn't steal from his targets homes)

-and once lil David was born, he wasn't there for the birth. Your birth was a lil early, and you had to be under for an emergency C-section

-but once you woke up there was Mikell sitting in a chair, one arm crossed over the other, a lil rag over his shoulder as he held your baby boy in his arms staring down at him

-when he noticed you awake he smiled at you "mornin' darlin'.." He got up before walking over and bending down so he could hand off David to you "sorry for not being there..but i'm here now" and he kissed the side of your temple as lil David cooed

-if you two adopted or went through a surrogate he'd again try to he there for the process at least

-and similar to the pregnancy situation he'd probably not be there when you get the kid, but he'd be at home once you get back with lil David

-he'd be holding a bag of toys and clothes he totally didn't steal for the baby as a 'sorry'

Parenthood

-Similar to you and him going through the process of having a kid he wasn't really there much

-which he definitely regrets, he tries to be there for important events like birthday parties and school events

-but his job keeps him away, once he becomes an 05 though he's able to be home more often

-but life as a hand sinister has definitely changed him..

-He's become more distant as a father and a partner, but again he does try his best to be a good father and partner

-you notice his changes and try to help him but he just pushes you and the kids away

-sadly though the Ambrose curse comes to wreck you all, your family eventually falls apart..but at least he has you..right?

Hope you enjoyed rehehehe

as always requests open!

[slowroadtosantiago]

Day 37 - Fronfria to Samos

It was about a 12 mile day in the end, but carrying our backpacks to see how Jane would get on.

We set off at 7:20 saying cheerio to Dieter who was having breakfast, and to Fraser, an Australian we had met at Casa Susi and have been leapfrogging with. It’s still cold in the mornings so had coats on.

The path went gradually downhill with stunning views of the hills and mist in the valleys.

There was a cafe open in the second village down so we stopped for breakfast. We’re going to miss the toast, freshly squeezed orange juice and coffee. The cafe had some great wood carvings outside, though the Neanderthal man was a bit scary.

We came across a very cute herd of cows and calves and also discovered the Cymru Am Byth vandals have now switched to black spray paint.

At the bottom of the mountain we landed in Triacastela where we took a diversionary path to the left that would take us to Samos.

The path followed the edge of the quiet main road for a while with a large drop at the side down to a river. At one point we came across a memorial stopping point and there was yet another letter to Pilgrims.

We left the road and the path wound its way through some incredibly lush green countryside and through an old village full of locals pottering about. Everything looked a bit well worn and reminded us of some if the little off the beaten track villages in West Wales.

After quite a lot more ups and downs than we expected we eventually arrived in Samos about 1:30. It’s famous for its monastery which looks stunning. You can do guided tours which we thought we’d do at 5:30.

After checking into our hostel (bottom bunks again, yippee!) we set out to find some food. The cafe next door was only doing sandwiches but we managed to find a local restaurant where we got a burger.

Back at the hostel it was time for a shower and a chill. Jane popped out to sit in the sun. I joined her in a while at the local bar talking to Rian from last night and Dieter who had not long arrived.

Rian told us about an old cypress tree we had to visit and hug and you could also paddle in the river there.

We went off to the monastery for 5:30, got our tickets, then just as we were waiting a huge coach load of Spanish tourists turned up! There was another tour at 6:30 so we gave up and went to hug the tree first, then sat in the sunshine eating an ice cream.

The tour at 6:30 was interesting, even if it was in Spanish. The monastery had a fire in 1951 so quite a lot of it had to be rebuilt and there were some interesting modern religious paintings on the walls.

There was to be a mass at 7:30 so when the tour ended in the church we nipped out and had a glass of wine with Rian and Fraser who was also on the tour with us, before booking our flights home. We’ll be back on Friday 26th.

[vampsquerade]

I’ve been thinking… Echo or Goyo getting all frustrated knowing their s/o is on a tough mission only to hear that their s/o has gotten hurt towards the end?

oh i like this one…and you know what? you’re getting both Echo AND Goyo. 2 for 1 deal, yippee! ty for your requests as always bestie, always love seeing your name pop up on discord and in my asks box :,) ik i don’t talk in our group chat much pls forgive me i’m so busy it’s hard

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Echo & Goyo Headcanons: Reader Gets Injured on a Mission

Trigger Warnings: injuries, stress, irritation, disbelief, injuries, mentions of a critical state

Echo

☆ Ever since you had joined Rainbow, Masaru’s never been happier

☆ Sure he had previously dated Siu back in the day, and he’s been reserved ever since romance wise, but you were seemingly the one who changed this in him

☆ But when he heard you were off on a risky solo espionage operation by Harry, his heart became stone cold because of how frustrated he was

☆ Masaru worried himself everyday, finding it a bit harder to sleep or focus

☆ And every time before he went to bed, he would hope you would come back without a single scratch

☆ The universe was a terrible thing, and soon enough, Masaru would get word that you’d been critically injured upon extraction from your operation

☆ Masaru was alarmed immediately, as he was not given word in your chances of survival, and he sprinted all the way to the medical ward

☆ Forced to wait outside, Masaru stayed up the entire time it took for you to be out of your critical condition, and he was let inside

☆ Masaru gripped your hand tightly, asking you what had happened and how you got caught

☆ You explained everything in detail, and once he found out information was relayed to you at the wrong time, it sent him into a silent rage

☆ “How can they be so stupid to just…get the information to you at the wrong time? Whoever did it, I’ll deal with them.” Masaru will say, clearly infuriated

☆ The only way to get him to calm down is to kiss him and tell him you were okay, and that you wouldn’t let anything happen to yourself ever again, and he’d simply hold onto you like you were the last thing he needed

Goyo

♡ César always believed in your ability to get out of a situation unscathed, and when you were sent away on a joint operation, he knew you’d come back safe

♡ However, when César then heard your communications and location was lost to everyone else, that’s when he began to stress himself out

♡ He would spend a lot of time with Azucena, asking her for advice on how to calm his anxieties

♡ She would remind him of how good you were at taking care of yourself, as well as all the times you’ve saved him, and it would help calm his anxieties

♡ However, all his anxieties come true, as it was reported you had been found abandoned in a critical condition

♡ César felt like his world was falling apart all around him again, just like it had when he was younger

♡ The near death experience he had which caused his father and sister’s deaths still traumatized him, thought not as much as it had before

♡ But possibly losing the love of his life? This was the last straw for César

♡ He couldn’t bear the thought of losing another loved one to violence like this, and it sent him into a frustrated bout of depression

♡ Once it was announced you could take visitors, César was the first one to see you and immediately asked you for what happened

♡ You had gotten separated from everyone else and ambushed, where you were severely beaten and attacked until you had to pretend you were dead before you were left for dead, only to be discovered by everyone else once they got a ping of enemy comms

♡ César then held you tightly, apologizing for not being there, and vowed to keep you safe whenever he was around, “No te puedo perder…I can’t lose you…I’ll follow you to the end of the Earth if I have to, amor…”

[splintergirl13]

So here is a little head cannon I thought of while reading your fan fic.

What if herobrine never had/celebrated his birthday so he forgot when it was, so Steve and Alex pick a day and celebrate his birthday with him. (P.s. sorry I have horrific grammer)

I liked this idea so much I made a little drabble under the read more :3 I hope it is worthy of such an great headcanon! Thank you so much for the ask! It fills me with joy to hear that people are thinking about my story lol <3. And don't worry. Grammar is hard and doesn't make any sense. I feel your pain

Before we dive in: this takes place pretty earlier into Steve and Brine becoming friends. So they are just starting to pine. Not in a relationship yet. Alex and Brine are still a little wary of each other but have come to accept that they are stuck with each other.

I'd say this is rated teen for just some small strong language lol

-

The Birthday Brine

-

It was a hot, lazy summer afternoon. Too nice to spend down in the mines. But a little too warm to do any strenuous activities.

So Alex and Steve decided to go on down to the small river they frequented on days like today. A secluded area where the water pooled deep enough to swim. And, of course, Herobrine tagged along. As was becoming more of the norm these days.

Steve was lying comfortably in the shade of a few trees on the bank of the river. Legs in the water; small waves lapped up to his knees as the water went by. Arms crossed behind his head. His shirt was off and laid over his eyes, shutting out any of the light that filtered through the leaves. Not really dozing off, but close to it.

Herobrine was similarly relaxing. He lay on his belly; balanced precariously on a nearby tree that had fallen over the river. Looking like a big cat lounging about in the direct sun. Soaking up the rays. One hand was draped down to the side, touching the cool water.

Alex was the only one fully in the river. She was a little upstream, floating on her back. She had taken off her pants, leaving them on the shore, and let her long green shirt cover her lower half. Every once in a while she would swim back to her original place as the current took her down towards Herobrine.

The trio had been chatting absentmindedly. Talking about anything, really. Steve ranted humorously about his pickaxe making a squeaking sound. Alex discussed way too many of the current happenings in town. Even Herobrine brought up that a dragonfly had landed on his shoulder. Which had the trio all staring for a bit before it flew off and they went back to their current positions.

It wasn't until a certain question came to Alex’s mind that the peace of the scene was disturbed.

"Hey Sparky." The adventurer asked. "...How old are you?"

Herobrine took a while to answer. Seeming to think through the question slowly. Finally he asked without opening his eyes. "Why?"

"Just curious." Alex shrugged, swimming a little.

The demon shifted. Now peaking over to look at Steve. It was like the miner could tell that he was being looked at because he lifted his shirt to look back questioningly.

Herobrine spoke up. "When was the last time I respawned? Four months ago?"

Steve frowned. "Yes. More like three. You fell through a roof, remember?"

"Right, right." Herobrine moved his hand up out of the water. "Terribly made and rusty old structure. Glad it forced a respawn. Tetanus is not fun even with healing powers."

"Why is this relevant?" Alex asked impatiently.

"I'm 28." Herobrine said immediately.

Alex sat up in the water. Causing a bit of a ruckus amongst some fish that had gotten close. "No you're not!"

"Yes I am." Herobrine turned his attention to her. She shuddered ever so slightly under his scrutinizing stare. "Every time I die, I respawn back to the same age at which I turned immortal."

Alex crossed her hands over her chest. "Okay, well that's only technically. I meant, like, if you count ALL the years you've been alive."

"I have no fucking clue, Alex." Herobrine rolled his head to the otherside of the tree to ignore her. Yet continued to talk. "Time loses all meaning when you're immortal. Not to mention I was trapped in the nether for most of that time. So it's even harder to tell."

"What's your best guess?" Steve asked, now curious as well.

And the head came back around. Looking at Steve. The demon wouldn't ignore the miner. He bit his lip, eyes trailing towards the water. "I dunno... maybe a few centuries... a millennia or so..."

"Old." Steve clarified. Seeing that the demon was struggling a little.

"Yeah... old." Herobrine scowled.

"So, what, do we have to, like, wait until you live a year to celebrate your birthday?" Alex giggled. "No wonder you don't remember it. It would never be your birthday based on that criteria."

Herobrine scoffed. "What are you talking about?"

"Yeah." Steve added, putting the shirt back over his eyes. "Come to think of it, when is your birthday, Brine?"

"You want to know the exact date I was born?" Herobrine sat up now, clearly confused. "Fuck... I don't know. I didn't even keep track of days back then. I just survived. It wasn't until I met... my brother that we talked about days. And he was able to do some weird 'code calculation' as he called it to figure out my true age. But we didn't really care about that. None of us counted in the aether. None of us wanted to count. When you have endless time you tend not to care. It's a depressing chore."

"So none of you celebrated your birthday?" Alex asked.

"Why would you celebrate your birth?" Herobrine growled. "Existence is a curse."

"That's why we have to celebrate!" Alex exclaimed. "It helps us mortals to forget about our fleeting existence."

"Yeah!" Steve enthusiastically raised a fist to the sky in agreement.

"Like the aether needed another reason to celebrate..." Herobrine grumbled, flopping back down on the tree. "The amount of bullshit dances I had to get dressed up for was astronomical."

"So you really have never had a birthday, huh?" Steve wasn't sure why he was surprised.

"Nope." Herobrine said, popping the p and settling back on the tree. Thinking that was the end of the conversation.

But Steve and Alex had other plans.

"Bro you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"You think we have enough time today?"

"Sure why not? We were already planning on going into town together."

"Then we better hurry."

"What are you two talking about?" Herobrine muttered. The siblings were getting out of the water and putting back on their clothes.

"We're going to throw you a birthday party!" Steve smiled over at him.

Herobrine almost fell off his branch.

"W-what? Why?"

Alex shrugged. "Well, if you don't know what day your birthday is, it might as well be any day. And since we are already all together and don't have any plans for the rest of the evening... why not?"

Herobrine teleported off his tree and stood next to the two. "You really don't need to-"

"Too late, it's happening." Alex smiled. Starting to walk off. Not putting on her shoes as she walked through the increasingly tall grass.

"Go wait in the nether and come back around sunset!" Steve pushed on his back excitedly. As if he could shove him through a portal that wasn't there.

"Why?"

"We are gonna surprise you!"

"Oh. Yippee. Surprise." Herobrine did not mask his unenthusiasm.

"It'll be fun, I promise." Steve said as he stopped pushing and went to go join Alex.

Herobrine was left alone and very confused as to what had just happened. He blinked up at the setting sun and winced. He wouldn't know the correct time in the nether. So he decided to go back to his tree branch and relax until the time came. He had no idea what was in store for him. But he didn't try to think too hard about it. If he didn't like it he could always teleport away.

All this talk of aether and age had his head buzzing with unpleasant thoughts. He tried to will them away and think of nothing instead. Watching as the river flowed beneath him. The dragonfly landed back on his hands.

-

It was just after sunset when Herobrine was walking up to Steve's small house and knocking on the door. Steve was adamant about him knocking. As Herobrine had the tendency to just teleport into a location, unannounced. There was the sound of muffled talking as well as a wonderful smell of something cooking in the furnace.

He heard the miner walk towards the door, he recognized his footsteps easily. Much different than Alex’s.

Steve cracked open the door. "Herobrine, you have perfect timing! We are just finishing up."

Herobrine tried to move forward but Steve closed the door more. He smiled, shyly. "Er. You gotta close your eyes."

"... Why?"

Steve smiled wider. "It's all part of the process."

So Herobrine huffed and closed his eyes. Steve took him by the hand. Leading him inside. Herobrine could feel his heartbeat where they connected. The miner was excited. So Herobrine was excited.

He was led into the house and then Steve stopped and walked over to join where he could sense Alex.

"Surprise!" They both yelled.

Herobrine stood there with his eyes closed. Face oozing confusion.

"Open your eyes now, Brine." Steve whispered loudly to him.

"Oh." And he did. He blinked and took in the sight.

The inside of the house was decorated with a few colored strings on the ceiling and what seemed to be little torches everywhere else. It was very simple and yet very pretty.

"Do you like it?" Alex asked.

"We didn't have too much time to decorate so we made due with what we had." Steve said. "Probably not as fancy as your aether parties."

"No." Herobrine smiled. "But I like this better." The aether parties were always decorated with too much. This was nice and made Herobrine feel cozy.

Alex gestured to the table, patting the chair to sit down. "Since it's pretty late we figured we'd just do a birthday dinner. Steve said you would eat if we made you food."

Herobrine nodded. Glad he hadn't had anything to eat for a while. He wasn't the biggest fan of eating. Steve had been reintroducing it to him slowly. The miner was an excellent cook.

"Good!" Alex smiled. Steve sat next to Herobrine at the table. "I handled dinner and Steve handled the most important part of a birthday, the dessert!"

"It all smells nice." Herobrine commented politely. It did. He was actually excited to eat.

Alex disappeared into the kitchen. Preparing plates for them all. Steve and Herobrine shared a look. Both smiling, somewhat uncomfortable and comfortable at the same time. It didn't last long as Alex came out with two plates, setting it down in front of them.

The meal consisted of roasted corn, slathered in butter, some sort of shredded pork on bread with some sweet sauce, and a cold potato salad. Steve instantly dug in. Probably hungry from all the work they had been doing. Herobrine waited for Alex to return with her own plate before starting to pick at the food. It wasn't long before he was eating more sloppily than Steve. Alex apologized, saying she wanted to make something more special like a smoked biscuit but Herobrine wasn't sure why she was sorry. It was all delicious. And Herobrine found himself wanting to eat the entire plate. It was the perfect meal on the warm night.

The house was filled with the delightful sounds of eating. None of them talked very much. Not needing to. Just enjoying each other’s company. And the food! They were all very invested in the food.

Once they were done, Herobrine was tempted to ask for more. But he remembered that there was still dessert to eat. He started to try to clean up his plate. But Steve stopped him immediately. "Ah, ah. No dishes when it's your birthday."

"Hmm. This birthday business keeps getting better." Herobrine smirked at him.

Steve disappeared into the kitchen and returned with two plates filled with two generous slices of homemade chocolate cake.

He set them down in front of Alex and his own seats. "We have a special slice for you, Herobrine. Hold on."

Steve rushed away and walked slowly back with a similar piece of cake. But this one had a very tiny torch stuck in the middle of it. Herobrine blinked. Huh. Strange.

"It's a candle." Steve explained. "It's a tradition to have some on your cake. We only had this old one." He set the on fire cake in front of him. Herobrine enjoyed the fire flare. "Usually you have a candle for every year you've been alive."

"But that would've set the house on fire." Alex snickered.

Herobrine rolled his eyes and tried to grab his fork. But Alex stopped him. "Wait! We have to sing to you!"

"Er, no thanks." That seemed silly. He did not want to be sung to.

Steve made a face. "I don't like that part either. I think we should skip it."

"We have to! It's tradition!" Alex wrapped her elbow around Steve’s neck. "Come on, Stevie. One time!"

"Alright. Alright." He caved easily. And they began.

Herobrine sat awkwardly as the two sang a little song. Saying his name. Herobrine had never heard Steve sing. It was nice. He had a pleasant voice. He thought the man should sing more. He hummed a lot but never truly sang.

Once they were done. Alex said. "Now you make a wish and blow out the candle."

"A wish? Wish for what?"

"For anything." Steve added. "But you have to wish in your head. And don't tell anyone or your wish won't come true."

"Like a curse?"

"Yeah kinda. But it's just for fun."

The demon chewed on his lip. Seeming to think about it. He nodded eventually. "Okay. I've made my wish."

"Now blow out the candle to complete the spell." Alex joked. Steve nudged her.

Herobrine looked at the small torch on the cake and willed the fire away. It went out.

Alex and Steve stared. Alex giggled. "Guess there's more than one way to skin an ocelot."

"Why would you-" Herobrine blinked.

"It's an expression." Steve laughed, sitting down and picking up his fork to eat his piece of cake. "Ignore her and dig in while the cake is still warm."

Herobrine did, setting the small torch- candle aside and picking up his fork to eat. The cake looked moist. Fresh. And smelled absolutely delicious. His mouth was watering before he even put the treat in his mouth.

When he took a bite he almost moaned. "H-holy fuck." He quickly took another bite.

Alex giggled. "Never had a Steve-made cake have you?"

"Steve, you should stop cooking everything and just make cake from now on." Herobrine had almost finished his piece already. It was just so damn good. He couldn't stop.

"Then it wouldn't be special." Steve chuckled. Looking happy that they both seemed to be enjoying his cake.

"Can I have more?" Herobrine asked, frosting definitely smeared all over his face, unabashedly.

Steve and Alex howled at that. The demon just looked so different from how they normally saw him. It was nice. And also hilarious.

Herobeine got a second slice and sat back, looking full. The demon didn't usually eat so it was a lot all at once. Totally worth it though.

"Present time!" Alex jumped up from the table as Steve moved the dishes into the kitchen.

"Present time?" Herobrine parroted.

"You get presents on your birthday!" Alex walked over to grab two things that had been set aside on a coffee table. "From everyone who comes to the party."

Alex handed Steve something and walked back to the table to give Herobrine a rectangle that looked like a book wrapped in paper. Herobrine took it confused. "Er, thanks?" He held it in his hands.

"You gotta open it dude!" Alex said excitedly.

"Open it?"

"Yeah tear open the paper!"

"Oh." Herobrine, a demon of destruction, ironically opened the book very carefully. Not wanting to damage it.

He held the book up once it was unwrapped. It was, indeed, a book. Not too hard to guess correctly.

"It's a book of modern day phrases." Alex explained. Tapping the cover. She smirked. "I know that you have some trouble with some of our more modern hip lingo."

Herobrine lifted an eyebrow at her. He flipped to a random page. "There's more than one way to skin an ocelot? Oh. I get your 'joke' now."

"See. You're learning already." She snickered. Steve smiled too.

Herobrine looked confused. But not unappreciative. He waved his hand, tucking the book away into his inventory. "Er, thanks. I will read the rest later."

"No problem!" She giggled. She then pushed Steve forward. "Go ahead, your turn."

Steve had a paper package tied up in butcher's twine behind his back. He coughed and walked forward, handing Herobrine the parcel.

The demon took it. Knowing what to do now, he tore into the paper. Revealing what was inside.

He paused when he realized what it was after pulling all the paper off and letting it float to the ground.

"It's... your cloak." Herobrine said. Not giving away any emotion. Steve seemed to droop a little. Expecting him to be a little happier. Alex nudged the miner. They shared a look. Steve rolled his eyes. He walked closer to the demon, touching the cloak in his hands.

"I knew it would already fit you. And there wasn't enough time to get you a new one made. I just know how much you like to borrow it from me when it gets colder." Steve ran his fingers along the cloak. Pointing out some stitching on the green material. "I sewed up all the holes so it won't be as drafty. And-" He tapped the button that held the cloak together. "I replaced the old latch with a golden one I got from town today. I know you said you like to wear a little gold in the nether for piglin respect or... whatever." The miner let go of the cloak and backed up, rubbing his head awkwardly.

Herobrine stared at the green gloak. Rubbing the material in his fingers.

"If... if you don't like-"

"I love it." Herobrine almost whispered. Sounding so genuine it made Steve blush and Alex smile. "It's perfect."

"O-oh." Steve scratched his head again. "Good. I'm glad." He smiled, looking away. Desperately trying to hide his blush. He had gone bright red. And Herobrine wasn't helping.

The demon stood instantly and put the cloak around his body. He had worn it before. But it looked different now. Like it was his now. It was truly his.

Herobrine looked up at Steve. "This is... the greatest gift I've ever been given." He didn't smile but his glowing eyes said it all. He was absolutely telling the truth. "Thank you, Steven."

The miner stared back. Smiling to the side and tilting his head. Embarrassed but screaming on the inside in happiness.

Alex had to butt in. Not liking the way the two were looking at each other and getting a little protective of Steve. "Pfft. Thanks a lot there, Briney boy. Glad my gift meant nothing."

Herobrine blinked. Processing the words. And then realized. "Oh, no, sorry Alex. Thank you as well."

"Yeah whatever." Alex nudged him with her fist, walking past him. She then let out a yawn. "Well. I think I'm all birthday partied out. Mind if I crash on your couch, Stevie? It's too late to walk home."

"Sure I'll get you some blankets." Steve mimicked the yawn. His eyes looked tired. They did do a lot to put the party together for him. They deserved a rest. "Happy Birthday, Brine."

"Thank you." Herobrine nodded. "Thank you both. This was... enjoyable."

"See our traditions aren't so bad." Alex said, flopping down on the couch.

"I do believe I've judged it too early." Herobrine nodded. "You do this every year?"

"Yep. And you get to do the planning and gift giving to us when it's our birthdays. No party is exactly the same." Alex nodded. "I think planning is actually more fun than celebrating your own birthday."

"Oh. Well I look forward to that. You will have to remind me when the time comes. Time is... difficult for me."

"Of course, dude." Steve produced some blankets from the closet. Herobrine sensed it was time to make his leave. He headed for the door.

"Thank you again." He said a little awkwardly. "I will uh, see you both tomorrow."

"Sounds good!" "Bye!" The siblings said.

And with Herobrine out the door. Steve and Alex looked at each other.

"I think that went well." Steve said.

"I think you owe me money for not making a single birthday suit joke." Alex said back. He threw the blankets over her head as she giggled.

"Goodnight Alex!" He went to his bedroom, trying to hide his blush. "Put out the candles before you sleep."

"I'm just saying, Stevie! That would've been a better gift if you-"

"Goodnight Alex!!"

Herobrine stood just outside the door. He wiggled his shoulders a little. Feeling the soft weight of the cloth around his shoulders. He smiled. Feeling warm inside and out. And teleported off.

[imanativeofswlondondahling]

Becoming A Stark? (1) Peter Parker X Stark! Fem Reader

A/N: This will eventually be a Peter Parker X Stark! femReader. However, there was backstory needed so Peter won’t be introduced until Chapter Six. This takes place after Iron Man 3 but before AOU. However time is wishy washy and will pass in weird ways so lol opps. Let me know if you want to be tagged.

Word Count: 3073

Warnings: Swearing

You feel it in your soul that you will hate Tony Stark for the rest of your life. It doesn’t matter that you’re related to him. It doesn’t matter that you’re his daughter. He ripped you from everything you’ve ever known. You were happy living with your grandparents. Sure they were getting up there in age, but you were happy. You had a life, you had friends, hell you had been working on moving forward with your crush and were hoping to have a date to homecoming this year. But all of that was ruined the day that Tony Stark waltzed through your front door. You can’t help but think back to that interaction. 

“Nana, who’s this?”

“Tony Stark. Genius, billionaire, philanthropist, Iron Man, to name a few things. I’d offer a hand but that’s not something I normally do. I guess, maybe I should due to the circumstances but…” It’s not the first time you’ve seen his face. The Avengers have saved New York a few times, but it is the first time you’ve seen him up close. The dark haired stranger trails off and you’re put off by his attitude alone. Why was someone this stuck up standing in your living room? So instead of saying anything, you turn your head back to your book. Tony decides to take a seat at the opposite end of the couch and tries again. “What are you reading?” 

Instead of answering, you just hold up the book and let him read the cover. Once and Future, spelled out on the spine of the book that you had removed the book jacket from while you read. “Y/N, maybe put the book down for a few minutes. I think Mr. Stark-”

“Tony is fine.”

“I think Tony and you need to discuss something.” You hesitantly pick up the receipt you had been using as a bookmark and slide it into the book, not wanting to leave Ari Helix behind, but you wouldn’t be rude to your Nana on a good day. On a day that you had trudged through the snow in your converse, maybe, but not on purpose.

“I don’t know him. I don’t think we have anything to discuss.”

“You’re right, we don’t know each other yet, but I’m hoping that will change with everything that’s going to happen.”

“What’s going to happen?” You can feel your eyebrows fall towards your eyes as you feel as though something is about to change without your permission.

“Well Y/N, I’m… I’m your dad.”

“Bullshit.” You say quickly. “Tony Stark doesn’t have kids. And if he did, there would have been a fucking gossip blog screaming about it already.”

“Well you definitely have my mouth if nothing else.” Tony adds with a chuckle. 

“I don’t have anything of yours, because you’re not my dad. I never want to see you again. Get the fuck out.” You push off the couch and turn to run off to your room.

“See that’s going to be a little tough seeing as you're supposed to come live with me.”

“What the fuck did you just say?” You turn on your heels, the anger building quickly. You’ve always been a bit of a hot head, but in this moment you don’t even try to control your temper. “I have a home, thank you very kindly. I don’t fucking know you. And I’m not looking to find a dad anytime soon.” The words spit out of you before you can stop any of them. 

“See the thing is, you’re fourteen and I’m your dad. Custodially, you’re supposed to live with me.”

“See the thing is,” you mock before continuing, “You didn’t care for fourteen years, so I don’t give a shit what you think you’re supposed to be doing custodially.” You can’t help but add air quotes around the word custodially. It burns as it leaves your lips. He hasn’t cared about you for fourteen years, why start now? 

“That’s because I didn’t know you existed Y/N. I found out about you twenty four hours ago and I’m stepping up now.” The words leave his mouth in an exasperated tone, but he doesn’t raise his voice.

“How?”

“How what?”

“How did you find out about me?” 

“Your high school.”

“What?”

“When you registered for school they had your birth certificate. They needed more information. Since it listed me as your father, they reached out to Nat- to my assistant. It was quite the shock to me that my child’s school was reaching out to me, since I didn’t know I had a child but the timing adds up and looking at you, it makes a lot of sense.”

“You were listed on my birth certificate?” This question was aimed at your grandparents more than at Tony-your father.

“We didn’t know if it was true or not. Your mom was in a bad place when she had you Y/N. So we had to take everything she said with a grain of salt. Was she beautiful and loving and did she love you? Yes completely. But did a lot of what she said during that time make sense? No, not at all.” Your nana says as she sits down on the couch, rubbing her knee. It’s probably another bad day. If you leave, who will make sure Nana and Pops are ok?

“I can’t go with you.” You cross your arms as you speak to Ton-your father.

“Why not?” His eyebrow raises over his square glasses.

“‘Cuz someone has to help Nana and Pops around the house.”

“I’ll make sure there’s a nurse helping them. Or better we can move them into a nursing facility where they don’t have to go up and down a bunch of flights of steps all the time.”

“Why would you do that.” The question came out as a demand, especially since you don’t want to believe this man that’s taking you away from the only family you’ve ever known would do something… nice.

“Because they’re your family. I’m not heartless. Well I guess that depends on what your belief on science is and arc reactors are, but technically I do still have a heart underneath all of this.” He points to where you know there would be metal and lights under his suit. “But for right now, we need to focus on getting you to the tower.”

“What tower?”

“Avenger’s tower? It’s closer than Malibu? And in less shambles.”

“So you’re moving me from the home that I know and love, but you don’t even live where you’re moving me?”

“I live there a lot of the time. And the Avengers are there most of the time which means you’ll be very safe. But I do have to travel for business.”

“Then I’ll stay where I am thanks.” Tony goes to speak when Wallace goes off. The beeping is only jarring for him since you and your Nana are used to it going off at random times.

“What the hell is that?”

“That is Wallace.” You say, not clearing up anything. Hmmm, your Dexcom says you’re 205 and rising? You could have sworn you had insulin on board. So you unclip the pump from your side and tap the screen to enter your blood sugar. No correction needed. 

“You good babydoll?” Your nana asks from across the living room.

“I’m good. I have insulin on board.”

“You’re diabetic?” Tony asks, putting two and two together.

“Yup. Have been since I was four.”

“And Wallace?” He asks hesitantly.

“Do you honestly care?” You say before rolling your eyes and walking towards the kitchen. Mentally, you slap yourself. You should have grabbed your book. Now you’ll either have to start a new one or wait until your father, you roll your eyes at even saying it, leaves so you can continue your space adventure. Walking down the hallway you enter your room and close the door behind you. All you want to do is shut out the bombshell that was dropped on you and not deal with it. But for some reason you get the feeling that Tony Stark, freaking Iron Man, isn’t one to just let things go. 

Giving up on the idea of starting another book, you open your computer and click your Spotify to start playing the playlist you had paused this morning when you had left to run errands with Pops. You only have two weeks of summer left, so you had spent time getting school supplies and groceries before returning to the apartment. While Hitchin’ A Ride by Green Day starts playing, you open Twitter, hoping for anything to distract yourself. But somehow you find yourself on Tony Stark’s Twitter. It was less narcissistic that you imagined for him. Some retweets about Stark Industries, a few comical tweets about wanting a cheeseburger, and then a tweet from twenty four hours that just said HOLY SHIT in all caps and nothing else. Could that be about you? Closing out Twitter, you find yourself opening up your Tumblr to scroll as Lithium by Nirvana played. Or well you tried to scroll, but a knock on your door interrupts you. 

“Can I come in?” Tony’s head peaks in.

“If I say no will you go?” You say without looking up.

“Probably not. The people in my inner circle say I’m fairly stubborn.”

“Hmm.” Is the only reply you give him. To be fair, a lot of your friends would say you’re stubborn too so it’s not that surprising that your father is too. 

“I know you don’t like it kiddo-”

“Don’t call me kiddo.

“-but we do need to head to the Tower soon. Happy’s been parked downstairs for about as long as he’s allowed to be there.” Tony continues as if you hadn’t said anything. “So how about you pack up stuff you’ll need for the next few days and then I can send Happy and some other people to come get the rest later on?”

“You’re going to send people to pack up my stuff? You know how invasive that is?” 

“Ok, I’ll send you over with them, you can pack it up and they’ll move it to the tower, it’s your choice. Or to Malibu if you’d rather. Well that is once the rebuild is done. Long story. But if you stay at the tower, you won’t have to change schools.”

“Yippee. Everyone at school will get to find out that Tony Stark is my father. How much fun will that be.” Your voice is dripping with sarcasm. “I definitely wanted to be ostracized my first year at high school. Thanks for making it even better than I could ever imagine high school being.”

“Look I know this isn’t a win/win scenario, but we can keep your name out of the press until your eighteen if you want. You’re a minor-”

“Yeah, but when the paparazzi see me coming out of the tower, that won’t tip them off.”

“I’ll have Happy drive you. There’s a garage entrance. No one will see you coming or leaving.”

“Great so I just have to give up my freedom. That’s even better than I imagined.”

“Y/N, I know this isn’t what you wanted, or even what you want, but I think we can come up with something that works in the long run. Plus I’m having Pepper, you’ll meet her later, take over SI so I won’t have to do as much. I can try to stay in New York as much as possible. Because no matter what happens, you’re my daughter and I want to know you.” You don’t say anything in response. “I hope one day, you feel similarly.” He says softly.

“I doubt it.” You say honestly. 

“Well even if that’s the case, right now we do need to pack up some stuff to take to the tower for now. Want me to hel-” He starts to pick up a sweatshirt from the end of your bed and you snatch it from his hand as you reply.

“I’ve got it.”

“Y/N, we’re here.” Your father’s voice pulls you from your thoughts and you look at the non descript parking garage that is under what you assume is the tower. The man you’ve figured out is Happy, though he’s the exact opposite of Happy, opens your door and you climb out, knowing that Tony will be behind you. Happy goes to grab your bags from the trunk, but you stop him. 

“I’ve got it.”

“It’s part of my job.”

“I don’t have an issue carrying my own stuff like some people.” From the trunk you lift out your purple backpack, the black rolling suitcase, and the canvas bag that’s filled with all your pump supplies, sensors, and insulin. You follow Tony and Happy towards an elevator. 

“JARVIS take us to the main floors.”

“Certainly sir.” You look up expecting to see a face or something but there’s no one there.

“JARVIS is the AI that runs the whole tower. If you need anything JARVIS is the one to ask. If there’s specific food you want or if you need stuff for school or, well, anything really, just ask JARVIS. I’ll get you added to the levels of clearance that allow you to order anything that you want.”

“You don’t have to do that.”

“Part of you living with me is that I’m going to provide for you. JARVIS is part of providing for you. I’m not the best at remembering to like grocery shop or send the laundry out so JARVIS helps with that.”

“Send the laundry out? Do you not have a washer and dryer in this whole place?” You cock an eyebrow at how spoiled he sounds.

“We do, but there are other things that take time away from me.” You add continue to do my own laundry to the mental list of things that will make you different from your father. Tony notices the disapproval marked in his daughter’s face and hopes that maybe meeting the Avengers will make up for the disappointment he’s been to her so far. The doors open and in the living room Natasha and Clint are sitting watching a movie while Steve sits in a chair reading a book. “Where’s Code Green?”

“In the lab,” Steve comments, not looking up from the page he’s on.

“That’s Capsicle. Legolas is sitting next to Nat. Big Green is down in the lab and Point Break is currently back at home but you’ll meet him eventually, though hopefully not his brother.” At the sound of being introduced the three in the living room look up and see the girl standing next to Tony in surprise.

“Uh, Tony, are we taking pint size Avengers now?” Clint asks.

“I might be small, but I can kick your knees out just as easily.” You pull on the strap of your backpack, not really wanting to be in this room much longer. 

“Ok, before you kick anyone’s knees out. This is not an Avenger recruit. This is Y/N Stark, my daughter.” Ok taking on his last name was something you were going to have to talk to him about because you were perfectly happy being Y/N Y/L/N, not this Y/N Stark bullshit.

“You have a kid?” Steve asks, genuine confusion spread across his face. 

“I do. I didn’t know until yesterday, but I’m doing the right thing.” You can’t stop the snort that escapes you. Tony looks over at you.

“Sorry,” You say although you don’t mean it. “Can I es- go to my room?”

“‘Yes, you can escape to your room. I’ll show you where it is.” 

“I got it boss. I think you have some people that need answers.” Happy offers. You’re silently relieved that Happy offered to show you. If you had to spend another minute with your dad, you might lose your mind. Happy walks you into the kitchen and opens the fridge as you go past it. You look at him, trying to figure out why he’s opening it. “Tony told me you’re diabetic. You have insulin that needs refrigeration right?”

“Oh, yeah I just didn’t know he told you.”

“Head of security. There’s not much he doesn’t tell me.” Happy turns them towards a staircase leading away from where all the Avengers are. “But you know if you need someone to talk to, or grab a cheeseburger with, there’s things he doesn’t have to know about.”

“I don’t eat meat, but I appreciate it, Happy.”

“He’s going to say you’re not his kid if you don’t eat cheeseburgers.” And for the first time since all of this started, you actually let out a laugh.

Tony’s head turns towards the sound of the laugh. It’s unfamiliar, but he wants to hear more of it. He’s missed fourteen years of your life, but he wants to make things better, he does. He’s just not sure how.

“So you found out you have a kid?” Steve asks, his book forgotten now.

“Yeah, yesterday I found out I had a fourteen year old and then it’s been a whole process of finding out that since she’s mine I have custody technically.”

“So you took her away from all she knows?” Natasha's voice comes softly from the couch. 

“I guess you could say that.”

“Did you give her a choice?” Natasha asks, harsher this time. In her eyes anyone could see the remainders of another girl that was taken from all she ever knew and replaced with a hard boiled assassin.

“In the eyes of the state she doesn’t really have a choice.”

“So you didn’t give her a choice.”

“She’s got a medical condition that was costing her family thousands a month on top of her grandparents’ conditions. I’m helping!” Tony’s voice raises for the first time this afternoon since he tried to stay calm around his kid.

“You think you’re helping, but you’re taking her from the only life she’s ever known and I’m betting you gave her no choice in this. All you might get out of this is four years with her and then she disappears from your life.” Clint says softly, not trying to upset Tony, but also hearing the points that Natasha was bringing up. 

“You’re going to have to work hard to make this worth it to Y/N, Tony.” Steve says before picking up his book.

[oh-for-fic-sake]

The Final Wayne's

Masterlist

Warnings:mentions of sex?, swearing mostly fluffy

A/n:Im really happy with this one wasn’t sure how to go about it but i think its pretty sweet. Hope you enjoy xx

You meet the final two wanye’s when they all storm the cafe. 

The Final Wayne's

You hummed along with the radio as you when out the front of the cafe closing a bit earlier as you hadn't had any customers in for nearly 2 hours. You spun the sign round and locked the door you were going to use the extra time to tidy the cafe properly instead of the rushed quick sweep that's normally done. Turning to volume up louder you danced around clearing the last few cups popping them in the sink coming back out with a mop bucket and broom and began to stack the chairs against one wall getting ready for a proper sweep. you nearly jumped out of your skin when someone tried to come bounding threw the door bouncing off it with a loud bang. you ran across the cafe hearing laughter.

"Why the fuck is it closed?!" Ah. Damien, you heard him before you saw him which made sense as he was currently sprawled out on the floor as Jack and Tim laughed at him joined by two older boys , well boys, one looked a few years younger then you... so technically he was an adult . you stuttered clicking who these other two probably were. Unlocking the door you squatted down to Damien.

"Shit are you ok? you didn't hit your head? did you?" you said reaching for him grabbing his face tilting it down trying to see the back of his head. He growled slapping you away

"I'm fine... does your boss know you've shut early? could have been a customer that'd have been a lawsuit ..stupid woman" you stood up crossing your arms at him.

"well I'm lucky it was just your skinny little ass then aren't I?" you deadpanned causing the another wave of laughter as Damien pulled him self up

"come on in" you lead them all in the older boys pulled themselves chairs around a table directly in front of the counter. turned looking for the others as jack wandered out of the kitchen with a fresh brownie Damien following with a blueberry marzipan muffin.

"Oo are those fresh?" Tim said walking past you into the kitchen to get himself one. you raised your hands exasperated.

"By all means help yourselves" you said shaking your head as they gave you cheeky grins before sitting down next to the others.

"Did you make these?" Damien asked you nodded

"Yep made em all today" he gave you a contemplating look

"You are forgiven for the door....if you give this recipe to Alfred" you rolled you eyes

"Oh yippee here I thought I'd have to beg for the young masters forgiveness" Jack snorted into his brownie.

"Y/n this is Dick and Jason our older brothers" Tim finally introduced with half a mouthful of muffin.

"Tim don't speak with your mouthful" you scolded before turning to Dick and Jason, you were nervous about meeting them, you knew that Dick was 20 and Jason was 17 not that much younger than you. Dick smiled brightly Jason followed

"Its nice to meet you both, but I thought Bruce wanted to introduce us at dinner next Monday?" Dick opened his mouth to reply but Damien beat him to it

"They were sulking cos me and Tim have already met you, and they couldn't wait so me Tim and Jack found them wandering about looking for the cafe completely lost." Dick looked embarrassed and Jason looked just about ready to beat Damien to a pulp.

"W-we did not we just decided to explore this part of Gotham.. we haven't been down this way before and heard good things." you giggled a little. feeling a little better now that they were talking.

"Can I have a go on the coffee machine?" Tim asked having finished his muffin you thought about it for a second then nodded, he jumped up following you round to it

"Anyone else want one?" Dick and Jason nodded Damien and Jack pulled a face. No.

You showed Tim how to load the espresso and turn it on trying to hold back laughter as he jumped back when he activated the steamer wand you caught the jug of milk just in time leaning over him you showed him the easiest way to froth the milk putting his hand on the knob controlling the steamer telling him when to turn it ,pointing out on the thermometer where he should let it go to he did it. Managing not to burn the milk then you demonstrated how to pour for certain coffees. He beamed when he got it right proud of himself then quickly controlled his face putting on a smug 'yeah of course I did it' face handing his brothers their coffees before going to sit down

"Oi! get back here you haven't cleaned up, you gotta wipe the wand and let some steam through to clear it." he come back hesitantly taking the folded cloth from you

"Wont it burn me?" you shook your head

"Just wipe it quick, then use the rubber bit to push it to the tray and give it a quick blast" he did as instructed and smiled bright going back to his coffee. Dick and Jason had been watching quietly as you taught their younger brother how to use the machine, yanking Tim away tilting your self in front of him when you though he could get hurt as the steam spat the milk when he hadn't held it high enough. Feeling more relaxed with you they saw how you patiently taught Tim how to do it. They had their doubts ,they had been a bit worried about their father dating someone so young. Imagining a typical younger woman trying to worm her way into their house for money or fame. They were caught off guard when their dad had first told them about you. Normally he didn't bother the women were never serious and gobsmacked when Damien threatened them to be kind, it was then they then decided they would catch you off guard, worried about how you could have possibly influenced Tim and Damien. But watching you interact with them they saw that you were very genuine. When it had come out earlier that day that you were Jacks sister, they felt slightly better knowing a bit of the story. How instead of abandoning him to the system to continue your studies, you'd pulled out that same day, moving back home planning and arranging your parents funeral and staying, giving up on your own prospects to become his guardian and raise him finding a job to support you both and pushing him to apply for the scholarship helping him get in. Thank god you did since Jack had become Damien's saving grace, he had calmed down and was almost a completely normal 13 year old boy...until he put on his suit then all bets were off. They found it fascinating seeing you swing from the playful sister to patient parent and back as you had grabbed Jack in a head lock poking at him tickling him for teasing you. They shared a look. Yes you would fit in fine.

"hahahah no-nooo st-stop it hahaa!fuck off y/n" he cried between laughs squirming then the fun and games stopped as ha accidentally headbutted your nose

"OH FUCK!" you shouted grabbing your nose eyes watering he gasped apologizing as damien panicked grabbing napkins in case of a nose bleed. He tried pulling your hand away.

"ssshhiit oh im fine- im good its ok-- fuck sake why is your head so hard?" he looked sheepish asking if you were ok you nodded to him waving a hand.

"I was going to get so much done here tonight but now I cant be asked" rubbing your nose again sniffing checking your hands for blood. None good. Huffing you leaning forward onto the table you looked across that table to Dick and Jason. You'd felt there eyes on you all this time.

"You know your both just like Bruce. He just sat there staring when he met me to." you offered chuckling nervously trying to break what you thought was tension not knowing that they had already approved of you.

"They are trying to suss you out. They are worried about you being after money or something." Tim added sipping the last of his coffee leaning back as everyone shouted at him.

"TIM!" You swallowed collecting yourself taking a deep breath, here it comes then. You looked at them smileing sadly nodding pulling back into yourself. You knew it they didn't like you. Obviously they wouldn't, fuck sake you were 5 years older than one and 8 years older then the other. You knew it.

"I-I don't want anything like that..I know its weird because we are about the same age.. if you feel uncomfortable with your dad and I just say the word and it will end I'm not going to be a home wrecker- fuck I new this would happen" you looked away trying to hide your tears. That was that then. Already planing to phone Bruce. Jason jumped interrupting your thoughts rushing forward grabbing your hands that rested on the table in front of you making you look at him as he saw you start breaking down, ready to run again. They'd heard bits and pieces about what happened for Tim. Jack growled angrily going to push Jason off of you before he started speaking.

"NO! no its not like that- we did- I mean at first, when dad first mentioned you and then when Tim and Damien gushed about you. We were worried I mean he's our dad but we didn't know who you were then,no one told us that you were Jacks y/n and we see now that's not the case. Your genuine and we don't have a problem with your age."

Dick continued for him as Jason looked panicked and lost for words.

"Yes we saw today your miles of years ahead of us in maturity we- well we just wanted to meet you without dad there. And like Jason said he is our dad we just don't want to see him hurt again." he added you looked between them still unconvinced fears you had still taunting you.

"I.. I'd never hurt him I love him." you admitted quietly.

"You- You love him?" Jack questioned you nodded smiling Dick smiled softly at you seeing the honesty in your words. He knew then that you weren't going anywhere he'd make sure of it.

"Then Don't leave him... We haven't seen him like this in...Ever really we just wanted to meet the woman who had made him happy that's all. Were sorry about the way we went about it. And want you to know that not just for dad, but we want to get to know you. Maybe not treat you like a mum but more like an older sister?" Dick said trying to pull you away form your dark thoughts. Feeling bad that they might have just fucked up the best thing to happen to their dad. Your eyes twinkled as you looked at the hopefully

"You-you really mean that?" they nodded you smiled wide at them wiping your eyes.

"Yeah then that way you can let loose a little you know act your age a bit?" he added laughing you scoffed clearing the last tears that had gathered away with a napkin handed to you from Damien.

"As if I remember how to do that, thank you both of you I was terrified of meeting you both , if you ever have a problem with me please come and talk to me about it"

"If they ever have a problem with you they can fuck off and take it with them" Damien growled kicking the table leg, knocking it with a force the boy should not posses thoroughly pissed off at his oldest brothers a cold shiver ran down your spin as you saw the terrifying glare he had on his face. If looks could kill... well your rather not tempt fate as in that moment Damien looked like he was defiantly considering it. you didnt notice the three wayne boys sharing a look holding their breath waiting for him to continue. if you only knew.

"Damien enough, you were worse when i met you and you know it" he snapped out of what ever was going on in his head smirking at you

"I was wasnt I?"

the others relaxed and you were all caught of guard as a presence in the corner made them selves known.

"See Master Wayne I told you if you left them to it they d all sort it out." Alferd stated standing up form the table in the front corner before chiding you.

"Miss y/n you really should pay more attention you left the door wide open after you let the boys in." You all gaped at the men Dick and Jason froze feeling Bruce's piercing gaze on their backs. Looking like a couple of boys who'd been caught with their hand in the cookie jar.

"yes Alfred I suppose your right but I do remember telling them to leave her alone until Monday so I could explain exactly how we met." he said disaproval echoing through his words. you stood up huffing.

"Bruce stop it.. they were just trying to look out for their family which I can appriciate.. leave them be it all sorted now and I didnt have to put on stupid heals for it"

"but i what if i wanted to see you in heels?"

"then you could have asked, anyway how the bloody hell did you to sneak in so quietly are you some sort of ninja or something? Jesus" you asked the group who laughed .if only you knew.

"Any way I don't know about you lot but I spend to much time in this bloody cafe as it is and would like to leave." You finished collecting the crumpled cake papers and cups leaving them in the kitchen before ditching your apron and turning everything off grabbing your bag and coat on the way out.

"What about the cleaning?" Jack asked you shrugged.

"That's Hugh's problem now, he can do some work for a change." you snickered ushering them all out arming the alarm and locking the door.

"He still fucking around?" jack asked you nodded

"Yep boneing his girlfriend is more important then doing his shift's"

"I can fully understand that" Bruce said smirking as the group groaned you rolled your eyes ignoring him

"The others got pissed off so he gets to be here bright and early opening tomorrow cos the rest of us are 'busy'" you chuckled. Bruce slid up beside you pulling you into him

"well you will be." he muttered kissing your lips you blushed as a chorus of ewws and gagging noises carried across the small crowd you stuck out your tongue at them.

"Oh will I now?"

"Yes a very important appointment with me that may run into the afternoon" he said seductivly running his hands across your waist pulling you closer you linked your hands behind his neck.

"Hmm I don't remember arranging that Mr Wayne I might have other plans"

"well I'm sure you could squeeze me in" Jason as grossed out as he was, couldn't help but laugh at that one even Tim snorted you blushed.

"And what makes you say that?" he pulled away slightly

"Because you love me" you froze in his arms shyly looking down he pulled you back up to face him.

"And I love you to" he pulled you towards him kissing you passionately taking your breath away you moaned as the boys created a big fuss.

"OH MY GOD STOP!" Jack cried covering his eyes as Bruce grabbed handfuls of your rear making you squeal and begin laughing.

"Come on Jack you were the one who set us up to have sex remember? take it like a man"

"NOO! SHUT UP EWW I DIDN'T NEED THAT IMAGE!!" you laugh loudly walking past them all ,wrapped up in Bruce's arms leading you towards the Rolls Royce that he had arrived in with Alfred.

"H-hey how are we getting home?"

"The way you came, you don't want to ride with us." Bruce called over his shoulder kissing your neck.

"Bruce not in the car"

"Why not?"

"THAT IS MY SISTER!" Dick laughed out loud watching his little brothers yell about 'being scar'd for life' and 'never getting in the Rolls Royce ever again' yes you were both going to fit right into this mad house. He ushered them all the other way to his car there wasn't enough room really but he'd make them fit.

"Who want to go get Chinese?" he asked distracting them still chuckling to him self. You had turned his dad into a teenager again.

[elisaphoenix13]

Iron Baby And Spider Baby

It happened again. Only this time, Peter wasn't the only one to be turned into a baby.

So was Tony.

And he was testing what was left of Stephen's patience.

The sorcerer already lost a good amount of it when the spell of a training apprentice (not his) went haywire. Neither she or the master she was training under knew how she had gotten from a fire spell to a de-aging one, so it was up to the Sorcerer Supreme to find a way to reverse it. Except, two babies were a lot more work than one. One wanted to cling, and the other constantly wandered off so he could never sit down long enough to actually look into the reversal spell.

Three guesses to who the wandering child was.

Stephen wanted to just lay down and die, but he instead drops his book onto the table with a exasperated sigh (he had returned to the tower so the two affected wouldn't get hit by another spell), and stands up when something crashes.

"I swear to the Vishanti, you are bad enough as my husband. You will not be my child too!" Stephen shouts as he makes his way to the living room. Thankfully, Peter was content to glue himself to the sorcerer's hip and suck his thumb, and most importantly stay out of trouble.

Small mercies.

Stephen turns the corner into the living room to find a shattered vase on the floor, something he didn't even realize they had, and baby Tony sitting nearby trying to rip open the tv remote. Leave it to a child to find things they can break. If this was how he really was as a baby, Maria Stark must have had the patience of a saint. The doctor had barely been home with Tony and Peter for an hour and he already wanted to duct tape his  age reduced husband to the wall.

"Tony, you are a walking hazard." Stephen confiscates the remote when the engineer manages to pop the back open, and uses his magic to put the vase back together and out of the way.

"Hey!" The miniaturized Stark yells.

"I'm not risking you shoving batteries up your nose. That seems like something you might have done at this age."

Stephen leans over and scoops Tony up into one arm, carrying him back toward the kitchen until the elevator wooshes open and Rhodey and Loki step out. They both freeze at the sorcerer's burdens and Rhodey bursts into laughter seconds later. Loki just looked at the toddlers warily.

"Oh you think this is funny?" Stephen asks furiously before shoving Tony at Rhodey. "You get to watch him now."

"Hey! Wait! I didn't sign up for this! I barely survived college with him!" Rhodey holds the baby engineer out at arms length and Tony gives him a mischievous smile.

"Neither did I! If Peter wasn't behaving, this tower would be up in flames! He's being a little shit and making finding a reversal spell extremely difficult!" Stephen exhales sharply.

Colonel Rhodes relents wordlessly and takes Tony back into the living room while Loki eyes Peter softly. "Shall I take the Spider-Cub?"

Stephen rubs his eyes. Peter was behaving and barely bothered him, but being able to put his full attention on a reversal spell would make things go faster. He didn't want to deal with two babies for more than a few hours if he could help it. If it was just Peter, this wouldn't be a problem at all. In fact, he would secretly extend the time looking for a cure just to keep baby Peter around a little longer.

He was cute.

"Sure. He should be alright with Legos, just make sure he doesn't put any in his mouth or anything like that." The god of mischief nods and holds out his arms for Peter, but the boy whines and clings onto Stephen even more.

"Stay with Mama!"

Stephen sighs. "Please go play with Uncle Loki and Uncle Rhodey. Then I can fix you and your father faster."

With a bit of willpower, he resists the puppy eyes directed at him and Peter hangs his head. "Okay."

He reaches out for Loki, who takes him gently and joins the colonel in the living room, and Stephen visibly deflates. The puppy eyes were bad enough when Peter was a teenager, but on baby Peter? Ten times more effective and just as hard to resist. They were a dangerous weapon indeed and he felt a little sorry for Rhodey and Loki. They didn't have as much practice as he did with resisting them.

Scott and Clint would probably be better options to help with the babies but he would only call for them if Loki and Rhodey couldn't handle it.

"FRIDAY, let me know if Colonel Rhodes or Loki get overwhelmed."

"Yes doctor."

________________

Three hours passed and Stephen barely started on a possible spell to fix his family when FRIDAY alerted him that Rhodey had somewhere to be. The sorcerer kind of believed it but at the same time knew how much trouble Tony could get into, so that was probably a factor as well. He didn't blame him one bit.

So he decided a break was necessary and returned to the living room...just to burst into laughter at what he found. It wasn't Peter still calmly playing with his Legos with Loki sitting in front of him on the floor (that was rather cute actually), it was the fact that Rhodey had done what Stephen wanted to do in the first place.

He duct taped Tony to the wall.

"I'm tapped out Strange. I can see why you were frustrated."

That only made Stephen laugh harder. In just a few seconds he was bent over, he could hardly breathe, and tears were rolling down his face. If it were any other child, he would not be happy about it, but it was Tony. It was also blackmail material.

"FRIDAY, I want pictures and video of Tony as long as he's a baby. This is perfect for future blackmail." Stephen says when his laughter finally tapers off to chuckles.

"Way ahead of you." The AI responds smugly.

"I really do have somewhere to be...and I really don't want to be on diaper duty." Rhodey says.

Loki nods. "As much as I like Peter...I share the colonel's sentiment."

Stephen waves at them. "Peter is no problem, and Tony is just sooner than I thought."

Rhodey snorts. "I don't envy you Strange. Anyway, just give me a call when he's back to normal. Not a minute before."

"Thank you Rhodey."

"I'll be sure to let him know how much of a lucky bastard he is to have you." The colonel says before leaving the family floor.

Stephen grabs the baby supplies left over from the last incident, thankful that he had the mind to keep everything in case something like this ever happened again, and was quick to change Peter. Once he was freshened up, Loki took him back and the sorcerer stands to regard the pouting child taped to the wall. He had half a mind to leave him there, but a dirty diaper wasn't exactly healthy or comfortable to sit in. He could always tape him back to the wall and call Clint or Scott to take over so he could go back to the spell.

Maybe both. Scott could watch Tony and Clint could make them something to eat.

It was nice having the Avengers. Depending on a situation, they could be a reliable clean up crew, or a babysitting service.

"You know...I didn't think I would be changing your diapers for at least another thirty years."

"Want down!" The captive baby yells.

"Don't yell at me or I'll leave you there dirty diaper and all."

Tony frowns. "Please."

"That's better." Stephen frees him and asks FRIDAY to call up Clint and Scott (if they were available) as he changes baby Tony's diaper with just a little bit of awkwardness. "I love you...but this is still a little weird. I will forever hold this over your head."

Loki looks over at him and smiles. "You and me both."

"I give you full permission." The doctor says as he finishes and Tony climbs onto the couch and turns on the tv.

With any luck, he would behave for a couple of hours. Both Clint and Scott arrive just a couple minutes later, and Stephen points at the child on the couch.

"You two are on babysitting duty. Clint, I suggest making them something to eat."

They both stare at Tony, barely giving Peter a glance. "Is that...?" Clint starts.

"A mini demon? Quite possibly." Stephen answers. "He's actually behaving so enjoy it while it lasts. Loki has Peter covered for now."

"I'm babysitting Tony Stark." Scott sighs. "Yippee."

The sorcerer reminds the archer to start on food since the babies would no doubt get hungry soon, and returns to the master bedroom to continue working on the reversal spell. After a little over an hour passes and Stephen is close to finishing the spell, Clint opens the door after knocking, bringing in a crying Peter. They were more tired whimpers than actual crying, and when the Spider-Baby rubs his eyes, it only confirmed what Stephen suspected. Peter was tired, and refused to sleep unless one of his parents were holding him. Since Tony wasn't an available option, Stephen was the go to parent.

"Scott and I both tried but he's fighting. Loki had to go help Thor with something after lunch."

"How's Tony?"

"Don't get mad, but I had to duct tape him to the wall. I have kids and never once even thought about it with them, but Tony keeps trying to tear everything apart and he broke a vase--"

"Again?" Stephen takes Peter from the archer and the boy almost instantly passes out against his shoulder, making Clint throw his hands up.

"Twenty minutes with us. Two seconds with you. He's a total Mama's Boy."

"We had this issue last time. He wouldn't sleep without me or Tony. Speaking of, Rhodey beat you to the duct tape idea earlier."

"His mother must have had infinite patience. Are you almost done?"

"A few more minutes." Stephen assures.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but adult Stark is so much easier to deal with."

Clint leaves the room and Stephen carefully adjusts Peter's arms so the boy would stick to him. Once that was taken care of, it only took the doctor about twenty minutes to complete the spell. He rises slowly, so not to jostle Peter, and joins Barton and Lang in the living room to find Tony still taped to the wall and Scott throwing candy into Clint's mouth.

"If you were watching anybody but Tony, I would be extremely upset."

"Hey! We were nice to Peter!" Scott complains.

"Peter is an easy baby."

"Stark is the spawn of Satan." Clint mutters.

Stephen smirks. "I'm aware. Trust me."

After double-checking that Peter is still gripping onto him, Stephen gestures both hands to create his spell and then sends it at a Tony with one. In a flash, the engineer in adult form is left taped to the wall and he glares down at his bindings.

"What the hell?!" Tony looks up at the other three men and soon notices the sleeping baby on Stephen's shoulder. "Is that Peter?"

"Yes. Do you not remember anything?" The sorcerer asks.

"Last thing I remember was Kamar-Taj." The billionaire frowns.

"A spell hit you and Peter and turned you into babies."

"You were a nightmare Stark." Clint grumbles. "The duct tape was necessary."

Tony pulls himself away from the wall and tears the duct tape off his clothes. "I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. My mom had a few stories."

"I have proof love." Stephen says. "I'm going to hold this over your head for years."

Tony rolls his eyes. "What about Peter?"

Stephen smiles and holds one hand to the remaining baby's head and the other under his bottom. "I think I'll keep him like this a little while longer."

"I think you're tapping into your maternal instinct a little too much babe." Tony says with a smirk. "But Underoos is a cute baby so I'll let it slide."

"I wasn't asking your permission." Stephen deadpans.

"I demand we get paid for putting up with your bullshit Tony." Scott says.

"You can order take-out."

"We'll take what we can get." Clint says in response and he and Scott scramble to the kitchen to find the take-out menus.

Tony crumples up the large wad of duct tape and then pauses when the baby on Stephen's shoulder sneezes. Peter had cute sneezes as a teen, but with a baby face, it was three times cuter and made both parents pathetic simpering fools.

"Gimme." Tony holds out his hands (Stephen being one of the very few who can hand him things. Peter, Happy, Rhodey, and Pepper being the others.) and Stephen turns his occupied shoulder away.

"My cub."

"You've had him all day!"

"That's not true. I've only had him for an hour and a half all together today."

"Still longer than me. Hand him over Stephanie. Don't make me get the crowbar."

"Don't make me turn you back into a baby and dump you on Clint and Scott." Stephen threatens.

Said men practically scream 'No!' from the kitchen.

__________________

What Tony thought would be the rest of the day, turned out to be longer and a more crowded bed. He and Stephen may have had a king-sized bed but every bit of the engineer's subconscious kept him from sleeping properly. Why?

Because Peter was still a baby, and he and Stephen were practically inseparable.

They couldn't in good conscious leave a baby by himself in another room, but that problem could have been easily fixed if his wife would just change Peter back.Tony didn't know what possessed Stephen to selfishly keep the vigilante a baby, but he wasn't going to complain just yet. Seeing his lover curled protectively around their son in the bed next to him was a rare sight and really cute. He may have already asked his AI to take some pictures to print out for Peter's photo album.

Now he was just waiting for them to wake up. Tony was tempted to sneak Peter away just so he could have some baby time for himself, but Stephen was in Mama Bear Mode. Just thinking about taking Peter was risky and Tony really didn't want to free-fall for a couple of hours. He would leave that for the rest of the team to experience. They all liked baby Peter and Tony kind of wanted to see if they would take the risk and try to get close.

Blue eyes snap open when the baby hidden against Stephen's chest (and covered with a strong arm) sneezes, and Peter slowly blinks brown eyes open.

"Hungry." Peter mumbles.

Tony chuckles. "You're always hungry Underoos. We can have waffles but Mama Bear has to let you go." He says as he stands up.

"Fat chance." Stephen grumbles but Peter was already wiggling out of the sorcerer's hold.

"Well it looks like the promise of food wins over cuddles with Mom for once." Tony grins as he picks up the baby when he outstretches his arms.

"Traitorous cub." The doctor huffs. There was no bite to it of course. Just excessive fondness.

After a diaper change, Tony takes Peter out if the master bedroom and into the kitchen to start on the promised waffles, and distracts him with strawberry slices while they cook. In the few minutes they had, Peter already had sticky strawberry covered hands, and offered them up to Pepper when she walks in from the hallway.

"Pepper! S'rawberry!" Peter squeals from his spot on the counter.

"She can't have those baby. They make her sick." Tony says calmly as he places the finished waffle on a plate for Peter.

The two-year-old stares at his strawberry fingers with a bit of confusion but surprisingly it's replaced with understanding. "Oh."

Pepper smiles. "Thank you for offering Peter." She turns to Tony and holds up a handful of papers. "I need you to read these and sign them."

The engineer groans. "Can't you see I'm having baby bonding time?"

"I heard Stephen found a way to fix that. You're back to normal."

"Stephanie's being selfish and leaving his cub a baby so he can snuggle him." 

Pepper rolls her eyes and points at Stephen when the man finally emerges from the bedroom, freshly showered. "Turn poor Peter back to normal! How long has he been like that?"

Stephen turns bright red, and turns his head to mutter under his breath.

"What was that?" Pepper asks.

The sorcerer clears his throat and sighs heavily. "...four days."

Pepper whips her head to look at Tony, who was still making waffles. "Tony! You let this happen?!"

"In my defense...my wife is a wizard."

The CEO groans and turns back to the sorcerer. "Change him back. Right now. I can't believe I'm saying this to you!"

Apparently Mama Bear could be quelled by Pepper Potts. She was really the only one who didn't cower under Stephen's glares, and actually returned them with a few of her own. So, with another heavy sigh, the sorcerer forms his spell and sends it at Peter, leaving his teen form sitting confused on the counter after the flash fades. The boy looks around the kitchen with furrowed eyebrows before finally looking at his closest parent.

The one making waffles.

"Uh...how did I get here? Weren't we at Kamar-Taj with Mom?"

"Yup."

"But now I'm here? I would ask if I passed out but then I wouldn't be on the counter..." The teen starts rambling and the engineer takes the opportunity to shove a piece of waffle in his open mouth. "Oh! This is good."

The three adults stare as Peter asks for more and then studies his hands when he finally realizes how sticky they are. Food really was a fantastic distraction. Peter tended to go with the flow of things ever since he moved into the tower, since crazy things happened on a nearly daily basis.

"What's on my hands?"

"Strawberries."

"Huh." Peter hops down from the counter and washes his hands in the sink. "So what happened?"

Tony lays another finished waffle on top of the previous one. "The spell of a wizard student went wonky and hit the two of us. It turned us into babies."

Peter laughs at the idea of Tony being a baby but then tilts his head. "I don't remember anything this time. How long did it last?"

"I was only a baby for a few hours."

"As for you," Pepper finally says. "I would ask your mother." She places the papers in her hand on the table. "Sign those Tony!"

"Yeah, yeah."

The engineer waves her out of the kitchen, and when the three males are left alone, Peter raises an eyebrow at Stephen who coughs uncomfortably under his inquisitive gaze. He didn't really think his selfish decision through. He just knew that he wanted to take advantage of Peter being a baby while he could. Now he had to admit to his son that he was the reason he stayed a baby. When he found out how long though...

...one bridge at a time.

Peter eventually shrugs when Stephen remains silent. "No big deal." The teen leaves the kitchen, probably in search of his phone, and that's when the sorcerer finally panicked. He would see the date on the phone--"IT'S BEEN FOUR DAYS?!"

Tony sniggers at his husband's rapidly paling face over the last of the waffle batter. "Regretting your decision?"

"...a bit."

The teen charges back into the kitchen. "How come I was a baby for four freaking days?!"

"Mama Bear wanted a cub." Tony claims around a bite of waffles.

Peter looks up at Stephen incredulously. "You...you left me like that on purpose?"

Stephen rubs his eyes. "It was only meant to be an extra day...and I got a bit carried away. I'm sorry cub."

Peter's mouth opens and closes comically in surprise and disbelief, but then exhales dramatically before accepting a plate stacked with waffles from Tony. He sits on a bar stool and shovels his breakfast into his mouth, completely ignoring Stephen's look of remorse, and he drops his shoulders when the man grabs his own plate and sits at the table. An awkward silence hangs in the air as the family eats their breakfast, and Tony eventually pulls out his phone, taps on it a few times, then slides it over to Peter. The teen swallows his mouthful of food, looks down at the picture on the screen, and practically caved in on the smallest bit of anger he had.

It was a picture of the position Stephen and baby Peter were in just a little while ago, and even the teen had to admit it was cute. He could kind of understand why the sorcerer wanted to keep him a baby for a little bit longer, and even in a photo Peter could see that Mama Bear was out. Stephen normally slept on his back or his stomach, but he was on his side in the picture and he was visibly protecting his cub from the outside.

"Man...I can't stay mad about that."

Tony snorts. "The day you stay mad about something is the day I start going to bed at a reasonable hour."

Peter grabs a whole strawberry before turning and throwing it at Stephen. "Don't do it again!"

The sorcerer dodges the fruit and uses his magic to hold a few in the air as he turns to regard the teen with a soft smile.

"I make no promises."

"Understandable." Peter says as he grabs more strawberries and Tony waves his hands around.

"Hey! I don't have anyone in line for clean up duty! If you make a mess, you have to clean it up!"

Peter and Stephen glance at Tony then back to each other and grin.

"Worth it." They say unanimously.

The strawberry war started and Tony fled the room. He wasn't going to be part of the impending disaster that would need to be cleaned up.

[yrpspiritsintheshadows]

Imaginary Friends

Imaginary Friends

School was out for Geistville Elementary. As students hurried to the bus or for their parents’ cars, one student was left to wait in the playground as he always did.

Ken, honestly didn’t mind waiting to be picked up from school. It was extra play time as far as he was concerned, getting the full run of the playground and not have to share the area with anyone…

Except for one person. 

He had met her back when he still went to the preschool that was attached to the building. She was around his age and was always there waiting to play with someone. The other kids couldn't see her of course but Ken didn’t mind.

“Weeee! C’mon, Ayami, catch me!” Ken giggled, ducking under the jungle gym as his friend chased him, floating just off the ground. 

Her laugh echoed around them, the glow around her body illuminating the area.

Ayami, didn’t dress like the other ghost kids Ken had seen over the years. She wore a set of black and white armor,with flower like designs and crystals embedded into it. Her hair was pure white and one of her eyes was a bright green color, contrasting to her other eye, which was a pale blue color.

“I’m gonna catch ya!” She phased through the jungle gym, floating upwards as Ken bounded across the top. 

“Nya!”

She giggled before tackling him as the two children rolled across it, laughing up a storm, one having to catch his breath.

“That was fun! We haven’t rough housed in a while! It’s been too long!”

Ken sat up, grinning.

“Way too long.” He giggled, leaning back. “We gotta play more often.”

Ayami fiddled with her hands, unsure.

“I dunno… I’m not normal.”

“But you're my friend!” He insisted. “We never play except during school days and then during summer I never see you!” 

“But…” She looked down. “Would your parents be okay with a ghost friend?”

That was the problem she was worried about. For a while, she looked and acted very much like a human child. Ayami had been deceased for a long time. Ken never asked her about what happened and she didn’t bring it up either.

It was an unspoken kind of rule. Don’t ask about the things that would make either of them upset.

Ken poked her forehead, getting her attention.

“My daddy was like me when he was little. I’m sure he’d be okay with it… and you’re a nice ghost. Pleeeaaase?” He gave her the puppy eyes.

Ayami squeaked, covering her own eyes.

“Kennny!!! That’s not fair!”

“Please? Please? Please?”

“Ooohhh bother…” She giggled, lowering her hands. He was still making the face. “Okay, okay!”

“Yippee!” Ken threw his arms around her. “You know where my house is? I can tell you where it is or you can sneak in and hide with me and my brothers!”

“I can find you easily.” She winked. “That’s the cool part of being a Ghost Guardian.”

“Right! Maybe I can meet more of your ghost friends too?” He tilted his head. “If you're okay with it.”

“Maybe. Oh! If you ever come to where I stay, you can meet Dree Dree! And Jackie and Aggie too!”

“Oooo… Yeah! Yeah!” Ken giggled, holding out his pinky finger. “It’s a promise!”

Ayami giggled, looping her finger with his.

“A secret promise!”

“A secret play date!”

oooooo

Around early evening, when the sun was still high in the sky, Ken had a knock at his window.

He looked up from his game system, grinning at who he saw. Ayami was floating just outside of his window, her white hair blowing in the wind.

“Is it a bad time?”

He pushed the window open, leaning out a little.

“You’re good! Wanna come in?”

“Hm…” She furrowed her brow, looking down to where she could see through the window to the rest of the Miyamoto family. “Not yet. Wanna come outside and play?”

“I can! Hikaru helped me with my homework!” 

“Cool! I got done training early too.”

The two children laughed before Ken hurried to grab his coat, grabbing one of his toys too.

“Daddy?”

Eiji looked up, adjusting his reading glasses.

“Yeah, Kiddo?”

Ken smiled, giving him a bit of a puppy eyed look.

“It’s still daytime, can I go outside for awhile?”

Eiji hummed in thought, glancing outside. It would still be about two hours before night fell.

“Only an hour and a half. I want you back just before sunset, okay?”

“Okay, thanks!”

Ken hurried outside, meeting Ayami at the backdoor… This time, however, Okami was wary as she stared at the ghostly child.

“Um… Is she okay?”

“She’s a nice doggy, don’t worry. Okami, c’mon! You can sleep while we play.” 

Okami huffed but followed after anyways, not wanting to let Ken out of her sight.

The children didn’t pay her much mind, since she kept up with their pace easily.

“I brought my bouncy ball. We can kick it around or something! See?” Ken pointed to the pale green designs around the black ball. “It glows in the dark!”

“Ooo, like me!” Ayami giggled.

“Yeah!” Ken moved back several paces, once he was sure they were a bit out of sight. “Ready?”

“Ahuh, ahuh!” Ayami got into position, bouncing in place. 

Ken grinned before kicking the ball her way, the girl jumping into the air a bit to kick it back.

“Nice!”

He ran a bit further in before kicking it as hard as he could.

Ayami squeaked as it barreled right towards her, turning her body intangible as it flew right through where her stomach would’ve been.

“Eeek! Sorry!” 

Ken ran up to her.

“You okay?”

“Yup!” 

Both children looked to where the ball had gone. They couldn’t see it anymore, having lost sight of it in the brush.

“... Uh oh.” They murmured in unison. 

“... I’ll go get it-”

“I’ll go with you!”

Okami whined, watching them leave. Her ears folded before walking after them. 

Ayami phased in and out of the brush, looking for the ball, the leaves lighting up as her essence phased through them.

“Hm… Not here…”

Ken looked around, humming in thought. He peered down the hill, seeing a faint glow from the paint.

“Found it-”

His foot slipped, as he started to tumble down the hill. Ken yelped, bracing himself for a hard impact… only for Ayami to grab his jacket’s hood, pulling hard to keep him from doing just that.

“Oof!”

He sighed in relief as she set him down. Okami whined from the top of the hill, pacing back and forth.

“I’m okay, Okami, promise!” He turned to Ayami, smiling sheepishly. “Sorry.”

Ayami shook her head.

“Don’t. You okay?”

“Ahuh!”

Ayami smiled before floating off retrieving the ball. 

“I got it!”

Ken smiled, bouncing in place a little. “Wanna play here?”

“Hm… I don’t think so. It’ll take a bit to get you home.” Ayami offered her hand to him. “Hold on tight.”

Ken blinked, doing so… squealing as she floated upwards for a moment, going higher than the boy thought possible, rising over the treetops.

The entire forest was revealed to them as Ken looked around in wonder.

“Wow…” He breathed. “This… Wow.”

“Not too much?” Ayami asked, smiling sheepishly. “Not scary?”

“No way!” Ken laughed. “We’re FLYING, Ayami! Really flying!”

She looked to the ball and back to Ken. “Wanna forget catch for a bit?”

“Yup!”

She dropped it before getting a better hold on Ken, keeping him close.

“Ready?” 

Ken gave her a thumbs up.

Ayami grinned, her green eye glowing brighter before she flew off at a rapid speed, the children laughing up a storm the whole way.

Dipping up and down back through the tree branches as Ayami made them both intangible, even through the earth itself as they popped back up.

Ken squealed as they flew through a particularly large tree, spotting a family of owlets before they phased out of it and onto the next branch.

“THIS IS THE COOLEST THING EVER!”

“And this is what I get to do all the time!”

After a while of flying like this, Ayami came to a stop in a particularly large oak tree that looked over the property. The two sat next to one another on one of the thicker branches, gazing out at the view before them. Ayami was a little tired, leaning against the trunk of the tree, while Ken was still bouncing a bit excitedly.

“That was… Seriously, you can do all kinds of amazing things and…” Ken rubbed the back of his neck, going a little red. “And I’m just the kid who can see ghosts…”

“Aww Kenny…”  Ayami pouted a little. “But you can do a lot of really neat things too. You can see what others don’t… and you aren’t afraid of those things either.”

“Not true… I have lots of bad dreams about bad things that happen to people…” Ken rubbed his arm. “I see people too that wanna get my attention because they can’t get anyone else’s. Like my big brothers’ first mommy and daddy. They haunted me all the time until Daddy was able to save Hika.”

“And I kept ‘em away from you at school, remember?” Ayami squeezed his shoulder, prompting a small smile from Ken. “Kenny, you just gotta practice. You’re still little.”

“Yeah… I wanna be just like my daddy when I grow up. I just… get scared sometimes… but Daddy says that this stuff happened to him too when he was little… same for my Auntie Naomi.” Ken fidgeted with his hands a little. “And I don’t have as many bad dreams anymore. Sammy helps me sleep better with Dreamster’s help. We play a lot when things get scary so I can sleep again.” He smiled a little. 

“What kind of dream stuff do you do?”

“Well…” Ken perked up. “Last night, I conjured up my oba-san’s house! It’s really, really huge!” Ken held out his arms as wide as they could go without causing him to lose balance. “And we played around the garden with her koi fish! The garden’s super, super big! It’s like a mini forest too!”

“Wow…” Ayami smiled. “And you did that.”

“Ahuh… and Okami helps me in my dreams too.”

“That’s cool!”

Ken smiled, looking down, seeing Okami at the base of the tree… giving him a disapproving look. 

“Yup. She loves me a lot. And I love her.”

Ayami smiled, closing her eyes as she leaned her head back. “So, you’re not just the kid who sees ghosts. Your daddy wouldn’t have known what to look out for with your brothers if you hadn’t seen their parents first.”

“Yeah… I guess so, huh?” Ken fumbled with his hands, frowning a little. “I just… hope no one’s in really big trouble, because of my new nightmares.”

Ayami squeezed his hand, taking it into her own.

“If they are, then we’ll get them out of it.” She gave him a grin. “That’s the job of a Ghost Guardian, to help people!”

“And… Memoria Coven members, can create Remembereds… or get spirit companions of our own when we’re old enough.” Ken smiled, a hopeful look coming to his eyes. “I wanna be that cool too.”

“And I have no doubts.” 

“Ayami…”

Ken hugged her tightly, startling her for a second before she returned the embrace, her glow brightening.

“Kenny...  I wanna help every step of the way. I promise.”

“And I know you will. It’s a promise… Okay?”

Ayami smiled, hugging him tighter.

“A secret promise.”

“A ghost promise!”

They giggled a little before Ayami helped him up, floating down to the ground.

Sunset was coming and they both knew Eiji and Carmen would NOT be pleased if Ken wasn’t home soon.

“Can we do this again tomorrow?” He asked as they hurried off for the house.

Ayami grabbed onto a tree branch, swinging down as she sprinted alongside him. 

“We sure can! More playtime, lots more play time!” 

“Yay!”

[shadowboltgamer-blog]

The Awakening Ch 1: Final battle

(Author note: I’m so sorry to everyone for the long delay of The Awakening. @attitudeangels was the one writing this until she had family problem, so she ask me if I can finish for her. Give AttitudeAngels some support and love. Thanks to everyone for the wait and sorry again, hope you enjoy it)

After the Loser Club found out Mike lied about the ritual and now they have to face themselves with pennywise once again. When they his true form and tell them for their blind mistake. Pennywise started chasing them around the cave, not before long the Loser split up in different directions, which confused the giant clown.

Richie POV:

Me and Eddie ran into a cave trying to get away from Pennywise. We kept running down the cave, trying to find a way out, then ran into three doors.

“Shit. You gotta be fucking kidding me”

“Um, all right. “Not scary at all.” All right? Eddie said

“No no no”

“W-wait why?

“They’re flipped, he fucking with us”

“Are you sure”

“Trust me”

“Positive”

“Yes”

“Okay”

We walked towards the very scary door. I turned the door knob and opened it. It was a dark closet, then a voice called out.

“Where’s my shoe?”. My heart started speeding up. I pulled the string to turn on the light bulb. We heard tap dancing, and it started getting closer then giggling. A girl without a torso started skipping towards us. We started to scream then shut the door.

“What the fuck!”

“You told me to trust you!” Eddie said

“He’s not fucking with us, let’s go to “Not scary at all.”

“Okay”

Eddie was scared to see what’s on the other side of the door. He turned the door knob and opened it slowly. “It’s all right. Let’s go” Eddie said. We started to walk forward then we heard a noise then looked down to see a little Pomeranian.

“Oh shit” Richie whisper

The little Pomeranian just staring at us with his tongue out

“No way am I falling for this shit again”

“Oh yeah. That things a fucking monster”

“Richie, make it sit”

“I know yours moves, you little bitch”

Then we heard growling behind

Eddie whisper “Richie, it’s gone man”

“Yeah, wait”

“Okay”

We both turned around to look at the little Pomeranian

“Sit”!

“He did it”!

“Oh that’s cute”

“That’s a good boy”

“That’s actually super cute”

“That’s a good boy”

“Are you a good boy”

“Good boy”

Then out of nowhere the Pomeranian turned into a giant monster. We screamed at the last second, before it was about the launch at us, we closed the door shut.

“Shit” Eddie yelled

“Yo, next time, we just go with regular, “scary.”

“Next time!” I yelled

We speed walked out of that cave and trying to find a way out.

3rd POV:

When bill came out of the water, he swam toward the edge then he pulled himself out. Mike was hiding behind the rock, when he turned around and saw Bill on the fall trying to catch his breath.

“Bill” Mike whisper

He stands up and about to help bill when pennywise pop out of nowhere. “Miss me” pennywise shout

“I know what you are. That’s why I’m not afraid” Mike said

Pennywise wrapped his arm around Mike then pulled out his claws. He lifted him off the ground, then started laughing.

“Well, I know what you are. A madmen”

Pennywise opened his mouth and more Sharp teeth came out, he was about to bite Mike when he got hit with a rock. Mike turned his head to see who saved him.

“Hey, fuckface!”

The giant clown turned his head then threw Mike into the rock wall, after Mike landed he groaned in pain. Richie picked another rock and look at IT

“You wanna play Truth or Dare”?

“Here’s the truth. You’re a sloppy bitch”!

“Yeah, that’s right”!

“Let’s dance! Yippee-ki-yay mot…

When Richie was about to throw the rock, pennywise put Richie under his deadlights. He lifted him off the ground and showed him his worst fears. Eddie ran out of the cave and saw Richie caught in pennywise deadlights.

“Oh shit Richie”

Eddie backup against the wall then he looked at the spear that Beverly gave to him before they went deeper into the sewer

“This… kills monsters. If you believe it does. If you believe it does”

“IF YOU BELIEVE IT DOES…. BEEP BEEP, MOTHERFUCKER!!”

Eddie threw the spear. It landed in pennywise mouth, he let go of Richie then he landed on the ground, but he hasn’t fully if out of the effects

Eddie POV:

“Hey Rich, wake up! Come on, man! Wake up”!

“Don’t do this to me, Rich, I swear don’t-”

“What do I do, what do I do? Fuck! What… this happened to be once and ben…”

“I hope this works”

I looked at Richie then his lips, I placed my hands on the side of his face. I took a deep breath and exhaled. l lean in and kissed Richie. I couldn’t tell if it was working, then I felt a hand on the back of my head and then Richie pulled me a little closer. I didn’t want it to end, but I had to end it.

“Hey there he is! I did it, Rich I think I killed IT! I- think-”

Then out of nowhere Richie pushed me to the side, I heard a loud crash.

“We gotta move, buddy” Richie said quietly

“How did you- you just saved my ass, I could've…”

“Yeah and I gave you the ted talk about it later if you want, but now we gotta kill this fucking clown”

Time skip

After the Losers Club bullied pennywise to death and got his heart. When they place their hands on the heart. When Richie and Eddie’s fingers slightly touch, then they slowly interlocked their fingers and they hold on to each other. Eddie looked at Richie, he felt his face heat up. Then he looked back at the heart and the Losers crushed it.

At the lake

When Bev jumped into the water first then the others jumped in after her. They were so happy to be free from pennywise and finally killing him. When they started cleaning themselves. Richie and Eddie were doing their business and then they looked at each other, they smiled at each other and then they moved towards each other.

“Ed’s-”

“Rich I was so fucking scared”

Then they hug each other

“I never been so scared in my whole life, I could if die”

“Breathe eddie, it’s over. Don’t worry we did it, we killed the clown, it all over”

“I have to tell you something, you gotta promise me. You won’t freak out”

“What is it Rich”?

“Ed’s I been in love with you for 30 years

"You’re”

Richie pulled away to see Eddie

“Yeah I’m gay… everything Bowers said about me was true when we were kids, there’s that”

“It’s fine Richie, I felt the same way about you”

They look at each other, slowly leaned in. They kissed passionately, Richie ran his fingers through Eddie’s hair. They pulled away and touched each other’s forehead. Then they heard whistling from the Losers, Eddie giggle and Richie started yelling at them

“OH COME ON, DON’T DO THAT, FUCK ALL OF YOU, ME AND EDDIE WERE HAVING A MOMENT!”

“SERIOUS RICHIE IT TOOK YOU THIS LONG TO TELL EDDIE HOW YOU FEEL. IT’S ABOUT TIME YOU GREW SOME BALLS, RICHIE” Stanley said

“WELL THATS JUST FUCKING RUDE”!

Everyone started laughing and splashing each other, playing childish games. Then they got tired and swam back to shore then started walking back to town. While they were walking and some of them were talking to each other. Eddie was right behind Richie, he looked down at Richie’s hand. He took a deep breath then he gently grabbed Richie hand then wrapped his fingers around, Richie looked at, Eddie, smiled then he did the same thing.

Skip time

When they went back to the hotel and everyone took a shower and settled down, they decided to celebrate their victory and their freedom. They were drinking like crazy, they were cracking jokes, playing games and a little bit of dancing. A few hours later when things were finally settled, everyone went to their room, but when Eddie was about to go into this room, he turned around and walked towards Richie room. He knocked on the door. Richie open the door and smiled at Eddie

“Hey Ed’s what brings you here”?

“Nothing I was just wondering what if I can sleep with you tonight”

“Oh s-sure Eddie”

“Okay just let me get somethings and I’ll be in there”

“Okay”

Eddie walked back into this room and grabbed a couple of small things like, toothbrush, toothpaste, his phone etc. Then he changed into his pajamas, grabbed his things and went into Richie’s room.

“Richie is everything okay?”

“Yeah, I’m just thinking”

“That’s dangerous”

“Yeah, so are you”

“What that supposed to mean?”

“I like you Eddie… More than anything”

Eddie smiled and he remembered how his heart was pounding against his chest and having butterflies in his stomach.

“I like you too, Richie more than a friend”

Richie smiled and hold Eddie hand

“What do we do”

“Well, first of all stop calling me Ed’s

Richie rolled his eyes and chuckled

"Second, we should wait and see what happens next?”

Richie looked at Eddie, he placed his hand on Eddie cheek and gently rubbed his cut on his face. He closed his eyes and moved closer into Richie’s hand, he looked up at him. Eddie leaned in, then he kissed him. Richie pulled Eddie closer and made the kiss deeper. Eddie grip onto his hair. Richie gently pushed him down onto the bed and they had a heated make out. When they pulled apart to catch their breath, Eddie pushed Richie onto his back then he got on top of him.

Eddie slowly took off his shirt

To be continued

[dustedmagazine]

Dust, Volume 5, No. 2

Abjects

It must have been the polar vortex, forcing Dusted writers to stay in out of sub-zero weather and coercing them to focus on records they’d been neglecting.  That’s the most plausible explanation for this especially robust edition of Dust which covers black metal from Tunisia, free jazz from Chicago, desert blues from the Sahara and a punk band from all over the place.  This edition’s contributors include Jennifer Kelly, Jonathan Shaw, Patrick Masterson, Ian Mathers, Isaac Olsen, Nate Knaebel and Bill Meyer.

Abjects—Never Give Up (Yippee Ki Yay)

Never Give Up by Abjects

Punk rock is the common language for this globe-hopping threesome, the singer/guitarist Noemi hailing from Spain, bassist Yuki from Japan and Alice, the drummer, from Spain. Their slash-and-bang aggression softens, just a bit, in tight, dizzy harmonies in cuts like the title and “Long Way to Go.” Others, including the single, “The Storm” stutter and swagger on hard staccato foundations, while sweetening the pot with all-hands vocals. This is basic stuff, executed with a certain amount of flair and skill and broken by occasional blistering, shreddy not-exactly-class-of-1979 guitar solos. All three members have spent time in the U.K. and have strong opinions on EU membership. Their “Fuck Brexit” rampages and rolls in rapid-fire repugnance, with a snarling tangle of guitars, a tom-tom fury of drums. You might hear hints of Reading Rainbow and Grass Widow in the vocal-centered cuts, but “Awake” is pure, four-slashing, garage punk, a la L7 and the Ramones, but with a tiny bit of an accent.

Jennifer Kelly

 Ayyur — The Lunatic Creature (Sentient Ruin Laboratories) 

The Lunatic Creature by Ayyur

“Lugubrious Fields” is the first and most interesting track on The Lunatic Creature, a new EP by Tunisian black metal act Ayyur. Like the other songs on the tape, “Lugubrious Fields” is driven by layered guitar riffs that crackle and buzz with anxious menace. Melody manages to cut through the guitars’ miasmatic fog, and vocals, supplied by bandleader and songwriter Angra Mainyu, growl and whither, emerging and disappearing back into the thick mix. Much of the track lingers at midtempo, held there by the riffs’ accumulated power. Don’t let the relatively exotic sound of the phrase “Tunisian black metal” fool or titillate you — this is pretty conventional stuff, evocative by turns of the USBM Cascadian movement and then of tougher, more orthodox acts like Aosoth (and it should be noted that former Deathspell Omega vocalist Shaxul provides drums on this record). But if midtempo black metal is your thing, this tape is worth a listen.  

Jonathan Shaw

 Dawn — New Breed (Local Action)

new breed by DAWN

Goldenheart was the record that put her on the map, Blackheart got all the attention and Redemption was the overly long attention-getter, but the more I listen to New Breed, the more I think this is the record Dawn Richard was meant to make. It’s not a pristinely polished pop production a la Goldenheart or anything Janelle Monáe’s done since The ArchAndroid (though it likely won’t surprise you to learn that Monáe reached out to Richard last year either because of or as an inspiration for the latter’s cover of “Pynk”), and it’s not the purely synthetic club constructions of Redemption or the Infrared EP; if anything, this is a little disjointed and sloppy – song transitions can be fairly abrupt and the sonic arc can zig and zag across R&B, funk, soul and pop with political sutures loosely keeping the theme. But it holds together just enough to be her most exciting album, and certainly the one with the most potential for a wider listenership than just futurist R&B enthusiasts. Put another way: It’ll be a travesty if you don’t hear “Dreams and Converse” playing from every bodega, bank lobby and beat-up SUV in five months.  

Patrick Masterson

DenMother — Past Life (Counting on Downstairs)

“Face,” the opening track of now-Fredericton (by way of Toronto) based DenMother’s new record both marks the end of a busy year (2018 saw releases in January, June, and here December) and exhibits a contrast that gets right to what makes Sabarah Pilon’s work under the name always compelling. The first sound you hear is a lilting melody of what sounds like a synthesizer trying to sing like a person; before too long, it’s joined and almost (but not quite) overwhelmed by a more obviously machine-based blare of sound, a thickly sliding, grinding tone. It might sound like those elements are incompatible, or that they wouldn’t mesh well with the song DenMother sings over them, but the result feels perfectly natural. And if “Face” makes for a great example of the kind of music DenMother’s been making for years now, Past Life also shows some new dynamics and approaches, whether it’s the bereft upright bass-and-voice intro to “All Black” or the more heavily textured, submerged songcraft of “Not a Likely Story.” Past Life features both, in the form of the guitar reverb and vocal refrain duo of “The Desert,” one of the starkest DenMother songs and, in the warmly embracing and emotional ambiguous “Fish Cars,” maybe the best example of her ‘classic’ sound in a year or two. Here’s hoping for a similarly active 2019 from one of Canada’s best hidden treasures.

Ian Mathers

 Etran de L'Aïr — No. 1 (Sahel Sounds)

No. 1 by Etran de L'Aïr

In the decade or so since Tinariwen broke through in Europe and the US, there’s been such a glut of Saharan records that it’s easy to miss a real stunner when it comes out. Easier still when said stunner is by a budget wedding band from Agadez and released by the prolific boutique label, Sahel Sounds. If you also missed Etran de L'Aïr’s No. 1 when it came out last year, don’t wait any longer to pick up one of 2018’s most dopamine releasing LPs. Recorded live outside the band/family’s home in front of an ecstatic crowd, Etran’s music, with its flashy but oh-so-sweet interlocking guitar lines and unwillingness to let a good groove go to waste, sounds like a stripped-down, scrappy, North African garage rock version of Congolese soukous. After the throat-clearing first track, they never touch the ground. Pure pleasure. Highest recommendation.

Isaac Olson

 Ex-Display Model— Ex-Display Model (Self released)

Ex-Display Model by Ex-Display Model

The fact that Ex-Display Model, as of their debut, sound a little bit like Fujiya & Miyagi isn’t a big surprise. Plenty of listeners tend to identify bands via vocalists, for one thing, and F&M’s David Best has one of the more pleasingly indelible voices in the field. And in fact, Ex-Display Model started out as a solo project for Best, before he started working with AK/DK’s Ed Chivers, so when the opening “Immaculate Rip” channels a tinge of F&M’s cool, sardonic electro-rock it’s hard to be upset by more of a good thing. But then the song channels a malfunctioning guitar pedal for a much more abrasive chorus, and this taut, sharply formed debut is off the races. Whether it’s adding Au Revoir Simone’s Annie Hart on the reflective, melancholy “Autopilot” or going slightly glam on “Swing of Things” (or, for that matter, doing one of the best straight Motorik homages in a while on “Torschlusspanik”) Ex-Display Model wind up distinguishing themselves easily from either parent project, while offering some tantalizing glimpses of where the project could go further, starting from this basis next time around. The closing title track channels the duo’s instincts towards both dense repetition and thrilling squall into a fine climax — display-ready or not, here’s hoping for more from them.  

Ian Mathers

 Foster / Young / Zerang—Bind the Hand(s) That Feed (Relative Pitch)

Bind the Hand(s) That Feed by Michael Foster / Katherine Young / Michael Zerang

Bassoonist Katherine Young and percussionist Michael Zerang first encountered New York-based tenor / soprano saxophonist Michael Foster when the latter musician came to Chicago to participate in the 2018 Exposure Series . Originally conceived as a residency to bring an out of town composer and a group of Chicagoan improvisers, that year the event played out as a sequence of encounters between local improvising musicians/presenters and their counterparts in other cities around the USA. Coming from different aesthetic corners and generations, they build out from common commitments to improvisation and extended technique. You can hear them figure out what works as the set progresses. Things start with a scrape and a rasp; Zerang loves friction, Foster sucks and gargles, and Young magnifies and distorts her instrument’s woody timbres with electronics. After an initial fractious dust-up, they pull back to explore micro-sounds, patient gestures and complementary contours. The trio collectively realizes such a fertile environment that it’d be a shame if they didn’t re-convene to see what else they can grow in it.

Bill Meyer

 Hoover / “Hoover1” 12” (Nowt Recordings)

HOOVER1 by nOWt

No DC post-hardcore, vacuum cleaners or unloved blanket-bearing presidents need apply on René Pawlowitz’s latest alias, pardon, release as Hoover. The Frankfurt producer best known as Shed (but certainly willing to go by a number of other names — just look at that list) has recently been exploring throwback rave music as a style beyond his usual triangulation of techno, house and dubstep. Unlike the 12” he put out for XL as The Higher in November, which featured prominent vocals, brash synths and uptempo percussion experiments, the Hoover vinyl is a more restrained effort. For evidence, check the almost stripped-back feel of the a-side, which uses the common trope of a distended female vocal sample before an all-enveloping astral synth swoops in around a little before the two-minute mark. But that’s as far as he’s willing to wade into these waters – the percussion holds station and remains clipped. The half-stepping b-side, meanwhile, is a sumptuous after-hours burner that arguably does less than the a-side; it almost feels like a cut better suited for the Workshop crowd. Beautiful studies in sound design and mood both, but if you were looking for something a little, er, higher, Hoover’s probably not going to get you there.

Patrick Masterson

  The Hunches — Same New Thing (Almost Ready Records)

The popular narrative attributes the heavily scare-quoted garage rock revival of the early-2000s to bands like the Strokes, the Hives, and the White Stripes. Let me tell you something, no disrespect to Jack or Pelle, but that's just fucking dumb, and you should know that. It started right here and it pretty much ended here, too. The Hunches would get louder, artier, and weirder leading up to their demise in 2009, but these previously unreleased 2002 demos (some of which would appear later in revised form, while others are completely new to the world) find the band in a raw, feral state. Hart Gledhill sound sounds like he's about to cough up a lung and rip his heart out on every song, and guitarist Chris Gunn takes aim with rapid-fire KBD riffs, drags the listener through rusted shards of post-Stooges shrapnel skronk, and then offers the necessary first-aid in the form of chiming, downright melodic leads. Same New Thing shows that while everyone else was playing "Incense and Peppermints," the Hunches had been playing "Psycho" all along.  

Nate Knaebel 

 Jovan Karcic—2015 (Scioto)

2015 by Jovan Karcic

Jovan Karcic played guitar in the agitated pop punk band Gaunt during the 1990s, and he’s currently sitting in on drums for the raucous punk band Scrawl. You might not expect his latest solo album 2015 to be as sleek and full-throatedly synthy as it is, or to recall the lush keyboard atmospheres of the Cure or the chilled funk syncopation of smooth R&B. But there it is, Karcic’s songs are gleaming, surging masses of synthethic sound, which slip from self-searching confessionalism into ambient reveries. 2015 looms much larger than your typical bedroom-recorded autonomous songwriter project, with brighter, more polished textures in service of its down-on-its-luck narrative. “Larry’s,” for instance, visits the colorless desolation of a mid-American tavern, the kind with pinball machines and pool tables and decades-old alliances scratched in initials into table tops. And yet it’s recorded in what might be the very opposite of kitchen sink realism, with booming dance-floor rhythms and thick layers of keyboard interplay and a 1970s Dire Straits-ish guitar solo erupting out of the interstices. “Lesserman,” later on, draws a contrast between the downbeaten “Lesserman” and the more successful “Betterman” who “eats breakfast with his kids, and looks them in the eyes,” and confides that, “today brings opportunities for joy.” Yet though the track intensifies when it gets to the “Betterman” verses, with massed vocals and additional electric keyboard parts, Karcic’s heart is with “Lesserman.” Maybe 2015 is “Lesserman” imagining an impossibly happy ending, lush, sweetened with keyboards, pulsing with a positive rhythm, while outside sleet needles down on dirty streets, and tomorrow is never a better day.

Jennifer Kelly  

 Eli Keszler — Stadium (Shelter Press)

Stadium by Eli Keszler

You need people to fill up a stadium, and this record sounds like just the tool to expand Eli Keszler’s audience. His past work has included kicking out the jams with Oren Ambarchi and wiring a pumping station for sound. They’re worthy endeavors, but not ones likely to pull a stadium-sized crowd, or even an audience like his recent mates Oneohtrix Point Never and Rashad Becker might draw. So Keszler has recontextualized his extraordinary percussive technique and his abiding concern with spatial sound by pairing them with more accessible sounds. The opening track “Measurement Doesn’t Change the System at All” (a claim that physicists could dispute) combines a creeping Farfisa melody and sprinting, undeniable groove. The vibraphone and bass drum on “Flying Floor for U.S. Airways” are magnified until they are as thick and plush as sofa stuffing; the patter of dryer drum and stick sounds manifests a clear focus point in an otherwise cloudy space. And while 

“Fashion of Echo” begins with a typical Keszler gambit, using rapidly and precisely articulated shifts between the different parts of the kit to suggest a three-dimensional configuration in motion, there’s more forward momentum than in the past. Stadium sounds rather like something Aphex Twin might achieve if he took up the drums.

Bill Meyer

  Kukuruz Quartet — Julius Eastman Piano Interpretations (Intakt)

Julius Eastman Piano Interpretations by Kukuruz Quartet

George Lewis’s liner notes underscore the precariousness of Julius Eastman’s profile. From promising beginnings as a performer and a composer of avant-garde classical music in the 1970s and 1980s, he spiraled into obscurity and homelessness and was almost forgotten. If not for the luck, if you can call it that, that the current concern with elevating under-heard narratives, for which Eastman certainly qualifies — black, queer, an extraordinary singer, an acutely challenging composer in an idiom more likely to borrow from people of color than to follow their lead — follows his death by only a couple decades, would he be totally forgotten? So let’s take the emergence of an album dedicated to his work by a European piano quartet as a good sign. Bright recording and exacting performances make this an easier listen that some of Eastman’s own performances, and the density made possible by the use of four grand pianos amplifies the archness of “Evil Nigger” and the spiritual aura of “Gay Guerilla.” Two less notoriously entitled pieces, a robust exercise in overlaid patterns called “Fugue no. 7” and a long, barely there exploration of the piano’s innards named “Buddha,” round out a set well worth hearing.

Bill Meyer

 loscil – Submers (Kranky)

Submers by loscil

Kranky continues their reissue program of Scott Morgan’s earlier work as loscil, bringing his second album Submers (originally released on CD in 2002) out on vinyl. loscil records tend to operate on two levels, with the immediate/visceral impact of his richly soothing and/or foreboding music (still, at this point, fairly summed up as “ambient dub”) working hand in hand with some sort of conceptual angle for both artist and listener to meditate upon. With Submers, it was submarines, including the Russian Kursk, which had recently lost all hands after a torpedo mishap during a naval exercise. While more recent releases have shown just how well Morgan can fold in the work of collaborators, on this record he’s working strictly from sample sources and composing using a custom-built sequencer, no synthesizers or acoustic instruments involved. The result is an enveloping, suitably aquatic sound world from the shimmering, gently pulsing opening track “Argonaut I” into a solid hour of engrossing deep sound. Morgan has continued to refine his work but there’s a reason Submers brought him to wider attention at the time - it’s still one of the highlights in one of the most solid discographies in ambient music.  

Ian Mathers  

 Lucille Furs — Another Land (Requieum for Un Twister)

The first thing you hear is a bassline borrowed from “Come Together,” the second a hazy overtone of keyboards and guitars. Lucille Furs, out of Chicago, are deep into a 1960s psychedelic lode, with hints of Love and the Zombies wafting through their low-key lysergic tunes. Slanty, surfy-toned guitar splinter the air in “Paint Euphrosyne Blue,” chortling organics burble up through the tune. It’s more emphatic than most of these tunes a fuzz-garage raver in line with Black Angels or the Allah-Las. Elsewhere the vibe is sleepier, but still enticing. While not exactly overstuffed—there are only five of them and the most exotic instrument is a mellotron—these songs feel plush and carefully arranged. Baroque garage pop isn’t really a category, but maybe it should be.

Jennifer Kelly

 Murderer — I Did It All for You (Toxic State)

I Did It All For You by Murderer

With just an extremely short 2013 demo to their name, Murderer went recording and came back with this 15-tracker released in the dying days of December that picks at a scab of more than just straight-ahead garage vibes: There are the gentle chimes that color the margins of “Piece of Candy”; that lazy, burned-out surf riff on “Cowboy” and “Moonlight”; the creepy dreaming of “Juicy Fruit Dream”; the slightly overbearing keyboard flourish on “A Diamond Just for You”; the fact that there are four different tracks all called “Perfect” here; and so on. Featuring commanding drum work by Sam Ryser (also of Crazy Spirit and Dawn of Humans) and guitar and vocals courtesy Hank Wood of thee Hammerheads, the thing that came to my mind after a first listen was Pink Flag-era Wire, but the taut post-punk goes in enough different directions to get you racking your brain for better analogs from the turn of the ‘80s. “I need it to be perfect / I need it to be real / That’s just how I feel” each “Perfect” intones; in its own way, it certainly is that. Great album for the fuckin’ record reviewer in your life.

Patrick Masterson

 Doug Paisley — Starter Home (No Quarter)

Starter Home by Doug Paisley

The title track of Doug Paisley’s Starter Home is the sort of perfect instant classic that most songwriters on the folk/country spectrum spend an entire career hoping they’ll write. While “Starter Home” and its autopsy of middle-class aspiration, repression and stasis could have been written anytime in the last 60 years, it has particular resonance ten years into a housing crisis that only the wealthy think is over. Nothing else here is as good as “Starter Home”, but “No Way to Know,” “Mister Wrong,” “Drinking with a Friend,” and “Waiting” come close. The other four tracks are all worth hearing at least once, too. Like Paisley’s previous records, Starter Home is a better-than-average folk record with a handful of knockouts. He’s going to have an incredible Best Of collection someday.

Isaac Olson

 Manuel Troller — Vanishing Points (three:four)

Vanishing Points by Manuel Troller

Rock dynamics shape the music that Manuel Troller makes with Schnellertollermeier. In KvG’s Bottom Orchestra, he shifts nimbly from chamber music to free improvisation to shattered chanson. But when the Swiss guitarist plays solo, it’s all about the possibilities of his gear. Troller could not get the tones he gets without a plugged-in signal chain; with it, his sounds range from feathery cirrus to fractured granite. He uses delays to freeze moments of motion, sometimes to subject them to examination and other times to use chunks of digital stutter as building blocks. This description may sound a bit clinical, but Troller has a knack for turning sound into experience. Sometimes this record feels like flight, other times like you’re stumbling around in a dark and cluttered factory space, but it never feels like a guy just fiddling with his strings and boxes. 

Bill Meyer

 Jamila Woods — “Zora” single (Jagjaguwar)

LEGACY! LEGACY! by Jamila Woods

The Zora Neale Hurston quotation I keep returning to in listening to the second single from Jamila Woods’ sophomore full-length Legacy! Legacy! is, “I love myself when I am laughing … and then again when I am looking mean and impressive.” The 29-year-old Chicagoan is exuding confidence from every pore on this three-minute track, luring you from the soft power of “I tenderly fill my enemies with white light” to the leveling of “You will know never everything, everything / I will never know everything, everything” to the outright ascension of “I may be small, I may speak soft / but you can see the change in the water.” In a word: Recognize. The gorgeous harp flourishes, sparsely echoing synths and dusty groove of the beat, accompanied with backing vocals mixed to accentuate rather than overwhelm Woods’ lead, further illustrate who is running the show here. As Hurston also once said, there are years that ask questions and years that answer; for any doubters left after 2016’s Heavn (and aren’t there always a few), May’s Legacy! Legacy! should firmly weed them out. Get ready.

Patrick Masterson