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bigskydreaming · 3 years ago

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what are your opinions on we are robin?

Massively complicated by the fact that DC's writers don't have an ACAB bone in their collective bodies.

Dunno how new to my blog you are and thus how familiar or not you are with my ACAB stance for Dick and my personal tendency to never acknowledge or interact with the specific idea of Dick as a cop...like there's more than enough material for me to work with without ever having to delve into that and I fundamentally believe being a cop is counter to everything I see as Dick's core premise and makes no sense given the specific origins and continuities I view as most 'him' -

But I WOULD have a lot of thoughts about how Dick would feel about this massive city-wide movement that he had no hand in creating and how he would inevitably feel personally responsible for every life to put on a facscimile of his family's costume AND the things they did in those costumes (such as the kid who was manipulated into killing someone while in that guise, per the Court of Owls' agenda).....

AND I would have a ton of thoughts about the fact that it was Alfred who secretly engineered this movement and how he of all people should know how Dick might feel about that, and thus how Dick WOULD feel about that information, but complicated and coupled with the fact that Alfred most certainly was motivated in part by his grief for Dick and seeing this as a kind of legacy, a way to honor his grandson, and able to justify to himself any transgressions towards Dick's feelings here with the idea that Dick wasn't alive TO be hurt by his actions here....

BUT the reason I avoid engaging with We Are Robin content beyond acknowledging it as Duke's origin story in the background of Duke content I write....

Is I absolutely can not - or more to the point - WILL NOT - attempt to justify Dick's decision to get all the kids arrested and locked up for their own safety while he went after the Court alone.

To be clear - I absolutely am of the opinion that Dick was and always will be right and justified in not wanting to see anyone get hurt in the colors and image of his family's legacy. That this has absolutely NOTHING to do with his impression of any such individual's competency, nor is it about trying to restrict their agency. That its wholly a PERSONAL thing for him, its a private instinct that is entirely reasonable and allowable, for him to have a kneejerk need to keep more people from dying or suffering in that specific mantle that he never intended to BE a legacy beyond just himself.

I headcanon that after Jason himself, nobody hated the memorial in the cave more than Dick, because the last image he had of his family was them lying dead on the ground of the circus ring, just broken bodies colored from high above in the classic Grayson colors and covered in blood. That THAT specifically is the image Dick so often saw in his nightmares in his early years in the Manor, that is the SPECIFIC visual Bruce so often comforted him about upon waking....and that it was a massive slap in the face and an indication of Bruce's most unfortunate tunnel-vision tendencies in his own grief, that it never even OCCURRED to Bruce that in memorializing Jason in the specific way he did, he was also subjecting Dick to a constant, ever present visual reminder of one of Dick's personal most traumatic images....the sight and idea of his family, now not just his parents but also his brother....reduced to just broken, bloody costumes he'd never get to see as anything but that again.

Not to mention then captioning this memorial with "a good soldier" and thus in the process of disrespecting Jason's true bond with Bruce, simply because Bruce couldn't handle that at the time and was trying to literally DISTANCE himself from that view of his loss, the loss of a son, of family....Bruce simultaneously disrespected Dick's legacy of his family and everything he'd created Robin to be, and envisioned Jason-as-Robin to be from the moment Dick gave Jason his own old costume and embraced him as the new Robin and by extension, HIS family as much as Bruce's.....like, no matter what Bruce intended for HIMSELF and his feelings about Jason's death with that caption, he literally reduced Dick's tribute to his parents and expression of brotherhood to his brother to.....nothing more than the uniform of a child soldier, a subordinate of the Batman in HIS personal crusade. Something that Jason never actually was, and Dick CERTAINLY had never created - or gave Jason his blessing as - Robin to be.

So on that front, I have no problem with Dick WANTING to keep all the Robins, every child who called themselves one, safe - and to take on the Court of Owls alone, by himself, because like it or not, that will ALWAYS be personal for him. That is about HIS family in a way that it will never be about the family, the heritage, of anyone else, even his adopted siblings. The Court were after HIM, specifically, and always were and always would be. I don't see anything hypocritical about Dick's desire to keep kids out of that fight when he himself would have never been okay with Bruce benching him as Robin in some random fight....because this fight is deeply personal for Dick in a way that's not transferable, and to be honest, I see his desire to keep anyone else from dying as a Robin, in a fight against the Court ESPECIALLY....I see it as an inherently selfish want of Dick's.

A selfishness that I think he's entirely justified in having. Its not about anyone but him. Its about HIM not having to deal with the burden of any more deaths in his family's colors, his family's name, when he in all likelihood originally created Robin in that particular guise because he figured he'd likely die as Robin at some point, and thus he'd never have to see anyone die in the image of his family's costume and colors ever again because the only person left TO die in them, at the time, was he himself.....thus kinda ensuring for Dick that when he did die, he'd go out just as his parents did, which in his youth at least was likely a weirdly kinda comforting idea for him.

So on the one hand, Dick's desire to keep the kids out of harm's way was ultimately a selfish - but justifiably so - desire to not see anyone else dead or injured in a literal WAR of CHILDREN being fought in his personal family colors and image....especially when 99% of them had literally no idea what the colors they were fighting in signified and meant for the mantle's original creator.

BUT.

BUT BUT BUT BUT BUT.

Where this all falls apart for me, and why I don't just go with this take and instead just kinda sidestep around the whole story itself and don't engage with it....

Is there's absolutely no way to 'fix' the story as is.....without coming up with an entirely different middle climax, in which Dick finds some way to sideline the kids without getting them all arrested.

Cuz see, what I'm NOT gonna ever do, is try and argue from an in story perspective, that Dick would ever be stupid enough, or try to justify, getting kids - many of them marginalized, and people of color specifically - arrested in the name of keeping them SAFE.

That's just stupid to the nth degree, and unilaterally the fault of DC's writers being oblivious to the real-world realities of police brutality and the interactions and dynamic people of color have with the actual police.

It was DC's fuck-up there, but I - especially as a white writer and fan - am not going to try and fix or transform that fuck up short of entirely rewriting the whole second half of We Are Robin's plot, which to be honest, I don't see as likely to ever be a priority for me as there's so much other content in Dick's narratives I'd rather get to first. Its just way too far down the list, the premise itself doesn't interest or engage me enough to make me WANT to invest in that particular story heavily enough to create a whole other direction for it, that navigates around the issue I have with it here.

So again, I mostly just....don't engage with it. Because I can't see Dick's stance on the issue of his family's legacy ever being other than what I always see it as, and thus see it as here, but I'm definitely never going to find it appropriate to write Dick trying to justify his decision to ENGINEER the police arresting all these kids for their PROTECTION....to a black character like Duke in specific.

Because its not. But again, this wasn't Dick's decision at the end of the day, because he's a fictional character who can only make the decisions he's written making. And thus it was the decision of writers who wrote these characters in situations that contained analogues to real world issues without keeping centered an awareness of how those issues intersect with people of different identities, particularly people of color and black people in specific.

So its not a decision that made me like, dislike Dick, because its one that I don't think he should have ever been written making, but its not a decision I care to justify in universe.

And that's about all I think I ever intend to - or even could - expand on that subject, I'm pretty sure. *Shrugs*

Oh wait, no, I lied!

Quick thought for white fans in particular....because I HAVE seen this subject tackled at least once or twice in fiction, from an ACAB standpoint that had Duke reaming out Dick for his decision here, for the same reasons I'm outlining above.....

This isn't an attempt to gatekeep or police anybody as like, I'm not actually ever trying to do that, I'd have to know every fic writer's personal identity and marginalizations TO do that, and I'm not pretending to know that or asking to, like, its just not on the menu for me so please don't get me wrong, this is purely aimed at a plea for white writers in particular to exercise personal accountability and good, sincere judgment in this regard:

No matter your personal feelings about Dick Grayson, the subject of Robin, or any of this in general, PLEASE keep in mind before utilizing Duke as a mouthpiece for giving Dick shit for this in the name of smearing the latter's character or making him look bad, like.....

Dick is of Romani descent. In the New 52 continuity as well as pre-Flashpoint. That's been made explicitly clear, and as such......there is no substitute in our current real world zeitgeist for the interactions the police have with black people, but please keep in mind that Romani people have a very, VERY long history of being subject to police brutality and persecution in a wide range of countries. Its a big part of why so many people are so uncomfortable with cop!Dick in the first place, and as such, it makes treating him as this naive, privileged white guy when having the realities of police brutality explained to him by another character, like.....not look exactly like you might intend there, because the reality is he's not SUPPOSED to be that character, but too few people at DC, and ESPECIALLY the people writing the We Are Robin stories, like, completely fail to ever extend the idea of Dick being Romani to any kind of examination of what kinds of lived experiences, perspective or perceptions this results in him having specifically.

And that's a failure on DC's part, but you don't need to go making it your failure as well, so for those of us who are white like, this really is something that should be kept centered before we decide to engage with story elements like the above one from We Are Robin, and like, if we do, then HOW we go about that specifically.

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fantastic-nonsense · 3 years ago

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hi noticed your post about meticulous writing process and i think thats rly cool as hell of you and now i wanna read your stuff

*nervous laughter*

Okay, so here's the thing: I haven't actually published any fic in the past like...8 years, and what fic I have published desperately needs major overhauls and rewrites, because I was in high school the last time I seriously looked at them. Everything that I have published is on my old FFN profile, and the newest fic on there? I wrote when I was 16. So...meh. I'm proud I wrote them, but they are absolutely not reflective of my current ability to craft a story or write.

In terms of Batfic, I've got a collection of half-written fics and outlines, some of which are research minimal and some of which are these long, sprawling works that will never see the light of day to anyone except me unless I manage to get over halfway through them (because I have a personal policy not to post any long fic unless it's already halfway done, so as to give myself proper spacing and motivation to actually finish it). So while you can't read any finished work, I'm happy to post an excerpt or two for you (and maybe it will compel me to actually finish and post them).

So...UNEDITED excerpt from a funny but ultimately rather sad fic I'm doing (tentatively titled 'Leave Me and Live') about Jason and his accidental mother/mother figure acquisition habit, written because the boy canonically collects women who want to mother the shit out of him but also loses basically all of them. Each section of the fic is designed to explore Jason's relationship with one of his moms; this excerpt is a tiny bit from near the end of the fic, from a section that takes place within the DC Bombshells universe:

There is only this: Jasón, proudly waving the flag of the Republic, running down a burning street with determination in his stride and a thrilled defiance in his smile.

There is only this: the cruel report of gunfire, eyes widening in shock, and a faint gasp of pain. He’s propelled forward by the force of the bullets, his cap knocked clear off his head as he falls to the ground, quiet and unmoving.

There is only this: a woman clad in cheetah print, a cruel smile on her face and a rifle in her hand, looking Kate directly in the eye from across the smoke-filled street as she and Renee stand stock-still, struck dumb by the shock of watching bullets hit their son’s chest. The world stands still, breathless for a single moment, before the sounds of battle again sound in her ears.

There is only this: Jasón, bleeding out on the street as one mother cradles him in her arms and the other sobs brokenly while standing guard, determined even in her grief to protect her loved ones. There are no last words or comforting hands in this moment, only the shades of red that fill their tunneled vision: the blood dripping from Kate’s fingers, the gloves decorating the Cheetah’s hands as she walks away, triumphant, the tangled mess that is Kate’s hair…and the ever-present red cap, dirtied and bloodstained as it lies on the ground beside its fallen wearer.

There is only this: a gravestone in a cemetery on the outskirts of Zaragoza, bearing the name Jasón Kane-Montoya, the words “Beloved Son,” and an inscription in honor of a boy who refused to leave his country behind: “But Who Would Be Left to Fight for Her?”

In this universe, Jason Todd loses two mothers not because he is left behind, but because he himself leaves them behind. For Kate and Renee, it's a loss from which they never recover. Renee throws herself into her work, her face a stony mask of grit and determination and guilt. Kate spends the days afterwards in a haze of grief, only moving because she must and only rising out of bed because Renee forces her to. What good is fighting Franco if Jasón will not be around to see their success? Whether they win or lose, the stubborn Basque boy with a heart as big as the sea will remain cold and still, buried quietly in the dead of night while on the run from Nationalist spies. Their relationship does not survive the loss, and Kate returns to Gotham City alone and empty-handed…but not without a new cause.

When Commander Waller inducts The Batwoman into the Bombshells three years later and sends her off to Berlin, offhandedly noting that she has “more reason than most to hate the National Socialists,” it is not the safari Kate thinks of. It is not her broken relationship with Renee or the ruined dig in Egypt or the pathetic man selling the names of Jewish refugees to the Nazis that she hunted down in a warehouse three nights ago. No, she thinks of a bright-eyed boy in a red cap, curling up against her side that night in Huesca and making her laugh as the bombs rained down from the sky.

The Bombshells section wound up being in a bit of an experimental writing style, and I also inadvertandly ended up doing a frankly ridiculous amount of research on the Spanish Civil War for a section that's ultimately only around 2.5k. So...look forward to this fic being published some time around Christmas, if I can get my act together and re-read some of Jason's pre-Crisis stories to get the Nocturna section right!

#asks #my writing #jason todd #batfam #long post #fic: leave me and live #op I would like you to know I have an 'Issue References and Historical Notes' section in this fic‚ if that's of interest to you

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everythingloveandanimated · 4 years ago

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Tangled Season 3 Rewrite: Varian/Quirin

Like a lot of fans of Tangled the Series/ Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure, I found myself unsatisfied with the relationship building in Season 3, mostly with dropping and under development of Varian’s relationships and redemption. I’ll be posting a series of ideas on how I would rewrite Season 3 to make it more satisfying. This list will cover Varian and Quirin’s relationship.

The Note: Instead of saying “All it said was ‘I’m so proud of you Varian, I always have been.’” Quirin says “Too many things to get into right now, but the most important thing I wanted you to know was that I’m so proud of you Varian. I always have been.”

Inspired by a scene Crystal-Moon-101’s fanfic “Stars in My Eyes”, Quirin rewrites the note and leaves on Varian’s bed, or he just presents it to Varian during the day.

Quirin’s past: Quirin opens up about his past, the Moonstone, the Dark Kingdom, his time in the Brotherhood, why he had to leave and why he settled down in Corona. When asked why he didn’t tell any of this to Varian he admits that he was scared of what Varian would do with the information. He was afraid that Varian would do something well-intentioned, but rash, that would land him in trouble with the King. He was afraid that Varian would try to bring Rapunzel into this and mislead her or cause her to clash with the King (he wouldn’t know unless told that Rapunzel was at odds with her dad after “The Quest for Varian”), suggest they go to the Dark Kingdom, start arranging the journey himself or tell all of Corona why the black rocks were here. He was afraid of what the King would do to his son if he started disturbing the delicate game/balance the King had made of the situation. He tells Varian a trait of his is when he sets his mind to do something he gets tunnel vision. He doesn’t think about how far reaching the effects of his actions can be. Varian admits all of what his father said is true, and that his father knows him better than he thought he did. Quirin can tell by Varian’s face, tone, and posture that one or a few of the things he feared and tried to prevent may have happened anyway.

Varian’s confession: This next scene played three ways in my head. One with just Rapunzel present, one with Rapunzel and Eugene present, the other without either them present, it’s just Varian and Quirin. It takes place immediately after Quirin shares his past.

With tears and a shaky voice, Varian admits what he’s done over the past year. Quirin has to walk out of the room to process what Varian has done, leaving Varian brokenhearted and sobbing.

With just Rapunzel, she takes Varian into her arms and holds him while he cries. She tells him to give his father a few minutes to process things. She says that even if Quirin is ashamed of what his son did, he should be proud that Varian told him the truth even though it was hard for Varian to say. After a few minutes, Rapunzel gets up to talk to Quirin to bring him back into the room to comfort Varian. She gives him a moment to speak his mind. He’s distressed at the mess Varian has landed himself in. He feels like he’s failed him as a father. He knows he can’t protect his son now. Varian has to fight this on his own. He has to watch his son struggle through even more distrust, more sneers, more leery looks, even some ridicule, name calling and harsh words, possibly threats and acts of violence. Things he has tried to shield Varian from or soften the blows of. Rapunzel tells him that he can make up for that by being there for Varian now. Being his support, reminding him that at the end of the day, there’s someone he can always come home to that loves him dearly.

With Eugene present, Eugene too has to step back a bit to process Varian’s side of the story. When he has done this, he places a comforting hand on Varian’s shoulder before he checks on Quirin seeing that Rapunzel has Varian in her arms. Here, Quirin admits that he wants to protect his son but now he feels that he really can’t. Eugene tells him that yes, Quirin’s ability to protect Varian from the people is relatively low right now. Varian screwed up and has climb out of this hole on his own and make amends himself. He also agrees that Quirin has been a bit a of distant father, even throws in a joking reference to the amber which earns a bit of a glare. Eugene recomposes himself and says Quirin can make that up to Varian standing by his side and support him. “You left him out there” (pointing back to dining room) “thinking that you’re ashamed of him, and that he’s lost any hope for a relationship he can have with you. Go back in there/Go to your son, and let him know that you’re here for him.”

When it’s just the two of them they are in the dining room or in Quirin’s room looking at his chest he brought from the Dark Kingdom. After Varian admits what he’s done Quirin leaves to process and compose himself. Varian, heartbroken, tears streaming down his face pleads in a desperate broken voice for his father to not leave him. His voice gets smaller as his father walks away. Quirin comes back after calming down. He holds his son as he cries into his shirt, apologizing over and over. It’s a rough conversation with Varian being vulnerable in his shame and Quirin venting some frustration but trying to hold it back for his son’s sake. At the end, Quirin says he’s proud of his son for telling him the truth.

Scene- Quirin comes in seeing his child hunched over, hugging himself as he sobs. He walks over to him, gently puts his hands over his son’s. Varian either jolts at the contact, or he takes a second before he looks up at his father. They hold each other’s gaze, reading the emotions the the others’ eyes before they shift their positions. Varian is practically on his father’s lap. Quirin brings Varian’s head to his chest, one hand on his head the other wrapping around his son’s small body. He really is a child dwarfed by his father, wrapped in the cocoon of his father’s arms.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I-I’m… I’m so sorry, Dad.”

“What are you sorry for?” Quirin asks. There’s a slight roughness in his voice mixed with other emotions. He’s sad, heartbroken, scared for his boy but decides to be strong for him. He’s trying to be gentle to coax words out of his son.

“Everything! For disappointing you, for what I did to the King and Queen, to Corona, (his voice speeds up before dissolving into sobs) to Rapunzel, the Saporians, the amber, all of it!”

He collapses into sobs that shake his whole body. Quirin shifts his arms to make sure he has room to breathe. Varian buries his face in his father’s shirt.

“I wish you would think about these things before you do them. Think about the consequences of your actions and how far they can reach.”

…

“I hoped that it wouldn’t require a death to make you stop and examine your actions,” Quirin said.

“But it did.” Varian said a few tears coming down his face. “Y-your d-death, and almost a (sniffle) year in prison.”

Clearing the Air, Making Amends- Topics that the two will talk about and how they promise to change or do things differently moving forward.

Moonstone Headcanon: Quirin has PTSD from his time in the Dark Kingdom. The helplessness he felt with the Moonstone’s power, the failure he felt when they all had to leave, when he couldn’t protect his people, or his King.

Scene- After hearing accounts from Edmund and Adira on what the moonstone was like, volatile, unpredictable, destructive, Varian asks if his alchemy ever made his father feel like he was around a second moonstone. Quirin, not wanting to hurt his son doesn’t answer at first. Varian asks him to be honest with him. Quirin says “yes, some times were worse than others.” Varian is distressed that he caused his father so much pain and stress. He apologizes. Inside he wishes he had known about the Moonstone, maybe he would have toned down some of his experiments for his the sake of his father’s sanity.

Scene- After hearing a rough story about Quirin’s time in the Brotherhood, Varian hugs his father to comfort him. He can tell his father has a lot of heart wounds from the experience. He walks in front of his father who is sitting down, presses his father’s head to his front, holds it there with one hand, then drapes the other hand around his shoulders. “Thank you, Son,” Quirin says with a sigh and returns the hug. “You’re welcome. I’m really proud of you, Dad.” Quirin leans into his son. “Thank you.”

Scene- Quirin gets nightmares about the moonstone. Sometimes Varian’s alchemy gets mixed in there. Sometimes Varian dies, sometimes he’s mixing and pouring not even aware to the destruction he causes. Sometimes He and the moonstone merge into an entity. Destructive, but trying to have restraint.

Alchemy: Show or confirm how Quirin’s experience with the Moonstone has affected his view of Varian’s alchemy. If it’s volatile or unpredictable, don’t mess with it! He doesn’t understand alchemy, or how all the reactions come about. Varian says that he can always ask and he’ll be happy to explain it to him. At a different time, Eugene point out that Varian gets excited every time he talks about alchemy. Quirin confirms this but admits that it’s like trying to understand a foreign language. Using a foreign language as an example, Eugene says that if you know some basic words and sentence structure, context and meaning can be easy to pick up. Even cutting through the jargon can be easier if you know the basics of the language. Quirin realizes has to swallow his pride and re-channel his feeling of feeling stupid so he can connect with his son. It’s pointed out that if Varian can slow down and give Quirin time to process what he’s saying or use everyday language or simple terms or even bottom line something then go into more detail, Quirin can follow along better.

Taking on big projects: Quirin says that he was afraid to encourage Varian because he didn’t want Varian to take that as permission to take on bigger projects. But that’s what happened anyway (i.e. hot water system). Varian admits that he thought that if he successfully did something amazing for his village his father would be proud of him, praise him, look at him with pride instead of disappointment. Quirin apologizes for this. He says that the disappointment came from stress from dealing with the fallouts from the explosions. Also it seemed like in the excitement of his projects Varian would not consider how far the damage could reach if something goes wrong. It seemed like he didn’t have a contingency plan or failsafes to avert disaster. He also worries that Varian will hurt himself or get killed from his work going awry. Varian promises tot tone down his alchemy. Keep thing simple, no new chemical compounds.

Quirin wants his son safe but he doesn’t know how to go about that.

They discuss how Quirin felt with Varian’s alchemy. How worried it made Quirin that Varian never fully grasped how dangerous his alchemy methods were to himself and those around him. How Quirin was reaching the decision to let life teach his son the consequences of his actions. He just hoped that it wouldn’t require a death for Varian to step back and accept that what he was doing was overly risky. He knew a death could break his son causing him to breakdown in guilt and come out of it with a broken spirit.

He wants to protect his son from people. He’s been able to shield him from the brunt of their words, but now with Varian’s stint as a villain, he can’t protect him in that way anymore. It hurts and he feels like he has failed his son as a father. He later realizes that he can use his position as Village Leader to protect his son from threats and acts of physical harm, but that’s about all he can do for now.

Once Varian becomes more responsible with his alchemy and inventions Quirin starts being more vocal with his support of his son’s passion and works.

Explaining Alchemy- Varian explains that he felt alchemy was all he had since his mom is dead and he doesn’t have a good relationship with his father. Also asking him to give it up like some people wanted was like asking Monty not to make candy.

Varian shows his dad his notebooks, records, and chemical recipes. The notebooks are organized by year, records show the results of his mixtures and their reactions. He even has graphs and pictures in his records. Quirin turns to the explosives section. Tables for each explosive compound. Which mixtures cause explosions and how big those explosions are. Example “Flynnolium”, needs a reactant to explode and is very flammable. A table shows which equations cause big “BOOM”, and which produce flames but no explosion. The only constant on the page is “Flynnolium”.

Scene- “You take notes. Careful notes,” Quirin says flipping through one of his son’s notebooks.

“Kinda have to. I do, or rather did, a lot of mixing. It’s hard to remember every result of every combination I mixed.”

Quirin looks through one of the books. Tables that record chemical equations, how much of each chemical, and the result of the equation. There’s graphs of flame’s heights and sizes, rows of drawings of explosion radii. Multiple uses of DANGER! TOO MUCH! DON’T DO IT! AVOID FOR EVERYONE’S SAFETY!

“I had no idea.” Quirin says quietly, in awe and impressed by his son’s meticulous notes. He looks up at his son as he arranges things on a shelf. His eyes soft and proud, an equally soft smile on face.

“I wanted you to be proud of me” Varian explains that his bigger inventions were attempts to get his father to be proud of him. Varian realizes that he has to go into better detail of what that means. “I wanted to you to look at me with pride in your eyes, instead of disappointment. That’s what fueled me. I thought that if I could fix my mistake with the amber, we’d be good. I decided on my way to the castle that that day that I was going to be a different person. I wanted you to believe in me.”

It’s finally decided what both of them can do for each other. Varian promises no more mixing chemicals for awhile. He’s got a pretty good arsenal as it is. He promises to keep any new inventions small scale, calculate potential damage, and prepare for damage if something goes awry. Any big projects he’ll ask for help. (basically anything to help lower his dad’s stress levels). Quirin for his part promises to be more open with his son. Both in how much he loves him, and let Varian know when he sees something Varian can improve on. He agrees to ask about Varian’s alchemy projects more often. Varian promises to find a way to explain his projects in layman’s terms. In addition to this one of them buys Quirin a dictionary of alchemical terms to show he’s actively making an effort to get close to his son, to join him in his world.

Nightmares After being reunited, the two of them have frequent nightmares.

Ruddiger usually comforts Varian; sometimes his dad hears him and comes in to comfort him until he falls asleep.

If Quirin gets a bad nightmare regarding Varian dying, getting injured, or pleading with his father to save him and Quirin is unable to, he will go to Varian’s room and check on him. He’ll wake Varian up and try to calm him down if Varian is having a nightmare. He smiles if Varian is sleeping peacefully. He’ll stay and watch his precious son sleep.

Ruddiger will usually stay with Varian. However, there are times where he will hear Quirin come in while Varian is sleeping. If Ruddiger is awake enough, he’ll notice that Quirin has had a nightmare. If Varian is sleeping peacefully, Ruddiger will follow Quirin back to bed and lay near him. Quirin comes to appreciate this, he even tells Ruddiger one night that he’s grateful for his presence in their lives. Ruddiger gives a soft, happy chitter in response.

When both of Varian and Quirin have night terrors, Quirin goes to Varian’s room (he may or may not have heard Varian yell). They calm each other down, then embrace in a sweaty hug. A few times, after they’ve calmed down and they’re not ready to be alone, Quirin invites Varian into his room. They get into Quirin’s bed after switching the sweaty pillows. Once they’re tucked in, Quirin wraps his arms around his son. In this case Ruddiger climbs onto the bed and will do one of three things:

1) He’ll place himself next to Varian or he’ll find a divot on top of the blankets and nestle himself there. He makes sure he’s in arms reach of both the humans, or by their legs.

2) He’ll find a spot between the father and son and position himself there so Varian can wrap his arm around him. He pays attention to whether they need to have close contact. He won’t get in the way if they really need to be close.

3) If Quirin is on his back and Varian is resting his head on his father’s chest or shoulder, Ruddiger will sleep on Quirin tummy.

EXTRAS: Ideas that didn’t really fit in the categories above

The first night or three after Quirin’s release from the amber, father and son slept in each other’s arms, not wanting to be apart. Varian either had his hand or his head or both on his father’s heart to guarantee that his father was with him.

Quirin standing up for his son against jerks in Corona or against Nigel. Speaking against threats or when comments about his son get taken too far. Occasionally he will draw himself up to full height and berth to warn people not to touch his son.

Quirin gives Varian the money to buy the albemic he mentioned in “Day of the Animals”, and packed a couple ham sandwiches and apples for Varian’s lunch for the trip.

The Saporians break out again, target and capture Varian. Quirin fights Kai then Andrew, and knocks Clementine out while the handle of his sword before she can use the wand in a surprise attack. Varian’s jaw drops seeing his father’s control and power with his sword. When Varian is recovered and the Saporians thwarted, Andrew makes a final attack on Varian. It’s intercepted by Quirin who then grabs Andrew by the throat, lifts him and warns him to stay away from his son. While they are walking back home, Varian is marveling at his dad’s skill. Someone informs Varian that Quirin was holding back. If he wanted the Saporians dead, they would be dead. He says he didn’t kill for his son’s sake and for his own; Varian’s aversion to blood and not wanting to be the reason someone died, and Quirin has seen enough death from the Moonstone.

Scenes of Varian and Quirin fighting side by side in the final battle. (WHY DID WE NEVER GET THIS?!?!)

Both of them riding on Ruddiger, Quirin welding a sword, or hammer like I’ve seen in some fanart.

Quirin using Varian’s alchemy balls and the Project Obsidian bazooka to trap their enemies and protect his son when enemies get to close. Sometimes he throws the wrong alchemy balls to his mild frustration.

Varian using his alchemy to protect his father’s flank and blindspots. Throws a smoke bomb to hide his dad. Takes Quirin awhile to re-adjust before he lands a punch to an enemy. A bit later he warns Varian not to obstruct his view while fighting. It makes him an open target.

Battle banter and encouragement! WE GOT SO ROBBED!!

Hope you guys enjoyed my ideas and scenes. I will be posting more so stay tuned! Have blessed day and Advent (if you celebrate that).

#tangled rewrite #tts season 3 #tangled season 3 #rapunzel's tangled adventure season 3 #varian #quirin #ruddiger #family fluff #family angst #fluff and angst

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blackevermore · 3 years ago

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x Secrets of The Lake: The Company of Misery and Pain

{ Chapter 14 }

Summary: Vladimir Masters’ family tree has always been tainted by secrets swept under the rug. From generation to generation there have been countless reasons the Masters’ family had seemed to keep private from the public. Even to this day, Vladimir was no exception. But what was one to do when a restless spirit from the settlement years finally breaks free from restraints and demands you answer for your ancestor’s crimes? Vladimir doesn’t know. However, Clockworks does.

Notes: We just having fun, rewriting some of the canon, new adventure new characters. I will apologize now for any grammar, spelling, weird sentence structuring in advance. My brain writes faster than my fingers and even when I go back through to reread it I still miss things. Sorry about that!

Word Count: 8024

P.s: This is so broke on tumblr so if you choose to read this on ao3 it will be a lot better qwq

Vladan felt his heart start to beat again moments ago when he left the town square, rushing to get home and make sure Tayonna was safe. He had heard the whispers, the rumours, the stories of a man in the town cursed by a black witch to be her slave. He heard it from the young maidens the gossip near his stall as they peaked over their shoulders to look at him. His fist was clenched tight but he wore his polite face continuously as he greeted customers anyway. He heard the way the children would gasp as they lifted their fingers towards him but their mothers quickly shooed them away in a panic.

Then he heard the mention of killing the witch and that was enough to put him on edge. Vladan tried his best to keep himself composed and not lash out demanding who spoke ill of him. He knew if he did it would only further their whispers and nor he or Tayonna would be safe. However he would neither stand around for the rest of the day listening to their words, especially if they were not gentlemen enough to do it out of his face, he was disgusted.

When the last customer of the day wandered away with their goods. Vladan quickly set to work, closing his stall and loading his wagon up with what was leftover for the day. He didn’t care that the profit was unusually low, what he wanted more than anything was to get home. When he was finally prepared to depart he drove the horses with haste, as he weaved through those on the street he didn’t fail to see the glowing green eyes that watched him like prey.

Lady Spelltra, dressed in dark reds that almost went black, fanned herself with a smirk pulling at her lips. Vladan had known it had to be her. Anger filled him but he was no beast to ever lash out at a woman without real proof. Nor was he a fool to do so to the judge’s daughter of all people. As he finally made it to the clearing of dirt roads that went north of the town, he whipped for the horses to pick up speed.

Vladan didn’t have to turn his head to hear the patter of hoofs that trailed behind him. They weren’t good at hiding nor were they good at making sure he wouldn’t be able to notice he was being followed. The town was not made up of the best British soldiers, only the ones that did enough to get by. They should have taken better notes from the Germans instead of relying on their French relatives.

Vladan tsked and whipped the horses again to pick up the pace so he could have time to warn Tayonna. He knew she wouldn’t be in the house, she was always outside or near the door to greet him. To welcome him on with love and warmth and her bright eyes and smile. But there would be none of that, he hoped she would at least be behind the house to give them both time, or he hoped by the small chance she would actually be inside.

When he rounded the bend and tucked off into another dirt road he could see the clouds parted above his home bathing in the set of the sun. Vladan groaned and tried to think of an excuse for when the townies arrived at his home with a false ‘checking on you’ he would have a good enough reason to why, in a very gloomy part of the colony, did the sun shine down so brightly. By the greatness of God! Could you believe that, must be his appreciation for the great German people! Vladan joked in his head but quickly whooshed it away as he made it up to the last dirt stretch between his house and the road. He jumped from his wagon and ran the rest of the way trying to find Tayonna. He spotted her by the front garden kneeling down with plants in her hands.

“Tayonna!” Vladan called out breathlessly and panting as he finally made it closer to the house. He was so relieved to see her but the panic set back in when he realized they were still in danger. The girl rose to her feet and turned around with a giant smile to greet him. When she saw how alarmed he was she walked towards him with her hand stretched out to comfort him. Vladan yelled at her no and swiped in the air for her to go.

“You have to run, Tayonna! They are following me, get away from here and don’t come back until you think it’s safe or I come for you. Go, hurry!” Vladan yelled and Tayonna dropped everything and picked up her skirt and took off towards the edge of the forest. Vladan stayed put to make sure Tayonna was able to escape. When the girl was out of sight Vladan could then hear the front door open as two of his other servants peaked out and also the slowing of running horses. Vladan finally caught his breath and straightened out his back , he locked eyes with the servants and nodded towards them and they knew what that meant. They walked out and stood beside him as Vladan slowly turned and put on a stoic face. The archbishop, the town's mayor, and of course the judge himself rose from their horses and walked down the dirt path.

“Good Sirs, what brings you so far from the town?” Vladan forced his politeness as he bowed his head and his servants followed suit.

“Sir Mægisters, we believe you are unwillingly harbouring a witch.” The judge stepped forward with his hands behind his back and a dark, deep scowl on his face. Vladan swallowed and took a deep breath before slowly turning his head towards the forest. It felt like time had suddenly stopped and the air around him became dense as his vision only tunnel towards where Tayonna had gone. His body began to shake and his breath became hard and laboured as he huffed and puffed through his mouth. The air then turned hot and flames started to grow from the ground. The forest began to go up in flames and Vladan’s eyes widened as fear of the very worst pushed to the forefront. He felt this voice stuck in his throat but it burned to be let out. He tried to move but every fibre in his body turned in slow motion. Finally, as if on his last breath, he screamed as he watched the flames turn from red to a toxic fuchsia.

“Tayonna!”

Vlad's eyes shot open and he sharply sat up as a burning sensation roasted in his throat. He hadn’t even opened his mouth but it felt as if he had been yelling for hours non-stop. He was too shaken up to move any part of him and just panted heavily as he looked forwards towards the wall. He hadn’t had the dream since this whole thing started, now he knew what was being said and why Tayonna ran away, but he never remembered there ever being a fire.

As a matter of fact there was never a fire, it wasn’t real, but it felt so real. And in that dream in those last few seconds, he felt hopeless. No. Vladan felt hopeless, these were all Vladan’s memories and nightmares. Vlad was not Vladan and damn sure was not going to start having an identity crisis all of a sudden. Finally, Vlad felt his body become his body and he brought a hand up to his face to cradle it. He took another deep breath then pushed his hair back and out of his face.

A red mist rose from Vlad’s part lips and he quickly turned towards the left when he felt the energy of someone in his room. Tayonna stood at his bay windows staring out towards the night sky. He took note that she was in her ghost form and was wrapped in a purple shawl he had never seen before. She didn’t wear her sad expression but more so a stoic and unbothered one.

“Why are you in my room?” Vlad’s voice broke a bit as the sting in his throat made it difficult to speak. Tayonna turned from the window and her eyes dug holes into Vlad. Her eyes glowed green from her ghostliness but also from the moon that hung higher in the sky but lower towards the earth. Vlad wasn’t going to ask her again but he knew if she didn’t answer him here soon he wouldn’t be too kind to send her on her way for invading his space. Tayonna looked back towards the sky then sighed then shook her head.

“He called for me,” Tayonna lowered her head then slowly faded away in the air and out of Vlad’s room. His senses told him she was completely away from him and Vlad could only groan and fall back into his bed. Vlad knew he wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep now. He knew it would be the air of staring up at his ceiling counting black sleep as the sun slowly rose that he would feel the pull of his eyes. Luckily for him, four hours of sleep were enough to keep him going.

Vlad felt so out of place as the days filtered by one by one. The week had already started again with Monday sending him off to work at a different company he owned. Everything for the most part seemed in place but yet, Vlad felt like he was operating on autopilot and just allowing what was left of his consciousness to do his day for him. After hours he would drive home expecting an empty house, however, even if Tayonna wasn’t around he knew she was there. They wouldn’t speak other than when Vlad was being polite and or when Vlad was telling her something she shouldn’t do while he would rush out. Honestly, he felt no need to remind her to behave, she hardly did anything except ghost around his home and then settle herself in his garden. Even in the late hours when dinner was served she would stay outside leaning against the statue spinning a flower in her hand.

Vlad didn’t really try to make an effort to speak to the girl either. Though it would have been nice to have some decent conversation, he held his tongue and went about as if she wasn’t there. What was the point when the few times he did talk to her it was to ask a question about her problem that left them both in weird feelings. Vlad very much preferred not feeling a false romantic intimacy towards the girl. Luckily for him, the voice in his ear had also been silent the past couple of days which brought joy to Vlad for having his mind to himself.

The only time it seemed that the voice and the person it belonged to seemed to surface a bit was when Vlad became curious about Maddie. One evening while enjoying soft music playing from his radio and a drink, he thought of how lovely dance with Maddie would have been. Within a matter of seconds, his head was hurting and he could hear incoherent grumbling echoing around him. Vlad felt rather silly screaming out shut up to no one during the dead of the night.

During the busy week Vlad tried to keep up with his personal public affairs. Kate hadn’t gotten much done due to the state libraries in Pennsylvania being closed for construction. That meant she wouldn’t be able to do much except enjoy a few vacation days with Jackson till she was able to report back to him.

“Don’t worry, Sir, we won't drive the company bankrupt.” Kate snicker then hangs up and Vlad would only shake his head and get back to work.

When he tried to reach out to Dani, the teen would keep up the small talk but would end it quickly when someone called her name or Vlad figured out she was sneaking out of the Fenton house again. Surely Vlad couldn’t think of a good enough reason why the girl was sneaking around doing stuff but a part of him told him not to pressure her to tell him. Instead, Vlad sends a text to Danny telling him to keep an eye on his young cousin. Danny would only respond with an emoji. Personally, Vlad found that disrespectful considering he wrote out a full message. A single emoji. A thumbs up emoji at that, Danny could at least say okay and Vlad would have taken it. Guess that was just his age talking, Vlad would never be caught up with the youth of the world.

At night when the house became sound of sleep and Vlad would have a dream and found himself awakened and unable to sleep. He would find Tayonna in his room once more standing and facing the window. She would never turn towards him nor acknowledge him. The few times Vlad actually paid her more than a glance he would see her lips moving but could never hear what she was saying. Tayonna would stand at the window for the same amount of time it took Vlad to go back to sleep, then she was gone. Sometimes that wouldn’t be until the sun started to peek over the horizon and Vlad had made it obvious he was getting up for the day. She still wouldn’t say anything and faded away in thin air. He had asked her the third night why she kept creeping in and she only huffed and mumbled something about ‘he is so loud’ before slipping through the side of the house towards the garden.

What was the point? If she wasn’t bothering him then he would allow her to stand there and talk to herself, it's not like if she left he would be able to sleep. It wouldn’t, he would still be staring up at the white ceiling sighing annoyingly. At least she was some else to look at. At times when the dreams were a bit out of hand Vlad was glad to see her standing there even if she wasn’t helpful. He didn’t feel alone, especially when he knew that she knew what was going on. Like a child waking up from a nightmare about the monster under their bed but the night light was a safety beacon. Tayonna served as Vlad’s safety beacon of understanding the nightmares, just like Danny did with understanding the halfa business. It was lacklustre and a bit bland but Vlad would smile gently as he saw her there and sometimes that was enough to roll over and actually fall back asleep. There were never dreams afterwards, Vlad would dream of nothing and he was okay with that.

But sometimes when he dreamt of nothing it felt like an out of body experience and he was still somewhat awake. He could feel the gentle swipe of a hand across his face and it eased him.When Saturday made its round again Vlad didn’t feel like going golfing and preferred to go home. He didn’t even bother looking around as he ghosted through his front door and shrugged off his suit jacket to hang up. He kicked off his shoes without unlacing them, which on another day would have bothered him, but today he just didn’t care. He pushed at the buttons of his button up and loosen his tie as he walked towards the kitchen for a snack.

He turned his arm invisible and reached through the fridge to pull out one of Dani’s Gogurts. He knew it was childish but he had to indulge himself at least once a month. No harm no foul when no one worth keeping up an image for was around. Vlad was about to head towards the living room and turn on the tv until he heard talking coming from the sliding doors. He slowly walked over and looked through the glass towards the normal spot Tayonna would sit. He couldn’t actually see if she was there due to the angle but he could see the top of her head popping in and out of sight as she moved.

He didn’t feel like walking out so he stood by the door and used his enhanced senses to try and make out what she was doing. Though she was a bit out of his hearing range he could still make out she was speaking in German. Angrily speaking at that, she was grumbling about wanting something, and of course Vladan, but some words Vlad couldn’t make out because they were older German words he never learned.

Thank those above Vlad took German in college and had an overseas company in Germany, or else he would be stuck at square one if Tayonna ever fuck right off with English. Vlad didn’t care to continue listening if all the girl was going to do was complain, he could listen to himself do that if he really wanted. Vlad scoffed and turned on his feet only to hear the sound of paper hitting the floor. He sighed and kneeled down to pick up Clockwork calling card and read it.

“Anger with others festers in ourselves, acting upon it will drive us insane.” - CW

Vlad felt the sudden urge to go down to his basement and invent something that could rip a hole in space and time to create a portal straight into Clock’s lair and ask him what the hell this meant. Always with the vagueness! Vlad was now starting to understand why Danny either loved and bragged about how amazing clockwork was, or bitch him out about Clockwork loving to take a jab at him every chance he got. Truly those with masterful minds were annoying. And that was coming from Vlad himself.

Vlad crumpled up the card and threw it away as he exited out of the kitchen and towards the living room. Saturday meant a football game or something sports related would be on. Vlad just wanted to enjoy his Gogurt (and maybe another one) and cheer for whoever was winning. And that’s how the week ended with Vlad getting a little too into a hockey match between two states he actually never been to.

“How did you forget?” Vlad didn’t need to see Danny to know the young man was rolling his eyes. He could hear the slight annoyance in his voice and for once Vlad did feel bad for causing it.

“To be fair I do have a ghost lurking around my house while also trying to keep face with my companies. I promise it was not intentional and if I did happen to forget until the day of, I would have hurried over in good nature to embarrass you as I had planned.” Vlad shrugged and smirked as he heard Danny grumble a ‘fuck off’ so he wouldn’t he heard by his parents. Vlad did feel bad though, he forgot Danny’s graduation was this coming Wednesday and it was already Monday afternoon.

Surprisingly, it wasn’t Jack nor Maddie that had invited Vlad to the graduation, Danny himself hand delivered the invite two months ago. Vlad felt his heart flutter with warmth at the realization that Danny really did see him as much more than ‘that old man that tried to steal my mom, kill my dad, and adopt me in one day’. Vlad also knew it had to be Dani that pushed for Danny to do it and Vlad was forever grateful for her. But Vlad did become busy with other things and time seemed to slip away from him. Almost like a cruel joke made up by someone to give Vlad more than he could chew.

“No embarrassing me, just show up and be cool and don’t gather any further attention to yourself. The last thing I need is someone thinking I’m about to get an expensive car or something.” Danny sighed.

“Oh, so you don’t want the car?”

“You got me a car?!” Danny's voice cracked as it rose an octave and Vlad let out a chuckle of delight.

“No, I didn’t, but if you had wanted a car I’m sure that would have been a cheaper gift than what Danielle and Miss Way put together.” Vlad rolled his eyes remembering the two week expensive getaway he booked weeks ago for Danny and Co. to go on next Monday to Florida. Dani had told him she overheard Danny wanting to go to the Kennedy Space Center, Tucker wanting to go to the Humpy Dumpy anniversary concert, and Sam mentioning she wanted to see the sea life. Or was it to set it free? Vlad couldn’t remember but he knew he mindlessly said yes and passed the information to Kate. The horror when Vlad woke up the next morning to see he had just paid for something labeled under ‘a good time’. Kate had a wicked way of pranking her boss he wasn’t too sure he could live through. Good thing he was already half dead.

“D-Do I want to know?” Danny knew there was no weaselling out of whatever expensive gift Vlad got him. The man thrived off showboating and Danny knew if he told the man no, whatever it was would triple and might even have his family involved.

“That ruins all the hard work Danielle put into putting this all together.” Vlad leaned against his desk as he looked out the windows down to the busy city of Amity. It was mid evening and some people had just gotten off work. Vlad looked over to his clock and noted he had three hours left before he could go. He really craved a bath and a strawberry shortcake right about now.

“Suuuure, whatever, but still no embarrassing me Wednesday and also no flirting with my mom.” Both halfas grew quiet on the phone as an awkward silence washed over them. Vlad hasn’t tried to flirt openly with Danny’s mother in two years. Sure he still thought of her but he had learned to keep that to himself. He even told Danny he was over her, which was only half true to the point Vlad wasn’t obsessed anymore just...admirable. “Sorry, bad habits die hard,” Danny whispered and cleared his throat. Vlad only sighed and nodded to himself.

“They die hard for some, not for others, at least you didn’t say kill your father.” Vlad chuckled to himself. Honestly, since coming out as halfas and actually reconnecting with the Fentons, Vlad found himself back to his old ways with Jack. They were advancing at a constant pace towards who they used to be. But Vlad refused to do the old college battle call, they were adults now, middle aged, he was not going to scream at the top of his lungs.

Danny laughed, a little snort even fell out which made Vlad chuckles deepen, “Nah, I think you guys are fine. Besides if you did I would tell dad you totally wanted to go camping in the raw wilderness and sleep on the cold hard ground.”

“You wouldn’t dare.” Oh how Vlad despised the rawest form of camping, he liked nature just nothing about it that would cause him discomfort. Going camping like wild men was very displeasing. Vlad could hear Danny pull away from the phone and greet his father from wherever he came from and Vlad felt his heart run cold. He wasn’t in the mood to listen to Jack ramble, becoming friends again or not, now wasn’t a good time. Nor did he want Danny to tell Jack he wanted to go camping.

“You got lucky, fruitloop, Dad only came in to get a snack and left.” Danny snickered.

“I despise you,” Vlad dramatically responded and Danny let out a ‘ha!’

“Oh hey, Plasmius when did you get on the phone?” The two laughed for a bit before Danny spoke again. “But seriously, don’t forget and don’t be late, I’ll cry to my mom how I trusted you and you let me down and she’ll give you her disappointed mom look.”

“I will not be late, scout’s honour.”

“Yeah, yeah, scout’s honour, bye Vlad.”

“Goodbye, Daniel.”

Vlad couldn’t remember the last time he had been to a graduation and not been a part of it. Casper High School was not the only high school in amity, during Vlad’s mayor duties his springs were filled with giving speeches at several graduation events spread out from May to June. Having to now sit on the football bleachers and wait for god knows how long for everyone to take their seats then wait another hour for the graduates to come out made Vlad restless. Maybe a suit wasn’t his best choice, his butt started to hurt from sitting on metal. Luckily, or maybe not, Vlad was far from being bored as Jack and Maddie told him crazy stories from Danny’s childhood. Of course Jack made sure they all sat together, including Sam and Tucker’s family, as much as the Manson’s didn’t want to. Vlad couldn’t help but laugh at Jeremy and Pamela’s discomfort every time Jack drugged them into a conversation. While the other adults talked amongst each other about their children’s goals and accomplishments. Vlad's eyes wander off to see where his responsibility ran off to.

As soon as he arrived Dani was already away from the group chatting with friends that were in the band or happen to be the younger siblings of Danny’s peers. Vlad could only imagine the day of Dani’s graduation, he was already so proud of her being able to not only control her powers but also find her own personality. She never allowed the fact of how she was created deter her away from making something of herself.

Now that she got from the Fentons and Vlad could admit he was envious of it. He also couldn’t lie to himself he missed having her at home, who else was going to put chocolate syrup in his coffee as they slept walk in the morning? He finally spotted Dani down on the first row of bleachers with a group of her friends. One of them seems to have caught Vlad looking and got Dani’s attention and pointed. A few of them yelled hello and Vlad simply waved back and nodded. Dani covered her face in her hands and Vlad smiled knowing she was likely saying they were embarrassing her.

Just then Dani’s band friends were called back to their seats and began to play as teachers and staff walked across the stage and waved before taking their seats. When the song came to an end the speeches before the graduates started to introduce and welcome everyone. Jack and Maddie were already standing on their toes with banners with Danny’s face and name on them. After the two speakers, the music began again and the graduating class began to walk out in a single file line to the rows of chairs on the field. Vlad could never remember the names of any of Danny’s peers no matter how many times in the past he caused an issue. They were all just kids barely caring about their education and more about popularity.

All those kids had grown up and were about to breach into their twenties either getting jobs or going to college. Vlad hoped that as they got older they would be better people, but who was he kidding, only some of them could even spell the word mature. Except for the Baxter boy, Danny always complained about, who was currently throwing up hand signs and sticking out his tongue as he waved to the crowd. Somehow the whole football team had last names that sat them all together. Vlad could only imagine how well thought out that was when the staff realized the chaos. It didn’t take Danny long to be seen in the line of students since he was closer to the front of the alphabet.

“That’s my baby!”

“Danny-Oh!” Vlad knew his friends wouldn’t be able to handle themselves when they saw their baby boy. They had done the same thing when Jazz graduated from what Danny told Vlad. It was Jazz who had to get her parents to sit back down so they weren’t being too much of a nuisance the whole ceremony. Tucker was only five people behind Danny and the boys kept shooting glances at each other. Tucker held up his phone and Danny nodded. As the line continued Vlad realized Sam wouldn’t be anywhere near her friends.

Out of the 137 children graduating, Sam would be placed two rows behind her friends and somehow right next to Paulina, guess the school didn’t have many students with n-r as a last name. From what Danny said Sam and Paulina had just recently put their past aside and found themselves actually forming a friendship. Danny had also let it slip that Paulina may have developed a crush on Sam and that would explain why Paulina was twirling her finger through her hair.

Someone should have told Vlad that sitting on the other side of a graduation was outrageously boring. Speech after speech, thank you after thank you, the new mayor had no favour and was downright bland. Vlad had hoped the valedictorian and salutatorian would have fun speeches, but nope, they were just as boring. Vlad couldn’t stop the yawn that escaped his lips, it quickly turned into a red mist and Vlad shut his mouth. Dani seemed to have noticed and leaned over.

“Really? Today of all days?” Vlad saw Dani’s fist clasp and her about to stand up to take off and he quickly reached out and held his hand over hers and shook his head. Just then his phone beeped and he pulled it out of his pocket.

Daniel: Please tell me this is a joke >:T

Vlad: I’ll handle it.

Vlad slid his phone into his pocket and rose to his feet. He got the Fentons’ attention to tell them he was going to the bathroom but was going to be quick to not miss anything. They bought it (maybe all of them but Jazz, she saw his sense go off ) and Vlad excused himself but not before telling Dani to stay put. The last thing Vlad needed was the sporadic ghost hunters to rip the place apart out of rage for a ruined graduation. Vlad pardoned himself past families and walked down the stairs. He had to make this quick and find who or what set off his sense before they caused a scene. When Vlad made it to the ground he pushed past those who chose not to sit and made his way behind the bleachers. He was about to transform until he heard someone clear their throat towards him. Vlad quickly turned around and saw nothing but red eyes glowing from the shadows.

“Well, well look what we have here,” from the shadows stepped out Spectra in her human form fixing up her hair and double checking herself in the mirror. “Here to enjoy the misery as well? Or were you actually enjoying Danny’s big day?” The female ghost chuckled to herself and batted her eyes.

“What are you doing here? Didn’t you have your fun here ages ago?” Vlad spat out and Spectra pouted then rolled her eyes

“Always straight to the point, seems like things never change. If you must know, I’m here for a quick spa treatment and goodies.” Spectra walked over to Vlad and circled him a few before placing her hands on his shoulders. When he shrugged her off she playfully threw her hands up. “Don’t worry I’m not here to cause any more trouble than there actually is.”

“Any more?” Vlad cocked a brow telling her to continue and Spectra’s eyes narrowed and she walked back towards him to hook her arm through his and pull him along towards the ceremony. Vlad was about to pull away until he heard whimpering coming through the speakers.

“He would have wanted to walk with his class one last time. He would have wanted to be here and I’m happy I’m able to do it for him.” A mother stood at the mic dressed in a cap and gown whipping her tears and shakenly accepting her son’s diploma. Vlad had forgotten all about the accent that happened to one of the football players a couple of months ago. He had died from a tumour in his brain that he had been fighting since Vlad was in office.

It really shook the school to the core when his passing was announced. Vlad looked over to Spectra who was taking a big breath from the faint green clouds that formed around her. Like magic the wrinkles that happen to be on her face began to disappear and she became youthful. Her fiery hair burned back to life and her green eyes glowed like neon ectoplasm.

“Don’t look at me like that, I’m not feeding off the mother, just the handful of children who are still mourning,” Spectra smirked and fixed her hair in the mirror. Vlad could never understand why Spectra was so obsessed with her looks. Maybe it had something to do with who or what she was before her death. He never cared to ask her, he honestly never asked any of the ghosts their backstory. You weren’t supposed to get close to business unless it truly benefited you. Vlad learned that long ago when stepping into the political world. Vlad had done business with Spectra before and thought there were great benefits. That was until she’d crossed the line and Vlad made sure she was aware of it.

“Well since you’ve had your fix, you’ll be on your way.” Vlad pulled her arm back and tucked it behind his back while creating space between them. Spectra's happy go lucky mask seemed to melt away as Vlad kept cold towards her. He could almost see the way her smile twitched to stay upright.

“I said I was sorry and yet you still don’t forgive me?” Spectra fluttered her eyes and Vlad wanted to gag. Her charm had worked on him once but he was determined it would never work again.

“Your apologies are as empty as you are, and truly, there is nothing inside you that would amount to an actual apology.” Vlad gritted his teeth and turned away from her but when he looked forward Spectra was standing in front of him fixing her sunglasses.

“Oh, Plassy-”

“Never call me that.” Vlad felt his blood boil and the sparks in the palm of his hands start to ignite and he quickly calmed himself down.

“Fine, fine, but Plasmius I don’t really understand.” Spectra was quick on her feet and spun Vlad back around while pulling him in close just as Danny’s name was announced across the speakers. Vlad could hear Danny's parents losing their mind as their son awkwardly walked across the stage and got his diploma. The boy gave a quick wave to his family then down to Sam who too gave a cheer. “You used to want control over that boy, have him weak and begging under your boot to be taken under your wing. Then you wanted control over this town and that leaked into the Ghost Zone. Remember how excited you were to possibly sit on Pariah’s throne?” Vlad groaned and tried to pull away from Spectra until she turned his head towards the Fentons. “And then her. Everything about her was truly what you wanted. Then suddenly, poof! It was all gone and you were turning over a new leaf for “the better”.” Spectra finally let go of Vlad and made air quotations while rolling her eyes. Vlad said nothing, he honestly didn’t know what to say that wouldn’t be him threatening to kill her where she stood. He remembered all of that! But he also remembered how bitter and petty he was during all of it.

“That is the past, Spectra.” Vlad kept his cool even when he growled at her. She only smirked.

“Sure it is, but you have to admit when you came to me for help in your little games I did what I could.” Spectra walked close and only stood inches away from Vlad. He could feel her icy breath tickle his cheek and he pulled back. “I did what I could and then much more.” Spectra ran a finger up Vlad’s arm then caressed his cheek before sliding it down to his chest. Vlad felt his core shake and a burning feeling rise to his chest which caused the other to pull away. She shook her hand and cursed then pulled herself together. Vlad had no idea what that was but whatever it was he thanked and hoped it would keep her off him for the rest of their conversation.

“I bet you miss that.” Spectra narrowed her eyes over her shades and winked.

“I don’t,” Vlad held up a finger and shot at Spectra’s feet to get her away from him. It worked but Spectra’s smile never fell and she continued to act as cool as ever. She shrugged then turned back towards the ceremony and narrowed her eyes wickedly. Vlad knew it was best not to ask her what she was thinking, he didn’t want to hear her voice any more than he had to.

“He’s gotten so big and tall and stronger, maybe one day he’ll surpass you and you’ll be nothing but a faint memory. I know how much that weighs on you.” Vlad nearly shot the ghost down where she stood but she was quick to disappear with an echo of laughter. Vlad stomped his foot and turned away from where they were to go to the bathroom. He had to calm down and not allow that red headed vixen to play with his mind. She had already done that in the past and it left Vlad in a blind rage until he had her begging mercy before he ripped her apart.

Why on earth did he think Spectra was ever a good ally, he wasn’t sure...actually he knew why but he didn’t want to admit it. Desperation made you do foolish things that haunted you in three inch red heels and red hair. He was sure he would never see her again but today seemed to be against him. After a few minutes of counting down from 30 and fixing his suit he rushed back out the door and towards his seat.

When Vlad sat down he held up a hand before Maddie or Jack could say anything, “Don’t worry I saw him walk, I was at the food hut in the nick of time. I’m so proud of him.” Jack only smiled and waved his banner back and forth, Maddie nodded and turned back towards the end of the students crossing.

“What was it?” Dani leaned over towards her father and nudged him. Vlad sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose before shaking his head.

“Nothing, just some loose goops, everything is handled.” Vlad held his gaze with Dani to ensure her but he knew she could tell he was lying. With what just happened with Spectra he wanted nothing more to pull Dani into a hug but he knew that would only raise suspicions. For now Vlad only smiled and looked away from a very confused Dani.After the graduation and a lot of crying from the parents' parts, the freshly new graduates were asked where they wanted to go for dinner. When they (plus Dani) yelled nasty Burger Vlad found himself groaning with the Mansons like the rich they were. Surely they could have picked a much more appropriate place to eat besides the godforsaken nasty burger. But Danny was persistent and held his ground and eventually everyone huddled into their cars to drive over to nasty burgers. When everyone was seated the adults made it obvious they much rather be elsewhere.

Well most of them except Jack who thought Nasty Burger was a wonderful idea. It didn’t take long for Sam’s parents to cut from the group when they saw how “ungodly” the food was and told Sam they would see her when she returned home. Jazz had to cut out due to her job and she apologized to her brother. Tucker’s parents were called in and apologized for leaving but they made sure to tell Tucker when he got home his big gift would be waiting for him. It wasn’t long into the waiting for drinks did Vlad enjoy a conversation with Jack and Maddie about their college days.

“Ay yo, Vladdie, you remember when we used to have nasty nacho nights and see who could get down the most without throwing up?” Jack laughed and nudged the much smaller man who almost fell out of his seat. Vlad caught himself and shook his head but he genuinely smiled and rolled his eyes.

“Oh how could I forget how you snorted nacho cheese then proceeded to shove five trays of chips into your mouth. Then you called Madeline to come help you to the bathroom because your brain was clogged.” Vlad twisted his finger on the side of his head like it was clogs. Jack let out a stomach full laugh and Maddie could help but follow along.

“Remember when you drunkenly stood outside Taco Hut Tony’s half naked at 1 am demanding tater tots?” Maddie pointed towards Vlad and the man became flustered in the face as he tried to hide himself. Both of the phantoms spun around from their booths with their mouths dropped and laughing. Vlad groaned and leaned down against the table to cover his head and face. The kids quickly turned back around and he could hear them telling the others.

Jack slapped Vlad’s back which quickly knocked the man forward and out of breath. “Oh man that was crazy and then you started yelling in Russian. To this day I still don’t know what you were saying.” Jack wiped tears from his eyes and Maddie leaned in to make sure only they could hear her.

“He was yelling he would piss on the doors until Tony opened up.” Vlad thought he was surely going to fall over and die. Why in the world would she remember that?! He didn’t even remember that!

“You know Russian?” Vlad peaked up and shot Maddie a look. The red head shrugged and shook her hand sided ways up and down.

“Kinda sort of, my roommate was Ukrainian but her father was Russian. I learned a few things.” Maddie chuckled then turned towards Jack to spark up another conversation about their time in the lab when he made ghost stink bombs. Vlad on the other hand felt his blood run cold as he remembered all the love notes he had placed in her binder. When she found them he would play it cool like it wasn’t him who placed them there and would falsely read them to her. There was no doubt she would give them to her roommate when he wasn’t there to read them. Vlad felt like a schoolboy who had been caught but he didn’t want to confirm that with her. Vlad would just have to swallow that and hope it never got brought up. Vlad was ever so grateful the food finally came even though he did more so at poking at his than eating.

After everyone was full, the family and kids packed up, paid, and headed out towards the parking lot to continue their conversations. Vlad was stuck in a vice grip on Vlad by the neck as the man spun him around doing the very obnoxious college battle call Vlad now grew to hate. Finally, he was let go and Vlad could feel his head spinning as he leaned over his car for balance.

“My apologies V-Man.” Jack gently rubbed his back.

“All is well...I think.” Vlad wasn’t sure if he's seeing double would ever stop or if he was going to have to have someone drive him home. When he regained his vision he felt a tug on his sleeve and turned to see Dani standing beside him. He excused himself from the Fentons and gave Dani his attention and the girl gave a soft smile.

“Can I come home tonight? Danny is going over Tucker’s with Sam and I don’t want to be stuck at home with Jazz trying to use me as a psycho experiment for her upcoming paper, no offence.” the youngest phantom rubbed her elbow and lowered her head and Vlad quickly reached out a hand to place on her shoulder.

“Danielle, you never have to ask to come home. You could have easily gotten in the car with me and I wouldn’t have said a thing.” Vlad rubbed her shoulder and Dani nodded before thanking him and running over to her cousins and telling them she was going home. When it was time to part ways, Maddie and Jack piled into the car with Danny and his friend’s and Dani got in the car with Vlad. As they drove off Dani sighed and looked out the window.“Is everything alright over there?” Vlad asked, never taking his eyes off the road.

“Y-yeah.” Dani mumbled out and Vlad automatically could assume what was the problem.

“I told you, there is nothing to worry about, she shouldn't be anywhere but the guest room when we get home. In the morning I will inform her of your arrival if you wish.” Vlad hoped his words would ease Dani just enough for the teen to trust him and it seemed to work. Dani pulled away from the window and crossed her arms as she thought for a moment then nodded.

“Yeah, that would be cool. Thanks, dad.” Dad...she called him dad again and Vlad's heart fluttered with happiness. When they got home Vlad allowed Dani to walk in first and the young phantom quickly said goodnight and hurried to her room. Vlad took his time to settle in and made his way towards the kitchen back doors. It was late but he had to know whether or not Tayonna was lurking in the garden. When he peered out the door he couldn’t see any form of activity and he quickly floated upstairs to the bedroom hallway. He secretly stuck his head into Dani’s room when he heard her talking on the phone. He found her on her bed throwing a ball in the air and giggling.

He wouldn’t overstay his welcome but he couldn’t help but become curious when he heard her tell someone she loved them. Pulling back into the hallway he knew he would have to get to the bottom of that. He walked down to the guest room and knocked on the door gently and waited for an answer. When he didn’t get one he ghosted through the door and looked around. Tayonna wasn’t there either and that concerned him a bit.

He could go about trying to find her but the pull for sleep was nagging him and he could feel the endless string of yawns airing through his body. He pushed the thought of Tayonna away and went out the door and towards his bedroom. Vlad knew that no matter where she was when he woke up from another dream she would be standing there at his window and he didn’t have to worry. Vlad caught himself in mid-thought and snorted. He felt foolish for almost admitting he looked forward to seeing her.

“She is not a guest that is welcomed, Vladimir, she is a ghost that is haunting you.” Vlad reminded himself as he slipped into his master bathroom for a shower.

#📖Ghost Stories👻#vlad masters #danny phantom #dp fanfic #Secrets of The Lake #My writing

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leporellian · 4 years ago

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decided to write a scene from my rewrite/au of the darkest hour, specifically the last scene in which firestar buries smudge/scourge.

It was the first morning of the year where spring’s emergence began to feel palpable.

Slowly, the ginger tabby dragged the smaller black-and-white body behind him. What had glistened when he had first felt grass between his paws now simply shone. The luster of childhood had been long gone, and while it still sparkled with the glint of sky, it did not have the depth and the endless horizon that it once had.

On this pale early morning, Firestar had a mission. And while he tried to keep nostalgia from nipping at his ears, this was a mission that almost required that.

He reached a clearing and looked around. This is where it had all began- the yellow houses neat in a row, the plywood flowerbeds that lined them, the white picket fence that now looked much shorter and less daunting than it had when Firestar had first ventured into the forest all those moons ago.

Dutifully, he dabbed his dewy eyes with his forearm- still scabbed and rough from the battle that had taken place the day before- and started digging into the earth. WindClan would do this a lot better than I, he thought, recalling the stories Onewhisker and Gorseleap had told him of the days when WindClan tunneled like hares.

Perhaps they tunnel in the clouds, up there in StarClan. Gorseleap would like that.

As he dug, the ground became softer and warmer. The scent felt as though it were needles sticking into his nose- not that it was a noticeable scent, but rather one he had not smelled since he was but a mere kit. The type of scent that one breathes in and is suddenly awash with the feeling that a long-gone mother is calling them home... Rusty. Rusty...

Firestar gazed upon Smudge’s face. It possessed not the lively cheer that the tom had had as a kit, not the crimson anger of his adulthood under the name of Scourge, but an otherworldly peace that the tom had never been granted the privilege of in life. His collar was still around his neck, yet it had been worn to a thread, and his eyes were just barely closed, and the red stains in his fur from the blood that had pooled round his head cradled his cheeks with the softness of a dove’s feather.

Firestar’s vision became blurry as he nudged the piebald tom into the hole that he had dug. Limpness had overtaken the body, and it slid into its place. Gently, he removed the worn, spiked collar with a simple pluck, and opened Smudge’s eyes just enough that they could perceive the morning light that he no longer could. The soft earth and bulbs of tulips that were yet to be embraced the small figure as Firestar pushed it back into place, and as swiftly as it had began Smudge’s burial was over.

Firestar leapt onto the white picket fence- quietly, in case one of his old Twolegs had awoken before the dawn. Checking for movement, he studied the windows of his old domain. He had never noticed how cracked the paint had been, how scratched the window’s edges were, until now. Were they always like that? It was a question he could not answer. Once he was certain no movement was near, a small orange picture frame in the corner caught his attention. It depicted a brown tabby in the same bed he had once slept in, the same stuffed toy tucked away in her paw, the same hand upon her rounded head.

Life had gone on for the old house just as it had for its old inhabitant, and Firestar felt closure to something in his heart that he had never noticed wasn’t closed to begin with.

He looked back towards his forest home. All the cats he had met on that first fateful night... Graystripe was gone; in another Clan now, likely to never see this border again. Lionheart had died, and so had Bluestar, and even for Tigerstar, crooked as he may have turned out to be, Firestar felt a pang of nostalgia. Oh, how he wished to go back to that day! The feeling of something wonderful brimming on the horizon, the feeling of sheer wonder, the feeling that any avenue could be wandered down and every log upturned. He had never noticed how much it had slipped away until now.

But even still something new felt like it was beyond the blue sky, as the amber sun slowly rose. And Firestar remembered the prophecy, of a hero cloaked in a ginger coat rising amidst the battles of StarClan and a place of no stars. All of that was to be- and all Firestar could do was embrace destiny. However, he had learned that the process of embracing destiny wasn’t submission or a fight; it was gradual, inevitable, soothing as the leaves falling in autumn and sprouting once again in spring. Warmth whispered in the ginger tom’s heart as he looked to the slowly-disappearing last morning stars. To now, and to ever.

He would bury the striped, worn collar in ThunderClan camp alongside where his had been buried, and then he would ask Longtail to organize the morning patrol, and life would go on in ThunderClan. But for now, he decided to sit and stop, and listen to the optimistic silence of the world before him.

The dawn, he noted, had never looked brighter.

#this isn't very good sorry #warrior cats #warrior cats rewrite #firestar #scourge #smudge wc

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medu-nefer · 4 years ago

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Whumptober 4: Caged

The Dragon Prince, Ethari-centered, Ruthari, gansters AU

(After a year of writer’s block, I finally managed to spew something out, and while it’s so not up to my old standards [please forgive the rusty English; also, it was about 2-3 AM], it’s gotta do for now. Perhaps I’ll rewrite it after the event is done and I have more time to write for all the prompts I have planned out and in the end been unable to get to.

Still, Ruthari content is Ruthari content, so here goes nothing.)

*~*~*

Ethari stared at the people filing into his workshop with an odd sense of detachment.

He had been working on a necklace for one of his clients, something worthy of a grand engagement, when the door burst open and six people came in. He could see two more through the windows but the pair remained outside.

The people inside were well-dressed in dark green, blue or purple suits – and carried knives and guns, quite openly. They scanned his workplace and made sure nobody else was there, and then one of them approached.

The sides and back of his head were shaven, leaving an artistically messy strip of pale blond hair at the top. His eyebrows were thick and dark, and his hazel eyes gave Ethari a quick once-over.

The young craftsman couldn’t help his gaze travelling to the two earrings adorning the man’s left ear before looking into his indifferent eyes.

‘Come on,’ the man murmured, gesturing with his head to the door. As he took a step back to make space for Ethari, his hand ventured towards one of his guns.

Ethari might have been bigger than any of the men – courtesy of indulging in blacksmithing every now and again – but he knew better than to argue. He stood up from his stool and walked to the door. The two people stationed there barely looked at him, focused instead on the street. Once outside, he paused and let the man lead the way. He noticed two of the people remained in his shop.

As they walked through the alleys, Ethari couldn’t help his growing agitation. He didn’t know where they were going or why. He didn’t know whether his skills were needed or if he was being taken for some other reason. He didn’t know if something had happened elsewhere in the city.

He noticed people staring at them from afar but once they walked closer, everyone got out of their path and averted their gazes. The Moonshadows may have been known to never cause unnecessary trouble but it wasn’t wise to get in their way without a good reason regardless.

After all, who in their right mind chose to have contacts with gangsters?

The corner of Ethari’s mouth wandered upwards at the thought and a small snort escaped him, earning him the attention of the woman and one of the men, but he just shook his head.

Finally, they arrived at the warehousing area and he was ushered into one of the buildings. Outside, it looked quite decrepit but on the inside the conditions were better than in most ordinary houses of Silvergrove.

One of Ethari’s eyebrows twitched when he noticed a lone desk and chair in the far corner, far enough away from a few massive tables in the centre of the room – and very far from the entrance.

The leader of the group approached him and gestured towards the desk. ‘Make yourself comfortable. It’ll take a while.’

Without any real choice, Ethari walked over and let himself inspect the furniture. The big tables were made crudely, without any finesse. After all, it was pretty clear they weren’t there for aesthetic purposes.

The desk was an entirely different story, though. There were ornate decorations etched into the wood – ebony, if Ethari wasn’t horribly mistaken. The chair was high-backed and upholstered, a single silken cushion placed on the seat. There were sheets of paper, pencils, pens and measuring tools placed neatly in one of the desk’s corners.

Ethari looked back to the four people watching him closely and sat down with a heavy sigh. He reached for the paper, immediately noticing its ridiculously high quality.

What should he do? Design some weapons, probably. He had never planned on taking his career in this direction but he would be lying through his teeth if he said he hadn’t made anything deadly.

He reached for the pencils and started sketching out an idea he had been entertaining for a while. It was of a knife that could be turned into a hook or have its blade retract altogether to conceal its purpose, depending on the gestures of its user.

For the first hour he ignored a bunch of people that came in or left the warehouse, and focused on his schematics. But eventually, his attention started straying from his task. He watched the woman from before, took in her blue suit, the braided hair with exquisite ornaments. He knew she noticed him looking but ignored him completely.

Growing more and more frustrated – the wave after wave of worry and trepidation making him increasingly more irritable – he decided to abandon his project and focus on something else. Something he had been putting off for too long.

He grabbed a new sheet and started sketching out two circular objects. Finally allowing himself to focus on the positives in his life, he remembered all the good things the last couple of years had brought him. He had never expected to find himself in that place but he was more than happy with how things had played out.

His lips pulled into a soft smile when he created something delicate and peaceful rather than lethal.

Suddenly, there was a presence at his side and he looked up to see one of the other men coming to a stop next to him. His suit was dark green with black elements. He had half of his hair braided at the side of his head, while the rest remained loose. He glanced at Ethari’s new project and smiled.

‘Can’t wait, eh?’ he asked in a thick accent.

Ethari gave him a little smile and shrugged. ‘You know how it is.’

The man nodded curtly. ‘Let me know if you need anything. We’ve run into some trouble with the Katolis’ scum so there’s some issues with the net but I can’t see why you shouldn’t make yourself at home here while we wait.’

‘Thank you, Skor. Unless you can tell me what’s going on, I’m good.’

Skor winced and looked away. Ethari knew what that meant. The information was there, he just wasn’t privy to it. Of course. He was kept in a confinement, with guards watching his every move. What else did he expect?

Suddenly, there was commotion at the entrance. Three Moonshadows entered, limping and swearing. The soles of their boots left bloody footprints on the polished floorboards.

‘What happened?!’ the leader of the group yelled, striding towards his wounded comrades.

‘What the fuck do you think happened, Callisto?’ one of them snarled. ‘Fucking Katolis’ scumbags set an ambush. That fucker Viren orchestrated it. Killed at least three of us. We should have killed him when we had the chance.’

Callisto took a step back when the man started coughing up blood, and got his people’s attention. ‘Ram, take care of them. Andromeda, you go up on the roof and prepare a lookout. We need to know if we’re approached and by whom. We might need to help some of ours get here. Skor, we haven’t heard from the Boss. Find him.’

As he spoke, a few more Moonshadows entered the warehouse and Ethari felt the walls coming down around him.

He really was locked in a wooden box, with more and more gangsters coming in and watching him, while out there, something horrible was happening. He was in a cage and couldn’t get out. He couldn’t—

Tunnel vision and laboured breathing. He had to grab the back of the chair he had been sitting on just moments ago lest he fell. When had he even gotten up? He was shaking and couldn’t focus on anything beside the overwhelming need to go out of there and do something, before it was too late.

But all of a sudden, the door burst open once more and a lone figure walked inside.

‘Boss, you’re fine,’ Callisto said, relief clear on his face.

The leader of the Moonshadows wore a three piece suit and an unbuttoned pea coat on top of it. They were all in dark blue or green shades, matching each other perfectly. His hair was white, long and partially braided. His piercing turquoise eyes searched the inside of the warehouse and focused on Ethari.

The young craftsman barely registered what was happening before the gangster’s long legs carried him through the room and into Ethari’s personal space. He began to relax only when he felt hands on his cheeks and lips crashing with his own.

His hands latched onto the other man’s vest and pulled him closer, the excruciating weight of fear lifting off his shoulders.

‘Runaan,’ he murmured against his lips, earning himself a bone-crushing embrace.

‘I’m sorry for worrying you,’ Runaan whispered. ‘Viren was making a move against us and I needed to know you were safe.’

‘I was scared something happened to you.’

Runaan pressed their foreheads together hastily. ‘I promised you I’d be fine. Don’t worry.’

Ethari gave him a weak smile. ‘Somebody has to.’

Unwillingly, they let each other go but kept their hands intertwined when Runaan turned to his people and started giving orders. Within moments, they had their plan of action and most of the gangsters left to do their part to ensure Katolis wouldn’t be able to deal any more damage.

Runaan was making plans for the immediate future when he noticed Ethari’s designs on the desk. He reached for one of them and picked it up, a warm smile adorning his face.

‘Think you can make these before the wedding?’

Ethari tore his gaze away from Runaan’s beautiful face to the two wedding rings he had sketched out.

He felt a grin splitting his face as he pulled his fiancé into yet another kiss, knowing he’d steal plenty more later on, when all the Moonshadows were safe and accounted for, and the two retired for the night.

’Why don’t we see?’

#whumptober2020 #no.4 #caged #tdp #the dragon prince #fic #gangsters au #ethari #runaan #ruthari

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nikki-fucking-sixx · 5 years ago

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Together Without You: Chapter One

A/N: Hi everybody! I’m attempting a chaptered story, let me know what you all think.

Well fuck, of course this is happening to you. You stare down at the pregnancy test that undeniably reads the most terrifying word in the human language, positive. You get off the toilet and drop it into the sink. This has got to be a mistake. You take another test and you get the same tragic result, positive. This time, you take the pee riddled stick and chuck it at the wall. You were ready to break something. Anything that would smash into one million pieces.

It makes sense that the one night you decide to let loose after months of nothingness immediately turns into a garbage fire. You had spent weeks studying for exams and working at the bar; life just seemed to have gotten away from you. You didn’t feel like a 21-year-old anymore, you felt like an old lady who only seemed to be focused on her career and getting a large collection of cats. So, you decided to take this mundane lifestyle in a completely destructive direction. Even though you were phasing in and out of a blackout that Friday night last month, the events that led to your accident are perfectly clear.

Your roommate saw your weeks of agony over every detail of your life. She saw you sitting for hours staring at your textbook. When you weren’t doing that you were waitressing. You were sitting in your living room rewriting notes when Maria finally got home.

“So what hour of studying is this?” She walked into the kitchen, ready to pour herself a cup of coffee. The pot was empty.

“Five,” You took a sip of your coffee, “I have a giant accounting exam on Wednesday that I don’t know anything for.” You heard Maria laugh as she sat down next to you.

“After five hours of studying you should know something.” You shook your head, eyes not leaving your notes.

“Nope. Nothing. I’m going to fail.” Maria placed her hand on the pencil in your hand. You took your eyes off the paper to see her smirking.

“(Y/N), I haven’t seen you unwind since last semester. It’s time to go out.” Your eyebrows furrowed at that and you looked away.

“What even is there to do tonight?” Maria let out a small laugh.

“It’s a Friday night and I have an in at a party down on Sunset and you’re coming with me.” She started to pull you up but your body refused.

“No, Maria, I can’t,” You were weighted to the couch, “I’m working a double tomorrow and a night shift on Sunday. I’m way too busy.” She sighed and pulled your hand into her lap and gave it a squeeze.

“I’m not going to force you to go out, but please at least consider it?” You smiled at Maria, giving her hand a small squeeze back.

“Fine, I’ll think about it but that doesn’t mean yes.” Maria smiled at you before walking towards her bedroom.

“Oh,” She stopped in her doorway, “You remember that guy Tommy I met the other day? It’s at his place. Apparently, he’s in a band. They’re starting to get kinda big.” You nodded as you started to let your eyes wander back toward your note-taking.

“I know how you love the starving artist type, Maria.” At that, you were back in your work, but not fully focused. You’re not going to lie, that did sound fun. And this exam was not until Wednesday… You let your eyes leave your textbook and begin to finally shut it. Fuck it. You were going out tonight.

Hours later you found yourself in a house party unlike any that you have ever encountered. You were not exaggerating when you said that there were wall to wall people, high and drunk on whatever they could get their hands on. You leaned against the wall at the farthest corner from the actual party. You were lightly sipping on a beer as you saw chaos ensue. You watched as a tall, long-haired man did a line off of Maria’s tits and took a sigh. This really was not your scene. There must have been something wrong with you. How could you be at a party as crazy as this and just feel no need to party? You chugged the rest of your beer, threw it on the ground and walked to the bathroom. You got in and slammed the door shut before walking over to the mirror. You stared at yourself, wondering why the fuck you were here. You should be home getting ready for your exam. This was no place for you. You felt a lump begin to form in your throat as you looked at yourself. It did not look like you. The makeup, the clothes, the hair, this was not you. A tear fell and hit the countertop. You felt like the stupidest person ever. That was, until you heard the door slam open and a tall man with dark hair stumbled in.

“Oh hey… didn’t know someone was in here…” Now you felt like the second stupidest person ever. You wiped away a tear.

“The door was closed.” He snickered.

“Well let’s just call this whole thing fucked,” He took a swig on the whiskey in his hand, “What are you even doing in here?”

“None of your fucking business.” He was getting on your nerves.

“Shit, she bites,” He feigns shock and fear, mocking you, “Don’t need to act like a bitch.”

“I’m not a bitch, everyone is just pissing me off, including you.” You were beginning to get belligerent at this drunk man for no reason.

“This is my party and you can leave if you’re going to disrespect me.” He did seem to be getting actually mad. You could tell by his grip tightening on his bottle.

“Good, I don’t even wanna be here. It’s lame anyway.” You were lying about the lame part, it did seem pretty fun, but just not at all for you. You weren’t a cocaine-snorting bimbo type.

“Then get the hell out!” He pointed at the door, waiting for you to leave, but your feet were stuck. You wanted to get a reaction from this man. Feel some kind of adrenaline.

“No.” You stood your ground, “I like this bathroom now. It’s mine.” Even your attempt to come off intimidating was odd, even a little funny. He thought so too, raising an eyebrow at you in confusion.

“Fine, then you won’t mind if I do this,” At that he pulled a small baggie of white powder out of his back pocket, emptied it out into a neat line on the counter and stared at his masterpiece. “Would you?” You stared at the white line on the counter, unsure of how to proceed. He stared at you staring, amused. He took a dollar bill out of his pocket and began to roll it up, ready to sniff up the contents. You crossed your arms and faced him.

“No, not at all,” You motioned at him to go ahead. At that, he leaned his head down and began snorting up the coke. He lifted his head up afterward and let out a sigh of ecstasy. He then emptied another line out on the counter.

“Your turn.” Your eyes widen slightly. You had never done this. He handed the bill to you. Fuck it, tonight couldn’t get weirder. You snort up the contents and your teeth immediately began to feel sore and your face felt smacked.

“Shit.” He laughed before taking a swig of his whiskey.

“First time?” You nod your head, putting your hand against your forehead. He got a little closer to you and you couldn’t help but notice how handsome he was. His hair was long and covered his eyes, but you could still see them and they were beautiful. You felt a blush on your cheeks. He noticed it.

“I want to go dancing now.” You blurted out. He smirked, taking your hand and leading you outside to where music was blasting from the stereo. Couples were messily dancing upon each other, letting their bodies leave no space for each other. You put your arms on his shoulders and his hands found their way to your hips, pulling you close. Your vision began to blur and tunnel and all you could see were his glossy hazel eyes. You rested your head against his chest, feeling peace for the first time in this crowded room. You felt his lips rest against your ear.

“Who even are you?” You look back up at him.

“Not important.” One of his hands trail up to your chin and pull your vision up to his.

“Tell me.” You didn’t want to answer, you just wanted to kiss him. You got on your toes and kissed him. His lips were soft despite the hard exterior of him. Your hands went to his cheeks, letting them rest there. You pulled away first.

“No,” You smirked, “Because you’re never going to see me again after tonight.”

“Why’s that?” His forehead was on yours.

“Because we’re going to fuck and I am going to go home and go on with my life and you will go on with yours,” He bit his lip, “What do you think.”

“Follow me.” You took his hand and stumbled off down the first hallway you see. You had no idea where you were going but you knew you’d find where you wanted to go. You opened up a door and found a messy bedroom. He pushed you into the room and shut the door. You dropped yourself onto the bed and beckoned him over. He rushed to you and pressed his lips to yours, letting them tell you exactly how he wanted you. Quickly, the two of you were naked and you could not keep your hands off of him. Before he could touch you how you wanted to, he leaned down to you, whispering, “I’m Nikki by the way.” You giggled.

“Why are you telling me this?” He lets his lips connect to yours before pulling away.

“So you can scream my name all night long,” You spent all night in that bed with him. Hours in his arms letting him do whatever the hell he wanted to you. And you loved every minute of it.

You woke up to the sunlight smacking you right in the face. The nausea immediately hit you as you came into consciousness. You groaned and rolled over to see Nikki passed out right beside you. You smiled at him as you just watch him sleep. He truly looked peaceful, serene, something you had a feeling he rarely felt. As your eyes wandered across his body until you noticed something that may not have been as apparent last night in your intoxicated state, track marks. They were light, but present on his arms. Your smile immediately fell. You had to get out of here. God, this whole night was a fucking mistake.

You sat up slowly and lightly pushed yourself off the mattress. You found your clothes scattered across the floor, threw them on, and tiptoed out. Once you shut the door, you leaned against it. What was wrong with you? How could you sleep with a junkie? You stared blankly at the wall across from you, letting thoughts pass through your head. One thought seemed to stay in your head that you did not want there: he was handsome. And dark. And mysterious. A night you probably would never forget. And in that moment, you smiled to yourself before wandering out of the house and back home.

Now, here you were, sitting on the floor of your bathroom, examining about five pee ridden sticks. You truly have no idea what to do now, that was, until your alarm clock went off. You are late for work. You fling yourself off the ground, throw on some sort of outfit before running out of your apartment.

You get to work about fifteen minutes late. You throw on your apron, clock in, and begin making your rounds table to table, asking what drinks your patrons would like. Even as the drink orders are being told to you, you cannot focus. Your brain is stuck on the little human growing in your stomach. What are you going to do? Are you going to be a Mom now? Are you even ready to be a Mom? What about school? Also who the fuck even is the guy? You lean against the bar, letting your mind wander around to who he could be. All you know is that he is a hot druggie. Great, that is not much to work with. You let out a sigh as you notice a group of men take a seat at a booth in the corner, right in your section. You do not want to work right now, this is the last thing you need to fixate on. Regardless, you grab your notepad, put on a faux smile and walk over to the men. Your eyes are on your notepad as you greet them.

“Hello gentlemen, what would you all like to order?”

“Well, shit.” You recognize that voice. Your eyes wander to where the voice was and there he is, Nikki.

#nikki sixx #nikki sixx fanfiction #nikki sixx one shot #nikki sixx fan fic #nikki sixx imagine #Motley Crue #The Dirt #The Dirt 2019 #Tommy Lee #Vince Neil #Mick Mars #glam rock #rock #80s #80s music #Douglas Booth #douglas booth imagine

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nlights37 · 4 years ago

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12, 18 and 20 please!

@aenarsnow gets FIRSTIES which means I answer with extra love, of course:)

Let’s GET IT

12. How do you deal with self-doubts?

Well, I get ‘em a lot, just like everyone else, your standard, run-of-the-mill ‘”This is shit, why am I wasting my time on this, it’s crap, I’ve used the same adjective like 15 times now and also how many ways can I actually describe eyes I should be doing productive things instead of writing fanfic people are gonna hate it anyway, half the people that used to read my shit ghost me at this point ughhhhh this fandom suuuuuucccckkkkkkssss and so do I!!!”

Inevitably, at that point, I email whatever I’m working on to @noordinarylines, who has explicitly good taste, and who I KNOW will be honest with me if she doesn’t like something or doesn’t quite thinking something is working.

Then she reads it an emails me back and tells me I killed her in a good way and how dare I leave her hanging there, where is the rest, hurry the fuck up because it’s crazy mean to cliffhang her like that.

That usually gets my head right. :) There are a handful of people that I interact with that are some real, genuine, ride or die people (mostly because I am horrible at things like chatting regularly, etc - like I will genuinely completely fuck up my IRL day if I allow myself to get sucked into things like chats because I get tunnel vision and forget everything else, my full blown inattentive-type adult ADD in full effect). But there are some real ones out here, and they know who they are, and if I think an idea is maybe worth a shot but I wanna bounce it off someone, or I want another set of eyes on something because I’ve stared at it so long I genuinely cannot tell if it’s any good, I reach out to them, and they set me straight.

Once I post something, tbh, I just let it ride, because it’s out there, and the people whose opinion I care about the most have already told me what they think, so I’m pretty satisfied with that. If other people don’t like it they can suck my ass at that point, because I ain’t changing SHIT hahahahaha.

18. What’s your revision or rewriting process like?

Well, here’s the thing about me. I write it as it comes, and a lot of time I can feel when I’m writing it if it just isn’t fucking working. I will backtrack then and there and start over. For me, if I’m in the groove and it’s really rocking along I go with it. There’s a flow to it, and then suddenly it’s been 5 hours and you’re like ‘IT’S GOLD, JERRY! GOLD!”

If it’s like pulling teeth to write it I stop and come back to it later. With a husband, three kids, ‘virtual learning’ and quarantine, my time to write is limited, so I try to make the most of it. I run scenes for fics in my head a LOT, while I’m in the shower, or doing dishes, or folding clothes, so that by the time I get a chance to write I’ve made my mind up on exactly how it will go and I don’t have to sit there and look at a blinking cursor.

I don’t typically use a beta, not because I don’t think I need one (my frantic spotting of every damn mistake I made AFTER I post can attest to that) but more because once I’m done with something, I’m done, and I wanna post it. I just get too excited to wait, you know, like a damn puppy who pees in excitement when someone knocks at the door. I just wanna SHARE IT!

So, the tldr: I do a lot of revision in my head before I sit down to write. I don’t usually rewrite because the minute something stops flowing I scrap it :)

20. Post a snippet of a WIP you’re working on.

Here’s a sneak peek of what @noordinarylines and I have been cooking up for the second story in the Remember the Time universe:

There was something soothing, Daenerys had found, about the line where the sea met the sky, the view afforded from her council chamber one that seemed the best suited for calming her ever-frazzled nerves.

It had been five days since she had taken her tumble on the far end of the island, five days full of the most piercing grief she’d ever experienced, which was truly remarkable. Her losses, ‘til now, had been great and agonizing, but she could not shake the forlorn mood that had fallen over her since she’d found herself ripped away from what she was now classifying as a sweet, indulgent fantasy, borne of the trauma of her injury, nothing more.

And yet…

Tucked up the sleeve of her coat, always with her, was a rolled scrap of parchment, upon which she’d documented every single aspect of that lovely hallucination that she could remember. She knew she ought to squirrel it away somewhere safer, hide it from view, leave it behind so she might stop dwelling on these imaginary losses, but she could not.

It had become a talisman, of sorts, something that gave her comfort, just the scrape of it against her skin when she moved her arm as she walked.

She would be mortified, of course, if it were discovered. She was half-terrified it would slip free, and be found by another, her deepest longings read aloud. But for now, it eased the walk from her chambers to whatever task lay ahead, and so she kept it. “Your Grace?”

Daenerys turned from the wide, carved windows in her council chamber, to find Tyrion lingering, watching her with marked curiosity.

Quirking a brow, she did not answer, merely waited. Her Hand came closer, his fingers trailing down the Riverlands on the painted table as he approached. “Are you certain you are well?”

“I’m faring well, Tyrion.” She managed a tight smile, coming to stand at the head of the table, her eyes travelling over the surface rather than meeting the scrutiny in his. “A few lingering headaches, that’s all.”

“Hmmm.” Tyrion took another drink, then plucked a carved piece from the table, turning it over in his hands. When she peeked up, however, he was still staring at her. “As you say. Perhaps there is something else that troubles you?”

Dany smoothed her suddenly damp palms down the front of her coat, and kissed her teeth. “I think we shall all rest easier once we receive word from Casterly Rock, that your plan has succeeded.” It was enough to shift his focus, and there was a measure of truth in it; Missandei had been beside herself with worry over Grey Worm, and she reminded herself to ask her dear friend just what, precisely, had occurred between them.

Tyrion affected a confident air, and tucked away his wineskin, clasping his hands behind his pace and beginning to pace. “Yes, a victory is just what we need right now. And I have every confidence that we will prevail.” He kept moving, rounding the table, stopping by the depiction of the Northern Kingdom and plucking the wolf from the surface. His eyes met hers, and she froze. “How are things with our openly-rebellious friend? Have relations,” he paused, smirking, “thawed, perhaps, now that you have given him access to the mines?”

She wondered, at the keen tone of his voice, what it was he was truly asking beneath the rather mundane question. In truth, she had been avoiding Jon Snow, these past few days, at least as much as she could. The daytime hours were no issue; he was busy down in the mines, and she had seen several carts of the dragonglass he’d been so desperate for, so it seemed his search had been successful.

It was harder once the sun had departed, for they had taken to dining in the main hall, all of Dragonstone’s occupants, and though she tried desperately not to look at him, there were several times at every meal that she couldn’t quite resist. One night, in particular, he’d been seated beside her, had asked in his low, rumbling voice if her wound pained her, had inquired with a gentleness that had broken her heart anew.

When she’d told him she was well, and not to worry, that she had survived far worse, he had frowned fiercely, as though such a notion troubled him greatly, and it had taken all her strength not to kiss him then and there.

She had resisted the urge, and made cordial, cool conversation with him as necessary, but by the time she’d returned to her chambers she had thrown herself onto her bed and wept. She was tired of this, tired of weeping, of missing a life that hadn’t even existed, had not been hers to begin with.

Thank you for the ask, good sir!!!

#writer asks #ask game #jonerys #jon x daenerys #fanfic questions #I should be ASHAMED of my process #but I can't do it any other way #remember the time Part 2 sneak peek

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mrbingley · 4 years ago

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Dnd Circus Campaign session six through nine(?) recap:

wow! it’s been a hot minute since an update on the circus campaign here! my bad!

this may be a long one!!! buckle in!

after trying to charm suggestion thorne into getting a clown nose put on him, tallulah the trophy wife regroups with theren the runaway and sinclair the anarchist. tallulah is followed by the children wearing clown noses who are hiding/surveilling in the forest. the oldest tails her. tallulah looks finds an opossum and puts the infant clown nose on it so the clown nose won’t die. she puts a juicy couture bracelet around the opossum’s neck and takes the opossum with her (the opossum has a stat sheet and is now her pet).

the clown nose kid keeps following tallulah. she says she knows he’s there so he comes out from sneaking and is just with her. theren and sinclair see tallulah coming up to them in starbucks with a opossum wearing a juicy couture necklace and a clown nose and a young teenage kid wearing a clown nose. they’re like “?????”.

the starbucks manager comes over to ask them to leave b/c opossums aren’t allowed in the starbucks. they get in a lil verbal scuffle. they leave.

the teenage kid pokes the opossum and the opossum bites him. he won’t go to the hospital b/c his command has been to watch/follow tallulah (a command he got from thorne through the clown nose he’s wearing). tallulah wants to go fight thorne but theren and sinclair are insistent on taking this kid to the hospital b/c he might have rabies now.

they all begrudgingly take this kid to a minute clinic.

on the way, theren and the teenage kid (now given the name chase b/c this minor npc has been dragged into their group) hit it off. they’re both teenagers and feed into each other’s teenage chaos and that results in chase trying to poke the opossum again. tallulah is flabbergasted and scolds him and tell theren to stop talking to chase b/c he’s being a bad influence. they keep talking. it’s cute.

at the clinic, they don’t know what name to write down as the guardian for the medical sheet so sinclair writes down tallulah’s name. tallulah rolls a good perception check and notices and grabs the sheet and crosses her name out and writes sinclair’s. sinclair notices and crosses that out and rewrites tallulah’s and gives it back to the receptionist before tallulah can snatch it in time.

they all sit in the waiting area.

the opossum tears out the stuffing of a chair and burrows inside of it.

they brainstorm what to name the opossum while waiting.

tallulah knows sinclair’s real first name (sinclair goes by her last name). tallulah suggests naming it tiffany to mess with sinclair (b/c that’s sinclair’s first name that she doesn’t like going by).

sinclair is furious and says no. tallulah says fine i’ll name her holly (a breakfast at tiffany’s reference that sinclair doesn’t get). sinclair says she’s calling her josslyn. so the opossum has two names depending on who is taking care of her.

tallulah has to go back with the teenage kid b/c her name is written down as the guardian. the doctor isn’t great. he’d have to kill the opossum to see if it has rabies. tallulah says no. so he can’t do much for the kid. he says he can give him a series of rabies shots to be safe but they’re expensive. tallulah is rich b/c she’s the mayor’s wife so she says fine put it on my card and they leave.

they decide to go find cedbar the fire giant to try to get him to fight on their side against thorne. cedbar is at the coal factory that is being built. tallulah rolls a nat 20 persuasion on cedbar. she explains that thorne tried to control the mayor--the man you support and have deals with--and that thorne is cedbar’s enemy and also you’ll get to see me throw more fire. cedbar agrees. he puts down the coal he was hauling says “i... will kill the thorne” and full on sprints making a beeline for the circus tent. the gang starts chasing after him. cedbar gets their first and starts yelling inside the main circus tent for thorne to come out so he can kill him. thorne comes out with his group of clown nose wearing circus performers behind him.

initiative begins!

cedbar gets a hit on thorne and gets him to 0hp in one (he is... very strong and i did not anticipate them asking him to help them and them rolling a nat 20 to persuade him!!!).

tallulah catapults up onto the tightrope platform with the help of cedbar. the teenage kid follows her (b/c they’ve helped him he gets to roll a wisdom saving throw each time it’s his turn to see if he can overcome the command he’s been given: he’ll either try to help them or keep chasing tallulah).

the tightrope platform has the same symbol as tallulah’s magic camera and the magic wand looking thing she found. she takes her camera out and takes a picture of the tightrope platform. the platform rumbles, shoots down to the floor, then into the floor, then deep deep down into what looks like an old abandoned coal mining tunnel. she sees a vision of mindel the old ringmaster in a mansion with big dark figures around her and some coal dust on her. mindel tells her she’s been captured but she’s okay and she she’s that tallulah has found both of her artifacts and that that is good. tallulah asks her what seesaw’s fortune means (the tapping the nose three times and the right cheek once). mindel rolls well and tells her it is likely directions. go straight three times then turn right. big black figures come into view and take mindel away. the platform tallulah is on rockets back up into the tent where it previously was.

theren and his rainbow dalmation blink dog flank the left (he sends spotty under the bleachers to get to the other side with full protection (a good strategic move that i was v impressed with, this player plays video games and knows how to be smart in combat so that was v cool). theren has no difficult terrain b/c he’s an acrobat so i let him climb ladders and walk tightropes with his normal movement. he gets up a ladder onto a catwalk over the bleachers. gives tallulah bardic inspiration. theren tries to see if any of the performers recognize him, specifically pogo, the tightrope walker who taught him how to tightrope walk and was his mentor. pogo doesn’t seem to have any recognition of him.

sinclair is responsible for josslyn (aka holly). she send josslyn under the right bleachers b/c her full health is 1hp and she’s not good in combat. sinclair makes a beeline for thorne and hides behind cedbar b/c she’s a halfing and he’s a giant.

thorne calls in the clown nose kids in the forest and the mother clown nose (she’s big and has give tentacles her reach is 40ft but the second story stuff (cat walk, tightrope stuff, trapeze swings) is 50 ft and out of range).

a lot of stuff happens some of it very cool some of it very silly some of it tragic but i’m gonna skip over it b/c this would be so terribly long if i didn’t.

the clown nose mother telepathically messages theren b/c she recognizes him and says “help me” (in the borrowed voices of all the ppl she’s controlling; like clipped together cuts of any/every time a person has said those words).

therens pulls the most CLUTCH and beautiful move. he casts silence on the clown nose. the clown nose can’t hear anything in this area and can’t make any noise. this cuts thorne off from being able to communicate with and therefore command the clown nose mother. so he has no control over anyone now.

pogo looks like he has fallen out of a long fog and sees theren up on the catwalk and casts jump on himself to use his entire turn to launch himself right in front of theren. pogo picks him up in a big hug and asks him why he still chooses to have a silly mullet after all this time, it wasn’t in style ten years ago and it still isn’t now. pogo asks if he’s okay and theren says yes are you and pogo says he is now thanks to theren and thanks him for saving him. the player gets emotional and says he’s actually getting a lil misty eyed. it’s all very touching!!! theren gives pogo bardic inspiration.

thorne is knocked to 0hp again (he gets healed and knocked down a couple times throughout this).

tallulah takes the gem necklace from thorne (the gem that allows him to control the mother clown nose). theren sends spotty to take the necklace from her b/c he has a plan but he doesn’t tell her what it is so tallulah doesn’t trust him and she hellish rebukes spotty the dog to stop spotty from leaving. this creates genuine character tension and player tension (i personally loved it but both the actualy players were frustrated with each other over this).

theren reveals his plan is to destroy the gem in hopes it’ll free the clown nose mother of being controlled.

the clown nose leaves the area of silence and messages sinclair “into the tunnels” and sinclair and cedbar leave to go to try to free the copper dragon (who belongs to mindel the original ringmaster) locked in a train carriage. theren follows after.

tallulah tells pogo she’s going to try to destroy the gem (theyre the only ppl left in the tent near the entrance so she just wants to tell someone). pogo nods (he’s mostly mute; only talks to the other circus performers and even then he doesn’t speak much; he talks the most with theren).

tallulah rolls a decent animal handling check and realizes if she breaks the control gem it’ll likely psychically hurt the clown nose mother or her infants or the people wearing clown noses. it doesn’t seem like it’ll be a harmless solution.

now you’re all caught up!!! they’re somewhat out of initiative and combat and want to help save the clown nose mother and get her back to her world that sinclair relays thinks is in the old train tunnel.

#DnD Circus Campaign Tag #J: text #honestly a lot more nuance and stuff happened but i don't want to bore you or make this super long #stuff like:#cedbar climbed a ladder to chase thorne fell off and landed on the clown nose kids and that knocked them all out #la capony the king of clowns starts chasing thorne too once he's free of control b/c he thinks thorne is now responsible for his son's death #seesaw heals the children who got knocked out by cedbar's big body and they leave and go home after hiding in the woods for days #josslyn aka holly never rolls higher than a 10 on her turn (she spends her turn searching for garbage to eat under the bleachers and never #finds any)#tallulah swings from a trapeze swing to get to thorne #sinclair is smacked by the clown nose mother and hurt pretty bad #thorne tries to grapple cedbar with a rope but cedbar has a fire beard anf fire hair so he uses his beard to burn the rope and get free #chase the teenage kid rolls well once on his wisdom saving throw and gives tallulah a thumb up with his bitten hand and asks her what he #should do and she tells him to go home so he goes yes mam and starts to leave.#raffles the beast tamer tries to go get animal reinforcement but is prevented from doing so #toodle loo the strongwoman strength wrestles cedbar b/c theyre both very buff and toodle loo wins #other stuff!!!

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